The Two Channel Advice Thread

Today, maybe the Nexigo Aurora Pro MKII.

Son of a bitch now I'm looking at UST and screens again.

 

I am cross-posting this question because it mostly concerns 2-channel.

Thanks to everyone who has thoughts on this.

 

I don't have a ton of experience listening in a desktop/nearfield setup, but when I did, it was EC Af running into some MarkAudio Tozzi Ones. I'll say, the nearfield single driver thing is certainly an impressive thing. Especially when driven by a 2A3 amp. Oodles of staging in both width and depth, and zero single-driver nasties when being driven by only a couple watts at only 70-ish dB. Add an REL Tzero or SVS 3000 Micro (what I went with) and enjoy some crazy good holographic sound.

 

1) Do you have a sense of the space you're working with? The speakers you mention are quite different in size. If you're looking at the LGK 2.0, are you willing to build the speakers yourself? If so, you may also consider a Planet10 or Scottmoose (wodendesign) utilizing a quality Mark Audio driver (Alpair 7ms or 11). The Omega's do look very nice. With higher sensitivity wide-band, save some budget for a good sub to make those dynamics and holography really come together.

2) I know this might be a slight buzzkill, but when I had my first kid I moved to solid state amps. Tubes are hot, have a ton of voltage, and look really fun to touch (kinda like tweeters!). 3D chess baby proofing plans are real and your friend.

 

He also thinks having a wife and kid means he'll have time to listen to speakers instead of headphones now

Buuuuut acquiring toys now before the money sucking pit of raising children is probably a good plan.

 

Hahaha, thanks. Yes I bought the Mjolnir 3 with that in mind, but I since bought a rack which should solve the problem.

Thanks for the DIY amp recommendations. I will check them out.

 

Hehe...
Perhaps optimistic, but I have this dream of us sitting together in front of "Kung Fu Panda" or "How to Train Your Dragon" and the gorgeous soundtrack washing over the three of us.

 

I have to say, listening to what passes for "children's music" over a good audio system almost makes it not painful.

I was "blessed" that my first child loved the Cats movie (original theatrical video, not the latest dreck) so much that they wore out the video tape, so I got it on DVD (first DVD!).

A good sound system may have prevented me from intentionally deafening myself....

 

Thanks for mentioning the Tozzis. Ended up ordering a pair after seeing your post and reading some of your impressions from the past. Would be cool if my 45 amp has enough juice to drive em for nearfield listening.

They released a paper version of the driver in the last few years. Did you get to try em?

 

I don’t currently have a desktop speaker setup so my Tozzis are packed away, but I did poke around a little to see what other drivers are available in that particular 3” chassis. The paper cone version is a couple dBs more efficient; that could be a good fit for a lower power amp.

 

Yea, the higher sensitivity is another bonus apart from the material itself. I recall reading that you got better results with some wool dampening instead of the stock foam. Do you have any recommendations?

 

What height are people mounting their acoustical treatments at? Do you center the wall panels between your mid/tweeter? Centered on the tweeter only? Any rules of thumb?

 

“In most cases, your ideal hang height of a panel on a wall is ear level. The bottom edge of a 4’ panel 2’ or 3’ off the floor optimizes that panel to cover ear height for sitting or standing occupants.” (source)

 

What do people like for speaker-wire terminations? Habitually I've gone bare (gasp) but wonder if I should tin the ends for better mechanical longevity/corrosion reduction. (Just got a roll or Cardas eutectic solder).
I'm also reluctant to commit to something like spades at the present time because my setup will probably be fluxy for the next several whiles...

 

If you tin then clamp down on it in the binding post, you actually have a weaker mechanical connection. Solder has lousy conductivity, and it's actually quite brittle so clamping it down causes a bunch of cracks and fatigue which further reduces conductivity. Think of solder as the glue that's meant to hold electrically mated surfaces together, and the glue just so happens to be electrically conductive as a bonus.

If you're in flux with your equipment, leave it bare and spritz it with deoxit every once in a while... or really, what's the worst thing if you stick on spades? you have to cut off one inch of wire and reterminate? (spades are arguably the best for surface contact anyways)

 

I prefer banana plugs for the convenience. I can get them into the back of the amplifier one-handed, so I don't need to move the 55lb monoblocks around too much. Also if you put the wire in from the side (open screw), they're stackable, which can be useful for stuff like subwoofer high-level inputs off the same amplifier as your speakers. I used to do bare wire, haven't noticed any sonic differences vs monoprice bananas.

 

I noticed this once when someone told me to tin the end of a speaker cable. It was completely isolated and not making any sound. I replaced the cable with a standard bare wire and it was good again. It did work at first but removing it a couple of times messed it up.

 

I like these. they are nice.
https://www.snapav.com/shop/en/snapav/planet-waves-banana-plug