My system as of now or: My Hi Fi a series of compromises

[Urvile]

Last couple of years I've been building my 3.1 system, spent a fair amount of money, and I've made some compromises, and I think I'm done for now.
I'd like to hear what others think of my choices, It's not a perfect system, to even get close would mean spending much more than I did.

Speakers:
LR are Polk R700, they are the reason I'm here, fell in love with them and they punch way beyond their price point.
Center is a L400 They are a lot like the R700s. I'd had several centers previously, never understood why they never seemed to perform all that well until I found ASR. (The wonder of science and engineering)

In my experience the R700s are not a 8 Ohm speaker -- they like the L400 3.4 ohms → 4 ohms None of the AVRs drove them well.

Subwoofer is a Polk HTS 12, once again bought before ASR, I would have picked a different one if I could choose again, but it does well enough, I know know there are better.

AVR:
Denon AVR-X3800H, this purchase pains me a bit, Amir couldn't recommend it, and I respect his reasons. There are so few AVRs that have pre-outs and all the features that I want.
I knew it didn't have the amp that I needed.

AMP:
Buckeye Purifi 3 channel amp. Once again Amir couldn't recommend ( He did say the problem was probably inaudible, and so far I can find no fault )

I'm using a Fire Cube to drive it all, and my display is a LG OLED tv.

To me it sounds great!


So a system of compromises, still not cheap.

2000.00 for the R700
1400.00 for the L400
450.00 for the subwoofer
1600.00+ for the AVR
1600.00 for the AMP

$ 7050.00

Opinions?

 

[kemmler3D]

Looks decent to me, the only rough part is that you really paid for amps twice with the AVR and the Buckeye. If there were some way to get the ins and outs you need cheaper, and then sell the AVR and put the money toward subs, you could probably get more out of the same budget. What does the AVR do that you can't get elsewhere?

 

[Urvile]

What does the AVR do that you can't get elsewhere?

Was the best AVR I could find with pre-outs, and I needed some sort of amplification until the Buckeye was delivered. In the future my hopes are that the AVP of my dreams will appear.

 

[dshreter]

I wouldn’t beat yourself up because Amir doesn’t recommend your purchases. If the Denon has the features you want, it’s a great device and there isn’t really meaningful money to save below that price point for good AVRs or AVPs

 

[kemmler3D]

Was the best AVR I could find with pre-outs, and I needed some sort of amplification until the Buckeye was delivered. In the future my hopes are that the AVP of my dreams will appear.

So I take it you need some video processing and/or HDMI in... meaning a MiniDSP Flex or something wouldn't cut it? There are a good handful of DACs out there with pre-outs but not too many 3-channel ones.

 

[Urvile]

So I take it you need some video processing and/or HDMI in... meaning a MiniDSP Flex or something wouldn't cut it? There are a good handful of DACs out there with pre-outs but not too many 3-channel ones.

Yes It's all connected to my TV.

 

[kemmler3D]

Yes It's all connected to my TV.

Some TVs act like poor man's AVR these days. My setup:

LG CX --> Optical Out --> Soundblaster G3 optical In --> Laptop for EQAPO --> Topping D90 --> Topping A90 (eh, I got a deal on them) --> Pre out for Sub + XLR out for NC500s.

All of my HDMI devices go to the LG TV first, and I get the audio mix out of the TV.

This does not solve anything for >2 channel though, so I imagine this is not very useful info for you. I guess you'd need something cheaper than your AVR that still accepted EARC over HDMI, or something... the reason I have such a weird setup is I've never seen something like that.

 

[Urvile]

If anything else I'll give you a gold star for creativity , I'd have never thought of doing it that way.

 

[kemmler3D]

If anything else I'll give you a gold star for creativity , I'd have never thought of doing it that way.

Well, at some point I decided I wanted to use EQ on speakers with my TV. I had a similar motivation to you - wanting to cut the expense of the AVR without losing necessary I/O. To me, spending $1K+ or even $400 to get basic PEQ/FIR functionality seemed like highway robbery. I already had a spare laptop! This was functionality that had been free on Windows for years, and I was supposed to PAY?

It took me a long while to realize that the Soundblaster G3 had a digital input for the PC - these are fairly rare.

 

[Putter]

I'll get this in before anyone else although it is likely to be the same as most others. First of all, EVERY system is a compromise and that's true even if you have unlimited funds. Under suggestions, a 2nd sub if possible, would be desirable to even out the bass. There's nothing wrong with the Denon, but I would invest in a cooling fan to ensure a longer lifespan. I would also suggest getting rear speakers, preferably Polks, but any decent brand will do because the Audyssey will make them sound similar. You need to experience 5.1 if you haven't already. You can power them with the Denon.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Last couple of years I've been building my 3.1 system, spent a fair amount of money, and I've made some compromises, and I think I'm done for now.
I'd like to hear what others think of my choices, It's not a perfect system, to even get close would mean spending much more than I did.

Speakers:
LR are Polk R700, they are the reason I'm here, fell in love with them and they punch way beyond their price point.
Center is a L400 They are a lot like the R700s. I'd had several centers previously, never understood why they never seemed to perform all that well until I found ASR. (The wonder of science and engineering)

In my experience the R700s are not a 8 Ohm speaker -- they like the L400 3.4 ohms → 4 ohms None of the AVRs drove them well.

Subwoofer is a Polk HTS 12, once again bought before ASR, I would have picked a different one if I could choose again, but it does well enough, I know know there are better.

AVR:
Denon AVR-X3800H, this purchase pains me a bit, Amir couldn't recommend it, and I respect his reasons. There are so few AVRs that have pre-outs and all the features that I want.
I knew it didn't have the amp that I needed.

AMP:
Buckeye Purifi 3 channel amp. Once again Amir couldn't recommend ( He did say the problem was probably inaudible, and so far I can find no fault )

I'm using a Fire Cube to drive it all, and my display is a LG OLED tv.

To me it sounds great!


So a system of compromises, still not cheap.

2000.00 for the R700
1400.00 for the L400
450.00 for the subwoofer
1600.00+ for the AVR
1600.00 for the AMP

$ 7050.00

Opinions?

Dont worry about the X3800. The Room EQ (Audyssey) is much more relevant to sound quality than a few more SINAD dBs. To my knowledge, unfortunately there is no other device out there which combines HDMI In, with Room EQ (Audyssey, Dirac etc) and Pre-Outs, but the usual AVRs, of which the Denon is still the best "compromise" especially at this price point.

 

[warnerwh]

The Audyssey app is well worth the 20 dollars and is highly recommended.