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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)
n6gq

Showing 2 responses by jaytor

jaytor's avatar
jaytor
742 posts
 
Maggies are nice speakers (I've owned a number of models over the years), but that's a pretty big room you are trying to fill. I'd consider finding a user pair of 3.5s or 3.6s. 

I agree with the above posters that the BlueSound Node would be a great option to get started. The built-in DAC is an improvement over previous models and will certainly be satisfactory to get started. It also makes an excellent streamer for the money, so you can upgrade to an external DAC down the road. 

They also love power. The Vidar might be ok, particularly if you used two (you can start with one to see how it does). You might also consider one of the Parasound amps, or one of the older Brystons. These are well built and the companies have been around long enough that there are plenty of used options available. 

You could either get an integrated amp, or start out using the Bluesound NODE plugged directly into a power amp, and use the variable output for volume control. 

I'd start out without subs for the kind of music you like, particularly if you go with the larger 3 series magnepans. 

You also need to budget at least a little for cables (lots of used stuft at 50% or more off retail, or Blue Jean cables are good options). 

I'd also recommend saving some for room treatments, although your larger room will have fewer problems than a smaller room would. 
jaytor's avatar
jaytor
742 posts
 
I'll add my vote to look at GR-Research speakers. Danny often knows of customers that are trading up and have already-built speakers available for sale. There are also a number of folks that will build them for you if you don't want to try to tackle them yourself. 

I'm currently using the NX-Oticas with OB subs is a fairly large (17'x29') room and they are fabulous. Danny's speakers offer tremendous value, and many of them will give you a presentation similar to Maggies, but are a lot easier to drive.

You can take a look at my system page to see the NX-Oticas. 

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8726
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