Pictures of your speaker setup!
Jun 8, 2014 at 3:56 AM Post #77 of 206
Nice speakers everyone.  I know I rag on about small speakers being crap...but just to clarify, they are in fact perfectly adequate in the near field. 
 
Jun 8, 2014 at 8:17 PM Post #78 of 206
  Nice speakers everyone.  I know I rag on about small speakers being crap...but just to clarify, they are in fact perfectly adequate in the near field

Yes, I agree that they are. My near field rig started off as just a cheap experiment. I had an old Pioneer SX-750 stereo receiver that originally was just being used to power headphones, then I one day decided I wanted to try hooking some speakers up to it, so I quickly started researching budget bookshelf speakers and ran across a bunch of glowing reviews for the Pioneer BS22's designed by Andrew Jones. For $130 I figured why not try them out. This system was originally intended to just function as a secondary computer based setup, and I wasn't expecting the sound quality to be all that great.
 
Immediately I was quite surprised by how good such small speakers sounded when used near field. The next step was to add some bottom end since the bookshelf speakers started to roll off pretty quickly below 60hz. I originally told myself that I was not going to bother with a subwoofer, then one day the matching Pioneer SW-8mk2 sub went on sale at Best Buy for $100, $60 off list price so I decided to try one since the price was right. Then eventually I decided to try an SVS SB2000 subwoofer, and pretty quickly realized that it was way overkill, so that went back and I stuck with the little Pioneer subwoofer.
 
One day stumbling around the internets I stumbled across a program for Windows called Equalizer APO which is a system wide PEQ. I had already owned equipment to do audio measurements so I dug that out of the closet and downloaded Room EQ Wizard and took some measurements and started to play with Equalizer APO. I was eventually able to get to this: 

 

 
I got it sounding ridiculously good with the PEQ software, again I was totally blown away by what such an inexpensive setup could do. If I remember right I'm using somewhere around 35 bands total. 4 or 5 of them are per channel to clear up some imbalance between left and right, and the rest are applied for both channels. 
 
Then, as this audio obsession goes, I had been for some reason looking at amplifiers and AVR's and one night decided I wanted to try the Emotiva Mini-X A-100 amplifier. That arrived and was definitely an immediate improvement both in function and sound quality. The biggest most obvious sound difference was in the bass. It seems to hit harder and sound snappier. Other than that I can't say that any obvious other difference stand out enough to say for sure. One feature that I really like about the amp is that it has an auto on/off function, so when it senses an audio signal it powers right up, and after 5 minutes of no signal it powers down, just like home theater subwoofers usually do. This is great for me since I can now use a sleep timer program on my laptop, leave some ambient music going to fall asleep to, and everything will just power down after a few minutes. I've always liked to fall asleep to ambient music at night but didn't want to leave my Pioneer SX-750 on all night. 
 
So, all together, including the JDS Labs ODAC this little system only cost me $550, and for music it is honestly the best sounding thing I have ever heard. I'm using lots of EQ which some consider "cheating", but it sounds just the way I want it. A little extra bass since I usually listen at low volume, very smooth mid-range and treble that are essentially flat, and then a very slow roll-off up top. None of the gear would be considered super high end, but it sure sounds it when you sit in front of it. 
 
So yes, little speakers can sound excellent in the near field, even bookshelf speakers with little baby 4" drivers. This system has yet to disappoint me for even a second. 
 
Jun 8, 2014 at 9:42 PM Post #79 of 206
I'm a huge small speaker fan. I would be happy with some Pinnacle ac-400 that I got used for $10- at a thrift store. The port is special patented and makes those little things bump.
One of my current friends, a man who made, and still dabbles in making some pretty well regarded speakers, especially popular around the year 2000, Taught me a little about what's possible. For awhile I wondered why his speakers were 8 inch woofers and smaller, After inquiring, he said its because speakers larger than 8 inch give off distortion.
I don't know how audible the distortion is, but people who know his speakers are extremely satisfied with what he makes and throw their woofer boxes in their next garage sale, lol.
 
Jun 8, 2014 at 9:59 PM Post #80 of 206
I'm a huge small speaker fan. I would be happy with some Pinnacle ac-400 that I got used for $10- at a thrift store. The port is special patented and makes those little things bump.
One of my current friends, a man who made, and still dabbles in making some pretty well regarded speakers, especially popular around the year 2000, Taught me a little about what's possible. For awhile I wondered why his speakers were 8 inch woofers and smaller, After inquiring, he said its because speakers larger than 8 inch give off distortion.
I don't know how audible the distortion is, but people who know his speakers are extremely satisfied with what he makes and throw their woofer boxes in their next garage sale, lol.

I'd be curious to know exactly what kind of distortion he means. The only downside I'm aware of with bigger speakers is that they tend to beam at higher frequencies, but if you are on axis to the speaker then it's not really a big deal. 
 
I did just find this after a quick google search though, it's a short but interesting read: http://www.polkaudio.com/polk-university/articles/bigger-is-not-always-better
 
It makes sense.
 
Jun 9, 2014 at 12:20 AM Post #81 of 206
  I'd be curious to know exactly what kind of distortion he means. The only downside I'm aware of with bigger speakers is that they tend to beam at higher frequencies, but if you are on axis to the speaker then it's not really a big deal. 
 
I did just find this after a quick google search though, it's a short but interesting read: http://www.polkaudio.com/polk-university/articles/bigger-is-not-always-better
 
It makes sense.

 
I read about your pioneer speakers on stereophile a few nights ago and was surprised at how cheap they are.  I don't think you are cheating at all by using a subwooofer to complete the frequency response, in your case, zero roll off all the way to 27 or so hertz, extremely impressive for the price.  The problem with the hi fi press, is that they do not recognise the fact that room treatment is a no no for consumers, which leaves EQ the only other viable alternative so we can hear what it is they are praising.  EQ works perfectly for me to address room issues (I had a massive 55hz narrow band dip in response of greater than 10db in my room affecting all speakers).
 
However I disagree with that polk audio article when we move away from nearfield.  I am in the widebaffle camp when it comes to medium and far field.  The problem I had with bookshelves at anything other than nearfield is that the mids disperse around the room and come back to my ears thin.  An eq at that distance proves  I can reclaim the mid in volume level, but it has already smeared upon dispersion and EQ cannot reclaim the mid definition.
 
At nearfield, our ears capture the definition of the mids before they disperse and smear.  I bought a used pair of Celestion monitors and it is the most transparent through the uppermids and treble to my ears than my other speakers and like them a lot.  The used market is also a great option for cheap fidelity.
 
Jun 9, 2014 at 10:18 AM Post #82 of 206


My two Nubert nuPro A-100.
With their combined value of maybe $800 not even worth a quarter of most setups here, but I'm more than happy with them :)
And that's what counts.
I still wish I had the money for the A-300....
 
Jun 20, 2014 at 12:52 PM Post #84 of 206
Was at my local vintage shop who gets all kinds of stuff in so I stop by regularly to check the stuff out. Yesterday I finally saw a pair of Pioneer HPM100's in person..........and was shocked how large they are.

Then he showed me a pair of Klipschhorns........have you ever seen these monsters? They look like refrigerators!
 
Jun 20, 2014 at 2:47 PM Post #85 of 206
Alpha 3 arrived today, Blinding little amp and loved the two and a half hours it worked, then the left channel died, Good job the Mira is on its way...



 
Jun 24, 2014 at 2:13 PM Post #86 of 206
So the Mira arrived a few hours ago and I'm now officially a rega convert.
I thought my azur 640 was a good amp but the Mira has blown me away!

Still getting used to it but so far I'm absolutely loving it.

Arcam gear is all going in my bedroom, technics gear being sold and going all rega in the living room!
Although I must say the rega/arcam combo is working really well.....





 
Jun 27, 2014 at 10:11 AM Post #87 of 206


 
Hi, this is my Speakerset. I´m a big fan of the electrostatic stuff. After 10 years of enjoyment, the big Martin Logan ReQuest speakers will be replaced to the Summit x.
Having active amplification for the sub-speakers, they are a lot easier to handle for the amp. I use a Lyngdorf TDAI 2200 digital amplifier for the panels which has nice room correction system included. This was important for the ReQuest but seems not that necessary for the Summit. Now the testtime begin to find out the best roomsetup.
 
By the way, her´s also a pic of my Headphonesetup.

cheers 
karl
 
Jun 27, 2014 at 6:45 PM Post #88 of 206
 

 
Hi, this is my Speakerset. I´m a big fan of the electrostatic stuff. After 10 years of enjoyment, the big Martin Logan ReQuest speakers will be replaced to the Summit x.
Having active amplification for the sub-speakers, they are a lot easier to handle for the amp. I use a Lyngdorf TDAI 2200 digital amplifier for the panels which has nice room correction system included. This was important for the ReQuest but seems not that necessary for the Summit. Now the testtime begin to find out the best roomsetup.
 
By the way, her´s also a pic of my Headphonesetup.

cheers 
karl

Which brand of condom is that?
 
Jun 27, 2014 at 7:49 PM Post #89 of 206
  Which brand of condom is that?

biggrin.gif
 Original Italian sweetener 
wink.gif


 
Jun 28, 2014 at 3:46 AM Post #90 of 206
Some awesome cables in here guys!
Thought ild have a shot at making some speaker jumpers and my first go at braiding......























Nothing special no solder, not really high quality cable but I like them, And I have noticed slightly more highs adding a little more detail.
 

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