Good advice fellas, but I am still have a couple questions...
I want to stress to you that I pretty new to this. I have been doing a bit of reading, and a bit of listening, but still know very little.
I also want to let you know that I am not after perfection...it seems to me very hard to approach this trying to achieve perfection, especially with my narrow budget. Furthermore, I want music to sound a bit better than movie tracks, however I do wish to include Dolby Digital/DTS which is why I am looking at pre/pros. This is a music first system though, so should I just get a simple, elegant preamp and add a seperate processor later? Seems to me this will cost more in the long run, and I am trying to hit the sweet spot. I think the Ref30 suits my needs pretty good from what I have heard and read, but I am a newbie. I heard the JM Lab Electra mains pushed from a Ref20 and a B&K amp while in the shop, and they sounded great. I don't doubt they could have sounded better with a mega-expensive setup, but to me it was wonderful.
My musical taste is: a bit of jazz, a bit of rock, but mostly acoustic music, singer/songwriter and bluegrass. I also like some dynamic music...have you heard Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philidelphia"? That has a wide range of sounds to it, and I enjoy such music, so dynamics and imaging are important to me also.
When I listened to my JM Labs, they were pushed from a reciever, and I thought they sounded good. I figured a pre/pro with enough decent clean power (isn't most reciever power a bit overrated and (for lack of a better term dirty?)) would sound better just on principle...am I wrong about that? I just don't have the ability to test every piece of equipment I am considering, so I am reading a bunch.
On my speakers spec sheet, it says that the recommended power is 25-100w, with a max of 125w. If I push 150w through them, won't I damage them? Also from what I have read, they are 8ohm speakers with dips down to about 3.3ohms. Plus, I have a powered sub, so complete bottom end from these speakers is not a necessity, nor is powering said sub.
Sorry for being long-winded, but I am just about ready to purchase, and I sure would like to make a purchase without questioning myself.
Thanks again,
Z
I want to stress to you that I pretty new to this. I have been doing a bit of reading, and a bit of listening, but still know very little.
I also want to let you know that I am not after perfection...it seems to me very hard to approach this trying to achieve perfection, especially with my narrow budget. Furthermore, I want music to sound a bit better than movie tracks, however I do wish to include Dolby Digital/DTS which is why I am looking at pre/pros. This is a music first system though, so should I just get a simple, elegant preamp and add a seperate processor later? Seems to me this will cost more in the long run, and I am trying to hit the sweet spot. I think the Ref30 suits my needs pretty good from what I have heard and read, but I am a newbie. I heard the JM Lab Electra mains pushed from a Ref20 and a B&K amp while in the shop, and they sounded great. I don't doubt they could have sounded better with a mega-expensive setup, but to me it was wonderful.
My musical taste is: a bit of jazz, a bit of rock, but mostly acoustic music, singer/songwriter and bluegrass. I also like some dynamic music...have you heard Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philidelphia"? That has a wide range of sounds to it, and I enjoy such music, so dynamics and imaging are important to me also.
When I listened to my JM Labs, they were pushed from a reciever, and I thought they sounded good. I figured a pre/pro with enough decent clean power (isn't most reciever power a bit overrated and (for lack of a better term dirty?)) would sound better just on principle...am I wrong about that? I just don't have the ability to test every piece of equipment I am considering, so I am reading a bunch.
On my speakers spec sheet, it says that the recommended power is 25-100w, with a max of 125w. If I push 150w through them, won't I damage them? Also from what I have read, they are 8ohm speakers with dips down to about 3.3ohms. Plus, I have a powered sub, so complete bottom end from these speakers is not a necessity, nor is powering said sub.
Sorry for being long-winded, but I am just about ready to purchase, and I sure would like to make a purchase without questioning myself.
Thanks again,
Z