So what kind of non-headphone setup do you have?

[Mr Joboto]

Logitech X-530's.

[heman]

mmmmmm


Just got my home setup going, after about 6 months of frequenting hifi shops and reading reviews and the like.


Speakers: Wharfedale 9.5 diamond (floor standing) these sound great.

Amp: Cambridge Audio 340SE. Its a budget amp but being a student i have to scrape the bank account. Auditioned most amps in the range, such as the NAD C15BEE and the marrantz equivilent but i preferred the sound of the Cambridge.I found the NAD to be a little clinical and the marrantz was great but a little too dynamic for my liking. i found the Cambridge to be in between the two.

Sources: Use a second hand Sound Research from the 90s. it is the strongest and the weakest link of the system. The other source i use is my computer, whereas i use a Asus Xonar STX. One day i will upgrade to one of the Cambridge CD players to pair with the amp. The sound research CD is good, but it is old and i am sure the DAC in it is dated now and a newer CD player would generate a much better sound. I also have a Stanton turntable, but it doesnt get much use as it isnt really very good.

Some would consider it blasphemy to spend more on the amp then speakers which is probably true. But i figure in the future i will have to upgrade one or the other, and i was able to pick up the speakers for under 800 from a hifi shop in melbourne.

[Huggy Bear]

Sources: Use a second hand Sound Research from the 90s. it is the strongest and the weakest link of the system. The other source i use is my computer, whereas i use a Asus Xonar STX. One day i will upgrade to one of the Cambridge CD players to pair with the amp. The sound research CD is good, but it is old and i am sure the DAC in it is dated now and a newer CD player would generate a much better sound. I also have a Stanton turntable, but it doesnt get much use as it isnt really very good.

Going from what I've heard (not personal experience, don't take me too seriously) I think it would be better to buy a DACmagic, rather than new CD player.

This way you can connect the pc and the cd player to the DACmagic, which would be an upgrade to both the PC and (from what you've said) the CD player, for less than buying a new CD player.

also

The other source i use is my computer, which has an Asus Xonar STX.

fixed :P

[heman]

yes...i noticed on the DACmagic page Marcus suggest putting a dvd player into it for vastly improved performance. I wonder how this is comparable to something like that 550c or 650c CD players.


What i do know is that i will be keeping it all British

[dingostolemyipod]

What i do know is that i will be keeping it all British

be careful not to read the "made in china" label while you're setting it up then

[dc]

What i do know is that i will be keeping it all British

be careful not to read the "made in china" label while you're setting it up then

British designed perhaps. Made anywhere but China is the exception these days.

Except for Vegemite.

Mmmm.... vegemite!

[heman]

haha, well british branded at least.

[soundfanz]

I have:

Jungson JA88D SS Amp
Technics SP10 MKII turntable with Alphason HR100S tonearm in slate plinth.
Luxman PD350 Turntable with modded REga RB300 tonearm
Musical Surroundings Nova Phonomena Phono Preamp
E.Sound E.5 CD Player
Lenehan ML-1 Plus speakers


Chris

[OAP]

I have:

Jungson JA88D SS Amp
Technics SP10 MKII turntable with Alphason HR100S tonearm in slate plinth.
Luxman PD350 Turntable with modded REga RB300 tonearm
Musical Surroundings Nova Phonomena Phono Preamp
E.Sound E.5 CD Player
Lenehan ML-1 Plus speakers


Chris

Nice to see another ESound owner. My Signature model has just been moved sideways from the headphone system(replaced by a Rega Saturn) to the music room.
I was very tempted by their new top line Platinum Reference .

[G-rig]

I have the following gear, haven't bothered updating anything in the last 5-10 years:

- Sony QS Series Receiver STR-DB940 (Brushed aluminium)
- Denon DVD-1920
- Kenwood 5cd Carousel (optical out)
- Magnat speakers (4 x Vector Needle's, Centre 10, Sub 25A
- Sony Wega 68cm

Damn good speakers for the price.

[j-a-k-e]

My setup consists of a very basic silver 2 channel digitech pa rack-mount amp running 8 ohms @ 75w/channel which I got from jaycar powering a set of mission m71 bookshelf speakers connected to my xonar dx card and a wharfedale sw150 10" sub connected separately to the sound card with a 70hz 24db/octave crossover

[TonyG]

The current setup comprises a Cyrus CD8SE CD player with a Cyrus PSX-R outboard power supply. This feeds a Pathos Classic One hybrid valve/mosfet integrated amp driving a pair of Sonus Faber Concertos and a Sonus Faber Gravis subwoofer. FM radio is from a Cambridge Audio 340T tuner and video sound from a Panasonic DVD recorder. I also have some Rotel amps and other gear sitting in the closet that I've been meaning to eBay for some time, and a heap of old DIY gear that is now gathering dust. Speaker cables are DIY solid core household cavity wiring from the hardware store, which I maintain sounds a lot better than much of the "high end" audio cable I've heard over the years. Interconnects are also DIY.

My audio setup used to be in a constant state of flux as it was almost entirely DIY, apart from a heavily modded Marantz CD player. At its extreme it comprised DIY valve preamp and valve OTL monoblock amplifiers, driving a pair of DIY quarter wave transmission line speakers. It sounded great but was almost more a platform for experimentation than actual listening. Hah! I remember seeing a thread in an audio forum once titled "what system tweaks do you use?" and thinking - heck - my whole SYSTEM is a tweak!

A few years ago I decided to move to commercial gear instead of DIY, as my own stuff was not very user friendly - to the point that my partner refused to use it for fear she would touch the wrong thing and blow it up. Fair enough - she probably would have. The amps had NO coupling devices between the output valve array and the speaker crossovers and depended on manual adjustment and constant monitoring of the DC offset, to ensure it didn't drift out of control. Sounded awesome, but not for the "casual" user

[mallethead]

Family room system: Squeezebox Duet and basic DVD player connected to Beresford TC5210 > Actimate Mini's with Wharfedale 10" sub woofer.
Now we have a spare room planning on getting another Duet receiver to set up with my Denon PMA757 amp and POLK RT7's

I use ethernet with the SB (ethernet-over-power adaptors) rather than wireless - no drop outs or buffering problems.

[mallethead]

Family room system: Squeezebox Duet and basic DVD player connected to Beresford TC5210 > Aktimate Mini's with Wharfedale 10" sub woofer.
Now we have a spare room planning on getting another Duet receiver to set up with my Denon PMA757 amp and POLK RT7's

I use ethernet with the SB (ethernet-over-power adaptors) rather than wireless - no drop outs or buffering problems.

EDIT This is some sort of weird duplicate post

[cloughie]

Family room system: Squeezebox Duet and basic DVD player connected to Beresford TC5210 > Aktimate Mini's with Wharfedale 10" sub woofer.
Now we have a spare room planning on getting another Duet receiver to set up with my Denon PMA757 amp and POLK RT7's

I use ethernet with the SB (ethernet-over-power adaptors) rather than wireless - no drop outs or buffering problems.