one of my speakers started cutting out occasionally over the weekend. by last night, i heard maybe two minutes of a half-hour of music through it. my first question: is it possible that the problem could be originating from the receiver? all connections look good, but the receiver is older than the speakers. (everything is between 12-15 years old, though.) i wouldn't want to get new speakers and hear the same problem.

secondly, what advice do you have about floorstanding speakers? i know i should be investing in new speakers, but i haven't really been able to afford it. i'm still looking to not spend over $800 for a pair.

Can't $800 get you a reasonably nice pair? I have rather old ones as well, and whenever I can seriously afford a nice pair, then I'm pulling the trigger. Those Energy Speakers discussed awhile back intrigue me.

It sounds to me more likely that it is the receiver rather than the speakers. Reverse the connections on the receiver; connect the speaker on the left to the right channel and the left speaker to the right. If the other speaker starts cutting out, than you know it is a receiver problem.



$800.00 can get you a pretty good pair of speakers. Look at companies like PSB, Athena Technologies, B&W. These Infinity Primus 360 are a seriously good value. And if you're comfortable buying used, try this site your $800.00 will get you a much better pair of speakers; you can start looking at speakers like Quad, Vandersteen, Totem, NHT, and higher end models from the brands I mentioned above.

You might also want to check your speaker cables.


I recently went into an Audiophile store near work---just for fun.
Most of the stuff they have is totally insane---shockingly beautiful and appropriately expensive.

But... it turns out they have a consignment section where they sell second-hand hi-fi stuff. You really should check at the stores around you if you need new stuff... you might be able to get a really good deal.

All the advice above is good- start simple- check connections first, then the swap as ELT described. Ordinarily, a speaker either works or it doesn't, so the intermittent condition you've got will probably end up being a receiver problem.

If it does turn out to be a receiver issue, and you want to replace it with the same general budget limits, this one kicks major ass for the $$$:

http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/rr2150.html

have you considered a nice pair of really "bookshelf" size speakers and floor stands? i have a pair of infinity ones and they sound great and were a fraction of the cost of full sized floor speakers.

these DCMs for example. then again i wouldn't consider myself an audiophile so maybe my comment is totally useless

edit: but i totally agree with pollysix. check stereo repair shops and second-hand stereo stores--good deals to be found.

omg, remember when the speaker fell on you? if the problem lies with the speakers, i think you should take a bat to the one on the left.

(by the way... left = <------------)

Haven't heard the Outlaw receiver but I have read a couple of glowing reviews; sounds like amajor deal, with lots of well thought out features. At this point I think the new receiver is probably where your money would be better spent, assuming the problem is in the receiver. And if you can live without the tuner feature you can probably get better bang for the buck in an integrated amp. Look at old stalwarts like NAD and Rotel and the lesser known Creek is even better. And if tubes don't scare you Jolida makes some seriously good equipment.

I agree. The copper wiring tends to break pretty easy in that stuff.

I had an issue with a speaker cutting in and out, and it was because the wires at the receiver were actually touching, which shorted out the speaker once it reached a certain volume. (I assume this is not your issue because you checked the connections already.)

sounds like a connection issue honestly

as for speakers- you should really match them to your receiver/amp -- so do you expect to upgrade your source (pre/power amp or receiver) soon? etc...

its really a matter of preference as well- I think 800 is a good price point- you can look in the 600-800 or 800-1000 range.

Depending on the size of the room you expect it to be in, you may not need much- and bookshelf speakers on stands might be able to save you money and purchase better components.

Listen around.. read forums and reviews
http://www.audioasylum.com/index.html

.. but buy based on how it sounds to you

For an intgrated amp, for a nice price point, nothing beats the NAD 320BEE (not "true" audiophile -- read-- doesnt cost a ridiculous amount but sounds excellent)
For speakers check out axiomaudio, athena and I personally like Tannoys
http://www.goodsound.com/equipment/athena_asb2_2.htm (Good Sound is a nice 'budget' sound website)

Im thinking, you should also ask ' is audiophile necessary for my listening preferences?' Top end $$ for equipment that you then play indie stuff recorded on 4track makes no sense. personally I think you could replace what you have now with an integrated amp and set of speakers for that $800 and be very happy with the outcome. See above for recommendations.. esp the links.. but the NAD and a set of tannoys (which is my setup) does everything I need.. I heard speaker/amp sets that were more expensive sets (even sat and listened to a 10k set of speakerrs running through 5k amp) and luckily my ears are not sufficiently trained (either that or perhaps hearing loss) to have heard "why" this pair cost 14k more than what I was listening to before.. anyhow.. end rant now

I agree with f4df...I think people spend waaaay more on this kinda stuff than they really need to. I've got less than $1000 bucks invested in the system I have here in my computer room :

~ Sony Dolby Digital Audio/Video Receiver
~ Pioneer 25 disc CD player
~ Kenwood turntable
~ Pioneer CD burner
~ Onkyo cassette deck
~ Sony small-ish ( if not bookshelf ) speakers

and it's absolutely fine.

I'm planning to buy another pair soon to replace the speakers on my secondary (bedroom) system. Energy and Paradigm get my vote.

me want fancy sound system.




NOW.

Well I think I might have misrepresented what I was saying. There is definitely a difference between equipment- when I was listening before purchasing- there was definitely a difference compared to the crap I had at home. HOWEVER, I couldnt "see'' why this stuff was 15000 dollars, compared to the $1000 components I was looking to buy. The law of diminishing returns and all that, i.e sure it might reproduce sound stage etc better, *but* is it 14k worth of better?

The axiom you want to start chanting is "No unnecessary bells and whistles"-- if you dont use the fm tuner, then buy an integrated amp instead of a receiver--and the money that would have been going to the pieces to build the tuner has been shifted to better components overall. Same with CD players, if you tend to listen to full CDs at a time, then dont go with a 200 cd carousel. A $300 single deck CD player will be made of better components than a $300 200 CD carousel.

Anyhow, my 2 cents-- and my system, to give you an idea..

NAD 320 Integrated Amp ---> Cambridge Audio 520C CD player /NAD 533 turntable--> Tannoy Mx4 floor speakers

Definitely not "hi-fi" but suits my needs, and most importantly, I love the way it sounds.

I would tend to agree with this. However I think it's a function of how you listen to music, rather than to what kind of music you listen, as f4df suggests. If you tend to listen to music while you're on the computer, or doing housework, or reading the paper, only paying attention half the time, than $1,000.00 for a complete system is plenty, but if you have a dedicated listening seat between two carefully set-up speakers, and listen intently for extended periods, than whatever you decide to spend to maximize you're listening pleasure is money well spent, whether you're spending that time listening to indie or classical or jazz, (though I do think once you commit to a high-res system you naturally end up expanding your listening preferences to include naturally recorded, acoustic music (ie. jazz) to appreciate how the system brings out the subtle nuances in the recording (and the music).

I also think that if Z were to take his $800.00 budget and spend it on a carefully selected set of spekers and amp/receiver, he could well end up with a very satisfactory system, but I think you'd have to buy used.

And I agree with both of the 2 above posts.

You can definitely spend more than I did without getting stupid. But at a certain level you're getting into "sucker" territory. I used to work at a high-end audio/video store...you'd be amazed how much $$$ people throw away on stuff they don't need.

Id agree that ones definition of "listening to music" should also dictate how much you invest- and I would go so far as to say that question should be asked first.. but I still suggest that genre should also be taken into consideration...I dont think it is any coincidence that most audiophiles talk about jazz and classical and *very infrequently* about rock other than classic rock (and they usually talk about SACD or lament how shitty these CDs sound on the XXXX system).

Maybe Im just justifying why I havent spent more on equipment (or you are justifying why you *have* spent more?;) )

Besides, positioning speakers and components to a listening point assume you even have that luxury.....unless you are an audiophile, how many people position their setup for acoustics?

Anyhow.. happy listening.

I got a cheap one of those 5 speaker surround sound dvd player combos, set it up and it sounded pretty good, so I gave my Kenwood Receiver to my dad to save on space. Now I am kicking myself because the surround sound only sounds good with movies. If I crank up a cd, it sounds like shite.

you mean like $1000 interconnect cables?

I think high end audio is BS.. ie. read all the excuses people try to argue blind AB testing of components isnt the correct method of assessing components (the real reason being otherwise they wouldnt be able to sell you a 10k CD player and $1000 cables to hook that up to your amp)

bah anyhow, I agree with you

i made the exact same mistake--music sound like crap on thouse things. ended up getting ridding myself of the sony "dream system" (dream, my arse) and buying a sony receiver from the repair shop at the end of my block. fortunately i still had that pair of infinity speakers that i bought like 8 years ago and they sound great.

thanks for the tips/advice, everyone.

i will probably open this thread at home and run through everything to nail down the problem.

and i'll definitely look into the integrated amp as opposed to a receiver.

Not quite that bad, but you'd see people dropping $20,000 on a pile of stuff that was no better than something you could throw together for 5 grand, tops. And on a lot of stuff that's basically obsolete now - like laserdisc players & old school projection big screen TV's.

IMO, the #1 offender brand-wise was Bose. Those things cost twice what something just as good would run ya.

I bought a pair of Bose bookshelf speakers off eBay for $75. Sounds tremendous, and they lose nothing at volumes too loud for the house.

Oh, at that price there's no problem. I'm taking about the dopes that paid $700 for a Bose speaker system when they could've gotten something just as good from another brand for $400.

For some reason, the name "Bose" has a real draw with some people.