With all the bargains in value-priced turntables and disc players available right now, what would you recommend that a budding audiophile pick up as his or her first serious source component for less than $1000? Explain.
I'm looking at getting a bigger pair of speakers to clean up the bass performance, however I'm concerned about having too big speakers for a given room size. Leaving aside aesthetic considerations, is there any truth that speakers can be "too big" for a room? I'm not why it should be - if a larger speaker has a response curve which is similar to a small one, or extends a bit lower, surely there's no difference in the actual quantity/ dB of sound produced, so room size shouldn't be a factor?
Hello, I am starting down the path of audio enlightenment and the choices are mind-boggling! I am hoping to enlist all of your help. My first question is what component of my system should be purchased first? Secondly, what are the differences between preamps and poweramps? Are the used separately, together, or both? It is my understanding that the quality and purity of sound is better maintained with fewer components involved. Concerning loudspeakers, is it better to have a complete finished speaker, or do many people buy the boxes and speakers then add the cross-overs?
Big Mike and I stopped at our favorite local recycled audio shop today and I got to tell ya, I got a jones for a pair of speakers there.
It's a pair of vintage Rauna Leira's.
Concrete encolusre, two way. 280 bucks for the pair.
Matched it up with an Apt Holman amp and preamp, 490 bucks for both.
Played them with an old secondhand Tascam CD player...
Magnifico!
If I weren't on triple secret fiscal probabtion with the wife unit, I'd be all over that speaker/amp/preamp with a PS1 and for 8 bills, I'd be one of the bears from Hell!
I would like to comment on the frequency response of that speaker in the reviewer's room. How much of that horrible response was the room and how much the speaker? Is the reviewer's room that bad? Is there a room treatment or set up issue? Is it fair to vendors or the readers to have reviews done in such deplorable conditions? Isn't it incumbent upon reviewer to get their room and set up right - at least to a point where the speakers have a shot and the positive and negative results can be attributed more towards the speaker than the environment?
For those of you who have ever traveled the West Side Highway in New York this is a CD that captures that experience. Recorded by Stanley Turrentine in 1997 it is a great melodic journey down the West Side of New York with artists like Paul Griffin on keyboards, Eric Gale on Guitar, Ron Carter on bass it is a great listen. Mr Turrentine also combines strings with some of the cuts but it works really well here and you can clearly here is passion for these songs.
This could be located in either headphones or digital sources. I am currently running a Cambridge Audio 640 Azure v.2 CDP through a McIntosh MA 6900 integrated amp driving Monitor Audio SR6 speakers. I recently purchased a pair of AKG 701 headphones which are currently undergoing break in.
The MA 6900 provides a skimpy 1/8
One goal of music recording is to capture a true sound, so when played back it sounds like the musicians are right there in the room with you. The experiment I captured on video proves it's not an easy task! We weren't entirely successful, but we did manage to get fairly close with some of the instruments. Look for Recorded Realism near the bottom of the RealTraps Videos page.
--Ethan