Starting up a music room need help with amps!! Thanks in advance!
Jul 10, 2011 at 11:11 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 15

Swatcsi

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I will be moving soon and there is a small rectangular room in the basement and will be setting up a dedicated music room inside. I will be setting up 4 bowers and wilkins CM9 and 2 Bowers and Wilkins PV1 subwoofers. I am also planning to buy one or two of these following headphones: Sennheiser HD800, Beyer Dynamic Tesla T1, or Denon D7000. I would like to know what kind of amps I need for the headphones i.e. tube vs solid state and make/model. A good DAC, and a reciever that can output to two subs. If you have any other speaker/headphone preferences feel free to post them! thanks! Also do i need a amp for the speakers? I'm a newbie in the audiophile world currently all I have is the Shure SRH840, I feel if I'm gonna set up a music room i might as well do it right, and the best it can be.
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 3:22 AM Post #2 of 15
What's your budget?

I can't be of too much help here, but if you get the HD-800, consider a good tube amp. My personal favorite is the Zana Deux. A great fit with the HD-800 and it makes a fine two-channel preamp, as well.
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 4:35 AM Post #3 of 15
Buy any McIntosh amps.
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 5:35 AM Post #4 of 15
If you have this much money to throw around for a dedicated room, i HIGHLY recommend you consult with a custom installer.  They will be able to help you out not only with the amps and such, but also with room treatments so you get the most out of the speakers.  10% of the money spent on this will yield returns easily exceeding double the potential sound quality, instead of stuffing your room with the most expensive gear you can get without attention to the room itself
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 10:27 AM Post #6 of 15


Quote:
If you have this much money to throw around for a dedicated room, i HIGHLY recommend you consult with a custom installer.  They will be able to help you out not only with the amps and such, but also with room treatments so you get the most out of the speakers.  10% of the money spent on this will yield returns easily exceeding double the potential sound quality, instead of stuffing your room with the most expensive gear you can get without attention to the room itself



that's what I was planning on doing but now after looking over everything I think the more important thing would be the speakers itself, If you have any suggestion on speakers that would be great!
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 10:30 AM Post #7 of 15


Quote:
What's your budget?

I can't be of too much help here, but if you get the HD-800, consider a good tube amp. My personal favorite is the Zana Deux. A great fit with the HD-800 and it makes a fine two-channel preamp, as well.



my budget is around 10-12 thousand including receiver, dac, cd changer,speakers and headphones, as well as getting the room soundproofed, thanks for the amp recommadtion sorry for the dumb question but can you please just briefly explain what the purpose of a pre-amp is? thanks.
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 10:34 AM Post #8 of 15
so far this is what I got if you guys have any reccomendations on speakers that would be fantastic, and I will probably be purchasing one or two of the headphones on the list, probably the HD800's. Note that the corda classic is still not out yet, but im also contemplating between a McIntosh amp or a WA22/Woo Audio 2 either one.
 
 





Speakers:
4 Bowers & Wilkins CM9: $6000
2 Bowers & Wilkins PV1: $3000
 
Headphones:
Audeze LCD-2 : $1000
Sennheiser HD800: $1400
Beyer Dynamic Tesla T1: $1300
 
Miscellaneous:
Corda Classic Solid State Amp: $750
Corda StageDac: $740
Denon AVR-2312CI Reciever: $850
Yamaha CDC-697 CD Changer: $250
Denon iPod Dock: $100
 
thanks for the help!
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 4:50 PM Post #9 of 15
Buy the LCD-2s. Quite simply, you will not regret it :¬)
 
Also, the guys here know a lot about high end equipment, would be worth joining and getting a second opinion.
 
When spending this much, do not limit your gear to an opinion of only a handful of people, as each forum can be slightly biased.
 
An audio budget of $12K, while not knowing what a pre-amp is, would indicate you may need to do a bit of reading before opening the wallet :¬)
 
All the best with the gear hunt, enjoy it!
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 5:41 PM Post #10 of 15

Yea I know I need a lot of help, I came to Head-Fi as a starting point as I'm moving in december if I can get all my stuff straight when I go to purchase my equipment I will know I'm getting the right stuff. Thanks for the help!
Quote:
Buy the LCD-2s. Quite simply, you will not regret it :¬)
 
Also, the guys here know a lot about high end equipment, would be worth joining and getting a second opinion.
 
When spending this much, do not limit your gear to an opinion of only a handful of people, as each forum can be slightly biased.
 
An audio budget of $12K, while not knowing what a pre-amp is, would indicate you may need to do a bit of reading before opening the wallet :¬)
 
All the best with the gear hunt, enjoy it!



 
 
Jul 11, 2011 at 5:45 PM Post #11 of 15
Quote:
Yea I know I need a lot of help, I came to Head-Fi as a starting point as I'm moving in december if I can get all my stuff straight when I go to purchase my equipment I will know I'm getting the right stuff. Thanks for the help!


Great, plenty of time to make the right choice. Good luck :¬)
 
 
Jul 12, 2011 at 4:17 AM Post #12 of 15
Cool!

If you're doing a custom installation, be sure to put up soundboard behind the drywall. We put it up on common walls between apartments - noise complaints have disappeared. It's only $25-$30 a sheet and installation is cheap if you're torn down to the studs.

You might also look at running a dedicated circuit to the audio room. Keep your gear off the circuit for a refrigerator, HVAC, washer, etc. and you won't have power sags. A dedicated isolation transformer would be nice, too. Nebraska Surplus sells quite a few good ones.

A preamp takes a line out from various components and increases the power enough to feed a power amp. Something like a Zana Deux would be great for a two channel system. But if you're going to run surround, you'll need something with more channels. Still, it would be sweet to run a great two channel headphone amp from a multichannel system.

If you want good multichannel gear, go to Audiogon and buy used. Don't pay retail. You'll save 50% or more buying used. Audio technology moves slowly (despite the marketing) so don't be afraid of buying older components. You'll get the same performance for a lot less.

And this sounds like a terrific project - please let us know how it turns out! :)
 
Jul 30, 2011 at 10:54 AM Post #15 of 15


Quote:
get teh audio engine 5
 


I just got the bamboo one's for my family room they sound outstanding for their size, thanks for the recommandation!
 
 

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