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Post your Speaker setup PICS!!!!!!

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Here's my budget setup.. loving it. Of course, doesn't compare to you guys here.

Got Iron Man on blu-ray a few days earlier (friend works at block buster, they usually get it in a week earlier, so I bought one :D)

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Z-5500, Samsung 22" (216bw), 9600GT for smooth HD stream. Great movie.
 
O snaps, that reminds me, gotta pick-up the BR copy of IronMan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Just got my amp in, Pioneer A-35R. I had planned on budgetting about $300-400 for my dorm speaker rig but I scored this amp for $40 on eBay so I think I'm gonna stick with cheap and buy some some Insignia bookshelves. It's got some scuffs on it of course but $40 is hard to beat for an amp like this.

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Get your laptop off of that thing ASAP. Amplifiers make too much heat to even consider putting a laptop on top of one.

Never do that again.
 
Lol yeah thanks for the advice dude. I forgot to mention this in the other thread as well but I don't have any speakers atm so it's just being used as a glorified stand for now. I'm going to be building a shelf to put my monitor on top and my amp below so the amp will have about an inch and a half of clearance for cooling on top. The laptop is also being moved to another desk once I can start using my desktop (Don't have a case yet). I'm used to hot running amps (My Denon at home sucks a ton a juice) so I wouldn't think of running the amp with the laptop on top!
 
skyline889 said:
Just got my amp in, Pioneer A-35R. I had planned on budgetting about $300-400 for my dorm speaker rig but I scored this amp for $40 on eBay so I think I'm gonna stick with cheap and buy some some Insignia bookshelves. It's got some scuffs on it of course but $40 is hard to beat for an amp like this.
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$40 for that A-35R???? Premium score for the Skyliner!!! :D
 
Mr. Wolf said:
$40 for that A-35R???? Premium score for the Skyliner!!! :D
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It was a screaming deal! I was worried the guy was gonna scam me out since I actually won it for ten bucks and change plus shipping but he actually came through. I don't have any speakers to test it with but the headphone out sounds pretty good with my HD-650s so I figure even if the speaker outs are broken, I got a headphone amp that sounds decent for $40.

dandragonrage said:
You think so? Try an Onkyo sometime ;)

My NAD T761 runs hot. My NAD T753 ran hot, too. My Pioneer Elite 91 runs fairly cool but I wouldn't stack stuff on it.
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Yeah all the NADs run pretty hot; the older Pioneer and Marantz gear run pretty hot too but not to the same extent. I'm not really sure why the NADs run so hot (Maybe because of the semi-large toroidal transformers in the new ones but idk why the old ones run hot as well) but the NAD 3150 I used to have ran super hot before it kicked the bucket. The old Pioneer Quad and Marantz 1060B I had ran kinda hot too but not extensively so. The NAD C352 my dad has for our living room runs pretty hot even with our efficient Klipsch RF-82s so I'd hate to see how much heat that thing'd put out when pushed hard. My PMA-2000IVR runs about as hot the C352 but it takes longer to feel it since the chassis is much thicker than the NAD. It has an amazing power supply (Doubles power output as impedance halves, as an amp should!) and a sweet almost tube like sound for a solid state though, so it's all worth it!

Here's an older pic of my system back home, I sure do miss non-laptop speakers. :(

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It's probably mostly just efficiency. Even among Class AB amplifiers, efficiency can be like 30-60%; it can be majorly different. Also, an amplifier is most efficient when you are pushing it to its limits, that is, when the supply voltage inside is only slightly higher than the output voltage you are demanding. Class H (e.g. BASH) has a variable supply voltage to help get around this. Class G has multiple supply voltages and it picks whichever is better at the time.
 
Speaking of comparing real speakers to laptop speakers, last night there was a song I really wanted to blast but my roommates were all sleeping so I decided that I'd just do it with headphones to get my fill.

What happens is I plug in my Sennheiser HD595's directly into my receiver and turn it up. At low volumes it's okay, but WOW, when you turn those up, they get annoying really fast. They lose their clarity, their responsiveness, and just flat out, they could not handle going loud and being high quality at the same time. That's why I love my speakers, because they do everything that my headphones can plus more.

May receivers, integrated amps, power amps, and stand alone speakers be sold forever more to please us all. :)
 
dandragonrage said:
It's probably mostly just efficiency. Even among Class AB amplifiers, efficiency can be like 30-60%; it can be majorly different. Also, an amplifier is most efficient when you are pushing it to its limits, that is, when the supply voltage inside is only slightly higher than the output voltage you are demanding. Class H (e.g. BASH) has a variable supply voltage to help get around this. Class G has multiple supply voltages and it picks whichever is better at the time.
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I guess that's true in theory since efficiency is judged by the percentage of power output compared to the amount of power the amplifier draws but in my experience while the amp may be most efficient at higher output levels, it'll still run much hotter since it's through-putting a lot more juice than it would at idle-low levels. I think Class D has some real potential but unfortunately it seems that most manufacturers just aren't putting out amps that are capable of matching the performance of Class A/AB amps, at least not in the budget (Under $1k) market. The tripath Class Ds like the RWA Signature 30 are interesting but I've never been able to audition them so I'm not sure how they compare.

azulcorvette said:
Speaking of comparing real speakers to laptop speakers, last night there was a song I really wanted to blast but my roommates were all sleeping so I decided that I'd just do it with headphones to get my fill.

What happens is I plug in my Sennheiser HD595's directly into my receiver and turn it up. At low volumes it's okay, but WOW, when you turn those up, they get annoying really fast. They lose their clarity, their responsiveness, and just flat out, they could not handle going loud and being high quality at the same time. That's why I love my speakers, because they do everything that my headphones can plus more.

May receivers, integrated amps, power amps, and stand alone speakers be sold forever more to please us all. :)
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Amen dude, I used to be pretty into headphones but abandoned them since I just can't get as much satisfaction from a headphone rig as I can from a speaker rig.
 
I moved my old Insiginas up to my bedroom this morning. They sound much better in the smaller room (as opposed to the basement).
Bass is much stronger than before. Though I'm sure reflections probably suffer a bit.
The ikea shelves get them and the monitor up to a better ear/eye level. I like my monitors up high.

I'm planning on upgrading to Harbeth HL-P3s this fall/winter. :D

Source is Bel Canto Dac3 (great unit), amp is Pop Pulse t-amp
All fed from my new Drobo to the left.

Excuse the crappy iphone pic
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ty. They were empty_quarter's recommendation. The headphone stand's position doesn't really bother me much. I sometimes put it behind my monitor when I'm not using them.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
I moved my old Insiginas up to my bedroom this morning. They sound much better in the smaller room (as opposed to the basement).
Bass is much stronger than before. Though I'm sure reflections probably suffer a bit.
The ikea shelves get them and the monitor up to a better ear/eye level. I like my monitors up high.

I'm planning on upgrading to Harbeth HL-P3s this fall/winter. :D

Source is Bel Canto Dac3 (great unit), amp is Pop Pulse t-amp
All fed from my new Drobo to the left.

Excuse the crappy iphone pic
2895195234_8d5d99540d_b.jpg
Click to expand...

It's been a while since I've brushed up on pricing but is that a $2500 DAC with a $200 amp and $80 speakers? I know you're upgrading to Harbeths but talk about disproportionate spending.
 
rofl yes it is. The insignias were going unused for quite some time in the basement. I'm primarily headphone-based, with HD650's and an Ear HP4 headphone amp. Thats where the bulk of my listening takes place.
 
Its been up and running for a few weeks. Its the newest model with Firewire 800 and USB. I've not had any problems, other than it not being able to format OEM drives. I had to format them w/ windows disk management (to NTFS) then install into the Drobo. After that it's worked fine. I have everything backed up on other drives to safeguard. For me the Drobo is mostly about accessing all my music in one place, instead of constantly switching drives in my Thermaltake BlacX.
 
dandragonrage said:
lolol 2500 DAC... the things people will buy.
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The DAC3 is an amazing DAC and can be had for much less than $2500 these days, especially on the used market. I've seen DAC 3s selling for $1500-1600 on Audiogon. Spending $1500 an a DAC of this quality is no more foolish then spending $800 on an NAD T761. Better deals can always be found, it's just a matter of what your priorities are and what your price range is.

aardvark sandwich said:
rofl yes it is. The insignias were going unused for quite some time in the basement. I'm primarily headphone-based, with HD650's and an Ear HP4 headphone amp. Thats where the bulk of my listening takes place.
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What do you plan on driving those Harbeths with? I remember Chesebert said Harbeths are supposed to sound amazing with the Ayre gear! (Hint Hint :p)
 
skyline889 said:
What do you plan on driving those Harbeths with? I remember Chesebert said Harbeths are supposed to sound amazing with the Ayre gear! (Hint Hint :p)
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Heh. Honestly I dont know what the final amp would be. I was thinking about going with Headroom's Bang and Olufsen-based bi-wired amp to start, based on several reviews of this pairing from folks at Headfi. Coming from headphones, I'm not real up to date on the latest and greatest in the speaker amp world.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
Heh. Honestly I dont know what the final amp would be. I was thinking about going with Headroom's Bang and Olufsen-based bi-wired amp to start, based on several reviews of this pairing from folks at Headfi. Coming from headphones, I'm not real up to date on the latest and greatest in the speaker amp world.
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The Bel Canto S300 is actually a very good amp for around $1500. Very tight sound although a bit on the lean side but it should go well with the Harbeth's. For around $800 the Parasound A23 is also a great piece. Good luck in your search.
 
skyline889 said:
Spending $1500 an a DAC of this quality is no more foolish then spending $800 on an NAD T761.
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My uncle gave me the T761 for free ;) it has some issues that do not come into play when I use it with just my comp but that he was running into with his TV setup.

I buy Pioneer, Yamaha, Denon.

Edit: Also, you're wrong. $800 on a good receiver is definitely better than $400 on a good DAC, let alone $1500 on a good DAC.
 
gchanjam said:
The Bel Canto S300 is actually a very good amp for around $1500. Very tight sound although a bit on the lean side but it should go well with the Harbeth's. For around $800 the Parasound A23 is also a great piece. Good luck in your search.
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I'm unable to load the PDF from Harbeth's site for the HL monitors, but I think the Bel Canto amp may be too much power for them. I think they were supposed to get 50 watts rms. But I'm not positive.
 
OK, I found the PDF, and it shows an amp sugguestion of 25-120w, with a sensitivity of 83db 1w/1m. It then states:

The power handling of the HL-P3ES-2 is optimized for broadband speech and music to give a full bodied sound at normal, reasonable listening levels. An amplifier witha substantially greater power potential than the handling capacity of the P3ES-2 will, when used sensibly, give excellent results.
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So I guess the Bel Canto is in fact an option :cool:
 
aardvark sandwich said:
I'm unable to load the PDF from Harbeth's site for the HL monitors, but I think the Bel Canto amp may be too much power for them. I think they were supposed to get 50 watts rms. But I'm not positive.
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Did you just say too much power? Blasphemy! My PL100's are rated at 50-120W which are in turn being fed by couple of 250W ICEpower amps.
 
skyline889 said:
The DAC3 is an amazing DAC and can be had for much less than $2500 these days, especially on the used market. I've seen DAC 3s selling for $1500-1600 on Audiogon. Spending $1500 an a DAC of this quality is no more foolish then spending $800 on an NAD T761. Better deals can always be found, it's just a matter of what your priorities are and what your price range is.
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Uhh, what? I know for a fact $1000 speakers, $500 amp, and $100 DAC would sound better than $80 insignias to a DAC 3 and a small class D amp...

shit i have an XPA-3 hooked up to my LS6s ($4500 retail speakers), and the only DAC i use is the one in my onkyo 805.
 
Omegaslast said:
Uhh, what? I know for a fact $1000 speakers, $500 amp, and $100 DAC would sound better than $80 insignias to a DAC 3 and a small class D amp...

shit i have an XPA-3 hooked up to my LS6s ($4500 retail speakers), and the only DAC i use is the one in my onkyo 805.
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Please read the thread. Not only are the Insignias temporary and he's upgrading to Harbeth monitors but speakers aren't even his primary form of audio reproduction. He's mostly in to headphones and he's using the DAC3 to source his EAR HP-4 ($5k retail), an amplifier which is pretty much the pinnacle of single ended headphone amplification.
 
hAppy,

what speaker stands are those and were they hard to mount the speakers...still searching for one for my back speakers.

Thanks,
dedo

PS - Love the flag.
 
gchanjam said:
Did you just say too much power? Blasphemy! My PL100's are rated at 50-120W which are in turn being fed by couple of 250W ICEpower amps.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see these speakers as well. I'm a big fan of Monitor Audio RS1's (your PL100's baby brother)
 
azulcorvette said:
I'd love to see these speakers as well. I'm a big fan of Monitor Audio RS1's (your PL100's baby brother)
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I'll post pictures after an upgrade that I have coming in a few weeks. Naim SuperNAIT, CD5i, and Flat-Cap 2 Power Supply should make for a healthy increase in SQ.
 
Here is the most capable subwoofer system in a small room,you will see(close to completion). Fed by eight 15AMP , six 20AMP and four 30AMP dedicated lines.

Just one sub module away (Acoupower 18) from finishing...












Will be completed in November when two more 18" drivers from SoundSplinter will be added.

Mains will be changed for Alcons arrays. To give me total freedom from any speakers distress far into levels when ho human ear can endure. I like to call it HEADROOM SUPREME.

My question is WHO wants to best this displacement? :p :D
 
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