Advice on a nice stereo setup?

This is continuing from my posts here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/397869/pictures-of-your-computer-rigs-post-them-here/4665#post_7594520

"And to bring us back on topic, here is my home stereo rig. Polk Audio Monitor 10s there in the front, old garage sale TV (my HDTV is in the living room, gonna switch em out soon), Dual CS-5000 turntable there on top of the right speaker (the wood absorbs the vibration quite well, vinyl doesn't seem disturbed from the speakers vibration), Fiio E7 on the table there for use with my laptop, and my dad's fairly large record collection on the shelf on the left there. I have a couch to the right by the cassete tape shelf that is by a Darkvoice 337 and a pair of Beyer DT770 Pro/80s. The Polks sound GEAT with vinyl but the passive radiator is not good for blasting hip hop music for the bass, it can only give you bass you can hear vs bass you can feel, and to get it to the point where you can feel the bass, you are on the edge of blowing the midbass drivers since that is what is moving the radiator. Should I move that turntable? Also, would a pair of Totem Dreamcatcher speakers (http://www.stereophile.com/content/totem-dreamcatcher-loudspeaker) with a pair of Polk PSW110 subwoofers sound better than the current polks with said subwoofers? I'm not sure where to put my money. Either that setup with maybe a stereo Harman receiver/amp (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00198F89A/sr=1-14/qid=1309898820/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1309898820&sr=1-14&seller=) or a Marantz PM5004 integrated amp thrown in with my current setup (http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-PM5004-Integrated-Amplifier-Black/dp/B003R7KMTC/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0). What do you guys think?"

Speaker stands, room, walls, couches were mentioned as things to change. My response:

"OK, my response. I know about the speaker stands and the tweeters at ear level. I had some perfect speaker stands for these speakers that did just that, but one of them molded on the bottom from wet carpet from a leaking washing machine in the laundry room in the back, so my dad threw it away. So I had one on the left speaker, and it sounded SO much better than the right one with that tweeter at ear level. But, then the right one sounded so weird being at a different height I just took the stand off of the left one for the sake of keeping them at the same height. So yes, I had that in mind and I should have mentioned that. The receiver is OLD as in like 15yrs old. The remote only can do like volume and the remote literally tells a motor to turn the volume knob, no joke, its that old. That's why I considered the Marantz integrated above because it would be a powerful amp, and it has a great phono stage for the price point according to Stereophile. I also considered the Harman/Kardon one even though it probably isnt as good because it is cheaper, and 2 LFE ports would be nice to have for that pair of subwoofers I mentioned. With the room acoustics and the walls, well I'm only 13 I'll be honest and this isnt my house, so yeah, can't do anything about that. The carpet is also absorbing lots of the bass, and with these passive radiators, and my love of hip hop, this makes me a bit annoyed. Maybe I can move to another room. I have a basement, and the acoustics down there are probably even worse! Plus, in April, my mother was found dead down there on the couch, so being down there does not bring happy thoughts, and does anything but clear my mind, so not the best place for a listening setup. Is the room I'm in THAT bad? There isn't really anywhere else to move my stereo except the basement, and I don't want it up any higher in my house because I don't want to disturb my dad in his room, while he is sleeping or working. This whole "den" area I have it in is actually an add on to the house and not part of the original house design, FYI. From outside to inside, the walls are probably less than a foot wide, and are partly hollow when I knock on them from the inside. I have almost all of the room in the world in this room, though, so moving the speakers so they can "speak" or "breathe" is TOTALLY an option. The speakers are not ported or anything whatsoever, completely closed box, so I don't quite know if giving them more room would help or not. I don;t know if I mentioned this above, but they are Polk Audio Monitor 10s (http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/monitor10/). If they need room, I can just turn the room 180 degrees and put everything in the back, so I can spread out more since the shelves are in the way now, and a window also. I also believe that having the table in front of the speakers like that is not ideal either. Well there ya go! I can change pretty much anything except the walls, carpet etc (the room itself). I'll update you guys with the new thread! Also, I am leaving on Sunday and will be out of town until the afternoon of the 21st, so please stay with me and just have patience for my response! I might be able to respond while gone, but don't count on it. I apologize for this."

Pic:

Well, everybody take in my response and throw in your suggestions! For equipment changes that could be necessary, my budget is $1,000 at the VERY most (I have a 32in Vizio HDTV to throw in if you were wondering). As I mentioned, I will be gone from day after tomorrow (Sunday 10th) to the 21st of July, so please just be patient with me with my response. If I get a chance while I am gone, I will reply. I need all the help I can get with this!

Back of the room I have to work with (I'll get measurements when I can):

Facing the back of the room, the left (with my headphone setup):

Left, facing back of room:

Excuse the phone pic quality! Keep in mind that anything in the room that needs to be moved can be moved. I am open to anything, this room is ALL MINE!

And the 32in Vizio 1080p HDTV ;)

Valtopps, I thought I mentiopned that the polks sound "GREAT" above and the records dont seem disturbed from the vibration, and the wood seems to absorb all of the vibration. Nonetheless, I'll still move it just in case. I'll move the speakers kind of away from everything. How does 1 foot minimum away from the walls in the back and 2ft away minimum from anything on the sides? The only thing that will be in fromt of them is my 2-3yrd away couch arrangement. So, apparently having an old amp is ok? This isn't like a vintage amp, I mean an old old amp! It's an old Sony Receiver, with Front and Rear L/R speakers for Dolby Surround (probably one of the first ones to have this LOL). I've heard that a dedicated amp is SO much better than a receiver, so wouldn't having such an old *receiver* be kind of a bad idea?

My response WITH LINE BREAKS lmao sorry XD

OK, my response. I know about the speaker stands and the tweeters at ear level. I had some perfect speaker stands for these speakers that did just that, but one of them molded on the bottom from wet carpet from a leaking washing machine in the laundry room in the back, so my dad threw it away. So I had one on the left speaker, and it sounded SO much better than the right one with that tweeter at ear level. But, then the right one sounded so weird being at a different height I just took the stand off of the left one for the sake of keeping them at the same height. So yes, I had that in mind and I should have mentioned that.

The receiver is OLD as in like 15yrs old. The remote only can do like volume and the remote literally tells a motor to turn the volume knob, no joke, its that old. That's why I considered the Marantz integrated above because it would be a powerful amp, and it has a great phono stage for the price point according to Stereophile. I also considered the Harman/Kardon one even though it probably isnt as good because it is cheaper, and 2 LFE ports would be nice to have for that pair of subwoofers I mentioned.

With the room acoustics and the walls, well I'm only 13 I'll be honest and this isnt my house, so yeah, can't do anything about that. The carpet is also absorbing lots of the bass, and with these passive radiators, and my love of hip hop, this makes me a bit annoyed. Maybe I can move to another room. I have a basement, and the acoustics down there are probably even worse! Plus, in April, my mother was found dead down there on the couch, so being down there does not bring happy thoughts, and does anything but clear my mind, so not the best place for a listening setup.

Is the room I'm in THAT bad? There isn't really anywhere else to move my stereo except the basement, and I don't want it up any higher in my house because I don't want to disturb my dad in his room, while he is sleeping or working. This whole "den" area I have it in is actually an add on to the house and not part of the original house design, FYI. From outside to inside, the walls are probably less than a foot wide, and are partly hollow when I knock on them from the inside.

I have almost all of the room in the world in this room, though, so moving the speakers so they can "speak" or "breathe" is TOTALLY an option. The speakers are not ported or anything whatsoever, completely closed box, so I don't quite know if giving them more room would help or not. I don't know if I mentioned this above, but they are Polk Audio Monitor 10s (http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/monitor10/). If they need room, I can just turn the room 180 degrees and put everything in the back, so I can spread out more since the shelves are in the way now, and a window also. I also believe that having the table in front of the speakers like that is not ideal either.

Well there ya go! I can change pretty much anything except the walls, carpet etc (the room itself). I'll update you guys with the new thread! Also, I am leaving on Sunday and will be out of town until the afternoon of the 21st, so please stay with me and just have patience for my response! I might be able to respond while gone, but don't count on it. I apologize for this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtaylor991 

This is continuing from my posts here: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/397869/pictures-of-your-computer-rigs-post-them-here/4665#post_7594520

 

 

"And to bring us back on topic, here is my home stereo rig. Polk Audio Monitor 10s there in the front, old garage sale TV (my HDTV is in the living room, gonna switch em out soon), Dual CS-5000 turntable there on top of the right speaker (the wood absorbs the vibration quite well, vinyl doesn't seem disturbed from the speakers vibration), Fiio E7 on the table there for use with my laptop, and my dad's fairly large record collection on the shelf on the left there. I have a couch to the right by the cassete tape shelf that is by a Darkvoice 337 and a pair of Beyer DT770 Pro/80s. The Polks sound GEAT with vinyl but the passive radiator is not good for blasting hip hop music for the bass, it can only give you bass you can hear vs bass you can feel, and to get it to the point where you can feel the bass, you are on the edge of blowing the midbass drivers since that is what is moving the radiator. Should I move that turntable? Also, would a pair of Totem Dreamcatcher speakers (http://www.stereophile.com/content/totem-dreamcatcher-loudspeaker) with a pair of Polk PSW110 subwoofers sound better than the current polks with said subwoofers? I'm not sure where to put my money. Either that setup with maybe a stereo Harman receiver/amp (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00198F89A/sr=1-14/qid=1309898820/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1309898820&sr=1-14&seller=) or a Marantz PM5004 integrated amp thrown in with my current setup (http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-PM5004-Integrated-Amplifier-Black/dp/B003R7KMTC/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0). What do you guys think?"

 

Speaker stands, room, walls, couches were mentioned as things to change. My response:

 

"OK, my response. I know about the speaker stands and the tweeters at ear level. I had some perfect speaker stands for these speakers that did just that, but one of them molded on the bottom from wet carpet from a leaking washing machine in the laundry room in the back, so my dad threw it away. So I had one on the left speaker, and it sounded SO much better than the right one with that tweeter at ear level. But, then the right one sounded so weird being at a different height I just took the stand off of the left one for the sake of keeping them at the same height. So yes, I had that in mind and I should have mentioned that. The receiver is OLD as in like 15yrs old. The remote only can do like volume and the remote literally tells a motor to turn the volume knob, no joke, its that old. That's why I considered the Marantz integrated above because it would be a powerful amp, and it has a great phono stage for the price point according to Stereophile. I also considered the Harman/Kardon one even though it probably isnt as good because it is cheaper, and 2 LFE ports would be nice to have for that pair of subwoofers I mentioned. With the room acoustics and the walls, well I'm only 13 I'll be honest and this isnt my house, so yeah, can't do anything about that. The carpet is also absorbing lots of the bass, and with these passive radiators, and my love of hip hop, this makes me a bit annoyed. Maybe I can move to another room. I have a basement, and the acoustics down there are probably even worse! Plus, in April, my mother was found dead down there on the couch, so being down there does not bring happy thoughts, and does anything but clear my mind, so not the best place for a listening setup. Is the room I'm in THAT bad? There isn't really anywhere else to move my stereo except the basement, and I don't want it up any higher in my house because I don't want to disturb my dad in his room, while he is sleeping or working. This whole "den" area I have it in is actually an add on to the house and not part of the original house design, FYI. From outside to inside, the walls are probably less than a foot wide, and are partly hollow when I knock on them from the inside. I have almost all of the room in the world in this room, though, so moving the speakers so they can "speak" or "breathe" is TOTALLY an option. The speakers are not ported or anything whatsoever, completely closed box, so I don't quite know if giving them more room would help or not. I don;t know if I mentioned this above, but they are Polk Audio Monitor 10s (http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/monitor10/). If they need room, I can just turn the room 180 degrees and put everything in the back, so I can spread out more since the shelves are in the way now, and a window also. I also believe that having the table in front of the speakers like that is not ideal either. Well there ya go! I can change pretty much anything except the walls, carpet etc (the room itself). I'll update you guys with the new thread! Also, I am leaving on Sunday and will be out of town until the afternoon of the 21st, so please stay with me and just have patience for my response! I might be able to respond while gone, but don't count on it. I apologize for this."

 

Pic:

 

 

Well, everybody take in my response and throw in your suggestions! For equipment changes that could be necessary, my budget is $1,000 at the VERY most (I have a 32in Vizio HDTV to throw in if you were wondering). As I mentioned, I will be gone from day after tomorrow (Sunday 10th) to the 21st of July, so please just be patient with me with my response. If I get a chance while I am gone, I will reply. I need all the help I can get with this!

I am very satisfied with the Polk 10s with vinyl because vinyl doesnt carry much bass and if it does it is nice and deep, but not boomy hip hop like bass (I do turn the bass knob 3/4 the way up or just on 0 and bass boost on though).

I was just saying that these speakers do not do hip hop "boom boom boom" and "thump thump thump" type bass since the bass is really coming from the two 4 or 5 inch mid drivers and to get it deep enough to where you have some nice extended low bass you are on the edge of blowing the two 4/5inch drivers, and I don't want that!

I just think adding a pair of subwoofers would help for when I'm in a basshead mood (when I feel like listening to hip hop really) to relieve some stress from the Polks. Would the Polk Audio PSW110 woofer be good (pair)? They have a thing where you connect the speaker wires into that and then out to the speakers, but would this pass through damage sound quality and/or take over as the amp for the speakers, or would it just pass through. I don't like the idea of driving my speakers from an amp in my subwoofer.

I just googled Yamaha R-9 and found your post on the heat issues with it lol. I bet adding fans would be fine as long as they aren't too noisy.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=369981

Quote:

Originally Posted by RexAeterna 

what? not happy with monitor 10's? there like the best from polk audio. there newer stuff isn't any better. my suggestion is get a more powerful amp and re-arrange the room a bit. get an amp that can handle high current(low impedance drive) and has plenty of power(around 100wpc). i would go vintage as well. they don't make amps like they use. Krell amplifiers are one of the only manufactures nowadays that makes really great quality amps but they are past your budget. if you want to go cheap i suggest look into trying to find a yamaha R-9 receiver(125wpc class A). can find one minty for 100 bucks and it has torque...i mean lots of torque for under 4ohm loads. you got also big kenwoods and sansui's you can find but they will cost on avg 3-4x more for what you can find the yamaha for.

then you can use rest of the money to add a subwoofer or extra floor towers. if all you care is big bass you can search for some technics sb t-200's or 300's to run with the polks. for 5.5'' bass drivers and power behind them they can slam hard and don't sound bad either.

Rex, should I just bid $150 on this and get it? Only one I could find for sale. Can I get a remote for it too?

http://cgi.ebay.com/YAMAHA-RECEIVER-R-9-W-ORIG-PACKING-BOX-CLEAN-/160614808048?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item25656379f0