Aura

Thanks for the suggestions CJ, at this point I'm not very interested in DIY nor concerned about efficiency demands, but you never know. I tend to change my mind quickly and frequently.

Was gonna say, it didn't appear any cheaper on slickdeals right now.

1 Sale A Day, Daily Deal Is this Bravia pretty solid for the price? That's a pretty huge drop from the retail price.

Anyone have specific model recommendations on Triangle, Proac, and Usher? I think the latter might be out of my price range but I'm not sure.

Happy birfday Zanth.

I never owned one (Nintendo fanboy until I reached high school), but Dreamcast was definitely one of the must underrated consoles ever in terms of tech. at the the time and the collection of games. Phantasy Star Online Ep.1 and Ep.2 are the classics that make me think of Dreamcast.

You win 100 cool points Posty for making the search a little more enjoyable . Harbeth's sure would be nice, but I hate to force it (naturally, every time I've ever found myself saying that I don't want to force a purchase, I end up going for it). I was reading some impressions on another Vienna that weren't "supposed" to be positive, something about far too much coloration and a forward presentation. Sure sounds like a Grado don't it? I tend to like Grado's. This is the most convenient option I'd say, so I cannot ignore it. And it might help that they sound damn good.

Oh, something I forgot to mention, I do have a Nakamichi AV-7 receiver that I could potentially use as my amp for now. This would allow me to push the budget for the speakers alone another $4-500, so Harbeth's may not be out of the question. I'd just be using not quite as solid amplification on them.

I've been moving the Moths back and forth probably 2-3 times a week on average. It's a small hassle, but a hassle nonetheless. I guess I am just finding something very appealing about monitors for the size. Another reason I'm unloading the Moth gear. At times it doesn't even feel safe to have the stuff in here. With monitors I can keep them much better protected in the corner of my bedroom.

Spot-on advice Steve. I am going to take my time with this purchase and try and audition at least a few of the options at dealers if possible. Keeping tabs on Audiogon makes a lot of sense and I will go through that process as well for getting a better sense of pricing. As far as the issues go that you mentioned, I can say that almost assuredly these monitors will dominate my music listening, probably to the point that I will forgo keeping a reference pair of headphones/headphone amp. This happened with the Cicadas so I am expecting it again. Space and placement shouldn't be a problem; as you can see the living room is a bit smaller, but not terribly small, so monitors should fit in quite nicely. It won't exactly be nearfield listening but it will be close, probably less than 8 feet from my head to the drivers. Working with the brick will be interesting as always . Thanks very much for all the input so far guys; out of the suggestion I'd say Totem looks very very solid and I will be giving that one a lot of consideration. Any comments on solid-state amplification for the Model 1's? There's a lot of badass-looking monitors out there...

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 taste for treble so long as it does not roll-off. Something fairly neutral would be nice, not too much coloration. I listen to a wide array of music, pretty much whatever I can get my hands on most of the time, but if any specifics are more important I would say acoustic guitar pieces (mainly instrumental) and some forms of progressive metal (Tool, Porcupine Tree). Brands that have looked interesting: - ProAC - Paradigm - Green Mountain (Europa primarily) - Dynaudio - Spendor - Amphion (Ion) - Quad - PSB (Sherwood made an offer with his Platinum M2's, so I had to put this one down) I'd put down Merlin and Harbeth if I could afford them, but I don't think it is possible at this point in time. Spendor intrigues me the most based on what I have briefly read. Like I said, I'm sort of indifferent on bass, so a sub may not be necessary though I understand heavily recommended with a lot of monitors generally. Passive/active doesn't matter so long as I can fit either in my budget. Without a sub, I guess I figured the ideal spread would be $7-800 for the monitors and $1,000-1,200 for the amplification if passive. No preference on tubes or solid state for amplification so long as it gets out of the way as much as possible and drives the monitors effectively. If you do have brand/model recommendations for the speakers please also list a synergistic amp as well; that would help me a great in terms of what sort of power/current level I am looking at needing depending on the monitors. Thanks for any/all help, much appreciated.

I do too, but figured I might as well post it and see what others think. I'll keep in touch with Craig; just recently asked him about driver stuff for them. I have flipped the speakers from left to right and left to right, but not the drivers. I didn't notice this until this morning. The imbalance did follow the flipping. Should probably add that this is me just being very very picky, the sound has gotten a good deal better than it was last week after I made more placement adjustment. So worst-case, I just leave them as they are for now.

Some of you might recall me having some issues with my Cicadas just a short time ago; if not here was my comment from a week/few weeks back: I followed the suggestions that were given to me concerning placement (thanks again fellas), and it does seem to be a little better now, but the low-end in particular still is imbalanced with the left side playing more strongly. Well, today I was messing around and happened to peer into the porthole on the right speaker with a flashlight, and this is what I found: This is what the left side looks like: And one more comparison to the bottom of the speaker: ^ Left ^ ^ Right ^ ~~~ As you can see, the right speaker either seems to be missing quite a bit of felt or it has shifted inside (speakers have been transported twice since I've owned them). At home, I do not recall seeing any exposed cables nor internals in the porthole on that right speaker. A few questions about this: - Could the felt be the culprit in this bass imbalance? Logic tells me that more felt = less bass based on damping characteristics, but I have to ask. - Do I need to get inside the speaker and cover up the internals/fix that hanging wire? This actually could be a good excuse to put some work into the speakers, since Ryan (Recstar) has told me that there are some extra things that can be done to further improve them. Edit - For specifics on placement, both speakers are currently sitting 26" from the rear wall, with 11-12" of space from the TV/Component stands in the middle. Thanks for the help as always .

I don't know squat about car decks, but that one looks fucking cool posty .

Well, apparently I'm going to keep my HF2 for a little while now since the buyer in-line has disappeared. No need for the cash right now, might as well check it out. It's getting shipped from home here to school; really hoping mine didn't end up like Andy's (sorry bro, that sucks :/).

Fuckin awesome SO, ordered two, hope my dad likes one of them. Thanks a bunch, this is great for the college kids .

My head hurts.

Good choice ^^^ .

I'd rather see Thumper v. Deadpool. Pretty hard to hit a fucking rabbit while it kicks you in the face.

Just ordered Antoine Dufor's album Existence through Amazon. Helping HC and getting some kickass acoustic? Sounds about right.

Probably not, but variety is the spice of life. I like the HT idea; I've considered it here and there but never very seriously, mainly because I don't know much about video.

Nah I move all the shit to my bedroom before we bust out anything alcoholic. It's a pain, but it's what I gotta do.

Yep. I found out this past weekend that I can fit roughly 20 college drunks in my living room and small ass kitchen, so we would do alright I think .

Eddie/Moth party at my apartment! Charleston to Peoria is only what, 2 hours?

Happy birfday Posty .