What New Stuff Have You Bought? If You Care To Share Thead! :)

KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
A too long story about those:

Last week I put a deposit on a pair of B-stock "Satin Walnut" that my dealer said he got in, along with others in piano black. Said to be the obsoleted colors. it's more than just color. The new ones eliminate the need for a pressed-in trim ring around the woofer, now a single plate baffle. A minor change in the laminations behind the face too, no longer has the white layer.

The dealer helped me load them in my car, off I went. Only when I was pulling them out to bring them in the house did I notice the "Silver Walnut" on the label. I'm still really shocked. especially given the price I paid. I am NOT flush with money. I did a quick calculation to verify what I'd been doing. With the sale of R500, R200c, R100, & R50 set, buying a used HTF8003 soundbar and new T101 surround speakers, I've only had to up the ante by $1141 to get these.

I'm smitten, they do everything my LS50 Meta do, but even smoother than that. It's really shocking to me, I wasn't sure there would be this much better than LS50 Meta with well-integrated subs but it's just remarkable the improvement. Wow!
 
John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
A too long story about those:

Last week I put a deposit on a pair of B-stock "Satin Walnut" that my dealer said he got in, along with others in piano black. Said to be the obsoleted colors. it's more than just color. The new ones eliminate the need for a pressed-in trim ring around the woofer, now a single plate baffle. A minor change in the laminations behind the face too, no longer has the white layer.

The dealer helped me load them in my car, off I went. Only when I was pulling them out to bring them in the house did I notice the "Silver Walnut" on the label. I'm still really shocked. especially given the price I paid. I am NOT flush with money. I did a quick calculation to verify what I'd been doing. With the sale of R500, R200c, R100, & R50 set, buying a used HTF8003 soundbar and new T101 surround speakers, I've only had to up the ante by $1141 to get these.

I'm smitten, they do everything my LS50 Meta do, but even smoother than that. It's really shocking to me, I wasn't sure there would be this much better than LS50 Meta with well-integrated subs but it's just remarkable the improvement. Wow!
Very nice! On my “dream” list for a while now and I know it was on yours - congrats! I remember when Johan Coorg just “had” to play them when I was demoing the R500s; almost ruined the experience for me (not really) but certainly gave me something to aspire to. There is a reason they cost what they do...
 
afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
Very nice! On my “dream” list for a while now and I know it was on yours - congrats! I remember when Johan Coorg just “had” to play them when I was demoing the R500s; almost ruined the experience for me (not really) but certainly gave me something to aspire to. There is a reason they cost what they do...
Didn't you pick up something the other day JP???? Share. :D :cool: :eek:
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
SVSWS.jpg
SVS Prime Wireless Speaker System

Wife was nice enough to let me open up my pocket book when I purchased the Paradigm Persona 3Fs and Center, but she used her generosity as leverage for me to pull the receiver in the bedroom and told me to just get a Soundbar. I was given a $500 budget, (LOL) so tried a higher end Samsung and as I expected it sounded like garbage.

After a little negotiation, we returned the Soundbar and I was told that I could get small powered satellites.
Was all set to get the Audioengine 5+ until I stopped by my local best buy and they had the SVS Wireless Speakers System. Even better, they had an open box, that was used for less than a day and was completely pristine.
$449.99 vs $599.99 and I kept the both of us happy.
Checked most of the boxes
  • Wifi (Check) - except for the wire to connect the passive speaker to the main, so not fully100% wireless
  • Bluetooth (Check)
  • Apt X HD (Not checked) standard Apt X, but AAC so can live with that
  • Sub Out - Can use my existing sub extra bass extension
  • BONUS: Wired connections to my home network and can stream from my NAS (BIG PLUS)
Biggest Plus, these things sound amazing, for such tiny speakers they really play well in a medium sized room, and with the sub, our larger bedroom. While I really wanted AptXHD, having the ability to stream from my network wireless/wired was a great feature along with the sub out. Content SVS owner

Update: DTS-FI is a pain in the ass to setup, spent multiple hours getting it to update. Hopefully they include a real remote in a future revision.
 
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adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
Here is a pic of the completed setup with the new stands. And a speaker pic, just because.
setup.jpg

Helicon_300_mk2.jpg
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
led to...

Niles SI-275!

View attachment 44869

Okay so this has to be the most ridiculously good thing going in hifi right now. For $100 plus shipping on ebay I have a high-current amplifier, stable down to 2.7 ohms, with audio-sensing auto turn on and daisy chain RCA output, and over 100 clean w/p/c at 4 ohms!

And it doesn't look out of place in an AV or hifi system, to boot!

So, unfortunately I found out the hard way that the Denon DRA-800h (yeah I bought a 2-channel AVR; I'm that guy :p) doesn't have a true preamp output. Don't even get me started on that "Zone 2" bullsh!t. It is not the same, and you can't make it the same. Ultimately I had to get a 1/4 headphone to stereo RCA cable in order to preamp the Niles.

Bu... oh... damn...

THAT is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Stratus Gold's! Suddenly everything I had read about these speakers came to life. With good amplification behind them they are true beasts.

And even after jamming out to tunes and playing the action scenes from Netflix' "Outside the Wire" at house-shaking levels, the amp wasn't even warm to the touch. Insane.

Probably going to replace the Denon with a Marantz NR1200, which has a true preamp output. That way I get to keep HEOS. I don't like the headphone jack hookup and I wouldn't mind being able to bi-amp the PSB's.
Ha. I got one of those amps to power my last two Atmos overheads. I don't think my mains are all that demanding, but I've considered hooking them up since I got the amp. Interesting.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
These are my current garage speakers! I got them at a good price from PE, I think it was right at $108.

I bought them specifically as practice before tackling the BMR build. The BMRs are a challenging build! And, the OS was my first, the BMR is my 2nd (speaker) build.

Mostly, I wanted to tell you that you can get PCBs for the XOs on Ebay for a fair price. I did not personally use the ebya PCBs, but only because I knew the BMR would not have that option, and I needed the practice without the PCB. I used a custom 3D printed "pegboard" to hold my XO components, I have a 3D printer and that looked to be the easiest way for me to get what I needed.
 
Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
Ha. I got one of those amps to power my last two Atmos overheads. I don't think my mains are all that demanding, but I've considered hooking them up since I got the amp. Interesting.
I've actually given up on the PSB's. I'll keep the Marantz and the Niles in case I ever want to bi-amp future speakers, but the Stratus are just too dang inefficient. The pre-out from the Marantz, with the Niles set at full gain, still left me with having to turn the receiver volume extremely high to get an acceptable volume level.

Running the PSB's against the Cambridge Towers on the receiver A/B terminals shows just how immense the difference is. I just can't make them work downstairs without the extra signal boost from the headphone jack, and that's a no-go.

I'm debating asking Dennis Murphy about a driver/crossover overhaul of the Stratus Goldi's to make them more efficient and less demanding, at the cost of a few Hz on the low end. It's such a sexy speaker cabinet and a lot of people still own them.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
Very nice. I have threatened to buy and build that for years but never got around to it. Is that the flat pack one or do the enclosures come ready?
I believe PE (his linked source) only sells the flat pack. It should be noted that this kit is baltic birch, not MDF. Since my BMR is also BB, it made sense to also use the OS kit to practice my BB finishing work.
 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
Bought all the trapping to build myself a new computer yesterday. AMD 5600 on an ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero Dark mobo, couple m.2 drives, PSU, etc, etc. Everything but a new video card because prices on them are freaking nuts right now.
Just bought a new (to me) video card from a coworker. He sold me his old RTX 2080 for a very reasonable $350!
 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
These are my current garage speakers! I got them at a good price from PE, I think it was right at $108.

I bought them specifically as practice before tackling the BMR build. The BMRs are a challenging build! And, the OS was my first, the BMR is my 2nd (speaker) build.

Mostly, I wanted to tell you that you can get PCBs for the XOs on Ebay for a fair price. I did not personally use the ebya PCBs, but only because I knew the BMR would not have that option, and I needed the practice without the PCB. I used a custom 3D printed "pegboard" to hold my XO components, I have a 3D printer and that looked to be the easiest way for me to get what I needed.
How do you like the overnight sensations? I've been considering building them for PC duties.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
How do you like the overnight sensations? I've been considering building them for PC duties.
That's what I'm going to use them for. My tiny JBL's just aren't cutting it anymore. This kit was too cheap to pass up.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
These are my current garage speakers! I got them at a good price from PE, I think it was right at $108.

I bought them specifically as practice before tackling the BMR build. The BMRs are a challenging build! And, the OS was my first, the BMR is my 2nd (speaker) build.

Mostly, I wanted to tell you that you can get PCBs for the XOs on Ebay for a fair price. I did not personally use the ebya PCBs, but only because I knew the BMR would not have that option, and I needed the practice without the PCB. I used a custom 3D printed "pegboard" to hold my XO components, I have a 3D printer and that looked to be the easiest way for me to get what I needed.
Hmm. I didn't think of that. Just any PCB will work or can I make something else work too? I've got a TON of random wood pieces laying around that might work. I'll start a build thread when I get the parts later this week.
 
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