June 21, 2001
I just came across your website recently. I
haven't jumped into it yet, but I read the home page and share the same love for music as
you. I am currently trying to save money for an awesome home stereo system and I am not
sure what is my best bet.
I have been told that Bose was the best punch
for the penny, so I have been mainly concentrating on their products. At first I was
looking at the Lifestyle 25 series and have heard them and was impressed. I was then
turned on to the 901 Direct/Reflecting speaker and was told that it was the best there
was. Being that I was told this by a Bose employee, I am sure that there are better
available.
Currently, I own a much older stem, (Kenwood
KR-V4080 receiver and a pair of Cerwin Vega 12" floorstanding speakers) and have
decided that it is time for an upgrade. As a newcomer to the world of hi-fi systems, I am
looking for some recommendations. Mainly what I am looking for is a powerful receiver that
has Dolby 5.1, Dolby DTS, and a very nice pair of home-theater speakers. I am looking at a
budget of around $2000.
Thank you for your time.
Josh Morgan
From my days in audio retail, I remember
our own frustration (and that of our competitors as well) about the extent to which Bose
had penetrated consumer consciousness as "the best there is." We all agreed that
the sonic quality of Bose speakers bore no semblance whatever to their massive and very
skillful ad campaign. Your hesitation to swallow this ad hype wholesale is well placed.
For speakers, I'd look at the Axiom Audio
M80Ti at $1100. It will give you all the bass you're used to from your Cerwin Vega towers,
but also be a very significant sonic upgrade all across the board. If you wanted to do
surround sound right away and thus need center and rear channels, consider one of Axiom's
HT packages instead.
For receivers, look no farther than the
Outlaw 1050 six-channel receiver. It's sold direct for $499 and thus competes with
receivers up to $1000 that are carried in stores. See www.outlawaudio.com for details. This leaves you $400 for a DVD player
from Sony or Pioneer.
June 21, 2001
I am in the market for a new set of bookshelf
speakers, and in a roundabout way I found out about Axiom speakers. I was impressed with
the reviews on the M3Ti, but just as I was about to plunk down my cash, out comes the
M22Ti. What confuses me is that the company's technical specs seem very close. They both
have the same frequency response.
My real question is: how does a speaker with
two or more smaller drivers compare with one that has one larger driver? There is a brief
reference to it in your "How To" column, but I don't understand the physics of
this. I note that a number of very expensive tower speakers have multiple drivers, none of
which is very large. If one 5.5" driver has a bass response down to 50Hz +/- 3dB, I
can see that two of them would extend the bass, but wouldn't it also increase the midrange
as well? I am confused.
John Kelsey
Excellent question. You're correct -- a
dual-small-woofer two-way versus a standard two-way with one larger woofer can offer the
same bass extension. The trick is exactly to avoid a certain thickness in the midrange
when two midrange/woofers operate in parallel all the way up to the tweeter. Sometimes
such designs are actually 2.5-ways. The lower woofer doesn't meet the tweeter but is
rolled-in only in the bass for augmentation. This doesn't overlap the drivers in the
midrange. Whether the M22Ti is one such 2.5-way design I don't know.
Why do many designers parallel smaller
woofers instead of using a single large one? There are multiple advantages. A smaller
woofer diameter allows a narrower cabinet profile. That's good for soundstaging and often
also provides a more elegant and slim appearance. Multiple smaller woofers add their
surface areas to mimic that of a larger driver and push the same amount of air. However,
they benefit from multiple motor structures (magnets and voice coils) and less cone flex.
Hence they offer better control, more speed and increased power handling. Another side
benefit of paralleled woofers is often increased system sensitivity.
June 20, 2001
I must first thank you for the wonderful
assistance that you provided me in selecting the components for my system. Since I am and
young and have a budget always in mind, your website was of great use in building the
system that was right for me.
I am now looking to upgrade my stereo and have
a couple of new questions about how to do this. First, I would like to add a turntable,
and I am having a hard time finding the breadth of information that helped me select my
integrated amp, etc. I am looking to spend somewhere under $1000, but I don't know how
much to budget or what to use as criteria for a decent turntable that will last me for a
long time.
My current system has Energy 1.6xl speakers,
an NAD 522 CD player and an NAD 314 integrated amp. Any thought about turntables and the
next step up for components?
Jason
For turntables, I recommend three: the
Music Hall MMF-2.1 turntable with Goldring Elan cartridge ($299), the Music Hall MMF-5
with Goldring G1012GX cartridge ($499) and the NAD 553 ($499), which is a variation on the
Rega 2 and comes with the Goldring Elektra cartridge. Any of these tables would make a
great combination with your existing system. No need to spend more. Once the upgrade bug
bites again, you might want to look into speakers. If you tell me a bit about your room
size, listening habits and budget, I can give you some recommendations.
June 20, 2001
First of all, thanks for your website. I love
your mission: great sound, good price.
I've been needing an equipment rack for years.
It's time to get serious. I'd like to get something "technical" -- that is, with
isolation, spiked feet, option for weighting (pellets, sand), etc. How do people deal with
the problem of having spikes though? I have spikes on my speakers, but they are a couple
feet from the wall anyway. It seems as if I would have to permanently place my rack at
least a couple feet from the wall to get to the wiring or fight everything from the front.
What are the most important of the technical
aspects of a rack? Could you generally rank these?
I have also considered designing and building
something myself. Is there a good book you can recommend that would give me the basics of
rack design. I'm a mechanical engineer, so I could handle something technical, but I don't
need the detailed physics -- only enough to design something. For reference, I have a
basic Naim system (NAIT 3 with Flat-Cap power supply and a CD-3) and floorstanding First
Audio speakers.
Dave
I've come across two different design
theories for equipment racks: super rigid and lossy. Proponents of the former usually go
after welded one-piece frames (uprights plus cross-members). Then shelves are decoupled
from the cross-members either via spikes or rubbery spacers. In some cases, the actual
shelf structure is reduced to four individual pieces that each support one single
component footer.
The second type is epitomized by Volkmar
Druebbisch at www.particular.com.
I own one of his racks and (I know this sounds weird, but I have done certain experiments)
it "sounds" a lot better than what I compared it to. These supports are built
from dissimilar materials, utilize partial or full suspension, and aren't super rigid but
use the actual weight of the components for "tensegrity."
Lastly, I've become a believer in
suspension devices, like the Aurios and Symposium Rollerblocks, instead of spikes.
June 19, 2001
I couldn't help but ask a follow-up question
to your reply to Dave on June 3 regarding CD sound quality with a DVD player or a
stand-alone CD player. I have been vexed by a similar issue lately. I had been watching
the DVD-audio/SACD thing develop from the sidelines when I happened to listen to the new
Rotel DVD-A player. The dealer happened to sell the Rega Planet CD player as well.
Honestly, I thought I liked the Rotel at least as much with regular CDs (maybe I'm getting
biased by the technology). Anyway, this is a $1500 player.
I recently read your column on the MSB Link
III with network option, however, and I became intrigued by what potentially could be
achieved with my Pioneer DV-525 and the 192kHz network output with this DAC. You seemed
fairly impressed with the network performance in your column. Unfortunately, I have never
had the opportunity to listen to anything MSB. So what to do? Would you lean toward the
Pioneer/MSB combo with the network option? Or, rather, would you opt for the DVD-A player
given its capacity for playing a new format? Thirdly, would you consider scrapping both of
these options in favor of a SACD player in the same price range?
I currently listen to the Pioneer DV-525
(transport only) feeding my Rotel RSP-985 processor. Amplification is the Rotel RB-985
multichannel amp. Speakers are Soliloquy 5.3s. Any new source would be routed through the
Rotel's 5.1 inputs to avoid internal processing. I am amp searching at the moment and will
likely add a Bryston 3B ST, Musical Fidelity A3CR or Monarchy monoblocks for the
Soliloquys.
Thanks for your insight,
Ryan
For those readers who don't know, let me
preface my answer by saying that I also write a equipment-driven column,
"Earmarked!," for SoundStage!
-- it's that MSB column to which this reader refers. The MSB 192kHz upsampler option costs
about $1300 between the DAC and the transport modification. That's nearly as much as the
Rotel player you liked so much. Seeing how going into an outboard DAC creates jitter that
then has to be exorcised, I'd stick with a one-box solution in this case.
Regarding DVD-A versus SACD, it all comes
down to availability of software, and whether what does become available is what you like
to listen to. I'd opt for the DVD-A player to play DVDs and CDs and the occasional DVD-A
title. Once there are enough SACD titles on the market you want to listen to, I reckon the
price of admission for a matching player will have plummeted enough to where you won't
mind adding one to your current system.
June 19, 2001
The older version of GoodSound! had a
listing by product category with MSRPs, performance comments, etc. Is that still
available? Will you continue to update that as new products are reviewed? I found it a
helpful tool to keep my "affordability goal" in focus. Kindly advise. Thanks
much,
Bob Marzec
We're already at work of having an updated
version of it for the new site. It will be called the "GoodSound! Guide."
June 18, 2001
You guys have listed these AAD speakers. Have
you reviewed any of them yet? They look interesting enough, with a lot to choose from.
Ray
Not yet but we have three reviews planned:
C-200, C-800 and a sat/sub system of E-40/E-8. Our sister publication, Home Theater & Sound,
has an AAD E-series home-theater system in the works (five E30s and an E-8), and a review
of an AAD Q-series home-theater system is already online.
June 18, 2001
I am a 15-year-old on a tight budget. I want
to hook up some home-theater speakers to my PC, and I need a good but CHEAP receiver. What
is your suggestion on speakers below $160 per pair?
Thank you,
M. Wajszczyk
Check out the Diva by Swans multimedia
speakers in our High End 2001 show report. They will retail for $299 per pair, but they
are self-powered, so you won't need a receiver at all. They'll plug straight into your
computer's sound-card output. Based on my audition at the show, I was very impressed.
Granted, this won't give you surround sound, only excellent stereo sound. Did you have
PC-driven surround sound in mind?
June 16, 2001
I was about a week away from buying a set of
JBL S38 speakers when I read your article on the Axiom M3Tis. It reminded me of a friend's
set of Axioms I heard in Toronto a few months ago. He has an older set, which I was quite
impressed with.
I visited the Axiom website, and it looks like
their best speaker for me would be the M22Ti, which I realize you probably have not heard
yet. However, knowing the history of JBL and that the founder of their parent company was
a principal in the Canadian NRC sound labs as was Ian of Axiom, which of these two
companies do you expect would produce the most accurate systems? Cost is close enough not
be an issue, so I would appreciate your opinion.
Also, please do not hesitate to make other
suggestions in this same price range: $600 per pair. I use a Definitive Technology
PF-15Ttl+ subwoofer, so bass isn't an issue with whatever I purchase.
Thanks in advance,
Lee Richardson
JBL vs. Axiom? Not having heard JBLs in a
long time, I'd feel very uncomfortable making such a comparison at this point. However,
the M22Ti is the next Axiom speaker GoodSound! has coming for review, so you'll
be able to read our findings about it soon. Considering your 15"-woofer sub, I concur
that the M22Ti, by virtue of lower bass extension than the M3Ti, might make the better
match. You'll be able to cross in the sub at a lower frequency. That should pay dividends
in seamless blending.
Actually, the founder of the parent
company of JBL was not a principal at the NRC. However, Dr. Floyd Toole, who is now one of
the senior people at Harman International (JBL's parent company), was a highly respected
research scientist at the NRC and helped to produce the groundbreaking research that
correlated listening tests with measurements. Axiom's Ian Colquhoun was not on the NRC
staff, but like numerous Canadian-based designers in the '80s, he worked very closely with
Toole and the research he did, and, as a result, Axiom products are based on those
findings.
Other speakers at up to $600? We have a
pair of NorH 4.0s en route for review. They enjoy excellent word of mouth in certain
Internet chat groups as a possible genre leader. Select Paradigm and NHT models have been
promised as well. Until these new arrivals have proven their mettle against the
overachieving Axiom M3Ti, though, I'm hesitant to tell anyone that they ought to spend
more money.
June 16, 2001
When it comes to breaking in a pair of
speakers, what exactly should be done? Is there risk of damaging the speaker if they are
played too loudly too soon, or is this just myth? I've heard that I should play a pair of
speakers at a medium volume for a few days before playing them loud, but I've also heard
that I should play them loud for several days before they are broken in.
Bryan Donovan
My understanding is that speaker break-in
is primarily a mechanical phenomenon of X amount of driver motions that loosen up the
internal spider suspension and external rubber/foam surrounds. I've never heard warnings
about reduced output levels during this period. In fact, rather the opposite -- play the
speakers as loudly as is reasonable in your environment and for their type, and use
bass-heavy material. A common trick is to put the speakers face to face (as closely as
possible), wire one out of phase, and cover both with a thick blanket. This will cancel a
lot of their output and be sonically less obtrusive. Still, the easiest thing is to simply
play music 24/7 for a few days -- normally when you're sitting down to listen, at barely
audible levels when you go to sleep, and cranked (not insanely, of course) when you leave
the house. Don't worry about it too much. You'll note the speakers changing for a certain
period, sometimes possibly seeming to make a step back before going forward again, and
then one day, bingo -- they no longer change. That's it.
June 15, 2001
This is just a quick note to tell you that you
can add technical writing to the list of skills on your resume. Your articles in the
"How to" section are the most clear and simple explanations of how hi-fi gear
works that I have ever read.
Good work, and please keep them coming.
Cheers,
Anthony Mackie
Glad to hear that the information seems
presented in a clear and easily accessible fashion. That's certainly what we're aiming
for, and you'll continue to see them coming every two weeks. If you have any particular
audio questions or issues you are curious about, feel free to suggest a topic or two.
June 15, 2001
I've been very interested in the Cambridge
Audio A500 integrated amp, but I was disappointed to discover that it doesn't provide a
headphone jack. While I only use headphones maybe 10% or less of my listening time, it is
a feature that I wouldn't want to give up entirely. Is there an inexpensive way to add
decent headphone output to this (or any other) amplifier? And if so, how would one then go
about muting the speakers?
By the way, I was quite pleased to discover
your site -- I've been listening to a Fisher component system for the last 15 years, and I
am really looking forward to upgrading this summer!
Thanks,
Peter
You could rig a headphone plug with banana
or spade speaker leads and mount it permanently to the second speaker binding post pair on
the A500. To mute the speakers would require physically disconnecting one of the two
speaker leads per channel. I'd contact your local specialty audio store (or, if you only
have mass merchants present, a car installer) and have them wire a headphone plug up for
you in this fashion. The only thing I don't know about is noise -- usually headphone
outputs are part of the preamp circuit since they don't require much signal strength.
Tapping into the high-level speaker outputs could conceivably generate some background
noise, especially with headphones of normal sensitivity.
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