FWIW i think what you're doing is great. right now i'm listening to a pair of modified/upgraded hartley bookshelf speakers that i bought at the local habitat for humanity resale store for $24. with upgraded tweeters and crossovers from hartley (plus a few enhancements of my own), they sound GREAT to my ears, especially with acoustic music and jazz in particular. they have a very clear midrange with great presence and detail, smooth yet fairly detailed high end. about $200 plus my labor in them total, and i'm pretty sure that i would have to spend about $1500 to top them (which is about how much my previous pair of speakers cost), given their strengths. i have at this point sold off nearly all of a previous ~12K system, and have almost all vintage equipment. i graduated from college in '89, earn 6 figures, and couldn't be happier with my stereo system. my main advice would be to stay off the audio merry-go-round/vortex of expenditure/resale/expenditure/resale, be happy with less, choose quality vintage equipment carefully AFTER having done your proverbial homework (no pun intended), and above all enjoy the music! you might want to look at some of the later entries in the "building high-end tables cheap" chat thread for some of jean's experience with/opinions of vintage equipment. the man knows his s#!t.
Vintage speaker upgrade suggestions?
To start it off... I'm one of those people who's trying to go hifi on a very very low budget. My find of the year was a Marantz SR2000 receiver (circa 1970+?) and a pair of Mission 710's (bookshelves, 1983+) for $100. Recently, I came across an ad for a pair of Boston Acoustics A70's for $30. My questions are as follows. The receiver is rated at 40 watts per channel. Will this be enough to adequately power the A70's? If so, how big of a difference in sound will I get? I also have the option of using these to replace a pair of Bose 401's attached to a different receiver. Lastly, I couldn't really get a straight answer out of the guys at Myer Emco when I asked whether I'd notice any difference if I were to listen to SACDs using this system. I was told "some people can hear a difference, some people can't" implying there's not a real difference.
In summation:
Is 40w/channel enough to power A70's?
How do A70's compare against Mission 710's or Bose 401's?
Would I notice any advantages in switching to SACD with these speakers/receiver?
If it helps, I listen to Jazz (mostly vocal), Classical (mostly piano) and a bit of electronic.
In summation:
Is 40w/channel enough to power A70's?
How do A70's compare against Mission 710's or Bose 401's?
Would I notice any advantages in switching to SACD with these speakers/receiver?
If it helps, I listen to Jazz (mostly vocal), Classical (mostly piano) and a bit of electronic.