[Ableza]

 
What do supermodels and Ferraris have in common?  The chance of bringing either home with you are equally nonexistent. The same applies to most audio shows that I've attended. 

I thought the correct answer was "it takes a large bank account to get into them."

 

[Billheiser]

...looking forward to the next show, where we can (hopefully) rectify the inequity between electronics cost and speaker cost. The Salk speakers were $2900. Our stack was $4000. I'd much rather see the stack at a lower cost than the speakers. Much lower. And with more power. A lot more power. And a remote. Yes, those are all hints.

OMG!!

 

[US Blues]

 The Salk speakers were $2900. Our stack was $4000. I'd much rather see the stack at a lower cost than the speakers. Much lower. And with more power. A lot more power. And a remote. Yes, those are all hints.

 
You've got my attention!

 

...looking forward to the next show, where we can (hopefully) rectify the inequity between electronics cost and speaker cost. The Salk speakers were $2900. Our stack was $4000. I'd much rather see the stack at a lower cost than the speakers. Much lower. And with more power. A lot more power. And a remote. Yes, those are all hints.

OMG!!

+1

 

[RCBinTN]

This is an interesting discussion.  I haven't listened critically to loudspeakers for many years.  Just how much better does a $100,000 rig (with $65,000 speakers!) sound as compared to the Schiit rig that was around $10,000?  

 

[David Aldrich]

  This is an interesting discussion.  I haven't listened critically to loudspeakers for many years.  Just how much better does a $100,000 rig (with $65,000 speakers!) sound as compared to the Schiit rig that was around $10,000?  

That depends on a lot. I heard rooms that sounded much worse despite getting treatment and possibly even DSP which hit in the 6 figure ballpark.
 
The room with the $20k bargain electronics (one of multiple components) was much less impressive to me than our room.

 

[RCBinTN]

 
That depends on a lot. I heard rooms that sounded much worse despite getting treatment and possibly even DSP which hit in the 6 figure ballpark.
 
The room with the $20k bargain electronics (one of multiple components) was much less impressive to me than our room.

 
David - are you a Schiit employee?  Sorry for not already knowing!

 

[tonykaz]

Differences between High dollar rigs, hmm.
 
The Room is the critical thing, of course careful selection of gear matters.  Bob Katz writes about this as does S.Olive at Harmon who seems to contemptuously sneer at the $250,000 rigs.   
 
A customer buying a $35,000 Preamp gets very special treatment that the little DIY'r lives without.  
 
At a certain price point, Wilson will send someone important to set-up your stuff.  Figure .5 Mil to be safe. 
 
The other side of the velvet rope isn't always a pleasant experience:  Re-tubing for $10,000, up-grading to the nice Transparent Cable system for $100,000 are a couple of examples.  If you've got loads of money and need to show-off your lofty position in society, buy one of Wilson's systems, some VTL, Clear Audio record player and a few vintage RR and/or vintage Sheffield Labs Vinyl. 
 
Tony in Michigan
 
ps.  Harmon does double blind testing of all this, the results are amazing. For now, the $20,000 JBL M2 is about as good as loudspeakers can get. 

 

[wink]

Quote:Jason Stoddard

 First, the reason there are fewer chapters is that I'm BUSY. There are a LOT of prototypes flying around the shop at the moment

Plus, he has to set up the cloning machines for the [REDACTED] and, yes, they come with a remote and on/off switch on the front panel- win/win right there.....   

 

[tonykaz]

Mistah Wink, 
 
How is it that you know about the Power Sw. location? 
 
Are we going to return to all that drama, yet again? 
 
Of course, I'm in favor of a front mounted switch, especially now that Jason says my Caps. are only good for 8 years. I expect to keep my Schiit stuff for a couple of decades,  at least.  ( provided I don't keep a last minute appointment with Oakwood Cemetary ).
 
Geez, front mounted Pw.Sw. is big news.  Please, tell all. 
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[SearchOfSub]

This is an interesting discussion.  I haven't listened critically to loudspeakers for many years.  Just how much better does a $100,000 rig (with $65,000 speakers!) sound as compared to the Schiit rig that was around $10,000?  

That all depends on the quality of the product audio companies put out. But let's just say you have $10,000. set up vs. $100,000 setup and the quality of the product is of equal value. You would get far better details, imaging, soundstage, bass, clarity - resolution. Just about everything. The goal would be to mimic the on-stage LIVE performance and/or even off-stage performance like you would hear when someone sing something to you in your room without being mic'd up. Mimic the performance as close as possible imo.

 

[artur9]

  Hey all,
 
 There are a LOT of prototypes flying around the shop at the moment (not literally--we're not going to suddenly start making drones), and some of them are pretty complex. And some of them will be a big surprise (beyond what I've hinted at.) ...
So yes, it was very well worth going, and I'm looking forward to the next show, where we can (hopefully) rectify the inequity between electronics cost and speaker cost. The Salk speakers were $2900. Our stack was $4000. 

I would love a drone filled with Schiit to follow me around playing tunes.  I think after the 2channel push you should definitely get into that sort of personal audio.
 
In regards to electronics vs speaker cost, what do you think is a proper spend ratio?  Electronics more - speakers less?  Vice versa?  Electronics 5x speaker cost?

 

[madwolfa]

Speakers (or transducers) are by far the most important part of the playback chain. Hence the biggest investment is supposed to be there, not in the accompanying electronics.

 

[johnjen]

I used to think that was the case.
 
Right now I'm running $40 speakers on $10K worth of electronics in a nearfield setup.
 
I won't say it wouldn't be better on $$$$ speakers but I can say the imaging and coupling through out the entire house is FAR beyond what I would ever have expected.
 
JJ

 

[feelingears]

Speakers (or transducers) are by far the most important part of the playback chain. Hence the biggest investment is supposed to be there, not in the accompanying electronics.

 
I used to believe that too, and certainly speakers have their personalities. But after many years of listening, I'd rather have great upstream stuff as long as the speakers are "reasonable." Good speakers just reveal deficiencies upstream, anyway. I have a cable I just auditioned and it made my lovely, sonically balanced speakers awfully unbalanced (bass retreated and became muddier). This was an expensive cable, too.
 
Then, I recently put a couple devices in my signal chain upstream of the DAC and amps and stuff. Wow^3 I am having so much fun being drawn into the music now. Seriously--the sound is so emotionally involving, I have a hard time getting to sleep after an hour or two of listening. As with all audio, YMMV (or more likely YM-Will-Vary). Still, I hope this helps.
 
And just to stay on-topic, I've PM'd several people who tell me they and their friends have put Schiit to the test and then put their money where their ears told them: Valencia, CA. (Gumbys and Yggys.) I'm following suit very soon--thanks Jason!

 

[SearchOfSub]

I would love a drone filled with Schiit to follow me around playing tunes.  I think after the 2channel push you should definitely get into that sort of personal audio.

In regards to electronics vs speaker cost, what do you think is a proper spend ratio?  Electronics more - speakers less?  Vice versa?  Electronics 5x speaker cost?

When you get to high quality (not high price) gear they all have one trait in in common - high transparency. The more transparent the component is, the more it will get out the way revealing the prior components sound signature more and more.

I say they are all equally important when you get to high quality gear.


For low budget mid quality stuff. Speakers - you won't get to hear much of anything besides the closest thing to you in the chain and the ears, which are the speakers due to higher noise/distortion factors in the whole chain.