New house, new audio spaces, new setup challenges - suggestions?
Moving to the new house poses some playback challenges, namely re-creating the following A/V spaces:
[1] living room casual listeningPretty minimal requirements here. At the moment, I'm thinking I'll recycle my Rotel tuner/pre + Adcom GFA-555 (or SAE Mark XXXII) + B&W DM610i bookshelf speakers. The B&Ws FR isn't what I'd like, but reality is I won't listen much in this space. so unless someone can suggest a suitable pre / power / speaker replacement at the price point I'd get for this gear used (i.e. not much), I'll probably just stick with this old gear. I may move to a Sony STR-DA3000ES + other speakers at some point, but for the moment I think I'm okay recycling this old playback gear I picked up long ago. So...I think no real recommendations needed here until I sort out what more to do with this space.
[2] basement home theaterMuch smaller space than previously, roughly 10' x 12' with the rear wall open to the rest of the basement. Crappy acoustic environment - concrete, basically. We'll do some wall-hangings and rugs to dampen things a bit, but not interested in serious room conditioning - just not worth it at this point.
Current gear (not yet cannabilized) in this space:
x | (transport not an issue)
1 | Sony TA-E9000ES processor / preamp
2 | Maggie MMG front mains
2 | Maggie MMG-W surround
1 | Maggie MMG-C center
1 | Pinnacle Baby Boomer sub
Power amps - gone, as they're allocated to other areas in the house. This room's a real challenge for the Maggies, I think, since I can't get the spacing I want between the rear and side walls. I love the MMGs, and would love to upgrade to 1.6s, but the money's not there at the moment, this space won't allow it, and neither will the home office or living room. We're not raving HT nuts, so something "good enough" will suffice, and I think I want speakers that offer a bit more "punch" for HT than the laid-back, smooth Maggies offer. Which means for now, I think I'm gonna bail on the Maggies. I'll probably keep the Baby Boomer sub. So...that leaves me with needing a power amp + the full 5 speaker complement. Budget for the power amp + 5 speakers = roughly $1k, more if I unload the Sony TA-9000ES in favor of an (at least 5 channel) all-in-one processor / preamp / power amp like the Sony STR-DAx000 line.
- Any recommendations for 5 channel power amp + 5 speaker component given the budget of $1k?
- Am I better off unloading the TA-9000ES in favor of an all-in-one processor / preamp / power amp like the STR-DAx000ES series?
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[3] home office primary listeningMy requirements for this space are the most demanding. Unfortunately, it's a challenging space (home office), so I know I have to make some compromises. I like my headphone playback (PC / Waveterminal 2496 digi-out > smART DIO > AKG K501), but it's failed the GAF test (g/f acceptance factor) since I'm largely clueless to the outside world even at fairly low volumes. And besides, I prefer speaker listening, which my previous office did not accomodate. This room, while not ideal, will at least physically accomodate speaker listening, and I can always chuck on the headphones from time to time. So...gear available here:
(transport not an issue)
Bel Canto DAC 1.1
YS Audio Symphonies preamp
McCormack DNA-1 power amp
? speakers ?
See the diagram below for rough room dimensions and layout. This is the only config I could figure out that fit all the stuff in the room (it's all gotta fit, no exceptions) and still provided a physical space at least minimally accomodating to audio playback. I'm thinking since I'm behind the desk, I need some bookshelf or medium-sized speakers I can raise up on stands to get 'em above the desk. No audio treatments doable at this point - I'm just looking for reasonably good speakers for a small, less than ideal space.
- Any recommendations for speakers in the $500 range for this kind of space?
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Alternatively, I could allocate the roughly $1,500 budget differently than above, as long as it covered the following gear as previously noted:
[2] basement home theater5-channel power amp + 5 speakers for HT
or
5-channel processor / preamp / power amp + 5 speakers
[3] home office primary listening2 speakers
Curious to hear some responses...