Speakers

I have a pair of Dared 300B quasi mono blocks that output 13 watts. They have 2 12AU7's as the input and Sophia Princess Mesh as the output. I am going to be using these as nearfield listening sessions in the bedroom when the wife is clanging pans in the kitchen and my son is being chased by cops with the constant sound of a siren in his room (not a good time to listen to my living room speaker setup which I am very happy with). I will be using an Exemplar Modded Oppo BDP-5 as the source. Anyone have experience with both, besides Tyll's setups at Canjam, and can offer some insight?

Should be able to pick it up by the end of next week. I'm thinking it will be a pretty big upgrade over my trusty VK-42SE. Now all thats left are the amps. Right now I'm leaning towards the BAT VK-75se or 150se tube amps or the 600SE SS BAT amp. That should complete the BAT/Harbeth system.

There's a pair turned up just down the road from me, in full working order but the woofers have had the original carbon composite cones replaced with polypropylene. Price good and less than the going rate for a pair of the midrange drivers or tweeters inside them. Internet opinion seems positive all-over. It will be the first piece of audio gear in 2010 I'll buy which will cost more than 3 pints of lager and a packet of peanuts. I need someone here to tell me to do it. So I can diffuse my self-indulgent guilt.

So as some of you already know I recently won an A-gon auction for a pair of Daber Audio Monitor 3 speakers. I had never heard of Daber Audio before the auction, and I must admit that the aesthetic of the speakers had a lot to do with me bidding on them. It was pretty easy to do the math and realise I had paid a less than what it actually cost to produce these speakers, so I had no real worries about getting a fair deal. The speakers arrived Monday, and I've been running Pink noise through them since that time. The build quality is awesome! And they are absolutely gorgeous in person! I've had quite a bit of correspondance with Daber Audio's founder Steve Brown…

I've got a great pair of speakers in the Alon Lotus SE's. They do so much right and are untouchable (IMHO) in the used under $2k category but I have been chasing the horn dragon since attending VSAC a few years back. Best sound at the show for me was a toss up between the GoTo horns and the modded Altec Voice of the Theaters that Exemplar was running. The presence was downright scary and they were super fast. Well I've owned the Klipsch Heresy speakers and they did not do much for me. They were fun but showed their age with lack of extension and detail. This was after a cap upgrade and tweeter upgrade. They were good for the $$$ but not keepers. So I am pondering a …

I admit that Wes Phillips' reviews of these two flagship models have got me looking at them, but everything I read seems intriguing and alluring. These are shockingly high cost items, so I am both hesitant to go too far down the rabbit hole of this fixation and yet still very curious. I also admit that the K-XR User Manual's suggestion that a balanced tape out could be used for a headphone amplifier made my heart go pitter-pat. Recognition in the highest of the high end! Anybody else heard the these and/or have any opinions on them or their design? A local dealer reps them, so I hope to get a listen later this week.

I need something that I can move with relative ease yet still give me halfway decent sound, so I guess monitors are where it's at. 1) The room: The red outlines the living room; there is no separation between it and the kitchen. Monitors will have brick in the rear facing towards regular wall paneling/drywall (or whatev). 2) The budget: roughly $2,000. The only thing I've got taken care of is the source. I would need to consider the monitors, possible amplification if passive, stands, and subwoofer/amplification for it. 3) The preferences: Bass is not vital, just looking for some sense of accuracy. Love midrange, that is probably priority. No particular t…

I don't think there is a general "I just heard these cool/sucky speakers" thread so I figure I can start one. I was thinking about consolidating and maybe getting my system down to two pairs: a nearfield monitors for late night listening and full range speaks for all out assault. So that is why I have being annoying a lot of hi-end sales people nowdays Yesterday I went to a few shops in NYC to listen to some stuff. First was a system with Devore Gibbons 9 with Shindo and Lab47 gear behind them. I did not like what I heard unfortunately. Dry and grainy, with shallow bass and strange coloration. I listened for an hour with a lot of different music. Listened to L…

That is the question. Spent a good deal of time with both this week, and to me, sonicly they are equal, and very close in sound signature. My wife likes the ANs more i dont really care either way. But the fact i can get by with 5-10 watts with the ANs is pretty cool. Down side is i would have to pull new dedicated lines and turn my room around so i can corner load them. Downside with the harbeths is i would probably move to more powerful tube amps. That means money, and heat. Price is pretty equal. I can get AN demos for $12K plus shipping for them and stands. The harbeths will go around a K more for new speakers w/stands. Both are butt ugly and old fashion looking, bu…

I'm going to get a SS amp to compare with the Manleys with the new Harbeths when they get here. has to have balanced inputs, can be stereo or monoblocks. Must be in the $3k or less range. No room on this one. has to have at least 200-300 watts into 8 ohms. What i want i cant afford, thats the Arye V-1xe. had one and it was the nicest SS amp i had heard or owned. Just wasnt enough for the Thiels at the time. Here are my choices so far. Pass Labs X-250 BAT VK-500 w/batpak McCormack DNA-2 Odyssey Stratos extreme monoblocks (I only know what I have read on these???) I've had two Pass amps here and although I thought the Ayre was better, They were nice. (X-600 mono, X3…

I know, right? Anyway, it's a home-made speaker system based on an Ikea salad bowl, some Pioneer car speakers and some corresponding digital amps. The salad bowl is inverted, drilled holes through, and acts as the enclosure. parts list videos, including construction of the speakers I think it's pretty obvious that I was initially drawn to this because of the music-making-in-linux aspect, but since the speaker is polydirectional, that ended up interesting me, too. I guess the big question is, is it optimal? I presume they picked car speakers for their ability to project (I.E. go loud), but I'm not as interested in that as I am in fidelity, so immediately, …

I now have more speaker cabinets than I know what to do with. 4x Yamaha NS-1000s, some 15 years old and decidedly quirky. These served as the fronts and surrounds in my HT system for over 7 years. 2x Unisound AU265s, I'll get around to modding these at some point in a utopian future. 1x B&W CDN-CNT, center channel. There's also a pair of Pinnacle <mumbles> upstairs that were my father's and were re-drivered at some point. All of the above have been driven by my Rotel RMB-1075 since late 2003. It puts out 125W into five channels. It's a decent amp for flinging movie noises around the room, but it's not exactly what I'd call musical. Having just purch…

Well I've owned my Alon Lotus SE speakers for close to a year now and love them. They sounded great in my house in Cali as the room had decent diffusion and not much of an echo. When I loved to PA and set them up in my second story loft they sounded pretty awful. There was a fairly massive echo and no real low bass to speak of. I have used some auralex treatments in the past and they are ok but in this room they just did not do the trick. So after much searching on the web I checked out GIK as there panels are reasonably well made and very fairly priced based on parts cost and minimal labor costs. At $70 a panel for their 244 panel ( a 2' x 4' and 4" deep) I picked up …

Monsoon speakers seem to be the best computer speakers out there so I've been looking into getting a pair of MH-500s used on ebay. Does anyone have any experience with these?

I know this has been asked a few times, though search came up empty. With a move recently thought I run a quick test to see if I could replace the Quad 12L actives with the more simple to use Audioengine A5s. Was kinda disappointed when the 12Ls arrived that they required a pre or variable output. Was hoping the level switches would be good enough. And since I installed, the girlfriend has shown little interest hunting down even more switches behind boxes to activate. Anyway, placed the A5s on top of the 12Ls which are on speaker stands about 5 feet apart. Sat nearly the same back. Threw on Bill Frisell's Blues Dream on the DVD-2900 plugged into the Parasound 1600 and …

I liked them so much that I bough these speakers right after auditioning them on the store. Now I need an amp and these are my first speakers I don't have an idea what's good what's not but I have these deals in mind: Marantz PM 5003 300

With having the constant need to tinker I was thinking about bypassing the internal amp of the A5s with some sort of toob amp. I like way the A5s sound but I think the amp is possibly holding them back a bit. Plus at low volumes it puts more power to the left speaker than the right which is really annoying. I was thinking about picking up something like the Miniwatt N3. Any better suggestions?

Hey all, AV123.COM is clearing out their "ELT" line of speakers, for some pretty cheap prices with free delivery. This line looks nice, with some nice finishes. I owned the monitors (little softer/warmer sounding), still own the towers (REAL nice deal at this price), and the center channel (have it, but haven't set it up yet; have read it's so-so). But the towers at $249 Cherry/$259 Rosewood (though these may be out of stock now) delivered are a great deal IMO. Only caveat: AV123 was founded by Mark Schifter, and he is currently in legal trouble, and it may affect/reflect on the company. They are still developing and getting new product, but there may be some …

Anyone have experience with them? If you do, please let me know the details and what you think of them. What you're using, how they're setup physically, crossover frequency, dispersion characteristics, horn vs. ribbon, etc. Oh, and uh, how they sound. Thanks.

I moved into my new place last week and the room where my Selah 3D's will be going has hardwood floors. The 3D's currently have rather large metal spikes for feet, and I'm looking to replace them with rubber feet to avoid damaging the hardwood floor. I need some suggestions on rubber feet that screw in and have a recess for 1/4-20 machine screw.

OK picked up a pair of Harbeth P3ES-2 locally at a decent price. Hooked up to my old Bryston B60R integrated (60wpc 8ohm) fed by 840c (spinning CDs and also fed optically by a macmini). I need to cook this in for awhile, but damn it sounds really nice. Listening to Beck/Sea Change now in nearfield mode. I'm really enjoying the freedom from headphone strapped to my head (of course, if I'm going to rock out with my ___ out, I still reach for the headphones so as not to disturb the household). I still have an Omega sat/sub system on order to mate with my Almarro flea power amp for a setup in a different room. I may be done with headphones -- keep 2 or 3, otherwise they…

I'm looking for 1. Reasonably full range, extend down to 46hz or more 2. Easy to drive: 88+ dB/w, preferably 8ohm 3. Not too big, (Harbeth Compact 7 is about the biggest I can use) 4. Front ported or sealed 5. Cost less than 3000 for a used one in good condition Musical preference: classical and Wagner. Listening at relatively low levels (in an apartment). Therefore, vocals and ability to come alive at low volume are important. Speakers will be used on desktop, about 2 feet away from where I sit. I'm considering Merlin TSM and Harbeth Compact 7. They seem like good choices, but I'd like to hear more suggestions.

Any other GMA users here? I own Callistos (2nd system) and Calypsos (main system). If anyone here has questions about GMA speakers, drop me a line. I'm in the SF Bay Area and they have (I believe) a dealer now in SF.

Brought home a pr. of these amps to try with the Harbeths to see how 25wpc 845 would do with them. They use 1 pr. of 6sn7 and a single 211/845 power tube each. (monoblocks) they are Chinese made. Anyone have any info on them? I have always been a big fan of 845 based amps, and after Axpona i have had the itch to try one. If these work out I might try something a little nicer and more powerful like the Cary 211 or Cayin 9088 in my system.

With my headphone amp also being a decent preamp, I have some interest in active monitors for when speaker listening is an option. I know that there is a fairly strong Quad active fanbase around here. I came across the Tannoy Reveal line: Seems this series has a bunch of options, ranging from passive, to active, to active w/digital inputs, all basically differing in driver size (5, 6, 8"). Anyone heard any version of these?