re: Great "Bang For The Buck" Audiophile Gear

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For anyone looking to upgrade their cartridge, I recently discovered that Wal-Mart of all places now carries Denon carts!..

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Get out of here!!

I bought a pair of these speakers a couple weeks ago and have been listening to them a good bit, running every type of music from classical to gangsta rap through them.

They are a bit of a different design from a "conventional" loudspeaker--they are what is known as an "open baffle" speaker. Open baffles usually employ a "full range" driver, or speaker. This type of speaker covers the entire frequency band, usually from around 35Hz to around 15kHz. This range may differ a bit, however, depending on the size of the speaker.

They are called open baffles because they aren't in an enclosed "box" or cabinet. It is just a front baffle board with the speaker mounted in the center.

The advantage to this type of driver is that it has a tighter focus as all of the sound is coming from a single source. Another is that it doesn't require a crossover network, which can sometimes be complicated to get right and adds yet another link in the signal path. The raw speaker is wired directly onto the speaker jacks on the amp.

The disadvantage is that the driver may be a bit limited in that is had to do the entire frequency band load, and woofer excursion is somewhat limited...so you may not get a really driving low end. What it lacks in low end is made up in spades in the midrange however--really natural vocals.

The low end, however, can easily be augmented with a sub, and an open baffle sub is made as an option for this system.

I am posting this here because I think that this little pair of speakers are a real value--$350/pr. The 15" sub is $300 with its own amp.

It can be driven well with as little as 10 watts of power--so that leaves many options for amplification. This speaker mates well with vintage low power amps from Fischer, Marantz, Pioneer, Technics, Sansui, and McIntosh.

They are made in Kentucky, and the fella that makes them will talk with you if you call him.

Caintuck Audio

Some pics of the Betsy Baffle...




And the sub...



There are numerous finishes available as well.

I have been running just the speakers for the last two weeks, but expect the sub to arrive this week. This should really give a kick to the low end.

PS Audio offers a great desktop/bookshelf system that appears to be priced well. The PS Audio Sprout ELAC system. For $799 all you need is to plug in a source and you're ready to go. LINK

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Sprout Integrated Amplifier
Full featured integrated amplifier
50 watts per channel power amplifier
Drives any size loudspeaker
Analog preamplifier
192/24 high end fully asynchronous DAC
Passive EQ moving magnet phono preamplifier
Low output impedance headphone amplifier
Coaxial digital input
USB input
Analog Input
Built in Bluetooth receiver uses Sprout’s internal asynchronous DAC
True analog stepped volume control
Analog input selector for all inputs
Headphone output 16? 500mW, 300? 425mW (drives all headphones)
Analog output: variable 3.5mm line, for subwoofer or otherwise
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-weighted) >90dB
THD <0.025% at normal listening levels
Dimensions: 6?W x 8?L x 1.75?H

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ELAC B6 Loudspeaker Pair
2-way, bass reflex
Frequency response: 44 to 20,000 Hz
Nominal impedance: 6 O
Sensitivity: 87 dB at 2.83 v/1m
Maximum power input: 120 Watts
Tweeter: 1-inch cloth dome with custom deep-spheroid waveguide
Woofer: 6.5-inch woven aramid-fiber cone with oversized magnet and vented pole piece
Cabinet finish: Black brushed vinyl
Dimensions (WHD): 8.5? x 14? x 10?
Weight: 14.3 lbs

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Includes Emotiva speaker cables as well.

So why do I need a preamp and an amp?

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So why do I need a preamp and an amp?

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You need an amp to amplify the input signal to the speakers. The pre amp, in basic terms, provides signal switching and volume control of the signal then pushes the signal to the amp.

The piece above is a phono amplifier and one of its purposes is it amplifies the signal from the cartridge of the turntable from a low level of around .4mv to 4mv so it can have the normal line level as other components, like a tape or CD.

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For anyone looking to upgrade their cartridge, I recently discovered that Wal-Mart of all places now carries Denon carts!...and not just the $30 ones, but the upper models as well.

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Is this in the B&m stores on on their website and marketplace?
I've noticed higher end Nikon dslrs on their site before, too. For instance they had the D3 one time and it was a current model at the time.

Looking at having to finally replace my Kenwood amp from the 80s and my old Infinity studio monitors finally .

looking to buy an integrated amp or amp and pre-amp and some new speakers
give me suggestions for around $3000 for both and $5000 for both
I don't need a lot of frills like bluetooth and all that, just good clean power. I also don't need a turntable I have a good pro-ject table. 95% of the time I will be playing vinyl, the rest of the time CD.

so far, considering Mcintosh or Marantz (I would like a Mcintosh, but that would push my budget over what I want to spend and I think I might be able to find a good amp for less)
and for speakers B&W or KEF

looking for suggestions
mostly listen to classic rock, metal, thrash, punk, hardcore