anyone knowledgable on amps and speakers?

[Lush]

So you want to buy a gramophone then do you grandad ?

Do you want woofers and tweeters?

 

[tedlit]

Do you want a Dolby with it ?

Be careful. He'll be offering you a bag on your head next.

 

[Questions]

Do you want woofers and tweeters?

Classic stuff.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Just received an email confirming May Madness sale at Richers and they do have a guarantee to beat all prices.

 

[pigbite]

From my experience, Yamaha are pretty good. Not top of the range but good value and I can't fault them for the quality you get.

Speakers? - you just can't beat Bose.

Bose are good at what they do but it's an audio illusion.

You can better Bose for half the price.

 

[Dirk Gently]

Perhaps I'm over-effusive about Bose, then. But I have a pair of Bose speakers and sub-woofer that I bought in 1990 that still sound as good as they did back then, and since then I've updated every other part of the system (sometimes twice) - but never felt the need to replace the speakers. For cost and size they still blow me away.

 

[Mr Banana]

Within a 15 minute walk of my house

Steve's Hi-fi

Crikey. I think that might be the one. You should definitely buy from there, he's got some underpriced beasts. Nice old-school website as well. Think I've got the Kef Q3s, they are ace.

 

[dannyboy]

well after all that i plumped for my original idea from richer sounds . they dont sound as good as in the shop nor as loud . the chap said i needed to bed them in . does this really make such a difference? they were mind boggling in the shop but definitely not as good as at home .

 

[1066familyman]

well after all that i plumped for my original idea from richer sounds . they dont sound as good as in the shop nor as loud . the chap said i needed to bed them in . does this really make such a difference? they were mind boggling in the shop but definitely not as good as at home .

It will also depend on what they were paired up with in the shop and what cabling they had as to how they sounded then to how they sound on your system. But yes, new speakers will require 'bedding in' to get the 'mudiness' out of them.

This explains it quite well :


with regards running in speakers;

most manufacturers will offer advice on bedding in speakers, or rather they will explain how for the first 'X' amount of playing time the driver in question will sound offish or muddy....but this has no similarity to "running in", an engine....

your simply bedding in the cones suspension, when new its stiff and tight, so sonic reproduction will suffer, and if running at full tilt you may exceed the speakers thermal handling,(causing excessive heat build up in the coil/coils), but so what, it should be guaranteed, if it fails take it back....

the moment you supply power to a speaker it begins to bed in, if that power level is constant, then the speaker will become accustomed to that level of power, as soon as you attempt to supply more power it again is 'bedding in', to truly bed a speakers suspension in takes many hours, but it should be carried out in the same manner as you would normally use it, there is absolutely no point adhering to certain volume levels for certain periods of time, your doing the speaker no favours...

 

[public school boy]

Arcam A38 amp and Acoustic Energy or B&W speakers. Go to a decent Hi Fi shop there's a very good one on the London road but expensive, and spend time listening to various combinations. I spent 3 hours.

 

[pigbite]

Perhaps I'm over-effusive about Bose, then. But I have a pair of Bose speakers and sub-woofer that I bought in 1990 that still sound as good as they did back then, and since then I've updated every other part of the system (sometimes twice) - but never felt the need to replace the speakers. For cost and size they still blow me away.

If you like them Dirk then that's great - at the end of the day that's all that matters. I am only speaking from the perspective of someone who deals with a/v at all levels on a daily basis and what Bose do is basically the audio equivelent of an optical illusion. Bose cubes cannot really handle loud output at below around 250Hz - that's physics. So they send the low frequencies to the sub that you get with every Bose system. Trouble is that a sub cross over (ie. the point that frequencies get passed over to the sub) needs to be set at around 80Hz otherwise you can tell the direction of the sound and that's not good for a sub.

So what you have is a gap of 80-250Hz. What happens to that? Bose crank up the crossover to get to around 150Hz but that still leaves a 100Hz gap - so all your mid range disappears. It's like a big ol' graphic equaliser - lots of top and bottom end giving an illusion of dynamic range but there is simply loads of your music missing. It's a doddle to hear if you have acoustic guitar music played on a Bose system. Just like a sntnce wth mssng lttrs yr brn cn fll in the gps - but it will never be as rich and have the depth of a well written peice of literature.

I don't actually hate Bose for doing what they do as there is a market for it, the compromise does work (to a point) if you are happy to accept the audio shortchange and we've installed loads for customers who asked us to. The real crime of it is that Bose claim it's a great sound and then charge a premium for it.

Pretty much any of the suggestions in this thread will knock the spots off a Bose system simply becuase the amp/speaker combination is reproducing the original set of frequencies more accurately. Stereo imaging is always better because your ear is hearing more of the original sound.

If you want some small life-style speakers then go for something like some B&W M1s. Not as quite as compact as the Bose cubes but far more capable. Mordant Short and Q Acoustics have some cracking speakers at the budget end of the spectrum that I would lay money on sounding better than an Acoustimass even with an entry level Cambridge Audio amp. OK, you may need to add a sub into the mix to get some LF oomph that the Bose setup does give but at least you are getting a more honest reproduction.

If you want to spend money on different, stylish, but proper speakers how about some Totem Tribe I, II or IIIs - fantastic speakers that look brilliant on your wall and, with a decent amp and a sub, can give better 2:1 reproduction that a far few 5/7:1 systems I have heard.

Anyways - I don't really mean to sound an audio snob - I just wish the Bose approach was more transparent. As I said, if you like the sound and it brings you pleasure then that's that main thing.

 

[dannyboy]

It will also depend on what they were paired up with in the shop and what cabling they had as to how they sounded then to how they sound on your system. But yes, new speakers will require 'bedding in' to get the 'mudiness' out of them.

This explains it quite well :


with regards running in speakers;

most manufacturers will offer advice on bedding in speakers, or rather they will explain how for the first 'X' amount of playing time the driver in question will sound offish or muddy....but this has no similarity to "running in", an engine....

your simply bedding in the cones suspension, when new its stiff and tight, so sonic reproduction will suffer, and if running at full tilt you may exceed the speakers thermal handling,(causing excessive heat build up in the coil/coils), but so what, it should be guaranteed, if it fails take it back....

the moment you supply power to a speaker it begins to bed in, if that power level is constant, then the speaker will become accustomed to that level of power, as soon as you attempt to supply more power it again is 'bedding in', to truly bed a speakers suspension in takes many hours, but it should be carried out in the same manner as you would normally use it, there is absolutely no point adhering to certain volume levels for certain periods of time, your doing the speaker no favours...

cheers for that mate. in the shop it was playing my cd's on a £750 quid cd player compared to my pioneer cdj 350 via a mixer . i bought the same cables as in the demo room and my speakers are also tight against the wall. all of that will make a difference but not as much as i thought . also the volume in the shop was really loud at half volume on the amp . to get it to the same volume im putting the amp up to 3/4. strange!

 

[Billy the Fish]

cheers for that mate. in the shop it was playing my cd's on a £750 quid cd player compared to my pioneer cdj 350 via a mixer . i bought the same cables as in the demo room and my speakers are also tight against the wall. all of that will make a difference but not as much as i thought . also the volume in the shop was really loud at half volume on the amp . to get it to the same volume im putting the amp up to 3/4. strange!

It's probably the mixer taking some sound away. Check the master volume on the mixer. Personally I always tried to balance the mixer and amp volume as too much either way will distort the sound. You want to keep your trim control on each channel pretty central to give you room either way to match the volume up when mixing.

Incidently I'm in the market for some new speakers for my decks, not had them out for years because I wasn't allowed when I lived with my ex-bird but on my own now so want to get back into it. Love having a little mix up to chill out after work. Think I'm going to get some studio monitors so I don't have to piss about with an amp, I also don't want it too loud as I don't want to piss the neighbours off too much - have bass will travel

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

For what it's worth I have these.........

 

[pigbite]

Dynaudio - very nice speakers.

Totem use some Dynaudio drivers in many of their speakers.

Did you do much to match the NAD kit to the Dyns? What sort of music are you generally listening to?

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Dynaudio - very nice speakers.

Totem use some Dynaudio drivers in many of their speakers.

Did you do much to match the NAD kit to the Dyns? What sort of music are you generally listening to?

Not really. The set-up has, like most, evolved since 1984 when I got the classic Dual505 / NAD amp (actually receiver) and AR18LS combination from Sevenoaks in Brighton when they were in Preston Street. Various upgrades later, included several NAD Cassette decks a Rega Planar 3 and NAD 5300 Monitor Series CD player. The CD player was a disaster, completely unreliable mechanically but because it sounded good I persevered with it for 10 years or so until I'd had enough and auditioned the S500. The AR speakers went for Audience 10's, purchased from Audio-T in Reading in 1996, until about 18 months ago when a 2nd hand pair of Contour 1.3 mk2's came up on e-bay, owned by a chap who only lived about 1/4 of a mile away. He'd bought them new from Audio-T in Oxford, had barely used them, and was selling them to buy a new car, so they had a good provenance. I'm still using the Dynaudio Master speaker stands and Audioquest Indigo+ cables that I had for the Audiences, and Atlas Navigator interconnect cables everywhere else. The S400 tuner and S100/S200 amp combo were another e-bay purchase from Adams and Jarret in Hastings in 2005.

NAD kit has a dubious reputation for quality control and because they out-sourced their production was very dependant on the factory they chose to build the component. But the Silverline range is all built in Denmark, some of it in the same factory as Gryphon, and so Danish speakers seem a good match.

If you're patient and certain of what you want then e-bay is as good a place as any to see 2nd hand gear advertised, but I would still ask the seller if you can collect the item in person and pay by cash / cheque rather than buy sight unseen. That way you can walk away if you're not happy. I got lucky because I was either close to the seller or buying from an authorised dealer.

As for music, well it'll handle pretty much anything I can throw at it really - Rock / Pop / Classical / House, even Norman Cook!

Oh, and I'm NOT selling any of my old gear, that's being saved for possible home cinema or spare room / study use.

Dynaudio Audience 10's below. It's noticable that the Contours do not excite the crockery on top of the speakers at any volume, whereas the Audiences were very prone to inducing porcelain resonant rattles!