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Long hiatus from audio, getting back into it, speaker/room help please

Hey all, thanks for offering this forum, I've been reading a lot, and as the subject says I'm coming back to audio from a long hiatus. Long story short, about 25 years ago I built a very nice home theater in my previous house in CA - it was a Martin Logan 5.1 system, Sunfire amps, Lexicon MC-1, Sunfire subs, etc. It was awesome at the time and I had a very good time with it. Then, after 20 years, I got a divorce - also at the same time as the divorce I lost my mom to cancer, and also at the same time I got my own cancer diagnosis. So I moved to Texas to treat my cancer, finalized the divorce (a 3 year process), and then if that wasn't enough, was involved in a very bad burn accident. I've now come out the other side, no cancer, burns recovered mostly, and I've been wanting to get back to my listening enjoyment.

I have a room (my office) that is going to be (mostly) dedicated to this listening for mostly me only. Its 17 feet by 30 feet in size, is solid wood surround (walnut), and has cathedral ceilings. Its rectangular and has a spiral staircase down to a garage below in the southeast corner of the room. On the south end it has a single window (5 feet wide, 3 feet tall), and on the west side are 3 smaller windows (each 2 feet wide by 6 feet tall). On the north end of the room is a window that is 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall. There is a door into the room on the east wall, sort of in the middle of the room but more towards the north corner.

I read about Magnepan LRS and that got me sparked to start this back up again. My ML's I had before sounded great for the type of music I like - accoustic and vocals, live music, light rock and roll. I love piano, strings, percussion but not so much horns. 

I'm thinking a good spot for the LRS' are at the south end of the room. There I can put them about 5 feet off the rear wall, and put my listening position about 15 feet back from them, centered between them. They'll have about 12 feet between them. I thought I'd drive them with a Schiit Vidar. I'm wide open in terms of preamp and source devices and would appreciate any recommendations there. What I really like about the LRS is that apparently they have great performance for not so much cash. Same with Vidar. So I'd like to keep that theme. I kind of like the analogy of the small block chevy to hot rods - a ton of parts available for a motor that virtually everyone uses, and its been used by everyone - i.e. everyone knows it. Similarly I think there's a wave of people using LRS+Vidar because its a relatively low cost entry into high performance. I think some of the Schiit preamps and DACs may find their way onto my list also perhaps. 

Anyhow, as far as budget goes, I'm lucky in that I'm not really limited there other than I'm not looking to dump $30k into this, rather I'd probably prefer to keep it under $5k to get the basics going. I *really* like the sound, transparency, stage, etc. of panels and since that's what I'm used to from the ML's I'd prefer to keep panels instead of cones.

I have a block diagram of the room but i'm not seeing a spot to upload it, perhaps I can link it in.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Jeff in Texas (DFW area)
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Showing 1 response by artemus_5

artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,914 posts
 
IMO unless you want to rent your music @$20 mo. (Qobuz, etc.) you will need close to your budget just for streaming. I have a $2k Streamer/Dac that I have listened too for less than a full day in 3-4 mos. The problem is NOT the streamer. It is the software and the network. There are too many handshakes which must be made between hard drive, computer, streamer and phone  to stream your library from the HD. Roon MAY be the answer. But Qobuz seems to take care of the software issues that choreograph the handshakes. Plus, It lessens the handshakes necessary. This is why many are using the streaming services IMO. This has been my experience as I have attempted to get into streaming.
As such, since you are starting over and getting your footings, I'd suggest a CDP, which often sounds better anyway. 

BTW, Glad you made it through the obstacle course. I've been through similar and it isn't a joy ride whatsoever. But it does teach you lessons you will never forget. Having had cancer and looking at possible death for several weeks as a young man, I learned that a lot lot about what is really important in life. I wish you all the best and welcome aboard.
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