[judas391]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ro_Active.html

http://vancouver.craigslist.org/ele/406120229.html

how will these two work together? will the speakers be underpowered? or am i doing this wrong altogether..

another question.. how would i connect the marantz to my computer? is there any difference in connecting via coaxial or optical?

thanks so much for any help.. i've been reading stuff on this for nearly 2 hours and i'm still confused

 

[facelvega]

1. those marantzes predate consumer digital signal processing by a long time, so the only way to connect them to your computer is with a soundcard or dac giving you an analog out. They are quite nice receivers, though, and possibly already sold at that price.

2. those are active speakers, i.e., self-amplifying, so they don't need an amp. Moreover they are near-field monitors, so they're made to be heard quite close by, like sitting at a table right in front of them for audio production, and not, say for listening to as a home stereo system, though they'd do in a pinch.

However, craigslist should also turn up a good pair of vintage speakers to match something like a marantz receiver for less than the $250 for those wharfedales. Personally, I'd take a 70's receiver with equivalent 2-way speakers over any modern option at twice their price, be it a home receiver, computer speakers, or self-powered monitors like those wharfedales. The old stuff is just a better bargain, and has a musicality that the new lacks.

 

[judas391]

wow.. THANKS a ton for the advice man, you just saved me a lot of $$$

how would i analog out from sound card to marantz? is this a definite option or is it kind of obscure and not altogether possible?

 

[facelvega]

you just get a $2 cable with a pair of rca connectors on one end and whatever your souncard-out is on the other (a headphone mini jack, often). Use a dedicated line out if you have one, or if it's a headphone out, then just turn it up to passable line-level volume and try that. Should work fine.

 

[judas391]

thanks again... would this sound worse/noticeable difference than say,

case a: digital output from chaintech to a modern receiver -> grado 325i
case b: dedicated component dac - > 325i

and as you suggested, i found some older marantz speakers for a killer price:
http://vancouver.craigslist.org/ele/401039708.html

i love you

 

[facelvega]

Avoid those new marantz speakers. Try these instead. Tell them you'll pay $80 for them if they assure you the woofers don't need refoaming. Should make a nice cheap vintage midfi set if you can lay hands on a Marantz receiver too. If you wait, you might get better speakers for $100-200, according to craigslist luck.

Using the Marantz as a headphone amp: probably unnecessary for your Grados, but would be good for any high-impedance headphones you may have. The characteristic sound will be warmer, fuller, and maybe more musical than straight out of your chaintech, but at the cost of a little detail. You'd need a pretty good modern receiver to do a clearly better job than the chaintech, it's not cost effective IMO. A dedicated dac would be great, but then you'd probably want a dedicated headphone amp for the headphones and just run the marantz with the speakers. I'd say stay cheap, get the vintage stereo and see how you like that with your chaintech before making another jump. One nice thing about vintage stereo is that if you buy smart, you can always sell for just as much.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

Classic speakers that still sound good by today's standards.

Advent, Acoustic Research , JBL, Infinity (particularly with the EMIT tweeter), Klipsch, Pioneer HPM 100's.

That's a starter list, there are a lot of good older speakers out there going for very low prices if you shop around.

Here's a pair of JBL's that will probably go very cheap if you feel like taking a chance.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Set-of-two-JBL-L...QQcmdZViewItem

And a pair of Acoustic Research.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ACOUSTIC-RESEARC...QQcmdZViewItem

Infinity's

http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-RS-5000...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-RS-2000...QQcmdZViewItem

Refoaming woofers is pretty easy with a kit.. I have a pair of Infinity's very much like these but with a dome tweeter instead of the EMIT, they sound great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-KAPPA-6...QQcmdZViewItem

 

[TheVinylRipper]

And here are the HPM100's

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-HPM-100-...QQcmdZViewItem

 

[facelvega]

Wow, Ripper, let's get the guy to buy some vintage speakers first before telling him about how easy it is to do a refoam. Mentioning refoaming now will just spook a vintage newbie.

 

[senns&nonsense]

Threadjack alert (and apologies in advance....) but I just picked up a pair of Allison CD-7s off Craig's. They sound great despite having some seriously gross foam disintegration. To you refoaming experts - is shimming the coil really necessary? I have read mixed assessments and am much more worried about the shimming than the rest of the job. Everything SEEMS very centered and easy to work with from the current position..... Thanks.

And to the OP - do it! I am running my computer lossless files into an EMU 0404 and then out to a Nikko vintage amp which powers some vintage Canton speakers and has a fantastic hp jack. It is a complete and versatile set-up that costs very little. Lots of choices out there and little cost to trying and selling and trying again until you find what works for you.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by facelvega /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, Ripper, let's get the guy to buy some vintage speakers first before telling him about how easy it is to do a refoam. Mentioning refoaming now will just spook a vintage newbie.

I was just mentioning it as an option and gave multiple other options as well.

If someone is seriously cash strapped, DIY refoaming will allow them to buy far more speaker than they could get otherwise.

And refoaming kits are pretty cheap.

The dome midrange on some of the Infinitys like the one I linked to sounds really good, it acts as a pulsating hemisphere and has very wide dispersion.

Not to mention that with a well designed three way speaker the crossover points are usually out of the most sensitive band of human hearing which is from about 1 khz to 5 khz.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by senns&nonsense /img/forum/go_quote.gif Threadjack alert (and apologies in advance....) but I just picked up a pair of Allison CD-7s off Craig's. They sound great despite having some seriously gross foam disintegration. To you refoaming experts - is shimming the coil really necessary? I have read mixed assessments and am much more worried about the shimming than the rest of the job. Everything SEEMS very centered and easy to work with from the current position..... Thanks.

If the spider is still nice and tight shimming shouldn't be necessary if you use a delicate touch when doing the refoaming. The spider has a good bit more to do with centering the voice coil than does the cone.

 

[senns&nonsense]

OK - thanks. As I (gently) feel to see that everything is tight and centered without rubbing, it SEEMS like I should be able to get the surround attached without disturbing the alignment. That is my plan. The foam kit should be here in a few days and I will proceed without shimming as long as it sits well and accurately on the cone with good/smooth/tight "overlaps" for the adhesive.

 

[facelvega]

I'm no refoam expert, but for what it's worth I concur with VR. Don't shim if you don't have to-- you may actually make it less centered if you do, and then wouldn't you feel silly.

 

[judas391]

thanks a lot guys, i'm waiting for responses from craigslist.
i sure hope vintage sounds better than modern stuff! (at a much lower price too

)