Redcarmoose
Headphoneus Supremus
I decided to keep my stereo in storage back in the US. Kicking around in Indonesia for the last two years has been interesting. Being an audiophile and seeing another countries way of doing Hi/Fi has been fun.
http://www.datindonesia.com/products.php?action=product&ID=14
I don't think price or even component quality matter that much in getting to a good mid-fi sound. I have always had the belief in regards to design and synergy being of more importance. So after listening to a bunch of speakers and amps I purchased some stuff. There are some really good quality stereo components for sale if you want to spend the money. You can even spend over $1500.00 on strange outdoor public address systems which really don't sound that great. Then again if you wanted a mid-fi level system costing $500 in the US, you may end up spending $2000.00 in the end due to import taxes and the fact that they can charge that much and get it because the stuff is rare here.
So what did I buy and why?
Class D amplifier kits and parts have started to surface on E-bay at amazingly low prices. The wonderful plug and play design allows you to get a case and power supply and connect a couple of wires to get a high power amp. These amp parts can be shipped all over due to the low weight and small size. I was very close to putting together a Class-D amp ordered from parts from E-bay and just buying speakers here. Then I found these really cool dat amps made in Indonesia. So for the price of shipping I could get an amp. I purchased two of them. They were $20.00 each usd.
Amazingly there are no specs on the Internet or accompanying paperwork. I have no testing equipment as well. All I can say is they sound great and can only be turned up 25%. These Class D amps get really loud.
The whole system will also run off a 12V car battery.
The first speakers I tried were really just car speakers and the sound was OK. I have had so many different stereos over the years and have been happier with systems sounding less boxy and more mid-centric. I really didn't want any boxy sound and would in the end sacrifice bass presence for a clear mid-range. It turns out that after demoing a ton of cheap speakers, some did some music well, others did other stuff well but then had a noticeable sound signature qwerk that I could not deal with. I then found the dat elegance series speakers which seemed to go well with the amplifier made by the same company. A 10inch woofer, a ceramic tweeter and a horn tweeter seemed to get me the bass sound with-out the boxy sound of the 1970s, all for $40.00 usd for two! I purchased one set of two. I have plans in the future to rewire them and may look into making them bi-amp-able. I actually like these speakers so much I will most-likely look into changing out some of the drivers and maybe even the cross-over system at a future date. I have also looked into rigging up the system with both amps running in mono mode to double the amp power. Even though I'm not into playing the system all that loud, a duel mono amp set-up could get me a tighter response at lower volume levels.
In ending I just wanted to note the difficulty in finding any information or purchasing places for these products. There may be a larger selection of dat equipment for sale in big Indonesian cities? The information and purchasing ability is very limited on line. My primary goal for posting this article and photo-set was based on the fact that I though it was interesting to be able to put together a good sounding and powerful brand new home Hi/Fi on a $60.00 level and be able to enjoy the sound day in and day out. The system sounds much better playing DVDs or CDs with the use of a $40.00 DVD player as the SD card or USB stick drive mp3 decoder on-board the amps is limited in sound quality.
http://www.datindonesia.com/products.php?action=product&ID=14
I don't think price or even component quality matter that much in getting to a good mid-fi sound. I have always had the belief in regards to design and synergy being of more importance. So after listening to a bunch of speakers and amps I purchased some stuff. There are some really good quality stereo components for sale if you want to spend the money. You can even spend over $1500.00 on strange outdoor public address systems which really don't sound that great. Then again if you wanted a mid-fi level system costing $500 in the US, you may end up spending $2000.00 in the end due to import taxes and the fact that they can charge that much and get it because the stuff is rare here.
So what did I buy and why?
Class D amplifier kits and parts have started to surface on E-bay at amazingly low prices. The wonderful plug and play design allows you to get a case and power supply and connect a couple of wires to get a high power amp. These amp parts can be shipped all over due to the low weight and small size. I was very close to putting together a Class-D amp ordered from parts from E-bay and just buying speakers here. Then I found these really cool dat amps made in Indonesia. So for the price of shipping I could get an amp. I purchased two of them. They were $20.00 each usd.
Amazingly there are no specs on the Internet or accompanying paperwork. I have no testing equipment as well. All I can say is they sound great and can only be turned up 25%. These Class D amps get really loud.
The whole system will also run off a 12V car battery.
The first speakers I tried were really just car speakers and the sound was OK. I have had so many different stereos over the years and have been happier with systems sounding less boxy and more mid-centric. I really didn't want any boxy sound and would in the end sacrifice bass presence for a clear mid-range. It turns out that after demoing a ton of cheap speakers, some did some music well, others did other stuff well but then had a noticeable sound signature qwerk that I could not deal with. I then found the dat elegance series speakers which seemed to go well with the amplifier made by the same company. A 10inch woofer, a ceramic tweeter and a horn tweeter seemed to get me the bass sound with-out the boxy sound of the 1970s, all for $40.00 usd for two! I purchased one set of two. I have plans in the future to rewire them and may look into making them bi-amp-able. I actually like these speakers so much I will most-likely look into changing out some of the drivers and maybe even the cross-over system at a future date. I have also looked into rigging up the system with both amps running in mono mode to double the amp power. Even though I'm not into playing the system all that loud, a duel mono amp set-up could get me a tighter response at lower volume levels.
In ending I just wanted to note the difficulty in finding any information or purchasing places for these products. There may be a larger selection of dat equipment for sale in big Indonesian cities? The information and purchasing ability is very limited on line. My primary goal for posting this article and photo-set was based on the fact that I though it was interesting to be able to put together a good sounding and powerful brand new home Hi/Fi on a $60.00 level and be able to enjoy the sound day in and day out. The system sounds much better playing DVDs or CDs with the use of a $40.00 DVD player as the SD card or USB stick drive mp3 decoder on-board the amps is limited in sound quality.