Pairing High End Speakers with a $30 amp

Shadowfax

Shadowfax

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I recently put together a simple setup for my home office. Nothing real fancy. The system consisted of an i5 Asus desktop computer running J River. That is feeding a $125 Firestone Fubar II DAC into a Lepai 20x20 with upgraded PS.

When I put this together I was in process of trying to sell off a rarely used pair of Polk Monitor 30 Series II speakers. I decided to pull the ad and use them in the office. Sound was so-so and no more than I expected. Not the greatest detail or dynamics and sound was a bit crappy at higher volume. Good enough for background listening while working.

Yesterday I decided to swap out the Polks with my HT Rears, which is a pair of Dynaudio Audience 42s that listed for $850 when new.

I have setup the 42s as mains in my main system s few times for a few hours and was always pleasantly surprised at how good a tiny speaker can sound with decent electronics.

Well, now I am just as surprised at how good this speaker sounds with crappy electronics. I only listened to about an hours worth of material after the swap but really enjoying the full sound with decent bass, mids, and silky highs. They put the poor Polks to total shame.

So what is the craziest price/performance ratio of a pairing have you put together and been pleasantly surprised with the results?
 
I think I have a great answer for this. When I had my Revel Studio 2's there was a period where I tried out the Hypex ncore amps for a while and did some modifications to them as well. During that process the amps were down for a bit.

I happened upon an old Sony receiver left behind by someone in a town home near mine during this period. I couldn't resist testing it out and then throwing it in the main system. With great trepidation I fired it up and... it sounded awesome! Ok so the imaging wasn't laser sharp, the highs were a bit hashy and the bass a little wooly, but it still stands in my mind as one of the most musically satisfying setups I had on those speakers.

It's those sorts of experiences that really make one question the superiority of a lot of the high priced spreads out there.


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Raidho D3's with the little JOB amp! AMAZING!


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I moved my B&W CDM 7NT's into my bedroom after upgrading my main system and paired them with a vintage Marantz 2230B. Knowing the B&W's notorious load, I wasn't sure how this would work out, but it literally blew me away. The combination of placing them in a normal sized room again I'm sure contributed mightily, but I was instantly reminded of why I bought them in the first place.
 
Shadowfax said:
I guess it adds to the view that Speakers are the main pc of the puzzle.
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That's not completely true. When I worked at an audio store, 10+ years ago, during the day when it was slow I would do the opposite. I would connect entry level speakers to higher end amplifiers. I've always been a believer that unless you have a great amplifier you will never hear the true potential of the speaker. In the end I think most people spend about the same on electronics and speakers. Starting out it's just easier to justify spending more on the speakers. We give ourselves that "warm fuzzy feeling" by believing that they're more important.
 
I love these kinds of threads! Reading about everyone's experiences is so cool.


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I was using a Burmester 911mk3 with a pair of those $129 Andrew Jones designed Pioneer speakers. Amazing.

Just now I hooked up my Job INTegrated to my JBLs with my modified Sonos as a source. It sounds great to me. Why I obsess over gear is beyond me. That's the million dollar question.
 
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matt_zak said:
That's not completely true. When I worked at an audio store, 10+ years ago, during the day when it was slow I would do the opposite. I would connect entry level speakers to higher end amplifiers. I've always been a believer that unless you have a great amplifier you will never hear the true potential of the speaker. In the end I think most people spend about the same on electronics and speakers. Starting out it's just easier to justify spending more on the speakers. We give ourselves that "warm fuzzy feeling" by believing that they're more important.
Click to expand...

Of course Speakers are not the only part of the puzzle and I agree with your findings too. Not long ago I hooked the $100 Polks to my VAC-Counterpoint setup and was surprised. Not quite as much as my 20+ y/o JM Labs Tantal 509s. They are amazing with good electronics for an entry level speaker. The Dyn 42s also fill a large room with the same setup.
 
Melbguy1 said:
Didn't Adam (Elberoth) do that for a while? :lol:
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Close. I have an old Marantz SR-50 receiver (90s vintage), which I bought for pennies on ebay and which I use everytime I break the speakers in.

Sounds pretty decent, but you would get much better sound from $20k amp driving $20k speakers, than $0 reveiver driving $40k ones.

Still, at the lower end of the spectrum, I agree that the speakers may have be more important than the electronics.
 
At any end of the spectrum , Speakers are more important than the electronics, (analog phono stages not withstanding) with analog , the phono pre is more important than the cartridge. This is not to say , better everywhere doesn't matter , just that difference between speakers are major vs electronic differences and the speakers sets the tone and presentation of your system more than the ( amplifier sonics is very load dependent for eg.) electronics.



Regards ...
 
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