[boirefish]

Heyo fellow headfi-ers,
 
A few of things:
 
1. I've got a mini hifi system at home with the specs in the title: 530w RMS.
I'm assuming that's the amp power, but I'd like to know a little more about what that means, what can be powered, or whether this measurement is only one of several that I should be taking note of.
 
2. I've been a member of headfi for around 11 days now, and am still quite new, but DAMN, the fs/ft section is addictive. Heck, I refresh that homie every 10 minutes - and with end of semester exams coming up, I'm investing much more time than I can afford. 
 
The other day, I realised it's still another 20 days before I can post there (thought the requirements was 15 days and 15 posts previously), so that was a pretty harsh bonekill. I think i'm getting muscle spasms from the suspenseful waiting, since not many of the advertised items are available for us cave-dwelling audiophiles from the land down under. So, could someone please do a shout for me on the fs/ft section, and then I'll comment beneath so they know who to contact, or is that prohibited?
 
thanks for reading guys
 
Charles.
 

 

[RexAeterna]

what is the model of your amp? is it a power amp or an integrated amp(meaning it has built-in pre-amp)? or receiver(all receiver is an integrated amp with built-in tuner section)?

 

[boirefish]

thanks for the clarification about the receiver. in that case, it's an integrated amp. As for the model, it's just a sony MHC EC99i system which happens to also amplify things
 
and thanks for your reply!

 

[Elektrospeed]

It's the sum of all outputs from the the system. The woofer is self powered @150 watts RMS while the internal amp sends 190 watts RMS to each speaker box. Given that each box has two midrange drivers, we're talking about 95RMS to each little person.
 
No tweeters there, so basically it's a "let's make some noise" kind of sound equipment. As for the efficiency rating of the woofers and speakers, I have no idea. 
 
Guess for outdoor use it would be too weak, but more than enough to fill a fairly big room.

 

[boirefish]

 
Quote:

 
No tweeters there, so basically it's a "let's make some noise" kind of sound equipment. As for the efficiency rating of the woofers and speakers, I have no idea. 
 
Guess for outdoor use it would be too weak, but more than enough to fill a fairly big room.

 
Great. I think I didn't mention it before, but I'm actually looking to powering headphones through its 3.5mm jack at the front. Is this applicable for fairly amp-hungry headphones?
 
 

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

 
 
Great. I think I didn't mention it before, but I'm actually looking to powering headphones through its 3.5mm jack at the front. Is this applicable for fairly amp-hungry headphones?
 
 

 
 
I doubt it but you won't really know until you try........as for the total power rating, it's a ploy used by SONY's marketing folks...I bet that rating is total program peak power. See this *link for the numbers....the measured output THD at X amount of Watts is quite high  (10%) which is really bad.... that being said I'm sure it does an OK job at moderate SPL levels, however don't expect high fidelity from such a device.
 
* http://reviews.cnet.com/audio-shelf-systems/sony-mhc-ec99i-mini/4505-6721_7-33578139.html
 
Peete.
 
 

 

[boirefish]

Thanks for the heads up Pete,
 
I'll have to buy a pair of headphones and try them out. Will continue hunting the fs/ft section

 

[Elektrospeed]

I really dubt it too. Go ahead an try. As for the power rating, if that's 530 max power then RMS power should be about half (250rms). If thats 530 watts PMPO, man, you just got owned by sony's marketing gurus...

 

[RexAeterna]

i didn't know it was that kind of mini-system(i was thinking of the vintage model rack systems). anyways. it probably not the best use for headphones probably higher then 120ohms i'm guessing. it's probably very basic system and with a nowadays standard 3.5mm jack so the amp section was designed for lower impedance and probably use the standard 120ohm resistors in place.

it's probably a very nice little system. i see no tweeter so they seem to use full-rang drivers. watts has nothing to do with sonic qualities. you only need to worry about power handling when driving 4ohms and under and if the speaker impedance dip is under 4ohms cause it'll need a larger power supply to handle the large current demands at that specific frequency range. don't have to worry anyways cause since it's all in one system the speakers were specifically design with the amp section of the system. well anyways give it a try. i'm just guessing it won't do well with anything over 120ohm headphones.

 

[boirefish]

Quote:

I really dubt it too. Go ahead an try. As for the power rating, if that's 530 max power then RMS power should be about half (250rms). If thats 530 watts PMPO, man, you just got owned by sony's marketing gurus...

Yeah, I bought the system a while ago, back before I knew headfi existed, so I wouldn't be surprised. They sound okay though.
 

 

[boirefish]

Thanks for the info.
 
Damn, and I was really keen on buying hd650's
 
anything else worth considering?

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

Thanks for the info.
 
Damn, and I was really keen on buying hd650's
 
anything else worth considering?

Buy the 650's but begin saving for a decent amp/source for them, in the meantime whatever else you have (system wise) will have to do. You are at the beginning of this journey...investing in a great set of cans is priority 1. Priority 2,  don't get discouraged as a good system (for the vast majority of us) is a long term process. The one advantage to adding better pieces (along the way) is getting to know what sounds good and what doesn't to your ears (gaining valuable personal experience as you build confidence in your own judgement).
 
Peete.
 

 

[boirefish]

Thanks for the optimistic perspective pete! Maybe I will buy those headphones after all. At the moment my e5 and sony will have to do. I also bought an SAA equinox cable and that just arrived (too soon xd?) around what price would an amp system sufficient to power the hd650 come around? I'm not looking for the best, just something adequate

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

Thanks for the optimistic perspective pete! Maybe I will buy those headphones after all. At the moment my e5 and sony will have to do. I also bought an SAA equinox cable and that just arrived (too soon xd?) around what price would an amp system sufficient to power the hd650 come around? I'm not looking for the best, just something adequate

You can get yourself a combo dac/amp for around 350 USD that will do the job very nicely.
 
Peete.

 

[boirefish]

Quote:

You can get yourself a combo dac/amp for around 350 USD that will do the job very nicely.
 
Peete.

Awesome. I've looked around and am pretty keen on the bottlehead crack + speedball DIY amp! not sure about DAC's yet though. will keep looking around