[AdamWill]

So my plan has, inevitably, fallen victim to head-fi wallet syndrome.

(insert maniacal laugh here)

The current state of play is...

Titans and Mini Monitors bought (the Mini Monitors are here and sitting uselessly in a corner, the Titans are still in transit). Receiver 100% decided on.

So my current system is - 815S -> mini monitor fronts, Titan rears.

My plan was, when I get paid in a couple of days, to pick up the receiver and then drop $200-$400 on a sub, and maybe pick up a centre channel in a month or two. However, while looking for subs available locally (didn't fancy the shipping), I came across a nice deal ($500) on a pair of Paradigm Monitor 9s in the local area.

So the treacherous, head-fi gears of my brain began to creak...

"Well," they said, "you were going to spend $400 on a sub anyway, right? But if you buy these shiny honking great floorstanding speakers, you won't really need a sub, so they only cost $100 in _effect_. And hell, you'd need speaker stands for the smaller speakers, so that's another expense saved. And if you do that you can use the Titans with the t-amp in the bedroom. Heck, buying the Monitors is practically saving money!"

(amazing, that head-fi reality distortion field, isn't it?)

Anyways, so, the question is, do I:

a) stick with the original plan, pick up a sub and go with mini monitor fronts, titan rears and a nice sub.
b) Forget about the sub and get the monitor 9s, use monitor 9 fronts and mini monitor rears with no sub.
c) save my money and just go with mini monitor fronts and titan rears, no sub, and blow the spare cash on the headroom stack for my headphone setup (shyeah, RIGHT, as if THIS option is going to happen. And you know I'll buy the stack anyway.)

opinions required!

 

[MoxMonkey]

jump up to the 1015 if you can afford the price difference, it's supposedly an amazing reciever for the price. go with b, the monitor line blows away the titans. plus used speakers are a great value as long as they sound good

 

[soundboy]

If you can afford them, go with the floorstanders.

 

[AdamWill]

Thanks for the feedback guys, guess I have the support of the other asylum inmates

moxmonkey: you realise I hate you now. Couldn't you have said the 1015S wasn't any better than the 815S? Even if it was a horrible lie I'd never have known.

Sigh.

The price for ordinary mortals is $200 more than the 815S, that's a bit too much for me - I'll have to see if the difference is smaller or larger with employee discount factored in. Gotta love having a partner who works at Future Shop.

 

[MoxMonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamWill Thanks for the feedback guys, guess I have the support of the other asylum inmates moxmonkey: you realise I hate you now. Couldn't you have said the 1015S wasn't any better than the 815S? Even if it was a horrible lie I'd never have known. Sigh. The price for ordinary mortals is $200 more than the 815S, that's a bit too much for me - I'll have to see if the difference is smaller or larger with employee discount factored in. Gotta love having a partner who works at Future Shop.

i'm not saying the 815 isn't a bad reciever, i was actually looking at it myself but i managed to find a higher up yamaha shelf model on clearance that was a bit more but a better deal

, if you can only manage the 815 i dont think you'll find any issue with it, plus it will give you more money to spend on speakers which is what really matters

 

[VicAjax]

if you haven't bought the receiver yet, i recommend you look into the Panasonic SA-XR55 digital receiverfor $230 at amazon.

it uses TI digital amp chips, has dual-amping (in parallel), bi-wiring and bi-amping functions for 2-channel audio, and runs essentially silent.

it's not necessarily a giant killer as some might claim, but it offers crystal clear SQ that you'll generally only find at about 4 times the price.

check out avsforum.com for a bunch of threads on it. one guy ditched his rotel separates in favor of the panny... to drive his B&W 802D speakers. another guy ditched NAD separates for the panny. i can't say whether they were justified in doing so, but i have heard it, and it's quite impressive.

 

[MoxMonkey]

oooooooooooh i forgoat about that panny, it's supposedly amazing for the price, go with that then if you want to save a buck you shouldn't be disapointed

 

[AdamWill]

Too late, I already bought the 815S. Anyway I'm in Canada and buying stuff from the States is always a pain (shipping, taxes, blah blah).

Didn't go for the floorstanders in the end, I could afford them but if I did I wouldn't be able to afford a) food and b) Christmas presents, which would make my life hell for a month. So for the moment I just have the 815S hooked up to the Mini Monitors, and they sound pretty damn good (if a touch bright, but I expected that since the room isn't carpeted). Still waiting on the Titans to arrive, I'll use those as rears for now. I'll buy a sub to fill in the low bass when I have more money, probably the PDR-10. And maybe get some higher end Monitors eventually to be fronts and put the Minis as rears, but that's a bit longer term, most likely. Overall I'm definitely pleased with this setup so far, and it'll only be nicer when the Titans get here.

If anyone's wondering, I'm using Acoustic Research (cheap with Future Shop staff discount) and Radio Shack interconnects and Radio Shack bulk buy 12 gauge speaker cable (which I got at about 33% off because I wanted 50ft and they gave me all 80ft they had left on the reel). I'll save my money for the big shiny components.

edit - oh, and Mox, you turn out to have been right about the 1015S for one simple reason - it does video conversion. Since the 815S doesn't you have to flip the input on the TV AND the receiver to switch between the TV or HTPC (those are hooked up with s-video) and the PS2 (which is hooked up with component cables), and that horribly complex process is endangering my domestic harmony. With the 1015S everything would be output from the component monitor jacks, so there would be no need to switch. But I ain't lugging the damn heavy thing all the way BACK to the store, carrying it home through the snow was enough. Sigh.