How much do you think needs to be put into Speakers of a Stereo system?

If we look at list prices, my ProAc speakers as a pair are 32%. I think that turned out to be a good amount. I expect someday I'll upgrade to speakers that would amount to a larger percentage. I don't expect to upgrade my amp, turntable, or CD player.

 

Depends on your room to me. Bass seems like one of the more expensive attributes of a speaker. With a big room you will need to put more into speakers. After my dac/headphone amp setup my speakers are the next least expensive msrp behind amp, preamp, and turntable in order. That is in a rather small room though.

 

Oh don't under estimate the power of those Magic Bullet speakers. Once you extend them they have "Kickin Bass" and break dancers will pop out of nowwhere to jam with you

 

Well, then you have much to learn about audio! Enjoy the ride.

 

??? What exactly do you mean by "budget?" Have you heard any high quality amplification? Budget receivers and integrated amps (in most cases) are not that transparent. They usually sound pretty cheap and crappy actually. Especially low end HT receivers. Cheap consumer junk.

 

Yes I am saying for someone putting together a budget vinyl rig I would not spend too much over 100.00 for a cartridge. I have carts from 50.00 to 900.00 and there are differences but more money would be best spent elsewhere for a first time set up.

 

Yes. A blanket is even better. A quilt might even be ideal.

 

I think other factors come into play as well. My speakers have to be closer to the wall than I would like them to be and while I do have high ceilings, a couch, bookcases etc, I also have hard wood floors. I think if I was blindfolded Id be able to tell the difference between towel vs no towel every time. When I cover the tv (which is probably only 2ft away from the side of each speaker and maybe a foot and a half behind) the sound tightens up and comes into "focus" more.

 

Depends. My speakers cost around £700 when they came out five years ago. Of my total system cost at new prices, they represent about 20% share.

 

Yes, tidy it up from time to time. Not everyone wants to live in a recording studio though!

 

something like this

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/hifi-components/amps/a-s500/

I can't answer your question unless you can tell me what exactly do you mean by high quality?

Also aren't you the same guy that keeps saying his $2500 speakers trump $50,000 ones?

 

Remember one thing, high quality and high cost don't necessarily mean the same thing. A lot of low cost gear is excellent. Outdated views around that are thankfully in decline.

 

Interestingly enough I checked my stats and my breakdown of my own system at list pricing is:

Amplification - 30%
Sources - 40%
Speakers - 20%
Other - 10% (cables, racks/stands, DIY acoustic treatments, power lines/filtration, etc)

But again, this is a setup beyond what someone just starting out would likely have/need/want.

Bill

 

Not quite, but yeah, kinda.

I know inexpensive used turntables of the '70s and '80s are very popular as entry level ways into vinyl playback, but I think most of 'em are lousy -- they don't isolate well, they ring and clang, motor noise is injected into arm and platter, etc... leading to mushy bass, indistinct sound lacking in detail and dynamics, and noisy playback full of the worst kind of vinyl playback artifacts. The gap between them and the better turntables is enormous. I think if you're interested in the best sound possible on a real beer budget you're better off just forgetting vinyl. Getting decent vinyl playback on the cheap is very hard, getting decent digital playback on the cheap isn't.

By contrast, today there are lots of excellent sounding budget mini monitors (if you can live with lightweight bass reproduction), and budget electronics. You can spend way less on those if you want to and skill get pretty decent sound.

 

I do vinyl for kicks. And the old turntables of the 70s and 80s are better than new ones. Try tapping on the table while playing a record on a new one. It will skip. Not on older ones with superior suspensions. Playback is fine too, vinyl is more about collecting them, art work on albums etc. Its not so much about getting every bit out of the record.

 

Well having grown up with the old turntables of the '70s and '80s (and '60s), I can't agree that they're inherently better than new ones, even budget new ones. Some of 'em maybe were in some ways -- but I'm not a fan of lightweight aluminum platters, plinths that are like resonating chambers, etc. and things that designers at least try to address now as a matter of routine -- like isolating the platter and arm from motor vibration, controlling vinyl resonances (either with damping, or clamping or mechanical impedance matching to the platter or some combo there of), were barely a glimmer in any designer's eye back in those days. A lot of 'em were just cheap crap too -- I mean, that was what we had to listen to back in the day and they came in all levels of quality and design. Personally I think playback is pretty crummy on a lot of 'em. Like I said many, even most of 'em, ring and clang and inject motor noise into the playback chain and are susceptible to acoustic breakthrough, resulting in not just noise but mushy bass, bloated upper bass/lower midrange, and an overall loss of detail, transparency and dynamics. Generalizations, sure, but generalizations based on 50 years of living with turntables.

If one's preferences and biases regarding vinyl have less to do with sound quality and more to do with collecting records and album art and what have you, I guess it doesn't matter much what you play your records with (or maybe even if you play them at all). But if you're looking for quality sound out of a turntable that's going to be competitive with even relatively inexpensive digital, I think it's hard to do on the cheap.

 

That's a decent entry level amp for sure! Not a big fan of lower end Yammys, but that one might just be ok. It's an integrated though, not an a/v receiver. I used to really dig those older "Natural Sound" Yamaha receivers.

They certainly "trumped" those Vandersteen 7s that I heard! I initially had a speaker budget of 15k to 20k, I was not expecting the Tektons to live up to the hype. But they did (and then some)! I'm still stunned at how great they are. I would gladly pay 15k for them if that was what they cost. They definitely are worth it!

I'm not the only one who thinks they are giant killers and and sound like much more expensive speakers:

Stereo Mojo
Positive Feedback
Home Theater Review
Part-Time Audiophile part 1
Part-Time Audiophile part 2

 

never heard of them but wow those measurements look real good to me. I humbly eat crow!

 

I have a B&O 8002 with no moving parts in the motor. ZERO. Done via magnetic fields. No belts or DD motor under platter. Suspension better than anything today under 2,000. And that was not even the best TT back then.

I think maybe you had a cheap one back then.

 

I just saw Eric makes a mini Lore standmount monitor ... I'd love to hear that. Everything I've read about Tekton has been superlative, especially as regards value. No dealers 'round here, though.

 

I owned a pair of small single driver Tekton speakers years ago, and they were very nice. They filled the room with a 3D soundstage that was much larger than you'd expect from a small speaker.

They were finished in a Bubinga veneer which was stunning. Their fit and finish was as good as any high dollar speakers I've seen.

My next speaker purchase is going to be Tekton.

 

Like I said, there were better turntables and worse turntables. There were lots and lots of turntables manufactured in the years that records were the dominant recorded music format. Most of 'em were mediocre. Maybe you got a good one. I never owned a B&O deck myself and neither did anyone I know so I have no first hand experience with that one, but the idea that you should not spend too much on a turntable, just go buy a generic used Technics, and save your dough for speakers isn't necessarily the best way to get the best sound out of vinyl in my experience.

 

+1

Crap source + revealing speakers = crap music playback.

Make sure source is quality, and you can save money on speakers.

 

I've always thought my Technics SL-QL1 was a decent turntable.

 

Yes buying used always a risk. But an old technics 1200 are hard to kill. They were built like tanks. Maybe not the best TT but very solid. Can get one of those for like 200.00 or so. I have one and 1300 as just back ups. They are well made in terms of build quality.