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DoesNotCompute posted:Looks like they're nano-engineered directional XLR, nice. Don't want electrons trying to go up the down cable. I have to admit I like how that looks, so in my opinion that was a perfectly sensible choice.  I've been eyeing the cheap end of the used market recently, toying with the idea of picking up an early 90s stereo amp and some reasonable bookshelf speakers to use as computer speakers - a Nad 3020i and something old from the b&w 60x series shouldn't be ruinous, and it's probably a step up from "Bose Bluetooth speaker" when I don't use the headphones. Then again, the cramped corner where I have the PC is almost perfectly wrong for even small stereo speakers, so it'd be more because I like playing with old stereo gear and less because there's any real chance of it sounding good. I'm trying to convince myself that it'd be a waste of money, but keep scanning the "for sale" ads... we'll see. (We do have a 3.0 system in the living room that's perfectly fine, so it wouldn't be the main sound system anyway.) Computer viking fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Jul 12, 2018 |
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Jul 12, 2018 12:00
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If you want a real bargain, look for 90s stereo receivers. A lot of people don't like them because they've got a mostly useless FM/AM radio that nobody really wants anymore, but the amplifiers themselves are perfectly fine. A while ago, I picked up a Yamaha RS-495RDS for next to nothing, because it's a big black box and not very modern looking. 70 actual continuous watts per channel, and very good dynamic power (so it has a well-designed power supply). Only thing missing is the remote but eh, who gives a poo poo.
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Jul 12, 2018 12:52
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Computer viking posted:I have to admit I like how that looks, so in my opinion that was a perfectly sensible choice. Clearly I think used 80s/90s stuff is a viable option, I would look for Nakamichi, NAD, Luxman, And Rotel. For reference I picked up the NAD 7100x in that stack for $120 Canadian, has a switchabale Mc/mm phono stage, remote and 60wpc (with 240 wpc peak because of the absurd 6 db of headroom). Oh and it’s stable down to 2 ohm loads if you find some weirdo vintage speakers that are hard to power. For bookshelves b&w, kef, monitor audio, focal, stuff like that. That said, I run new Elacs off of thus system because they’re just very nice sounding and were hella cheap even new.
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Jul 12, 2018 15:04
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DoesNotCompute posted:Looks like they're nano-engineered directional XLR, nice. Don't want electrons trying to go up the down cable. power amp on the bottom with the rest of the components stacked on it 
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Jul 12, 2018 15:06
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I just installed a pair of JBL 305p Mk IIs along with the accompanying LSR310 sub. Out of the box it sounds great, but I'm having a problem. I will sometimes get a ton of line noise, and I can't seem to track it down. I'm using a Magni/Modi Schiit stack for the DAC and (headphone) amp. The amp is placed dead center of my desk, several feet from anything other than the monitors(displays and speakers). Despite this l sometimes still get a constant high pitched static quietly coming from the speakers. Moving the volume from min to max will only mildly boost the noise. My Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 would do the same from the same source. Any ideas for a cause? Edit: I can't believe I just now discovered this. I'm only getting line noise when the GPU is under load. How the hell am I supposed to prevent that? LASER BEAM DREAM fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Jul 12, 2018 |
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Jul 12, 2018 15:44
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Panty Saluter posted:power amp on the bottom with the rest of the components stacked on it Its well vented in the rear and is never taxed enough to warm up, the CD player arguably produces more heat. I get the concern though.
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Jul 12, 2018 15:58
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DoesNotCompute posted:Its well vented in the rear and is never taxed enough to warm up, the CD player arguably produces more heat. I get the concern though. oh, does it have a cooling fan? I'm just used to giant passively cooled amps that need space over their tops. bit of a pet peeve for me
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Jul 12, 2018 16:34
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Panty Saluter posted:oh, does it have a cooling fan? I'm just used to giant passively cooled amps that need space over their tops. bit of a pet peeve for me I have an extraction fan setup behind the unit for the rare times it’s ever turned up, it’s hard to tell also but the CD player and tape deck are considerably shallower than the other two units so there is significant real estate for heat to escape from the top of the amps. That said, it’s something I’m going to give more consideration to in my next DIY build for a unit like this. Another option I had explored was a laptop cooling pad between components but with this use case it never really warms up so I never bothered sourcing them.
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Jul 12, 2018 17:43
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Thermopyle posted:So, what I ended up doing is using the Bose 301 Series III speakers with a 15 year-old Onkyo receiver and it works pretty great for TV/Movies and some music. I was thinking about adding the Polk PSW10 that's on sale at Amazon for $80 bucks today. Anything particularly bad about this plan? The only bad thing about the PSW10 is that the PSW505 is usually about twice the cost and FAR more than twice the value. Currently showing at $179 on Amazon but Polk pricing tends to fluctuate quickly. I've seen it anywhere from 160 to 275. I've had both the PSW10 and PSW505 and the 10 is nice but runs out of steam really quickly. Music at low-medium levels and most movies are fine but anything Bass heavy and or loud audibly stresses the PSW10, and it doesn't let you hear its limits in a nice way. TV watching would probably be fine but any BluRay action movie with explosions or whatever at even somewhat-loud volumes will be met with bottoming out, port noise, the amp shutting off for cooling. I've owned both and still have the 505 years later.
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Jul 14, 2018 09:32
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Thanks for that. I think maybe I'll go with the PSW505.
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Jul 14, 2018 13:33
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Was a little bored yesterday and went a little heat shrink nuts on some things. Surprised how nice it turned out considering it was just monoprice cheap banana plugs. Before:  After: 
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Jul 14, 2018 16:27
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Thermopyle posted:Thanks for that. I think maybe I'll go with the PSW505. I would. I had a psw10 to start and the 505 is just so much better. Best price I’ve ever seen on it is 149 around Black Friday Psw10 just loses all steam under say 40hz or so. Transformers movies are unwatchable with it.
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Jul 14, 2018 17:24
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skipdogg posted:Transformers movies are unwatchable 
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Jul 16, 2018 16:12
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One thing I'll say about the PSW505 is don't expect it to last a day past the warranty expiration (3 years). The capacitors are extremely cheap, hence the value.
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Jul 16, 2018 20:34
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Are cheap caps even a problem any more? I have 2 505s and a 10 and I've never had any problems.
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Jul 16, 2018 20:42
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KillHour posted:Are cheap caps even a problem any more? I have 2 505s and a 10 and I've never had any problems. Neither did I, until I did. When mine died I was googling for a solution and found it to be a common problem with the 505. How old are yours?
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Jul 16, 2018 20:53
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One is >2 years old one is like uh... 6-7? The 10 is somewhere between those.
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Jul 16, 2018 20:58
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n.. posted:One thing I'll say about the PSW505 is don't expect it to last a day past the warranty expiration (3 years). The capacitors are extremely cheap, hence the value. I googled around a little and there are no monster caps in that amp, so if they went that's a super cheap fix.
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Jul 16, 2018 23:43
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No doubt it's an easy fix for a shop or someone that knows what they're doing (I tried repairing it myself and failed). I just feel betrayed and suspicious when a product fails right at the end of its warranty period. It's still a great value, I ended up spending more than twice as much on the less powerful ELAC S10EQ when mine died, and while I appreciate the smaller size and built-in room correction I miss the way the 505 shook the house.
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Jul 17, 2018 19:43
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So I have two giant 90s-era floorstanding speakers that I inherited from my grandpa as my speakers for home entertainment. I love them but want to add a center channel at a low cost just to help with vocals in movies and TV mainly. Problem is I don't really have anywhere to put it. Is there a go-to solution for a very low, slim center channel speaker that doesn't cost a bunch?
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Jul 20, 2018 23:09
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The nicest sounding slim center I've heard was a martin logan motion 8, they're pricey even used though. But here's a motion 6 that seems cheap and is very slim with no rear port. https://www.ebay.com/itm/163151136108
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Jul 21, 2018 02:52
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dy. posted:So I have two giant 90s-era floorstanding speakers that I inherited from my grandpa as my speakers for home entertainment. I love them but want to add a center channel at a low cost just to help with vocals in movies and TV mainly. Problem is I don't really have anywhere to put it. If you don't have anywhere to put a centre and already have the floorstanders, can you tweak the EQ at all on them if that indeed is your issue with using them as a phantom centre?
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Jul 22, 2018 18:17
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I have a turntable and a 90s receiver. I want to pump music outside. What kind of wireless solutions do I have for this? Do I just need to buy a wireless receiver and speaker system to hook to the turntable? Edit - A more straightforward way to say this: how would you pump music indoors on a turntable to speakers outside or inside or both. What are the basic options and I can look for specific models, but I’m welcome to suggestions. cosmicjim fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Jul 23, 2018 |
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Jul 23, 2018 01:05
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cosmicjim posted:I have a turntable and a 90s receiver. I want to pump music outside. What kind of wireless solutions do I have for this? Do I just need to buy a wireless receiver and speaker system to hook to the turntable? You want to have to go inside every 15 or 20 minutes to flip sides?
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Jul 23, 2018 02:44
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This will be the home station for any music. It will INCLUDE a turntable. Edit - It’s a rural area and I have dsl that hasn’t worked in a week. The internet is atrocious. I have to go outside to even use the forums on my phone. Service will come Tuesday (for the second time). cosmicjim fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jul 23, 2018 |
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Jul 23, 2018 03:41
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Either go with a sonos style setup (not sure if they make outdoor speakers), or get a multi zone amp and run wires.
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Jul 23, 2018 04:01
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I use Yamaha MusicCast with a receiver with passive speakers and a WXAD-10 puck with active PA speakers. Works well and has handy smartphone/tablet for control (master & per room volumes, lip-/voice sync, device specific audio options).
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Jul 23, 2018 05:29
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I have a probably dumb problem. My receiver is a marantz nr1607  I just got a klipsch sub that has 2 RCA inputs for L and R, but it also allows LFE (if you plug in only 1 port) The sub doesn't work with 2 channel stereo if I plug in a cable via "subwoofer out" which I assume is LFE. It does work (and sounds good) when I hook it up via front L/R preouts, which I assume is basically the sub using L/R channel sound and doing a low pass filter. But then the receiver doesn't recognize it has a sub so no LFE for movies? I also tried a receiver setup option called "LFE/Main" which worked but sounds terrible for both music and movies. Is there a setting I missed or are you not supposed to have a sub while listening to 2 channel media?
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Jul 23, 2018 08:46
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MeruFM posted:I have a probably dumb problem. Quick google: http://manuals.marantz.com/NR1607/EU/EN/index.php quote:If “Speaker Config.” - “Front” and “Center” are set to “Large”, and “Subwoofer Mode” is set to “LFE”, no sound may be output from the subwoofers, depending on the input signal or selected sound mode. Select “LFE+Main” if you want the bass signals to always be produced from the subwoofer. Check that and if that's good, check the various sound modes, an old receiver I had would default to no sub when playing 2 channel audio and had to be told otherwise.
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Jul 23, 2018 09:37
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Set your front speakers to small - large doesn't use a crossover at all and you're just using your speakers' natural roll off.
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Jul 23, 2018 13:30
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Olympic Mathlete posted:Quick google: KillHour posted:Set your front speakers to small - large doesn't use a crossover at all and you're just using your speakers' natural roll off. Cool it worked! Thanks, I didn't realize small/large did that. The bass effects are WAYY louder now for some reason. Shouldn't it sound as loud as just using the pre-out? I guess the receiver is doing some magic with the rolloffs because the sound signature is definitely different too.
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Jul 24, 2018 00:30
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MeruFM posted:Cool it worked! Thanks, I didn't realize small/large did that. It's probably louder because your sub is now producing things that you were asking your mains to produce before (and if they aren't very large speakers flat to under 30 Hz, you were losing out). If you have it set to LFE+main the sub and mains are overlapping and as long as they're relatively in phase you will get a lot more mid-bass. Some sub re-calibration may be in order
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Jul 24, 2018 00:46
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If speakers are set to small there shouldn’t be any overlap. Probably just the gain was set too high on sub/LFE before.
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Jul 24, 2018 00:49
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MeruFM posted:The bass effects are WAYY louder now for some reason. Shouldn't it sound as loud as just using the pre-out? I guess the receiver is doing some magic with the rolloffs because the sound signature is definitely different too. Run the mic setup again. Easiest way to get it set up properly.
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Jul 25, 2018 00:34
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I'm reconditioning a pair of hi fi speakers I've had since I was 17 to run in my workshop/possibly out the back when we have guests over etc, and I'm trying to figure out how I want to power them. I used to run them off a Pioneer SX525 (~22WRMS) which needs a heap of reconditioning work, so I was thinking of grabbing a cheap T-amp or something; but it seems there's a heap of poo poo-tier knock offs and the original 20W 2020A+ amps don't exist anymore. All I can find are the lovely ones or unknown stuff that's probably 10W regular class D nonsense. What's the go with these at the moment - are there any decent iterations in that "cheap and good" price pocket right now, or is it all dogshit?
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Jul 26, 2018 04:54
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Thermopyle posted:So, what I ended up doing is using the Bose 301 Series III speakers with a 15 year-old Onkyo receiver and it works pretty great for TV/Movies and some music. I was thinking about adding the Polk PSW10 that's on sale at Amazon for $80 bucks today. Anything particularly bad about this plan? 301s are great. A bookshelf speaker that actually fits on a bookshelf and has an 8" woofer? Good poo poo. As has been mentioned, wouldn't hurt to pair a little better sub with it than the PSW10.
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Jul 26, 2018 06:07
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dy. posted:So I have two giant 90s-era floorstanding speakers that I inherited from my grandpa as my speakers for home entertainment. I love them but want to add a center channel at a low cost just to help with vocals in movies and TV mainly. Problem is I don't really have anywhere to put it. If they're bad at dialogue/vocals then they're just bad. Could be they're good speakers that need reconditioning, or they're just bad speakers. The main point of a center channel is to anchor audio to the center if you're sitting off axis. If you're sitting on axis and it still doesn't sound good, a center is just a bandaid for bad main speakers.
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Jul 26, 2018 06:19
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Nevermind
Veskit fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Aug 11, 2018 |
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Aug 11, 2018 16:54
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I'm really bad at this stuff and couldn't work out an answer with the small amount of time I have to make a decision (yay for short term father's Day present windows). I'm replacing an old Samsung AV receiver and the choices I can get are the Yamaha rx-a780, rx-as710 or rx-v685. I can't tell the difference between them for my needs (a pretty small living Room currently with a 5.1 arrangement). The Slimline would be nice because of the space savings, although the other two are easier to find. I can't tell if there's any real difference between the A and V. Does anyone have a clue what the differences are to look out for or if there's an obvious answer?
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Aug 31, 2018 11:29
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iajanus posted:I'm really bad at this stuff and couldn't work out an answer with the small amount of time I have to make a decision (yay for short term father's Day present windows). The A series is their higher-end line but looking at Crutchfield's comparison tool the 780 and 685 look really similar. I think the main thing is the amp is a bit better and you get an extra year of warranty. The S601 has a significantly smaller amp and fewer features but if you don't crank the volume it might not matter. The S601 and 780 are both on AC4L if that makes a difference.
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Aug 31, 2018 15:16
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