Do NOT Blow Your Entire Budget on Two Channel Audio


Yes, two channel audio is here, and is not going away. However, object based audio is delightful, widely available on Tidal and Apple Music, and should be in the listening room of every music lover on the planet, not just "audiophiles. If you plan to be a music fan a year from now start building your object based audio system today. You will need:

1) A receiver/processor capable of Dolby Atmos.

2) A subscription to Tidal or Apple music.

3) A Firestick, ATV, or Nvidia Shield.

4) A minimum of 7 timber matched speakers and a subwoofer.

Once you experienced stereo would you ever go back to only mono? No, you would build a system capable of either mono or stereo. Now that object based audio has arrived do the same thing. Build a system capable of mono, stereo, AND object based audio. When Elton John heard Rocket Man in an object based format for the first time why did he demand to convert his entire catalog to Atmos? If you don’t know, then you need to go listen to Rocket Man in a good Atmos setup ASAP.

So, take your budget, DIVERSIFY, and get a good Atmos capable receiver or processor. Object based audio is NOT last decades surround sound or home theater. It is for MUSIC first, if you need a recommendation on how to allocate your budget feel free to post a question. Most importantly, you don’t NEED two systems, one for music and one for movies. A good object based audio system can play two channel music just fine. A two channel system on the other hand can’t play object based audio without a proper processor or receiver.

Greg Penny talks mixing Rocket Man in Atmos.

https://youtu.be/ggzfcUKDqdo?feature=shared

 

kota1

@rajugsw

Thanks very much for that information. I don’t "need" a preamp but I really want that F360. First, I am a Jim Fosgate fan and highly respect his engineering skills and passion. Now that he is gone that pre will be likely his last design. Next, I love the features with the balanced connections and all the knobs to "diddle" with the sound as Zeos says. I could drop that unit into my desktop system so all those knobs are right at my fingertips and would add rear speakers to get quad. Or, I could drop it in my main system. The price is so reasonable for what you get IMO. I see tube preamps going for $$$. The idea of running both a digital and an analog surround system side by side is VERY appealing.

Does the F360 hold its own with the BAT (I think the BAT is around $10K right)

I have an Onkyo 9 channel receiver circa 2019 in the mancave and love it. That company is all about quality and convenience.

BTW, your room looks great. Have you thought about adding some room treatments to your ceiling? From the pic it looks a bit like a hard surface.

@kota1 Its a VK50-SE from 1999. It’s was factory refreshed last year with Mundorf Paper in Oil Caps to replace the old “6 packs” that were in it originally.

The great thing with Black Ice Audio like most of the American Audio manufacturers. You can reach the owners and engineers anytime during their business hours.

Many live Rock Concert Albums sound amazing through the F360 but the vocals can become lost in the mix. With this switching setup, I can run the BAT directly on the front channels and the F360 On my rear stacked sealed box Bose 901’s powered by the Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier. The fronts are all Tube Black Ice F100’s.

I found the results more listenable in my rig/room like this instead of just turning down the dimension knob.

I’ve done 2 F360 Videos. One on what they do to my Electrostatic Headphones, the other on my listening experience using my Klipsch and Bose Speakers. I’m working on a 3rd one utilizing 3 DOUK Black Bear XLR Splitters.

BTW. Not shown in the Videos or my profile system pics are two absorbant panels the width of my Sofa above the listening area.

Cheers,

Joe

Joe

Do you have a link to the videos @rajugsw ? Looking forward to checking them out. Very good to know about your experience sounds like you dialed it in for your room.

@rajugsw 

Wow! Very professional, I am inspired to use my own headphone amp more after watching, Thanks!