Wondering what peoples opinions are and what I should invest most of my money in?
Speakers?
Amp?
Preamp?
Testing?
Speakers?
Amp?
Preamp?
Testing?
IM not so HO:
1) Speakers and their environment. They have the largest potential to affect the sound. If you are buying/building a CD player, amp and speakers try not to spend less than 50% on the speakers.
2) Source. If what's coming out is bad it doesn't matter how good the rest is. Mind you I've heard some 200 dollar CD players that didn't bother me at all.
3) Amplifier. I really can't offer advice because the persons I trust the most to guide me don't agree with one another. On one side, don't be afraid to buy an amplifier with more watts than your speakers handle. Only Saturday night beer muffs will ever cause a problem. The other side says that amplifiers designed for less watts sound better than high powered ones when used within their abilities. Never mind the different topologies. That's why I can't offer advice. Hang out with some of these guys and see if you don't come away as confused as me.
Me? I like big speakers, big amplifiers and outdoor listening so my opinion may differ a wee from others.
1) Speakers and their environment. They have the largest potential to affect the sound. If you are buying/building a CD player, amp and speakers try not to spend less than 50% on the speakers.
2) Source. If what's coming out is bad it doesn't matter how good the rest is. Mind you I've heard some 200 dollar CD players that didn't bother me at all.
3) Amplifier. I really can't offer advice because the persons I trust the most to guide me don't agree with one another. On one side, don't be afraid to buy an amplifier with more watts than your speakers handle. Only Saturday night beer muffs will ever cause a problem. The other side says that amplifiers designed for less watts sound better than high powered ones when used within their abilities. Never mind the different topologies. That's why I can't offer advice. Hang out with some of these guys and see if you don't come away as confused as me.
Me? I like big speakers, big amplifiers and outdoor listening so my opinion may differ a wee from others.
The most critical part of any system is the listener.
You should spend most of your effort and money on the choice of speakers. They govern the amount of amplification you require.
Amplifiers and sources are 10-a-penny. If your speakers are reasonably efficient a T-amp and the right iPod or DVD player will give a great sound, but limited by the quality of the speakers.
The speakers are overwhelmingly the primary limiting factor in any reasonably competent modern system.
w
You should spend most of your effort and money on the choice of speakers. They govern the amount of amplification you require.
Amplifiers and sources are 10-a-penny. If your speakers are reasonably efficient a T-amp and the right iPod or DVD player will give a great sound, but limited by the quality of the speakers.
The speakers are overwhelmingly the primary limiting factor in any reasonably competent modern system.
w
so spending 50% on speakers, it seems that you can build a full range speaker for $300, is it reasonable to say that you can build a good diy amp for around the same price?
You can build a good one cheaper. An excellent one will, sadly, cost more, but the differences are so much smaller than rooms, speakers, and sources that it's diminishing returns.
This is not a simple question to answer...
It is one thing talking about how much to spend if you are doing it all at retail, it is totally another when you are diying part of your system...
The room is probably the most important part, but no part of a system is non-critical,
Speakers (and cartridges if you have analog source) have the most affect of the personality of the system, but if you are diying you can put together a higly musical speaker system for not a whole lot (you can aslo spend a lot for something not so swell -- witness Chops latest epiphany 00 $5k in aprts for a multiway, has been laid waste (in his opinion) by a FR costing 1/20th of that). With my penchant for building speakers & amps, i find that budget wise source gets the greatest consideration (if you don't get the information off the disk no amount of quality in the rest of the syetm is going to repair things).
It is also important that components are synergistic, this is particularily true of amp & speakers. They should really be considered as joined at the hio, You can't choose one without knowing the other,
Luck and scrounging skill also play a role in how the budget gets allocated,
dave
It is one thing talking about how much to spend if you are doing it all at retail, it is totally another when you are diying part of your system...
The room is probably the most important part, but no part of a system is non-critical,
Speakers (and cartridges if you have analog source) have the most affect of the personality of the system, but if you are diying you can put together a higly musical speaker system for not a whole lot (you can aslo spend a lot for something not so swell -- witness Chops latest epiphany 00 $5k in aprts for a multiway, has been laid waste (in his opinion) by a FR costing 1/20th of that). With my penchant for building speakers & amps, i find that budget wise source gets the greatest consideration (if you don't get the information off the disk no amount of quality in the rest of the syetm is going to repair things).
It is also important that components are synergistic, this is particularily true of amp & speakers. They should really be considered as joined at the hio, You can't choose one without knowing the other,
Luck and scrounging skill also play a role in how the budget gets allocated,
dave
So what is the best method of relating speakers and amps? Is it a trial and error type of relation, or are there "rules" as to what sounds best paired together?
SY said:
And with careful scrounging a real good amp (of limited power mind you) can be made for that. My main amps largely due to essentially free quality german iron cost <$150 including all Solen poly smoothing caps.
This amp has embarassed a lot of expensive sore-bought kit.
dave
dmongrain said:
There are guidlines... plus, at least here, you can get a general idea from others trial & error.
dave
So another amp question......I've happened across a few gainclone pages, is that the easiest method to start building an amp, or are there other designs that give a better return?
The atmosphere to chair interface is the most important.
Some people are happy with a junk system. some can't tolerate it.
Every part of the system is equally important, one particularly bad part can ruin the lot. Hence the term "The audio chain"
Bad source, misbehaving amplifier, poor speakers, putting the system in an echo chamber, putting the speakers in the wrong place, putting the listener in the wrong place.
Spend more on speakers, they have the greatest distortion per dollar.
Some people are happy with a junk system. some can't tolerate it.
Every part of the system is equally important, one particularly bad part can ruin the lot. Hence the term "The audio chain"
Bad source, misbehaving amplifier, poor speakers, putting the system in an echo chamber, putting the speakers in the wrong place, putting the listener in the wrong place.
Spend more on speakers, they have the greatest distortion per dollar.
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