Post your stereo system!

bflynn1 said:

mrussel1 said:

Now @Weston1283 went the separates path which is more expensive but smart long term. I believe he bought the Emotiva TA 100 and paired with the lovely A300 two channel. What a great pairing! Emo is such a beautiful product with a great warranty and you have tremendous flexibility for the future. A simple amp will last you forever. Check them out out. http://emotiva.com/products/emotiva/amplifiers-0

After researching these, I think I'm going to go with the Emotiva set up.

Sounds like a great move I can't help you on a CD player. I ripped all of mine to FLAC and have been streaming to my DAC for probably 10 years now. But once you figure out what you have left for speakers, be happy to opine there. I love talking speakers!

I somehow reset my home theatre receiver to factory settings the other night. Still haven't quite figured everything back out yet. UGH!!

Great knowledge on gear mrussel1, always enjoy finding out about different speakers, amps etc. I'm starting to think of upgrades myself for my amp and speakers, I have a Cambridge Audio Topaz SR20 and 2 floorstanders, Monitor Audio Bronze. All British gear so far and I love British audio, but am willing to go American. I'm in New Zealand so we kind of get the best of both worlds when it comes to hi-fi here..

The equipment I currently have I really am pleased with, so it would have to be amazing upgrades to make me happy. For amps what's your thoughts on Rotel, Yamaha and Anthem? There's also a brand called Moon that looks the business. I'm looking for an intergrated..

For speakers have been looking at Martin Logans Motion 20s or 40s or possibly going up one step with Monitor Audio to the Silvers. Others that take my fancy are Klipsh, Kef or Tannoy..

Any thoughts are welcome..

I think you're in a good place with Monitor to start. If you like that sound, then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the silver's. They have an awesome reputation. I've heard them but never owned so take that for it's worth. But I would not personally hesitate to buy Monitor. I am personally not a fan of Klipsch. Some people really like them and I know they are good rock speakers, but to me they are like Boston Acoustics... decent, big, loud, efficient, but not particularly detailed. KEF has a good rep too but I'm not familiar with Tannoy. IMO, I'd stick with the Monitor if you like that British speakers (and I do too). And far as the MLs..I'm not sure on those. I owned a sub by them and was super unimpressed. But aren't the Motions more expensive than comparable Silver's? I don't like black/ash cabinets so I like how Monitor has all those color choices. I like Cherry, walnut, and the like. Those solid wood cabinets are gorgeous.

All those amps are awesome. Rotel are great with Brits as I'm sure you know. They are made to be paired with B&W. Yamaha, Anthem, Arcam, Parasound etc. are all sort of lumped into that category of "very good since you don't want to buy a McIntosh". But at the end of the day, I stand by what I said earlier. All of these solid state amps should sound essentially the same. For me there are three differences:

1. Power, all channels driven (important metric). At lower volumes it should not make a difference, but if you have inefficient speakers, then having a good, continuous, clean power source is the difference at high volumes.
2. Feature set... does it the right inputs and outputs, does it have a sub out, etc.
3. Does it have a pure mode. This is big for me. I have to have something that shuts down to the most basic transformers and knocks out the noise. I only listen on pure/natural mode. With a straight amp, that's all it is. But when you get into integrated, there's a lot of electronics in there and if it's not in pure mode, I'll get listening fatigue.

I recently purchased an Outlaw 5000 5 channel amp. What a beast 80lbs or so...maybe the best deal in the industry. But at the lower volumes, it sounds no different than my Yamaha 1030 running in pure. Where it makes a difference is clarity when pushed above, say -15. The Yamaha will run out of juice and the Outlaw which hits 130 wpc, all channels driven, just opens up.

Sorry for the long ass post.

lolobugg said:

mrussel1 said:

I think you're in a good place with Monitor to start. If you like that sound, then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the silver's. They have an awesome reputation. I've heard them but never owned so take that for it's worth. But I would not personally hesitate to buy Monitor. I am personally not a fan of Klipsch. Some people really like them and I know they are good rock speakers, but to me they are like Boston Acoustics... decent, big, loud, efficient, but not particularly detailed. KEF has a good rep too but I'm not familiar with Tannoy. IMO, I'd stick with the Monitor if you like that British speakers (and I do too). And far as the MLs..I'm not sure on those. I owned a sub by them and was super unimpressed. But aren't the Motions more expensive than comparable Silver's? I don't like black/ash cabinets so I like how Monitor has all those color choices. I like Cherry, walnut, and the like. Those solid wood cabinets are gorgeous.

All those amps are awesome. Rotel are great with Brits as I'm sure you know. They are made to be paired with B&W. Yamaha, Anthem, Arcam, Parasound etc. are all sort of lumped into that category of "very good since you don't want to buy a McIntosh". But at the end of the day, I stand by what I said earlier. All of these solid state amps should sound essentially the same. For me there are three differences:

1. Power, all channels driven (important metric). At lower volumes it should not make a difference, but if you have inefficient speakers, then having a good, continuous, clean power source is the difference at high volumes.
2. Feature set... does it the right inputs and outputs, does it have a sub out, etc.
3. Does it have a pure mode. This is big for me. I have to have something that shuts down to the most basic transformers and knocks out the noise. I only listen on pure/natural mode. With a straight amp, that's all it is. But when you get into integrated, there's a lot of electronics in there and if it's not in pure mode, I'll get listening fatigue.

I recently purchased an Outlaw 5000 5 channel amp. What a beast 80lbs or so...maybe the best deal in the industry. But at the lower volumes, it sounds no different than my Yamaha 1030 running in pure. Where it makes a difference is clarity when pushed above, say -15. The Yamaha will run out of juice and the Outlaw which hits 130 wpc, all channels driven, just opens up.

Sorry for the long ass post.

can't stress this enough. especially with analogue listening thru a tube pre-amp. makes all the difference.

It's amazing that after you listen to pure for a while, and then turn it off, it feels like your ears are bleeding. The music is harsh, too shrill, etc. Pure mode makes you melt into the music. I get the same effect even on digital lossless, not just analog.

lolobugg said:

mrussel1 said:

lolobugg said:

mrussel1 said:

I think you're in a good place with Monitor to start. If you like that sound, then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the silver's. They have an awesome reputation. I've heard them but never owned so take that for it's worth. But I would not personally hesitate to buy Monitor. I am personally not a fan of Klipsch. Some people really like them and I know they are good rock speakers, but to me they are like Boston Acoustics... decent, big, loud, efficient, but not particularly detailed. KEF has a good rep too but I'm not familiar with Tannoy. IMO, I'd stick with the Monitor if you like that British speakers (and I do too). And far as the MLs..I'm not sure on those. I owned a sub by them and was super unimpressed. But aren't the Motions more expensive than comparable Silver's? I don't like black/ash cabinets so I like how Monitor has all those color choices. I like Cherry, walnut, and the like. Those solid wood cabinets are gorgeous.

All those amps are awesome. Rotel are great with Brits as I'm sure you know. They are made to be paired with B&W. Yamaha, Anthem, Arcam, Parasound etc. are all sort of lumped into that category of "very good since you don't want to buy a McIntosh". But at the end of the day, I stand by what I said earlier. All of these solid state amps should sound essentially the same. For me there are three differences:

1. Power, all channels driven (important metric). At lower volumes it should not make a difference, but if you have inefficient speakers, then having a good, continuous, clean power source is the difference at high volumes.
2. Feature set... does it the right inputs and outputs, does it have a sub out, etc.
3. Does it have a pure mode. This is big for me. I have to have something that shuts down to the most basic transformers and knocks out the noise. I only listen on pure/natural mode. With a straight amp, that's all it is. But when you get into integrated, there's a lot of electronics in there and if it's not in pure mode, I'll get listening fatigue.

I recently purchased an Outlaw 5000 5 channel amp. What a beast 80lbs or so...maybe the best deal in the industry. But at the lower volumes, it sounds no different than my Yamaha 1030 running in pure. Where it makes a difference is clarity when pushed above, say -15. The Yamaha will run out of juice and the Outlaw which hits 130 wpc, all channels driven, just opens up.

Sorry for the long ass post.

can't stress this enough. especially with analogue listening thru a tube pre-amp. makes all the difference.

It's amazing that after you listen to pure for a while, and then turn it off, it feels like your ears are bleeding. The music is harsh, too shrill, etc. Pure mode makes you melt into the music. I get the same effect even on digital lossless, not just analog.

Totally agree. I have a 7 channel amp with all kinds of bells and whistles that at this point is just functioning as a power amp for my turntable/preamp and PONO and I am cool with that. beautiful sound. I can't even do CDs anymore. pulled out my Sony 400 disc changer.

Ha! Me too. I retired my 300 disc changer many years ago. Paid a shit load for that Sony when it came out and it was the greatest thing ever at the time, and for a long time. But once I got a Squeezebox Duet and then a Touch, I ripped them all, boxed up the CDs and the changer is sitting in a closet with too many outdated AVRs, burned amps, etc.

mrussel1 said:

I think you're in a good place with Monitor to start. If you like that sound, then I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the silver's. They have an awesome reputation. I've heard them but never owned so take that for it's worth. But I would not personally hesitate to buy Monitor. I am personally not a fan of Klipsch. Some people really like them and I know they are good rock speakers, but to me they are like Boston Acoustics... decent, big, loud, efficient, but not particularly detailed. KEF has a good rep too but I'm not familiar with Tannoy. IMO, I'd stick with the Monitor if you like that British speakers (and I do too). And far as the MLs..I'm not sure on those. I owned a sub by them and was super unimpressed. But aren't the Motions more expensive than comparable Silver's? I don't like black/ash cabinets so I like how Monitor has all those color choices. I like Cherry, walnut, and the like. Those solid wood cabinets are gorgeous.

All those amps are awesome. Rotel are great with Brits as I'm sure you know. They are made to be paired with B&W. Yamaha, Anthem, Arcam, Parasound etc. are all sort of lumped into that category of "very good since you don't want to buy a McIntosh". But at the end of the day, I stand by what I said earlier. All of these solid state amps should sound essentially the same. For me there are three differences:

1. Power, all channels driven (important metric). At lower volumes it should not make a difference, but if you have inefficient speakers, then having a good, continuous, clean power source is the difference at high volumes.
2. Feature set... does it the right inputs and outputs, does it have a sub out, etc.
3. Does it have a pure mode. This is big for me. I have to have something that shuts down to the most basic transformers and knocks out the noise. I only listen on pure/natural mode. With a straight amp, that's all it is. But when you get into integrated, there's a lot of electronics in there and if it's not in pure mode, I'll get listening fatigue.

I recently purchased an Outlaw 5000 5 channel amp. What a beast 80lbs or so...maybe the best deal in the industry. But at the lower volumes, it sounds no different than my Yamaha 1030 running in pure. Where it makes a difference is clarity when pushed above, say -15. The Yamaha will run out of juice and the Outlaw which hits 130 wpc, all channels driven, just opens up.

Sorry for the long ass post.

Wow thanks man, very informative! Think I'll go in store and do an A-B test sometime with the Martin Logan's along side the Monitor Silvers, should be interesting. Yep, Monitor Audio is a great brand and have an exceptional reputation, love the sound that comes out of my current set up, but it's fun to think I can push it higher.

Amps will be interesting too, possibly will go Rotel, though I've seen an upgrade of my Cambridge Audio that gets amazing reviews, the CX80, might autition that too.

Will keep you posted once I'm checking these all out, most likely in the new year..

Thanks!

thanks @mrussel1 for all of your help and suggestions

@mrussel1 This was soooooo much fun reading!

Hey question. How often should you change the needle on your TT?

Weston1283 said:

Anyone use a subwoofer with their turntable? Currently working with just a pair of bookshelf speakers, the Klipsch RF-15

You really need one if you are using bookshelves. But you got to figure out if you are getting better bookshelf or going tower.