Why does Agon allow posts like this to appear in the "Review" section? There is a discussion forum here for a reason, no?
Oz
Oz
need input on new equipment one of two
Category: Amplifiers
First I should explain what I am trying to do,and then what I have already started.I will be moving this summer to NC where I will rent a place while i am building my final house(i am a builder).In the house,will be my room for stereo and home theater(18 x 28 give or take, and 10' ceiling with 2 8" step ups behind the money seats).There will be at least 6 dedicated circuits and i already have 10 guage silver coated copper to run behind the walls for the surround speakers.Tweaks are welcomed for the room as I am doing this myself and can do whatever needs to be done.Now to start on my stereo problem--- it started in 1974 at the u of md.I was at the library when i noticed they had a stereo listening room where albums were played at different times of the day.It might not of been "high end",but it was so far superior to my sanyo 8 track in my 68 camaro,i just couldn't stand it.I needed a good stereo.Couldn't wait 4 more years for a job,so i joined the police dept and started saving every penny for my stereo-------I bought all marantz(I know i have this problem where i like everything to match)--60w int amp/10b tuner/imperial9 speakers and dual tt.I had a good guy at dixie hi-fi(it would later become circuit city---the k mart of stereo---how sad)and he always gave me great deals.I called up marantz one day to ask about one of thier products and the woman on the phone was so rude,I immediatly sold all my stuff.This started me on a 5year journey of upgrading everytime i had some extra money.I was happy with my dynaco pat5 and citation16,but I changed speakers at least 10 times.Then one day my buddy called me up and said he had a female friend who had caught her husband cheating, and she wanted to sell off his equipment while he was on a business trip.He was getting the AR equipment and I was going to get some speakers i had never seen called tympani B's for the bargain price of $500.(I know some of you think I'm a heel,but come on--WHAT A DEAL!!!)When i got there,I uttered the usual comments upon coming in direct contact with Maggies----THEY'RE SO TALL--THEY'RE SO WIDE--THEY'RE SO SKINNY--ARE THEY REALLY SPEAKERS???? I can still remember the chills I got when I fired them up---I knew i had found the perfect speakers for me.Unfortunatly they put my citation 16 into thermal overload hell(KIRK to engineering--I need more power and I need it NOW!!)Since I liked the dynaco,it was only natural that I went to Hafler.Since mid level hifi was now totally gone from circuit city,I realized my wholesale days were gone also.To keep the price affordable,I bought the kits for the 110 and the dh500,and wired in some mods that the custom place had designed to improve the sound.I was finally happy---Then in 1987 my right speaker started to "rattle".I now had 3 kids and a mortgage and could not afford to get them factory redone,so i ordered new covers and figured i would repair them myself----I just couldn't find the time!!In 1990 I got into a big car wreck at work and now all i had was time, but i was somewhat incapable of working.So, as a retirement present to myself,I found a set of mint tympani 4a's and then the big splurge---2 velodyne uld15 subs in light oak to match the trim on my tympani's(as i stated before, I like things to match and 2 subs not only look better,they sound quite impressive also)I am happy with my sound and I don't even look at any stereo equipment,as I sold my turntable and bought a denon cd at the same time as the subs,so I was complete.Then in jan of05,my 110 picked up a problem in the output on the the right side.I know i will be moving soon so i figure now is the time to upgrade to something that can do my theater room and the 110 is not worth putting any money into it.When i started going to look at theater stuff, i went in with the mindset of maybe selling the tympanis and getting all new speakers which might have more "impact" than the maggies.I am not capable of spending big bucks,but i know i deserve to have some of the house equity go to my setup,so I will put myself in the mid hifi range.I needed a pre amp processor that can work for me now and also do the theater later and i found the best bang for the buck to be the ROTEL 1068 which i bought in april.When i hooked it up ,I found out that my denon cd was now dead also!!!!!!I figure my dh 500 will go any minute eventhough it still seems to be doing fine----In case you are wondering what i did for a cd player---i used a $75 sony from my sons room while i shopped for a new one--GUH!!!.NOW, here i am needing a quality cd player and probably a new amp and I havn't followed any of the stereo advances in the last 13 years,so here i am on the net.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------While shopping it became apparent to me that no matter how good the equipment was that I looked at,I am hopelessly hooked on my maggies for my stereo and then i might have to do another whole system for the theater.I contacted magnepan and they advised me maggies would sound more natural and still give me impact like "box" speakers.So i found a set of rebuilt mg3 on ebay and picked them up to use on the tv setup i have now(13 year old sony dolby surround receiver and boston 930 speakers)To me they sound great--the voices are so natural you don't even know those 6ft monsters are there------only one minor problem,I noticed in order to get the same spl out of them they are about to put my poor sony into thermal overload hell(Kirk to engineering---I need more power,but i won't need it for a few more years).SOOOOOO--now i am set--I will get a seperate pre amp and power amp for the stereo (WHICH IS WHAT REALLY COUNTS TO ME) and have a epl out so that when i want to watch movies i can use the Rotel 1068 and use the tympanis as my fronts---a cc3 as my center--the mg3s as the rear and some other maggies on the side.I will spend good money to drive the tympanis,BUT I now must try to match the theater sound to my stereo sound without going broke.----------------------------------------------------------------------So now i am doing research on the net to know what to actually touch and listen to when i shop.KEEP THIS IN MIND--IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TAKE TYMPANIS WITH YOU ANYWHERE,SO I KNOW I POO-POO ALOT OF EQUIPMENT BECAUSE THE SPEAKERS ARN'T MAGGIES---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I found out that Jolida is only 15 minutes from my house and when i went there I thought the envoy tube setup with heil speakers sounded great.I liked it enough to buy a level 3 modded jd100 cd from "HOT ROD AUDIO MODS" in november.I let the tubes burn in over 100 hrs during dec and early jan and am very pleased with the way in sounds on what i am using now.(the fully modded cd was only $350 more and i did't have to pay stupid tax either)Since i still like the way my hafler sounds(I KNOW IT DOESN"T COMPARE TO WHAT I WILL GET,BUT I WOULD RATHER HAVE A $1000AMP WITH MY MAGGIES THAN A $10,000 AMP ON B&Ws---MORE ON NEXT POST
First I should explain what I am trying to do,and then what I have already started.I will be moving this summer to NC where I will rent a place while i am building my final house(i am a builder).In the house,will be my room for stereo and home theater(18 x 28 give or take, and 10' ceiling with 2 8" step ups behind the money seats).There will be at least 6 dedicated circuits and i already have 10 guage silver coated copper to run behind the walls for the surround speakers.Tweaks are welcomed for the room as I am doing this myself and can do whatever needs to be done.Now to start on my stereo problem--- it started in 1974 at the u of md.I was at the library when i noticed they had a stereo listening room where albums were played at different times of the day.It might not of been "high end",but it was so far superior to my sanyo 8 track in my 68 camaro,i just couldn't stand it.I needed a good stereo.Couldn't wait 4 more years for a job,so i joined the police dept and started saving every penny for my stereo-------I bought all marantz(I know i have this problem where i like everything to match)--60w int amp/10b tuner/imperial9 speakers and dual tt.I had a good guy at dixie hi-fi(it would later become circuit city---the k mart of stereo---how sad)and he always gave me great deals.I called up marantz one day to ask about one of thier products and the woman on the phone was so rude,I immediatly sold all my stuff.This started me on a 5year journey of upgrading everytime i had some extra money.I was happy with my dynaco pat5 and citation16,but I changed speakers at least 10 times.Then one day my buddy called me up and said he had a female friend who had caught her husband cheating, and she wanted to sell off his equipment while he was on a business trip.He was getting the AR equipment and I was going to get some speakers i had never seen called tympani B's for the bargain price of $500.(I know some of you think I'm a heel,but come on--WHAT A DEAL!!!)When i got there,I uttered the usual comments upon coming in direct contact with Maggies----THEY'RE SO TALL--THEY'RE SO WIDE--THEY'RE SO SKINNY--ARE THEY REALLY SPEAKERS???? I can still remember the chills I got when I fired them up---I knew i had found the perfect speakers for me.Unfortunatly they put my citation 16 into thermal overload hell(KIRK to engineering--I need more power and I need it NOW!!)Since I liked the dynaco,it was only natural that I went to Hafler.Since mid level hifi was now totally gone from circuit city,I realized my wholesale days were gone also.To keep the price affordable,I bought the kits for the 110 and the dh500,and wired in some mods that the custom place had designed to improve the sound.I was finally happy---Then in 1987 my right speaker started to "rattle".I now had 3 kids and a mortgage and could not afford to get them factory redone,so i ordered new covers and figured i would repair them myself----I just couldn't find the time!!In 1990 I got into a big car wreck at work and now all i had was time, but i was somewhat incapable of working.So, as a retirement present to myself,I found a set of mint tympani 4a's and then the big splurge---2 velodyne uld15 subs in light oak to match the trim on my tympani's(as i stated before, I like things to match and 2 subs not only look better,they sound quite impressive also)I am happy with my sound and I don't even look at any stereo equipment,as I sold my turntable and bought a denon cd at the same time as the subs,so I was complete.Then in jan of05,my 110 picked up a problem in the output on the the right side.I know i will be moving soon so i figure now is the time to upgrade to something that can do my theater room and the 110 is not worth putting any money into it.When i started going to look at theater stuff, i went in with the mindset of maybe selling the tympanis and getting all new speakers which might have more "impact" than the maggies.I am not capable of spending big bucks,but i know i deserve to have some of the house equity go to my setup,so I will put myself in the mid hifi range.I needed a pre amp processor that can work for me now and also do the theater later and i found the best bang for the buck to be the ROTEL 1068 which i bought in april.When i hooked it up ,I found out that my denon cd was now dead also!!!!!!I figure my dh 500 will go any minute eventhough it still seems to be doing fine----In case you are wondering what i did for a cd player---i used a $75 sony from my sons room while i shopped for a new one--GUH!!!.NOW, here i am needing a quality cd player and probably a new amp and I havn't followed any of the stereo advances in the last 13 years,so here i am on the net.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------While shopping it became apparent to me that no matter how good the equipment was that I looked at,I am hopelessly hooked on my maggies for my stereo and then i might have to do another whole system for the theater.I contacted magnepan and they advised me maggies would sound more natural and still give me impact like "box" speakers.So i found a set of rebuilt mg3 on ebay and picked them up to use on the tv setup i have now(13 year old sony dolby surround receiver and boston 930 speakers)To me they sound great--the voices are so natural you don't even know those 6ft monsters are there------only one minor problem,I noticed in order to get the same spl out of them they are about to put my poor sony into thermal overload hell(Kirk to engineering---I need more power,but i won't need it for a few more years).SOOOOOO--now i am set--I will get a seperate pre amp and power amp for the stereo (WHICH IS WHAT REALLY COUNTS TO ME) and have a epl out so that when i want to watch movies i can use the Rotel 1068 and use the tympanis as my fronts---a cc3 as my center--the mg3s as the rear and some other maggies on the side.I will spend good money to drive the tympanis,BUT I now must try to match the theater sound to my stereo sound without going broke.----------------------------------------------------------------------So now i am doing research on the net to know what to actually touch and listen to when i shop.KEEP THIS IN MIND--IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TAKE TYMPANIS WITH YOU ANYWHERE,SO I KNOW I POO-POO ALOT OF EQUIPMENT BECAUSE THE SPEAKERS ARN'T MAGGIES---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I found out that Jolida is only 15 minutes from my house and when i went there I thought the envoy tube setup with heil speakers sounded great.I liked it enough to buy a level 3 modded jd100 cd from "HOT ROD AUDIO MODS" in november.I let the tubes burn in over 100 hrs during dec and early jan and am very pleased with the way in sounds on what i am using now.(the fully modded cd was only $350 more and i did't have to pay stupid tax either)Since i still like the way my hafler sounds(I KNOW IT DOESN"T COMPARE TO WHAT I WILL GET,BUT I WOULD RATHER HAVE A $1000AMP WITH MY MAGGIES THAN A $10,000 AMP ON B&Ws---MORE ON NEXT POST
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