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Need a TON of help for $2k speakers or system


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22 hours ago, Wilderness said:

I don't play them at low levels, because what would be the point?

 

I envy someone who's never lived in an apartment, lol.  Unfortunately, even if I liked them, if they don't sound pretty well at lower volumes they'll be shipped back.

 

 

21 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

I have Excite 14A for couple of years and they sound pretty well to me. I am listening mostly to classic and jazz. Comfortable sound, soft and warm, very good for vocal. Not much to irritate overly sensitive ears.

 

Heh, further proof of how much we all hear things differently.  Funny, but your take on the Excite and Wilderness's take on the Audioengine's sound like you guys are reviewing the exact same speaker, lol.  I'm more than likely gonna order both of these, very curious as to what I hear from both.  

 

18 hours ago, GregWormald said:

 

 

18 hours ago, GregWormald said:

AFAIK Audioengine offers free shipping.

 

Be careful of "wireless" as bluetooth (in my reading at least) has limitations.

 

I can't say that your wrong without checking, but I never really see companies offer it outside of the contiguous United States.  Or at the very least you have to pay shipping back, which from where I live would cost too darn much considering I'd more than likely have to do it for more than one speaker (unless I nailed it on the very first speaker).  As for the bluetooth, and this may show my ignorance for not reading more about it, but I thought that was just a tool for something like streaming stuff, which I wouldn't be doing.

 

 

18 hours ago, Sunflower_sutra said:

It has more advanced EQ in the app, along with settings that try to take room interactions into account. 

 

Sounds silly but have you considered physical tone controls and equalisers? Schiit offer a equaliser which may help you, with your senestivity to high frequencys. 

 

The Audio engine A1 come highly regarded and are apparently a good match with a Mytek Brooklyn for a preamp. Equaliser settings could be adjusted via streamer or computer settings.

 

Thanks.  I'm gonna have to do some more research on everything, I feel I may not know enough about what I'm trying to do here and just start making myself look stupider than I may have already.

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1 hour ago, RKO said:

 

Heh, further proof of how much we all hear things differently.  Funny, but your take on the Excite and Wilderness's take on the Audioengine's sound like you guys are reviewing the exact same speaker, lol.  I'm more than likely gonna order both of these, very curious as to what I hear from both.  

 

 

I never heard Audioengine as per my knowledge. Second, the SQ is critically dependent on DAC/amp and software. Third, I am trying to trust never to the first immediate impression, swapping speakers back and forth may be wrong way to compare. Fourth, if one prefer techno, and other prefer string quartets it may influence the preference significantly. If you will have several pairs at the same time, try to dedicate one day to certain pair, sleep with it and then listen to the same recordings with another pair next day. For a long time, of course.

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18 hours ago, RKO said:

I can't say that your wrong without checking, but I never really see companies offer it outside of the contiguous United States.  Or at the very least you have to pay shipping back, which from where I live would cost too darn much considering I'd more than likely have to do it for more than one speaker (unless I nailed it on the very first speaker).  As for the bluetooth, and this may show my ignorance for not reading more about it, but I thought that was just a tool for something like streaming stuff, which I wouldn't be doing.

 

I don't know any details about the free shipping--none of it ever applies to Australia!

 

Here's an article about bluetooth and audio. Some wireless speakers use it, some use wi-fi.

https://www.lifewire.com/what-to-know-about-bluetooth-3134591

 

Good luck with your search.

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Chris,

 

Regarding sound level, I think that we should break it down beyond loud versus low.  At the least, think loud, moderate, and low.  In that scenario, I listen at moderate levels.  I lived in an apartment until I bought a house five years ago.  The level I listen at now would probably disturb apartment neighbors late at night when people are trying to sleep. 

 

But if we break it down further to include the lower end of moderate levels, the HD6 speakers are enjoyable.  I doubt that would be loud enough to bother apartment neighbors unless you have paper thin walls.

 

I had to go to court when I was 20 and pay a small fine for blasting Led Zeppelin on a pair of Pioneer speakers at very loud levels when I lived in an apartment.  Ah, those nights when I was young.  I never listen at those levels now.

 

Regarding the Excite 14A speakers, you will have to purchase a DAC if you don't have one now.  They don't have a DAC.  A Dynaudio rep said the speakers' sound quality is dependent on the quality of an external DAC.  So, to give them a fair chance to impress, you can't cheap out with the DAC.

 

The HD6 speakers do have a built in DAC, and it sounds pretty good.  You can hook up an external DAC to the RCA connections for even better sound.

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Well things just took a complete left turn yesterday.  By really just a massive fluke, I found out there's one last audio store here which I went to and was able to hear some Sonus Faber's and Revels.  They also have some Paradigm's, which next weekend I'm gonna bring in some CD's and listen to those and the Revel's.  The owner couldn't have been any nicer and it was a real pleasure to finally be able to REALLY hear something of some relative significance in relation to what I'm looking for.  Hearing those two speakers actually makes me wanna hear the three actives even more now, when before I was sorta a little unenthusiastic about having "only" three to choose from.  After yesterday, and it was only two speakers, but I atleast now have a (very) basic understanding now of stuff that I had no clue of what people were trying to describe - things like disappearing speakers, driver coherency, just how different bass can sound coming from two same sized woofers, and so on.  I'm not sure if they're considered completely opposite speakers, but there's no doubt that all three of the drivers (not sure if that's really what you call them all) but the bass, mids and treble of both it was easy to hear just how different sound can be implemented, with both being very appealing.  I may be over simplifying things here, but it seems that once you get to a certain price point and company pedigree, that it's easier to see why a certain speaker can be appealing to many even if it's not your exact cup of tea.  Also now easier to see why even if two of the drivers sounded identical to one another, that even a reasonably subtle difference in the third can make a difference to the overall tonal character and sway you to liking one over another.  This was really really fun and I'm dying to get back there and listen again, and was just the shot of adrenalin needed to get this done.  I can see why one would want to hear as many different speakers in their lifetime as possible, along with the rabbit hole it can produce.  Did I mention how fun this was.  

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7 minutes ago, RKO said:

Well things just took a complete left turn yesterday.  By really just a massive fluke, I found out there's one last audio store here which I went to and was able to hear some Sonus Faber's and Revels.  They also have some Paradigm's, which next weekend I'm gonna bring in some CD's and listen to those and the Revel's.  The owner couldn't have been any nicer and it was a real pleasure to finally be able to REALLY hear something of some relative significance in relation to what I'm looking for.  Hearing those two speakers actually makes me wanna hear the three actives even more now, when before I was sorta a little unenthusiastic about having "only" three to choose from.  After yesterday, and it was only two speakers, but I atleast now have a (very) basic understanding now of stuff that I had no clue of what people were trying to describe - things like disappearing speakers, driver coherency, just how different bass can sound coming from two same sized woofers, and so on.  I'm not sure if they're considered completely opposite speakers, but there's no doubt that all three of the drivers (not sure if that's really what you call them all) but the bass, mids and treble of both it was easy to hear just how different sound can be implemented, with both being very appealing.  I may be over simplifying things here, but it seems that once you get to a certain price point and company pedigree, that it's easier to see why a certain speaker can be appealing to many even if it's not your exact cup of tea.  Also now easier to see why even if two of the drivers sounded identical to one another, that even a reasonably subtle difference in the third can make a difference to the overall tonal character and sway you to liking one over another.  This was really really fun and I'm dying to get back there and listen again, and was just the shot of adrenalin needed to get this done.  I can see why one would want to hear as many different speakers in their lifetime as possible, along with the rabbit hole it can produce.  Did I mention how fun this was.  

 

I have heard all 3, and the fabers are probably on a different level, but so is price range...personally i would take the revel performa over the paradigms for same price break.

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56 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

have you tried the relatively new 705s2?  they are getting pretty good reviews...and if so, just curious what you don't like about them?

 

No, I meant the Def Tech's I didn't care for.  Those B&W's are way over my budget, I won't be looking at those.

 

51 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

 

I have heard all 3, and the fabers are probably on a different level, but so is price range...personally i would take the revel performa over the paradigms for same price break.

 

The good thing is - now I can actually decide for myself which I like better, lol!  I think it was the performa's that I heard, but the concerta's are more in my price range.

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16 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Yes.  Everything actually. 

 

And i may ask price after your answer ?

he said in his first post what his hardware is....but i didn't see any mention of a usb toy or better ps, so i hope he goes with enet dac....i still say for the money i would put it in a good amp, and go cheap on dac like using audio-linux and cheap dsd dac.

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1 hour ago, R1200CL said:

Yes.  Everything actually. 

 

And i may ask price after your answer ?

 

I have an absolute grand total of nothing.  Which is why I was looking at active speakers.  Finding this dealer was a complete fluke and I'm not thinking of amps and dacs until after I have another extended listening with these speakers and find out if I even like one enough to buy first.  Then will come an amp and dac thread.  But first things first. 

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On 11/17/2018 at 6:55 PM, RKO said:

 

What does that mean?  Amp?

Signal source to your most likely integrated amp. A common mistake of the new system purchaser is to throw all their money at speakers and amp, leaving

source as a low budget after thought. The experienced purchaser balances things out.

Just think GIGO (garbage in, garbage out).

In your shoes, buying a new system for about $2k, , should buy a streamer , DAC, integrated amplifier, and speakers.

 

1) You can probably cut corners on the integrated amp by buying a NAD C316BEE V2 at ~$400 as long as the speakers you buy are 89db

or greater efficiency. Get below that and you will need more "grunt" ($$) in the amp budget for bass. 

2) Keep the speaker simple... 2 drivers. Complex crossovers are not your friend when budget for amp is low. No one can tell you which speaker is right for your

tastes... but most good designers have a house sound that carries to their less expensive models.

3) DAC wise, check out Schiit's web site, the multibit Bifrost at $599 is probably the sweet spot for your budget . multibit and Gen 5 USB are important

4) streamers can cost but no reason not to start out with RPI 3 using dietPi. Give Roon a trial, you won't regret it

 

Regards,

Dave

 

Audio system

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Thanks for that.  Couple questions that will again show my naiveness in this whole process, but what is "source"..........I always just assumed source meant CD, Vinyl, etc........but after reading some about active speakers, they always say all you need is a "source" which can even be a smart phone.  No I don't plan on using a phone, but now I'm confused what a source actually is.  You mentioned that "people leave source as a low budget after thought" which I guess is implying that it's something you buy.......like an amp. 

 

The other thing is, I still haven't figured out exactly what I wanna do in this whole process.  At first I was just gonna order three actives from amazon and just pick one.  Then I heard the Sonus Faber's and Revels and now know why hearing them is of the utmost importance, too many different nuances going on.  I still think that all three of the actives are very fine speakers, and had I not heard the passives I would have been perfectly fine until the day where I may have asked myself if there's something out there that's a little more this, or a little more that.  But I'm a pretty thrifty guy, I easily may have used them for the next 20 years and used an EQ to iron out some of my "what ifs".  But I did hear those passives!!.........and now for the last couple days I can't get out of my head of taking a plane trip to San Francisco and listening to every last passive that I can get my hands on and then make a much more informed decision. 

 

Sorry I had a question in here somewhere.......if I should chose to go to SF, is there any graph, or chart, or numbers that I can look at beforehand that will tell me if a speaker plays well at lower volumes.  I don't know what lower means to everybody, I'm not talking whisper like levels........just.......lower.  If I knew of a way to figure that part out I could atleast see which stores have a greater number of those speakers for demo than to just start picking stores at random and wasting valuable time.  For instance, NHT speakers are based out of Benicia, Ca in the Bay Area.  If they showed on some graph that they basically sucked at lower level listening, then I could save a trip of going there.  Thanks for anymore info you can share.

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6 hours ago, RKO said:

what is "source"..........I always just assumed source meant CD, Vinyl, etc........but after reading some about active speakers, they always say all you need is a "source" which can even be a smart phone

 

The music (or whatever you listen to) signal comes out of a piece of source equipment, and can be modulated by a pre-amp or often just connected to an amp. Powered speakers have amps built-in and can usually take the signal directly from the source. (LP as a source needs a pre-pre-amplifier which takes the signal off the cartridge, modifies it to a 'flat' frequency response, and amplifies it to a higher level so it matches sources like CD, tuner, smart 'phone, etc.).

 

Neither passive speakers or active are necessarily better--it all depends on the specific implementation. Actives have a theoretical advantage in that the built-in amplifier(s) and driver crossovers can be specifically designed to the drivers.

 

6 hours ago, RKO said:

is there any graph, or chart, or numbers that I can look at beforehand that will tell me if a speaker plays well at lower volumes. 

 

Probably not. Speakers are often considered the most individual choice in a hi-fi system.

 

For a $2000 purchase lots of money spent on shipping or travel to listen is, IMO, not justified. Additionally, despite all the differences you will perceive between speakers, part of that difference will be the room, part will be amplification and source differences, making the sound in your room with your equipment different. You will probably find that you can enjoy any number of speakers--remember it's all about the music and your emotional reaction to it, not any chart, graph, or specification.

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Thanks guys, appreciate the responses.  I have too many thoughts rolling around in my head right now, really not sure at all which way I'm gonna go about this, have to give this some serious thought. 

 

And Happy Thanksgiving if it's still Thanksgiving where you are. 

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