I have a pair of Q Acoustics M20s. I bought them because I had seen reviews about how remarkably good they sounded. They were not expensive by today's standards, a pair of 2-way ported active speakers for about $500. I connected them to a streamer and DAC and they sounded very nice. Were they as good as a pair of my passive standmounts and a good sub using a good preamp and amp? No. Did I think they sounded bad because of the difference? No. I take pleasure in how well the speakers perform especially considering their low cost. I hope I never get to a place in this hobby where I can't enjoy a system because I know that a different group of components might sound better. That would be just as bad as not being able to enjoy a good meal at a cheap restaurant because I might have had a better meal somewhere else.
How cheap can you go and still be happy with the sound?
I would think many guys on this forum are spoilt by the gear they have and never listen anymore on cheap rigs.
I was listening recently on my younger daughter’s PC audio rig and got reminded again of how good it sounds. There is a fairly high level of clarity, detail, tonal balance and great bass in this rig.
- Yamaha HS8 powered monitors: $700 to $800
- Yamaha WXC-50 MusicCast streamer+dac+preamp: $450, often found on A4L for around $300
- Audioquest Powerquest PQ3 (was around $200 or so)
IMO, this would qualify as a high quality (sonically) charity price hifi rig for any younger or older person w.r.t small room nearfield or midfield listening.
What is the cheapest rig that has brought you happiness these days?
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So many different takes on what serves as a baseline system I am actually a bit surprised...Try going cold turkey without your tunes for a few weeks as I did after our house fire, and it helps adjust your minimum standards or at least helps really define them. For nearfield at the computer I have probably about 700 invested roughly between some modded dayton audio towers and the dac and cheap class d amp. While that doesn't satisfy too well if I am in the next room, it works awfully well when at the computer. For listening at 8 feet or so away from the speakers, my 2 channel system in the music room meets the need in the size room I have in our temporary home. 2 svs subs, 2 Walsh 2000, VTV Hypex amp 500 wpc, Emotiva TA1 Dac, driven via optical output from the monitor connected to my old dell desktop. It kicks butt and can get uncomfortably loud and surprisingly clean in the small room its in. Low end response extends below 20hz and is well integrated with the Ohm speakers. Expecting the same level of performance once I move back into my house. Then there is a TV only system driving an Emotiva MR1L and connected with some resto-modded 303AX fronts with dayton audio surrounds and a pair of 10" dayton audio subs with a JBL center speaker. Reasonably flat response down to about 25 hz. Plenty of volume with no shortage of reserve for apartment living. The music room system is by far the most expensive of all of them and absolutely delivers smiles every time I listen to good source material. Sadly its revealing enough to show poor recordings for what they are. And that is the price paid to enjoy the goodness that comes with a good recording. I think I could be happy with what I have for the rest of my days, but I know that I can get closer to Nirvana...and that will eat at me until I do something about it. |
The title of my virtual system page was once : How to reach Audiophile satisfaction for 1,000 bucks"...
How : mechanical and electrical controls of the system embeddings working dimensions especially acoustics with devices of my own at peanuts costs... Knowledge beat upgrade when you reach the minimal synergy threshold of your working system...Experiments then put your system at his utmost surprising level of optimal working... I tried to upgrade topping the entire cost of my actual system and i fail... It will cost me a step from 1,000 bucks to 10,000 to really upgrade my speakers system and with very well chosen component which for sure i will be in the obligation to modify... For my headphone system the AKG 340 is so good(i wrote 35 pages of review),after my 6 optimizations, the only possible assured upgrade was the costlier Immanis around 10,000 bucks... But i change my mind why ? Because it seems to had very moderate bass impact. my AKG 340 is in so well balanced state , that timbre tone is as speakers, the soundstage if required by the recording is out of my head and the deep bass of the big organ in a church , i hear it with my toes and stomach by bones resonance... Why buying the Immanis or anything else ? My K340 is not perfect, some headphone can beat him on some acoustic factor but not in the balance ratio of all these numerous acoustics factors... I hope you will listen and have fun studying how to make acoustics experiments learning basic... I proved to myself that we dont need money for a very good system but knowledge which is in acoustics books... i wish you all a very Merry, happy,healthy, wonderful Christmas with your family...
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@chenry +1 |
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