General Asylum

Posted by 2chJunkie (A) on January 14, 2015 at 09:32:14

In Reply to: RE: The Good News and the Bad News posted by jedrider on January 13, 2015 at 10:31:02

These gloom and doom posts are nothing new here. This place has allot of touchy (passionate :), and overly negative folks. Not calling you that per se. But its easy to see, depending on where one lurks, how folks come away feeling the audio world is coming to an end. I couldnt disagree more. Its better than ever with more options than ever before!

Having been down so many different audio roads Ive come away feeling very positive and thinking its never been better to be audio enthusiast on a budget.
I think the only area thats somewhat hard to find a bargain is large scale home audio thats turn key and cheap. Which happens to be my fav area, large home audio. In this Ive found the best way to achieve it is with a DIY approach.

I agree that the cost of entry into larger home audio seems to be going up in price. But IMO its mainly in high power and volume, larger scale, turn key gear. If you look at headphone and smaller stereo area, theres an abundance of USA and China made gear out there. And in pretty accessible places. Its really us folks who want big home stereos on a budget that see our options shrinking. Thats no surprise as we are the shrinking minority. Makes total sense. More and more folks have smaller income, living areas, move allot and have less time to focus on such a hobby. In contrast to this, theres an incredible presence of music options and availability. Great times in that area.

It makes sense to me that we, the minority, simply have to step up our game if we want affordable big home stereos. The market simply moved with the times. Your just not going to find a big, well made, USA built, turn key home stereo for under $1K easily. To be fair, who really needs some monster of a home stereo so many of us find ourselves gravitating towards. I know Ive well crossed the line into excess and could easily live with a nice home amp and a 2 way 8" woofer set of speakers if I had to ( probably should ;).

But if you want to venture into the wonderful land of home audio excess, theres SOOOO many options. If your willing to work a little! I recently found the amazing value in high power vintage pro audio amps. Its great that so many "audiophiles" turn up their noses to them. And this notion of fan noise is a joke, pop a $40 German made papst fan into one and youll never hear it. Its $3K+ for a new 300 watt SS home amp or $200 and some work ($200-300 for someone to do it for ya) for a used pro one. Or newly made pro audio amps are fine in many cases, $200-500. Also look at the many parts / kits for high power SS amps coming in from China. You can buy new, assembled 200+ watt amp boards that needs a bit of further assembly for around $120 shipped to your door. Youve got yourself a high power SS amp for little $ and some time on your part. So if one needs high power SS amps theres many options on the cheap. Then theres tube amps. As many mention and promote, theres lots of cheap options coming out of China if you want pre made. But IMO theres also many affordable premade tube amps here in the states. Many of which are being made by fellows in a one off fashion. Ive used many of these to great success. But really the best niche is DIY in tube amps. Many guys here and all over have found building a tube amp (for some) is far easier than they expected. And have found themselves head over heels in love with the affair. Just pop into tubeDIY and see the passion from the posters. Its fairly cheap when one can build a killer 50 watt PP tube amp for under $400 in parts. Lets face it, for many 50 watts is all they need for their home audio expectations. Now you have pride in ownership, well made and great performance power amp for cheap.

To me, the biggest hurdle is large home speakers. And this really is the decider how nuts are you gonna go on a budget. Its also been my experience that one can get rather carried away here. How big is your room? How loud do you really go and willingly go??? So many of us find ourselves in the, eyes bigger than your stomach, camp Id guess. We would all (almost :) like to have the giant 15x30 room to jam in but life shows otherwise. So assuming you dont need 18" bass drivers and 1K watt speakers what are your option on a budget? Many IMO. I think its so great parts express is offering their dayton audio line of drivers and cabinets. Same goes for madisound and their kit offerings. Theres also LOADS of other guys on the net with their kit examples. Heck if your a horn guy or the like, look at Bob Crites klipsch page. Ive no personal affiliation with these places just feel its wonderful they exist and offer great bang for the buck speaker options. As with my finding of high power pro audio amps, the same goes for many of the speakers. While these clearly are not very home pleasing ascetically. Many can be re-veneered, transplanted into nice home cabs and retrofitted in general. I simply feel many of the drivers marketed for pro use offer great bang for the buck if selected and used properly.

In general, I simply dont see these as bad times for home audio on a budget. It just isnt the easiest if you want a large, nice home stereo on the cheap that requires little work on your part. But really, was that ever the case??? I wasnt alive in the 50-70s, so I cant speak from experience. But from what Ive read, back then it was cheap either. If someone wanted a big home stereo it was a major commitment. Those wonderful big ol pioneer, sansui, kenwood and the like, vintage home receivers, pre/power equipment and their associated speakers, were not bought cheaply in their day. It was often several paychecks accumulation to afford ones dream rig. Heck, many guys brought em back while doing military service because they could be had cheaper vs back in the states (hows that for commitment to the hobby ;). So to me, it doesnt seem all that different vs today.

Folks can say and feel what they want about the digital / mp3 age of today. Overall Im very positive about it. Yes a randomly found mp3 DL'd off the net of some song may well not be the best example of a songs SQ. But if thats how one builds up their praised song library, SQ is not likely their concern. But Ive found digital can sound incredible too. Get a good DA converter and material that can do it justice. Now one has a massive library of music in a small, intuitive package. All of which can be done without spending thousands on gear and media. Analog options often need great care and space. Not practical for many nowadays. Great times for many on a budget. FTR I like both digital and analog media options. Just dont agree in the least digital has been bad for the hobby. #1 reason being easy exposure of music to new generations that never would have been possible before. For both accessibility and $. Who knows how many, current and ones to come, musicians will be seasoned, thanks to DL'ding muddy waters or coltrane by chance.

And look at education for the hobby. Now if your on a budget, and or have little means of demoing / seeing in person, gear in this new audio curiosity of yours, you have an oasis of options to read up on via the net. Now one can even listen to sound bytes of gear, or watch videos of it in action. For better or worse LOL. I recently found, what I consider to be the greatest collection of educational information to audio, on a fluke reading info on car audio on a site. Its ESP elliot sound products website. Despite sounding like a sales site, its far from. He only sells DIY pcbs for fellow DIY hobbyists. The man has a massive library of articles hes authored about nearly every possible aspect of the hobby. Its not the easiest read, but my god is it informative. Ive found myself, after years of trying different approaches to reproduction, aligning with his approach. But to each their own. I wish Id have found his site when I first began this hobby. A real no BS look at how all this stuff works. One of many sites doing a service to the hobby to educate the masses. Its great such things exist. Like audioasylum :)

So in conclusion, Im far from brief, I couldnt disagree more that these are bad times. TOTAL OPPOSITE. I dont see things being much different now in what ones options are, in relation to ones income. If anything its better than before, with far more options. Youll simply not be able to own a pair of Magico speakers driven by a pair of 500 watt Boulder mono blocks on your $40K a year income. But heck, who in that position is trying to do such things????

This hobby is so interesting and has so many avenues. Its ever expanding like the variety of music you can apply to it!