Newbie Basic Setup Help

[zands]

hi guys! can you suggest what gears to acquire for a newbie like me. Budget meal stuff for tt and speakers and thebest place to look for. And do i also need an amp or phono pre amp? Been a car audiophile before and i now want to get into vinyl religion. Plus i want to listen to big bands in vinyl with the right gears. Thanks!

[endrik35]

Try an all Rega setup. It wont break the bank and you'll be having the "Rega sound". Good luck on your audio journey!

[Gau_Ban]

hi guys! can you suggest what gears to acquire for a newbie like me. Budget meal stuff for tt and speakers and thebest place to look for. And do i also need an amp or phono pre amp? Been a car audiophile before and i now want to get into vinyl religion. Plus i want to listen to big bands in vinyl with the right gears. Thanks!

The term "budget audio gear" means different things to different people. I once asked a dealer to recommend a "budget amplifier" and he recommended something that cost 50,000 pesos. Not the most expensive amp in the world but not quite "budget." That said there are brands out there that will give you a lot of bang for the buck.

Electronics: The usual suspects are NAD, Cambridge Audio and Tangent (if Acoustic Dimension in Rockwell still carries them. I haven't dropped by that mall in ages.). There are the local tube guys, if you want to go with vacuum tubes. You will need a phono pre-amp (unless the pre-amp or integrated amp has a built-in one)

Speakers: Lots to choose from. But a local company called Anthony Audio is worth auditioning.

I am not familiar with the budget turntables other than Rega. I don't know how much the Thorens and Pro-Ject turntables are here.

[markymark8386]

Hi bro. Depends sa budget mo and your financial capacity to spend. Im just a newbie here too and just finished my tt setup around a month ago. I built mine cheap lang cost me less than 35k kasama na dito wires/static brush/cables. Bought all my equipments second hand but all in pristine conditio. I know this is cheap compared to the big guns and seasoned veterans here here but im very much impressed that i pulled it off and my ears are impressed.


You can check mine here:
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=27647

[jag0528]

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum so please bear with me if I'm posting on the wrong page.

I have a question about positioning/placement of speakers. I'm renovating a room which will be my den and this is where i will put my PSB floor-standing speakers. There will be an enclosure where the speakers will be located. In short, the sides and rear of the speakers will be covered.

Will this affect the sound quality?

Thanks so much.

[muypogi]

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum so please bear with me if I'm posting on the wrong page.

I have a question about positioning/placement of speakers. I'm renovating a room which will be my den and this is where i will put my PSB floor-standing speakers. There will be an enclosure where the speakers will be located. In short, the sides and rear of the speakers will be covered.

Will this affect the sound quality?

Thanks so much.

In short, enclosing your floorstanders will affect sound quality, I'm afraid. Conventional speakers are designed to be free-standing, preferably with some distance from room boundaries (walls) or else speakers usual response to being too close to the wall will be additional "boominess", for lack of a better term.

I'm assuming the enclosure will be for aesthetic reasons . . if you need to bow to aesthetics, best to get speakers designed to be enclosed in walls, such as architectural speakers from Polk and Dynaudio, to name a few.

[jag0528]

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum so please bear with me if I'm posting on the wrong page.

I have a question about positioning/placement of speakers. I'm renovating a room which will be my den and this is where i will put my PSB floor-standing speakers. There will be an enclosure where the speakers will be located. In short, the sides and rear of the speakers will be covered.

Will this affect the sound quality?

Thanks so much.

In short, enclosing your floorstanders will affect sound quality, I'm afraid. Conventional speakers are designed to be free-standing, preferably with some distance from room boundaries (walls) or else speakers usual response to being too close to the wall will be additional "boominess", for lack of a better term.

I'm assuming the enclosure will be for aesthetic reasons . . if you need to bow to aesthetics, best to get speakers designed to be enclosed in walls, such as architectural speakers from Polk and Dynaudio, to name a few.

Thanks so much for the quick reply. Unfortunately, i already have the PSB so getting new speakers is not an option. Will see if I can re-design the layout to have "free" speakers.

[carbondated]

Or a Wilson Duette.

[muypogi]

Unfortunately, as I've found out when making my man cave, unless it's a purpose built room / equipment, you either bow to sound quality or to your interior designer. . .

You may want to look for "slim" floorstanders that are less obtrusive, such as Rega's RS3, which have big sound from a very slim profile. I had these on extended audition and they sounded very nice:

Here's a photo of them in the living room of my old apartment when the good folks at Rega lent them to me:



Or you may want to go the bookshelf route, which provide a less imposing footprint vs floorstanders. Below are my Dentons in my old apartment as well:

[jag0528]

Decided to alter the layout of the den a bit to eliminate enclosures. I think it will work better now.
Thanks again for your help. This forum is solid!

[jag0528]

Hello everyone. First of all, a very happy new year to all!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I’m a newbie here and I am interested in setting up a decent sound system. Decent to me means being able to listen to the likes of Best Female Voices, Fourplay, Josh Groban, and the like. The kind where i can listen after work and just relax my mind. But my kids will surely listen to the more upbeat (bass heavy) current music. I do have a set of PSB Imagine T2 speakers as my first investment which I currently have hooked up to my older Home Entertainment amplifier (Yamaha V571). I am looking for a 2-channel integrated amplifier to match with my speakers. I mentioned integrated cos the tube amps seem too expensive. Is this correct? My budget for the amp is around P70k. I've been offered the NAD C375BEE but I'm not yet sure. Oh and by the way, the amplifier needs to have an A and B selector.

Any suggestions? Thanks as always.

[muypogi]

Hello everyone. First of all, a very happy new year to all!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I’m a newbie here and I am interested in setting up a decent sound system. Decent to me means being able to listen to the likes of Best Female Voices, Fourplay, Josh Groban, and the like. The kind where i can listen after work and just relax my mind. But my kids will surely listen to the more upbeat (bass heavy) current music. I do have a set of PSB Imagine T2 speakers as my first investment which I currently have hooked up to my older Home Entertainment amplifier (Yamaha V571). I am looking for a 2-channel integrated amplifier to match with my speakers. I mentioned integrated cos the tube amps seem too expensive. Is this correct? My budget for the amp is around P70k. I've been offered the NAD C375BEE but I'm not yet sure. Oh and by the way, the amplifier needs to have an A and B selector.

Any suggestions? Thanks as always.

The Nad 375bee is a safe choice, as it has the power and the warm signature to fulfill your requirements. P70k will give you a lot of leeway though, so there are lots of amps (both solid state and tubes) that can fit the bill. Offhand, a 2-channel stereo amp will be better vs a HT Receiver. A 50wpc Nad 320bee I once had was noticeably better in driving my previous Diamond 9.1 speakers vs a big bulky Denon receiver . . .

Try going to the usual stores to audition, as you will need to determine which ones fit your speakers.

Offhand, based on shops I actually bought from/frequent:

Shangri-La Mall

1) Sight and Sounds (4/F)
2) AV Driver (4/F)
3) Listening in Style (5/F)

Makati Cinema Square basement

1) Watt Hifi
2) Sensible Sound

Kalayaan Avenue

1) MLY Enterprises

White Plains

1) Grey Market

Rockwell

1) Acoustic Dimension

Libis (near the Kowloon branch)

1) Audio Amplified

The joy is actually in the chase . . .

[docsialu]

Happy new yr sir. Your 70 k budget can already get you a nice tube amp

[jag0528]

Thank you for the comments, guys. I will surely be going around to audition some units. But so as to narrow the selection, do you have any suggestions for very nice amplifiers?

[jag0528]

Happy new yr sir. Your 70 k budget can already get you a nice tube amp

Can you recommend a brand/spec that will sound great for my budget? Where can i audition? Thanks.

[muypogi]

Tube amps within 70k

Audio Amplified

http://audioamplified.com/cayin-electro ... mplifiers/

Cayin tube amps: A50T/LA34/MT12N

Line Magnetic Audio

Classic Series

http://www.pinoydvd.com/index.php/topic,186293.0.html

AMX Tube amps (local)

http://www.pinoydvd.com/index.php/topic,15773.0.html

http://www.amxtubeaudio.com/home.html

Dared Amps (from Watt Hifi)

i30 integrated

[jag0528]

This is great! Thanks.

[jag0528]

Anybody know where Rod's place is at? I think he goes by the name Trodt these days. He assembles tube amps. Would like to see his amplifiers. thanks.

[kabubi]

Anybody know where Rod's place is at? I think he goes by the name Trodt these days. He assembles tube amps. Would like to see his amplifiers. thanks.

you can call him first, tel # 522-1696.
Rod place is along Conchu st, Manila, just a few meters from the corner of Zobel Roxas Avenue (Makati).

[jag0528]

Anybody know where Rod's place is at? I think he goes by the name Trodt these days. He assembles tube amps. Would like to see his amplifiers. thanks.

you can call him first, tel # 522-1696.
Rod place is along Conchu st, Manila, just a few meters from the corner of Zobel Roxas Avenue (Makati).

Thanks, kabubi. Seeing Rod tomorrow.