2. amps-preamps
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Non-audiophile needs help with older system.

I recently inherited a number of 10-15 year old high end audio components. I am not an audiophile but do appreciate high end sound. I do not have a dedicated room for this system. But, it was free and I'd like to figure out how to use it without spending a lot of money on it. I am not looking for audio perfection, just to optimize what I have. This will be used for two-channel music only. I'll try to describe the setup as best I can but I'm sure I do not know the proper terminology.

The components are as follows:

Pair of Aerial Acoustics floor speakers. Towers. No model number. I'm thinking 7B maybe. Have contacted Aerial to see if they can help me identify them. They have a tweeter, midrange and two woofers. Rear bass port. Separate connectors for woofers and midrange/tweeter. 

Madrigal Proceed HPA 2 amp. 250 watts. Weighs a ton.There are very large shielded(?) 'biamped'(?) cables from the amp to the speakers.

Audio Research LS16 Stereo PreAmp. There are large shielded XLR cables from the pre amp to the amp.

Onkyo home theater 'receiver' that I do not like. Remote is lost. Set up is tedious.

There is a very basic Arcam CD player and a Sony phono.

I've got it all hooked up. Bass seemed poor just running CD through pre-amp. If I run CD player to Onkyo to pre amp and adjust bass with Onkyo the sound is incredible (to me).

This system will be used for casual listening, CDs, records, radio, and iTunes via cell phone. I know that is like using a Porsche 911 to get groceries....but it was free. And there will be times when I can sit down for serious listening but that will be infrequent.

I plan on replacing the Onkyo home theater receiver with a basic FM Tuner/Bluetooth/receiver (probably a Sony). This will be for radio and iTunes so even though it is probably not a quality unit I don't think that will matter since the input (iTunes) won't be all that great anyway.

My main questions have to do with how to route the CD, the tuner and the phone through the system.

The preamp has RCA input connectors for all three. But if I run the CD and the phono directly through the preamp there is no way to adjust bass and treble and as mentioned running the CD directly through the preamp resulted in great high and midrange quality but low bass. So should I run the CD and phono into the receiver I'm going to buy and then just run the receiver out to the preamp in?

Sorry for the long post and appreciate any help you guys can give.

George


n80
n80 OP
2,134 posts
 
Thanks guys.

mecryn, I checked the speaker cables and they are in phase. 

Speaker position is a problem. I do not have a dedicated room for them. I have them 8 feet apart and a couple of feet out from the back wall. They are more than 5 feet from the side walls but there are no other options.

If I run the CD and phono directly into the preamp there is no way to do tone control. I could get the unit recommended above for that but I'm trying to keep this low budget.

yogiboy, thanks for the clarification on the phono inputs. The cheapest of those phono preamps is $175. I still need to buy a radio tuner as well.

I'm pretty sure the previous owner ran the phono through the Onkyo home theater unit

 I know all it sounds crazy to cheap-out on an expensive system like this but I'm not an audiophile (yet) and I would like to get all this running for as little cash output as possible.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,927 posts
 
Here is one for 100 bucks!
https://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Phono-Box-DC-Phono-Preamp

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,198 posts
 
You might want to move the speakers closer to the wall behind them. This will help them play bass. It may cause the soundstage to not be as palpable- you'll have to listen and see how you like the tradeoff if there is one. Corners help speakers play bass. Putting the speakers so they fire into the long dimension of the room helps them play bass. Long speaker cables reduce bass, so do lighter gauges. So you might want to have the amp fairly close to the speakers if you can arrange it.

You are better off not needing tone controls if possible- it will sound better for that. But IMO, the ARC preamps are not particularly good at playing bass- to me they have always had a bit of a dry sound. If the equipment has been sitting a while (a couple of years) it may need to play for quite a few hours before the bass wakes up, so I would play it for a while before considering any equipment changes if its been sitting unused.
n80 OP
2,134 posts
 
atmasphere, that may have already happened. With just a moderate increase in the bass setting of the Onkyo unit the bass was very good. The AR preamp manual also says sound quality is best if the tubes have been on for an hour. 

The speaker manufacturer recommends the speakers be out from the wall a few feet. The cables are 8 feet long (and probably cost more than my previous 'stereo'.)

Since I am going to get a radio receiver anyway I may see how that works running the CD and phono through it and then to the preamp. I'll experiment with different combos with the preamp. Unfortunately this system is at my cabin which is an hour away, so it will be this weekend before I have a chance to test various setups.

I really do appreciate all the advice especially since I'm not a true audiophile and too cheap to dive in with spending more money.
celander's avatar
celander
1,504 posts
 
Might be worthwhile to have the electronics and speakers checked out by a local electronics service shop. The price paid for that is worth more than tinkering endlessly trying to sort stuff out on your own time. That’s an audiophile’s hobby activity (tinkering), which you proclaimed you are not (yet). 
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