What speakers for $2,000?

[xtroria]

Is this a complaint? $5,000 is a very healthy budget for a home theater.

 

Not a complain, just chiming in and yes IMO $5000-7500 is a very good budget for mid to high end home theatre

[spwath]

What case do you have???

I had ft05.

Not anymore

[KaminKevCrew]

I had ft05.

Not anymore

About 6 months ago I spent $300 (and paid $100 to ship it) for an hp Blackbird 002 case...

[xtroria]

I had ft05.

Not anymore

About 6 months ago I spent $300 (and paid $100 to ship it) for an hp Blackbird 002 case...

 

As someone who's living in a non-permanent place, I don't see myself buying cases more than $100

[KaminKevCrew]

As someone who's living in a non-permanent place, I don't see myself buying cases more than $100

Yeah. This thing weighs about 60 lbs without all the hardware. It sucks to move.

[spwath]

Yeah. This thing weighs about 60 lbs without all the hardware. It sucks to move.

Mine waid 25lbs. But I sold it now, and have a htpc case to match my receiver.

[xtroria]

Mine waid 25lbs. But I sold it now, and have a htpc case to match my receiver.

 

Small cases are wonderful thing, unless if you own R9 290 / 390 and up, then they're not a wonderful thing. Kinda regret on the silencio 352 purchase decision, should've gone with define mini

 

Also @KaminKevCrew, damn dude, it's like 5 o'clock, were you from a party ?

[spwath]

Small cases are wonderful thing, unless if you own R9 290 / 390 and up, then they're not a wonderful thing. Kinda regret on the silencio 352 purchase decision, should've gone with define mini

Also @KaminKevCrew, damn dude, it's like 5 o'clock, were you from a party ?

Yeah well I water cooled my htpc.

And I'm about to add my receiver to the water cooling loop.

[johnt]

About 6 months ago I spent $300 (and paid $100 to ship it) for an hp Blackbird 002 case...

That's a forever case. Which transformer does yours turn into?

[Stagea]

Is this a complaint? $5,000 is a very healthy budget for a home theater.

 

Agree. I think most people spend about that range for a home theater (display not included).

[johnt]

Agree. I think most people spend about that range for a home theater (display not included).

 

Maybe. Depends on the person and where they shop. I purchased a lot of my home theater equipment at end of product life, so I got my Klipsch speakers with a Yamaha receiver for $1,500. And I thought my rear speakers were a bit over priced actually.

 

 

Not a complain, just chiming in and yes IMO $5000-7500 is a very good budget for mid to high end home theatre

 

I'm curious what you guys are running in your home theater?

[xtroria]

Maybe. Depends on the person and where they shop. I purchased a lot of my home theater equipment at end of product life, so I got my Klipsch speakers with a Yamaha receiver for $1,500. And I thought my rear speakers were a bit over priced actually.

 

 

 

I'm curious what you guys are running in your home theater?

 

We have NS-5 series yamaha from like 2003 i think with $1200 yamaha receiver

[Stagea]

I'm curious what you guys are running in your home theater?

Here's my current stuff... my main HT is dated.

HT1:

HTPC (i7-920 / GTX480 / BD)

Cambridge Audio 650BD Player

Cambridge Audio 640R Receiver

Wharfedale Diamond 9.6, 9.CM, 9.3, 9.3 (7 ch) Speakers

Behringer EPX4000 Power Amp (for Passive Sub)

Custom Audiobahn AW1805Q Passive Subwoofer

Cambridge Audio and Profigold Cables/Interconnects

HT2:

HTPC (A8-3870K / HD 7850 / BD)

Yamaha RX-V777 Receiver

Polk M20, CSM, M10 Speakers

2x Klipsch SW-450 Subwoofers

Generic Cables (Amphenol)

HiFi1:

PC Source (Linked to HT1 HTPC)

Audiophilleo2 PC Transport

Cambridge Audio 840C Disc Transport / DAC

Cambridge Audio 840E Preamplifier (for Volume Control)

Cambridge Audio 840W Power Amp (Driving Mids and Highs)

2x Adcom GFA-555se Bridged Power Amps (Driving Lows)

Yamaha CX-1000 (for Low Power Amp Attenuation)

Audiocontrol 6XS Crossover (to manage subwoofers)

Bowers & Wilkins CM9 Towers

2x Modded Mirage Omni S12 Subwoofers

Mixture of different Van den Hul and Cambridge Audio Cables/Interconnects

HiFi2:

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 Audio Streamer

Cambridge Audio 851C Disk Transport / DAC

Cambridge Audio 840A Integrated Amplifier (Preamp and Driving Highs)

Cambridge Audio 851A Power Amp (Driving Lows)

PSB Imagine T Towers

PSB SubSeries 200 Subwoofer

Mixture of Audioquest and Nordost Cables/Interconnects

[KaminKevCrew]

Here's my current stuff... my main HT is dated.

 

HT1: 

HTPC (i7-920 / GTX480 / BD)

Cambridge Audio 650BD Player

Cambridge Audio 640R Receiver

Wharfedale 9.6, 9.CM, 9.3, 9.3 (7 ch) Speakers

Behringer EPX4000 Power Amp (for Passive Sub)

Custom Audiobahn AW1805Q Passive Subwoofer

Cambridge Audio and Profigold Cables/Interconnects

 

HT2: 

HTPC (A8-3870K / HD 7850 / BD)

Yamaha RX-V777 Receiver

Polk M20, CSM, M10 Speakers

2x Klipsch SW-450 Subwoofers

Generic Cables

 

HiFi1:

PC Source (Linked to HT1 HTPC)

Audiophilleo2 PC Transport

Cambridge Audio 840C Disc Transport / DAC

Cambridge Audio 840E Preamplifier (for Volume Control)

Cambridge Audio 840W Power Amp (Driving Mids and Highs)

2x Adcom GFA-555se Bridged Power Amps (Driving Lows)

Yamaha CX-1000 (for Low Power Amp Attenuation)

Audiocontrol 6XS Crossover (to manage subwoofers)

Bowers & Wilkins CM9 Towers

2x Modded Mirage Omni S12 Subwoofers

Mixture of different Van den Hul and Cambridge Audio Cables/Interconnects

 

HiFi2: 

Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 Audio Streamer

Cambridge Audio 851C Disk Transport / DAC

Cambridge Audio 840A Integrated Amplifier (Preamp and Driving Highs)

Cambridge Audio 851A Power Amp (Driving Lows)

PSB Imagine 2 Towers

PSB SubSeries 200 Subwoofer

Mixture of Audioquest and Nordost Cables/Interconnects

Is Cambridge audio a European thing? AFAIK, they are barely known, if at all, in the US.

[Hikaru12]

Is Cambridge audio a European thing? AFAIK, they are barely known, if at all, in the US.

 

Cambridge Audio is one of the best speaker/receiver makers. I believe they're from the UK. They're highly recommended over on the A/V forums.

[KaminKevCrew]

Cambridge Audio is one of the best speaker/receiver makers. I believe they're from the UK. They're highly recommended over on the A/V forums.

I'll look into them next time I'm looking at a receiver then!

[Stagea]

Is Cambridge audio a European thing? AFAIK, they are barely known, if at all, in the US.

 

Cambridge is a fairly popular HiFi brand (though they have gotten into Home Theater and Personal Audio too). Some of their products are quite affordable, which makes them an entry point for hobbyists. They price lower than Arcam (another popular English brand), though slightly higher than Japanese makers Marantz and Rotel. England supposedly has the highest HiFi system concentration per capita. Roksan, Cyrus, Musical Fidelity, Meridian, Exposure, Naim, Linn, Rega, Quad, Creek, Onix, dCS, etc. electronics are also from England (they have just as much speaker makers).

 

HiFi penetration per capita is a bit low in the US, hence the lack of popularity of these things. Americans tend to be more into high power Home Theater builds with large projection displays (they get very expensive too). 

[spwath]

Cambridge is a fairly popular HiFi brand (though they have gotten into Home Theater and Personal Audio too). Some of their products are quite affordable, which makes them an entry point for hobbyists. They price lower than Arcam (another popular English brand), though slightly higher than Japanese makers Marantz and Rotel. England supposedly has the highest HiFi system concentration per capita. Roksan, Cyrus, Musical Fidelity, Meridian, Exposure, Naim, Linn, Rega, Quad, Creek, Onix, dCS, etc. electronics are also from England (they have just as much speaker makers).

HiFi penetration per capita is a bit low in the US, hence the lack of popularity of these things. Americans tend to be more into high power Home Theater builds with large projection displays (they get very expensive too).

What is the difference between Hifi and home theater audio

[johnt]

Explain to me what a preamp is for?

[genkifd]

preamps dont have a inbuilt amplifier - all preamp / processor does is contain all the inputs, processing etc. great advantage of a preamp is they have alot more room inside than a reciever (all in one).

[genkifd]

I'll look into them next time I'm looking at a receiver then!

problem with european receivers is that they are generally slow in the uptake of new tech. example they still do not have atmos and hdmi 2.0(a).

[Stagea]

What is the difference between Hifi and home theater audio

HiFi is generally used for high grade music-specific systems (not optimized for movie playback). The HiFi hobby is generally an obsession for signal purity and truthfulness to the source. Most HiFi systems are 2 channel, though there are multi-channel HiFi systems (typically arranged differently from home theater systems, as they are based on micing standards for multi-channel music distribution). Most HiFi people are processing-averse, and focus on synergy and other tweaks. Popular sources for HiFi are High Res Digital (DXD and DSD256 downloads are becoming the trend, though my library is still mostly 192/24) and Analogue (typically Vinyl or Reel-to-Reel).

 

Home Theater audio systems recreate the cinematic experience. They are home-bound interpretations of a full-blown cinema system. They tend to do lots of processing to compensate for placement and room response, and tend to follow home cinema audio standards.

 

Home Theater systems normally focus more on the fundamentals (amplifier power, speaker efficiency, etc.) then compensate for non-linearities with processing.  HiFi components tend to cost more per item or per spec despite the much reduced feature set because they tend to use tighter tolerance parts and are built with greater headroom in general.

 

 

Explain to me what a preamp is for?

 

It's a line driver for the power amplifier. It's normally a small amplifier with an attenuator to let you adjust the volume and be a voltage source for the power amplifier input. Most preamps have a source selector integrated in.

 

An integrated amplifier is a preamplifier and a power amplifier merged into one unit.

[Stagea]

problem with european receivers is that they are generally slow in the uptake of new tech. example they still do not have atmos and hdmi 2.0(a).

 

Agree. Only a handful have HDMI 2.0 at this point.

 

Like the Canadian brands, they tend to refresh their products less frequently (not the annual cadence followed by the Japanese brands).

 

Lyngdorf is probably an exception, as they are very up to date (and can be very expensive for Home Theater).

[Stagea]

Maybe. Depends on the person and where they shop. I purchased a lot of my home theater equipment at end of product life, so I got my Klipsch speakers with a Yamaha receiver for $1,500. And I thought my rear speakers were a bit over priced actually.

 

US prices are generally very good for Home Theater stuff. I think it's because it's highly commoditized in that market (lots of volume and competition), and because US taxes are actually quite low. The sheer size of the market also helps tremendously (economies of scale).

 

The only places where you can get HT stuff as inexpensively are in oil-rich gulf nations (since they don't need tax revenue from goods sold). That might change soon though, as oil prices are dropping (reducing their revenue from the sale of that commodity).

[Hikaru12]

Explain to me what a preamp is for?

They basically allow your receiver to get louder without distortion. They amplify the line signal before the receiver amplifies it a second time. Not really necessary unless you're going for a super duper HT system.