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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
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,607 posts
 
I am a professional theater designer and Maggie's are terrible  for theater 

They don't play loud are dynamically limited they are hard to drive and día podes for fronts confuse image placement 

Martin Logan are hybrid  which are better suited for theater 

You want dynamic speakers



Easier to place and tune  more dynamic and designed for your application 

Dave and troy
AUDIO INTELLECT NJ





ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
2,851 posts
 
Welcome to the forum. You've had quite a tough go of it, so you deserve to treat yourself to some audio goodies.

Since you've already owned ML speakers, I guess you don't need to hear the speech about the pros and cons of panel speakers. You seem to like the transparency they can give you and your musical taste seems to be in their wheelhouse. But I will suggest that you have quite a large space to fill and you might be happier with 1.7s or larger. And adding subs might be in order too. That would be optional for what you mainly listen to though.

Good luck with your new system.

Oz


n6gq OP
7 posts
 
Ok, this is not for a theater, just 2-channel accoustic music listening. 

Sounds like the Magnepan 1.7's are the trick.

What is the hot source now? I don't feel like building a vinyl collection, CD's are ok I guess, I have a lot from the years past, but maybe Tonal and a streaming DAC? 

For 1.7's, what are people using for amps? Is the Vidar still a good amp for that? Hegel H90? Or do we need more current?
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,913 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.
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,469 posts
 
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on being here.  

1.7s are going to be awesome for you. They are a great speaker.  Bryston is a pretty magical match with Magnepan but that is going to be a bit above your budget. 

If you can find a used Bryston amp with decent power, it could be very interesting.  Especially matched with something like an NAD C658 which has an awesome feature set.  

They have been horrible to get through COVID, but a Musical Fidelity integrated amp would be brilliant with those.  The M6si is $2790 new and will have plenty of power to drive those speakers.  I did see the distributor has one silver edition of this in-stock but it is B-Stock which means there will be a visual defect.  Otherwise, there may be stock hitting the market this month.  B-Stock does not need to be sold at minimum advertised price so you could get that for less.  

Getting music to that integrated amp is the next challenge.  You can simply run a USB from your computer to the DAC on the integrated amp.  An alternative would be a streamer or server.  Do you have a large local library?  Do you need a CD player or place to rip music?  Will you just use Tidal or Qobuz? 

You could get something like a Bluesound Node for $549.  Longer term, they are going to update the software to allow you to use the USB as a output.  Short term, it has RCA outs.  

You could spend a bit more and get something like a Roon Nucleus which has a USB output.  This starts at $1400 and does require a Roon subscription and either a local library or a Tidal/Qobuz subscription  

Finally, those 1.7s are great but don't have the best bass response.  Good for most music, you may find that a subwoofer would enhance the listening experience.    Maggies are not the easiest to integrate subs with.  Sunfire still has some nice subs in the HRS line that aren't crazy expensive and are refined.  I think they start at $850 for the 8".    

At a more modest price, Q Acoustics has a $599 sub that is nice called the Concept B12.  I worry about the amount of power it has to offer in that large of a room but it might work.

SVS makes several sealed subs that would do the job and would be fine choices for you.  

Regarding budget:

$2000 for the Speakers
$2790 for MF M6si (less for B-Stock - between you and dealer)
$599 for Subwoofer
$549 for Bluesound Node

$5938 Total.  A little bit more for ICs, a pair of RCAs and a subwoofer cable.  

~$1000 more for a Roon Nucleus.

Not spot on budget but not that far off with an amplifier that can really handle the very hard to drive Maggie speaker.  

I am a dealer for Musical Fidelity, NAD, Bluesound, Q, and Roon.  I have no affiliation with Magnepan, Sunfire, SVS or Bryston.  
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