Am I going insane?

make sure your listening test are through and fair

Get music you know well
Get a variety of music: some good recordings, some bad as well as variety of music styles.

make sure the volume is the same loudness when moving from one to another because louder volume allways seems better (even to trained ears).

Make sure you listen ABA in other words the first speaker, the second the first one again. Do this AT LEAST once and more if possible on every piece of music.

Try and get in a longer session on both so you can tell if either of them give you fatige.

make sure you aren’t changing any components except the one your testing so the test is fair (preferably something near your system if you can’t do it in your house.

it helps if you are not rushed and can do the listening without pressure (in other words, send you wife out on a shopping spree. This will cost a couple of bucks, but it will be well worth the effort. You will listen comfortably and your wife will like you, and your hobby, better.

After you feel you have done your homework, buy what you like best regardless of name or price (within your budget of course).

happy listening,
cd

B&W is British for Bose.

No! Actually I like the Boston Accoustics. I still own a Boston Accoustics T830, which was my first real speaker. That was about 11 years ago. I currently own the B&W CDM1SE and Matin Logan Ascents, and recently sold a pair of ProAC 3.8's and have owned Mirage M3si's and B&W N805's. It's all a matter of preference. So I've played around with different brands. I've heard less expensive speakers that sounded better to me.

Now here's the thing to keep in mind. Many of the mass market speakers like Bostons tend to be on the brighter side. A little exaggerated in treble and some cases bass. This makes them sound good in demos. It's like turning the treble & bass all the way up in your car stereo. After a while, this may lead to listener fatigue and a lower enjoyment of the music. These qualitied may be desirable for some people in an HT setting. So you hae to pick what you like!

I would strongly suggest purchasing used from A'gon. How much was the Yamaha receiver? For around $1,000 you could buy a Pre/pro and very good 5 channel amp from Adcom, Rotel, B&K, or Acurus to name a few. As far as speakers, shop around some more. If you like the BA's try the B&W 602S2. They sell used for $400. I find speaker a very personal choice. If you shop around you'll find one that you'll prefer over the BA's However, with used speakers from higher end manufacturers like B&W, Proac, Dynaudio, and the list goes on, you won't lose alot when you resell them. Then you can continue to upgrade and enjoy this fun (or sick) hobby of ours. I'm confident that the CDM1Se's that I purchases a year ago would still sell for the same price today on A'gon and I did not lose alot selling my ProAc's. You couldn't go to Best Buy buy a pair of speakers and sell them a year later for 40% of the cost. Good luck to you.

Hi,

If you are willing to be patient then keep your eye out for a pair of Linn Ninka's. They go for around $1000 used and sound incredible. They are perfect for future upgrading because if you stay with Linn amplifiers you can eventually go "active". This makes a pair of $1700 speakers sound like $3000+. In addition, the company has strong research/development roots and they make very nice products that withstand the test of time. I also agree with other members about going for Rotel, NAD, HK, for receivers instead of Yamaha, Sony, Pioneer, etc. Good Luck!

Thanks to all who have replied, and are yet to do so!

So, I am almost convinced to find a decent pre/pro and amp instead of a reciever. I would like to get a pre/pro capable of DTS, and am definitly going to have to buy used. For starters, I am thinking of the pre/pro and a good 2channel amp, adding a 3channel later for center and surrounds.

So I guess along with my request for speakers to listen to, I am also asking what would be a good pre/pro +2channel amp combo for around $1000 used, that would also allow me to add another 3channel amp later for HT?

When I told my wife that would like to buy a nice sounding audio setup to go with the new TV, she first said..."Zach, what's an 'audio setup'? That sounds expensive!. I know how you are!' was the line I believe...how many of you have heard something like this, I can only imagine.

So thanks again for helping me down the right path. I'm sure I will appreciate it when I'm listening to whatever it is I end up with!

Z