If you are happy with your system.. please put your hands up :)

newlash09

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Hi all you good folks :)

We've time and again read that system synergy, especially amp to speaker synergy makes or breaks a system. I've struggled with my PMC 20.26 speakers for 3 years to get them sounding right. And it of course sunk a lot of good money in the process.

As we hobbyists are ever helpful and wouldn't want a fellow hobbyist to loose money, committing the same mistakes we made. Thought I'd start a thread on this subject. Highlighting what worked and didn't work with a particular peice of gear.

Would be very grateful if others chip in. So that other members buying stuff have a ready reference of what goes with what. And might save a lot of guess work, heart burn and not to mention financial loss.

I have mentioned my trails with gear as below. Others , please feel free to improvise on this format. Thanks for participating :)

Speakers : PMC 20.26

Amps tried : devialet D premier, parasound halo integrated, krell KSA 100 mk2, TAD 1000 tube mono blocks.

Best fit : TAD 1000 mono blocks or any other tubey sounding amp in my humble opinion..

Reason - this has completely taken off the rough edge these studio heritage speakers have. Especially treble can get harsh at times. With tubes iam getting a huge holographic sound stage with great imaging. Iam hearing sounds coming out from the sides of the listening position, away from the speaker plane on a lot of tracks. And I must mention the sound is really sweet, especially the treble. These have 100 tube watts a side. Though they don't have the below mentioned krell's bass slam, what they have is a very rounded bass. Absolutely no bass boom or bloat. May be i should add a very organic bass. Unlike the krell, which sounds like the bass drivers are going to burst any moment, with all that speed and slam.

Mostly fit but not quiet there : krell KSA 100 mk2

Reason - This is a full class A amp. Awesome bass and control. Probably the best bass slam I've ever heard, and in the same league as a karan power amp. And mids and treble are also sweet because of the class A implementation. But not quiet there vs the tube amps at treble sweetness and the huge sound staging and imaging. But this gets real close to the tube sound, coupled with some of the best bass possible. It only loses out to the tubes in holographic imaging Th at only tubes can do. But it came fearfully close to them.


Half way there : parasound halo integrated

Reason - very neutral sounding amp , but very powerful. Cuts of high treble to deliver a mellow sound. The pmc are lean sounding speakers. So need some amp which adds weight and body to the sound. So the parasound being completely neutral, and not adding anything to the sound didn't work in my room. But it works a treat on my Qacoustics concept 40's.

Didn't work at all : devialet D premier

Reason - This is a detail freak. And lean sounding amp. Coupled with the PMC , I was getting a detailed but lean sound. Since I was looking for more weight and body removed it from the chain. But has awesome bass again. But still not krell bass territory :)
 
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It took me more than 2 years to get my existing setup sound upto my liking. The difference in perspective is, I never tried any other component. I took the route of finding out what's going wrong and why. This journey took me through the labyrinths of different branches of science and technology along with both the frustration of hitting a dead end and the pleasure of getting a deeper understanding of the audio voodo.

To give an example, we all have heard and read numerous times that any cable acts as an antenna to catch all the nearby interferences but rarely we realise that the inductors of the speaker crossover are the greatest antenna in an audio system, the further it is from any source of interference the smoother and more coherent is the sound. Wish speaker manufacturers accept the present day interference patterns and start incorporating shielded crossovers in all their speakers not only in the uber expensive ones.

My setup constitutes of a Devialet 220 Pro and Neat Acoustics Momentum SX5i.
 
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Hi all you good folks :)

We've time and again read that system synergy, especially amp to speaker synergy makes or breaks a system. I've struggled with my PMC 20.26 speakers for 3 years to get them sounding right. And it of course sunk a lot of good money in the process.

As we hobbyists are ever helpful and wouldn't want a fellow hobbyist to loose money, committing the same mistakes we made. Thought I'd start a thread on this subject. Highlighting what worked and didn't work with a particular peice of gear.



Reason - This is a detail freak. And lean sounding amp. Coupled with the PMC , I was getting a detailed but lean sound. Since I was looking for more weight and body removed it from the chain. But has awesome bass again. But still not krell bass territory :)


Hi Manu,

The human mind rarely gets fully satisfied & is always on the look out for the next level of satisfaction. Mine is a very modest system compared to what you have. After buying the Marantz 6006 UK edition totally satisfied with the sound I was looking for (at least for the next few years :)).
Was planning to go for bigger bookshelf fronts but have junked the idea as of now. The synergy with the rest of the system appeals to my taste.
I am sure there are better sounding systems out there but for the moment would stop here as per my budget & liking.

Regards,

Nitin
 
Am very happy with my system. Some very minor quibbles. But those will be sorted out with some isolation and/or minor placement changes
 
I'm going to think about this, the right setup, as a journey and not a destination. For some time, you will be happy with some combination and eventually you will outgrow it and move on to something new. I also think with time, the music taste will change and a setup that is good for one type of music might not work for the new taste.

I've just started on this path with a simple Yamaha integrated amp N-R803 with Kef R3. I'm quite happy with it now. I'm also certain that in a couple of years I will be moving on to something different.
 
I am quite happy with my setup and looking no further for the moment. I may do some minor adjustments to save space in my small room and add some isolation tweaks, but nothing major.
 
I am actually more than happy with what I have now and if I had to start all over again, the first thing would be a passive preamp.

When I started this this journey some 15-16 years ago, the only goal I had was to have a system sounding as clean as a headphones based system does. And the skeptic mind had always been towards finding out as to what changes the original signal. And, I think, as it stands today, the finding says that the real magic is in preamp and that too is when a preamp is not a preamp.
 
Unfortunately in my line of work, I have to move all the time. i end up moving to a new house virtually every year, and even when i get a system to sound nice, the room changes and throws everything for a toss. I've given up now.

The best was my 2015 house, NAD 3020, Little bear P3, Philips HiQ speakers combo!
 
I am quite happy with my setup
My quest was probably different from most others here as I cannot (truly) diffrentiate between two amps, let alone two Interconnects ..

I just needed an audio streaming setup that lets me stream anywhere without going through thirty hoops - acceptably good sound was a bonus :)

All done for now except maybe a small itch to change some of the speakers :D
 
All I can say is Marantz PM 6006 amp is a clean amp with natural sound but it has to be paired with a neutral speaker for optimum output.

Though I use symphonic line which is a high end I am a big fan of marantz
 
I started my journey about two and half years ago with speakers and amp that I purchased based primarily on my auditioning. I was quite happy with the sound initially. But the discontent started setting in as I realised there were far better sounding systems at same price range. I have since been working on studying and experimenting. Most of this experimentation was around interconnects, speaker cables, connectors and speaker placement. Eventually it all started coming together into a sound that I now enjoy and feel happy with. Meanwhile, I added a tube pre and kept adding sources: a CD transport (instead of the earlier CDP), a streamer, and the latest a tuner to expand my content variety. However, in this whole journey two components remained constant - my Audiolab 8200A (whose only power section I use now) and the Castle Knight 2 speakers. I tried out a few other (higher priced) amps, but they couldn’t woo me away from the 8200A. And the love affair with the CK 2 only kept growing as my optimisations (with ICs, speaker cables, plugs, speaker placements) led to increasingly better sound through them. Today the sound is way beyond what I heard when I demoed this amp and speakers together at the dealer demo room. But their choice has only got vindicated over time. Even now I keep exploring upgrades to them from time to time, but don’t feel convinced to move away from them. I believe they along with the tube pre define the DNA of my system’s sound. And it’s ‘my kind of sound’.
 
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Does my system, decidedly imperfect as it is in my room, bring a smile to my face? Yes.

Can it get better in my room? Yes. Can't wait for room treatments to be complete and my additional subs to arrive.
 
Hi all you good folks :)

We've time and again read that system synergy, especially amp to speaker synergy makes or breaks a system. I've struggled with my PMC 20.26 speakers for 3 years to get them sounding right. And it of course sunk a lot of good money in the process.

As we hobbyists are ever helpful and wouldn't want a fellow hobbyist to loose money, committing the same mistakes we made. Thought I'd start a thread on this subject. Highlighting what worked and didn't work with a particular peice of gear.

Would be very grateful if others chip in. So that other members buying stuff have a ready reference of what goes with what. And might save a lot of guess work, heart burn.

I will keep it simple....

Started my HT + stereo + singing hobby journey in the year 2001.

First system was Woodstock amp + woodstock speakers : satisfaction level : 10/10. As i had limited knowledge how a true audiophile system sounded. BTW still don't have any idea

Then in 2002 bought my first HT system all Yamaha. RXV430 Reciever + Yamaha speakers. : satisfaction level ::: 10/10

Then upgraded reciever to RX-V663 for HD/lossless sound formats in 2009.

When atmos came tried the Denon 2200 model. Didn't like it much returned it.

In 2014, i wanted to buy some ENDGAME system, so purchased the SVS ULTRA 5.1 System, the SVS flagship. With PB2000 subwoofer + Yahama RX-A3050 reciever + Epson 1080p projector + Marantz 7007 Bluray player + 1080p HTPC+ boston acoustics Atmos speakers. PLUS constructed a dedicated HT room with all the ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS. + bought Roughly 700-800 blurays, some were imported from amazon uk or US or Italy etc.
Satisfaction level is beyond 10/10. Can't describe in words. DON'T WANT TO UPGRADE... NEVER

In the year 2017 :: I construct/ converted my backyard store to a small HT, based around a UHD OLED TV. So built it with a sony 55 inch Sony A8F OLED + Panasoniv UB 820 UHD Player+ UHD HTPC+ Yamaha Rx-a3070 + SVS prime bookshelfs + prime center + SB1000 subwoofer + POLK dipole/bipole surrounds + JBL small speakers as atmos. Here also the room have all the acoustic treatments. Satisfaction level::: 10/10

FOR STEREO :::: Now i use my Yamaha RS500 amplifier + 2nd hand vintage SANSUI turntable + Marantz CD player. Satisfaction level::10/10

Head Fi : I have a few Headphones namely Sennheiser HD 660S, sennheiser HD 599, Sony H900n, Beats solo 3. I use these with my DAP the FiiO M11Pro. Satisfaction level: 10/10.

For singing : I use SMULE app on Iphone 6s + RODE NT1 Condenser microphone . My smule id : _mandeep_. I love to sing and learn music. Satisfaction level:10/10.

Thanks
Regards
 
For excellent sound that won't break the bank, the 5 Star Award Winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Bookshelf Speakers is the one to consider!
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