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Help with choosing audio setup for an apartment/shared space

kemmler3D said:
Well, yes typically it's much worse with lower bass. But the goal is not to always listen quietly or with no bass, it's to avoid pissing off other people. Using good judgement on when to play speakers and how loud will always be important with other people in your living situation, forgoing subs is actually not the most important factor. As long as you are considerate you can have whatever kind of speaker you want.
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Yeah I had that in mind but high passing a sub at 70 hz kind of feels like a waste so I think I'm ok with getting it later on, wouldn't want to burn too big of a hole into my wallet lmao
 
kemmler3D said:
Well, yes typically it's much worse with lower bass. But the goal is not to always listen quietly or with no bass, it's to avoid pissing off other people. Using good judgement on when to play speakers and how loud will always be important with other people in your living situation, forgoing subs is actually not the most important factor. As long as you are considerate you can have whatever kind of speaker you want.
Click to expand...
hmm thank you for this!

oh yeah i have a question for you, i just did some measuring and found that i would only have 0.3-0.6 m distance from my ears to the speakers. Would that be good enough for a non-coaxial two-way design? From what i've researched, if using at absolutely nearfield or looking for good vertical movement, coaxials are the way to go. Non-coaxials make sense with normal distances. What do you think my friend?
 
Jiraya369 said:
hmm thank you for this!

oh yeah i have a question for you, i just did some measuring and found that i would only have 0.3-0.6 m distance from my ears to the speakers. Would that be good enough for a non-coaxial two-way design? From what i've researched, if using at absolutely nearfield or looking for good vertical movement, coaxials are the way to go. Non-coaxials make sense with normal distances. What do you think my friend?
Click to expand...
That's very close... I've seen a rule of thumb that you should be no closer than 3x the longest dimension of the speaker for normal 2- and 3- ways, so in that case coaxials might be the better choice.
 
kemmler3D said:
That's very close... I've seen a rule of thumb that you should be no closer than 3x the longest dimension of the speaker for normal 2- and 3- ways, so in that case coaxials might be the better choice.
Click to expand...
yeah i had a feeling i was flying too close to the sun ahaha, might make it work by pulling my table away from the wall and buying 2 speaker stands beside/behind the table and angling them 60 degrees from me/forming a 60 degree angle with the left and right speaker instead of within 30-45 degrees on the desk
 
Jiraya369 said:
yeah i had a feeling i was flying too close to the sun ahaha, might make it work by pulling my table away from the wall and buying 2 speaker stands beside/behind the table and angling them 60 degrees from me/forming a 60 degree angle with the left and right speaker instead of within 30-45 degrees on the desk
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You can definitely get creative with speaker stands, I have my genelecs attached to monitor (like computer monitor) arms on the back corners of my desk. I think it's worth looking into.
 
Can you show a picture of your desk so we can see the space better?
 
Mike_Trueman said:
Can you show a picture of your desk so we can see the space better?
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it's completely messy and i did give you the exact measurements of my room, a photo and of the table as well and i haven't cleaned up in a few months properly lol sorry

im gonna clean it up when i get my speakers but until then it's gonna stay messy and weird
 
Jiraya369 said:
it's completely messy and i did give you the exact measurements of my room, a photo and of the table as well and i haven't cleaned up in a few months properly lol sorry

im gonna clean it up when i get my speakers but until then it's gonna stay messy and weird
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haha, maybe use photoshop to clean up. :)
 
Space is clearly at a premium here, both esthetically and sonically. I would forget spending money on a subwoofer. Pumping deep bass in a small room (with neigbours as well) is asking for trouble: the money is much better spent on the best speakers you can get. Assuming you will not live in such a tiny appartment for the rest of your life, just get the best small speakers you can get, and add two (!) subwoofers once you have space for them. Consider Neumann KH-80 or KH-120 actives and a WiiM streamer/preamp. This will give you the probably best possible sound and the least amount of clutter.
 
Willem said:
Space is clearly at a premium here, both esthetically and sonically. I would forget spending money on a subwoofer. Pumping deep bass in a small room (with neigbours as well) is asking for trouble: the money is much better spent on the best speakers you can get. Assuming you will not live in such a tiny appartment for the rest of your life, just get the best small speakers you can get, and add two (!) subwoofers once you have space for them. Consider Neumann KH-80 or KH-120 actives and a WiiM streamer/preamp. This will give you the probably best possible sound and the least amount of clutter.
Click to expand...
what's wrong with the ascilab stuff? And yeah the subwoofer is coming later on, i just want some sound going rn.
Why would I use a WiiM streamer if I'm using a pc (laptop actually) btw? Would it not be redundant with active stuff? Would a normal Topping DAC not make more sense and actually be higher quality?

The recommended distance for the 120 ii is 1m/3 feet and minimum/feasible distance is given as 0.75m/2.6 feet. Seems to me that it's asking for a similar distance as the C6B. Purite Audio guys did a check at 1m and found the Ascilab speakers to be alright, I asked them to do a check at 0.5 m and they're doing it. Ascilab have said that 1m is fine and even lower is possible but I want to know if 0.5 m is too little.

I don't mind clutter, I don't mind filling up my whole desk with the speaker/amp setup. I don't even care about looks. I just want the best possible sound at a reasonable budget. For just over the KH80's price where I live, I can get the Ascilab C6B and a Fosi ZA3 amp. I was going to pair them up with a Topping DX3 Pro+/DX5 II anyways as I am going to get headphones later on as well.

And again, based on what you're saying, assuming im not living in a small space all my life, would it not make sense to get the Ascilab C6B? It's actually meant for bigger spaces and has more headroom in terms of distortion. Moreover, I'm willing to forego convenience and get speaker stands beside my table and move my table a bit back from the wall towards the bed so that there's a 1 m triangle with the speakers. Will be like a 60 degree triangle in this case instead of a 30-45 degree one

The only issue im facing is the subwoofer bass management that i will face later on. Unless I use a Wiim amp or a Minidsp flex as an interface, i wouldn't really get good subwoofer integration it seems. But that's a problem for later on and I'm going to make a post asking about it.
 
Mike_Trueman said:
haha, maybe use photoshop to clean up. :)
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sorry brother but what would you even need that info for? I've given more than enough info and how i am willing to set things up already. Idk what sending pics will do
 
Joe Smith said:
Don't use a sub...my advice...not ideal in your room size and proximity to others...
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i mean eq can certainly help with the room, no?

key issue is proximity to others but if i talk with em and find out a nice time to use em it'll be all good, like weekend afternoons or something.

Main problem would be properly connecting it all LOL
 
Jiraya369 said:
what's wrong with the ascilab stuff? And yeah the subwoofer is coming later on, i just want some sound going rn.
Why would I use a WiiM streamer if I'm using a pc (laptop actually) btw? Would it not be redundant with active stuff? Would a normal Topping DAC not make more sense and actually be higher quality?

The recommended distance for the 120 ii is 1m/3 feet and minimum/feasible distance is given as 0.75m/2.6 feet. Seems to me that it's asking for a similar distance as the C6B. Purite Audio guys did a check at 1m and found the Ascilab speakers to be alright, I asked them to do a check at 0.5 m and they're doing it. Ascilab have said that 1m is fine and even lower is possible but I want to know if 0.5 m is too little.

I don't mind clutter, I don't mind filling up my whole desk with the speaker/amp setup. I don't even care about looks. I just want the best possible sound at a reasonable budget. For just over the KH80's price where I live, I can get the Ascilab C6B and a Fosi ZA3 amp. I was going to pair them up with a Topping DX3 Pro+/DX5 II anyways as I am going to get headphones later on as well.

And again, based on what you're saying, assuming im not living in a small space all my life, would it not make sense to get the Ascilab C6B? It's actually meant for bigger spaces and has more headroom in terms of distortion. Moreover, I'm willing to forego convenience and get speaker stands beside my table and move my table a bit back from the wall towards the bed so that there's a 1 m triangle with the speakers. Will be like a 60 degree triangle in this case instead of a 30-45 degree one

The only issue im facing is the subwoofer bass management that i will face later on. Unless I use a Wiim amp or a Minidsp flex as an interface, i wouldn't really get good subwoofer integration it seems. But that's a problem for later on and I'm going to make a post asking about it.
Click to expand...
could get a sub with built-in dsp
 
Jiraya369 said:
Hey guys, been roaming this site for a little while and only recently dove deeper due to my recent knack for speakers. I was thinking of getting a new laptop and saving up for it but my love for audio wins over anything rn lmao so im just gonna save up for audio stuff. Distance from where I want the speakers to be to my table and then my bed position is ~1m and then ~3m.

I live in an apartment/shared space, there's a room right beside mine and my door connects to a hallway. Room is ~20x~14 feet.

After which I will use it for both nearfield and midfield listening. Nearfield on the table and midfield on the bed, ofc it's not going to be perfect as the distance and the angles will not be the same, resulting in a compromised experience but would be better than nothing i think.

But then I started researching speakers and just was so fascinated.

For the KEF the driver design ought to allow me to sit up and down and give me a more focused yet slightly wider soundstage vertically but what else apart from that and dynamics/distortion?

Additionally, what would you say I should do? Is it alright going for a speaker setup in this shared space or should I go for headphones? I was thinking of covering up the door's bottom part with some damper type thing and then getting a thick mattress/curtain and keep it near the door and then put it in front of it to stop the sound from going out too much or something lol. So yeah what do you guys think and what should i do?
Click to expand...
Get foam weatherstripping for the door and a floor sweep for the bottom of the door.
You could even use one of those fabric tubes filled with whatever to block the gap at the floor.
Maybe hang a carpet on the door? Is the door solid core, hollow core or panels?
Jiraya369 said:
Speakers :

KEF LSX II LT : 1,123 USD
Click to expand...
The LSX II LT are $999 on the KEF website.
They’re great for a small space.

Take a look at KEF LSX II, too.
They support a higher sampling rate when using the interspeaker RJ45 cable.

Since both models are fully powered there’s no need to buy an amp/integrated amp.
You can stream directly to them via wi-fi from your phone or computer.

I have the original LSX in my bedroom (about the same size as your room).
I added a KEF KUBE 10 subwoofer.
They’re connected to an Apple TV 4K, and a computer monitor for video streaming.
 
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