Stereo reciever and speakers help

[Brienneoftarth]

Hello all,

I just moved into a new apartment and I need some help purchasing a stereo. I wanna do some bargain hunting but I need to be pointed in the right direction. I use an mp3 player for all my music so what would I need (dont want to buy ipod hifi or bose thing) to have the stuff work?

a stereo receiver and two speakers?> I'm kind of clueless about electronics so even if you guys know some good forums or anything.

I wanna buy some quality components, but dont have a ton of cash

thanks!

[DaBestSpoona]

http://avsforum.com

[readytoignite]

were are you located and how much are you willing to spend? "budget" has many different meanings in the audio world

[poopie boy]

none of those sites will help...

go to www.audiogon.com, this is a classifieds site of high-end audio. get your reciever/amp, speakers, and cables from here. you will be a very happy man.

[kirbenvost]

Hello all,

I just moved into a new apartment and I need some help purchasing a stereo. I wanna do some bargain hunting but I need to be pointed in the right direction. I use an mp3 player for all my music so what would I need (dont want to buy ipod hifi or bose thing) to have the stuff work?

a stereo receiver and two speakers?> I'm kind of clueless about electronics so even if you guys know some good forums or anything.

I wanna buy some quality components, but dont have a ton of cash

thanks!

Stereo receiver, speakers, speaker cables/wires, audio cable for connecting mp3 player to receiver. That's all you need.

Tower speakers are recommended over bookshelf/satellite speakers. Way better range and sound quality. Smaller ones are better only for surround applications, for music you want to ensure you have a good pair of tower speakers. Alternatively, you could set up a subwoofer with some smaller speakers but towers are more cost-effective.

No idea what your budget is but a decent basic (not great, but pretty good) setup will probably cost you $500. Don't go for cheapass generic/unknown/store brands either. Oh, and don't buy any of those all-in-one/microsystem/boombox type things, they suck.

Keep in mind as well, that if your mp3s are anything under say.... 192kbps bitrate, you'll notice the lack of sound quality when you listen on a good soundsystem.

Oh yeah, and wooden speaker cabinets/casing/whatever. Way better acoustics than aluminum/plastic (don't ever buy plastic speakers. Ever.).

[DaBestSpoona]

I disagree about towers vs bookshelves. It really depends on your musical preference.

He could go for bookshelves from a mid fi brand like Paradigm, B&W, or Acoustic Engergy and add a subwoofer later on if he finds the bass lacking.

[MilSpex]

MP3 sucks. Put an ipod into a $20,000 stereo system and it sounds like a car radio.

[kirbenvost]

I disagree about towers vs bookshelves. It really depends on your musical preference.

He could go for bookshelves from a mid fi brand like Paradigm, B&W, or Acoustic Engergy and add a subwoofer later on if he finds the bass lacking.

Yeah, that's what I meant by this: "Alternatively, you could set up a subwoofer with some smaller speakers but towers are more cost-effective."

But good bookshelves+subwoofer will cost more than a pair of towers, so if he wants to get it cheap, towers will give the best sound. Maybe for some people it's not as important but I need the whole range in my music. I do listen to a wide range of stuff including electronic, so maybe if all you listen to is rock and stuff, the bass is less important.

[MilSpex]

Yeah, that's what I meant by this: "Alternatively, you could set up a subwoofer with some smaller speakers but towers are more cost-effective."

But good bookshelves+subwoofer will cost more than a pair of towers, so if he wants to get it cheap, towers will give the best sound. Maybe for some people it's not as important but I need the whole range in my music.

ipods dont have the full range of music tho. And none of this stuff will give him the "best sound" off his ipod. He needs one of those docks designed for ipods shittiness - A below par sound processor and speakers designed not to show up too many of the flaws in music thats compressed that much and played on a piece of crap like an ipod.

[kirbenvost]

Yeah, he's going to have to make sure his music's got a higher bitrate, that's about all he can do. I don't think he's looking for a super-hifi soundsystem, just something to play his music and sound alright.

I listen to most of my music off my computer harddrive, a huge disc changer just isn't practical for most people. But I make sure to rip stuff at a high bitrate so at least I'll get more sound quality than the standard mp3.

[MilSpex]

Yo DownwithIanbrown - what bitrate is most of your music? If its lower than 192kbps your music is probably going to sound worse the more money you spend.

[Brienneoftarth]

thanks for help guys. Im actually looking to get away fropm ipods. I was given one so its what i use now. I'll probably invest in alot of cds in the future. I found a really good price on a set of infinity b50 towers online and was thinking of buying them and then hunting around for a receiver.

[kirbenvost]

Good plan, no problem.

[poly800rock]

I disagree about towers vs bookshelves. It really depends on your musical preference.

He could go for bookshelves from a mid fi brand like Paradigm, B&W, or Acoustic Engergy and add a subwoofer later on if he finds the bass lacking.

cosign on paradigm, great sounding lower priced bookshelf speakers. I remember being so upset with myself for spending $180 on these speakers, but they sound so much better than many of the JBL, bose stuff i've heard......

[braid]

avsforum is your best online forum for questions such as this.

you haven't told us your budget so it's impossible to give advice. also, what level of fidelity are you looking for? for just basic sound, $500 is good. however, a good entry level system will cost you at least $1k offering a glimpse of imaging and sound reproduction. $5k will get you a decent middle level setup with good imaging and clarity.

I can't offer any help on brands as you haven't specified price.

milspex is correct to a point that mp3 will sound worse than cd. however, if you encoded with lossless and modified the output stages of your ipod you would be hard pressed to tell the difference on a $20k system. Personally, i've found a compromise between quality and space with 256k compression. My ears dont fatigue at 256k like they do at 160 and lower.

Now if you're really serious, you'll skip the digital realm all together, invest $1k in a record player and vinyl. Once you go analogue, you'll never go back to digital but maybe for convienance sake.

[poly800rock]

what's considered a good record player btw? I was once in the market for the consumer level technics 1200, but decided on not rebuying a record player and ended up giving a good part of my collection to an ex-........grr.........

[braid]

what's considered a good record player btw? I was once in the market for the consumer level technics 1200, but decided on not rebuying a record player and ended up giving a good part of my collection to an ex-........grr.........

good is a subjective term and depends on the system. $1k will get you a good entry level setup. $4k and higher will do things cd's can't.

i recently had the pleasure of listening to a half million dollar 2 channel room. the guy's record player was $40k itself....a compressor in the attic flattened the record to the player, the stand was an electron microscope stand and sat on a 6 inch slab of concrete all in a room designed by rives audio. i've never heard anything like it. we started the night listening to redbook cd and sacd, then switched to vinyl. it was impossible going back to digital after that.

[Tarmac]

You don't need a technics 1200 for listening, its too expensive and it doesn't even sound that good (only good enough for clubs). Belt drive isolates vibrations better and will be cheaper. Look for reviews for cheap cartridges, last I was into audiophile turntables, Grado made a good one for cheap. Audio dorks will argue this till the end of time, but for n00bs, the cartridge is far more important than the turntable. Get a decent cartridge.

For a bargain system I fully recommend getting a vintage receiver by someone like Onkyo, or Yamaha (this should be less than $100) and modern speakers such as the aforementioned paradigm bookshelfs. I still have my paradigms from 11 years ago, not a typo. People are still impressed by them, especially with the standard these days of selling 5 speakers in a box all made of paper cones for $150. If you know nothing about audio, don't bother with expensive cable, it will make no difference to you. You can get them later if you want but not now.

And lets face it, despite what all yall fuccas claim or think, 90% of the time you will be listening to your stolen 256kbps MP3s off a laptop or crappy ass ipod. Maybe streaming your 96kbps audio off of your toutube favorites list. You do not exactly need that 99.999999999% high fidelity anything.

[DaBestSpoona]

A decent integrated amp from NAD, Adcom, Rotel, Yamaha, or Denon is a good alternative to a receiver. Better sound quality and its not like theres good stuff on the radio anyways.

[kirbenvost]

Yeah, most people don't do the audophile thing, so a huge expensive hifi soundsystem is pointless. Just go for what will enable you to have decent sound for the music source you wish to use. If you can't tell the difference between an mp3 at 192kbps and the same one at 256kbps, don't bother with high-end stuff. And like people have said, if you haven't heard high-end sound and know little about audio, you won't really notice the difference, so just get what works for you and your budget.

Vintage will definitely get you good sound for a cheap price, my dad's got a nice vintage Technics setup. Of course there's not nearly as much convenience (no remote) so it's a tradeoff.

[braid]

i believe most people can tell the difference between lower and higher compression rates. the differences are rather small on a decent recording at first listen. it is only after an extended length of time that these compression differences are more noticable.

for example....you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference between a 192k and a 320k recording after listening for a couple minutes. now, listen to the 192k source for 30 minutes, then listen to the 320k (or higher) source for 30 minutes. i think you'll find it much less fatiguing at the lower compression rate. this is why vinyl is so much more engaging, the entire song is there. there aren't the upper frequency phase artifacts. it's a dirty mirror compared to a mirror thats been broken into a thousand different pieces and put back together.

so to summarize, your brain will fatigue easier at higher compression rates due to it having to piece the pieces together. whether you can hear the difference or not, you will notice less fatiguing at lower compression rates after a full evening of listening to music.

[Tarmac]

A decent integrated amp from NAD, Adcom, Rotel, Yamaha, or Denon is a good alternative to a receiver. Better sound quality and its not like theres good stuff on the radio anyways.

yeah but int amps have about 1/20th of the availability. If you are on a budget, it is 95% likely you will find a decent receiver before you find a decent int amp.

i believe most people can tell the difference between lower and higher compression rates. the differences are rather small on a decent recording at first listen. it is only after an extended length of time that these compression differences are more noticable.

yeah but what does it matter. The user already has all his music in the format he chose, sucky or not. He just wants something that can play it.

[Brienneoftarth]

hey guys,

I'd like to spend about 1000 dollars but pay less than retail/bargain hunt so i can get something decent. I had mentioned i found those infinity beta 50 towers for 50%......any ideas with what I should do for 1g investment on used/discounted items?

thanks!

[braid]

hey guys,

I'd like to spend about 1000 dollars but pay less than retail/bargain hunt so i can get something decent. I had mentioned i found those infinity beta 50 towers for 50%......any ideas with what I should do for 1g investment on used/discounted items?

thanks!

$1k in used gear will get you a decent 2 channel setup.

go to audiogon.com and start looking!

[beast]

hey guys,

I'd like to spend about 1000 dollars but pay less than retail/bargain hunt so i can get something decent. I had mentioned i found those infinity beta 50 towers for 50%......any ideas with what I should do for 1g investment on used/discounted items?

thanks!

1 G is chump change for this hobby even if you are looking at used.

If you are looking at used, you have to consider what happens when it conks out on you. Warranty would be gone already. CD players' technology increase rapidly and a player of a few years old wont sound as good as a new one and it wont play blue-ray, dvd etc etc. An old amp and speakers could be blasted non-stop by the past owner.

Plus, 1 G for speakers, speaker cables, a one box CD player, amp, interconnect cables? A bit hard to get.

For that budget, you should get those one box set up from the Japanese like Sony, JVC, Toshiba etc etc. Those would have the latest technology, although some of it is technical mumble jumble, that is crap. What you should look for is a player that can play all formats and a system that even play Home Theatre. If you want the latter. then the processor must have the ability to transfer the signal from the DVD to play AC-3, DTS and all the shit. You may even want a digital amp which runs cold and can be very very small and compact. The speakers that comes with these one box set-up is usually crap. You can buy separate book shelf or floor standing speakers but it would cost more than 1 G.

If you want it to play music only, then you got to audition the system, bringing along a few discs you are familiar with and the sort of music you like and a friend who actually is in this hobby. He or she would tell you whether it sounds right or not.

The made in China stuff actually offers value for money stuf. But I do not know whether you can them where you are at and whether your local dealers can sell them to you with lesser markup. Also, made in China stuff have different QC for the same models or have different components for the same model so its a bit hit and miss.

[Tarmac]

1 G is chump change for this hobby even if you are looking at used.

???? he just wants a simple stereo. CD technology has barely advanced in 15 years. In fact most people's affinity for sound quality has gone downhill in the age of MP3s. You don't need DTS 9.1 MATRIXXX DUPER AC-5 SURROUND when the CDs are encoded in 2 channel STEREO. An old 30watt receiver with carefully chosen $400 new speakers will sound far better than some lame Home Theater In Da Boxx

[beast]

???? he just wants a simple stereo. CD technology has barely advanced in 15 years. In fact most people's affinity for sound quality has gone downhill in the age of MP3s. You don't need DTS 9.1 MATRIXXX DUPER AC-5 SURROUND when the CDs are encoded in 2 channel STEREO. An old 30watt receiver with carefully chosen $400 new speakers will sound far better than some lame Home Theater In Da Boxx

Maybe I was not right when I said about CD technology. My point is old CD player even costly ones dont sound as good as new cheaper ones. I agree with you on your part about affinity for sound quality going downhill. I offerd HT as an option to him because the trend is more on HT nowadays and less on pure 2 channel stereo. He can get a setup that do both. It may not sound brilliant on pure 2 channel but hey, what do you expect for 1 G?

[braid]

???? he just wants a simple stereo. CD technology has barely advanced in 15 years. In fact most people's affinity for sound quality has gone downhill in the age of MP3s. You don't need DTS 9.1 MATRIXXX DUPER AC-5 SURROUND when the CDs are encoded in 2 channel STEREO. An old 30watt receiver with carefully chosen $400 new speakers will sound far better than some lame Home Theater In Da Boxx

well said...

beast, unless you are referring to sacd or dvd-a playback, basic redbook cd players have not changed much.

a used separate system with good bookshelves will blow away any HT in a box anyday. i recommend audiogon for used gear as it is generally hobbiest selling and the equipment has been better treated.

[sybaritical]

Anyone in the UK? I bought Cambridge Audio Azur 64O Series separates from Richer sounds ... Amp, CD player and DAB receiver cost me £600.

Throw in decent speakers and they could each compete technically and sonically with things four times the price.

[DaBestSpoona]

check overstock.com and ebay as they always have closeouts on decent gear

right now they have some M&K stuff listed

I picked up a set of KEFs for 150 bucks shipped.