Help! Newbie Trying to Make 18 m² Sound Like a Concert Hall

[excallator]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the Hi-Fi world. I currently use a Sony DZ680 in my 40 m² room, but the sound quality is poor. I don't use this room much; I spend more time in an 18 m² room. My goal is to enjoy high-quality music.

Hi-Fi equipment is quite expensive in my country. For the 18 m² room, would it be possible to achieve quality sound with the Edifier S1280DBS (200 USD) or the Thonet & Vander Hoch BT (250 USD)?

Alternatively, would it be more reasonable to invest approximately the same budget (300 USD) in a second-hand Denon AVR-2808 and Eltax Hollywood 2.0 speakers, placing them in the 40 m² room?

I'm aware that my budget is limited, so the options are few. However, I would appreciate any additional recommendations you might have.

Sorry for mistake.

Thank you.

 

[Eppie]

You won't get concert hall like sound on a small budget but we can try and get the best return on your dollar. A search on the DZ680 shows that it is a one box solution for home theatre. These systems typically do not allow you to make any upgrades and the speakers are usually low quality. The speakers will have the biggest impact on sound quality. They appear to use a proprietary connector for the speakers so the speakers are designed to be used only with the DZX680 main unit. You can keep this setup if you have a room for casual TV viewing but it will not produce a theatre-like experience. I think it is best to start from scratch and build a nice 2 speaker setup for music. If you think you would like to add more speakers later for surround music or concert movies, try and build that into your plans. Selling the Sony system may help put more money towards something better.

The Denon AVR-2808 is an older unit with only 2 HDMI inputs and a lot of analogue inputs. I could not find the HDMI spec in the manual but you want at least HDMI 2.1 support or newer, otherwise your AVR could be obsolete from day one.

Getting a multi-channel AVR can be a good idea as they can be the same price as 2-channel equipment but have better video support and will allow the addition of more speakers later. It would help to know what country you are in and what other AVRs are available to you.

The Edifier speakers you mentioned are not designed to work with your Sony unit, or any other AVR like the Denon. They are designed as stand-alone powered speakers that you connect to a streaming device like a WiiM or to your phone via blue-tooth.

We don't see Eltax speaker in North America but a quick search reveals that they are by a French company. They are still budget speakers but general reviews seem to indicate that they offer decent value for the money, so there is a good chance that the Eltax will improve upon your current Sony speakers.

You will need to manage your expectations. Good quality audio comes at a price. If your main goal is quality 2-channel sound, 2 good speakers will do better than 5 cheap speakers. If having surround sounds is more important, you will have to make some compromises.

What is your source material? Music streaming services, TV broadcast, Youtube, your own physical media? Think of what connections you need to make on the AVR and if you need a TV screen attached.

Is your priority 2-channel music or surround music / movies? Can you start with 2 speakers and add more later or will this be a single long term purchase? What is your total budget for AVR and speakers?

 

[excallator]

First of all, thanks a lot for taking the time to reply.
My main goal for now is music listening, and later on I might expand by adding more speakers.
As sources, I’ll mainly be using an Android TV (Deezer/Spotify), iPhone, and a Dual HS130.
My starting budget is around $500.

 

[TLS Guy]

First of all, thanks a lot for taking the time to reply.
My main goal for now is music listening, and later on I might expand by adding more speakers.
As sources, I’ll mainly be using an Android TV (Deezer/Spotify), iPhone, and a Dual HS130.
My starting budget is around $500.

Not nearly enough! You need at least a some sort of decent receiver, and a couple of good speakers and preferably a sub, but that can be added later.

 

[Eppie]

If that is your budget for both AVR and speakers, then I have to agree with TLS Guy. I don't think you will be able to improve much over the Sony package with that budget. I think the price of entry for decent quality speakers is around the $500 mark and then you need to add a receiver. Audioholics did a round up a few years ago here. There are some other newer options as well. You will likely need to look at the used market to fit your budget. Used speakers in good condition are about 40% of retail on average. If you let us know what models are available in your area we might be able to recommend something.

Used AVRs are an option too but you don't want something too old that has mostly analogue inputs. You want decent digital support with a few analogue inputs for older devices. That Dual HS130 is listed as a powered unit with only 7W per channel. Does it have a pre-amp out that you can connect to another receiver? I could not find any photos of the rear connections.

 

[ski2xblack]

Whew, I agree with the others regarding reeling in expectations. Achieving "concert hall" sound is a rather lofty, upper echelon goal. Many (most?) speakers, even expensive ones, fall rather short of recreating a concert hall type listening experience. To do that requires the usual qualifications (linear on axis, smooth off axis, low distortion, absence of resonances, etc.), plus more (high sensitivity, unrestricted dynamic range...). Such speakers are not inexpensive. $500 just isn't going to cut it. The budget is orders of magnitude too low.

So if a convincing facsimile of a concert experience is really important, save up until you can afford something like an Arendal, RBH, upper end JBL Synthesis, Danley Sound Labs, or Sigberg based system.

My own (decades long) quest for "concert hall" sound, limited by a mere mortal's budget, meandered through used Klipsch Heritage (which sacrifice some of the basic qualifications mentioned above, but at the time were cheap entry to concert-esque sound) to DIY kit speakers (Fusion12 Tempests, which surpass any Klipsch Heritage I've ever owned, and I owned most of 'em), and even the kits were over $1k just for the parts.

For $500, the closest you'll get is probably snooping out the most bangin' active studio monitors (e.g. JBL lsr308) and a cheapo streamer.

 

[shadyJ]

Concert hall sound has a lot to do with acoustics. Many concert halls have very long acoustic decay times since the rooms are very large. You can't really achieve that in a normal room, so it has to be accomplished in the recording. What you can do is reduce your room's decay times so it doesn't complicate the recording's sound.

I would make sure that your listening room isn't very acoustically reflective. You don't need to put up expensive acoustic absorbers everywhere, but you will want lots of soft materials about, like plush fabric seats, thick rugs, thick fabric curtains, etc. Mitigate large flat hard surfaces as much as possible.

As for equipment, I would get a pair of powered speakers, hopefully something with built-in connectivity that can accommodate your source player. It is going to be very hard to get a full-sounding system at just $500.