Fall is coming ... this year we are going to test out a lot of budget gear (1 Viewer)

[Craig Chase]

Hi HTF members and guests ... Two years ago, we did six $1000 subwoofers. Last year, we did several $2500ish subwoofers.

This year, we are looking at budget gear like the Monoprice 50 watt per channel tube amp, Dayton's B652 and B652 Air bookshelf speakers in the $30-$50 per pair range, a Dayton Sub-1000L subwoofer for $148, and a Behringer A500 amp at about $199.

All the equipment above just arrived, and we will be looking at other budget gear this fall and winter.

As a tease ... prelim listening to the B652 Air with a decent sub delivers some nice music, and the Monoprice amp's Bluetooth reproduction is quite good.

Suggestions for other inexpensive gear welcome.

List of equipment on hand:

Monoprice 50 WPC Tube Hybrid Integrated Amp
Bose 301's
Dayton Audio DTA-120 Class T Mini Amplifier 60 WPC
Dayton B652
Dayton B652 Air (ribbon tweeter)
Dayton Sub 1000L 10 inch low profile subwoofer
Lepai LP7498E 200W Class D Stereo Amplifier
SMSL AD13 Stereo Bluetooth 4.0 Amplifier
SMSL sAp-8 Class-A Headphone Amplifier
Grado Prestige Series SR80e Headphones

 

[David Willow]

Many years ago I owned Fluance speakers. They sounded very good and only cost me a couple hundred bucks. I am curious if they are still sound decent enough to recommend to the budget conscious. I am also very interested in their turntables. I was actually considering getting one so I could play my small record collection once more.

http://www.fluance.com/

 

[Craig Chase]

David - we have both a FI70 and a FI50 Bluetooth system from Fluance. They are both very good. A pair of their bookshelf speakers and maybe the 10 inch sub would be excellent additions. Good suggestion !

 

[Dave Upton]

It may also be worthwhile to include some of the dirt-cheap amps from parts-express - they have some really cheap class T offerings.

 

[Craig Chase]

The first system is set up and running. It's the Monoprice amp, a pair of Dayton B652 Airs and the Dayton 1000L subwoofer. The total system price is under $500, and it's actually really good. Steely Dan's 2 Against Nature is musical on this little rig, and the bass is tight and tuneful. It plays as loud as I want in a 44 x 14.5 foot room, and while it isn't the Legacy Signature SE's with a 650 WPC amp, it's dynamics are surprising.

One of the BEST parts - no aching back from lugging things around. Dave can confirm this: the Legacy Signature SE's are not the easiest speaker for a one man carry, so moving small bookshelf speakers is a "non chore".

I have set up an auditioning area in our basement "man cave high end room". The room is partially divided by stairs, and the Legacies are on the "big side", which is about 25x14.5 feet while the "small side" is about 16 x 14.5 feet. The small side is where all this testing will be done, but the room is actually open to the full 44 feet in length.

Dave - good idea on some PE/Dayton amps. They have a lot of stuff, time to shop some more !!

 

[Craig Chase]

Good morning ... per Dave's suggestion, I ordered a bunch of gear from Parts Express last night. For simplicity, all gear in the test will be found in the first post of the thread. By next week, we will have 4 budget amps, three of which have Bluetooth. The Dayton Class D amp does not, but will work with a Droid with the 3.5 mm output.

 

[Craig Chase]

Over the last week, I have had the chance to listen to a lot of music through the SMSL headphone amp, the Grado Headphones and a 12 year old NAD CD player. Cowboy Junkies "Trinity Session" is a lot of sonic fun with this combo ... Margo's voice is always "inside your head" while the instruments play around you. It's a much different experience than with speakers, with exceptional clarity. For about $200 worth of headphones and headphone amplifier, one gets well in excess of $1000 in music nirvana.

For example, as much as I enjoy the Axiom M50's ... and even the Legacy Signature SE's ... this little combo brings an intimacy with the music that the speakers - due to the room interaction - miss. They are not a replacement for speakers - for example, they don't image nor have a soundstage like speakers do - but they do bring a different style of listening that is a lot of fun, especially for so little $$$.

 

[theJman]

Oh man, could I ever make a long list of potential choices. I'll keep it brief though. Here are a few worth considering, in no particular order...

• RBH E3 Series
• Boston Acoustics CS 26 II
• Polk T15
• Micca MB42X
• Yamaha NS-P150
• BIC DV62 speakers and center
• Premier Acoustic HT system

The list is eclectic, having choices for both 2 channel and HT (with and without a sub). Hopefully something fits the bill. Let me know if you need more.

 

[Craig Chase]

Apologies for the absence ... we are back to a health issue. Our oldest, who gave us the MS scare 2 years ago, has a tumor. We have a CT scan on tap this week, then a consult and surgery scheduled on the 16th. Needless to say, nothing audio related will be happening for a while.

On a totally personal note ... He is the most amazing young man. He has been a diabetic since age 8 ... is now 26, and if you met him, he is in phenomenal shape. His discipline through diabetes is borderline perfect. He does sets of 10 with deep squats and 100 pounds more than we weighs.

My prayers on this are simple ... if God wants to take someone, take me and let this young man have a full life. He is a far better person than am I, and a far better son than I deserve.

More later, when possible. Thank you to all for the participation.

 

[Craig Chase]

Hi all ... Our son had surgery to remove a golf ball size tumor from his salivary gland. Surgery was performed on December 18. The tumor was benign, and he is recovering very well. Our prayers have been answered, and we are very grateful to God.

Some good stuff also happened - the inexpensive gear we were going to test has been donated to a couple of local hospitals that needed some speakers/amps for their children's entertainment areas. We do still have the Monoprice tube (hybrid) amp, and are looking for a new project.

Anyone have any ideas on something that would be of interest in terms of a test?

 

[theJman]

Glad to hear everything worked out so well Craig. That was a nice Christmas present for your family.

 

[Craig Chase]

Jim - Thank you. It sure was a rough couple of months. While this was going on, my wife also had a cancer scare (also benign), I have been reorganizing a dealership after buying half of it in September, and now our younger son is having all the "rods/screws" removed from his spine on January 8. His surgery was April, 2016.

We could use some boredom.

 

[Raymond lee Leggs]

The Dayton T652-AIR are way better than i expected. Tight clean bass, detailed highs and mids. can't wait to get the Dayton sub-woofer

The Technical Pro RX55URIBT Receiver also surprised me. Its not 1500 watts that's just silly but it does seem to be about 35-60wpc into the 2 front channels. The right and left subwoofer out also doubles a pre out for power amps. No "Phono" but 90% of todays stereo receivers don't have them.

I think the unit sounds better than the sherwood receiver Radio shack used to sell that people went gaga over and it looks nicer in person than that sherwood does.

If technical pro would add a few more features like and coax that would be nice. (Doesn't have to be HDMI)

they should update the pictures on their site, The new version of the RX55URIB has a digital tuner nad the DV-4000 DVD/CD Receiver is now 2-channel only not 5.1 I Don't miss the AM tuner since I don't really listen to AM.

 

[Carlo_M]

RSL CG3; $135 each, and in a nice glossy finish. "Upside down" array (mid over tweeter). Falloff at around 100hz so absolutely needs a sub. Also noticed my sound signature changed greatly after a couple of hours of playing (less so, if at all in the 20+ hours since), so if you add to the review, my experience is that you should break them in for a little bit.

FWIW, not to open the "do speakers need break-in" can of worms too widely...I've never been a believer in speaker break-in, and did not think either of my floorstanders purchased in 1999 and 2005 needed or benefitted from it, but these did. I tried to do the "put them on top of your floorstanders and see if you can tell the difference" trick. When I initially unboxed them I had been playing the floorstanders.

Hooked up, calibrated via SPL/Test tones for sound level matching, and placed them on top of the towers. Switched over to these, which I thought sounded nice but were a lot thinner in soundstage (to the point where I was glad RSL paid shipping both ways because I thought I might want to return them if I wasn't happy). After a couple of hours I felt that they had opened up, and when I switched back to my towers, the difference going back wasn't as stark as it was the first time. Yes the towers were still superior, but no longer did I contemplate sending them back.

Moved them to the BR and have been happy ever since.