Your audio equipment?

[J Larsen]

I'm near-field by necessity. These damn Manhattan living rooms are small!

Except in Woody Allen movies from the past 15 years

I live in an appartment as well, with a large living room and good acoustic isolation, but when I listen to classical orchestral music, I prefer headphones, to avoid having to turn down the volume on climaxes.

The LR in my new place is about as big as my old apartment!

But now the stereo sounds a little echoey and somewhat lacking in presence...

I'm going to have to figure something out.

[jazzbo]

Chuck will dig this one...

As Lon might know, I'm rather fond of my Decware Zen, but it simply wasn't putting out enough juice to really get my speakers singing. I was hoping to purchase a pair of used Klipsch Fortes, but that fell through and I have to make due for the time being. So I broke out an old Marantz 226b (mid-70's) that I picked up at the flea market for twenty bucks, and I'm using that strictly as an amp, feeding it with a Cambridge C500 control amp ('cause I need the remote and I like its internal phono pre). CD player is a Cambridge D300, turntable a Music Hall MMF-5, speakers are Polk RT800s. Aside from a couple pair of semi-silver interconnects that I bought off Ebay, all other wires are cheap and generic.

Anyway, the sound from that old Marantz is heavenly. The added power (and it's only about 40 watts iirc) really improves the sound from the Polks, which always seemed a bit thin when powered by the Zen (which only outputs a watt or two after all). I wouldn't call the Marantz exactly tubey-sounding, but it is fairly mellow and has a great bottom end. Before I settled on it I compared it with an old Kenwood A/V amp I had laying around (which I've since passed on to someone looking to get into vinyl) and it was like night and day... and I'm no audiophile who hears differences in the slightest equipment modifications.

I think I'll save my money and stick with the ol' Marantz for a while. My system has never sounded better.

Yes, Marantz amps can sound really nice. I gave away a few years ago a seventies Marantz receiver that was a great unit. . . gave it to my brother because though it had plenty of powers for my speakers I prefered my (then) Zen Select. What I've done is buy Decware Monoblocks that have that Select sound but three times the watts and man I'm so happy with them. . . .Deckert wants me to send them back and allow him to put in an improved power supply, and I've stalled for over a year because I just can't bear to put them in an box and mail them off and be without them for as much as a month (though I've got a Proton amplifier I can use that really sounds fine, but. . . )

I have some really interesting audio moments lately. The first minute of the new "Kirk's Works" RVG scaares me. . . when Kirk comes in it makes me jump unless I'm really ready for it! And Daredevil's 'billy club' went whistling past my ear I swear last time I popped in that dvd!

Edited May 17, 2007 by jazzbo

[Sundog]

My current setup...

- Outlaw Audio RR2150 Receiver

- Rega Apollo CD player

- Sony DVP NS500V Universal Player (SACD/DVD playback)

- Mac Mini (for digital music via USB input on receiver)

- B&W DM602 S3 bookshelf speakers

- Music Hall MMF-7 w/Goldring Eroica Cartridge

I'm probably going to add a REL sub at some point this year. But I'm in no hurry I really enjoy my current set up.

[Hot Ptah]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

[jazz1]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

Holy shit!!! 8 x 15" bass driver !!! that must really shake your house.

Are you an organ freak?? that would be perfect for it.

And I thought that I had big bass with 4 x 8"

[J Larsen]

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Is that one of the ones where a little mechanical arm pops out and flips the tape around when it has gotten to the end of the first side? I used to want one of those really bad, back when a substantial portion of my collection was in cassette format.

[Hot Ptah]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

Holy shit!!! 8 x 15" bass driver !!! that must really shake your house.

Are you an organ freak?? that would be perfect for it.

And I thought that I had big bass with 4 x 8"

It could shake the house, but we choose to rarely shake it! These speakers were installed by the guy who built the house. He was a retired dentist with MS, confined to a wheelchair, whose joy in life was listening to his 50,000+ classical LP collection on this system. He had an entire wall of the bedroom made into built in LP racks, too.

My wife wants to move out of the house, into a nicer house, which I can't argue with. I am trying to figure out whether this speaker system is notable enough to make it worth taking it out of the walls and installing it in whatever new house we buy. Any opinions on that? I would really appreciate all of your input.

[porcy62]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

Holy shit!!! 8 x 15" bass driver !!! that must really shake your house.

Are you an organ freak?? that would be perfect for it.

And I thought that I had big bass with 4 x 8"

It could shake the house, but we choose to rarely shake it! These speakers were installed by the guy who built the house. He was a retired dentist with MS, confined to a wheelchair, whose joy in life was listening to his 50,000+ classical LP collection on this system. He had an entire wall of the bedroom made into built in LP racks, too.

My wife wants to move out of the house, into a nicer house, which I can't argue with. I am trying to figure out whether this speaker system is notable enough to make it worth taking it out of the walls and installing it in whatever new house we buy. Any opinions on that? I would really appreciate all of your input.

Loudspeakers are the components that are much improved in the last twenty years. I mean that now you can buy good new, or used, modern louspeakers at a fraction of the price. At the same time, I think you have to consider the total cost and hassle of remove them and reinstall in the new house. For sure I'd bring with me the rest of the system, including the two Marantz. If you are a good DiYselfer, I'd get all the stuff. Do you already know the new house? Do you have the place to install this "wall of sound"?

[Hot Ptah]

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Is that one of the ones where a little mechanical arm pops out and flips the tape around when it has gotten to the end of the first side? I used to want one of those really bad, back when a substantial portion of my collection was in cassette format.

It is not one of those.

[Hot Ptah]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

Holy shit!!! 8 x 15" bass driver !!! that must really shake your house.

Are you an organ freak?? that would be perfect for it.

And I thought that I had big bass with 4 x 8"

It could shake the house, but we choose to rarely shake it! These speakers were installed by the guy who built the house. He was a retired dentist with MS, confined to a wheelchair, whose joy in life was listening to his 50,000+ classical LP collection on this system. He had an entire wall of the bedroom made into built in LP racks, too.

My wife wants to move out of the house, into a nicer house, which I can't argue with. I am trying to figure out whether this speaker system is notable enough to make it worth taking it out of the walls and installing it in whatever new house we buy. Any opinions on that? I would really appreciate all of your input.

Loudspeakers are the components that are much improved in the last twenty years. I mean that now you can buy good new, or used, modern louspeakers at a fraction of the price. At the same time, I think you have to consider the total cost and hassle of remove them and reinstall in the new house. For sure I'd bring with me the rest of the system, including the two Marantz. If you are a good DiYselfer, I'd get all the stuff. Do you already know the new house? Do you have the place to install this "wall of sound"?

We haven't found a house yet. I guess I am trying to decide how hard to push to include a place for the speakers in our new house search.

The owner of a local audiophile store has worked on this system for years and would remove it for me and reintall it, if I had a space for the speakers. He has talked to me about the need to protect the speakers from excessive dust and any puncture, in any construction process.

[jazz1]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

Holy shit!!! 8 x 15" bass driver !!! that must really shake your house.

Are you an organ freak?? that would be perfect for it.

And I thought that I had big bass with 4 x 8"

It could shake the house, but we choose to rarely shake it! These speakers were installed by the guy who built the house. He was a retired dentist with MS, confined to a wheelchair, whose joy in life was listening to his 50,000+ classical LP collection on this system. He had an entire wall of the bedroom made into built in LP racks, too.

My wife wants to move out of the house, into a nicer house, which I can't argue with. I am trying to figure out whether this speaker system is notable enough to make it worth taking it out of the walls and installing it in whatever new house we buy. Any opinions on that? I would really appreciate all of your input.

20 years ago I had 2 x15 " speakers build in the wall, then a separate box handling the mid and treble, although the bottom end was very realistic the sound was pretty coloured compared to some of today modern loudspeakers.

Then again to get a loudspeaker to move air anddecent bottom end (30 hz) it is quite expansive I would imagine 6000$ plus.

I built my own using the best drivers money can buy and lots of trial and error

with the crossover, it took me nearly 2 years to get right but it was worth it

To get something similar to what I build would cost close to 30000$ and it only cost me 4500$ + lot's of my own time and labor.

I used 8" Audio Technology drive units (4) they move enough air to listen to big orchestral work realistically. I am very happy and the speakers are relatively small

9" wide 42" tall and 16" deep.

If you like big sound (you have big sound) check out

http://www.me-geithain.de/ these East German guys make one of the most

realistic sounding speaker there is (15000$) for a pair of RL 901

which includes 2 x 16" bass drivers.

The big plus is that they are active thus you save on the amps.

These are units with very good reflection control characteristics (both for high AND low frequencies - the latter is a unique engineering feat in the audio world), so easy to control in a normal living room

The big minus, they are the ugliest speakers I have ever seen.

Still highly recommended. They are a few reviews on the net.

So here is some food for thoughts.

[Hot Ptah]

Here is my set up:

Two 40 watt Marantz tube amps (installed in our house by the previous owner in 1962)

McIntosh C-26 Preamp

Thorens TD 124 turntable with Shure cartridge

Nakamichi BX-2 cassette deck

Denon CDR W1500 Cd player/burner

Denon TU 7595 tuner

Speakers (built into house by previous owner):

Eight JBL D130 fifteen inch bass speakers

Two N500 networks

Two JBL 375 high frequency drivers

Two 537/512 horns with acoutical lens

Two JBL 075 supertweeters with lens

Two N7000 networks

Holy shit!!! 8 x 15" bass driver !!! that must really shake your house.

Are you an organ freak?? that would be perfect for it.

And I thought that I had big bass with 4 x 8"

It could shake the house, but we choose to rarely shake it! These speakers were installed by the guy who built the house. He was a retired dentist with MS, confined to a wheelchair, whose joy in life was listening to his 50,000+ classical LP collection on this system. He had an entire wall of the bedroom made into built in LP racks, too.

My wife wants to move out of the house, into a nicer house, which I can't argue with. I am trying to figure out whether this speaker system is notable enough to make it worth taking it out of the walls and installing it in whatever new house we buy. Any opinions on that? I would really appreciate all of your input.

20 years ago I had 2 x15 " speakers build in the wall, then a separate box handling the mid and treble, although the bottom end was very realistic the sound was pretty coloured compared to some of today modern loudspeakers.

Then again to get a loudspeaker to move air anddecent bottom end (30 hz) it is quite expansive I would imagine 6000$ plus.

I built my own using the best drivers money can buy and lots of trial and error

with the crossover, it took me nearly 2 years to get right but it was worth it

To get something similar to what I build would cost close to 30000$ and it only cost me 4500$ + lot's of my own time and labor.

I used 8" Audio Technology drive units (4) they move enough air to listen to big orchestral work realistically. I am very happy and the speakers are relatively small

9" wide 42" tall and 16" deep.

If you like big sound (you have big sound) check out

http://www.me-geithain.de/ these East German guys make one of the most

realistic sounding speaker there is (15000$) for a pair of RL 901

which includes 2 x 16" bass drivers.

The big plus is that they are active thus you save on the amps.

These are units with very good reflection control characteristics (both for high AND low frequencies - the latter is a unique engineering feat in the audio world), so easy to control in a normal living room

The big minus, they are the ugliest speakers I have ever seen.

Still highly recommended. They are a few reviews on the net.

So here is some food for thoughts.

Thanks for your thoughts. I will check out the website in your post for sure.

[porcy62]

But an active loudspeaker would cut off the sweet Marantz, that would be a shame. If you like the idea of a real tube oriented system, my suggestion would be a horn speakers, high efficency, at least an active subwoofer, if you really want to shake the house.

[Hot Ptah]

Thanks, everyone, for all of the thoughts. I greatly appreciate the information.

[Chalupa]

I'm a little late to the party but here's mine.....

I don't remember all of the names of the equipment in this picture but as you can see Mrs. Deeley likes it!

Edited April 4, 2009 by J.H. Deeley

[Chuck Nessa]

[Chuck Nessa]

Not claiming them as mine. Way more empty space between the personal pair.

[Stefan Wood]

Just upgraded my turntable cartridge from a Goldring to an AT 440la. I have a Pickering 3000, but it is a bitch to find a non generic replacement stylus for it. The Audio Technica will need some breaking in time, but it has a fuller sound than most of the other needles I have used (Grado Black, Shure 97xe, etc). Happy!

[mtodde]

No analog at the moment but that will change soon!

Marantz SA-11S1 CD/SACD Player w/ Cardas Golden Reference PC

Modwright SWLP 9.0 SE Pre-amp w/ tube rectified power supply & JPS Analog PC

McCormack DNA-125 amp with JPS AC+ PC

Paradigm Signature 4 speakers on Solid Steel stands

Cardas Neutral Reference Interconnects

Zu Wax shotgun bi-wire speaker cables

[CJ Shearn]

hopefully soon: B&W's my dad has

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

McIntosh MA-6900 Integrated

McIntosh MCD-301 SACD/CD player

Dynaudio Contour s3.4 speakers

Rega P3-24 tt w/Elys-2 cartridge

Philips cdr-765 recorder

Cardas Crosslink & Kimber interconnects

[Shawn]

Must be nice to have money...I have all consumer grade stuff...but it does the trick.

Yamaha HT5130 Amplifier

Sony C26OZ CD Changer

Technics SL-1800MK2 Turntable

Dell PC w/ 24-bit Soundblaster Audigy Card

Insignia bookshelf speakers (Best Buy Brand - under $100 for the pair)

[marcello]

Audio Static speakers (from Holland)

Bryston Amp and Pre-Amp

Lynn Sondek LP12 turntable and arm

Denon C550R cd player / recorder

NAD 616 Double Cassette deck

I also have a MacIntosh FM tuner that I don't use any more, and haven't for many years.

I's been sitting in a box for at least 17 years!

Edited April 12, 2009 by marcello

[sidewinder]

Dynaudio Contour s3.4 speakers

A fine choice !

Dynaudios are power hogs but with the right amp they can sound great.

[jazzbo]

I've been listenig to my dad's system this week. He has a Denon cd changer, a Sony turntable and a Sony receiver, not great stuff, not the cheapest stuff. I got him some good interconnects and speaker wire to use some years ago and that made a difference. What makes his system sound so good is he has old full range single-driver Electro Voice speakers with huge alnico magnets, reconditioned about six years ago, the whole system in a beautiful cherry wood cabinet made for him in Philadelphia in 1963. I've spent a lot of years with this system when it had Dynaco tube components, then Pioneer, then Sony and Denon, and it always sounds very coherent and smooth, and I think it's the speakers, one sound source per channel, no crossover.