The All Purpose Advice Thread

Is there a recommendation for desktop speakers of the same size and similar price as the Audioengine A2 (or A2+) but that out perform them? I've got a big desk but need to be able to have meetings in my office so bookshelf speaker size speakers aren't going to cut it.

 

Well everyone and their uncle is gonna say the JBL LSR305. I thought the M-Audio offerings were pretty good too, but not really a big step up and prices are comparable. Next best thing would be to try and nab a set of used Genelecs.

 

Yup, was going to say 305 but it's quite alot bigger than his A2s.

 

For the size, I think the A2+ are hard to beat. Back in the day I had the A2 and M-Audio AV40 and I preferred the AV40, but they were larger. I've heard some of the Swans are ok, but don't have experience with them myself.

If he's open to 2.1 systems, there may be some more options. I'd suggest finding a used Cambridge Soundworks system. Those are easy to find <$50 on the used market these days and sound great for what they are. But competing with the A2+ within the size and cost limitation is tough.

 

The AV40s are really good value for money. I swapped them out for passive speakers several times the size, but with a fraction of the bass.

NB 1. the AV40s are not "active speakers. I'd call them "powered." One speaker contains one amplifier for both channels.

NB 2. When considering active/passive, you might have to rethink the chain. You cannot just take the cables from passive speakers and connect them to active/powered speakers. Or the other way around. I know this is obvious, but there will be some readers who have not encountered active speakers before, so its worth repeating from time to time.

 

Thoughts on which IEM has the closest tonal profile, response and dynamics to Focal's Utopia?

Have the SE846 and ER4-S now ... neither is it. Vega wasn't (though lovely in it's own right).

They'll be used with both a Sony WM1A (0.92Ω OI) an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red (0.65Ω OI), since that'll probably be a factor in finding a suitable match.

 

Funny you should say that. @Bill-P is driving them with a iPhone 6+, so that has a purported 3.18 Ω OI.

 

Cool. Guess I saved myself $3000 buying the Andros.

@Torq I drive mine from my iDSD with iEMatch on High. You'll get a bit more bass with those low OI sources.

 

I shall have to check them out then ... as soon as my cold has abated (can't hear worth a damn at the moment).

I've found my little, dongle-version, of iEMatch to be quite useful. But it can also have the effect of just killing the music with some combinations of source/transducer, so hopefully that won't be necessary with either device.

 

I have had heard the Andros out of the 3.5mm jack of the WM1A, definitely better pairing than with the DFR (this was an even briefer listen) IMO, although I couldn't really hear hiss with them. Then again, I wasn't in the quietest environment when I tried the WM1A and DFR.

Haven't heard the utopias so I'm useless wrt that.

 

I also have the proto-pigtails and use the - 12dB one at work with an iDAC2. I still have to use foobar2k's volume to get past the channel imbalance. Compared to without the pigtail, I didn't notice any significant detrimental effect, just moar bass without it.

Edit: I find the -24dB pigtail deadens the sound a bit with the Andros.

 

Anyone familiar with dell laptops? Friend offered me a like new e7470 for 400.00. I'm really a newb when it comes to this. I have a crappy toshiba that's ridiculously slow

 

Dells are boring. Which isn't a particularly bad thing if you're just looking for a laptop for general use. They're not the greatest value, but they're not made flimsy either. If you know how to take a laptop apart and look at the hinges and give it a good cleaning before you buy it, it might be a good deal overall. Boring is good sometimes.

Reviews for the e7470 are pretty positive overall, and $400 is a great price for it. I'd be pretty happy if I were offered that. Depending on what you plan on using it for, I'd take that deal.

Edit: Assuming that it's the lowest end model, it probably won't be able to do anything more complex than streaming videos, excel spreadsheets, and 'casual' games, but if that's all you need it to do, I can think of worse ways to spend $400.

 

thanks, really just going to use it for music. I don't own a full size pc. Never even used one.

 

I use one of these for University, I added 8 GB more RAM and a larger SSD but overall its a really solid laptop, $400 is a great price if its in good working order.

 

@Ray - I am not familiar with the Dell e7470. I did a search and see that it has a lot of possible configurations. Depending on how your friend's e7470 is configured it looks like an excellent to a really great deal, to me. Here are a couple of links.

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-latitude-e7470

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/l...05932786713c101439888&ven3=574301998615381767

These links reference list prices. You may want to look on amazon (or whatever) to see real selling prices. (It still looks like a good deal.)

 

the unit is only three weeks old. I'm going to grab it & give mine to my father. Going to check those links out as well. Thanks

 

Would the AK JR have any problem driving the ER4S? The ER4SR made me feel... nostalgic.

 

Definitely request for the specs. There's not much we can advise on without specs.