The Two Channel Advice Thread

Combine the two reds together on the positive terminal and same for the negative.

 

Thanks, I figured #2 would be the best approach, just wasn't sure if dangling the unused set (#1) would be problematic or not (just a bit more painful when swapping speakers to double them up, based on the way the Rocket spade ends are designed)

 

Could be probablamatic if they touch something and short somewhere.

 

I mean, you can always heat shrink the second terminals if your posts don't let you double up nicely, or just wrap them in electrician's tape.

 

Agreed, which is why I suggested in #1 not touching (I was thinking of actually wrapping the ends with something so no chance of that.)

 

Yep that's where I was planning to go as well, just didn't know if this would create an electrical impedance issue or something doing this (total EE dummy).

 

I don't think it can affect impedance, and I don't think any capacitance would be measurable/detectable, though I would try to grab single cables, with thicker gauge because T H I C C.

 

Help! I have 2 related questions, but arising from a very small financial windfall.

1) I find a small bit of extra cash has come my way, and my lovely wife says use it to replace the big wall unit entertainment center that sucks the center image out of my speaker system (and makes the small family room seem even smaller).

I need a decent TV stand type thing, with a spot for a Freya, Gungnir Multibit, Vidar or similar (more later) and a Peachtree Nova and my headphone amp, plus the TV stuff.

The above is not so tough. passing the WAF is the hard part. Any good results out there from others? I've looked at some of the VTI stuff. I like it, I fear my lovely wife will not.

Ballpark pricing below $500, so on the lower end of the scale.

2) About the Vidar - I like the idea of the Vidar, but I'm interested in other similar options, similar price range. Used is ok.

My speakers are FritzSpeakers Grove Towers - similar to these, but in a tower speaker format. Same drivers, essentially the same speaker, except about 24" of resonating cabinet on the bottom. I'll post the story of buying these one of these days - it was a fun and unusual purchase.... They are not super efficient, and would benefit from Vidar level power. I'm currently driving them with the Peachtree Nova (the original 60-ish wpc version). I guess I'm not really looking for 25 wpc pure class A type design.

 

Should I...

A. keep my computer desk w/ headphones behind the couch nearish the sweet spot of my main speakers BUT not have dedicated computer speakers and have to run some obnoxiously long cables between them (~50 ft, 2xRCA,1xToslink,and more like 70-80 ft of CAT5) so headphones/speakers have mutual access to digital/vinyl sources

OR

B. move my computer desk to a little nook off the side of the main room, not need cables longer than 10 ft, BUT have the desk be way off axis from my main speakers and, worse, an acoustical nightmare for an independent set of dedicated desk speakers: a tiny glass/brick/drywall box. I have a pair of Dynaudio bookshelves I could use for this purpose, I'm not sure how much DSP/treatment can save that little nook. Speakers would be no further than 1 ft from the closest wall, and less than 5 ft from another one or two.

 

Just build a new house. Yours is clearly inadequate.

 

Have a friend getting a small desktop 2-channel setup, and he needs an amp with at least 15w per channel for the small speakers. Is Class D okay for this, and regardless of yes/no, what's a good budget amp for a person with little to no experience with hi-fi?

 

I think the first question is, what exactly is the budget? Everyone has a different definition of what they consider a "budget" item, but there are good values at every price point as long as we know what that price point is.

Does your friend have the speakers already? If not, I'd recommend powered monitors instead. Otherwise, we probably need to know what kind (mostly size) of speakers to say if the amount of power is sufficient.

 

He's looking at the modhouse cubes. He's looking for affordable (under $100 per channel, and less would be preferable) and wants small footprints. He's bass shy as well.

Would some powered monitors provide a better value than speakers/amp/dac?

 

I think they usually are better value because you get an amp paired with the speaker and you'll feel less prone to the upgrade itch but I couldn't name a model that I've heard that would be anywhere close to the size of those cubes. Might be best off with @purr1n suggestion.

 

Is your friend sure those are any good? That ply looks awfully thin, and there isn't any useful info that would let anyone guess what is in these. $240 a pair seems like a lot for what is probably $20 drivers and cheap, laser cut enclosures. I'd think even something like a set of Audioengine A2+ might be a bit better a deal since you get amp and dac included.

EDIT: Maybe the $120 is for the pair. Hard to tell from website. Still not sure if these are a good value.

 

They look like these Dayton Audio drivers

https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...luminum-cone-full-range-driver-8-ohm--295-522

Including terminal cups and other hardware it's about $45 and I've done a bit of lasercutting so I would guess the cabinets are another $40-$50. So total is about $85 before he takes his cut. Doesn't seem so bad honestly, especially with free shipping. However compared to a Micca MB42x for $90 from Amazon, I don't think I would go for these.

I know the thin wood is a bit of a concern, but at this size of an enclosure I don't think there's too many issues with resonance. I've seen Nagaoka plans for a similar cube using Fostex 3" drivers so I do think this can work. And Dayton drivers are known as overachievers for their price.

 

I couldn't tell if it was for the pair either. I'll have to contact them to find out.

 

If it is $119 a pair, then maybe. Dayton definitely makes some good drivers (I have a couple projects being worked on with a different set of well liked 3" drivers), but these are an unknown. The builder is a T50RP modder who is selling his first speaker design. I'd personally want to know more about the design before giving him my money, especially since it looks so DIY.

 

Various reviews I found say its $120/pair. Considering there's an option to add a Dayton t-amp for $150 total, this seems to be make sense.