Okay, so, I've gone and done some research, some reading, and even some basic math, and this is where my current thinking is:
- Elac DBR-62
- Yamaha A-S501
- Wiim Pro (or potentially super cheap bluetooth audio receiver while I figure out the streaming part)
I used a basic dB meter on my phone to get a sense of what kind of volume I'm looking for. And I played the opening of Mahler 5 to get a sense of what kind of peaks (and dynamic range) I might be looking at for that. With the volume at slightly louder than I find comfortable for the louder sections, it indicated a maximum of 82 dB-A (the other options on the app were dB-C and db-Z. Not sure if one option is better than the other for this, but dB-A was the default, so I just went with that. Some further checks with songs with less dynamic range indicate I'm generally listening to things in the 60-70 dB range.
From there I used the information from
this post and the calculator
here to get a sense of what kind of wattage I'm looking for. With the Elac's sensitivity being given as 86 dB, and my main listening position being about 2.5m away, if I'm looking for a peak of, let's say to be safe 85 dB, I'd really only need 2W, it appears.
The Elac's nominal impedance is 6 Ohms and the test measurements on the review here indicate the minimum impedance is 5 Ohms. I tried to figure out how to interpret the circled portion of the bode plot in the Elac review, but every part of it is just so far beyond both my mathematical and physics knowledge that I had to give up (I texted my sister and her combined math/physics/history and philosophy of science degree to ask if she was familiar with Fourier Transform and got back an "Oh man"). It would seem, though, that the A-S501, which is rated 100Wx2 for 6 Ohms, is overkill and I could maybe settle for the A-S301, which is rated 60Wx2 at 8 Ohms and 70W. That would probably give me at maximum volume something in the realm of 100dB, which seems like it would be more than I would ever need (certainly probably more than my neighbours would prefer). That seems pretty tight, though, given that I am sometimes also in the kitchen or cleaning or whatever and I believe running an amplifier at its max power is generally considered ill-advised. I might be way overthinking that, though. I'd already built in some headroom by focusing on the 82W peak, after all, and even 32W would give me around 97 dB where I'm sitting. So calling it "pretty tight" might itself be an exaggeration.
Some of my thinking there is I feel like the A-Sx01 series has the build quality and basic inputs that it would be a really solid base I could keep around even as I upgrade my speakers or expand into further components. But within that I feel like the A-S501 would travel better with me to a larger space and/or larger speakers than the A-S301. I could be wrong, though. It might really just be overkill.
I don't quite yet have a grasp on the range of options, good and bad, around streaming capabilities. The general sense I'm getting is that the Wiim Pro is the best add-on for this at the moment, certainly for balance of cost and quality and range of options. I'm sure streaming is the area where we'll be seeing the most advancements most rapidly in the coming years, so although it wasn't my original plan, keeping it separate from the rest of the system seems like it might actually end up being the best option. That being said, because I'm still figuring the streaming options out, part of me just wants to get basically a dollar store-equivalent bluetooth receiver I can throw onto the amp for now until I figure that out. My research is indicating, though, that those might be genuinely unlistenable and the next step up from there is hitting price points where I may as well just go for the Wiim Pro from the get-go.
@NTK thank you for the list of speakers and your concise list of amp suggestions. That really gave me a shortlist to dig into and compare as I went about figuring out what I actually from this system. And thank you as well for your straightforward knowledge drop to my very basic questions. I cannot overstate how welcome it was to not have to wade through 20 concepts just to get a basic answer for these.
@b7676 thank you similarly for your input on amps and your speaker brand suggestions. There's so many manufacturers out there, having a list to focus on really does help.
@Tom C thank you for your input on spinorama, amps, and EQ, your warm encouragement of my learning journey, the links you provided, and just a sense of where to focus my efforts and attention.
@ahofer thank you so much for your input on dispersion. It really worked for me as a concept to guide some of my reading and learning, and ultimately I have a much better grasp on all this thanks to that. It's also definitely something I'll be looking at more actively in my next speaker upgrade. At the price point I'm looking at, overall basic quality is really what I have to focus on.
@AlfaNovember thank you for your input on the "middle box" as well as the overview of your own system. It gave me many, many options to look into! A ton of headaches too, but ultimately, again, a better understanding where to focus my attentions, as well as everything else. You've also got me looking into NAS possibilities! I'm not sure how I completely missed the existence of these over the years, but somehow I did and they are exactly what I (and my digital hoarding) have been looking for. I definitely see myself building out on what I've listed above in the future as I figure myself out.
@kemmler3D thank your very digestible overview of some of the basics, your input on EQ, and your system suggestions. I did a lot of mixing a matching with all the individual bits and pieces of info from each of the responses, and having the Wiim Pro suggestion really rescued me from the tangle I got myself into re: streaming options.
I really appreciate so much the responses each of you gave me. Even if it didn't make up a huge part of my final decision, all of it was helpful along the way. Even just looking into the concepts and components you all raised helped give me some focus that really started to bring all the disparate terms and measurements and forth together (there are so many of them I was getting lost in it all), and I am on much more solid footing now.
If you see any glaring issues with the system I've decided on, or even just better suggestions, I am happy to listen. It would not surprise me if I had missed some critical piece of information/equipment that should have been taken into consideration.
If you happen to have any recommendations for speaker cables, I wouldn't say no to hearing them either. Spending ridiculous amounts of money on them is my line in the sand, but I'm sure there is still some level of minimum quality required and I'm not quite sure what that would be. I'm looking at
this post now and I'll do some more digging around the forums as well, but anything to cut down the time I have to spend making a decision, or even just to give me a sense of what to expect, is always appreciated.
Thank you all, once again, for your help!