Planning my "real" Audio build

T

ThatsAgood1jay

[H]ard|Gawd
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I have decided to take the plunge into the huge world of Hi Fi audio. Mostly inspired by my brothers recent build of a system and i have fallen in love with the way his sounds. Suddenly, these logitech 2.1's dont sound good. I guess to give you an idea. My brothers system includes a Phase Linear 700b Amplifier. A Rotel RC-1070 Pre Amp, and a Soundcraftsman EQ all running into a pair of JBL ND-310 tower speakers. And it sounds absolutely stunning.

ok, now here is what i have thought about for my system.

Speakers - I am currently thinking a pair of Klipsch Rb 35 speakers. I am heavily leaning towards these because they can handle 125 watts continuous and 500 peak. Which i have found is much better than most new speakers. Which most can take 75 watts continuous and only 200 peak. The reason i am leaning towards smaller bookshelf speakers instead of towers is that i am still in high school and would like to be able to take my audio system with me to college.

Amplifier - I would really love to have a Phase Linear 700b. after listening to my brothers. And my fathers system which is run by 2 Phase Linear 400's. I am convinced that Phase Linear made the best amplifiers for the money. If i could not find a Phase 700b in good shape. I have really no clue where else to look. My brother has said that Rotel Amps are good. But after looking around at specs. Most of what i have found are 200watts or below. And i would like something that could handle the small Klipsch speakers now. And handle something bigger in the future.

Pre Amp - I really like my brothers Rotel. But, after doing research. The Phase Linear 4000 unit looks like a good deal. Yes, it does not have a remote. But its vintage and bullet proof. Any suggestions here would be much appreciated

EQ - Try and find a good soundcraftsman like my brothers, it works great and he got it on a steal.


All suggestions/criticisms welcomed.
 
One thing to mention about the Klipsch: they have a unique sound. Personally I like the Klipsch sound for movies, but not for music. Listen to them before buying!
 
honestly, your best bet if you're using this for a pc setup is just to get a xonar soundcard (comes w/a 10band eq built into the driver) and a good pair of 2.1's. You could either get something active like Energy, M-audio, Swans, etc... or a receiver and a pair of passive speakers. For your intended purpose all that stuff sounds a bit like overkill.
 
You can find great deals on vintage gear that'll sound great and last you years to come. You might have problems taking advantage of new technologies if you choose to down the road.

honestly, your best bet if you're using this for a pc setup is just to get a xonar soundcard (comes w/a 10band eq built into the driver) and a good pair of 2.1's. You could either get something active like Energy, M-audio, Swans, etc... or a receiver and a pair of passive speakers. For your intended purpose all that stuff sounds a bit like overkill.
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There's no such thing as overkill.

We have no idea what he's using it for. You can use the best speakers in the world connected to a computer.
 
You may be able to find a nice Phase Linear used amp since most people who have one take pretty good care of it. I don't think Phase Linear exists as the company that made those home components and now only makes car audio stuff.

If you like Phase Linear, you may like Sunfire. The founder of Phase Linear, Bob Carver, sold the company to Pioneer in the late 70's and founded Carver Audio. He then went on to start Sunfire. So you may find similar design philosophies in Sunfire that you saw in Phase Linear products. Both companies seem to fall out of the mainstream in terms of high fidelity design and are geared towards serious audiophiles.

Edit: Oh yeah here is their link

http://www.sunfire.com/

Their Theater Grand is supposed to be a nice amplifier though some ciriticize it may not be worth the price.
 
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Honestly, although I respect Carver products, I really think Adcom takes the cake when it comes to best bang for the buck amps next to Emotiva.

Speakers and preamps are all about personal taste, but amps just amplify... and I think Adcom and Emotiva does the best bang for the buck job.

For speakers and preamps, what kind of sound are you looking for? Neutral and clean? Warm and musical? Smooth but bright?
 
seemlessthunder said:
honestly, your best bet if you're using this for a pc setup is just to get a xonar soundcard (comes w/a 10band eq built into the driver) and a good pair of 2.1's. You could either get something active like Energy, M-audio, Swans, etc... or a receiver and a pair of passive speakers. For your intended purpose all that stuff sounds a bit like overkill.
Click to expand...

Well see.i have listened to most of the 2.1 / 2.0 speakers that those companies offer. And yes some of them produce very good sounds. They dont have the power that i am looking for. At low to mid volumes they sound great. But i like to crank it up really loud. So i was thinking something bigger than out of box audio.

Today i was thinking that maybe the Phase amp's are alittle bit overkill because i am not going to be powering big speakers like my brother. So that leaves me open to smaller (maybe 100watts per channel) amps.

As far as sound. I would think that warm and musical would be best. I listen to alot of progressive and metal. So speakers that would really accentuate big chorus riffs. but also handle deep and heavy music would be good.

It would be run off the computer. Or my old sony discman until i could get a good CD player.
 
Alai said:
Honestly, although I respect Carver products, I really think Adcom takes the cake when it comes to best bang for the buck amps next to Emotiva.

Speakers and preamps are all about personal taste, but amps just amplify... and I think Adcom and Emotiva does the best bang for the buck job.

For speakers and preamps, what kind of sound are you looking for? Neutral and clean? Warm and musical? Smooth but bright?
Click to expand...

After looking and reading. Adcom does make some very good candidates. The GFA-555 sticks out as a very likely contender.
 
The GFA-555 is an excellent amp. I actually find the GFA-545 to be my favorite bang for the buck. Don't let its 100w rating fool you. It will pump music loud and clear through pretty much any load. I've played the GFA-545 through SDA SRS 2 at high volumes. I believe the SRS 2 goes all the way down to 2 ohms and requires high current control. Quite a testament to the amps' abilities.

Currently, I am using the GFA-555II, but the GFA-545 is quite good enough if you want to shave $100-$200 off your stereo amplifier purchase.
 
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