Yamaha A-S501 or IOTAVX SA3? or what...? haha!

[maty]

750 €, 25 m2

Maybe a big active studio monitor + dac with volume

Thomann Active Nearfield Monitors

Active Nearfield Monitors at Europe's largest retailer of musical instruments - fast delivery, 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee and 3-year Thomann warranty

www.thomann.de

 

[TimW]

750 €, 25 m2

Maybe a big active studio monitor + dac with volume

Thomann Active Nearfield Monitors

Active Nearfield Monitors at Europe's largest retailer of musical instruments - fast delivery, 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee and 3-year Thomann warranty

www.thomann.de

I like this look of this one.

 

[SUMAJU]

Y no se preocupe, el viejo DAC PCM5101 (antes Burr Brown) de Texas Instruments (alrededor de 100 dB SINAD y sin pérdidas de interconexión) será lo suficientemente bueno a través de entradas ópticas.

I have to check that page you sent me about the Elac offer, because from the looks of it, you have to pay for them first and they buy them... it takes ten days or so to arrive, but I don't know the seller... I'm going to find out if he's reliable and if so, I'm going to go for the Yamaha AS501 and the Elac DBR62!

Thanks ZolaIII and all the community!

 

[Chrispy]

I'd reconsider the active speakers and not bother with the integrated amps you mention.

 

[SUMAJU]

I'd reconsider the active speakers and not bother with the integrated amps you mention.

What is your vision about this Chrispy, I'm interested to know... I mean... if my idea is to slowly build up a HIFI equipment, isn't it advisable to go directly to passive speakers and an amplifier... it would be a starter equipment... in HIFI I'm an initiate, but I'm a musician, a lyric singer. I really like to listen to symphonies, operas, and relaxed with friends some Jazz... thanks!

 

[ZolaIII]

I have to check that page you sent me about the Elac offer, because from the looks of it, you have to pay for them first and they buy them... it takes ten days or so to arrive, but I don't know the seller... I'm going to find out if he's reliable and if so, I'm going to go for the Yamaha AS501 and the Elac DBR62!

Thanks ZolaIII and all the community!

It's from idealo.de (hidden-audio.de).

hidden-audio.de Online-Shop aus Staßfurt: Daten, Bewertungen und Angebote bei idealo.de

Online-Shop hidden-audio.de bei idealo.de - 342 Bewertungen von idealo Nutzern zum Shop hidden-audio.de aus Staßfurt

www.idealo.de

If that helps.
Edit: Yamaha amplifiers are very reliable and on the long run. What ever you chose to save on now you will have to pay later. Cheap active speakers will come with cheap class D amplifiers and won't last you not even close. There are good such speakers like Kali LP 6 V2's (about 400€ pair) but don't expect them to work longer than 10 (6~7 years more realistically). With a good DAC like Topping EX5 and decent phono stage you didn't save anything and got less.
And in the case of need for; room correction, subwoofer out and menagement, streamer... price goes higher.
That's why Yamaha R-N803D is still a no brainer (even YPAO DSP isn't great) if you can catch one.

 

[Chrispy]

What is your vision about this Chrispy, I'm interested to know... I mean... if my idea is to slowly build up a HIFI equipment, isn't it advisable to go directly to passive speakers and an amplifier... it would be a starter equipment... in HIFI I'm an initiate, but I'm a musician, a lyric singer. I really like to listen to symphonies, operas, and relaxed with friends some Jazz... thanks!

Many active speakers are quite hifi, some of the hifiest. Almost any I can think of would be better than the Sony speakers you mentioned. Slowly "upgrading" is an exercise in consuming more than it is about the audio. The key is the speakers, not the boxes of electronics particularly. Quite a few choices in very good active speakers and is money well spent. If I started over now that's certainly the way I'd go.

 

[TimW]

Many active speakers are quite hifi, some of the hifiest. Almost any I can think of would be better than the Sony speakers you mentioned. Slowly "upgrading" is an exercise in consuming more than it is about the audio. The key is the speakers, not the boxes of electronics particularly. Quite a few choices in very good active speakers and is money well spent. If I started over now that's certainly the way I'd go.

With active speakers in his 750€ budget you would also have to include a DAC with volume control. That leaves roughly 600€ for the speakers, the only options I know of that measure better than the DBR62 he likes would be the JBL 308P or Kali LP-6. Really the performance is not much better with those active speakers anyway, and they certainly look cheaper and have worse electronics performance than an integrated amp. Many people on this forum like to talk about the superiority of active designs and state they should be used in favor of passive speakers. However when you actually look at the prices and objective performance of the active speakers available, they often don't offer an advantage to similarly priced passive systems. At least at the lower end of the market.

 

[ZolaIII]

@TimW actually their performance (LP-6 V2 and 308P) is worser (dispersion, hi SPL/THD). The uper range Neumann or Genelac's do perform better but mainly thanks to embedded DSP and for a rather beefy price.

 

[Chrispy]

With active speakers in his 750€ budget you would also have to include a DAC with volume control. That leaves roughly 600€ for the speakers, the only options I know of that measure better than the DBR62 he likes would be the JBL 308P or Kali LP-6. Really the performance is not much better with those active speakers anyway, and they certainly look cheaper and have worse electronics performance than an integrated amp. Many people on this forum like to talk about the superiority of active designs and state they should be used in favor of passive speakers. However when you actually look at the prices and objective performance of the active speakers available, they often don't offer an advantage to similarly priced passive systems. At least at the lower end of the market.

I'm not saying stick to the budget particularly, had to go back and look at what it was again. But the idea of some not so hot Sony speakers with an amp that costs more than the speakers is just backwards. Elac DBR 62 is a nice speaker, but somewhat a load for an amp, and the integrated amps mentioned aren't very powerful. Wouldn't the DBR62 also blow most of the budget by themselves? Here in the US they're USD700/pr.

@SUMAJU curious, what sources of music will you be using?

 

[ehabheikal]

Buy a neumann kh80 and since its active you will not need thus save price of amp

Neumann KH80 DSP Monitor Measurements #3

Seems that if you want to create a riot in the streets of ASR, all you have to do is show a non-ruler flat response of Neumann KH80 DSP professional monitor (speaker). Not knowing that, that is precisely what I did in my first review of KH80 DSP: This was one of the earliest speakers I...

www.audiosciencereview.com

you will need a dac but you can find reviews of amazing dacs for less than 200usd, take care you will need a dac with xlr output since the speakers expect this connector
This is endgame quality, you will only need to upgrade these in order when money is there
Subwoofer
Room Correction

 

[ZolaIII]

Buy a neumann kh80 and since its active you will not need thus save price of amp

Neumann KH80 DSP Monitor Measurements #3

Seems that if you want to create a riot in the streets of ASR, all you have to do is show a non-ruler flat response of Neumann KH80 DSP professional monitor (speaker). Not knowing that, that is precisely what I did in my first review of KH80 DSP: This was one of the earliest speakers I...

www.audiosciencereview.com

you will need a dac but you can find reviews of amazing dacs for less than 200usd, take care you will need a dac with xlr output since the speakers expect this connector
This is endgame quality, you will only need to upgrade these in order when money is there
Subwoofer
Room Correction

It's really a cost saving! 550 $/€ a pice for 4" puppy, 350 $/€ for a DAC and 200 $/€ for phono stage. Nead's sub straight away and it won't be easy to integrate it (either MiniDSP SHD or sub's with balanced inputs and Flex).
With budget he have he can buy one and cheapest balanced DAC so yes it's a game over (not a end game and he isn't in for near field monitor's in the first place).
It's a nice small active speaker for a work desk I give you that much.
Are their better than Elac DBR62?
Hell no (worse; score, dispersion and not even close to produce hi SPL without much distortion in order to fill mid sized room for far field listening)!
Original rewiev:

Neumann KH 80 DSP Monitor Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Neumann KH 80 DSP Active Monitor (speaker). It was kindly sent to me by a member. The KH 80 costs US $500 each which is quite pricey for a small speaker. NOTE: latest version of the measurements for KH80 is here...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Chrise36]

It's really a cost saving! 550 $/€ a pice for 4" puppy, 350 $/€ for a DAC and 200 $/€ for phono stage. Nead's sub straight away and it won't be easy to integrate it (either MiniDSP SHD or sub's with balanced inputs and Flex).
With budget he have he can buy one and cheapest balanced DAC so yes it's a game over (not a end game and he isn't in for near field monitor's in the first place).
It's a nice small active speaker for a work desk I give you that much.
Are their better than Elac DBR62?
Hell no (worse; score, dispersion and not even close to produce hi SPL without much distortion in order to fill mid sized room for far field listening)!
Original rewiev:

Neumann KH 80 DSP Monitor Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Neumann KH 80 DSP Active Monitor (speaker). It was kindly sent to me by a member. The KH 80 costs US $500 each which is quite pricey for a small speaker. NOTE: latest version of the measurements for KH80 is here...

www.audiosciencereview.com

And worse amp performance and service options.

 

[TonyJZX]

i stopped caring at "4 inch drivers"

i dont doubt the 80s are good speakers but even with 120w (alledgely) is 4" enough??? (are we still talking speakers lol)

assuming you have the space the yamaha 501 and some passive speaker in the 6 inch plus size is really more to most peoples' expectations of bass performance

even something like the old infinity r162 or something in that class



germany ironically enough has a fair bit of indigenous designs that area really good... i quite like Canton for example

 

[TimW]

But the idea of some not so hot Sony speakers with an amp that costs more than the speakers is just backwards.

Hence why we recommended against that option.

Elac DBR 62 is a nice speaker, but somewhat a load for an amp, and the integrated amps mentioned aren't very powerful.

With 86.7dB efficiency and a 5 ohm minimum impedence, the DBR-62 is not that difficult of a load. The AS-501 is rated at 85 watts into 8 ohms with 4 ohm capability. Even if the OP wants to listen loud from across the room, the Yamaha should have enough power with enough headroom for most music:

Wouldn't the DBR62 also blow most of the budget by themselves? Here in the US they're USD700/pr.

This is an issue but if you read the posts in this thread you will see that the OP may have got a deal on a pair shared by @ZolaIII.

 

[ZolaIII]

He is cheesiness A-S701 in never used original packaging state (not to say new) for 450€.

 

[Chrispy]

Hence why we recommended against that option.

With 86.7dB efficiency and a 5 ohm minimum impedence, the DBR-62 is not that difficult of a load. The AS-501 is rated at 85 watts into 8 ohms with 4 ohm capability. Even if the OP wants to listen loud from across the room, the Yamaha should have enough power with enough headroom for most music:
View attachment 272255

This is an issue but if you read the posts in this thread you will see that the OP may have got a deal on a pair shared by @ZolaIII.

In Amir's review of the DBR62 he mentioned some phase angle issues and recommended a strong amp. I was thinking more the Yamaha 301 than 501, as well as the IOTA unit.
Haven't kept up with the entire thread, tho I did see the Sonys got shot down by someone, but that reminds me, that pathetic excuse of a sub from Rel is just not worth the money

 

[ZolaIII]

@Chrispy Yamahas cope good with that (as they are let to push more power than what's declared with higher distortion of course), they aren't great with low imperfect loads (disreging if they have 4 Ohms switch or not). A-S701 is up to 130 W RMS @ 8 Ohms and very nice amp.

YAMAHA A-S701 - tear-down, thoughts about the internals & few measurements

I bought this amplifier with built-in DAC over 1 year ago from Amazon and had no issue using it several hours per day. My kid is using it daily on TV and XBOX over the SPDIF input, I'm using it couple of times per week as well and it works as expected, as in day one. It's barely warm during...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Andretti60]

Your listening room is not that big, have you considered the smaller brother of the S501, the S301? Sound quality is the same, it has just less power. It is the one I have and it has plenty of power to drive two Dali speakers, and my living room is bigger than yours. It is 200US$ cheaper.

 

[Chrise36]

I also recommend Monitor Audio as i own a pair: https://geizhals.de/monitor-audio-bronze-200-6g-v39881.html