Help Needed....

[Shivers]

Hello all, I'm a new member here and in dire need of some help! First of all I shall start with listing my current equipement:

- Rotal RA-01 Amplifier

- NAD 521 BEE CD Player

- Tannoy T4 Speakers (Just upgraded from Monitor Audio Bronze M2's)

- QED Silver Special 25th Anniversary Edition Speaker Cable (Bi-wire)

- Cambridge Atlantic Interconnect Cable (Just upgraded from standard throwaway cable, had completely forgotten to replace it!)

- Samsung 40" LCD (Can't remember exact model name, if you want to know just ask and I'll go track it)

- Xbox 360 (Earlier model, doesn't have the new chip nor does it have the HDMI input)

- All standard cabling

First of all, I want to make see what you guys think of my system? It's my first ever seperates system and is around 3 years old, I only just changed the speakers as they were going for cheap and whilst I loved my Monitor Audio's, but I needed something larger to help fill the room). At the moment my system is setup terribly, but I'm soon going to purchase a stacker to sit all my seperates and my LCD on, then I plan to isolate all the cabling (it's currently all over itself on the floor. My speakers are also just sitting on the floor in a terrible position, but once I setup my stacker I will rectify this (with your help!).

Second question is that I can swear I read in one of my manuals (I think it was in my amplifier manual) that you should run your audio straight from the mains without any extension cords or multi-plug adaptors etc, is this correct? I live in sunny Scotland, so we use 3-pin plugs and our outlets have 2 plug slots per outlet, so from one plug I have a power strip (no surge protection on it thogh) that sometimes has to run all of the above equipment (including the LCD/360) at once, but I have stopped doing this at the moment for fear of damaging it, is it safe to continue? Do I need to buy a surge protector? Please help!

Second question, currently I can't connect my audio to my LCD/360 due to the cable not reaching, this will be fixed when I purchase my stacker, but is the standard cabling for that fine or should I look at buying some new cabling to do the job?

Thirdly the covers on the speakers, god I'm not even sure what their called, main purpose is just to stop dust I'm guessing, but does it matter much or should I run them un-covered?

And last but not least, if I get some pictures and rough dimensions of the room, could you guys help me some with speaker positioning? (I've read the sticky but I'm still not 100% sure).

Sorry for the long post, huge thanks in advance

Edit - Just rememebered another thing I was un-sure about, pre-amping, what are the benefits/drawbacks (if any), are they better suited for higher end systems since mines is low-budget, do you still use bi-wire cable when you use a pre-amp etc...

 

[Davemcc]

First question, I see no reference to a Tannoy T4. Perhaps you are thinking of the Mercury F4 Tower? If that's the case, I see no difficulty with the speaker/amp combination. The amp is a little light by today's standards but the F4 looks to be a pretty easy speaker to drive.

Second question, surge protectors are primarily for peace of mind but not required. You are only running a 40 watt per channel stereo amp, the TV and a couple of source components. I don't see an issue with running everything from one outlet. It's not a terrible power draw.

Second second question, don't spend any more money than you absolutely have to on cables. Anything just a little better than the throwaway wires is more than suitable. All you need to do is make a stable, secure low voltage electrical connection between two components and it doesn't take a lot of money to do this simple function.

Last but not last question, speaker placement can vary from room to room and according to your taste. Experimentation is the order of the day. As long as they are both up front and form a triangle with the preferred seating location, you have a good start. Just play with distance from the front and side walls and with the toe-in until you find your preference.

Last question, your amp is an integrated amp with the preamp built in. This question looks like a moot point since that function is automatically covered. But I will say that there is no benefit to bi-wiring.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Maybe a Revolution Signature DC4 T?

 

[Shivers]

Oops small typing mistake, yes the Tannoy Mercury F4's. If the amp is fairly weak I guess that will probably be the next upgrade in my setup then (no for a little while though). Doh, I must have forgotten I had a built-in preamp when I purchased the bi-wire cable, oh well, I guess it will serve me well for my next amp then! (assuming it too doesn't have one built in!).

Thank you very much for all the advice, I have taken it on board, I plan to get a surge protector at somepoint just for the peace of mind factor.

Thanks again..

 

[Davemcc]

There should be no rush to upgrade the amp unless you really, really push your speakers. Most of your program material will only be using one watt or less. The F4's are reasonably efficient. The benefit to a larger amp would only be in headroom and dynamics at high volume. Unless you are a very demanding listener, that "little" amp should serve you well for many years.

 

[Shivers]

I don't plan to upgrade for at least 6months (more likely nearer 1 year), so I'll just be fixing the cabling (isolating it etc) and putting my stuff on stackers and trying to get some nice stereo imaging until then..