Finally got into 2 channel

domflane

Well, I finally got a chance to take my first step into two channel. I bought a decent pair of Monitor 5's a couple of months ago just on a whim and because they were cheap and today I finally got the rest of the components I have been wanting. I got a HK DVD38 off Harman's ebay store for $40 for my source and a HK3480 120w x 2 integrated from craigslist for $100. I'm waiting for my monoprice IC's, and the speakers are wired up with Acoustic Research 12AWG.

A few days ago, a friend brought by the Kenwood preamp and CD player that is listed in my sig and I have been listening to the Monitors with the Kenwood amp that I've had for a while. I was amazed how good these little speakers sound, the bass from the 8' PR was surprising. I was really excited to hook it all up to the HK gear and the improvement I heard was obvious. Harman is known for its warm sound and its not hard to hear why. The old Polk's sound smooth and balanced. I loved the way they sounded with the Kenwood gear, and I love them even more now. I really like the HK3480. I looks awesome and has plenty of power, plus it has pre outs if I want to go seperate and stereo sub outs. Its a really well optioned integrated for $100.

Now that I've heard what the vintage Polk's can do, I'm chomping at the bit to get a hold of some SDA's. I'll be on the look out for any good deals in south FL. This weekend, I'm going to move my RTiA5's into the 2 channel rig for an A-B comparison. I'll let you know what I find out.

Also, I really want to get into vinyl. I don't have a TT, but I'm starting to buy some records that I find in good condition at thrift stores. So I'm in the market for a decent TT that'll match well with my system. I can spend anywhere around $100 or so, I don't want to go too crazy. I've seen some at the thrift stores really cheap that looked nice (Marantz, Technics, etc.) but I'm not sure what to look for. If you know any for sale that would be good for a beginner 2 channel rig, please let me know. Any input here would be greatly appreciated.

Wow that was long, thanks guys . .

Dominic

comfortablycurt

Sweet! 2 channel is where it's at!

I've been amazed lately at how great my 2 channel sounds, when my gear is relatively low end, and I've invested hardly any money into it. It's making me even more anxious for the next round of upgrades.

A5's vs Monitor 5's? I would be seriously surprised if you prefer the A5's. The RTi's are great HT speakers, but leave a lot to be desired in 2 channel IMO. The vintage Monitors are some excellent sounding 2 channel speakers...very smooth and musical.

hearingimpared

Dominic, welcome to the 2 channel fray and especially welcome to the vinyl exploration. My advise on a turntable would be to go with a used Technics or Pioneer table. They are well built and will give you some idea as to how vinyl really sounds. You can also look at the Rega, Music Hall or Pro-ject entry level tables. They are pretty inexpensive and you can probably find some used ones at your $100 budget.

As a side note, make sure you clean your records thoroughly (especially ones purchased from thrift shops) as a dirty record will make all kinds of noise that diminishes the vinyl experience.

HB27

Working your way up the 2ch food chain are ya?
SDAs and vinyl will spoil ya.
I love the SDAs and old Monitor line best of all. I wish Polk would come back out with both lines
You'll be listening to music the way it's supposed to be listened to now.
Ditto on cleaning up vinyl. The sound quality is amazing,
Harry

Knucklehead

I absolutley love my modest office 2 channel set-up.

janmike

2 CH is where it's at. Congrats and enjoy.

domflane

Thanks guys, two channel is awesome. I have been wanting to get into it, but I had to piece everything together slowly.

Curt, I don't expect the A5's to outperform the Monitors 5's, I'm just curious to hear them side by side. I have listened to a lot of music on the A5's in stereo mode in my HT, and I realy like them. They don't seem as bright as everyone makes them out to be.

How comparable to the smaller SDA's are the Monitor 10's? There's lots of them in good shape for around $100 locally. I really want SDA's and don't want to settle, so I think I'll hold out for the real thing.

madmax

Go SDA, don't settle.

All SDA's from the the smallest to largest are awesome. The bigger the room the bigger the speaker needs to be to sound exactly the same. Don't forget to consider the CRS model of SDA, they are as awesome as all the others. The newer better CRS are the ones with only one tweeter rather than two.
madmax

Fireman32

2ch is the way to go. Congrats.

comfortablycurt

domflane wrote: »

Thanks guys, two channel is awesome. I have been wanting to get into it, but I had to piece everything together slowly.

Curt, I don't expect the A5's to outperform the Monitors 5's, I'm just curious to hear them side by side. I have listened to a lot of music on the A5's in stereo mode in my HT, and I realy like them. They don't seem as bright as everyone makes them out to be.

How comparable to the smaller SDA's are the Monitor 10's? There's lots of them in good shape for around $100 locally. I really want SDA's and don't want to settle, so I think I'll hold out for the real thing.

Monitor 10's vs SDA's? That's an apples to oranges comparison. They're very different sounding speakers.

So, no, the Monitor 10's wouldn't really be considered an alternative to the SDA's.

heiney9

Dom, congrats.

I run a pair of 5B's in my office rig and a couple years ago refreshed the X-overs and added the RD0 tweeters and it took them to a completely different level. I'd suggest you give it some thought for the future as the positive change those parts make is nothing short of remarkable.

H9

domflane

Thanks again guys. I didn't think the Monitor 10's would stand up to SDA's, they're just intriguing for the price. I'm definately going to hold out for what I really want this time though. Until then, I'm really loving my M 5's. They impress me more every day.
H9, I thought about doing some renovations on mine, but the cabinet is starting to come apart on one of the speakers and I don't know if it'd be worth it. It's definately worth considering especially after I find some SDA's and they're just sitting idle though. I only paid $45 for them so there's not much risk involved.

domflane

I was on the turntable hunt and I found these. Does anybody know anything about them? Obviously the price is right, but they're about 3 hours away from me in Miami. This is the same guy that was selling the Monitor 10's for $100 BTW. He has some nice gear for cheap.

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/ele/1627840811.html

cnh

Congrats...you're on the slippery 2 way slope.....hang on to your wallet.

+1 on SDAs!

Also, your Rti-8s don't sound so bright because you're running a Harman Kardon....that's a good match for the brighter Rti series, it mellows it.

cnh

Dawgfish

Dominic,

Those are both nice vintage tables. I know a few folks here on the board run Dual tables, or have run them in the past. If I were in your shoes, I would jump on both of them for those prices (provided they run and seem to be in good shape). Those would be a good way to get into vinyl and you'll have a backup table. With the right cartridges, a good record cleaning regimen (see various post on board for this)and a few tweaks here and there you will be on your way to vinyl bliss. I believe your HK already has a pretty decent phono stage(?). Go get em!

Steve

domflane

Thanks Steve, if I can get a hold of the guy and he still has one or both, I'll grab them. And thanks again for that great deal on the CSiA6, it sounds great and looks even better.

Dominic

organ

cnh wrote: »

Congrats...you're on the slippery 2 way slope.....hang on to your wallet.

LOL:D



Congrats, Dominic. 2ch is da bomb. Glad to hear you're really enjoying the system. For a TT, check craigslist. You can find some good tt's on the cheap. You don't have to go straight to a Rega or Music Hall. The old TT's when restored sound excellent.

Fongolio

Either of those Dual's will be a good way to get your feet wet in the world of vinyl playback. Be warned though, as others have said, two channel will suck the money out of your wallet very fast. I believe it's worth it though. Tonight I've been listening to Santana's Abraxas on vinyl with the SDA-1C's and the wow factor is off the scale. To my ears the absolute best album for showing what SDA's can do. Wide beyond the walls soundstage and deep deep deep. Congrats and have fun!!!

hearingimpared

Fongolio wrote: »

Either of those Dual's will be a good way to get your feet wet in the world of vinyl playback. Be warned though, as others have said, two channel will suck the money out of your wallet very fast. I believe it's worth it though. Tonight I've been listening to Santana's Abraxas on vinyl with the SDA-1C's and the wow factor is off the scale. To my ears the absolute best album for showing what SDA's can do. Wide beyond the walls soundstage and deep deep deep. Congrats and have fun!!!

Kelvin, have you heard the MFSL Original Master Recording of Abraxas, it will absolutely blow your mind on your 1Cs. It's still available here and at other places on the net.

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/80489

Dawgfish

Dominic,

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the A6 and congrats on going down the two channel path. Since I have goine to a dedicated two channel set-up, I don't even care about home theater much anymore (much to the dismay of my girlfriend). You've got a nice system going there, enjoy it. Have you contacted the guy about the tables yet? If I were in your shoes I would be all over those. Let us know how that goes.

Steve

Zitro

Congrats on your foray into 2 channel! I'm pretty new myself, but it's been lots of fun. I've got a pair of M5jr's w/o the passives, and they are excellent, so I can understand your love for the M5's. I'm also trying to get into vinyl, but fixing the TT I have is becoming a PITA.

If you are looking for Polks in Florida, frequent the Tampa CL; I see a lot of Polks coming out of there for whatever reason.

domflane

It seems like Tampa is the hotbed for good deals on Polk's in Florida. Thats where I found my HK integrated. Also, we went there for the LSi15's that a friend of mine bought a few months back, he got a mint pair in cherry for $550. So I definately check it often.

Steve, I've been trying to get a hold of the TT guy for a while now, but I'm getting no response. He lists a lot of nice gear, but he posted those TT's a couple of weeks ago, so chances are they're already gone. He must be some kind of used audio dealer for as much stuff as he moves. He recently had some Monitor 10's on stands for $110, and a Carver M1.5T for $80. I don't know how or why he sells gear for so cheap, but it's definately worth keeping an eye on, especially for us Florida Polkies. Most of the good deals in the classifieds here are in Indiana or Washington, but I hope some local SDA's pop up soon. I'm going TT hunting today in the Vero Beach area, so wish me luck.

hearingimpared

domflane wrote: »

I was on the turntable hunt and I found these. Does anybody know anything about them? Obviously the price is right, but they're about 3 hours away from me in Miami. This is the same guy that was selling the Monitor 10's for $100 BTW. He has some nice gear for cheap.

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/ele/1627840811.html

They are some really fine tables.

Paden501

Congrats on going 2-channel. I have both SDAs and Monitor 5b's. I have to say that SDA is the way to go for sure, but for a regular stereo bookshelf speaker the old monitors are VERY nice and hold their own against many modern bookshelf speaker designs.

dpowell

Congrats and good move! Definitely the right way to go for music. Definitely grab some SDA's.

Zitro

xcapri79 wrote: »

The LSi7's sound great on my HK3490.
Two channel doesn't have to be expensive to sound good.

Agreed. Some of my favorite systems have been budget pieces. I just listened to a set of Rotel separates and B&W 684's at a hifi shop. Excellent sounding rig, and everything out the door was only about $5k total including cables. I couldn't say that I enjoyed the $35k McIntosh/Snell setup more enough to justify the extra $30k. Even my very budget NAD integrated and LSi7's put a smile on my face with the right source.

curved

Zitro wrote: »

Agreed. Some of my favorite systems have been budget pieces. I just listened to a set of Rotel separates and B&W 684's at a hifi shop. Excellent sounding rig, and everything out the door was only about $5k total including cables. I couldn't say that I enjoyed the $35k McIntosh/Snell setup more enough to justify the extra $30k. Even my very budget NAD integrated and LSi7's put a smile on my face with the right source.

What Snell series was it?

curved

Zero wrote: »

I got some Snell's once. Expensive one's, too. It didn't take me long to send them back to the manufacturers doorstep.

Indeed, attaining great two channel sound does not necessitate dropping big $$$$. Of all my years of playing around with tons of high end exotica, one of the systems that I enjoyed the most consisted of an Arcam CD-player, a Vista Audio tube integrated amp, and a set of Totem Acoustic 'Sttaf's. Despite currently owning stuff that costs more than entry level sports cars, I still miss the hell outta that system.

Agreed. Still to this day my favorite speakers are the Monitor Audio PL300's. Not overly expensive but when paired correctly, it sure hits my spot.:D

michaeljhsda2

Fongolio wrote: »

Either of those Dual's will be a good way to get your feet wet in the world of vinyl playback. Be warned though, as others have said, two channel will suck the money out of your wallet very fast. I believe it's worth it though. Tonight I've been listening to Santana's Abraxas on vinyl with the SDA-1C's and the wow factor is off the scale. To my ears the absolute best album for showing what SDA's can do. Wide beyond the walls soundstage and deep deep deep. Congrats and have fun!!!

Thanks for reminding about a song from them from long ago...Mother's Daughter.
Gracias senor