chet
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Posts: 48
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Post by chet on Apr 21, 2012 18:57:35 GMT -5
Hello!
I am new to this forum, and new to audiophile technology. I hear Emotiva are great audiophile quality equipment, without needing a bank balance like Bill Gates.
I listen to a whole lot of Jazz and classical, some rock/blues/metal and on occasion hip hop/R&B. I am looking at a budget of about $2000.
What are the basics? What do I need?
And preemptively, thank you for the replies!
--Chet
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Post by briank on Apr 21, 2012 19:06:03 GMT -5
Are you looking for a nice two channel system or home theater? If two channel, will you have any analog sources such as a turntable or tape deck or will it be digital only such as a cd player? Do you need electronics plus speakers for the 2k budget?
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Post by geebo on Apr 21, 2012 19:15:26 GMT -5
Well, how about a pair of UPA-1s for 698 less 10% or 628.00. Then an XDA-1 to use as a pre for 249.00. An ERC-2 for 449.00 and a pair of X-Ref 5.2s for 799.00 brings you to 2,125.00. For another 200 you could get a USP instead of the XDA or some 6.2s in place of the 5.2s.
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jamrock
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Post by jamrock on Apr 21, 2012 19:29:33 GMT -5
Hello! I am new to this forum, and new to audiophile technology. I hear Emotiva are great audiophile quality equipment, without needing a bank balance like Bill Gates. I listen to a whole lot of Jazz and classical, some rock/blues/metal and on occasion hip hop/R&B. I am looking at a budget of about $2000. What are the basics? What do I need? And preemptively, thank you for the replies! --Chet So how are you listening to that "whole lot of Jazz and classical, some rock/blues/metal and on occasion hip hop/R&B?" In other words, what components do you currently have, and what components are you looking for with that $2,000.00 budget?  |
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selkec
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Post by selkec on Apr 21, 2012 21:39:16 GMT -5
He may not need the xda1. But he came to the right forum with alot of smart members here. We are all like one big family. lol WELCOME.
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Post by geebo on Apr 21, 2012 21:52:26 GMT -5
He may not need the xda1. But he came to the right forum with alot of smart members here. We are all like one big family. lol WELCOME. The reason I suggested the XDA was to use it as a pre for the UPA-1s to help keep the price down. I am going with the (perhaps incorrect) assumption that he wants to start from scratch and build a two channel system. A USP instead of the XDA would make the total 2,325.00. |
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Post by jerrin on Apr 21, 2012 23:46:06 GMT -5
Do you have speakers already? If not I recommend you spend the majority of your budget on the speakers and some room treatments, if you don't have any. Then pick up some nice, possibly used electronics, if need be.
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Post by bobbyt on Apr 22, 2012 3:16:53 GMT -5
The "absolute beginner" likely doesn't want a stack of components, particularly redundant ones (like XDA and USP together). How bout:
XDA-1
Airmotiv 6 actives
subwoofer optional
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bootman
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Typing useless posts on internet forums....
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Post by bootman on Apr 22, 2012 8:31:12 GMT -5
We need to know what you have.
1/2 of your budget will go towards speakers if you don't have a set you like now.
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Post by geebo on Apr 22, 2012 8:41:34 GMT -5
The "absolute beginner" likely doesn't want a stack of components, particularly redundant ones (like XDA and USP together). How bout: XDA-1 Airmotiv 6 actives subwoofer optional I never suggested a USP and an XDA. I suggested an XDA to use as a pre and for another 200 he could get a USP instead of the XDA. |
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Post by garbulky on Apr 22, 2012 9:34:03 GMT -5
The "absolute beginner" likely doesn't want a stack of components, particularly redundant ones (like XDA and USP together). How bout: XDA-1 Airmotiv 6 actives subwoofer optional I think this would be a great way to go buddy. Welcome to the forum. If you want a CD player, do not spend it on the ERC-2, because the XDA-1 should provide similar sound for your requirements. Spend it on a cheap DVD or blu-ray player (really doesn't have to cost much) and output it via digital output to the XDA-1, you should still get FANTASTIC audio quality due to the quality of the XDA-1's decoder. The cheap DVD player wouldn't be a limiting factor in terms of audio quality. You could also go for a pair of emotiva's non-pro tower speakers instead of the airmotiv 6's, but then you would have to buy a set of UPA-1 monoblocks to power them. But I think for the beginner, the above setup would be ideal and bring you some serious quality for relatively cheap. It would also allow you to play home theater stuff as long as you are okay with two channel audio. Another option is if you want it to be upgradeable to surround sound in the future: Cheap blu-ray/DVD player, UMC-1, UPA-1 monoblock amplifier, Emotiva tower speakers, and subwoofer. These will really get you going and provide you fantastic audio quality as well. The UMC-1 is known for good audio quality and if you ever feel like upgrading to surround sound, you now have the option. If you want to spend a teeny bit more, I would reccomend my setup: An XDA-1, two UPA-1's, and axiom audio m80 v3's www.axiomaudio.com/m80.htm($2450) You would not be lacking for power, and you also wouldn't need a subwoofer at all. It's bass output is very good and extends quite low. It really does the job for some classical and jazz and of course hip hop and RnB. It has tremendous dynamic range and it's very efficient setup. As for cables, just get the cheapest cables you can find. The car section at walmart has some cheap ones or home depot. It won't make a difference. But make sure they are 16 guage or thicker (thicker is the lower number example: 14 guage, 12 guage.) Now here's a warning and you should know this: If you upgrade to any of these systems, they will be able to show you deficiencies in recording quality of the music itself. Which basically means classical and jazz will sound phenomenal and most Rnb and hip hop will sound much worse. Over time, some of the music you like in those genres will almost be unlisteneable to you  I'm not saying you'll get snobby, but it will most likely happen. The main reason for it is something called the loudness wars that started a few decades ago which started bringing down the quality of recording by limiting dynamic range of the music so it would play better on cheap systems. Somebody needs to tell you about this, because I didn't expect the music I enjoyed to sound so bad compared to classical and jazz. And it's definitely not the fault of the sound system but the fault of the record producers. |
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Apr 22, 2012 9:57:34 GMT -5
What are the basics? What do I need? The basics are you need a source, an amplifier with preamp of some sort, and speakers, and you need cables and wires to hook them together. Like has been asked several times, what do you have now? |
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jamrock
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Post by jamrock on Apr 22, 2012 10:09:16 GMT -5
It seems that Chet has left the building.
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Post by flamingeye on Apr 22, 2012 12:09:37 GMT -5
An absolute beginner sounds like he needs everything like Dyohn has suggested but for what? is it going to turn into a HT some day or just a two channel ? That is the real question
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Post by ausman on Apr 22, 2012 12:39:57 GMT -5
usp-1
xpa-2
6.2's or 5.2's
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Post by audiofile on Apr 22, 2012 15:22:42 GMT -5
The first question that came to my mind is what does Chet have right now that we can build on...
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Post by macromicroman on Apr 22, 2012 15:52:01 GMT -5
Like Jamrock has said...It seems that Chet has left the building. Can't give him much help if he doesn't respond to forum members who are trying to help. Hopefully, he will come back.
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chet
Minor Hero
Posts: 48
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Post by chet on Apr 22, 2012 16:26:33 GMT -5
Wow!! Thank you all for all the replies. It's great to see such an active forum with helpful members.
Sorry for not replying earlier - I hadn't logged on in a day.
Right now, I have an old Onkyo CD player, amp and speakers. I have plugged my Airport Express into one of the inputs, and stream all my music (through iTunes, all my music is in Apple Lossless). I also have a pair of AudioEngine A5s, which are also connected to an Airport Express.
I am not much of a movie person - and don't care much for a Home Theater system. I am interested in a solely music setup - 2 channel and components.
I would like to continue streaming music - to whatever setup I can get. Hopefully, that won't have any audiophiles shuddering.
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Post by geebo on Apr 22, 2012 16:53:29 GMT -5
Wow!! Thank you all for all the replies. It's great to see such an active forum with helpful members. Sorry for not replying earlier - I hadn't logged on in a day. Right now, I have an old Onkyo CD player, amp and speakers. I have plugged my Airport Express into one of the inputs, and stream all my music (through iTunes, all my music is in Apple Lossless). I also have a pair of AudioEngine A5s, which are also connected to an Airport Express. I am not much of a movie person - and don't care much for a Home Theater system. I am interested in a solely music setup - 2 channel and components. I would like to continue streaming music - to whatever setup I can get. Hopefully, that won't have any audiophiles shuddering. You could go with a pair of UPA-1s, a pair of 8.3s and an XDA-1 for 2,086 and continue using the Onk CD player... |
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chet
Minor Hero
Posts: 48
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Post by chet on Apr 22, 2012 17:04:15 GMT -5
My price range is fairly flexible - in that I am alright with spending say $500 - $1000 more, by putting off my purchase for a month or so.
If the incremental benefit is significant, I can wait a few weeks before I make my purchase.
Currently, my CD player is a relic of the old system - I mainly stream using the Airport Express.
--C
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I'm not saying you'll get snobby, but it will most likely happen. 
