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Advice on my proposed 'forever' system

greyhound

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Hi there

I'm thinking of building what I am optomistically calling my Forever System, but am way out of my depth and could do with some advice.

A bit of background first - I've been producing music as a hobby for around 20 years now, and have always used Active Monitors. I'm particularly enamoured with the Dynaudio sound, and have used a pair of BM5As with a BM9S for maybe 15 years now.

Upstairs in our living room I'm running a pair of Dynaudio Xeo4. They're ok, but I'd like to significantly upgrade. Whatever we upgrade to will need to pass the visual test for my partner though ;)

I realise that probably the biggest difference I'm realistically going to make is with room correction and/or dynamic eq. Room correction is right out (we'll be moving house in the coming months and anyway there's no way bass traps etc will pass the visual test!) so I've been looking at Dirac and RoomPerfect.

I like what I've read about RoomPerfect, and currently am planning on getting the Lyngdorf TDAi 1120 as it has streaming capability, seems good value, and will be less painful to upgrade if/when technology improves substantially.

The rest of the system would (optimistically) be for the rest of my life. So, I'm thinking of pairing the Lyngdorf with pair of Dynaudio Contour 30i, and using my existing Technics SL1210, which has sentimental value shall we say.

My main worries are:

1. Is the Lyngdorf very underpowered for the Dynaudios? If so would something like the Benchmark AHB2 help? I dont really understand speaker sensitivity calculations etc. I dont intend to be bothering the neighbourhood with 110db of volume but also dont want to run into problems with the amp straining or whatever.

2. My current listening room is quite small (5m x 3.8m, some under eaves). Would floorstanders be overpowering?

Sorry for the noob questions, but I figured if anyone can help it's the people in this lovely forum!
 

f1shb0n3

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Room correction with EQ would be the first thing I would try. In my experience this makes a huge like night and day difference. There are flaws in all speakers, rooms always influence the sound in some negative way and the combinations of both is always suboptimal. I found great success with Dirac Live - it does not only frequency response correction which improves tonality but also impulse response correction which fixes timing issues and improves imaging. Dirac Live has been transformative for my office desk and patio stereo systems and I'm also upgrading my home theater with Dirac Live enabled receiver.

As for speaker and amplifier recommendation, this forum is very biased (for a good reason) towards well measuring gear and the typical recommendation would be HypeX or Purify based class D amps and Revel speakers. Pair it with a Dirac Live processor like MiniDSP SHD and your satisfaction is almost certainly guaranteed!
 

Phorize

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You can’t go wrong with a well made purifi, hypex or benchmark amp provided you think about your power requirements. Speakers are more complicated-it depends a lot on what you are aiming on frequency range etc and your listening position/s and room dimensions etc. RQ and room correction is a must if this is your endgame. What at the room like?
 

escksu

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The Lyngdorf TDAi 1120 is rated 120W into 4 ohms, not enough for the 30i.

Dynaudio speakers need alot of power to really shine. Separates would be the best. But if you want to go for integrated, I think the Krell K-300i would be a good choice. If not, Class-A amps from Krell or similar brands would be the best.
 
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Vini darko

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One thing to consider with a forever system is will the manufacturer of a given piece of gear still exsit in 20 years and be able to look after me?
Edit: welcome to asr
 
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escksu

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One thing to consider with a forever system is will the manufacturer of a given piece of gear still exsit in 20 years and be able to look after me?
Edit: welcome to asr

Yes, of course. High end manufacturers aren't going away anytime soon. 10-20yrs old gear are still highly sought after today.
 

Walter

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I would actually avoid Class A, unless you just enjoy paying high electricity bills or need an amp that can double as a space heater. I'd suggest a good Class D (Hypex/Purifi) or class AB (many good choices, with Benchmark maybe being the best value). While the big name manufacturers like Krell or Mark Levinson may indeed have a better chance of still being around in 20 years, that does not automatically make them a better choice. If you can by an amp with the same power that is audibly indistinguishable--and most here would say you can--for $500 to $3000, and it fails in 10 years and the manufacturer is out of business and parts are unavailable (very unlikely for an amp using Hypex modules), you can probably buy something then that is both better and cheaper and still have a lot of money left from the $10,000 or more you would have spent on the big name amp. Granted, if I had enough money that $10K-$50K was not important to me, I'd buy Mark Levinson amps and preamps, but short of that, I would not, even for my "forever" system.

EDIT: If you want buy from a brand that will still be around in 20 years, there is the NAD C 298. It costs a bit more than other Purifi amps, but a lot less than the big name luxury brands.

Floor standers are not automatically too big for your space, but they can be more difficult to integrate with the room modes in unusually shaped spaces than stand mounts plus a sub (or better yet, two). If possible, buy from a dealer who will let you do an in-home audition, where you can try them out along with the free preview version of Dirac. (Even if you end up buying a different room correction system, this will give you an idea of what is possible.) If you are not happy with the results, see if you can also audition the Contour 20 or any of many other excellent stand mount speakers, along with whatever high quality powered subwoofers are available where you live. Maybe the Lyndorf would then have adequate power, if it does not need to provide the "umph" for the lower bass. (But I have no idea if Lyngdorf Room Correction can properly time/phase align separate subs.)
 
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garbz

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Yes, of course. High end manufacturers aren't going away anytime soon. 10-20yrs old gear are still highly sought after today.
I think a better saying would be, if the high end manufacturer existed when your grandfather was alive they aren't going away anytime soon. But nothing's guaranteed. B&W was bought by a tech bro funded by a VC to produce digital garbage and their future was very uncertain.
Also there's plenty of new high end companies out there. I'm currently very much on the fence about getting a set of Dutch and Dutch 8Cs, and that company has a single product and is barely older than COVID. Zero guarantees they'll be around in 10-20 years.
 

escksu

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I think a better saying would be, if the high end manufacturer existed when your grandfather was alive they aren't going away anytime soon. But nothing's guaranteed. B&W was bought by a tech bro funded by a VC to produce digital garbage and their future was very uncertain.
Also there's plenty of new high end companies out there. I'm currently very much on the fence about getting a set of Dutch and Dutch 8Cs, and that company has a single product and is barely older than COVID. Zero guarantees they'll be around in 10-20 years.

I do agree that nothing is guaranteed.
 
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escksu

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One thing to consider with a forever system is will the manufacturer of a given piece of gear still exsit in 20 years and be able to look after me?
Edit: welcome to asr

Its actually not that important. Because many modern electronics are no longer feasible to repair. They are mostly SMD components and ICs instead of discrete ones. Even if you need to repair, the manufacturer will only swap out the entire circuit board.
 

MarkS

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Even if the manufacturer is still around, there is no guarantee that they will support an old product.
 

phoenixdogfan

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Since you seem to like active speakers, I would not hesitate to suggest something like the Genelec 8351s. They don't quite hit 20 hz, so you could pair them with a couple of subs. Genelec makes a cutting edge sub, but it is uber expensive. I think you could get 90-95 percent of what that sub offers by going with two of the higher end SVS models, and then using the miniDSP SHD Studio as your digital preamp/crossover/eq/room correction device (it uses the State of the Art Dirac Live DSP).

And Genelec should be there for you right up to the time you start your big dirt nap.
 

mjcmt

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Hi there

I'm particularly enamoured with the Dynaudio sound.
Upstairs in our living room I'm running a pair of Dynaudio Xeo4. They're ok, but I'd like to significantly upgrade. Whatever we upgrade to will need to pass the visual test.
The Dynaudio Aniversary 40 is superb but you'l need a quality amp to.
If you have the budget the Heritage Special is at the top of their stand mounted speaker game.
 

stevenswall

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Even if the manufacturer is still around, there is no guarantee that they will support an old product.

Genelec will support an old product.
 
OP
G

greyhound

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Wow I had no responses to this thread for a couple of months and then a load in a short time! Thanks all for your feedback :)

I've spent these past months doing a bunch more reading of the reviews on this site and other threads on the forum. I've apparently been doing this without being logged in so only just saw all these replies.

Anyway, I think it's fair to say that my thinking has changed as I've learned more. Right now I'm leaning back towards Actives, and probably going to go with Genelec. I'm trying to decide between getting the 8340s and a sub shortly after, or saving a lot more and going with 8341s.

A tough choice as there's a big price difference, and part of me says that even the 8340s will be a huge upgrade. Also I quite like the grilles on the 8340s, not least because I have a 5 year old in the house...
 
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