I'm in the process of building my first real stereo system and I need some advice. I'm building the system primarily for rock and jazz music, and computer output, and I am a college student so I have a somewhat limited budget.
My first question is about loudspeakers. I've looked at a few loudspeakers and have been heavily considering getting a pair of Magnepan speakers. I've heard that they are really good speakers for music, however I am between getting the MMG's or the MMGW's. Usually I wouldn't consider getting wall mounted speakers, but with my living situation constantly changing, I feel it might be safer to get them since they take up less space (except they would also require a sub). Does anyone know how the quality of sound differs between the MMG's and MMGW's?
My second question has to do with my input devices. I've been reading a lot about the Logitech Squeezebox technology, and I feel that having a Squeezebox or Transporter as my only input source would serve all of my purposes. I could set up a music server on my NAS, and I could install a program that would allow me to stream the audio from my computer to the Squeezebox. Also since the Squeezebox server software is open source, it gives me lots of leeway in customizing the system to my needs. As such I was wondering if it would be worth it to bypass the preamp and hook the Squeezebox directly into a power amp. The unbalanced outputs of the Transporter have selectable attenuation, but the balanced output does not. Would bypassing the preamp be dangerous? And if not would I run into problems if I use the balanced output for a sub?
If anyone has any suggestions for me I am open to them. I've kind of been wandering around in the dark for the past week trying to learn everything.
I'm in the process of building my first real stereo system and I need some advice. I'm building the system primarily for rock and jazz music, and computer output, and I am a college student so I have a somewhat limited budget.
My first question is about loudspeakers. I've looked at a few loudspeakers and have been heavily considering getting a pair of Magnepan speakers. I've heard that they are really good speakers for music, however I am between getting the MMG's or the MMGW's. Usually I wouldn't consider getting wall mounted speakers, but with my living situation constantly changing, I feel it might be safer to get them since they take up less space (except they would also require a sub). Does anyone know how the quality of sound differs between the MMG's and MMGW's?
My second question has to do with my input devices. I've been reading a lot about the Logitech Squeezebox technology, and I feel that having a Squeezebox or Transporter as my only input source would serve all of my purposes. I could set up a music server on my NAS, and I could install a program that would allow me to stream the audio from my computer to the Squeezebox. Also since the Squeezebox server software is open source, it gives me lots of leeway in customizing the system to my needs. As such I was wondering if it would be worth it to bypass the preamp and hook the Squeezebox directly into a power amp. The unbalanced outputs of the Transporter have selectable attenuation, but the balanced output does not. Would bypassing the preamp be dangerous? And if not would I run into problems if I use the balanced output for a sub?
If anyone has any suggestions for me I am open to them. I've kind of been wandering around in the dark for the past week trying to learn everything.