New to audio. need some major help.

**shame302** · 02 November 2008, 01:02 Sunday

My Stetements blow away my buddies Klipsch RF7s, thats all i can comment on really. The rf7s are nice speakers though.

**Undefinition** · 02 November 2008, 02:28 Sunday

Originally posted by dazman

i have a budget of 4000$ and i would like to know what i am even looking for. i dont understand most of anything that anyone says on the board.. ( i am THAT lost ) i am an accomplished cabinet builder and would like to do a DIY project if that would save alot of money.

WOW!!! $4000. I've built and designed several pairs of speakers and still haven't spent that much. Dude, you can pretty much have the stars in the DIY world for $4000!

Anyway, since you have cabinet building experience and a love of music I have no doubt you'll find some designs that fit your needs. Just be careful, this hobby is addictive. :W

**Jed** · 02 November 2008, 09:49 Sunday

You'd have to get Accuton Diamond tweeters to work the budget up that high. I'd recommend a Scanspeak 2 way, and a sub. You won't be able to do much better than that until you start looking into a 3 way speaker.

The Illuminator drivers look REALLY nice. Someday I'll be testing them myself.

**Alaric** · 02 November 2008, 10:11 Sunday

With that budget , you can buy a decent little two channel system. As I'm sloooowly preparing to enter the do-it-myself world , I can tell you what I've done. During all your research here , follow the links! There is enough info to drown in! There are some serious speaker builder/designers and audio whizzes who hang out here. KalRubinson , DrJRapp , jrkrutke , and many others . I understand the information overload problem. If you don't know squat going in (I don't) it can be overwhelming.
I've looked through thousands of threads to pick up on a designer's musical tastes , room dimensions , acoustic treatments , and what they say a speaker does in thier environment. That's why it is taking me a long time to take the plunge. Dougie085 is probably a good resource , as well. He's built some speakers (and amps) and seems pleased with the results.
I'm currently looking at http://www.markaudio.com/alpair/5/sdx7combination with a pair of 8" subs that I haven't begun to research. If you have cabinet making skills , I'll be looking forward to your projects! (Wanna build me some cabs.....?

)

**mike93lx** · 02 November 2008, 11:19 Sunday

are you also planning to purchase a new amplifer and pre-amp out of the $4k or is it $4k just for the speakers?

**Bill Schneider** · 02 November 2008, 11:23 Sunday

Don't forget that you can spend big bucks on a system, and you can still be defeated by your listening room.

If you have only a small room, then large, expensive speakers probably won't have the space to properly integrate. Speakers shoved up against the wall don't do as well either.

The room has to be considered as a part of the system you are looking to build.

**BobEllis** · 02 November 2008, 11:34 Sunday

Check out the missions accomplished section here for some project ideas. With a big budget, I'd look into the Statements or another three way.

Audiogon has a listing for the X-1 and X150, but that blows almost your entire budget. If you are comfortable with a soldering iron, you could clone these for significantly less, assuming you can live with boring prefab enclosures and are willing to use some surplus parts.

Diyaudio is a good source if you want to DIY your electronics. You can frequently find group buys of circuit boards and parts that will make life easier. One of the beauties of Pass designs is that they are often simple enough to build on perfboard with good results.

**dazman** · 02 November 2008, 15:24 Sunday

thanx for all the replys...

4000$ is the amount im willing to spend on TOTAL project. amp, preamp and speakers.

the room will be a large living room with carpet and vaulted ceilings. 25" high on one end- 8" on the other.

i have read the statements thread and i really like the sound of that, and the design would be easy to build the cabinets for.

what would be comparable to the pass labs amp/pre amp setup that i heard? and im all for building the amp- if i was given plenty of instructions LOL....

thanks again for all the help~!!!!

**BobEllis** · 02 November 2008, 19:05 Sunday

Over at DIY audio there is a thread entitled X100 back engineered here or something to that effect. That should be pretty much what you heard in the X150, just add a little output voltage and a couple more output pairs to get more power if you want.

The UGS (Universal Gain Stage) thread in the Pass subforum there is awfully close to the X1.

Build the Statements, and you'l have plenty left over to clone the Pass products you liked. I'd add a sub or two for a room that large.

**augerpro** · 02 November 2008, 19:15 Sunday

For that kind of dough you should consider the Linkwitz Orions

**awm** · 02 November 2008, 19:38 Sunday

I was going to say the same thing. If that's your budget, I'd recommend expanding your options. Why not just get a truly world-class speaker like the Orion and build the cabs yourself? :T

Nice to have that choice, though...

:

Andy

**DrJRapp** · 02 November 2008, 19:47 Sunday

Thanks to Alaric for the compliment...I'm not 100% sure it's deserved but it's appreciated anyway.

Onward

Having owned RF7s I can say that while at first blush the may seem excellent you can do much better for speakers. You will find yourself getting tired listening to them intently. See if you can locate a a pair of Chorus IIs or Forte IIs or Heresys close by on Ebay. They are superb 3 way designs conceived for 2 channel listening vs the 2 way RF7 conceived for HT. The Heresy has gone through various iterations through the years and still is produced as the HIII. Even if you need to spend some $$ on rebuilding you will have a superb speaker for 2 way listening. If you liked the RF7 you will love any of the three mentioned. They are also low enough in price to allow you room for quality used electronics.

One thing I did not see you mention is what you like for source devices. You will spend a lot of your budget on a quality CDP or TT setup. I have what some may call a very high end system and a very large part of my expenditures have been in source devices. Beware, quality speakers and electronics will reveal the shortcomings in your source devices and your media.

**dazman** · 03 November 2008, 23:05 Monday

THANKS! im learning alot about what i would like to have... i looked at the orions and i swear i love that design... so simple, yet refined.

if i bought the pass labs amp/pre amp and orion speakers( built the speakers from their own parts) this would bust my budget but who cares.... how long would this set up last???? 10 years?? what is the life of these electronics usually???

and i was looking at orions website and they have an amp that they sell for these speakers... would that amp be better for those speakers then the pass stuff/?????

thanx!!!

mike

**dazman** · 03 November 2008, 23:08 Monday

oh yeah... my friends dad has a denon dvd player that he is getting rid of. im going to pick it up for a cd player.

**BobEllis** · 03 November 2008, 23:17 Monday

The only catch with the Orions is that you'd need 6-8 channels of amplification - a single X150 could handle the woofers, but you'd still need 4 more channels for the top end. Linkwitz suggests that gainclones would be suitable, but I'd suggest Leach amps if you DIY.

Pass gear will easily last 20 years if not 30 or more. I have a Hafler 500 still going strong after 25+ years of daily subwoofer duty.

**Hdale85** · 03 November 2008, 23:28 Monday

I would recommend at least trying out the Emotiva RPA/RSP-2 preamp and amp. Also could add their ERC-1 CDP which uses AD1955 DAC's. Or you could get their XPA-2 amp or something to that effect and add some other preamp. Either way they have very high quality stuff at very reasonable prices. Should leave plenty for the speakers as well. If you have not done a lot of electronics construction like putting together an entire circuit I probably wouldn't suggest doing a DIY amp. You go in thinking it's cheap and all but cost adds up REAL fast. I started to build an Aleph30 amp and spent a couple hundred bucks initially but then realized the amount of heat the thing would create and then the size of the chassis and what not and it was quickly starting to approach 1000 bucks. I have not heard the Statements but I love the TangBand W4's that it uses. I built the Maxx's and loved them and now am working on building another set of speakers that Jed designed which also use the W4's and I can already tell it's going to be a fantastic speaker. I've heard many great things about the Orions so I could definitely see that as being a great option.

Thought I'd add this. If you want to venture into building electronics. I'd say get the XPA-2 and try and build one of the PassLabs preamps. A preamp is generally a lot cheaper as well as can be pretty simple. A power amp just starts rolling down the money hill very rapidly especially when doing Class A.

**DrJRapp** · 04 November 2008, 15:57 Tuesday

Originally posted by dazman

oh yeah... my friends dad has a denon dvd player that he is getting rid of. im going to pick it up for a cd player.

Which one?

I'll repeat this again so down the road I can say I told ya so....the better the audio system the more likely it is to show the faults of the source player and source material.

I find there is nothing worse than spending a lot of sweat and blood building a supposidly great piece of gear only to have is sound like ...well you know that explative.

**goskers** · 05 November 2008, 15:29 Wednesday

I sent a PM but I figured it would not hurt to post out loud.

Being a former orion owner, twice, I can whole heartedly recommend any of the Summa series from gedlee.com.

IMO, these easily made the orion's a thing of the past for me.

New to audio. need some major help.

New to audio. need some major help.

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