First Home-hifi

[houjous]

budget is 500usd (with some wiggle room.) I am building for a smallish room so I want to start with the Airmotiv B1+ which gives me about 250 usd to work with. Cheapaudioman suggests AIYIMA T8 and AIYIMA A08 to complete the circuit and add the Emotiva SE8 Subwoofer when I can afford a Sub. Since the Aiyima A08 is nearly impossible to get right now (amazon wants a 2 month waiting period and aiyima main page wants more money). Do you guys/gals have a suggestion for either an equally good poweramp that would work with this setup? else do you know any other preamp+poweramp that fits better in the same price range?

Thanks!

Edit: I really like that A08 because it's a 300x2 wattage system which seems like enough that If I wanted to upgrade my speakers I wouldn't need to change the Poweramp right away.

Edit2: music type most often listened to - Rock/alt-rock/metal

 

[Zek]

I really like that A08 because it's a 300x2 wattage system

Are you kidding?

 

[mhardy6647]

Are you kidding?

a little headroom?

 

[Lambda]

I would go with powered monitors and an D10B DAC in ths budget range.
But if you want this speakers there is not mush room to fit an proper DAC and AMP in the <250€ budget.
Maybe the AIYIMA amp is good enough but it is not "high end"

look at this inductors compared to the topping pa5

and the PA5 makes 80W...

So you think it will make ~4 times the power?

 

[houjous]

@Lambda Thanks for the Directionals; I know that 250 is a tough price range that's why I said + wiggle room. If it reaches 600-650 I can deal but that extra 100-150 is really to place in shipping and tax. Do you have a preference between the D10 Balanced vs the D10S? As for your statement about the PA5 vs the A08 being 80w vs 300W x2: That's why I was asking. The youtuber made it sound it was great for the money but since budget is budget. These 3 products (B1+, A08 & T8) sounded the best of the products for a 500-1000usd setup.

Basically my goal for my first setup is something that is just at hifi levels but can easily be switched out piece by piece when I can grow into better pieces.

 

[Webninja]

I second the suggestion for powered monitors. JBL or Kali should have models that fit your budget. Add a sub down the road and it’ll be a decent, inexpensive system.

 

[DanielT]

A little headroom is nice to have but you can forget that you can cream out 2x 300 W from AIYIMA A08.Or maybe but then it sounds too damn bad. 600 W , these are joy figures from Texas Instruments (the chip in Aiyima, TPA 3255, the motor in the amplifier..so so to speak). See attached picture and you will understand and yes when the distortion increased so dramatically it is guaranteed to be audible. And unpleasant.

If you want fairly decent, many watt for a small penny, you can take this:

Conclusions
The Behringer A800 does what pro amps try to do: provide solid, middle-of-the-road distortion and noise with tons of power in quiet and light package for little money. The design is stable and better than the A500. As such, I can recommend the A800 as an everyday amplifier.

Behringer A800 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Behringer A800 Class D Stereo Amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member. The A800 costs US $299 including free shipping from multiple sites. The member who loaned it me has done a youtube video of it which you can see by clicking on this...

audiosciencereview.com

Edit:
If you need so much power? As others have pointed out. Try to invest in subwoofers. For subs, however, it can be good with a lot of effect. They have a tendency to eat watts, so to speak.
Then the subwoofer should be integrated with the top speakers in a sensible way. But it may well be a later question for you if you are thinking about sub.

 

[Lambda]

Do you have a preference between the D10 Balanced vs the D10S?

Well Blanched is future proof. your gonna get more output level and less interference noises problems.
This is especially good to have if you want to connect an PC to Powered monitor speakers.

The D10B will be Audible transparent. You won't out grow any time soon (it in terms of sound performance)
But it is missing and Coax and Toslink IN. in case you want to connect more devices to it.

The youtuber made it sound it was great for the money but since budget is budget.

Maybe it is. but it is not real 300W. expect more like clean 30W and lots of distortion past this.
We are all used to over hyped power number so 30W for real are not that bad at all specially if you want to uses a sub woofer.

 

[houjous]

So this conversation just got a fork in it. I found a new competitor for speakers and its going to change the entire dynamic of this convo The Klipsch RP-6000F floorstanding speakers. Technically its a 700dollar speaker but its 0apr at 60bucks a month on their main webpage. that opens me up for lot more room in the DAC/Amp department. I'm now open to anything ~440 + 60/m total price or 150/m total. If the D10B is still worthy of the extra room; it does look like the right buy

 

[Webninja]

I haven’t seen a Klipsch that measures well, but many people enjoy their sound.

I suggest trying to listen to them before purchase.

I still think powered speakers give you lots of value, but I too enjoy the look of towers.

 

[houjous]

I haven’t seen a Klipsch that measures well, but many people enjoy their sound.

I suggest trying to listen to them before purchase.

I still think powered speakers give you lots of value, but I too enjoy the look of towers.

only information I get about power speakers when googling them bring me to amazon and amazon like places that don't really give information. what are are good pair of power speakers brands that have a budget pair of 250 or has a monthly 0arp?

 

[Webninja]

Lots of great reviews on speakers on this site and you can filter by price. For monthly payments that will probably depend on the retailer.

Speaker Review and Measurement Index

Master database of speaker review and measurements

www.audiosciencereview.com

I have the JBL 305s, which I got for under $250 on sale.

You said smallish room, what dimensions and how far will you be from the speakers?

 

[houjous]

@Webninja thanks that helped a ton!

Lots of great reviews on speakers on this site and you can filter by price. For monthly payments that will probably depend on the retailer.

Speaker Review and Measurement Index

Master database of speaker review and measurements

www.audiosciencereview.com

I have the JBL 305s, which I got for under $250 on sale.

You said smallish room, what dimensions and how far will you be from the speakers?

so the room is around 9ft(height),14ft (width), 25ft(depth) but the left width wall is semi-open to the next room. I'm getting a room divider eventually to close it off mostly.

305s? are these what your talking about? https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Professional-Next-Generation-Powered-305PMKII/dp/B077N2GQXC?th=1

 

[NiagaraPete]

I second the suggestion for powered monitors. JBL or Kali should have models that fit your budget. Add a sub down the road and it’ll be a decent, inexpensive system.

I'd go that approach as well. Kali and a DAC with volume.

 

[houjous]

I'd go that approach as well. Kali and a DAC with volume.

how does the Kali Audio IN-5 compare to the JBL 305's?

 

[Lambda]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...tions-around-the-t5v-range.24485/#post-943534
Maybe the Adam tv5 or Yamaha HS would be a good start

 

[houjous]

I found a site (sweetwater.com) which is doing a 0apr for almost no money for 48 months. Found the Kali Audio IN-5. any one got a good idea of a amp/dac that I could pull from this site so i can use that 0apr to its fullest?

 

[houjous]

found the Behringer A800, just need a dac now

 

[TimW]

Erin's Audio Corner does measurements of speakers using the same Klippel system as Amir and also does YouTube videos if that's your style. Here is a video comparison of the Kali LP-6 and LP-8. Both models have excellent performance for the price and it makes passive speakers in the same price range less appealing.

I haven’t seen a Klipsch that measures well, but many people enjoy their sound.

The Klipsch RP-8000F was measured on Audioholics and it actually looks pretty decent.

 

[Godataloss]

@Webninja

so the room is around 9ft(height),14ft (width), 25ft(depth) but the left width wall is semi-open to the next room. I'm getting a room divider eventually to close it off mostly.

That is a medium to large-ish room. Small powered speakers would likely be a mistake as I get the impression you are looking to rawk out. The Klipsch speakers would be a good fit is this case. A side benefit is that Klipsch speakers are pretty easy to sell in the secondary market if you want something better in the future. I bought and sold several Klipsch models on the used market and always made money doing it. It's a handy way to support your hobby.