Ever question your headphone preferences after hearing good loudspeakers?
Jun 17, 2005 at 12:45 AM Post #91 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by Cris
I own a what I would call average speaker system and still prefer my average phones.
(But maybe what I consider as average is garbage to you
wink.gif
).


My theory is to spend at least half of your stereo equipment budget on the speakers. Then use two thirds of what's left to get an amp powerful enough to push them. From there on, it doesn't matter... Get a cheapie CD player, regular old speaker cable, and whatever else you need on the cheap with the pennies you have left. There are lots of good midprice speakers... For 2 1/2 grand you can put together a good sounding rig.

See ya
Steve
 
Jun 17, 2005 at 12:48 AM Post #92 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by 12thgear
Maybe a nice SVS cylinder. Now that's a real sub.


I got one of those subs and I tell you, it kicks out some good air! My LSIs have yet to be removed as my reference, I'm hoping that my upcoming 650s will take care of that (well sort of and sort of not.. it's bittersweet I tell you).

Speakers > Headphones.... (atleast my LSI speakers)
Imaging
Soundstage Depth and Width
Realistic separation of instruments
Realistic sound of instruments
More tangible voice weight
Much better bass (tactile AND non-tactile)

Headphones > Speakers
Portability
Relatively silent to everyone else
More intimate with music
No room colorations, no need to calibrate each and every component

For me, details are about the same on both. Anything I heard on the SA5000 were present when I switched to my speakers (and vice versa).
 
Jun 17, 2005 at 4:48 AM Post #93 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot
My theory is to spend at least half of your stereo equipment budget on the speakers. Then use two thirds of what's left to get an amp powerful enough to push them. From there on, it doesn't matter... Get a cheapie CD player, regular old speaker cable, and whatever else you need on the cheap with the pennies you have left. There are lots of good midprice speakers... For 2 1/2 grand you can put together a good sounding rig.

See ya
Steve



I agree with you for the most part. But the CD player can be VERY important, just as much as the amp if not more.
 
Jun 17, 2005 at 6:57 AM Post #94 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot
But older recordings mixed to a two channel setup don't translate at all to the satillite system. The inner midrange voice of the violins gets spread all across the front, while sounds at the extreme right or left wrap around to the rear channels. Instead of having a clear aural picture of the orchestra or band, you end up with an image smeared all around you in unnatural ways. The soundstage imaging is totally screwed up.

I have a surround system on my stereo, but the two front channels are old fashioned box speakers, placed at the normal distance from each other. I can cut out the rear channel, bass unit and center channel and have a normal stereo spread. That's the best way to go.


I think we're in agreement here. While I do listen to music in my 5.1 system, it's in a 2.1 mode. Only the L/R satellites and subwoofer are in use for stereo music. I have the satellites wired into the subwoofer to use its adjustable crossover (my receiver has a fixed crossover). And it sounds quite nice. I think it's a good compromise.

There are only two times I'll all 6 speakers playing music. 1) I'm listening to an honest-to-goodness multichannel recording (Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots DVD-Audio; Refused: The Shape of Punk to Come DVD-Audio) or 2) I'm having a party, and I put the receiver in 5-channel stereo mode to smear the music around a bit.
 
Jun 17, 2005 at 8:23 AM Post #95 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by bjackson
Have any of you tried/head of Digital Room Correction. If you use a computer as your source in a loudspeaker system, it can be done for cheap or free depending on the gear you have laying around (You need, minimum, a rat shack SPL meter with analog out, and a soundcard).

It corrects for driver phase, and room colorations, and makes the music just come alive. Just a thought to solve the problem of no room treatments. Of course, it's even better if you can do the room treatments, and treat even less digitally....
smily_headphones1.gif


http://www.mooneyass.com/DRC/DRCGuidev1.0.pdf as a how to.


That is a sweet little guide.
 
Jun 19, 2005 at 4:12 PM Post #96 of 101
Headphones like the Beyer DT880 and Sony SA5000 sound fine to me as long as I don't play my speakers.As soon as I play my speakers,these headphones sound muddy and less detailed.The big advantage of these headphones is that they don't disturb the neighbors.
 
Jun 19, 2005 at 4:24 PM Post #97 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by Emon
I love the intimacy of headphones, and the price. As a few others have said, I just can't loose myself with speakers as well. And then there's the detail factor - I doubt any speaker could produce the detail of high end canalphones.


Quoted for emphasis
 
Jun 19, 2005 at 10:26 PM Post #98 of 101
Quote:

Originally Posted by jtwn
Quoted for emphasis


The Sony SA5000 headphones are pretty detailed for headphones but the Von Schweikert VR-1 speakers are more detailed and realistic.The detail gap between these two are really quite large.
 
Jun 20, 2005 at 8:30 AM Post #99 of 101
Luckily I haven't heard such a good speakers yet and I think I won't for a while. A look for the price tag would make me so depressed that I think I'll stick to my headphones.
 
Jun 20, 2005 at 3:49 PM Post #100 of 101
I like both; headphones for intimacy and detail which cant be realized with speakers due to room absortion and reflection, and speakers for sound stage and that more realistic duplication of live cincert.
I have yet to get the amount of detail from my maggies MG3 or the nht's that I can get with my beyer dt 880 and CIA headphone amp.
I'm willing to concede that maybe I need better speaker amps etc. than the adcom which is vintage 1990.
 
Jun 20, 2005 at 4:41 PM Post #101 of 101
Thanks, Beagle for initiating such an interesting thread!
Actually this did come to mind recently. In the "old days" I built up a nice system, based on listening tests, around tubes and electorostatics. It sits almost unused now. I fired it up recently to make sure it still worked, and I have to admit it made my earphone experience kind of depressing. However, this feeling quickly dissipated and now happily back to head-fi world trying to decide what to try next (with help from Search of course).
 
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