2. pc-audio
  3. 1224028496

Need to downgrade any advice??

Hello everyone.

Well I am in the process of moving into my first place. Although it is good to move out of my folks place, I never realized how much money I would spend. The above, along with the space available at my current place, and my girlfriend nagging has lead me to the conclusion that I need to downgrade until my funds replenish.

Currently I own Green Mountain Audio Europas, a fully modded Bolder Squeezebox 2 with separate ac power unit, and a Onix sp3. One option is to sell my speakers and the sp3 and simply buy self powered 2.1 speakers. The second option is to sell everything and simply get a self powered 2.1 speaker and use airport and my mac.

Here my question. Based on what I have said what is the best option for me? I know I can get the most out of my squeezebox and I honestly haven't used it as much as I should have over the years. Yet I don't really want to get rid of it. Overall, I need a system that is more flexible, in terms of inputs, takes less space, and eliminates a lot of the cables. It also has to be user friendly considering my girlfriend is computer illiterate. Can I still get a good sounding system by downgrading and getting powered speakers?

Any recommendation on self-powered speakers and so forth are greatly welcomed.
daimbert
kbamhi
39 posts
 

I purchased a pair of audioengine 5 self powered speakers for my desktop and couldn't be happier. I hooked them up to my computer through a economical USB DAC and get very satisfying sound. They are probably not the last word in accuracy as the midbass seems fairly tipped up but that is one of the reasons I enjoy them so much. I have a subwoofer under the desk and haven't felt the need to hook it up.
There are so many choices in music via Winamp that I find myself utilizing my main system less and less.
kbamhi
39 posts
 
MHI offers the "Evidence" desktop speakers which would also be a very good choice. They are fairly efficent and could be powered by a small desktop tube amp. See the review in Positive Feedback online issue number 35.
There is a demo pair online for sale at 450.00 / 150.00 off list.
audioguru1
19 posts
 
why not get wharfdale 8.2 actives, they are reportedly the same as quads, about $350 for the pair. You could also buy another direct connected usb dac, my experience was direct connected sounded better than squeezebox, using a trends ud10 to a musiland dac.
cruz123
586 posts
 
I rescind my prior advice. Instead, keep the apartment and ditch the nagging girlfriend.
reubent
6,986 posts
 
Audioguru1,

Take a look at photos of the Wharfedales and the Quads. They are definately not the same speaker. They may have similarities, and who knows, they may be built in the same factory, but they are not the same. The driver flanges are not shaped the same, so I suspect they are different drivers. Also, the Quads have twin ports on the rear and the Wharfedales have a single port on the front.

TIC
More to discover