Speaker and Headphone Rigs Discussion

magnetik

magnetik

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discussion for The NEW "Post your Speaker and Headphone Rig" Thread goes here.

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Magnetik - concerning your "old picture". That sure is a lot of hardware for what looks to be a 2.1 system and headphones? I'm googling the devices in your signature, and I am a bit confused. Is the EQ necessary, or do you just have a very unique sense of where you like to hear the volume in frequency band? It is all very impressive, just trying to piece it together.
 
Magnetik I love your setup. How do you like those RP8s? I have been eyeing them myself. But now I am thinking (or should I say knowing) I don't have enough room for such large speakers near my PC. I now wonder if smaller 5" speakers like the BX5a or the A5's are more appropriate except I have been lacking in bass for such a long time, I wonder if I rather go the sub route and put it with my existing cheapo Yamaha M7s. This may be a crazy choice but my M7 have always sounded ok except they have absolutely no base so something like a STF 1 is now what I am eyeing since it is nice and small and sized right for my workstation. Then later I can add the 5" bookshelfs (possibly even passive ones like the Axioms or SVS) and have a nice 2.1.

Just not sure anymore. :confused:

Anyway, your setup rocks.
 
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BTW - if all discussion is to take place in this thread - we should really sticky this thread as well.
 
Skyline889- How does the sound quality of the polks compare to your Klipsch RB's? I have used the Klipsch's @ 75w with my denon, but never heard the polks.
 
Well it's not really fair comparison since I paid only $40 for the Polks, while I paid $325 for the Klipschs but still, there's no denying the RB25s wipe the floor with the R15s. The RB25s aren't perfect themselves, I have major issues with the mid range recession that you get with those cerametallic cones (I have the same problem with the RF-82s we have in the living room) but on the whole, I like them a lot; nothing beats the clarity of the Klipsch Horns. :D

The R15s are a good value for the money, but compared to the RB25s, the highs aren't as crisp, the mids are truly hollow (As opposed to being recessed) because of the crappy cabinet bracing, and there is not much extension below 65hz because of the tiny mid-woofer. I EQ the hell out of them for everyday use and they can be made to sound decent but I'm not really a fan of EQ based tuning, I prefer direct, non altered signal. For the cost of the set-up, I don't regret anything (I paid just $85 for everything) but I do sometimes wish I had paid the extra $20 and bought a pair of the Insignia NS-B211s off eBay. I think with a subwoofer and some poly-fill stuffed into the cabinets, I'll be pretty happy but for now, it's a little underwhelming.
 
c10 said:
Magnetik - concerning your "old picture". That sure is a lot of hardware for what looks to be a 2.1 system and headphones? I'm googling the devices in your signature, and I am a bit confused. Is the EQ necessary, or do you just have a very unique sense of where you like to hear the volume in frequency band? It is all very impressive, just trying to piece it together.
Click to expand...

personally, I am more of a stereo purist. multichannel systems be damned. :)

Actually I use it because it allows me to run balanced to my krks and it was left over from when I used it for bass correction. Fwiw, the DEQ2496 is a lot more than an EQ.
 
Zenshi said:
Magnetik I love your setup. How do you like those RP8s? I have been eyeing them myself. But now I am thinking (or should I say knowing) I don't have enough room for such large speakers near my PC. I now wonder if smaller 5" speakers like the BX5a or the A5's are more appropriate except I have been lacking in bass for such a long time, I wonder if I rather go the sub route and put it with my existing cheapo Yamaha M7s. This may be a crazy choice but my M7 have always sounded ok except they have absolutely no base so something like a STF 1 is now what I am eyeing since it is nice and small and sized right for my workstation. Then later I can add the 5" bookshelfs (possibly even passive ones like the Axioms or SVS) and have a nice 2.1.

Just not sure anymore. :confused:

Anyway, your setup rocks.
Click to expand...

I really like the RP8's however since I live an apartment now, I can't really turn them up to any kind of level which kind of nixed the idea of me getting an RP10S. :( To be honest though I liked listening to music through my old Alesis Monitor One's v1's a little more. It's probably more the fact they are bass heavy and the music I listen to benefits more than the KRK's. (or I just need to just add a sub and find a new place to live) :D I can't even turn up my home theater sub to 1/8" on the dial before it's too loud.
 
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DragonDude said:
Nice, thanks for your opinion. The only reasons I'd consider the PS210 was because it would match my fronts, aesthetically speaking. But its even better to know that one PS212 can make the walls vibrate.
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The PS210 and PS212 look exactly the same though.:confused: Unless I'm looking at a different picture.
 
P997TT, damn you have my dream set-up. Monarchy NM24 and OIIs! Only thing missing is a Blue Hawaii. :p
 
magnetik, What kind of desk is that with the Rokit 8's? and what about the clamps for your alesis?
 
Flicking through that thread just makes me depressed with my laptop's on-board sound card + £8.22 speakers lol.

On the plus side, I do have a nice pair of BeyerDynamic DTX-900 headphones and my housemate has an expensive surround system and receiver/amplifier downstairs that I can use. :p
 
i wish speakers/headphones had seperate pic threads :\

but its ok, i will take one pics thread to have no comments in it :)

there are some nice setups, nice to see im not the only one with a pair of KRK speakers... ive got a pair of ST6's for my HT setup
 
thanks :)

posted my HTPC setup...

forgot to take pics of the speakers on my desk tho lol
 
FLECOM said:
thanks :)

posted my HTPC setup...

forgot to take pics of the speakers on my desk tho lol
Click to expand...

nice setup! your room looks like mine is starting to. heh

what p/s do you have running the mac on the wall? I actually have been thinking of doing the same thing. I have a oldschool soundstream reference 5 channel that I wanted to try and reuse.

also..you have more info about the DEQ2496 upgrades?
 
Astron RM50M is powering the car amplifier...

http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=33143&eventPage=1

pulled it out of a Tait paging transmitter...

the McIntosh car amp blows my mind every time i use it, its amazing that a car amplifier can sound so good... to give you an idea of the size the tv above it is a 52"!

about 1/3rd the aplifier is the psu/inverter section, the other 2/3rds are tons of mosfets lol...

it has a 1kw total power output, 4 channels of 100w/ch, 2 channels of 300w/ch

i replaced all the capacitors in my DEQ2496, both on the powersupply and logic board... and put one of these in it

http://www.lcaudio.com/index.php?page=6

basically this replaced the entire analog section of the DEQ, its soldered straight to the output of the AKM AK4393 DAC.. it has its own torodial transformer and power supply regulator board... i got it in exchange for installing a zap filter into a dac for a member on head-fi... i have made my own discrete analog sections and they probably sound 98% as good as a zap filter and were a lot cheaper to build, but really, for what you get, its a pretty decent deal to upgrade a DAC that has a decent DAC ic already... like a zhalou with a CS4398 for example...

i also forgot to mention that the McIntosh 2505 (the amplifier that is off in the photos) is a project im working on, needs the PSU caps replaced along with the output transistors... but considering this stuff is about 40 years old, its doing quite alright lol
 
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damn that amp is insane. it's probably wider than my car. heh how hot does it get?

oh yeah thx for the deq link!
 
magnetik said:
damn that amp is insane. it's probably wider than my car. heh how hot does it get?

oh yeah thx for the deq link!
Click to expand...

it gets warm, but not really hot... its got 2 fans on each side... one side blowing, one side sucking, to draw air across the entire amp... i had to open it up a few years ago to replace the lamps and let me tell you, that thing is quite sick inside... i dont think ive ever seen more mosfets in any one piece of electronics lol
 
The one on the left is a DAC, which converts the digital signal from your computer to an analog signal that your ears can hear. The one on the right is a vacuum tube amplifier that amplifies the analog signal from the DAC in order to properly drive the headphones.
 
Thank you. Are they necessary?

Empty_Quarter said:
The one on the left is a DAC, which converts the digital signal from your computer to an analog signal that your ears can hear. The one on the right is a vacuum tube amplifier that amplifies the analog signal from the DAC in order to properly drive the headphones.
Click to expand...
 
missing theory said:
Thank you. Are they necessary?
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Any electronic device that supports digital audio has a DAC.. The DAC 'interprets' how the digital music should sound.. Calculations, etc.. Digital music is easy to minipulate, thats why studio engineers love digital. More flexible then LP and analog. Theres over sampling and non over sampling.. NOS Dacs have been reported to retain more of the analog sound..Ie, smoother, less harsh, no digital grunge etc. But NOS DACs are not compatible with DVD, etc..
 
Probably the "NOS" sound has more to do with the family of d/a converters commonly used (TDA15x series, generally TDA1543) and the distortion from the "passive" i/v and active follower, than "analog sound" obtained through the absence of an oversampling filter. If anything, you can end up with more aliasing and other garbage by failing to filter it out, plus added distortion analog-side if the dac is out of compliance (although the 1543 can handle it...sort of, but it has such high distortion to begin with it's hard to say one way or another if it much matters). The digital filter can have some impact on the sound, but for the most part your output is ordinarily going to be dominated by the characteristics of your output stage, followed by the d/a converter. Also, you can make a non-oversampling DVD-A converter using the PCM1704. I wouldn't recommend it as it's kind of a silly thing to do, but it can be done.
 
Where can I find cables for connecting my pmp to an amp. I have seen some really nice ones out there, but I dunno where to look. I would like some short ones for my Cowon D2 to my portable headphone amp, as well as my desktop amp.
 
Am I seeing things here?

StackedOpAmps.jpg


What benifit is there in stacking opamps like this?
 
strend said:
Am I seeing things here?

[/IMG]http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq18/strend_photos/StackedOpAmps.jpg[/IMG]

What benifit is there in stacking opamps like this?
Click to expand...

not too sure.. I think it increases headroom.. I didn't really spec out anything. I just asked MisterX (when he was still around) to find me a portable amp (better than a cmoy) with a recharging circuit. I also asked that it have a long runtime and to make sure it could push my Beyers and that's what he came up with. Maybe someone else knows?
 
strend said:
Am I seeing things here?

StackedOpAmps.jpg


What benifit is there in stacking opamps like this?
Click to expand...

those are buffers, not opamps... stacking them gives more current output... those are probably BUF634's which are 250mA each
 
Mr. Woof, regarding your center speaker positioning issue: what about mounting the monitor to the desk or wall and then placing your center under it?
 
matrix563 said:
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034147065&postcount=50

Phimp, where did you get your speaker stands? the ones i got from monoprice wont' work for me. phimp, is that a touchscreen to the side? :D
Click to expand...

Well, my Veritas i speakers are over 75 lbs each, so I spent almost $300 for the stands when i got the speakers. But that was I while ago and I can't recall for certain where I got them from. Although I may very well have picked them up at one of Magnolia HiFi's showrooms.

And nope, not a touchscreen, I WISH!! haha

Just a cheap 22" LCD connected to my 2nd Xbox360 and my computer which is back behind the couch. The lcd mounting arm I used was from monoprice and kicks ass though.

just noticed we have the same case :) gotta love the Stacker
 
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