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Old system new living room

Starcraft

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Hi everyone,

Last week I moved into a new house.
My hifi was not in use due to room size and two kids. Now I have plenty of space.

The room is 40 m2. 8x5 m.
Speakers are on the 5m side. Door on the opposite.

I feel the amp is not enough for the speakers. Question: get a power amp or other integrated?

Thank you.
 

M00ndancer

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What's your budget? Speakers?
 
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Starcraft

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Speakers are the ma rx6.

Budget would be 1 to 1.5k euros.
 

Willem

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What is your current integrated and does it have a pre amp output. Or do you have a DAC with volume control?
 
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Starcraft

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I am using an audiolab 8000s. It can be used as pré amp or power amp.

My dac does not have volume...
 

KozmoNaut

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The Audiolab 8000s is 60WPC, which is a bit on the lean side for 40m², even with relatively efficient speakers, such as the MAs. Additionally (depending on your need for bass) the 6" drivers will struggle to move enough air.

So I would go for 100WPC or more, and bigger woofers. Whether that happens through bigger speakers or one or more subwoofers is a personal choice.

For main speakers, I would consider 10" woofers, or designs that use multiple woofers for low end. You need more cone area to really move the air.

For subs, I consider 12" the minimum, and ideally multiple units, for more even coverage. But subwoofer integration can quickly get complicated and hard to get right.
 

Hipper

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Have you tried you amp in your new room?
 

Willem

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I agree that 60 watts is not that much, but the speakers are quite efficient. The Hypex based power amplifiers are currently the best value for money offerings. Which implementation to choose probably depends largely on the country you live in.
I would seriously consider two active subwoofers, however. They will give your current gear that bigger sound and much more spl. As an experiment I tried the Harbeth P3ESRs from my study in my 60 sq m main listening room. Of course they sounded glorious, but they did not fill the room, even using my 2x140 watt Quad 606-2 power amp. When I added my subwoofer as an experiment, the sound was transformed. The little monitors still did not fill the room completely, but the sound was a lot bigger.
My subwoofer advice would be to get two smaller ones, and add an Antimode 8033 Cinema dsp room eq unit. Multiple subs make for a much smoother sound with fewer room modes, and the Antimode reduces the room modes even more.
 

Snarfie

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I had the same situation around 19 years ago when a i moved to my current house. I had decent gear but the sound was horrible/gone. So i sold my gear (Speakers, class A amplifiers etc) 17 years later i'm using roomcorrection soft- an hardware (diffuserpannels) the sound is now even better than in my old house an i bought back all my old gear (for the most part). I would suggest use room correction software or use diffusers whatever (if you have a horrible accoustics in your current room) on you old gear. Compare the bypass sound an the room correction sound make after that a decision what you have to change. Could save you a lot of money.
 
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