Q

Quicksilver77

Audiophyte
Well my hunt continues for a 2 channel system. I visited my local dealer today and this system offered to me. He is a good friend and offered these components at cost
Yamaha AS-501 (85W) Integrated Amp -$420 CA - $320US
Yamaha CDS 300 CD Player - $230 CA - $175US
Paradigm Mini Monitor - $350 CA - $265US
Having pretty much given up on Vintage used gear this is my possible setup for the spare room. Any thoughts on this? I can still get the Luxman L-205 for $100 CA - $75 US
Thoughts on my choices? Eventually I will be adding a turntable. Here are pics cause no post is fun without pics :)





 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Those speakers won't be giving you any real bass. If you want to keep the system simple, I would get some powered monitors, which tend to have some bass. This also skips the expense of buying a separate amplifier. I would be looking at something like the JBL LSR 308s for example. When you want to add more sources, just use a mixer.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Whether you will be happy with this all depends on application. What are you going to listen to? Will this be part of a video system?
 
M

Mark of Cenla

Full Audioholic
This all depends on what YOU think of the speakers. Listen to something you know real well on them and decide if you are hearing everything clearly at all frequencies you expect to hear. You may need to add a sub later if the bass is not there. Peace and goodwill.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
I think that amp is a great choice for the price, but the speakers are weak. If you must have a CD player, okay, but I would just rip all the CDs and play them on a PC and/or add a low cost DAC, network audio player etc. My so called high(er) end CD and SACD players have been collecting dust for over a year now.
 
Q

Quicksilver77

Audiophyte
Whether you will be happy with this all depends on application. What are you going to listen to? Will this be part of a video system?
No I have a full HT system in another room. This system will be purely for music. This amp does have digital inputs I believe though if I wanted to put a TV Receiver in it....even though I know it will only be 2 channel
 
Q

Quicksilver77

Audiophyte
I think that amp is a great choice for the price, but the speakers are weak. If you must have a CD player, okay, but I would just rip all the CDs and play them on a PC and/or add a low cost DAC, network audio player etc. My so called high(er) end CD and SACD players have been collecting dust for over a year now.
Thanks. I am on the fence about the speakers. I can pick up a pair of Polk TSi 200 for about half the money (used) but not really sure if they would be much better. I have all my CD's ripped to iTunes already but in MP3 format. Any suggestions for a low cost Network Audio Player? I could re-rip them to my NAS to another format.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Thanks. I am on the fence about the speakers. I can pick up a pair of Polk TSi 200 for about half the money (used) but not really sure if they would be much better. I have all my CD's ripped to iTunes already but in MP3 format. Any suggestions for a low cost Network Audio Player? I could re-rip them to my NAS to another format.
If you are limited by your current budget, it maybe better to spend even less, something like
THIS should sound better and more accurate than the Digm mini monitors.

For network audio player, I am thinking of getting the Oppo Sonica DAC myself, still reading up on it though. If you don't mind playing from your PC or laptop, then there are many choices of portable or desktop DACs, from <CAD100 and up.
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
I favor Paradigm over Polk -- however, I would go for the Philharmonics.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Those speakers you selected are intended to be part of a 5.1 system.




Here is the frequency response from Sound and Vision.



Several things strike me. First of all it has a perfectly dreadful tweeter.

That tweeter is starting to loose it and break up at 5 KHz! By 15 KHz there a a large break up peak. That will be very audible, especially on classical music.

This is a common issue with aluminum tweeters. I don't know why people persist with it. The cheaper soft domes in general have much better behavior. I suspect it is those marketing types again, who I so despise, that insist a speaker must have a shiny tweeter dome.

Next the crossover at 1.5 KHz is a little rocky and could be better. However I really don't like crossovers in that range, as it is right bang on the middle of the speech discrimination band, and one of the most important regions at that for speech discrimination.

The F3 point is 65 Hz, the Philharmonic audio is 48 Hz. That may not sound like much but 65 Hz gets you above the fundamental frequency of a great many instruments. 48 Hz on the other hand gets you close to the majority.

I would say that the Philharmonic Affordable Accuracy Monitor is going to be the much better sounding speaker by far.



Remember for every decent speaker there about 100 lousy ones or more. Polk by the way are well the wrong side of the line.
 
tyhjaarpa

tyhjaarpa

Audioholic Field Marshall
Those electronics are fine. I would also suggest for AA Monitors as speakers.
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
Those speakers you selected are intended to be part of a 5.1 system.




Here is the frequency response from Sound and Vision.



Several things strike me. First of all it has a perfectly dreadful tweeter.

That tweeter is starting to loose it and break up at 5 KHz! By 15 KHz there a a large break up peak. That will be very audible, especially on classical music.

This is a common issue with aluminum tweeters. I don't know why people persist with it. The cheaper soft domes in general have much better behavior. I suspect it is those marketing types again, who I so despise, that insist a speaker must have a shiny tweeter dome.

Next the crossover at 1.5 KHz is a little rocky and could be better. However I really don't like crossovers in that range, as it is right bang on the middle of the speech discrimination band, and one of the most important regions at that for speech discrimination.

The F3 point is 65 Hz, the Philharmonic audio is 48 Hz. That may not sound like much but 65 Hz gets you above the fundamental frequency of a great many instruments. 48 Hz on the other hand gets you close to the majority.

I would say that the Philharmonic Affordable Accuracy Monitor is going to be the much better sounding speaker by far.



Remember for every decent speaker there about 100 lousy ones or more. Polk by the way are well the wrong side of the line.
I see you haven't lost your touch when it comes to giving a well informed, technically accurate , reasoned response to a question. That's good stuff right there
 
Q

Quicksilver77

Audiophyte
Thanks for the replies everyone. Some great info here. I decided to pull the trigger on a used system for starting out. Got this for under $100 Canadian so will use it to dip my toes in 2 channel systems and then maybe pick up the Yamaha system with a better set of speakers like suggested.

Luxman L-205 Amp
Luxman T-240 Tuner
Teac PD-555
JBL 2600 Speakers

 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
Thanks for the replies everyone. Some great info here. I decided to pull the trigger on a used system for starting out. Got this for under $100 Canadian so will use it to dip my toes in 2 channel systems and then maybe pick up the Yamaha system with a better set of speakers like suggested.

Luxman L-205 Amp
Luxman T-240 Tuner
Teac PD-555
JBL 2600 Speakers

Very nice. I hope you enjoy your new system.

It would be interesting to hear how you would evaluate the sound after some critical listening tests. What do you think are the strengths? What if any weaknesses?

We see a lot of "what should i buy posts" but not enough follow up evaluations on how it sounds.

I wish you well and hope to see an evaluation
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
I do like used gear. Especially when it's been well cared for and still looks and plays well. I just end up feeling sorry for shelved items.

Still better than collecting stray cats.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Some great info here. I decided to pull the trigger on a used system for starting out. Got this for under $100 Canadian so will use it to dip my toes in 2 channel systems and then maybe pick up the Yamaha system with a better set of speakers like suggested.

Luxman L-205 Amp
Luxman T-240 Tuner
Teac PD-555
JBL 2600 Speakers

You did very well to get all that for such a low price. That Luxman gear is excellent and a step up from what you had in mind.

Now you can save for a really nice set of speakers.

You did very well to get that for und
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Oooh...Luxman! Good stuff indeed.

Excellent move to start with that. For a great network player cheap I like the Bluesound Node N100 because they're $300 US new (while remaining stocks are there) and a $12 Bluetooth dongle completes it. Access files anywhere on your Ethernet or wireless network and stream Tidal HiFi with full MQA decoding. An MQA file playing compared to an iTunes MP3 file is like a dirty 45rpm mono record compared to a CD.
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
I do like used gear. Especially when it's been well cared for and still looks and plays well. I just end up feeling sorry for shelved items.
Still better than collecting stray cats.
MrBoat
I still have Marantz receiver envy from the 1970's and 1980's. I couldn't afford one back then. I can't afford a reconditioned one now. It will just have to stay envy. And yes, it's better than collecting cats.
 
newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top