[chuckles2000]

I have recently jumped into vinyl.  I bought a Project Debut Carbon and Cambridge Audio Phone Pre, a Schitt Vali all feeding my Mad Dog headphones.  It was a bedroom/headphone system for me to really get into my music without disturbing others.  Well, now the "others" want in on it too. So they want me to move the turntable to the living room. For that I'm going to need to add some amplification and some speakers. Because I already have some stuff (Pre and phone amp) the possibilities are immense....and it's driving me insane.  I have gone around and around on my options.  My criteria:
 
1) Size and budget are definite constraints.  The speakers need to be bookshelf sized and they are going to be on a shelf...the shelf is about 15" in depth, so they are going to have limited breathing room from the wall. I have space for a sub, but I'd like to avoid that as much as possible as my ability to locate the sub is limited.  My budget is really about $750 for whatever I get.
 
2) My goals are to have quality 2 channel music system and to be able to listen on my headphones.  The Mad Dogs seem to be pretty power hungry.  I DO NOT want to compromise my headphone enjoyment.  
 
3) I'd rather avoid a ton of cabling.  That gets ugly really fast. So if I'm going to my pre from the turntable then to an amp which then hooks up the schiit because it has a poor headphone out...that's just too damn many cables.  I can repurpose the schiit to computer room or work, so I'm totally fine with replicating the headphone amp.  THe phono pre....I have no use for another one of those.
 
So, the options I've looked at:
 
1) Audioengine N22  - Does what I want...maybe.  I'm just not sure if the 22wpc amp or the headphone amp are good enough.  It seems like it would be close.  Really limits my speaker choices.  This seems like a very clean option though.  Small, etc.
 
2) Teac A-H01 - Little more juice.  More expensive.  Not at all sure on headphone quality.  If its not good enough it only has the one set of "outs".  
 
3) Maverick A1 -  Looks like a pretty good choice....but the feedback on it has dried up over the last few years.  Really haven't seen anyone talk about it for quite some time.  I have to admit that the small company is worrisome.  If I have issues, my confidence is not high.
 
4) 2 channel integrated amp - Marantz 5004 or Yamaha AS-300.  Little more bulky.  And I just can not get info on the headphone out.  Will it drive my mad dogs?
 
5) Cheap 2 channel amp and some sort of Pre amp switching thing that I simply can't find.  My knowledge of the products is getting overwhelmed at this point.
 
6) Just get powered monitors/speakers and forget about an amp unit.  SImilar to option 5, but I still need some way to get from the pre amp to both my headphone amp and the powered speakers.  What does this cheaply and quality?
 
 
After I decide all this I need to figure out what speakers to get.  So many moving parts and I know the speakers are by far the most important part of the equation in terms of the sound.  SHould I start here and let the speaker choice dictate the rest?  What speakers make the most sense.  My brother is getting those Pioneer Andrew Jones things, but I think I want something a little more attractive.  I was thinking the Audioengine p4, but that was when I was thinking of having limited amp power.
 
As you can see, I've tied myself into knots with the analysis.  Help please.  2 channel sound from turntable.  I have some pieces, but too much cabling gets ugly.
 
MIke

 

[pbui44]

Schiit Asgard 2.  It has RCA-outs for speakers, gain switch, and plenty of power for mad dogs.

 

[cel4145]

If you move the setup to the living room, aren't you going to want to use it with TV or movies? What about other audio sources (e.g., computer)? An AVR might be a better choice. Particularly since AVRs have optical and HDMI inputs.

Integrated amps and AVRs will typically have more than plenty of power to drive your Mad Dogs. But you could get a unit with outputs that you could use to connect to your Vali for headphone listening.

Audioengine P4s are popular among Audioengine fans, but are considered kind of meh among speaker enthusiasts. Be sure to look around. For instance, I'd get the Wave Crest Audio HVL-1s or EMP Tek E5Bi instead for around the same price.

Asgard 2 would be good. Then you can definitely sell your Vali. Emotiva mini-x a-100 is a good little power amp, and apparently if you sign up for their newsletter, you get a discount (see the home page).

A sub is definitely a really good choice if you want good bass. But your budget is a little too limited for that given your other wants/needs.

Powered monitors could certainly work. I'm partial to passive speakers because of the easier/better upgrade and repurposing options. I can upgrade my amp/power or my speakers if I want--don't have to upgrade both at the same time.

 

[chuckles2000]

Thanks, both of you for the replies.
 
So the Asgard would basically sit between my Cambridge Phono Pre and either a 2 channel amp or powered speakers?  Correct?  Seems reasonable.  Only drawback on that is a lack of an additional input for phones or streaming.
 
I guess I should add some more info.  I felt like I was already getting a little long-winded in my original post, so I tried to keep it brief.
 
We have a home theater downstairs in our basement.  5 speakers, projector, etc.  The living room is for music while we eat, cook, read, etc.  I also just want to have music listening nights.  We used to do this when I was a kid where we would put albums on and listen to a few tracks, next person gets to pick, etc.  Been doing a music blog/project with the my kids this summer where we are stepping through each year and listening to important songs/artists/tracks for each year.  We are up to 1966.
 
Ideally, in my living room I have high quality sound at moderate volumes.  The sources I'd like to be able to use would be a turntable, and probably one other...phones, ipads, etc.  In a perfect world, maybe my Sony SACD player (so 2 channel rca).  Should I just go with a 2 channel receiver or integrated amp?  Do they have good enough headphone jacks or do I have to use some tape out to my Vali?
 
And you are probably right about the P4's.  I was mostly looking at those when I was thinking about the low wattage solutions.  They don't require a ton of power.  The speakers you linked for me, while they might be really nice, required a lot more power (50 watts....don't think the N22 was going to get there).
 
So many damn things to figure out.
 
MIke

 

[cel4145]

Modern AVRs have a lot of convenience functions. Some have bluetooth for streaming. Many have wifi capability allowing connecting to a computer that acts a a media server. So yeah. You might want to look into it.

I'm not sure what you mean by those other speakers needing more power. I think you might be misunderstanding wattage ratings. Typically those are about how much power they can handle. No need to run them that loud. None of those other speakers need 50 watts.

 

[chuckles2000]

Again, appreciate you helping me out.
 
I've just been reading the "recommended power" ratings on the speakers.  For example the EMP Teks that you referenced say:
 
• Recommended Power: 50-100 Watts
• Impedance: 8 Ohms
• Frequency Response: 60Hz-20kHz ±3dB
• Crossover Frequency: 3,000 Hz
• Sensitivity: 85dB (2.83V@1m)
 
 
So they appear to be relatively low sensitive speakers, based on my very limited understanding.  If I decided to go with the emotiva amp that someone suggested, how would I integrate a sub into the equation?  But I think you are right...some sort of AVR may make the most sense.  So...which one into which speakers.  Those EMP's look really nice.  But only going down to 60 Hz it seems a sub would be helpful.  Do I need one if I'm only listening to music?  I don't need explosion kinda bass.  If I do, can I place it under a rock bench that is under my fireplace? It has about 11" of clearance over my wood floor.
 
THanks again for the help.
Mike

 

[cel4145]

Yeah. Recommended power, maximum power--those kinds of ratings on speakers I find are mainly only helpful for kind of understanding about how much power you can run to them.

Higher sensitivity may or may not be that important depending on how loud you intend to run them, how far is the listening position, and the amount of power the amp has. A $225 speaker has to make compromises somewhere, so they choose to go with lower sensitivity over lower sound quality. Get up to over $300, and there are speakers with better SQ and better sensitivity. I recommend the HSU HB-1s or Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 SEs if they will fit on your bookshelf with some clearance in the back.

AVRs are best for subwoofer integration because of their built in bass management. Bookshelf speakers are not really meant for the lowest frequencies. Depends on whether or not you want the extra bass extension. You could experiment with some of your favorite music. Audacity sound editor can run a filter to cut off the low end (you set the frequency) so you could see with your headphones how your music sounds without low bass. But you could always get your speakers and then decide.