[tiberian]

i for one think using speakers in dorm room is a bad idea...especially in HK. it is extremely distracting when your roommate is doing something else...and you can't use it (or at least make it loud) during night etc. stick to your headphones maybe?

 

[ampgalore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiberian i for one think using speakers in dorm room is a bad idea...especially in HK. it is extremely distracting when your roommate is doing something else...and you can't use it (or at least make it loud) during night etc. stick to your headphones maybe?

 

[lojay]

Quote:

Did you give up on diy yet, lojay?

Haha hell yeah I'm still thinking DIY....

I've just found a friend who says he does carpentry. But I don't think I'll have the time yet, so maybe I'll start later when I can go through all the reading material...

Quote:

i for one think using speakers in dorm room is a bad idea...especially in HK. it is extremely distracting when your roommate is doing something else...and you can't use it (or at least make it loud) during night etc. stick to your headphones maybe?

Hopefully, they wouldn't be asking me to share my music, coz then I could stick with the headphones.

 

[jay21pee]

I'm gonna live in a suite with individual rooms for students. So, everyone has their own rooms. So, DIY hear I come!!!!

 

[bubbagump]

i would suggest the b&w 601s3 for the dorm, but this is mainly a budget suggestion. The axioms are nice if you have a sub to complement.

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ampgalore I am using a pair of NHT SB3s. I used to have a Yamaha integrated amp, sounds great to my ears. These bookshelfs can go down to ~40Hz. With my new Rotel amp, bookshelf bass has taken on a whole different meaning.

I second the recommendation on SB3. I just heard it at a dealer with Rotel receiver and NAD C320. It has very tight bass and surprisingly deep for its size as well. I preferred its sound with NAD though.

 

[VanTheMan]

Im looking as well here in Europe for a pair of speaker for my dorm ( in this case im alone ) .. I only need 20w ( and thats a lot ) , do you know any shop in europe that has good prices and sells good speakers?

Thanks

 

[minya]

Interesting information. I'm going to be moving into an apartment for school in a month, and I plan on getting some bookshelves sometime or later. pbirkett, where can you acquire those Rega or Linn speakers in North America?

Secondly, where do I learn about budget speaker amps? I'm quite knowledgeable about headphones, but I don't know a damn thing about speakers or their amplification.

- Chris

 

[KurtW]

Chris, there are probably several places in the bay area that handle Linn and Rega. I bought my Linn Tukans (now discontinued) in San Jose at the Analog Room, along with a Rega Mira amp that works nicely with them. I use these in my study and enjoy them alot. Rega updated their amps along with their CD players with new cases (along with some circuit changes) so you can sometimes get a good deal on the older series.

One thing to think about for bookshelf speakers is where they are going to be placed. Some bookshelf speakers are more "mini-monitors" meant to be placed out into the room, as opposed to near a wall or in a bookshelf. A speaker designed for the one location will not be optimal in the other. One reason I liked the Linns because they sounded good in a bookcase or close to a wall where I needed to place them, where other speakers were too boomy.

For a tight budget, a used NHT Super One is still a good value IMO and quite common on ebay. Its cloth tweeter is more forgiving on bad material or with cheaper amps than the metal tweeters in the current series. Its a bit better if its a little ways out from a wall, and it takes a little more power but has deeper bass than the Tukan or the Kan.

 

[minya]

Thanks for the tip, Kurt. Maybe I'll scope out some of the hi-fi stores in the Bay Area. I'm just barely 20 years old, however, and I don't wear fancy clothing so I don't know how I'd be received.

How much did those Linn Tukans cost?

WRT room placement, I really have no idea yet but I would imagine I would place them near a wall somewhere (I'm going to have a big living room, so against a living room wall to project sound would be good, I think).

- Chris

 

[lojay]

To my ears the 780's sound totally different than the Mission m51's, they're much more musical and don't have that m51 harshness. I was asking all around for the Rega's you've bought pbirkett, but I can't seem to find them. If anyone knows wherre to look for these babies in Hong kong let me know!

The NHT's are seemingly non-existant in HK as well. Though I think its more that I don't know where to find them than they really don't exist.

DIY's very tempting, where $500 DIY speakers can beat $5,000 - $10,000 ones because they don't need the enormous costs that large companies with stores, advertisements and employees have to bear. You just pay for the drivers, the wood and the carpentry, and you're done.

 

[KurtW]

Chris, the owner of the Analog Room wears shorts and a hawaiian shirt most of the time, so what you wear is not important. He knows his stuff, so he doesn't try to impress people with what he looks like. If you get down to the south bay and want to let me know, I can meet up with you.

The ideal place for a speaker is out away from the wall, but that is not always achievable. It wasn't in my study, so I had to get speakers that would work close to the wall. The Linn Tukans were about $700 as I recall.

Lojay, the NHTs were made in California for a long time before they started manufacturing them in China. The Rega's are a UK brand, I'm not sure if they are still made there or not.

 

[3lusiv3]

Country of manufacture is not relevant if the quality control from the maker is good.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minya Thanks for the tip, Kurt. Maybe I'll scope out some of the hi-fi stores in the Bay Area. I'm just barely 20 years old, however, and I don't wear fancy clothing so I don't know how I'd be received.

Just take your Stax with you, then they'll know you mean serious business

 

[Wodgy]

Minya, since you'll be moving to Kitchener-Waterloo soon, you might want to check out whether you can visit Divergent (the main Antique Sound Lab distributors for North America) and audition their speaker amps personally. The Divergent office is only three blocks from WLU. I'm not sure whether they have a showroom, but it's worth looking into.