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
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 
3) Radio Tuner- Nobody want's them anymore. I just gave away a great Proton Tuner. You can find them on craigslist for a song.
I better get looking. I still play the radio on my system! Right now I running a modified Dynaco.
I agree getting the Onkyo out of the system will help its overall sound. I also think there is no reason at this point to suspect filter capacitors in the power supplies of either the amp or preamp. You can run the tape outputs of any receiver into the ARC Auxiliary inputs no worries.

There is this thing that is well-known in the high end audio world called 'WAF': Wife Acceptance Factor. If you have a room at your regular home that is yours, that would be the typical place a system like this might reside if the WAF does not allow it in the living room. This is a pretty common phenomena. The thing is, the better you get the system to sound, the more likely your wife might want to hear it. Women often have less damaged hearing than men, so they can often hear high frequency artifacts (harshness and brightness) that are known irritants! This is a bit less true in the last 20 years or so as women have been making their way into noisier work environments. But as a general rule if your wife does not want the stereo playing, its a sign that either she really doesn't like your musical tastes (or lack thereof) or she is hearing problems in the system that you don't.

If its the latter, I would not play the system for her until its had time to wake up, which might take a good 200 hours of playing time. When you are at the cabin I would have the system on the whole time, even if not playing anything as this will help. If the former, you're screwed and you will have to limit your playing time to when she is not around.  Good Luck!




n80 OP
2,117 posts
 
My wife likes about half of the music I like. I have a much broader range of tastes. When we're at the cabin I have music on around the clock. She will tolerate just about anything I play but she just prefers the volume to be at what I call conversational level....where you can still talk at normal level  and be heard over the music. She doesn't mind higher volumes if she is actively doing something else in the room.

Her hearing is better than mine. I have some loss from rock concerts, shooting and operating loud equipment when I was younger and stupider.

For 'real' dedicated listening I like  the volume a good bit higher but I'm not a volume junky in the that regard.

As for WAF, my wife gets a pass here because she has accepted a whole lot of my other more intrusive hobbies. I can't complain. So I'll have to pick and choose my dedicated listening time.

The thing that really kills me is that my daughter and her husband will be moving into _my_ cabin in two weeks for six months while their new home is being built. This is going to limit good listening time to just about zero.

I have racked my brain about where to put the system in my house. There just isn't any place where it will fit within the space and the decor (WAF). 
mcreyn
293 posts
 
As for WAF, my wife gets a pass here because she has accepted a whole lot of my other more intrusive hobbies. I can’t complain. So I’ll have to pick and choose my dedicated listening time.

The thing that really kills me is that my daughter and her husband will be moving into _my_ cabin in two weeks for six months while their new home is being built. This is going to limit good listening time to just about zero.

I have racked my brain about where to put the system in my house. There just isn’t any place where it will fit within the space and the decor (WAF).

You sir are a smart man.

While it seems strange, if you have a garage, you could use that as a listening room. Just put the speakers back against the wall and pull them out when you listen. You can grab a chair from the kitchen. A cheap large throw rug or old large piece of carpet can be used on the floor to help treat any floor reflections.  If nothing else, you will have the coolest garage system in the world when you are working in it.  
n80 OP
2,117 posts
 
I'm afraid I may getting the audio bug.

Just after I typed my last response I noticed that the love seat in our TV room at home is pretty ratty looking and if I threw it out there would be room for the system in there. It probably isn't ideal. It is 10' wide and 20' long. One of the walls is exposed brick. The ceiling is 10'. The system would have to go on the narrow wall and the 'listening chair' would be all the way at the other end, nearly 20' away.

But, I'm seriously thinking about doing this at least until my daughter moves out of the cabin.

I will run it by my wife this evening.
mcreyn
293 posts
 
Just try and get the sofa out from the rear wall a couple of feet.  If you put the speakers close to the sidewalls, a couple of absorption panels will work wonders for the first reflection points.  GIK Acoustics sells them for a resonable price, has information about how to treat and will make recommendations if you send them info about your room and setup.  
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