2. misc-audio
  3. 182453-163979

Looking for suggestions

I'm looking to improve my system, especially speakers and streamer. My current system: 
Yamaha RXV-663 (we use 5.1 for home theater, surround cds & blurays)

Schiit Modi 3 DAC

B&W 684 series 1, bi-wired and bi-amped with Blue Jeans cables

streaming via pc

Our room is 16' wide and 13.5' deep, untreated, hardwood floor. The ceiling is 8'. Rear of speakers is 14" from front wall and speakers sit 4' apart. Seats are 10' from front of speakers. For some serious listening, we pull the speakers out toward our seats and wider apart to create a triangle. (I'm reading my way through Get Better Sound by Jim Smith.)

I'm considering these speakers:
Monitor Audio Silver 7G
Dali Oberon 5

Vandersteen Signature 2Ce III or 2Ce Signature II
Tekton Lore Reference with upgrades

Any feedback on speaker selection is appreciated.

Also would like a dedicated (or integrated) streamer to replace the pc.

I have about 5,000 albums digitized in Itunes and would like to be able to stream this music in addition to streaming Sirius, Amazon and radio stations from the internet.

I'm considering a Cambridge Audio CXN v2 as a streamer, but not sure how it would interact with Itunes, Sirius, Amazon, etc.

I could possibly stretch my budget to a

Naim Uniti Atom
Cambridge Audio Evo 150

Rotel S14

if I could find one of these used.

Again, advice on streamer selection is appreciated.

Finally, would Tidal or Quobuz enhance my streaming experience?

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

davedword

Showing 2 responses by thespeakerdude

thespeakerdude
483 posts
 

Never understood why people feel a need to speak for others on forums, especially when my first paragraph recognizes the comment the original poster made.

thespeakerdude
483 posts
 

I know you don't want to put in room treatment, but frankly, then, you are just rearranging the chairs.  Talk to your wife, look at the colors, and options, and see what is acceptable. If you want better sound, and not just to buy new equipment (which I totally understand), then you can use the money argument. Acoustic panels are cheaper.  If you want a lot of movies and television, it can significantly improve voices and understanding them. So lets assume you can put them in and look at what you would need to make a huge improvement.

Put these on your front wall behind the speakers:

https://www.gikacoustics.com/product/gik-acoustics-244-bass-trap-flexrange-technology/  (they have a thinner 4" version that would work too)

You will need a couple per side of larger ones. You will be able to push the speakers even closer to the front wall, and you won’t need to move them out for better listening. You will need to rerun room correction for fix the bass response from being close to the front wall. Not pulling the speaker out and putting them back and even getting more space may help the WAF factor.

Pushing your speakers back you may be able to move seating forward a bit. That will get you away from the back wall which you seem to be sitting close to. That should be your next point of attack. Since you are close, probably some broad absorption. It is a little close to seating for a diffusion panel.

With how wide your room is, get those speakers farther apart. I would say 7 feet, maybe 7.5. More and your side reflections are going to be an issue. If you stay 4 feet, you probably don’t need to treat the side walls for reflections. Even at 7 feet, it may not be too bad. Any more than that, and your side walls are definitely an issue.

Put a nice heavy area run down in front of the speakers, preferably with a heavy underpad.

@kota1 is right. The room is what should be fixed before you fix anything else. Don’t need to go too crazy, but <$1,000 of well placed panels and then running your room correction will do more than anything else you are considering, and then when you do make other upgrades, you will be able to fully enjoy them.

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