The ask Tin about audio thread

camaromann said:
If I am unwilling to get a full surround sound, and am just after a bad ass sound bar and wireless subwoofer, what brands should I look for? Any to stay away from? Ive heard some $300-$500 sound bar setups that were loud, clear and punchy, just unsure what ones would be a good choice if I was willing to spend some decent money.
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For a typical living room, I recommend a pair of bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer. You get a wider sound field, pronounced upper bass/lower midrange (the frequency range that punches you in the chest), and the option to expand in the future. The biggest drawback to a soundbar is the further away you sit, the more smearing between channels you will have. What this does is portray a monaural sound, as you lose the stereo/surround effect. Some manufacturers try to address the issue by pointing the individual drivers in different directions, but this has an adverse effect as well. When the drivers are pointed in opposing directions, you lose what we call the "phantom" center channel effect that you get when using a stereo pair of speakers. Soundbars can be good for a small bedroom, but nothing much larger than that.
 
Damn. This will be going in my newly finished basement. Putting a 70" panaramic 4k TV down there and wanted a loud, clear sound system for mainly gaming and for some movies. I am not really wanting to deal with seeing or wiring rear speakers, so bookshelf speakers could be an option. Any recommendations on kits/systems? Or on speakers and what to drive them with? This section of the basement is roughly 32ft X 12ft, but the couch is maybe 6-8ft from the TV.
 
camaromann said:
Damn. This will be going in my newly finished basement. Putting a 70" panaramic 4k TV down there and wanted a loud, clear sound system for mainly gaming and for some movies. I am not really wanting to deal with seeing or wiring rear speakers, so bookshelf speakers could be an option. Any recommendations on kits/systems? Or on speakers and what to drive them with? This section of the basement is roughly 32ft X 12ft, but the couch is maybe 6-8ft from the TV.
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How much do you want to spend? You can do a 3.1 channel system. You can always hide wires in the walls or in a conduit of some kind.
 
camaromann said:
I'd spend $500 on something. That was kind of my limit on the sound bar/sub combo.
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The Andrew Jones designed Pioneer stuff is the best bang for the buck gear out right now. If you do a Google search, you'll see many rave reviews on many of the audio forums. Lots of bang for the buck.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SW-8M...qid=1410959189&sr=8-5&keywords=pioneer+andrew

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-BS...0959452&sr=8-13&keywords=pioneer+andrew+jones

http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-NR140...F8&qid=1410959336&sr=8-1&keywords=marantz+5.1

This comes in at a little more than you want to spend, but it'll be well worth it. Marantz surround receiver and the Andrew Jones Pioneer stuff. That receiver also has preouts so you can use a separate power amp for the front mains if you so choose. We ain't walkin' son, we ridin'.
 
I've gotta figure out how to hide speaker wires in my apartment. I don't think they'd be too happy with me drilling holes in walls and/or floors...LOL
 
littlemissGTO said:
I've gotta figure out how to hide speaker wires in my apartment. I don't think they'd be too happy with me drilling holes in walls and/or floors...LOL
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One of my friends did that in his old apartment, but he had permission from management. They told him it was OK as long as he repaired it prior to moving out. You might want to check with the management office ;)
 
Think I might sell of some audio equipment and grab a pair of Great Plains Audio 212-8A large format coaxial drivers: http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/downloads/212_8A.pdf Great Plains Audio was started by the old Altec Lansing engineers when Altec was swallowed up by the Chinese. They have a 1.4" horn, which is much lower in distortion and more dynamic than your typical 1" found on most speakers. Altec's are the holy grail for many people like me. Now I just need to decide what to sell off to finance this :lol:
 
What brand of speaker is it? Looks like a field coil type. Some sound crazy good, but they are (were) very expensive. There are new production field coils available from a company named Feastrex, and they run about $8,000 on up, and that's without cabinets or anything to drive the field coil itself. The higher sought after vintage field coils were made by Jensen and Stephens.
 
moneypit said:
looking for a 25x2 true RMS amp to run off the TV, going to be pushing some Bose 201s
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How much do you want to spend? The 201's aren't very efficient, about 86dB 1W/m, so they will need some juice. I would look at something 50WPC or more. You can probably find a second hand NAD to run them off of for a good price.
 
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