Post pics of your home theater audio setups!

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by musman

Do you know what the efficiency of your speakers are? Sounds like they need a lot of power. One thing to remember is to gain 3 decibels (3db is just noticeable to the human ear as an increase in volume) you need to double your amplifier power. So there is the same difference between a 1watt amp and a 2watt amp or a 1000watt amp and a 2000watt amp, 3db. What is more important (for better sound) is current. Think of two 100 gallon drums suspended in the air, one has a 1 inch hose at the bottom the other has a 2 inch hose. They both have the same "wattage" (water pressure) but the one with the 2 inch hose has twice as much "current" (water flow). An amplifiers ability to deliver a lot of current has a great affect on sound quality, especially if the speakers are hard to drive, like a 4Ohm or lower load.

I have a pair of Electrostatic speakers, they are rated at 8Ohms, well that is very misleading because at the high frequencies the impedance drops to 1.5Ohms!!! If you put a 500 watt amp with low current on these they will sound extremely bright and have little bass. If you power them with a very high current 50 watt amplifier they will sound great.

Pyle is not know for hi quality anything, they are know for cheap poorly built electronics and speakers. I would say yes, the build quality and parts quality are not so hot. I really suspect the power ratings on that amp. There are a few tricks manufactures use to make it seem like the amp is putting out more power than it actually is in the real world. One way is by measuring one channel at one frequency. By doing that the amp is only amplifying one frequency and one channel and can output far more power than it would if you were playing music or a movie track.

One thing you may be able to do with the Marantz is bi-amp the front speakers. That usually takes the surround back channels and assigns them as front channels. So your "front channel" amp will power your tweeters and midrange drivers and the "surround back" will drive the woofers. This can only be done if your speakers have two sets of binding posts (where the speaker wire connects to the speakers) on them. That will really help drive your speakers.

As far as recommendations go.Take a look at Rotel electronics. They make some very high quality home audio electronics without super high prices. Maybe even a used one like a RB-1090 or RB-1080.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. This post was indeed very helpfull. It was some time ago when I put these speakers together, so off the top of my head I do not recall what their efficiency rating is. However, I could find that out when I get home. Might take some digging as I'm trying to move and most my stuff is either in boxes or storage right now. A big reason why I'm putting off doing anything with my audio setup. Right now I'm using a cheap 5.1ch JVC receiver and an old pair of 3-way floor standing LXI series speakers. Just using stereo and the JVC does fine for that.

I will most certainly look into Rotel. I've kinda' strayed from the super-efficient components cause any ones that I find seem way expensive- at least for my price range. Guess I kinda' settle for lower efficiency and more power as that seems to cost less. But being that I'm not "in-the-market" yet, I have no idea what my price range will be once I start shopping- so I'm open to any and all recommendations.

Originally Posted by musman

This is a photo of one of the speakers in my 2nd two channel system. They are one of a kind (built by my friend) speaker system, based on a speaker built by Moth Audio in California called the Cicada. They are a single driver high efficiency speaker. One driver handles all frequencies and there is no crossover. These kinds of speakers are admired by a small group of audiophiles who usually are into single ended triode tube amps with small output power, usually around 3 watts or so. The deal with speakers like this is, they are very efficient, no crossover to get in the way, and no phase problems between drivers.

I use a Quicksilver Audio Linestage tube preamp and a completely rebuilt Dynaco Stereo 70 tube amp (about 25 watts per channel) CD player is a Adcom GCD-750, Turntable is a Linn Axis with a Grado gold cartage fed into a Grado PH-1 phono preamp. Audioquest cables and a Panamax AC line conditioner.

Good things about them are... Very fast and open sounding, highly detailed, good imaging and soundstage. Need little power to play at high volume.

Bad things are... lacking in deep bass and extreme treble, don't play very loud and lacking in big dynamics.

If you have ever listened to a pair of electrostatic speakers that is the closest sound to them. Most people laugh when they see them or read about them but everyone who listens to them really are impressed, at least among my friends.

Old tube amps FTW. Looks awesome bro.

[musman]

Best thing to do is keep an open mind and shop around. On the used market a Rotel RB-1090 (380WPC 8 ohms, 700WPC into 4 ohms is around $999, like this one (http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....1090-amplifier) that amp is regarded as one of the "best buys" in high end audio. I have a friend who owns one and I have borrowed it to power my massive B&W Matrix 800 speakers and liked it very much. If you think you need more power Rotel made a RB-1092 (500wpc into 8ohms and 1000wpc into 4ohms) I owned that amp for two years and liked it as well. Though similar model names they are very different in design from each other.

[musman]

Old tube amps FTW. Looks awesome bro. [/quote]

Yea, I own several tube amps and preamps. If you look at the photo in the bottom left corner you will see 2 Grommes JL 6 integrated tube amps from the 50's. They put out about 8wpc and were built before stereo was around. I have two so that makes a stereo pair. They have some mods and updates done to them and sound really good, a little sloppy in the bass but are very enjoyable. I was going to use them to power a pair of bookshelf speakers for my PC but purchased a pair of powered studio monitors.

[Redeemed]

Yeah... $1k is a lot of money- but I'm not opposed to spending it either.

Like I said, I have no idea what my budget will be so I'm open to anything.

[musman]

Originally Posted by Redeemed

Yeah... $1k is a lot of money- but I'm not opposed to spending it either.

Like I said, I have no idea what my budget will be so I'm open to anything.

It is a lot of $$$. When you get ready (even if two years from now) PM me and I will be glad to make some more (cheaper) recommendations. One thing I was thinking... You could get a receiver with a preout and down the road use the receiver as a preamp/processor and add a nice amp to power your speakers.

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by musman

It is a lot of $$$. When you get ready (even if two years from now) PM me and I will be glad to make some more (cheaper) recommendations. One thing I was thinking... You could get a receiver with a preout and down the road use the receiver as a preamp/processor and add a nice amp to power your speakers.

That's been my whole plan all along.

But, initially I'll just go off of whatever output power the receiver has. And as I have the money, purchase amps to go off of the pre-amps on the receiver.

[musman]

Originally Posted by Redeemed

That's been my whole plan all along.

But, initially I'll just go off of whatever output power the receiver has. And as I have the money, purchase amps to go off of the pre-amps on the receiver.

Yea... I guess it was wasent it.... ....lol

[FastRedPonyCar]

Here's what I've currently got.

52" Panasonic plasma
Infinity 15" HPS-1000 subwoofer
A pair of Acoustic Research floor speakers
Mission 70C2 center channel
Some older Denon AVR receiver (no HDMI )
PS3, 360 (not in pic)
Infinity quad pole surrounds






Eventually I'm considering getting something like one of the HSU subs and a new center channel. I was looking at the Klipsch WC24 but after hearing it side by side when my dad got a new HSU HC-1 MK2, the Klipsch got whipped bad.

I'm also thinking of upgrading the towers to something like the Elemental Design A6 - 6T6. $500 shipped for a PAIR and they sound phenomenal.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...products_id=96

[mullet]

That is a really nice setup dude, clean and classic.

[AdamK47]

[Toss3]

Originally Posted by AdamK47

Those look really nice, but do they sound as good as they look? Are they easy to drive; do they need a separate headphone amp to sound good?

[FastRedPonyCar]

Nice cans! I've got a set of the AKG K271 MKII's on backorder at B&H photo. They have the cheapest price by FAR that I could find without having to deal with any potentially shady ebay sellers.

I've also got a new Rode K2 condenser mic on the way (not home theater related but cool none the less.. going to go to my new Focusrite Saffire pro 40 interface )