worf
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Help in setting up first sound system
mrlowry
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MY first suggestion would be to re-encode your music in some kind of loss less format (WAV, FLAC, Apple loss less, etc) The music missing will become more and more obvious the better the system that you play them on. Big hard drives are super cheap and there is no reason to mangle music any longer.

Hong Kong is supposed to have all kinds of hi-fi shops. A good dealer can offer all kinds of insight and assistance, especially for beginners. Many of them carry second hand gear as well and are more than happy to help people just entering the hobby. Buying audio gear without listening to it is one of the all-time best ways to waste money, especially for people new to the hobby. With the help of a great dealer and the people on this forum you should be well ahead of the game.

mrlowry
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A room with a tile floor and concrete wall will be very bright (an exaggeration of high frequency content) because the materials will cause the sound to bounce around. One of the ways that you could help to tame the sound would be to add a big throw rug between the speakers and the listening position.

Book shelved lined with books of various depths at the points of first reflection will also make a big difference. You don't want the spines of the books which are facing into the room to be even. Make sure that they are staggered to help break up reflections. The point of first reflection is fairly easy to find. While one person sits in the listening position have a second person hold a mirror against the wall and walk until the person sitting in the listening spot can see the reflection of the speaker. Then have them mark the spot and continue walking. Each side wall will have two spots that should be treated, a first reflection point for the left speaker and for the right speaker. This is a really handy of making sure that the side walls aren't over treated.

Monty
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First thing I would suggest is to examine speaker placement within the room. It's a simple thing that makes or breaks the listening experience. Either search the Stereophile archives for proper speaker placement or do a google search (the Cardas site is pretty good) and get familiar with the process and reasoning. If you mess this up, little else can save you.

Once you arrive at where your speakers are going to live in relation to your listening position, you can then weed out or expand the type of speaker that will work with your living conditions.

You'll also need to be honest with yourself about how loud you are going to listen to music. If you have common walls with your neighbors, you can forget about speakers that need lots of current to sound good. An easier speaker to drive and a smaller amplifier would likely work out better.

In short, speaker positioning in the room and properly matching them with a complimentary amplifier would be the first steps. All the rest dwells in the personal preferences, price and flavor you prefer.

THR33P4C
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I just got into this hobby over winter break... I got lucky on Ebay and got a great deal on some used NAD seperates. Buying on Ebay is extremely risky though...

If you have the opportunity to listen to the gear in person that's a big advantage. If you decide to buy components online do as much research as you can and read all the reviews you can find.

Here are some links I used when I was shopping.
http://www.audioreview.com/reviewscrx.aspx
http://www.ecoustics.com/Consumer/

jackfish
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The Sound Chamber
Chekiang 1st Bank Ctre
1 Duddell St. Unit 1801
2 810 0233

Check out the Vandersteen 2Ce Signature IIs. Although they may not be the prettiest, they sure sound good.

For an integrated amp, you should be able to find the Shanling A-3000 in Hong Kong. The are made in Shenzhen, China. Would be sweet with the Vandersteens and a lossless digital source.

Your listening space sounds like it may need some acoustic treatment for good sound. Hings Soundproof and Vibrationproof Products, 289 Reclamation Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 757 2533 2788. http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

robkeane89
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Hi guys, I was randomly reading through this because I needed the same help. I found http://speakerxpert.com and http://audioreview.com were the best too (pretty sure they were both mentioned above). I think since this conversation was had the speaker world has changed a fair bit so for everyone else reading this looking for advice check out the websites above. Anyone have any questions for speakers in 2017 feel free to contact me. I am getting pretty interested in speakers now.

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