Bullitt--just an honest suggestion from someone who's gone through something similar in the past. whatever new gear you acquire or how you set it all up, try to keep the door open to splitting up your stereo and HT. even if you never end up walking through that door. |
Bullitt--in addition to Corelli's question, what source will you be using and do you intend to run the DIs with the separate/new amp as part of a multi-channel? You mentioned going to Atmos. Which will be your priority--stereo or HT?
I've had three emotiva amps and still have two. They generally reside in a 7.1 HT. I think they are good amps for the money, new, and offer a good power-to-money value. Mine are quiet as a tomb and are detailed well above their price. But, I personally find them to be pretty cold and clinical and a touch artificial. Add to fatigue factor, but responsive enough to upstream changes to be tamable. A lot of folks like that type of sound and don't perceive it to be cold or artificial. Emotiva has served as a gateway drug for many.
If music/stereo is the priority, even 50/50, I'd go in the same general direction as Charles suggested. $1500, especially if you consider used,, gives you lots of options, including tube and hybrid. |
Bullitt-Got it. So, ultimately, holding off on Atmos to concentrate on the two-channel, for now?
At 50/50 music/HT, personally, I think you made a good choice. I hope you love the new gear with your DIs! That should be a major jump in your two-channel, but maybe lose a little cohesiveness in the HT. If you are running Audessey or something similar in your Denon, that might lesson the potential impact on HT. |
Bullitt: Sounds like a nice (and versatile :)) choice! But, please say you didn't get those for, or below, the previously outlined budget. |
buds--do it. you know you want to. be cool like the rest.
i've never seen a more concentrated group of enablers than on this site! :) |
So, the DIs out-Maggied the Maggies?
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tough crowd.
I saw one fella build some pretty nifty sliders that could be pulled out for listening and rolled back when not in use. Pretty sure those were for Salks and nothing near as large as those Tektons, but maybe something to consider. Many of us are space-compromised and try our best within those limitations. But, damn. In the video, they looked snug flat against the wall. Rear-ported? |
Kenny,
Not sure how you could possibly read in anything other than you and I being on the same page there. |
@333jeffery. Nothing to be "sorry" for. If for some reason you prefer them that way, the rest of us can f off. Heck, I just read some review on some speakers in which the reviewer said to gingerly stuff his jerk socks in the ports or something to get better sound. But, if someone offers a suggestion that you can use to increase the performance, then you've done yourself and the "community" a favor. |
Trying to talk myself into DIs, even with a small room, with a backup plan if they're great but too much for the room. Backup plan would be to put them in a slightly larger room, of course, where somewhat big speakers haven't been a major problem.
What is the closest listening distance folks have found acceptable without losing coherence between the drivers?
@david_ten . Funny, I have some German speakers that were represented to have been designed to work well close to the front wall. Your description of the differences in DI placement could have just have easily been about them. Almost exactly my experience with the German speakers.
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Thanks, Mac. That's awesome. 6' listening distance and the folks' reports of being ok close to the front wall are encouraging. |
@waltersalas Is that an actual new, old stock carafe or does it just test as new on an opacity gauge? if the latter, when and how was the equipment calibrated? |
omg. thought I was the only one. mine has a built-in burr grinder, so I put the machine on sorbothane hemispheres on a maple butcher block with another set of hemispheres underneath that. then lined the back panel with dynamat. the improvement in the consistency in the grinds was night and day. |
@greg22lz "I grabbed the cardboard flap with my teeth to keep the box from sliding toward me while pulling the speaker in the styrofoam toward me."
You should have made an "unboxing" video! :)
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I love reading about folks' success with unorthodox (intriguing) combinations. Have a few myself...well, I like them.
Haven't pulled the trigger on Tektons, yet. Keep getting sidetracked with shiny things, like Focal cans.
Probably going to go with monitors. If another set of giant speakers show up, not only will they almost certainly go back to Eric and Karma, but with my dismembered body stuffed in the boxes.
This might be a better question for the folks at Tekton or another thread, but looks like the monitors use different tweeters and have different specs from the Double-Impact surround speakers. Curious whether anyone has considered the differences or considered the surrounds as main monitors with tubes.
Take care, Kdude and grannyring. I often read your posts with interest and found them informative, even if I sometimes disagreed. |
+1 on Dennis Had's stuff. Have the 17 watt KT88 SEP and two pres. Great values, imo. Got outbid on a 2a3 SET a few days ago....
@aricaudio. might be calling you soon.
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skeptic jumped off the fence. ordered impact monitors. fun times. |
Shout out for Dennis Had’s stuff. And to Aric Audio. Both are great values and love that they are small-scale and built by hand.
I picked up a lightly used Aric amp from a good fellow A-goner. Only had an opportunity to listen for a couple hours so far, but it sounds very nice and seems robustly built. New enough that it actually still smelled like paint when I opened the box.
Tekton Monitors shipping, today. Woohoo!
So, this damned thread...at least partially responsible for lightening my wallet. An LTA MZ2, the Aric amp, and the monitors. Thanks.
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@mac48025. I think I'm about done "experimenting" until next year...or until I get an opportunity to play with a Lyngdorf. :) I didn't necessarily intend to pair the MZ2, Aric amp (2a3), and Tekton monitors all together, but that may be how it shakes out. We'll see. The MZ2 should be here in a couple days...Black Friday sale. Mostly got it to be a headphone amp with the hope that the hype as an amp or pre is justified.
What tubes did you put in your MZ2? I'm sure you've probably said somewhere in the 100 pages, but....
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Congratulations! I'm sure that BAT amp sounds amazing. Not that you'd need it with the DIs, but you can run them as monoblocks, too?
I have those 6c33 tubes in PSET, and they are space heaters. But, it's totally worth it.
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I love them in the Wall Audio amps. The only objective criticism I've heard is that they get so hot that the tube sockets can fail over time. Just a matter of when. I don't know if they're true, but there are stories about the tubes being used in Soviet fighter jets up until the end of the cold war and military factories pumping them out like crazy just to stay busy. |
Is the frequency a factor in the spl? I'm sure I spent some time in cars that easily hit 135db and higher, but under 80hz, fairly continuous "steady hummin'" in a portion of misspent youth. Loud enough to blur vision, rattle eyeballs, literally peel paint, and sometimes actually make it a little difficult to breathe. |
Yes! 150s, 160s, and beyond. Just nutty. The "high-end" ones wouldn't allow people in the car during the tone tests. Rows of giant caps and Optima batteries. Power cables that make the current high-end AC cables feel self-conscious, in size if not tech. Dozens of pounds of Dynamat.
But, there were some beautiful installs and some fine-sounding systems, too.
The spl levels for hearing loss have to be weighted against bass, or a lot of folks would be deaf. Fortunately, I still have decent hearing, if a touch of tinnitus almost from birth.
Do you have any pics of your old installs?
I'm still breaking in Impact Monitors. They play loud enough for most of my listening in a small room, but I haven't yet pushed them to hear when they tap out and compress. I'm nowhere near steady 110db+ though. |
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