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Has the General Rule of Audio changed?
- Thread starter Steven Holt
- Start date
Robin L
Master Contributor
Unless you're buying used and know what you're doing. Infinity Primus 360 speakers have very good performance. They cost $658 a pair when they first appeared. I bought mine for $40 the pair.
TurtlePaul
Major Contributor
I feel like this is a significant waste of money on electronics. I will just put this out here:
Ascend Sierra 1 v2 $1000
Fosi v3 Mono x2 $275
MiniDSP Flex Balanced $550
MiniDSP UMIK-1 $125
HSU VTF-TN1 $1200
I was able to add room measurement and DSP with active crossover and a sub that will play happily below 20 hz, and the final price is $125 less. The problem with you proposed setup is that being able to have 120 dB SINAD electronics is much less impactful on our listening experience than having bass. For a $3,300 system, I would much rather have a three-way system than tweeter/woofer bookshelf speakers with excellent electronics.
If you don't like subwoofers, it is also possible to get a system with Sierra towers for your $3,300 budget, if you use reasonable but affordable electronics.
Used to be Music media 50% equipment 50% but streaming has changed that. 500 months (42 yrs) to equal your $7500 system
Ken1951
Major Contributor
For me it's a little lopsided: Paradigm Signature S8 v.1 & C3 center - driven by Yamaha RX-A840 (center and rears only) and Adcom GFA-555 (bought new 35 or so years ago). So at the original prices for electronics = $1300 - I know to replace the Adcom would be more expensive today as would the Yamaha. So about $9K for speakers v. $1.3K for electronics. I'd do the same thing today. Passives for me all the way. I've not seen any actives that I could stand the look of to put in my home.
Multicore
Major Contributor
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I think it's not about percents now. Figure out what WiiM is suitable for you and whatever is left gets spent on speakers. So the percent allocation depends greatly on budget. WiiM Pro Plus and JBL 305P is a very different ratio from WiiM Ultra and Genelec 8361A.
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Ken1951
Major Contributor
Nope. Not at all. I prefer real wood, preferably natural cherry. That's what fits with our decor and what I really like.
Lovely. But they have bigger brothers as well that look even more - lovely. Pity they are priced out of this world though.
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Understood. I much prefer the painted look myself, but aesthetics are as subjective as it gets.
DVDdoug
Master Contributor
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Going a bit off-topic or maybe "outside of the box"... With headphones or in-ears there is almost no correlation between sound quality and price. There are inexpensive good-sounding headphones and not-so-good sounding very expensive headphones. It is a "different experience" compared to listening with speakers and personal preference varies but it's an economical way to get good sound. But of course, the more budget you have the more choice you have. And there are other considerations besides sound quality, like comfort, or if you want sealed or hear-through, and ruggedness, etc.
With your cell phone and the AKG K371 headphones ($150) or the Truthear GATE IEMs $17 you can get essentially unbeatable sound quality! And if your phone doesn't have a headphone jack, the highly-regarded Apple Dongle is only $10.
With your cell phone and the AKG K371 headphones ($150) or the Truthear GATE IEMs $17 you can get essentially unbeatable sound quality! And if your phone doesn't have a headphone jack, the highly-regarded Apple Dongle is only $10.
PristineSound
Major Contributor
There's many ways to skin a cat, so this works too. If you take the subwoofer out of the equation, speakers is about 50%. It's hard to do more than 50% at this budget.
The other thing I want to add is, of aesthetics matters, then your gonna have to spend more money.
Ken1951
Major Contributor
I bought last year a pair of the 7Hz IEMs and when listening to music on YouTube on my MacBook Pro it is simply stunning to me. And I think I spent about $20 or so on the IEMs? The MacBook I bought around XMAS to replace a hand-me-down one from son #1 I'd been using for ages, so I don't count that
I know just the thing. These tanks:
Canton Ergo RC-L and the very similar sister model SC-L from the late 90s. Really nice cherry veneer, nicely neutral, and a thunder bass from hell if needed. Subwoofer for music? Definitely not neccessary. Very cheap, around 400 in Europe.
TurtlePaul
Major Contributor
As somebody listening to Revel F206 powered by Fosi v3 and MiniDSP 2x4 HD right now, I disagree.
Robin L
Master Contributor
What I have now:
Infinity Primus 250s (my stepson has the 360s)—$30
Yamaha RX-V461—$50 (AVR, pre HDMI but has 100 watts a side and a line level out for the sub).
Sonance Son of Sub—$50
Acer Aspire 5 (source for streaming and EQ of streaming)—$350
Topping E30 DAC—$130
Topping L30 Headphone amp/preamp (I use it as volume control)—$130
Sony BDP-BX57 Blu-Ray (SACD capable) player—$8
Generic remote for the Blu-Ray player—$10
Total—$758 (not counting my headphones).
Considering that I'm essentially using the system as a desktop monitor in a small room, I'm getting as much performance as I can use. Any more would be overkill. As it is, the speakers go down to lower than 30hz, the quality of imaging is great, I can easily hear inner details of orchestra recordings.
DSJR
Master Contributor
Absolutely, but there's one MAJOR flaw in earpiece or headphone listening - you can't physically FEEL the music in your chest or wherever. Got to say I rather miss the music pinning me to the wall behind half my life ago (I suspect my ex-neighbours miss me too
), but I do admit, inexpensive iems like the little Gates or Zero 2 are so incredibly good at what they do as long as a decent ear-seal is obtained 
PristineSound
Major Contributor
Special thanks to Fosi, for making extraordinarily affordable amps. Also special thanks to chip amps.
But yes, it can be done.
Ken1951
Major Contributor
I know just the thing. These tanks:
View attachment 468149
Canton Ergo RC-L and the very similar sister model SC-L from the late 90s. Really nice cherry veneer, nicely neutral, and a thunder bass from hell if needed. Subwoofer for music? Definitely not neccessary. Very cheap, around 400 in Europe.
These look great and, at least to me, sound wonderful. Can't foresee any reason to replace them.
