Best value/cheap DAC+AMP and build feedback

[Samuli]

Hello everybody! I've been reading this forum for a few days now and now asking for your input on what I should buy in terms of a DAC + AMP. I'm planning a new build with two towers that both have two 12" coaxial Eminence Beta CX 250W 8 ohm elements. My setup will be my living room TV and it's spotify app with 320kbps quality / Beatport / SoundCloud. Mostly EDM music, house and trance, which seems to differ from the usual jazz which seems that most of the people on the forum like to listen. Please don't beat me for it hehe

My current plan is this: TV -> Optical -> DAC -> XLR -> Behringer A800 -> RCA -> Speakers

My question is which DAC should I choose preferrably on the cheap end of the spectrum. Also is there any better choice for an AMP? I'm looking to spend 500-600 euros including both DAC and AMP. The A800 is 200 euros. I was looking at the SMSL D300 or Loxjie D40, but do they actually offer anything worthwhile considering my intended use case, more than say a Topping E50 DAC? Any other feedback is welcome also.

I already own a pair of Genelec G1 and a Genelec sub for my PC nearfield listening which I'm very happy with. This is intended to be on the bigger end of the spectrum, mostly because I like to build and tinker. Picture below of a similar setup and what is to come:

 

[AnalogSteph]

I suppose your build is not going to be a dipole though? Given your music preferences, I'd go for more of a closed box of appropriate size... in fact, eyeing the Beta-12CX response graph, BR would be more like it if you want any deep bass to speak of. (These are more intended for stage applications, where they make quite the racket down to around 100 Hz.) I'm also assuming only one of the potentially coaxial woofers is going to have a matching tweeter inside, and you'll be spending a fair bit of time measuring and tweaking the crossover?

With two 97 dB/2.83V/m woofers and assuming a tweeter sensitivity matching that, I do not think the rather high power, fairly low dynamic range A800 is a good idea. The hiss might end up driving you bonkers (unless you are already semi-deaf as-is). I'd rather be using a garden variety AV receiver, which happens to have a number of key advantages, notably a built-in DAC that should be serviceable enough along with bass management and a sub output. It doesn't necessarily have to be a new one, just pick a model that has proven decently reliable and would have been at least midrange in its day, so you don't get the wimpiest power supply section imaginable. Most newer ones aren't very noisy, I might stay away from H/K though.

Going about it like that, you could go for a 2.1 or 2.2 setup instead. Probably a better idea anyway. Then you could go for a single Beta-12CX in CB and make a sub or two, where the A800 might in fact come in handy... but look for suitable dedicated plate amps as well (or even entire used subs). PA-style sub drivers can be quite enormous, like 18" or even 21", so you may have to settle for a less sensitive, longer stroke driver and more amplifier power. Your system needs to be able to reproduce plenty of bass either way, and I don't see that happening with what you have planned right now.

 

[Samuli]

I suppose your build is not going to be a dipole though? Given your music preferences, I'd go for more of a closed box of appropriate size... in fact, eyeing the Beta-12CX response graph, BR would be more like it if you want any deep bass to speak of. (These are more intended for stage applications, where they make quite the racket down to around 100 Hz.) I'm also assuming only one of the potentially coaxial woofers is going to have a matching tweeter inside, and you'll be spending a fair bit of time measuring and tweaking the crossover?

With two 97 dB/2.83V/m woofers and assuming a tweeter sensitivity matching that, I do not think the rather high power, fairly low dynamic range A800 is a good idea. The hiss might end up driving you bonkers (unless you are already semi-deaf as-is). I'd rather be using a garden variety AV receiver, which happens to have a number of key advantages, notably a built-in DAC that should be serviceable enough along with bass management and a sub output. It doesn't necessarily have to be a new one, just pick a model that has proven decently reliable and would have been at least midrange in its day, so you don't get the wimpiest power supply section imaginable. Most newer ones aren't very noisy, I might stay away from H/K though.

Going about it like that, you could go for a 2.1 or 2.2 setup instead. Probably a better idea anyway. Then you could go for a single Beta-12CX in CB and make a sub or two, where the A800 might in fact come in handy... but look for suitable dedicated plate amps as well (or even entire used subs). PA-style sub drivers can be quite enormous, like 18" or even 21", so you may have to settle for a less sensitive, longer stroke driver and more amplifier power. Your system needs to be able to reproduce plenty of bass either way, and I don't see that happening with what you have planned right now.

This is very good feedback, thank you. Like I said, I'm no audio engineer and I'm open to suggestions of what I should build. I'm in this mainly for the fun of building something new and to experiment. Initially I was looking to build a closed box but got steered away from it towards this open setup, mainly because of aesthetics/try something new and a guy said it "produces tight and authoritative bass" which I just thought "ok that sounds good to me". I suppose this is something that is up to each listener I guess. Also with bigger elements than what I have in my Genelec G1 + Genelec F One sub setup I was hoping to avoid the need for a separate sub (the looks of which will annoy my GF lol).

This setup was advertised to direct the sound to the listening spot more than a closed box which "emits sound all around the room". This directed sound I thought will annoy my neighbor less even though I'm not gonna go stupid with the volume.

The source/planning for this project is a Finnish company called Uraltone, who have planned this build. It can be optioned with 2x12, 4x12, 2x15 or 4x15 inch elements in each tower. Also I need to correct my earlier statement, the build comes with a 12CX Beta coaxial + 12" bass element per tower making it a 2.5 channel dipoli system and the 4 element towers are 1 coax + 3 subs making it a 2.5.5 speakers (this is my rough translation from the site linked below). The 12" is advertised to reach down to 45hz and the 15" to 30hz, I'm interested in the 2x12" setup. The build also comes with a ready crossover planned for this setup. Maybe you can try to google translate the page if you're interested.

UralTone Äänilevy Dipolikaiutinrakennussarja

UralTone Äänilevy Dipolikaiutinrakennussarja

uraltone.com

I'm probably bad at translating some of this stuff to English so I apologize for that. Do you still think this build would not be good for my use case?