[HardtailHack]

All you folks being smarter then me and having cooler stuff. Is starting to fucking piss me off.

There are heaps of online guides for building speakers, with Dayton drivers(or a few others) you could make a pretty decent sounding pair of speakers for ~$100.
Midwoofer- https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DC130B-4-5-1-4-Classic-Woofer-Speaker-295-307
Tweeter- https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-ND25FA-4-1-Soft-Dome-Neodymium-Tweeter-275-059
You could buy an off the shelf crossover or build one for a few extra dollars.
You could also find some old speakers then work out which drivers will suit the enclosure and go from there.

Home

Classix II MT Bookshelf Speaker Kit with Knock-Down CabinetThe Classix II kit is a 2-way bookshelf speaker that provides a big sound from a small package. With powerful bass response, relaxed midrange, and natural high end this speaker has the ability to make even poor recordings sound...

www.parts-express.com

 

[HardtailHack]

I think I have found a decent option for an Audio Hub, I haven't looked at any source products for a long time but it seems if you want the functionality of a receiver minus an amp you pay more money.......
The Dali Sound Hub Compact will mean I can ditch the Raspberry and just run the Beocreate amp as the DSP profile is saved to it.
Finding a network streamer thingy with more than one optical input seems to be quite difficult, the Sound Hub has two fibre, one HDMI and an RCA input and it's not stupid money. Oh and it has a proper remote rather than having to scramble to work out which tablet or phone controls the volume.

DALI SOUND HUB COMPACT - The central role in an active wireless OBERON C system

The SOUND HUB COMPACT plays the central role in your active wireless Hi-Fi system. It receives wired and Bluetooth audio sources and transmits them wirelessly to speakers in the DALI eco system, which includes OBERON C, CALLISTO C and RUBICON C speakers. The SOUND HUB COMPACT was designed with...

www.dali-speakers.com

EDIT- Both versions are useless to me as the only output is wireless, it's a very Apple way to go about things.

 

[StiHacka]

There are heaps of online guides for building speakers, with Dayton drivers(or a few others) you could make a pretty decent sounding pair of speakers for ~$100.
Midwoofer- https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DC130B-4-5-1-4-Classic-Woofer-Speaker-295-307
Tweeter- https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-ND25FA-4-1-Soft-Dome-Neodymium-Tweeter-275-059
You could buy an off the shelf crossover or build one for a few extra dollars.
You could also find some old speakers then work out which drivers will suit the enclosure and go from there.

Home

Classix II MT Bookshelf Speaker Kit with Knock-Down CabinetThe Classix II kit is a 2-way bookshelf speaker that provides a big sound from a small package. With powerful bass response, relaxed midrange, and natural high end this speaker has the ability to make even poor recordings sound...

www.parts-express.com

Thank you! I decided to go down the rabbit hole and ordered two Hitmaker kits. I'll have those on a desk and will be making some noise through them.

 

[Atomic Dog]

Today I picked up a pair of Elac Debut B6 bookshelf speakers from Goodwill for fifteen bucks. They'll make a nice upgrade to my front speakers and eventually be relegated to surrounds one day when I can invest in some nice fronts and a center channel.

I had to provide my own dog hair for the glamour photos, though.

 

[Westy]

Today I picked up a pair of Elac Debut B6 bookshelf speakers from Goodwill for fifteen bucks. They'll make a nice upgrade to my front speakers and eventually be relegated to surrounds one day when I can invest in some nice fronts and a center channel.

I had to provide my own dog hair for the glamour photos, though.

Was going to say, someone has some nice Elacs and a yellow lab.

 

[HardtailHack]

Have any of you guys heard the Magnepan LRS? They look like really good value for a US made speaker, there are some pretty solid reviews-

Magnepan LRS Loudspeakers Review

The latest Hi-Fi News, Hi-Fi Reviews, Home Cinema News and Reviews and much more in Australia and New Zealand.

www.stereo.net.au

 

[stevew]

I enjoy it when this guy posts shots of his stereo...

 

[stevew]

 

[Shizzon]

My 6 year old computer audio solution (Focal XS 2.1 Multimedia) kicked the bucket a couple months ago and I finally got around to pulling the trigger on a replacement system.

Speakers: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/2-way-speaker-kits/sb-acoustics-micro-2-way-speaker-kit-pair/

Subwoofer: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-9-subwoofers/sb-acoustics-sb23mfcl45-4-8-polypropylene-cone-sub-woofer-4-ohm/

Amp: https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DTA-2.1BT2-100W-2.1-Class-D-Bluetooth-Amplifier-with-Sub-Frequency-Adjustment-300-3831

DAC (Already own): Audioquest Dragonfly Red

This should be a quick and fun little project. All I really need to fabricate is an enclosure for the sub. I'm thinking of doing a triangular vented enclosure behind my monitor for my corner desk; it will be essentially be taking up wasted space anyways.

 

[HardtailHack]

I think I have finally found a hub that does what I want, it is supposedly good value but to me over twice the price of my amplifier seems sorta expensive-

https://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/product/hdacc-ii-4k/

I'm also going to swap out my Scan-Speak mids for some Purifi drivers, they should play down to ~43Hz in a 6L ported box, sadly I only have 60W to drive them so they will probably struggle to hit 100dB.

 

[HardtailHack]

I emailed Essence and they said that if I use HDMI in and optical out there will be a degradation in sound quality because of some BS about piracy.
Ordered a 2021 Bluesound Node, I was tempted to buy an amplifier that I could bi amp but finding something that was 200W a channel, bi ampable, runs class D amplification and having all the wireless stuff I wanted was too difficult.
Fuck HDMI to hell, go back to DVI and keep audio separate.

 

[Westy]

I like my Bluesound Note. Audio Science Review claims it has a high noise floor. Doing my own testing by playing an empty track shows it does have noise, but I have to have the volume cranked high enough for me to hear it that a real track would make my ears bleed.

 

[rideit]

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Have any of you guys heard the Magnepan LRS? They look like really good value for a US made speaker, there are some pretty solid reviews-
View attachment 159220

Magnepan LRS Loudspeakers Review

The latest Hi-Fi News, Hi-Fi Reviews, Home Cinema News and Reviews and much more in Australia and New Zealand.

www.stereo.net.au

I remember when those first came out, high end sounded good, weak low end. Sub is necessary.

 

[StiHacka]

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”

$3,000 HDMI cable has entered the room.

 

[HardtailHack]

I like my Bluesound Note. Audio Science Review claims it has a high noise floor. Doing my own testing by playing an empty track shows it does have noise, but I have to have the volume cranked high enough for me to hear it that a real track would make my ears bleed.

I dislike it so far, it doesn't seem as intuitive as I'd hoped and I can't work out why the TV sometimes doesn't have any audio. You have to walk over to the unit and press a button and it comes to life, it is set so HDMI has priority but it seems as if the Node goes to sleep but I have that turned off.
The HiFi Berry controls are better which was a bit of a sad shock, looks a lot cleaner too.

These were supposed to be replaced with much better built boxes, these were painted with VHT Wrinkle using a roller coz the can had no gas so I stabbed a hole in it, no holes were filled, the grilles were hot glued on, ports are PVC pipe.
The grilles have three busted CX-Ray spokes to make the curve and that worked pretty well, might do the same but better executed in the next ones. I think the next ones will be a mixture of MDF and fibreglass to get them as small as possible, then covered in some black ash veneer.

 

[Muddy]

For a basic home system a EQ was added to tame bass response. Of course 'this time' was going to be different and an ideal SPL Curve would be found. Nope, nope and, maybe not, even having 4 active and 2 passive X-over network.

It never fails and a few old friends/schoolmates who are still involved in audio have always said the same thing - ideal RTA/SPL frequency curves are just crap. Either the subwoofer free-air or the enclosure port turbulence needed to be given EQ from 45-53HZ, tightening up the remaining frequencies had vocals suffer and acoustic bass would sound strained if alongside percussion.

Finally gave up before football came on yesterday and set the EQ to music I knew well and - that's the ticket to smooth sound to the ear. Upper mid-bass also stopped migrating from the sub to the front soundstage from having strong low end extension added behind the sub frequency cutoff and then having midbass be re-introduced starting at a much steeper slope than the low-pass filter, which helps the full range woofers carry their bass performance. An effective inverted bandpass filter but took a full week to figure out.

Read about Parts Express and Dayton Audio at the top of the page. Have a 2.5" subwoofer for the PC and the thing is a legitimate monster! Powered 2.5" speaker and a 2.5" passive radiator and it dips quite low. Great sound for overall PC and pushes a set of two-way 4" bookshelf speakers easily also.

 

[HardtailHack]

Does anyone use any box designing software at all that does a timber cutting list including pre drilled holes?
I can't be stuffed making boxes from scratch, I have spied a couple of CNC machines cutting MDF when out on jobs, might hit someone up for a cash job.

 

[Muddy]

Does anyone use any box designing software at all that does a timber cutting list including pre drilled holes?
I can't be stuffed making boxes from scratch, I have spied a couple of CNC machines cutting MDF when out on jobs, might hit someone up for a cash job.
View attachment 174302

What's the reason for that surround on the midrange/midbass?

Is this for more boutique hardwoods or something? Plenty of suppliers offer pre-fab and then just stuff w/ polyfill to tame any resonance and flappiness.

 

[stevew]

@Westy ....there was something you told me i might need to use my record player with a older tuner and it slipped my mind...imagine that....

can you refresh my memory....

 

[Shizzon]

What's the reason for that surround on the midrange/midbass?

• Low Surround Radiation Distortion
  • The surround contributes to sound output. Conventional surrounds produce distortion as they deform. PURIFI’s Neutral Surround geometry avoids this mechanism without constraining motion. This reduces harmonic distortion as well as intermodulation distortion

Purify is doing some pretty cool stuff and is making some incredibly low distortion drivers, the weird looking surround is part of the magic sauce.

 

[Westy]

@Westy ....there was something you told me i might need to use my record player with a older tuner and it slipped my mind...imagine that....

can you refresh my memory....

You will probably be fine if you have an old tuner. A record player needs a phono specific input into your amplifier. The phono input applies extra amplification and reverses a filtering scheme that records are made with to reduce noise. Modern tuners dropped these inputs decades ago.

If your amp doesn't have a phono input you will need a special phono pre-amp like one of these.

phono preamp at Crutchfield

Shopping for phono preamp? Get FREE 2-day shipping. Since 1974 our Virginia-based Advisors have loved helping folks find the right gear. Call or chat with us today for free expert advice.

www.crutchfield.com

 

[stevew]

You will probably be fine if you have an old tuner. A record player needs a phono specific input into your amplifier. The phono input applies extra amplification and reverses a filtering scheme that records are made with to reduce noise. Modern tuners dropped these inputs decades ago.

If your amp doesn't have a phono input you will need a special phono pre-amp like one of these.

phono preamp at Crutchfield

Shopping for phono preamp? Get FREE 2-day shipping. Since 1974 our Virginia-based Advisors have loved helping folks find the right gear. Call or chat with us today for free expert advice.

www.crutchfield.com

gracias...