[DoingOK]

Good afternoon Gentlemen. I have finally finished revamping my home office (new slate floor, paint and fireplace) and am looking to build a nice 2 channel or 2.1 system for my office. For starters, it probably isn't the best acoustical environment (slate floors, vaulted ceiling) so I may end up needing some acoustical wall treatments along the way. The room is ~12x16 with an angled vaulted ceiling (~14 foot).

I have a varied taste in music ranging from Andreas Vollenweider to classic rock with some jazz thrown in for good measure. I have been spoiled by spending some time in Alan Yun's listening room @ Silverline Audio so I am leaning towards a tube setup and maybe a set of his SR17.5's or equivalent. I am open to suggestions and have even reviewed some of the NYsound overseas amplifier offerings (Xindak, etc.) I have even contemplated picking up a pair of Usher Be-718's but have not found a place to review them. I may also step back into vinyl so I'm open to recommendations in this arena also. I also like products designed nicely with a modern flair but only if the performance is on par with the design. Bang for the buck is great, but it has to look great also. I'm realistically looking at spending $4-5000 for the complete setup.


The components I seek your advice/recommendations in are:


1. amplifier setup

2. record player and or CD player

3. speakers (2.0 or 2.1)

4. any other ideas/recommendations


I thank you all in advance for your help.


Rich


My (empty)office:

 

[afterglow]

Being a tubehead myself and with that budget, here's what I would do:


Speakers: Vandersteen 2CE Signature $1995

Vandersteens are insanely good for their price. And the 2CE's are probably their best value. Only negative would be their average sensitivity so a SET amp is probably out of the question


CD Player: NAD C-542 $299.99

In my various systems, I haven't seen a need to look beyond NAD. Simple, inexpensive CD players that just work.


Turntable: Clearaudio Emotion Clear w/ Classics Cartridge $999.99

The cartridge is probably the weak part of this package.


Integrated Amp: Cayin A-50T $1394.99

This should have the power to drive the Vandersteens. Not SET but should be very, very good.


TOTAL: $4689.97


Use the rest for cables and a stand.


If you decide you want to forego the turntable, then you may upgrade the CD player (to a tube CDP) and the amp (to separates, perhaps).


OTOH, you could go with some higher sensitivity speakers (maybe JM Lab or Klipsch) and go with a 300B/2A3/45 SET amplifier but since you listen to the "heavier" stuff, I'd go with more power hence the EL34PP recommendation.

 

[Denophile]

usher be's, cayin, primaluna, or pathos integrated, music hall mf 2.2 (in ferrari red of course--replace the cartridge with new cart--goldring, clearaudio, etc(a-gon)), marantz 8001 or 8003 cd/sacd player (or 5003 to save a few dolars if you dont plan on using sacd) or pick up a used denon 3910/2910/5900 on audiogon. Nad makes fantastic players for the money too. primaluna and pathos integrateds can be found on audiogon. I would go with the usher bes over the focal 1007 be's (the latter of which I own) for bang/buck while still maintaining the beryllium tweet.


alternbately if you like solid state you could go with the cambridge 840 or simaudio i3 integrated and cdp to go with those vandersteens or ushers and pick up a used/demo velo or sunfire sub.


the new $2k martin logans are also supposed to be sweet.


good luck!

 

[DoingOK]

I sincerely appreciate the ideas gentlemen. Lots of nice information there to digest. I'm sure my girlfriend won't appreciate it as much as I delve into component reviews.

Thank you again for taking the time to help me.


Rich

 

[Raymond Leggs]

be sure to carpet the floor.

 

[oldschool4life]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymond Leggs /forum/post/15528391


be sure to carpet the floor.

One of those big rugs would be nice decor as well...


----------


If you go seperates, Parasound Halo would be $850 + $950; going Parasound New Classic would be Cheaper.


Or, you could go with Cambridge Audio 740/840 integrated, Creek Classic integrated, or similar integrated...


I guess it depends on if you listen to vinyl or CD more; for turntables, you can get whatever fits the budget from Pro-ject, Music Hall, or Rega.

 

[DoingOK]

Well, the speakers I ended up selecting seem to like a bit more juice than some of the more efficient designs out there. I decided to give the Emotiva RSP-2 and RPA-2 amplifier/preamp combination a try with the Usher Be-718's. I picked up a NAD CD player (as suggested) and I am still deciding on which turntable to use right now. Thanks for the suggestions fellas.....now to deal with room acoustics.

Anyone recommend a nice stand to use for these speakers? Thanks in advance.


Rich

 

[Veda]

I bought the actual Usher stands as you can see them on their website for my Be's. Otherwise a nice solid wood based stand would work nicely. Let me know how it sounds when paired with the Emotiva. Right now I'm pairing mine with Cary ICE based separates.

 

[DoingOK]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Veda /forum/post/15637165


I bought the actual Usher stands as you can see them on their website for my Be's. Otherwise a nice solid wood based stand would work nicely. Let me know how it sounds when paired with the Emotiva. Right now I'm pairing mine with Cary ICE based separates.

I ended up ordering the Core Audio stands I found while searching. They should look nice with them.

 

[Veda]

Looks similar to the Usher's actually. Not sure how stable the top is though with the slender neck...

 

[Bigred7078]

you should also look into some room treatments for that room. You have all this extremely nice equipment, but nothing to help tame the room. Looks like you would probably have some echo in that room, and that would give you a pretty bright presentation for music. With all those reflection points you dont want to cancel anything out do you

Anywho just a friendly suggestion.


P.s.- gotta love the RSP/RPA combo! I regret selling the RSP-1 i had to go with my RPA-1, but at the time i could not justify keeping it since i did not have a quality CDP or TT.

P.s.s- im jealous of your ushers

 

[Bigred7078]

whoa maybe i should learn to read haha since you mentioned how you might need some treatments in your FIRST post, my bad. But i figure my post if good reinforcement for you to go along with that

 

[DoingOK]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigred7078 /forum/post/15740812


whoa maybe i should learn to read haha since you mentioned how you might need some treatments in your FIRST post, my bad. But i figure my post if good reinforcement for you to go along with that

No problemo. I had a chance to temporarily hook the speakers up and WOW does this room need help. Found a great resource for materials to make some of my own custom acoustic panels...my girlfriend has slowly let me take over this space.

FedEx has been good to me and I should have an APC 15, CoreAudio stands and the Solid Tech ROS av rack sitting at home waiting for me to put together. I am picking up a desk and a nice leather loveseat this weekend so that may help minutely with some of the crazy reverbs/echoes.


Love this rack:

and got it with the cherry wood centers:

and finished making my own cables:

and just to keep the wires tidy and the rack from damaging my new slate floor, I picked up these items. I don't buy into the hype with cable lifts, just keeping them off the floor:

I moved some of the components into the living room to break them in a bit while I move new furniture into the office. Sounds great out here:

 

[Veda]

Nice but what's the point of the cable risers?

 

[DoingOK]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Veda /forum/post/15761635


Nice but what's the point of the cable risers?

Like I mentioned above.....just to keep them off the ground. I would have no idea if they make a sonic difference or not, nor is my equipment good enough to discern it. Just keeping the cables orderly and dust bunnies away

Finally put the audio rack together.....wow, a lot of parts:

In the first phase of helping this echo chamber......I just purchased a rug today. New leather loveseat comes in on Thursday and I've ordered supplies to make my own acoustic panels.

 

[DoingOK]

Well, I decided to add a .1 to the listening room. Epik has a new line of sealed subwoofers so I went ahead and ordered the Vanquish sub to blend with the Usher Be-718's. Should fill out the bottom end nicely.

 

[DoingOK]

Well, I decided to add a .1 to the listening room. Epik has a new line of sealed subwoofers so I went ahead and ordered the Vanquish sub to blend with the Usher Be-718's. Should fill out the bottom end nicely.

I plan on setting it next to the AV rack kind of hidden by the love seat.