Audiophiles ?

[mostro900]

<interested look>Anything good?</interested look>

big

  not really....just some old wog stuff..unless...nope, no old Ducati recordings

[Spider]

Ducati folk do seem to appreciate the finer things! Music is no different!

remember to factor in some money for interconnects and speaker wire too....they reckon 5 to 10% is what you want...and those HDMI cables can cost a pretty $, I ended up importing mine from the UK (Van der Hul again).

do they still do a Sony ES series...remember those, bloody hell, they were the equivalent ok a Nissan skyline, domination through technology....I nearly did my back trying to pick up the amp once

RJ

[Super T.I.B]

I have a Rotel system in my garage.

That is all. 

[goldFiSh]

Good call super, I almost forgot..

I have a 70's era Rotel powering my studio monitors - 180W per channel! Needs a little love, but that sound!

[CairnsDuc]

And if someone offers you Monster Cable for the Hookup leads, Tell them to get Bent, It is Grossly overpriced, and Grossly over Rated rubbish.

If you stick with the middle of the road priced Cables and leads, you won't go wrong.

[Super T.I.B]

Good call super, I almost forgot..

I have a 70's era Rotel powering my studio monitors - 180W per channel! Needs a little love, but that sound!

It's like a fine  , it only gets better.

Actually, my original Rotel system was pinched, with the Aaron speakers connected to it  . It was replaced with another Rotel system with Tannoy speakers. Doesn't have all the bells & whistles that come with other systems (NAD excluded) but it has served me well. 

[loony888]

nice plana2 iain! i had one but it's now gone, i didn't know what i was doing at the time, DOH! i run Krix floor speakers and they're very nice. i agree wholeheartedly with cairnsduc too, monster cables are rubbish, most of the decent middle of the road cabling you buy off the roll is pretty good these days.
after embracing technology with open arms i feel a twinge of regret from time to time, i stream through an airport express which feeds via rca's to my amp and the quality of music varies so much in digital format. even cd's imported into iTunes vary wildly. it's only the difficulty in restocking my vinyl collection and finding a decent turntable, like a plana that stops me going back! I have already got rid of my trace elliot bass rig for a sensational mesa boogie head unit and 2 4x10 bins.

paul.

[Betty]

"Vinyl ... its the way of the future"

That was the mantra of an ex-workmate. He knew he had committed to living in Australia when he sent for his 400+ (I think it was) vinyl albums from the UK.

[Spider]

yeah, rotel is another good lower priced (in audiophile land) option....and Maranatz too, they did good CD/DVD players at decent price points a few years back.

you boys know that NAD do a phono stage plug in for their amps so you can connect a turntable any time you want.

spin the black circle

[Zee]

As someone who has put together one, maybe two av systems, and owns/owned NAD, rotel, Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Nakamichi, Perreaux,  Adcom, Integra and a few more receivers and Amps, I reckon I may have a little help to impart..

First, I take audio quality is part of the package. not all of it. No point have the best sounding AV system if it take you 3 hours to turn it on. Unless you have valve amps, but that is different...

I'm currently sitting with a Yamaha RXV3800, running a Boston Accoustics VR2000 sub, a pair of Legacy Victorias for fronts, and a pair of Boston CR8's for rears. have an Integra 6.4 (or whatever) in the bedroom.

My personal choice to sell to clients is Yamaha. The price is fair (compared to the others - the importer of Denon marks up their gear stupidly, so the equivalent Denon models are a class more expensive, if you get my drift).

The reasoning behind this is that the Yamaha remote is probably the easiest of the bunch to use, the amps have plenty of inputs (in their respective classes) and the processing of both video and audio is excellent.

For pure audio power, I'd go for a Marantz, the power supplies are actually rated so that you may get most of the rated speaker power, with all channels on. ie - check the rating of the power supply on your amp (A) - then add up the number of speaker channels you have with the claimed power per channel (B). If A < B, then you don't have enough power to run all the speakers at full power at once. not normally an issue, but for those who listen to movies LOUD, with serious speakers, this is a consideration. Though, for those types I'd recommend proper discrete power amps for the speakers anyway.

I've actually been pretty impressed with Marantz for video too, though I am not a fan of their remotes. Though Denon wins the prize for the worst remote design by a retard award. If you need me to go through why, I'm happy to do it, but lets just say for ease of use, Yamaha is first, then Pioneer, Integra/Onkyo equal second, with NAD and Marantz third, and Denon a VERY distant 571st.

NAD has some nice gear, don't worry about the power rating being lower, numbers very rarely indicate actually power these days anyway.

As for speakers, it's personal, listen to all the speakers you are considering, but if music is your thing, skip the center and the rears, and get a better left/right and sub.

For heavens sake, avoid Harmon Kardon unless you enjoy warranty returns. Also, unless you like limited systems, avoid Bose, sound isn't really great either for what you pay.

Agreed with avoid Monster cables...

Ivan, just let me know, I can organise cost priced cables for you, and I'm happy to see if I can negotiate a good price on gear with some of the shops I deal with, pricing will probably be better than anything you can get yourself, especially if you do go NAD.

If you can, make sure the amp has HDMI, and upconverts the video. Very handy.

OK, back to work...

Z...

[Super T.I.B]

^^^^
If that doesn't make it clearer, nothing will.

[Todka]

Don't forget good speaker cables 

I use QED 80 strand for the living room, and 40 for the roof speakers that are a long run.
Best if you can balance the cable lengths (so I'm told)

If you like Sci-fi movies, a good subbie that does low frequencies is useful. Your neighbours should be on the bridge with you   
(I like the REL subbie)

[mostro900]

Thanks Zee - Pm sent. 

suffice to say, I bit the bullet on a NAD T775HD.  A little boo-boo by the sales rep, meant I got it for almost half price. Too sweet to walk away from.

[Spider]

Don't forget good speaker cables 

I use QED 80 strand for the living room, and 40 for the roof speakers that are a long run.
Best if you can balance the cable lengths (so I'm told)

If you like Sci-fi movies, a good subbie that does low frequencies is useful. Your neighbours should be on the bridge with you   
(I like the REL subbie)

yep QED do some good stuff, I've used silver spiral on a few systems and another QED cable on my mothers (longer run, was watching costs). You run equal lengths to ensure exact impedance I believe.

[Zee]

Just checked the specs of the NAD 775HD - you should be very happy, it is a nice amp - especially if you got it at half price (which should be a touch above $2k - just to make sure the sales dude wasn't fibbing...). Actually, I kind of look forward to installing one...

Z...