25 replies to this topic

[miniman24]

Anyone into home audio on here? Being a student Im on a very limited budget but Ive managed to put together a decent system for around £80 by searching for a long time in charity shops and carboots. All the seperates are by my favourite manufacturer, Technics. The two black speakers are vintage Mission 761's and the other 3 are newer Sonys. Still looking for a good cheap turntable I listen to most genres except really heavy screaming stuff and this copes pretty well with anything Ive thrown at it. I anjoy taking them to bits and rebuilding them almost as much as with the Mini


By miniman92 at 2012-04-29


By miniman92 at 2012-04-29

What setups do you guys have?

[minimarco]

I have a Dual 1219 right now ($50, guy i bought from had 3 BMW 2002 parked on his drive way, we had a chat about our cars), just ordered a Rega RP3 in cool gray.
Also a 100 watt Onkyo Amp hooked up to a pair of Bose 301s. I will have to look for new speakers once the table arrives.
And also a pair of AKG 701 headphones, I need to get a new headphone amp for that too once the Rega arrives.
I mostly go for vinyl when ever I do any elective listening.

[miniman24]

I know what you mean about the vinyl, Ive got a few but I mostly used to listen to my Dads collection, hes got thousands, all the big bands from the 60's through to the 80's but I wasnt allowed to take them to uni with me, wonder why So Ill start to build my own collection when I earn some more money :) Your system sounds great, although Im not a fan of the Bose stuff, its all just clever/extremely good marketing IMO. If I had a few hundred to spend on speakers, Id go with Bowers and Wilkins, or Spendor BBC speakers (actually theyre more like £700 nowadays :S )

Need to look into headphones too...

[George929]

well all i know about home audio is, my granddad just bought lots of bang & olufsen things for his house and its amazing

[miniman24]

Bang and Olufson do some very nice stuff, never heard any of their stuff in action though, way out of my price range Sounds like your Grandad's built a good system!

[minimarco]

Yes I know what you mean. Bose is like a Mac really, designed and advertised well for people who think's they are buying quality stuff, but my 301s were on sale for half price so I couldn't say no. Though I do have a soft spot for vintage bose 901s.
I'll just wait and see whatever comes up on craigslist, I'm always looking out for polk, Nad and regas.

p.s. I think pair of nice headphones and a headphone amp is the best bang for you buck.

p.p.s Theres a B&O + other audio equipment dealer I go to. The B&O sales are always stuck up dick heads in suits. I just go to the basement where the friendly turntable guys are.

p.p.p.s And Vinyl can cost quite a bit http://www.discogs.c...0?ev=bp_rel_det Luckly i'm not into pet shop boys. But That site is great for tracking down and buying vinyl.

Edited by minimarco, 30 April 2012 - 12:10 AM.

[George929]

i have some bose headphones and there pretty good, i bought them in jersey VAT free so they were pretty cheap. never heard of a headphone amp before? please enlighten me ?

[minimarco]

Usually there is not enough power coming out of an ipod to power even standard earbuds to their full potential. Some enthusiast headphones (that cost about as much as a mini) sounds terrible if you just plug it into any regular amp which usually don't focus on headphone output. You can also buy battery powered amps in altoid tins on ebay.

p.s. If you want to get the most out of your ipod, the headphone jack does not put out enough power. You can get adaptors that plug into the 20pin socket at the bottom of ipods and bypass the earphone jack/headphone amp.

p.p.s Search cmoy altoids on ebay

Edited by minimarco, 30 April 2012 - 12:19 AM.

[George929]

omg, and i thought my Bose were expensive to be honest i think my ears have had enough punishment from driving the mini every day, i probably couldn't tell the difference now , i like my car audio but i don't really spend enough time at home to listen to music

[RossKnight]

Please move the desk to the left slightly so it's centrally under the shelf, and then move the amp/equalizer etc into the middle of the desk, and then have a mission each side


Sorry, ocd kicked in

[miniman24]

Cheers for the links! Fair enough if the Bose's were half price, most of their stuff does sound good but is just too overpriced and, for me, never had that "quality" feel. But it wouldnt put me off if the price was right! Ive never really been into any of the high street hi fi shops, just stared at the shiney amps and speakers through the window, as well as the equally shiney prices However, I can imagine there are a few salesmen who reckon they know more than they do, I reckon Id prefer to stick to the smaller record shops too!

Ive tried a headphone amp too, and they do make a huge difference, especially with a good set of over-ear headphones.

[miniman24]

Ah but what you cant see in the picture Ross, is that my bed is just to the right of the lamp in the right of the picture, and if I moved the desk to the left I wouldnt be able to reach the lamp when im in bed, and I cant move the bed further too the left because then it would be too far from the right hand wall! Also if the amp were in the middle, I wouldnt be able to tilt the laptops screen back far enough, and when the screen was up, I wouldnt be able to see the volume controls (laptop has to be in the middle of the desk ) Your not the only one with an OCD

Edited by miniman24, 30 April 2012 - 12:46 AM.

[RossKnight]

hmm tricky situation

well how about a 2 stack on each side of the desk, and then the 2 missions up on the top shelf with the laptop in the middle of the 2 stacks

looks nice though, I wanted to have a small set up in my room, but don't have a clue where to start to be honest

[miniman24]

Hmm that could work, but then the clock and lamp would have to be moved

I didnt know a thing about home audio a year ago, but the basics are very simple, just match the output of the amp to the output of the speakers. So if the amp can output 100W per channel at 8 ohms, just make sure the speakers label says 100W or more, and around 8 ohms :)

[RossKnight]

I know the technical side of the audio, I just meant I don't know where to look at getting something cheap that'll be any good haha, and I don't know what you actually need