Speakers for home listening pleasure

check out the zaph diy kits, can be ordered from madisound !

I really like the Polk speakers.

I've got some TSi 200 in my listening/family room. Got these for $150 I think, with a blemish that I fixed. I wouldn't recommend them for mixing but they are fantastic for listening in a big room.

I use the RTi A3 as my main monitors for mixing, they are that neutral sounding. I power them with an Emotiva XPA-200 power amp and various high end converters. I got these for $190 used I think.

I've really got my eye on the LSiM 703 as the last stop in this line, but I haven't saved up enough money to try them yet.

These are all bookshelf models. Polk also makes tower versions of these speakers, and surround sound versions, if you've got room in your setup or are into that sort of thing.

Head over to the stereo store and take a listen. Most of them will allow you to plug in your Ipod and audition all kinds of speakers and receivers.

Loaded horns are definitely a "taste" thing. some people love them, some hate them, much like the love/hate of ribbon tweeters.

Just buy the little magnepansand be happy!

I have an old HK all analog stereo receiver. I'd have to look up the model....3470? I recently had it recapped. Feeding Paradigm Monitor 9s....I think version 2? I know audiophiles will tell you Paradigm versions are significant. I never listened to anything BUT whatever was current 14 years ago when I bought it all for the "next gen" format releases.

I recently got a pricey Oppo105 as a birthday gift....but, it doesn't sound better on high rez--sounds night and day better on CD--as compared with the Pioneer Elite universal player (from the 14 years ago purchase) it replaced and I sold locally for like $40. Granted--14 years ago, I bought the amp and speakers and then stacked up like 5-10 "next gen" players and bought the best sounding for CD since that was the established standard. So, not a casually choice the Pioneer Elite--neither the cheapest nor the most expensive in that stack I compared. Anyway--the Oppo was bought as a functional thing--since most high rez releases are file downloads now, authoring DVD-Audio on and for aging optical drives was becoming a PIA. Pleasant side effect was how much nicer redbook audio sounds.

I also have Technics turntable with a new'ish Shure cart....table is old as I am....it does fine for when old analog discs need to be referenced. Or the occasional new something intentionally digitally gimped....

On a budget, though--I'd go for some Berhinger Truths or Event ASP8s hooked to a 96khz capable computer. The reason they're not the best studio monitors is the reason I say this--they're nice and flattering and "pleasant" sounding on the flatter end of the spectrum. IE--no studio monitoring will attempt to be super colored like some consumer electronics will....but, their failure to get really accurate can land them on the flattering side of flat.

The biggest thing to work out today in a home system is that you're managing digital volume....so that once it's converted to the analog world, you're hitting everything with what they were designed for. There's a night and day difference in the Oppo at 75% digital volume and my amp volume at noon....and the Oppo at 100% and the amp at 8 (or 9) o'clock--resultant similar room volumes. Anyway--Soundcheck will do this on an Apple device pretty well. but, my feeling is much of the "vinyl sounds better" has to do with this gain staging. It's how I discovered it, really--using the digital gain changes in the Oppo to gain match with vinyl records. Digital almost always sounded better....until you turned the DAC back up....and then the vinyl sounded better again.