please help total newbie spend $2000

[plutarch221]

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a decent entry set up. For now I will just be using my computer as source. I guess I'm looking at speakers and amp(s) suggestions.

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jinjuku]

2.1/3.1/4.1/5.1/7.1? Music and Movie likes/dislikes?

 

[Davemcc]

Room size? Physical placement?

 

[Gimpy Ric]

2.1/3.1/4.1/5.1/7.1? Music and Movie likes/dislikes?

Most on the board would agree and tell you to take your favorite CDs and a small notebook for model numbers, prices, etc. and go out and find the REAL audio shops and listen to all the speakers you can, look in the phone book. Skip Best Buy and other chain stores.

Also consider internet only speakers companies, like Axiom, AV123, Aperion Audio, etc. All allow for a 30 day in home audition. I have Aperion Audio speakers bought off their website only. I'm very pleased.

You'll want a sub. How much sub depends on your room size and budget. Examples of respected subs are SVS, Hsu Research, and now the AV123 MFW-15 Subwoofer. For $599.00 it sports a 15 inch woofer and 350 watt amp.

For Electronics I suggest an Emotiva LPA-1 amp for $450.00. Its a great seven channel 125 x 7 watts and 220 or so into four ohms. If you use your computer for your "Pre-amp" you can buy some speakers and a sub, the amp, and then when the Emotiva LMC-2 comes out, you add that. Its the replacement for the LMC-1, and shale have some wicked audio/video processing capabilities. Build quality is excellent.

Just my .02 cents.

 

[plutarch221]

Two speakers.

As far as music goes, I listen to just about anything from Alizee to Zappa.

I"m not sure what was meant by placement but room size is approximately 14' x 15'.

Thanks again.

 

[jinjuku]

Placement is referring to where you want to locate the speakers. General rule of thumb is to keep them out of the corners.

Do you plan on migrating to a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system for movies also?

If so does your computer have optical (toslink)?

Some general advice: 70% of your budget should go to speakers. Speakers vs your amp will have the single biggest impact on quality. While one amp may have some characteristics over another amp in SQ (sound quality) it won't be as pronounced obviously as the difference between speakers.

If you really are considering only a 2 speaker setup or 2.1(sub-woofer) I would seriously consider using the analog out and going to a Behringer A500 amp and a pair of monster towers. The amp is $200 so $1800 for speakers would be absolutely wow.

What is your audio out section on the computer consist of?

 

[Davemcc]

What I meant by physical placement was if you wanted a high quality desktop solution for use with your computer, wall mounted around a flat panel, bookshelves with a sub or floorstanding towers. It's a pretty basic parameter to know before throwing out random suggestions, especially with no indication of budget.

 

[jinjuku]

His OP stipulated a $2K budget. With the room dimensions a floorstander is a pretty good guess. Again I would seriously consider a pair of monster floor standers if I had the same budget and 2 or 2.1 desires. But that is just me, YMMV.

 

[rnatalli]

Start with speakers and go from there. With a $2k budget, I'd probably spend something like $1,200 on speakers alone.

 

[Davemcc]

His OP stipulated a $2K budget. With the room dimensions a floorstander is a pretty good guess. Again I would seriously consider a pair of monster floor standers if I had the same budget and 2 or 2.1 desires. But that is just me, YMMV.

DOH, I saw his budget in the title and forgot while reading the post.

The Behringer A500 is a good choice because 1) No fan, 2) Tons of power and 3) Front panel gain control.

Using the Behringer also allows the use of just about any speaker you could imagine, including some that are harder to drive with a budget receiver. A couple to look into might be the Salk Songtower or the Dynaudio Audience series.

http://www.salksound.com/songtower.shtml

http://www.dynaudio.com/eng/systems/lines/audience/audience62.php

 

[plutarch221]

re:

Ok, I’ll try my best to be more helpful.

My last system consisted of an Onkyo A-8087 integrated amp, a pair of Bose 8.2 floor standing speakers and a cd player bought circa 1980. Believe it or not the speakers still work but the amp gave up the ghost last year and the cd player is long gone. Needless to say, innovation and technology have left me in the dust.

So now it’s 2007 and I have $1000-$2000 to spend on something new but with little clue where to start. I’ve been playing audio via computer so I figured I would stick with that as a source for now. I just bought a new computer and the only audio it has right now is what is integrated on the motherboard. The user guide is calling this C-Media Superior Quality Audio 7.1 channel audio CODEC, supports S/PDIF Out interface. I’ve never heard of it. Usually on board audio is not that good so I usually expect to upgrade to a sound card. Also, I didn’t know there was something called optical (toslink). Sounds cool but I definitely don’t have it. Any suggestions here are appreciated.

I hadn’t given any thought regarding placement. I’ve always had the Bose speakers and they sat on the floor. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter to me. If acquiring the optimal audio at my budget suggests floor standing speakers, then I’ll just move stuff. If wall mounted provides higher quality per dollar then I’ll drill some holes in the walls. I know it’s subjective to some extent, thus the admonishment to go listen, and that’s fine, but it helps to know where to start. I guess I’m trying to say I’ll take quality over convenience.

From here I’m pretty much lost. I know you can get pre-amps, power amps, power regulators, tubes vs. solid-state, cables and probably many other useful/necessary components, but I have to admit I don’t really know what it’s all about. For instance, I don’t know why it may or not be better to have separate pre-amp and power amp as opposed to an integrated amp.

I think a high quality solution for use with my computer is what I’m after, at least for now, but I don’t require speakers that fit on the desktop. My last “desktop solution” was a Klipsch out of the box set-up that consisted of four desktop speakers and a sub. I think it cost me about $400 several years ago.

So right now all I have is my computer and a pair of headphones. I'd very much like to do something about that.

I hope this helps some and thanks so much for all your help.

 

[jinjuku]

What manufacturer and model of computer do you have? You most likely have optical out from reading you latest post. What we need to know is what are your analog outputs?

If it is a full complement of output options then most likely you will have:

Analog Front L/R
Analog Rear L/R
Analog Center L/R
Analog Sub

If your need is straight up PCM audio then we simply use the Analog Front L/R to something like the Berhinger A500 Amp then to speakers for a 2.0 setup (the .whatever represents sub-woofer/s).

For a 2.1 setup it would be the Analog Front L/R to the A500 and the Analog sub to the input on the sub.

If you already have floor standers (Bose 8.2's) then you really shouldn't need to clear up any more room.

 

[jinjuku]

Speaker choices

Speaker choice is critical enough that it really deserves its own thread.

From what I have read you are a value/quality investor. You bought quality ~27 years ago and are now primed to do it again.

So one question: Would you consider a kit? This is a where parts arrive and you use a screw driver to put it all together. No assembly of crossovers or any thing like that needed.

Outside of the kit question there are a few ID (Internet Direct) brands that deal in some nice $1-2K speakers:

Axiom Audio and AV123

There are also the show room stalwarts like PSB/Paradigm/B&W/Mirage/Boston Acoustics/KEF/Infinity/Polk/Klipsch...

Best advice is to audition. Hard to do with the ID brands on the higher end stuff. You may want to call them and ask anyways.

The Axiom M80ti looks like a category killer to me. Lots of quality speaker for the money. Madisound.com has a nice selection of kits with high end European drivers and highend 'audiophile' crossovers.

 

[plutarch221]

So one question: Would you consider a kit? This is a where parts arrive and you use a screw driver to put it all together. No assembly of crossovers or any thing like that needed.

I find the kit idea intriguing but I would have no idea what I would be buying and I have no knowledge of speaker construction and internals. I can use a screw driver and follow directions but anything more that than I may get into trouble. I can assemble a computer from scratch, so if it's similar in terms of difficulty, then I should be fine. But I really don't have an idea what I would buy. I looked at the site you linked but I wouldn't know what to purchase.

Thanks

 

[jinjuku]

I find the kit idea intriguing but I would have no idea what I would be buying and I have no knowledge of speaker construction and internals. I can use a screw driver and follow directions but anything more that than I may get into trouble. I can assemble a computer from scratch, so if it's similar in terms of difficulty, then I should be fine. But I really don't have an idea what I would buy. I looked at the site you linked but I wouldn't know what to purchase.

Thanks

Simply look through the site and see if there is anything that is of interest to you. The only problem with Madisound is that they messed up the layout of the web site. It used to be much easier to see and navigate. I have no idea of what they are thinking.

 

[plutarch221]

What manufacturer and model of computer do you have? You most likely have optical out from reading you latest post. What we need to know is what are your analog outputs?

I have an ASUS M2N-E SLI motherboard. It has the following 15 external ports:

1. PS/2 mouse
2. Parallel
3. IEEE 1394a
4. LAN (RJ-45)
5. Side Speaker Out
6. Rear Speaker Out
7. Line In
8. Line Out
9. Microphone
10. Center/Subwoofer
11. USB 2.0
12. USB 2.0
13. Serial (COM)
14 Coaxial S/PDIF Out
15. PS.2 keyboard

Thanks

 

[jinjuku]

All right, now we are getting somewhere. You have what you need for either a 2.0 or 2.1 setup with the analog outs. You would need 1/8th inch to rca stereo cable for the line out and another for 1/8th inch to rca mono cable if you go the sub woofer route.

 

[jaxvon]

You should start with a high quality PCI/PCI-E sound card. It will give you many output options and a much lower noise floor. Check out Newegg.com for a good selection.

As for speakers, I would go with high quality bookshelves, stereo subs, a good receiver that can do what you want, room treatments, and the rest into whatever you like.

 

[bpape]

... or better yet, an external USB DAC.

Bryan