Best stereo setup

[Skyryder]

Just been reading another thread where speakers came up in the discussion and got me thinking whats the very best stereo setup.

This will probalbly branchout into home theartre and full blow inbuilt systems well go for it but I'm more interested in a standard stereo system. So what's ya pick??

SPEAKERS
AMP
DVD
TURNTABLE

From mid price up to top end. It's just that I'm going to upgrade soonish.


Skyryder

[Tank]

Cant go wrong with anything from Dick Smith.

[Usarka]

You talking types of components, or brands/models?

If the latter, then what's your budget? Eg for speakers I'd love to listen to these puppies but at £5,000 (yep pounds) you'd hope they are good.

http://www.hifi-regler.de/bilder/news/d_000424_01_de.jpg

[bungbung]

That looks pretty bizarre, more about form than function. How could they possibly work well given the proximity of the driver edge to the edge of the baffle?

[Usarka]

Form and function! Removing the cabinet frees up the sound. Not sure about the proximity to the baffle, but the 60kg (each) weight may have something to do with it....? http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Jamo-R909/

[Headbanger]

Lets talk about cables......:eek:

[scissorhands]

I have old sterios, they dont have digital displays or remotes but sound fab and are cheap.

about 10years ago sound quality on home units became secondary to styling

[KiwiGs]

Niam D/A converter
Perreaux pre amp
Niam mono block Power Amps x2
Rotel CD player
Royd floor standers
Any good interconnects
I don't have any vinyl so I don’t know about turn tables....

[Usarka]

If you want stereo only, get a stereo amp not a home theater system. Dollar for dollar you get better quality for the two channels.

Now about these cables........

[Tank]

Now about these cables........


A couple of options here: http://most-expensive.net/audio-cables

[Headbanger]

Personally I have no idea what high-end audio components are the best, as far as I'm concerned its a case of diminishing results as the money scales upwards at a ridicules rate, at which time brand wankery rears its head.

My setup I bought off trademe for $300, I looked into it and it cost about $2500 to $3000 when purchased new, Amp,CD player are Onkyo, Speakers are Infinity 61 Mk II's, The rear and centre speakers just something I had from another system. It runs off a PC (via toslink) that according to its specs has an HD audio chipset (though I can't imagine I have any HD audio media, Its not something I have looked into) and its in a room that was purpose built for use as a home theater, all walls and ceiling packed with insulation and I have a row of big arse chairs along the back wall, with one giant super comfortable uber chair that I reside upon.

To say it cranks is an understatement, Its the best system I personally have ever heard whether it be movies or music, Though I'm thinking it may have started to sound a little shrill recently, (Though that's probably as I was playing with settings that I have no idea about) I have no doubt that audio-wanks would listen to it and consider it crap, Lmfao.

Since then I have replaced the amp with a more modern Pioneer unit so I can have DTS, Still sounds awesome, and moved the Onkyo amp into the lounge and paired it up with a set of Wharfdales, For that setup I have the House PC, Xbox 360,and DVD player all feeding the TV via HDMI , and teh TV feeds the audio back to the Amp via toslink cable. This system is let down by the speakers but still blows away the TV speakers and its not an environment suitable for thundering bass or high volume. Though when I can afford it I will look into improving it, One of the speakers has failed so they will be getting replaced, I'll go cheapish again so may beef it up with a sub, But then again, I fuckin hate subs.

Speakers in my Home Theater

Specifications
Type Floor standing loudspeaker
Power handling 175 W
Weight 20.5 kg
Audio Section

* Number of Speakers : 4
* Impedance : 8
* Power admitted (W) : 175
* Boomer : 2 x 170 mm, Polypropylène

Audio Performances

* Bandwith : 30 – 20000Hz
* Sensibility (dB/W/m) : 90.0

Miscellaneous

* Dimensions : 254 x 1070 × 307 mm
* Weight : 20.5 kg


All cables purchased at either DSE or the Warehouse.......

[CookMySock]

whats the very best stereo setup. How long is a piece of string? You can spend $100 upwards, and there is no best system for one person.

If it were me, I'd put a nice soundcard in a PC, buy a second-hand pair of bookshelf monitors or reference speakers Energy et al (aim for about $500) a nice direct-coupled amp, and hook that lot up. Add to that, a homemade 10" DM/DVC driver in a 50 litre ported box tuned for between 20 and 30Hz and put about 300WRMS into it. Budget for around $1500-1800.

Later add surround bits if you want.

edit: for some people it will be a computer 2.1 set of speakers with sub connected to their Ipod.

Steve

[T.W.R]

Go to Strawberrysound (corner of Falsgrave & Stevens St) check a few of their systems out.

http://strawberrysound.co.nz/

Different systems suit different applications and it's upto what the individual is wanting

[neels]

As above, there is no such thing as best, just an open ended spending of more money. I'm a cheap bastard so I built my stereo for $200ish from trademe.

Solid state discrete component Yamaha Amp, $40, with a free tape deck
Digital Yamaha Tuner $25
Already had a Technics CD player
100W Denon speakers $120

It's loud enough to keep me happy, and sound quality a truckload better than the cheapish Sony one it replaced. It only gets used for playing music, surround sound is for movies.

[vifferman]

As above, there is no such thing as best, just an open ended spending of more money.
Indeed, although it's not always about money.
#2Son built a 300W/channel amp that cost far less than even any one item from our home theatre system, yet it has far better THD figures (and obivously, moar powerr!) than our 85W/channel receiver. Good design and well-spec'd components can count for more than the badge on the front.

Sometimes too there are other surprises, like one day he was playing something on his PC and it sounded so good from upstairs I went down to the TroglodyteCave to see if he'd bought a new system or a subwoofer or summat.
Nup - his Yamaha studio monitors and rack-mount soundcard are just very well spec'd. Mind you, the speakers weren't cheap (But once again cheaper than any one item from our home theatre system..' blah blah...) He's a fussy bugger though - discarded his sound card because of some minor quality grumble and bought another rack-mount one. No wonder he's always broke...

[bastardsquad]

Dunno about the best, but the best Ive seen, played with, and spent a lot of time listening to while enjoying scotch and decent red wine was:

B&W 801 Nautilus speakers, braided 8T cables (~ 28K) Much better than the Thiel 7.2 previous.
Krell Amp (~5K) , Also heard the 801's with dual Plinius monoblocks - stupid money, prefer the Krell !
Audio Research LS9 preamp(~7K)
Audio Research transport(~4K)
cant remember the DAC unfortunately, high end interconnects all round.

I couldnt fault the setup with decent recordings, if money's no object the above brands are top quality kit and fairly readily available at high end audio retailers here in NZ.

[Tank]

Its all very well talking about what we would put in homes if we all have $$$$$$$$$$$ to spend.

But - what you put in BASED OFF A NORMAL budget. (yeah yeah no such think as a normal budget etc) - buts limit it to a normal working blokes expendable income based on the fact he enjoys it - but its not his sole passion in life.

[bungbung]

But Tank, what is normal?

I probably have $3k of stereo/HT (not including tv/dvd etc).
That is far too much for some, and underdone for others.

My bro bought (all tardme)

Tannoy bookshelves
Rotel integrated amp
sansui tuner
Infinity sub
Denon cd

For a total of about $1200

To me, he is at the diminishing returns point for sound quality/price

[psycho22]

I'm just running on Logitech Z-5500s which for $500 are damn good. They can rattle the whole house at 3/4 volume and the sound quality is pretty high.

[Tank]

But Tank, what is normal?



There isnt a $ = normal calculation - which is why I gave it a loose defination

[Skyryder]

I was thinking of McIntosh.

Anyone got one of these??


Skyryder

[Headbanger]

Dunno about the best, but the best Ive seen, played with, and spent a lot of time listening to while enjoying scotch and decent red wine was:

B&W 801 Nautilus speakers, braided 8T cables (~ 28K) Much better than the Thiel 7.2 previous.
Krell Amp (~5K) , Also heard the 801's with dual Plinius monoblocks - stupid money, prefer the Krell !
Audio Research LS9 preamp(~7K)
Audio Research transport(~4K)
cant remember the DAC unfortunately, high end interconnects all round.

I couldn't fault the setup with decent recordings, if money's no object the above brands are top quality kit and fairly readily available at high end audio retailers here in NZ.


Whats the approximate cost of that setup?

[HenryDorsetCase]

there is at least as much shit talked about home theatre/stero kit as there is motorbikes.

NZ makes some of the best kit in the world though, so keep a few fellow countrymen in jobs and buy:

Theophany or Image speakers
Plinius or Perreaux amplifiers
Perreaux CD player
slinkylinks cables and interconnects (though having said that..... if you havent read this article, I liked it a lot: http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-01-06 or http://2eyespy.tripod.com/id3.html)

You'll have to go offshore for a turntable if you are so minded: Pro-ject do one for a grand that is worthwhile. Basically spend your money on the parts that convert electrical energy to mechanical (speakers, headphones) or vice versa (turntables) because even if there are differences between audio products they are very small compared to the difference between a set of $1000 speakers, and a set of $3000 speakers. The other point is that good gear lasts: My Plinius amp is nearly 20 years old, my speakers are 10 years old, my turntable was bought by me in 1982, and my CD player is also ten years old. My speakers and CD player are likely to be upgraded this year...... but if you spend good money you get a good longlasting well made product that has a second hand value also.

So, uh, yeah.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Its all very well talking about what we would put in homes if we all have $$$$$$$$$$$ to spend.

But - what you put in BASED OFF A NORMAL budget. (yeah yeah no such think as a normal budget etc) - buts limit it to a normal working blokes expendable income based on the fact he enjoys it - but its not his sole passion in life.

Sell said, Sir.

actual money dollar figure in 2009 $: the MOST I would spend would be ten large, but I reckon you could get something decent-ish for $5k

[Eyegasm]

I dunno, I had a budget and got the 7.2 Sony set up for a grand and I can't complain.
Was half price which was perfect timing.

Mainly used for gaming and movies and I can not fault it. except that there are to many
and my room is not big enough.

[Headbanger]

Anyone got a spare $20,549?

http://www.imageaudio.co.nz/index.php?page=shop/specials&PHPSESSID=qcu99o6rl2lrtv6q3g8u2hikj6

Luckily its on special, savings of 10 grand.

wank wank wank.

[Headbanger]

NZ makes some of the best kit in the world though, so keep a few fellow countrymen in jobs and buy:

(though having said that..... if you haven't read this article, I liked it a lot: http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-01-06 or http://2eyespy.tripod.com/id3.html)


Hmmm....I didn't even know NZ had an audio equipment industry.

Reading the first article you linked to, Interesting stuff.

[Big Dave]

The Harmon-Karden on the Electraglide seemed best
Followed by the Goldwing and the Vision's.

[Big Dave]

I mostly play MP3s from my computer to the stereo in my studio.
A $300 Panasonic does that job fine.

Spending any more would be like buying a new Hyabusa, but letting Skidmark ride it.

[Headbanger]

You don't want to play mp3's over a good system anyway, They sound absolute crap compared to the original.

I've spent thousands rebuilding my CD collection after finally hearing how poor the ripped audio is, and anyone paying for that crap is mad.

[p.dath]

You don't want to play mp3's over a good system anyway, They sound absolute crap compared to the original.

I've spent thousands rebuilding my CD collection after finally hearing how poor the ripped audio is, and anyone paying for that crap is mad.

I assume your talking about copied mp3's?

Most places selling them do so at 256kb/s (some even at 320kb/s). That sample rate is greater than a CD. I've completely stopped buying CD's now.

EDIT: Check out this review:
http://www.lincomatic.com/mp3/mp3quality.html
After reading that, consider how much better MP3 is that has been purchased encoded at 256kb/s, rather then ripped from a lower quality CD.

[Headbanger]

I assume your talking about copied mp3's?

Most places selling them do so at 256kb/s (some even at 320kb/s). That sample rate is greater than a CD. I've completely stopped buying CD's now.

All ripped/compressed audio.

No idea what you mean by copied, as all mp3's are copied data, Its not like you get the original 0's and 1's....

[p.dath]

All ripped/compressed audio.

No idea what you mean by copied, as all mp3's are copied data, Its not like you get the original 0's and 1's....

I mean copied from a CD.

Buying an mp3 created from a master - the same master the CD was created from will give much better results than using an MP3 that was ripped from a CD that was created from the master.
Using MP3's that came from a CD mean you are limiting the quality to that of the CD. Simpler to remove the limitation and just not by the CD. You can always make a CD from a good quality 256kb/s MP3 - you'll probably just loose some of the sound quality since the CD pretty much stores it at a lower bitrate.

[Headbanger]

Interesting, and I suppose it makes sense, Though they are still compressing it and that is the limiting factor, Lossless encoding gives you roughly 10mb per minute of audio.

Doesn't matter what the source is when your ripping the guts out of it to get 1mb per minute.

EDIT

This article is comparing purchased MP3's against original quality audio.

http://stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd/

[hayd3n]

onkyo does me fine
gets noise control over occasionally when ever i turn it over 40 percent

[Headbanger]

Most places selling them do so at 256kb/s (some even at 320kb/s). That sample rate is greater than a CD. I've completely stopped buying CD's now.


Audio CD's are transferring data at 1400kb/s

[hayd3n]

onkyo
http://www.intl.onkyo.com/products/av_components/av_receivers/tx-sr576/index.html
with these speakers
http://www.accusound.com.au/pacific.html

[Big Dave]

, and anyone paying for that crap is mad.

Or doesn't care that much. They sound fine to me.

[Headbanger]

Or doesn't care that much. They sound fine to me.

You never were great at being an elitist.

[steve_t]

I was thinking of McIntosh.

Anyone got one of these??


Skyryder

The McIntosh stuff I've seen has been very good, however, it was brought to my attention that McIntosh is made by Denon/Marantz in case there are similar systems with different price tags :niceone:

I think Strawberry Sound in Dunners had a pair of those B&W Nautilus (Prestige) speakers with marble plinths and look like snails back when I was a student. Pretty fricken amazing!

[Skyryder]

The McIntosh stuff I've seen has been very good, however, it was brought to my attention that McIntosh is made by Denon/Marantz in case there are similar systems with different price tags :niceone:

I think Strawberry Sound in Dunners had a pair of those B&W Nautilus (Prestige) speakers with marble plinths and look like snails back when I was a student. Pretty fricken amazing!

That's good info. Saw some Maranzt amps in Smiths the other day. Nothing outragouse in price.

Skyryder

[stify]

spent some money a good few years ago on a marantz amp/denon dvd/cd combo and a set of polk audio speakers...was around 5k if memory serves me right, still a kick arse system today which i enjoy mucho

[p.dath]

Interesting, and I suppose it makes sense, Though they are still compressing it and that is the limiting factor, Lossless encoding gives you roughly 10mb per minute of audio.

Doesn't matter what the source is when your ripping the guts out of it to get 1mb per minute.

EDIT

This article is comparing purchased MP3's against original quality audio.

http://stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd/

Pitty that this test was only done at 128kb/s. Most purchased MP3's are done at 256kb/s or 320 kb/s (at least the ones I buy are). I hope they repeat the tests sometime using actually used encoding rates. By choosing a rate half of what the industry uses they have distorted the results. I kinda wonder if there is a reason they are doing this ...

[The Lone Rider]

As someone who has worked in professional recording studios with million dollar set ups and fully flat response high end speakers and standing wave treated rooms....

My personal opinion is that the average joe can't hear the difference between different audio set ups once you move from absolute piece of crap to just a decent stereo. As long has a you have full range, responsive speakers, an equalizer, and the thing is loud enough for you then you can tweak it to suit.

I have been through places like strawberry sound - a lot of it is overkill and more for rich audiophiles who like having flashy things to show off and feel special about themselves.

[MaxB]

I have been doing a bit of a restoration project on my old HiFi. Got the turntable working today so I now have a Philips F-series turntable going through an Akai AM series amp out to my overhauled Energy speakers. They still do a repair kit for the Energy's after all these years. I have been told they have their own website but that's a bit too obsessive for me.

Played a CD and record of Hold Your Fire by Rush to my teenage son through headphones and speakers and he could only tell the difference when a scratch came through. Couldn't find the balance weights so I had to use coins on the tone arm.

I forgot how amazing it sounded and now the home theatre in the lounge sounds crap.