rpisharody
New Member
Hi All,
I have a pair of Philips Bookshelves. I (actually my wife) inherited them from an uncle and they are really old (estimated 20+ years). They had their amplifier and turntables but they went elsewhere in the family.
So what we ended up with was two good bookshelves (passive). Somewhere in 2010 or so I hooked them up to old Mercury 2.1 subwoofer. I stashed away the original satellites that came with it. Since the speakers had very simple open wiring everything connected well and the subwoofer had enough juice in it to power the speakers.
To be honest, am fine with this setup. In fact have been living with it for 4 years now. But something tells me am under-utilizing the speakers. They deserve better.
Also, somepoint I ended up with a 32 inch LED in the middle which means I have the temptation to "up" the action a bit. And that is when I started reading up and trying to understand a lot about good audio. Have always had keen ear for sound but did not understand the technicalities fully. Lots of research involved this site itself and ofcourse other resources too on the Internet.
Here is what I have gathered till now:
a) I need to really identify my source of music. It was computer, my transcend mp3 player and my samsung phone till now, but I want to change that. To aid that, I have ordered a "Pioneer DV-2011 DVD Player" which I will install in a nice location. That will be my source for playing music from either (i) a USB stick or (ii) A WD Passport 1TB HDD which I will dedicate for music. I can play Audio CDs too and this device will also be my movie player (with HDMI to my TV). I think that sounds like a good plan after the research. The pioneer looked simple enough to do my job and hence ordered it.
b) I want to get rid of the Mercury. Its bass knob is dying and like I said, am not even sure if I am doing it right (inspite of doing it for 4 years). On researching, have found two options. I could by a "Cambridge Audio Topaz AM5" from hifimart and put it next to my pioneer and use it as an Integrated Amplifier to drive my Philips speakers. Alternatively I was thinking about another device I read a lot about; the "Lepai LP-2020A+ Tripath Amplifier". I know the choices are two extremes (or maybe they are not, I don't know )
c) Not sure what will happen to the bass when I remove my Mercury and put in either the CA or Lepai in the middle between my source and speaker. I do know that when I turn the bass to 0 on my Mercury the Philips sound very good, but there is no bass. Not a fan of bass for the reason of bass, but am someone who likes good sound; so don't want to miss out on anything if its there in the source, because of my stupid mistakes. The speakers are 2-way; but that is an educated guess based on what I "see". I see two circular sections (drivers?) on each speaker; they are of the same diameter though, unlike pictures of 2-way speakers I have seen. But I understand that does not mean they will produce low frequency sounds. Maybe they are there to double the power and nothing else. I am apprehensive about opening them up to learn more (maybe I should) lest I damage them.
So ... that is the story till now. I would really appreciate insights, opinions and even critique. Am also open to 'hey! you got all that wrong'
Especially on my point (c) above. I do have other radically different plans. Sell the Philips (what if that is putting a constraint on my flow here) and think again about a different setup. But that would be too easy wouldn't it? I really want to put them to good use.
Am hoping am going in the right direction with this. As you can see, I do not have straight questions but that is because am not even sure where am going. Waiting to end this and sit back and listen to some music though.
Ratheesh
I have a pair of Philips Bookshelves. I (actually my wife) inherited them from an uncle and they are really old (estimated 20+ years). They had their amplifier and turntables but they went elsewhere in the family.
So what we ended up with was two good bookshelves (passive). Somewhere in 2010 or so I hooked them up to old Mercury 2.1 subwoofer. I stashed away the original satellites that came with it. Since the speakers had very simple open wiring everything connected well and the subwoofer had enough juice in it to power the speakers.
To be honest, am fine with this setup. In fact have been living with it for 4 years now. But something tells me am under-utilizing the speakers. They deserve better.
Also, somepoint I ended up with a 32 inch LED in the middle which means I have the temptation to "up" the action a bit. And that is when I started reading up and trying to understand a lot about good audio. Have always had keen ear for sound but did not understand the technicalities fully. Lots of research involved this site itself and ofcourse other resources too on the Internet.
Here is what I have gathered till now:
a) I need to really identify my source of music. It was computer, my transcend mp3 player and my samsung phone till now, but I want to change that. To aid that, I have ordered a "Pioneer DV-2011 DVD Player" which I will install in a nice location. That will be my source for playing music from either (i) a USB stick or (ii) A WD Passport 1TB HDD which I will dedicate for music. I can play Audio CDs too and this device will also be my movie player (with HDMI to my TV). I think that sounds like a good plan after the research. The pioneer looked simple enough to do my job and hence ordered it.
b) I want to get rid of the Mercury. Its bass knob is dying and like I said, am not even sure if I am doing it right (inspite of doing it for 4 years). On researching, have found two options. I could by a "Cambridge Audio Topaz AM5" from hifimart and put it next to my pioneer and use it as an Integrated Amplifier to drive my Philips speakers. Alternatively I was thinking about another device I read a lot about; the "Lepai LP-2020A+ Tripath Amplifier". I know the choices are two extremes (or maybe they are not, I don't know
)c) Not sure what will happen to the bass when I remove my Mercury and put in either the CA or Lepai in the middle between my source and speaker. I do know that when I turn the bass to 0 on my Mercury the Philips sound very good, but there is no bass. Not a fan of bass for the reason of bass, but am someone who likes good sound; so don't want to miss out on anything if its there in the source, because of my stupid mistakes. The speakers are 2-way; but that is an educated guess based on what I "see". I see two circular sections (drivers?) on each speaker; they are of the same diameter though, unlike pictures of 2-way speakers I have seen. But I understand that does not mean they will produce low frequency sounds. Maybe they are there to double the power and nothing else. I am apprehensive about opening them up to learn more (maybe I should) lest I damage them.
So ... that is the story till now. I would really appreciate insights, opinions and even critique. Am also open to 'hey! you got all that wrong'
Especially on my point (c) above. I do have other radically different plans. Sell the Philips (what if that is putting a constraint on my flow here) and think again about a different setup. But that would be too easy wouldn't it? I really want to put them to good use.
Am hoping am going in the right direction with this. As you can see, I do not have straight questions but that is because am not even sure where am going. Waiting to end this and sit back and listen to some music though.
Ratheesh
