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In Reply to: RE: "expert" thoughts on my setup posted by Pro Sound Guy on June 26, 2012 at 06:30:55
Thanks for your thoughts. Due to rising food prices I had to take Cable out of my budget and focus on just basic internet. So the TV is going out of my small apartment, good riddance, I found myself wasting so much time with that thing. You know you put on the TV and next thing you know an hour went by and you've gained nothing :-)
The speakers are from a small British company called Harbeth. I would like to have the whole system made in the USA but I can't afford Wilson's right now due to my financial situation, I may graduate to Magnepan 1.7's but the sound stage would be too big for me, so as I said I am done for now. Yes the TV is going out of the room soon.
Follow Ups:
Nothing to be ashamed of with Harbeth! Those are truly great speakers - able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best !
Good choice with the Bel Canto setup, too - I can imagine hours of enjoyment.
I do think at some point vinyl would be spectacular - a turntable like a VPI classic would round it out nicely! (Or a used Oracle or SOTA?)
I have always been impressed with Magnepan, but the rounded off highs and lows always has kept me from pulling the trigger. I understand they are much better these days.
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
If the system sounds great to the O/P who are we to argue? If he thinks it sounds great, then it is the great. To him of course.
My own preferences matter little.
As I used to say to students in a breifly extant wine tasting course. Who constantly badgered me as to what was the best wine in the world.My answer was simplr "the best wine in the world is the wine you like the best. If he thinks its a great system, then it is , but perhaps only to him.
Steve
You are right in that the only person that needs to be satisfied is the owner.
However ...
That is a really good system even without caveats like that!! I think most everyone here would be happy with something long those lines! I know I would. The only thing at this point to experiment with *may* be sources. I mentioned a turntable in a previous post, and that system would be positively magical - and when digital reinvents itself down the road in a few years, a new DAC as digital is a treadmill.
In fact, I suspect once he lives with this system for awhile, he may find the Magnepans too limited in what his system does well to make what they do well "worth it."
One big benefit of Harbeths is that, unlike Magnepans, it is not too fussy about the amplifier that drives it. And the Harbeths do really well at a variety of volume levels - not so the Magnepans which really sound their best at a narrow range of volumes!
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"
In regard to speaker selection, I do have a pair of Magnepan MMGs but they are limited and I get tired of them really quick. It is always a breath of fresh air plugging in the Harbeths, when I do from time to time use the MMGs I feel like I am crazy for even hooking them up. I will stick with the Harbeths and forget about anything else. You are right, they are easy to drive and fit well at least in my setup, I had done a lot of research over the years to finally settle on them.
In terms of sources, you will be surprised how good 24/96 FLAC can sound in this setup. In regards to your comments about DACs, when there is significant need to upgrade I will, however it can do 24/96 which is Max I see downloads in currently that interest me. I know there is 24/192 but that seems not worth if to upgrade for such a small improvement.
It suits me fine.
The objective of installing a DAC in your system is not (solely) to up the bit rate/khz, but to process the digital information in a much more musical way. A good way to think about it is: the DAC chip in a sound card costs ~$1. The DAC chip in an decent external DAC will be worth at least 100x that. You can run the SAME 24/96 signal through a good DAC and you may just be blown away by the increase in SQ.I was.
Edits: 07/03/12
Welcome, I'm fully aware of that, my main system DAC cost me an arm and a leg... The DAC I use (Bel Canto DAC3) is only a few years old, as I said once it's worth it I will upgrade, I consider the DAC the most important piece to the puzzle in my systems.
I also have the Audioengine D1 like you in my office system, sounds good...
cheers!
Nothing wrong with Harbeth not being made in the USA. At least they're one of our UKUSA "five-eyes" allies. Nice setup!
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