What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Coopmv]

Agreed.  I have never owned one either, but only suggested I did to illustrate the drama of my wee story.  LOL   

I have always been an iNothing guy.  It was nice to see the Apple shares crashed some 30% over the past few months.  It is absurd that a company sells products that do little to improve the quality of life for people and what it sells are not the must-have's in life either was actually the world's largest corporation for a while. 

[DavidRoss]

I have always been an iNothing guy.  It was nice to see the Apple shares crashed some 30% over the past few months.  It is absurd that a company sells products that do little to improve the quality of life for people and what it sells are not the must-have's in life either was actually the world's largest corporation for a while. 

Hmmm...so access to information does little to improve people's quality of life? And if not, then whose fault is that? The agency enabling access? Or the people making poor use of it?

[mahler10th]

Hmmm...so access to information does little to improve people's quality of life? And if not, then whose fault is that? The agency enabling access? Or the people making poor use of it?

  The people making poor use of it. 

I am not an Apple fan by any means, I do not like how one gets 'locked in' to their products, and everything from there on is Apple and nothing else.  Meanwhile, with my fancy retro 1994 Kenwood seperates system, coupled with its own speakers and an additional array of surround sound continues to blow me clean off my arse with the quality and depth of its sound.  Unfortunately though, by todays standards, it is probably still not delivering 'state of the art' sound, as I read it only has a 1 Bit Dual D/A Converter, whatever that is.  Only one bit, though.   


(Please note this is a picture from a different source, and my system is much cleaner than this and does not have clarty fingerprints everywhere on it.) 

[jlaurson]

Hmmm...so access to information does little to improve people's quality of life? And if not, then whose fault is that? The agency enabling access? Or the people making poor use of it?

As someone else said:

"I have in my pocket a device that can access all information known to man - and I use it to look at pictures of cats."

[Todd]

I'm in the market for a final, I hope, pair of speakers.  Salk Sound has already won my business.  They will build whatever I want.  I am currently listening to these:



These were literally my first pair of SuperCharged SongTowers.  I found some issues with the topcoat finish.  Salk's response?  We'll send you a new pair, and after you receive them you can send the old ones back, shipping on us.  Considering I had custom construction (1" MDF construction, Bubinga finish, and Sonicap capacitors, and my original pair resold without ever being reposted), this was a most generous offer.  My current pair has no flaws.  I must say, I want a little more.  More bass.  More volume.  So, I must choose between these:





I'm pretty much sold on the double-dye finish of the lower speaker, but am having problems deciding between the two-way HT2-TL (above) and SoundScape 8 (below).  I listen in a small, but dedicated room, and two 8" woofers plus two 12" passives of the bottom speaker could be too much, but Salk voices as close to flat 20 Hz-20 KHz (literally) as I have heard, possibly mitigating that problem.  That leaves the ceramic midrange of the SoundScape 8.  Ceramic drivers scare me.  Here's the thing: they would design a custom pair with any drivers I want, and what I want is the midrange from my current speaker. (The crossover designer knows his stuff inside and out, and is a no-BS guy - Dennis Murphy is his name, and Philharmonic Audio is his company, and he will return emails.  Did I mention he plays in an orchestra?)  Not cheap speakers, but a bargain no matter what.  The RAAL ribbon tweeter is the best thing since sliced bread.

[Mirror Image]

As someone else said:

"I have in my pocket a device that can access all information known to man - and I use it to look at pictures of cats."

[Mirror Image]

My audio stereo setup is pretty simple. Here are photos found on the Internet of my stereo equipment:



Onkyo DX7210 CD player



Sony XE500 CD Player



Sony JE520 MD Player (Am I the only on this forum that uses MDs?)



Sony D711 amplifier



Pioneer Dynamic Range Processor RG-9

I don't know the model number of my Polk Audio speakers, but they're probably made in the late 80s, early 90s.

[bigshot]

I have one of those pioneer expanders. It actually works!

[Mirror Image]

I have one of those pioneer expanders. It actually works!

Yeah, they're very nice --- beefs up the sound.

[The new erato]

Now I get why you love Delius.

[Coopmv]

I'm in the market for a final, I hope, pair of speakers.  Salk Sound has already won my business.  They will build whatever I want.  I am currently listening to these:



These were literally my first pair of SuperCharged SongTowers.  I found some issues with the topcoat finish.  Salk's response?  We'll send you a new pair, and after you receive them you can send the old ones back, shipping on us.  Considering I had custom construction (1" MDF construction, Bubinga finish, and Sonicap capacitors, and my original pair resold without ever being reposted), this was a most generous offer.  My current pair has no flaws.  I must say, I want a little more.  More bass.  More volume.  So, I must choose between these:





I'm pretty much sold on the double-dye finish of the lower speaker, but am having problems deciding between the two-way HT2-TL (above) and SoundScape 8 (below).  I listen in a small, but dedicated room, and two 8" woofers plus two 12" passives of the bottom speaker could be too much, but Salk voices as close to flat 20 Hz-20 KHz (literally) as I have heard, possibly mitigating that problem.  That leaves the ceramic midrange of the SoundScape 8.  Ceramic drivers scare me.  Here's the thing: they would design a custom pair with any drivers I want, and what I want is the midrange from my current speaker. (The crossover designer knows his stuff inside and out, and is a no-BS guy - Dennis Murphy is his name, and Philharmonic Audio is his company, and he will return emails.  Did I mention he plays in an orchestra?)  Not cheap speakers, but a bargain no matter what.  The RAAL ribbon tweeter is the best thing since sliced bread.

I like the pair with the side-firing subwoofer and hopefully you do not have a cat ...   

[Todd]

I like the pair with the side-firing subwoofer

Those are actually 12" passive radiators.  The speaker has a rated F3 of 25 Hz, which is definitely plenty low, and the 8" woofer used is designed for subwoofer use.  The finish is amazing; I've never seen "plain" old maple look so good.

[Daverz]

Those are actually 12" passive radiators.  The speaker has a rated F3 of 25 Hz, which is definitely plenty low, and the 8" woofer used is designed for subwoofer use.  The finish is amazing; I've never seen "plain" old maple look so good.

Very impressive looking, and the drivers look equally impressive.  The base price is about what I paid several years ago for my Vandersteen Quatros, which are decidedly functional looking, having the old Vandersteen "put a black sock over it" look.  Vandersteen now has more models that pay attention to aesthetics.

[mahler10th]

Very impressive looking, and the drivers look equally impressive.  The base price is about what I paid several years ago for my Vandersteen Quatros, which are decidedly functional looking, having the old Vandersteen "put a black sock over it" look.  Vandersteen now has more models that pay attention to aesthetics.

Can anyone tell me , please, are most amps and other hi-fi separates interchangeable?  There's a clutch of 'separates' which I see individually in stores like Cash Converters (don't know what the American equivalent is).  So if I want to experiment (which I most certainly do) with different audio equipments now and then, is it possible for example to buy a 'Sony' amp or a Denon CD separate (or whatever) and attach  such a novelty to my Kenwood system, or are these kinds of things propriety? 
Since a recent change in my audio hardware there have been significant changes in the quality of sound, despite the change being 14 years older than the one I had, and I would like to mess around with more separates, etc.  I accept this is a most rudimentary question for someone who is into our music, and one might expect me to know about things like this.  But I don't.  But if it IS the case, it is more than likely I will start messing around with a LOT of such things.

PS:  Passive Radiators.  I had no idea heating systems were also installed in top level speaker arrays.   

[Daverz]

Can anyone tell me , please, are most amps and other hi-fi separates interchangeable?  There's a clutch of 'separates' which I see individually in stores like Cash Converters (don't know what the American equivalent is).  So if I want to experiment (which I most certainly do) with different audio equipments now and then, is it possible for example to buy a 'Sony' amp or a Denon CD separate (or whatever) and attach  such a novelty to my Kenwood system, or are these kinds of things propriety? 
Since a recent change in my audio hardware there have been significant changes in the quality of sound, despite the change being 14 years older than the one I had, and I would like to mess around with more separates, etc.  I accept this is a most rudimentary question for someone who is into our music, and one might expect me to know about things like this.  But I don't.  But if it IS the case, it is more than likely I will start messing around with a LOT of such things.

PS:  Passive Radiators.  I had no idea heating systems were also installed in top level speaker arrays.   

Proprietary connections between electronics are very rare.   I'm sure all that stuff has standard RCA connections.  Even in the unlikely case that you encounter XLR connections (these are the large 3-pin connections), you can use XLR-to-RCA adapters.   

Speaker connectors vary more.  Some very old equipment only allows for bare wire or small spades, while some will allow banana plugs or larger spades.

The only other thing to worry about is whether a particular combination  of components will make the volume control difficult to use.  Volume pots tend to get non-linear at the lower end of their range, so you want the typical volume setting to be past 10 o'clock or so.

Also, an amp without enough power for your speakers is more likely to clip and cause damage to tweeters.

[mahler10th]

Proprietary connections between electronics are very rare.   I'm sure all that stuff has standard RCA connections.  Even in the unlikely case that you encounter XLR connections (these are the large 3-pin connections), you can use XLR-to-RCA adapters.   

Speaker connectors vary more.  Some very old equipment only allows for bare wire or small spades, while some will allow banana plugs or larger spades.

The only other thing to worry about is whether a particular combination  of components will make the volume control difficult to use.  Volume pots tend to get non-linear at the lower end of their range, so you want the typical volume setting to be past 10 o'clock or so.

Also, an amp without enough power for your speakers is more likely to clip and cause damage to tweeters.

Thank you Daverz.  I appreciate that.
Thats enough to let me know I can go on a sound odyssey, and I will report findings here as they occur.

[DavidW]

The top tier Polk Audio bookshelves (lsti series) are massively discounted so I might buy them to replace my damaged towers.  I realized that my apartment living room is not that big, so I might get more bang for the buck with bookshelves than I would with towers.

[mahler10th]

Here is another most rudimentary question re - audio setup of which I am blissfully ignorant...
I am thinking of doing stuff with my speakers, try other ones, etc.  I have  a standard 5.1 setup in conjunction with speakers native to my audio hardware.   The native speakers are great, brilliant quality of sound.  They are 80w speakers.  The 5.1 surround isn't as beefy because it's five little 'box' speakers are only 10w each.  My question is this:

If I ditch the 5 x 5.1 10w speakers in favour of beefier speakers more in line with my 2 x  80w Kenwoods, does this mean the 'Woofer' will not work because it is propriety to its own native speakers, or do 'Woofers' act independently of speakers?   

[petrarch]

Also, an amp without enough power for your speakers is more likely to clip and cause damage to tweeters.

OTOH, an amp with more power than the speakers are rated for will blow them if playing at excess volume. Check the power rating on the speakers (usually given as a range) and make sure the amp's matches.

[petrarch]

If I ditch the 5 x 5.1 10w speakers in favour of beefier speakers more in line with my 2 x  80w Kenwoods, does this mean the 'Woofer' will not work because it is propriety to its own native speakers, or do 'Woofers' act independently of speakers?   

Woofers can act independently if they have dedicated terminals. A standalone box like a subwoofer will have its own terminals. Bigger speakers typically have multiple sets of terminals allowing for each of their units to be driven independently (e.g. my planar speakers are 2-way and have separate pairs of terminals for the bass panel and the ribbon tweeter).