JJ's Year 12: First Year of the New HT in a New House

[JJ]

Wait, we're getting away from discussing brands! Give me more ideas, fellas! Anything i could audition? I mean, outside of the usual mainstays. I've never heard Maggies...but that might have to wait for the next place. GAF would never let it happen...

I'm talking Dali, Nola, Rega. Along those lines. But keep it affordable. Say sub 5k. I want to manageably tease myself...

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by JJ

Wait, we're getting away from discussing brands! Give me more ideas, fellas! Anything i could audition? I mean, outside of the usual mainstays. I've never heard Maggies...but that might have to wait for the next place. GAF would never let it happen...

JJ,

Maggies, Martin Logan, Nola (you mentioned; I have some out of production), Aerial, Von Schweikert, Thiel, Totem, Quad, Vandersteen to name but a small number.

Rich

[Intamin]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Alex,

Now now. They are supposed to be competitive with (and quite possibly better than) speakers in the $50,000 to $100,000+ range especially when used with subwoofers (and crossed over in my case at 50 Hz to take a load off of the speakers and amps).

Rich

I meant relative to what I and jj can afford, not that they are over-priced. Relatively speaking, they would appear to be appropriately priced given what I've seen other horn designs go for...the new ones designed by Mark Levinson come to mind, and those are 100k, as well as the jbl everests.

JJ, take a look at the GX line of monitor audio's. You an get the 200s for 3k and the 300s for 4200 (dealer through audiogon is where I got those prices). Dali's for sure, and I'd look at Focals (usually good deals on agon too). Of course I'd recommend Salk's. You could get ht-2 tl's in a nice custom finish for 5k.

[Intamin]

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....300-Piano-Blac

He lowered his price since I last talked to him.

[ejusted]

Originally Posted by Intamin

I meant relative to what I and jj can afford, not that they are over-priced. Relatively speaking, they would appear to be appropriately priced given what I've seen other horn designs go for...the new ones designed by Mark Levinson come to mind, and those are 100k, as well as the jbl everests.

JJ, take a look at the GX line of monitor audio's. You an get the 200s for 3k and the 300s for 4200 (dealer through audiogon is where I got those prices). Dali's for sure, and I'd look at Focals (usually good deals on agon too). Of course I'd recommend Salk's. You could get ht-2 tl's in a nice custom finish for 5k.

+1

[hometheatergeek]

Originally Posted by ejusted

+1

Gee who would have thought a +1 from the dude who just got a nice set of Focals.

[Travis]

My list to audition:
PSB
Quad
Spendor
Dali
Sonus Faber

[JJ]

Alright, so here's my short list:

- GoldenEar Triton Two
- B&W CM-series
- MA GX Series
- Martin Logan _______ ? The Theos are out of my range. I don't know what to think about the ESLs. Ethos perhaps? I'm not sure about Maggies, either, given just my Emo solid-state amp. Maggies would be a complete 360 for me, I think I'll have to leave those alone for now. Same w/ Quads.
- Dynaudio ______
- I think Von Schweikert is out of my league for now. I looked up the Unifields, they'd be too much -

What I want to avoid is something that'll require me to change my amplification process. I'm looking at the VR33s and VR35s - my mind is thinking it would have to switch out a lot more gear to use those.

Showed the gf Vandersteens, got no approval for those. She didn't like the look of Nolas either.

I'm also not feeling either Paradigm or PSB at the moment, and I've demoed those enough times a year or so back.

- Rega RS5 or RS7...do I have any local dealers? I'd have to see. Rega website just lists distributors in the US...hmm.

- Dali Helicons seem to be in my range.

- Wish I could do the Thiel CS3.7. I know nothing about Thiels, though, pricewise. Might have to do more research.

- Focals are the wildcard as I know nothing about them either. But I was reading about the Diablo Utopias and those sold me on looks alone.

Where the heck is Steve 1 when I need him? He's auditioned everything w/ a cone.

If my Dynamo doesn't get back soon, I'll want a new sub too. Now I don't know what to keep anymore. Gotdamnit. I need to chill.\


Holy cow, these GET ForceField subs have some ridiculous low-end on these spec sheets. Has anyone tested the accuracy of these numbers?

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by JJ

Alright, so here's my short list:

- GoldenEar Triton Two
- B&W CM-series
- MA GX Series
- Martin Logan _______ ? The Theos are out of my range. I don't know what to think about the ESLs. Ethos perhaps? I'm not sure about Maggies, either, given just my Emo solid-state amp. Maggies would be a complete 360 for me, I think I'll have to leave those alone for now. Same w/ Quads.
- Dynaudio ______
- I think Von Schweikert is out of my league for now. I looked up the Unifields, they'd be too much -

What I want to avoid is something that'll require me to change my amplification process. I'm looking at the VR33s and VR35s - my mind is thinking it would have to switch out a lot more gear to use those.

Showed the gf Vandersteens, got no approval for those. She didn't like the look of Nolas either.

I'm also not feeling either Paradigm or PSB at the moment, and I've demoed those enough times a year or so back.

- Rega RS5 or RS7...do I have any local dealers? I'd have to see. Rega website just lists distributors in the US...hmm.

- Dali Helicons seem to be in my range.

- Wish I could do the Thiel CS3.7. I know nothing about Thiels, though, pricewise. Might have to do more research.

- Focals are the wildcard as I know nothing about them either. But I was reading about the Diablo Utopias and those sold me on looks alone.

Where the heck is Steve 1 when I need him? He's auditioned everything w/ a cone.

If my Dynamo doesn't get back soon, I'll want a new sub too. Now I don't know what to keep anymore. Gotdamnit. I need to chill.\


Holy cow, these GET ForceField subs have some ridiculous low-end on these spec sheets. Has anyone tested the accuracy of these numbers?

JJ,

Disregard your GF opinion, the Nolas are beautiful in person. You should add the following Nola speakers to your list:

http://www.nolaspeakers.com/

1) Viper IIA- they are $6,000 a pair, but they can be found used on Audiogon frequently for about $3500. That is about what I paid and I use them for the side surrounds. They are in their Viper series; I thought they had been discontinued, but apparently not. Both the Viper IIA and the Viper Reference III below have true left and right speakers.





Also for kicks if they have them, try to listen to the Viper Reference III (I believe they are about $15,000 a pair; they are the special and big brother to the Viper IIA)





In the Boxer Collection:

2) The Contender- These are slender towers and have a list of about $3400 new.



3) The Boxer- A Bookshelf speaker- about $1500 a pair new



4) The Announcer- A center Channel Speaker- I am not sure of the list price.

Also listed in the Home Theater Series.



Home Theater Series

5) Reference Center Channel Speaker. This is the replacement for my Nola LCR Reference Center Channel Speaker that was made to go with the Nola Viper IIA speakers. It has been updated to work better with the Reference Series speakers. I believe that these still have a list price for around $2200. But, the Nola LCR Reference Center Channel speaker can frequently be found on Audiogon for about $800 or $900 or less. See my gallery for photos of the older LCR Reference Center Channel speaker.



Reference Series:

6) Micro Grand Reference Speakers-$14,000 a pair. These are smallest and least expensive in the Reference Series and I know these are out of your price range: but just listen to them.



Rich

[ZIPPO]

Originally Posted by JJ

Now I don't know what to keep anymore. Gotdamnit. I need to chill.\

Take your time, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Enjoy what you currently have, until you really need to upgrade. It's not like you don't have a KICKA$$ system as is.

[JJ]

Rich,

Showed her those. Wasn't feeling any of them. "Wait until we have a house and a room you can put those in." But she's right. They just wouldn't go with the current aesthetic of the place.

Originally Posted by ZIPPO

Take your time, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Enjoy what you currently have, until you really need to upgrade. It's not like you don't have a KICKA$$ system as is.

Reality check. Very true.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by ZIPPO

Take your time, Rome wasn't built in a day.

But Pompeii was destroyed in one day.

[JJ]

The best thing having GAF and not WAF is that she can only decide if it looks good, not if I can spend the money on it.

However, after a few years, I have finally been bitten by the mod bug. It's given me the itch. No, not THAT itch, ya jerks. Lou has his 5 year plan, I want to formulate my 5 month plan. What do you chaps think? I respect your opinions - in my system, what would you consider replacing first? BDP? Receiver? Amp? Front 3? Sub? Leave my Kuro and rears alone though!

Appreciate any ideas and suggestions.

[HAMP]

Did anyone else know 'The Walking Dead' started back tonight?

[JJ]

Originally Posted by HAMP

Did anyone else know 'The Walking Dead' started back tonight?

There's a Tropical Storm going through SoFla right now. I have DirecTV.

Put two and two together, aaaaand...

[Show spoiler]Got to watch 40 minutes before the signal was lost. It's coming down hard outside. I'll have to catch a replay.

[HAMP]

Originally Posted by JJ

There's a Tropical Storm going through SoFla right now. I have DirecTV.

Put two and two together, aaaaand...

[Show spoiler]Got to watch 40 minutes before the signal was lost. It's coming down hard outside. I'll have to catch a replay.

It was good, make sure you catch the rebroadcast, and you do know, it was 1 ½ hours instead of the regular 1 hour.

From your previous post, you said not to mess with your Kuro or rear speakers, does that mean you really like the AQ from the MA's?

I know I have posted that I'm not sure which I am more proud of, my surrounds or the front stage. I know when a movie that has a damn good surround going on, I loooove mine.

[Travis]

Listen to some Spendors, you won't regret it.

[JJ]

Originally Posted by Travis

Listen to some Spendors, you won't regret it.

Another brand I've never heard of that I'd need to contact the distributor. Oy vey! Will do, Travis, only because you suggested ever so nicely.

I rechecked the Wharfedale #s. They recommend 200W power...to surrounds?! That's insane. Much higher rating than the rest of the Evo line. I wonder why that is. I can't feed them that much. I'd rather not risk it either. Let's see if I can still work w/ this Englishman and his MonitorAudio BFXs. Plus, if I end up going with the GX line - I'll finally sort-of-match again.

Hamp, I just don't want to mess w/ the surrounds because of their rarity and difficulty to switch out. Besides, $900 for B&W DS3s - why, that's money I could use to get an Oppo 93 and a Panamax 5300. But I'm just giving myself more ideas...

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by JJ

Another brand I've never heard of that I'd need to contact the distributor. Oy vey! Will do, Travis, only because you suggested ever so nicely.

I rechecked the Wharfedale #s. They recommend 200W power...to surrounds?! That's insane. Much higher rating than the rest of the Evo line. I wonder why that is. I can't feed them that much. I'd rather not risk it either. Let's see if I can still work w/ this Englishman and his MonitorAudio BFXs. Plus, if I end up going with the GX line - I'll finally sort-of-match again.

Hamp, I just don't want to mess w/ the surrounds because of their rarity and difficulty to switch out. Besides, $900 for B&W DS3s - why, that's money I could use to get an Oppo 93 and a Panamax 5300. But I'm just giving myself more ideas...

Hi JJ,

If you are considering the Panamax 5300, then consider the Panamax M5400-PM instead.

Rich

[HAMP]

If your into the show 'The Walking dead', then rent the game called 'Dead Island'. If you have time