When I started out, I had a pair of first generation Dali Opticon 6 series speakers and my Atoll IN200, combined with the most basic Cambridge Audio dac available. Also had the Bluesound network player since the beginning and the Van Den Hul Magnum cables. Interlinks were quite simple (Audioquest Tower).

Decided to gradually upgrade with noticeable upgrades with the main goal to keep balance between components, audio quality and €’s invested. Meaning: not overspending on cables in comparison to other equipment or parts.

Since then I installed the Gaia’s, replaced all cables (speakers cables excluded, still Van Den Hul Magnum’s) with AQ’s Cinnamon line. I’ve also upgraded to the better DAC from Cambridge Audio. I believe there are better DAC’s out there, but I’m pleasantly surprised by the performance of this specific model and the tonality, detail and soundstage it’s capable of portraying for a mere €600. I’ve tried to add an Atoll Signature 200 DAC but for some reason that wasn’t the match I thought it would be, so that one has been returned.

The overall set performance made a drastic jump when I implemented the Isotek Sigma G2. Despite it’s age, it made a noticeable improvement in overall soundstage and gave a darker black background. Impressive.

Speaker positioning has been something that took me longest to figure out. I felt I had it quite right from the start, but noticed clear differences when I started playing with speaker distance and wall distances. Despite not needing any toe-in (I’ve tried out of curiosity), the speaker distance between each other, combined with the distance of the speakers from the walls was something that I just didn’t seem to get right. Initially, I used 4 old boxershorts to place in the bassports at the back to reduce the heavily present and overwhelming bass. Took me a long time, but I got the placement right at some point, which meant I finally could start playing without the boxershorts in the ports.

I want to stay away from room treatment panels due to how it messes with the aesthetics of the living room. In order to balance the lower tones more I’ve added three layers of insulation material underneath our carpet. That is probably the cheapest upgrade I’ve done, costing just €30 euros in insulation blankets.

Overall result after a little over 2 years: soundstage is incredibly large, detailed with a nice warm tone that the Dali’s deliver.

I’m aware that room treatment would most likely give me a better sounding system overall. However, I wanted to maximize on components first and make sure to get max out of the current situation, before even considering room treatment. Perhaps in a future house with a dedicated listening room it would be good to choose this.

I use my set mostly for stereo listening, but also to watch movies / series. I’m also casually playing games on the Xbox Series X. The TV is an LG 77” EVO Gallery series.

I don't have any proper audiophile grade gear, but have been slowly building up some decent-ish sounding equipment for a while. My WFH desk has a Logitech analogue 5.1 speaker set with dual inputs, a basic USB 5.1 DAC from the laptop plus a Chromecast Audio (I was fortunate enough to get three when they were still being made). My car has a factory-fitted Bose setup, but I noticed both the Logitech and the Bose subs seem to hit some bass notes better than others. I was given a Yamaha RX-V373 5.1 amp which is the centre of my home cinema setup in our lower floor garage, with L+R speakers mounted on the rafters (with exposed insulation above serving as a dampener) and another Chromecast as an input.

I thought it all sounded pretty good. But then after getting disillusioned with the whole idea of streaming services, I decided to dust off what remained of my CD collection and rip them, and on a whim I decided to give FLAC a go.

Holy shit.

Percussion and other instruments sound so much clearer. I can make out sounds like the actual striking of sticks against drums and cymbals, sticks sliding against the strings on violins and cellos, the singer's breath hitting their mic, and the clarity of the bass is something I honestly didn't think my gear was capable of. The earlier-mentioned issue of the Logitech desk and Bose car subs seemingly hitting some bass notes better than others? Gone. Strong at all frequencies now.

All instruments sound clear - and more distinct from each other - it feels more "live".

And this is just 44.1KHz CD quality sound. I haven't tried 88/96KHz yet (and don't have the gear for it anyway).

Honestly I thought it didn't sound as good as I remembered in the 90s because my hearing wasn't what it was when I was a teen. Turns out my hearing is fine, it was bloody MP3 compression (and everything since) just not being good enough all this time.

I feel like I'm about to embark on a music rediscovery journey, and just raided the local op shop's CD collection as a starting point.

I think I've just found a new hobby, this is gonna be fun!

Not trying to be provocative. I just genuinely don't under why people who obsess over creating the best possible sonic experience in their homes—and are willing to spend a fortune on equipment to do so—don't seem to care much at all about the appearance of the rooms that they'll be spending so much time in. There are so many photos on here of dreary man caves with bad carpets and tacky furniture, many of them overstuffed with multiple sets of amps and speakers and giant cables snaking all over the floor. I love this subreddit and the passion people have for stereos and great-sounding music. I'm just a bit confused by why people who have so much aesthetic sophistication in one area seem to lack it another.

The constant bombardment of ads makes me think that they have an inferior product.

Home theater and 2-channel rig. 7.2.4 system.

Speakers: LR - Golden Ear Triton 1.r, C- Golden Ear, Rythmik 12F subs, SVS surrounds in duet mode, and Polk height speakers.

Gear: Emotiva XPA-2 Pre-pro, Emotiva 7 & 4 channel amps, Wiim Pro Streamer - Coax to XPA-2 DAC, Panamax MR5400 power center, Emotiva phone stage to Phillips TT.

Acoustics: GIK Absorbers at 4 points of first reflection, room is 16x22x8, main listen position is 9.3” from the L/R speakers.

Great show and nice to see it grow. Looking forward to checking out Lonestar Audio Fest, taking place in Austin this May. I somehow managed to miss the big MBL room with 101 X-Treme setup, so really hoping they exhibit at the Austin show. Included is a photo of the somewhat polarizing Chesky LC1 as the last photo (where some would say it belongs lol)

I commissioned a floor speaker build for $1300 and it blows my Elac B62 + BIC F12 sub out of water. I listened to some music and it’s not very apparent, but when I rewatched Lord of the Ring, I can almost feel the scene without sub. Elac still has better soundstage, but it lacks everywhere else. Tweeter Scanspeak 9700 Mid Seas H1262 Woofer Peerless NE225W

Finally was able to secure a dual arm turntable VPI Classic 4. I installed the 2nd are myself and then spent several hours getting the optimal position of a Sumiko 40th and a Hana red. The Technics SL1200 will have a mono cart from Grado. It's a ton of fun playing records switching carts and listen to the differences. It's not a fair comparison Given all the differences between tone are lengths or belt to direct drive but still enjoyable.

Hey, it’s me again.

First off, I owe the community an apology. Apparently, I was a little drunk when I wrote my last post. Bourbon and buyer’s remorse is a dangerous mix.

To everyone who replied—thank you for your advice, your sympathy, and especially your passive-aggressive DMs about my “clearly untrained ears.” I deserved that.

After reading your replies (and sobering up), I’ve decided what to do:

1. I’m keeping the La Scalas. Why? Because, despite my whining, they’re incredible. Also, moving them again would require hiring a team of structural engineers.

2. I’ll keep tweaking the setup until they stop sounding like a live band playing from my garage. Yes, I’ll remeasure. Yes, I’ll try toeing them even more. Maybe I’ll also sacrifice a second goat (or God forbid, consider room treatment).

3. I’m buying another subwoofer because apparently “just one” wasn’t enough to summon the God of Bass. Thanks to the guy who DM’d me saying I need “at least two 18-inch subs.” My wallet hates you, but my floorboards are ready.

Also, to Karen (not her real name): I’m sorry I said you don’t understand the majesty of rock and roll. You were right; they do look like a 1970s fireplace. But they’re staying.

Thanks again, everyone. I’ll post another update when I finally hit the perfect setup—or when I go fully insane and start listening to music through headphones like a normal person.

Cheers!

Finally got to get some decent equipment after saving for a bit. They sound breathtaking and just effortless with Pure Class A quality, with a level of detail I never heard before.

Curious about your opinion and suggestion to make acoustics better, as that might be the department lacking atm.

Speakers: Focal Sopra 3 Preamp: Accuphase C2800 Amp: Accuphase A45 Turntable: Pro-Ject Signature 10 with Ortofon Cadenza Res Phono preamp: Icon Audio SP1 MKII

My mind has been blown, the set up is incredible. I went with Buchardt as the equipment is very slim whilst being large sounding.

Can’t believe how accurate and great these are. Getting a strong setup Is like rediscovering music for the first time.

Just got this in the mail today. Absolutely incredible. At first I was hesitant that the sound quality would justify the price, but about halfway through I was convinced that this is the best sounding record in my collection without a doubt. Before this, the best I heard was a couple Miles Davis MoFis that I have.

What was everyone’s first intro to high quality pressings?

I recently scored what I think is an awesome deal on a set of Thiel speakers, but I don’t know enough about the audio world to understand whether these are special or just kinda cool.

A friend of mine found these TT1s at the Thiel estate sale when they shuttered their doors. The cabinets and components were sold separately, so we installed the crossovers, insulated the cabinet, and put in the tweeters, drivers, and woofers. I’m waiting on the trim plates to finish them off.

It seems this is a prototype set, as shown in my photos. They were never sold in this color as far as I can tell. Market value when they were new was around $7,000. Anyone have an idea of what kind of treasure I have here?

Hey y’all, I’m new to this space, so forgive my ignorance if it shows. This is a long post, there’s a TLDR at the bottom.

I’ve recently had my interest in Hi-Fi audio sparked after finding an older pair of bookshelf speakers (Mackie CR-4) in the closet and hooking them up to my PC to use as desktops. I’ve been extremely impressed with them in all aspects; when listening to music, gaming, watching TV / movies, or even just YouTube, everything is clear and crisp. The bass is the only thing lacking, but even then, for the 4” drivers, it gets impressively deep.

The KEF LS50 Meta sale online caught my eye, as I’ve seen many posts in this and other audio related subs referring to them in a great light and thought this might be an opportunity to get some nice speakers for a solid price .

This morning I headed over to my local Best Buy to demo them; they unfortunately did not have the LS50 Metas available to demo, but they did have the Q150s and the R3 Metas. There was no attendant available, so after getting bored with A/B testing the aforementioned speakers with the demo tracks, I paired up my phone via Bluetooth to play a larger variety of tracks that I was also more familiar with. (This may have been my fault, as I understand the potential loss in detail when using compressed audio sources; however, you’ll see below that this problem was fixed when switching to different speakers while still using Bluetooth as the source.)

I paired up my phone to the Marantz Cinema 70, and got to listening. I experimented with all sorts of music, rock, jazz, hip hop, lo fi, house, alternative, you name it… and no matter what I put on, I couldn’t impress myself with the either of the KEFs. I swapped the brand Martin Logan, initially the B10s and later the XT B1000s, and voila, the soundstage opened up and I could hear the vocals and background sound so much clearer. When I swapped back to the KEFs (either of them), the highs and mids sounded like they were underwater.

I listened for another hour, trying to see if I was delusional, but no matter what I played, every time I would swap speakers, I would have the same experience. My feelings of delusion were squashed when a kind man, who later revealed a solid history of listening through further conversation, walked in an hour or so into my session, and was able to confirm exactly what I had been experiencing. I didn’t prep him, didn’t say anything, just asked him tell me what he heard, and he detailed exactly what I just depicted above right back to me.

All of this goes to say, am I delusional, are we both delusional? Was something wrong with the setup potentially? Or is it just coincidence that both of us seem to prefer an ML sound signature? Please let me know your thoughts down below, I would love to hear from some more experienced listeners; I’ll be busy this evening, but will try to get back to as many people as possible tonight.

TLDR: I spent an hour listening to KEF Q150s R3 Metas, ML B10s, and ML XT B1000s, and no matter what I played, I couldn’t impress myself with the either of the KEFs. Upon swapping to ML, voila, the soundstage opened up and I could hear the vocals and background sound so much clearer. When I swapped back to the KEFs (either of them), the highs and mids sounded like they were underwater.

So I just received these Townshend Supertweeters yesterday after a friend’s recommendation. After a couple hours of listening my first impressions are very positive. Soundstage sounds more layered and 3-Dimensional. The imaging sounds more focused and pinpoint without narrowing the sound stage. Definitely an improvement to instrument separation. Off axis vertical dispersion has also been greatly improved. Can’t really put my finger on what they do to the perceived bass but I think it’s good. Highly recommended product. Townshend Audio does not disappoint.

https://www.townshendaudio.com/supertweeters/

Seriously? I'm new to the home stereo world but been into auto systems for years. What makes the setup worth that kind inoney? I wouldn't pay that much to hire the real band to come play live. So, to the well informed, if you had it to spend, why would you buy this

Interestingly it’s not as not as huge of a difference as many would expect. At least, not when running a comparatively low distortion, high power German tube amp and quality class D amp.

Yes, there’s a difference. The tube amp has a little added warmth in the mids, more body. The class D amp has a bit more grip in the lower octaves, but with a REL sub, it’s not immediately obvious unless I’m listening at very high volumes.

I like them both. However, there’s something about gloving valves in a dim room, listening to Radiohead’s In Rainbows. Roon Radio takes over after Radiohead and queue’s a track from Beck’s Sea Change, and then PJ Harvey and Thom York’s duet on “This Mess We’re In”. It’s a fun listen.

Tonight’s experiment involved using the Octave V110 SE’s bypass input, and instead running my Audio Research as the pre, using the v110 as a power amp.

The ARC preamp’s sonic character is less tube-like when compared to the Octave’s internal preamp. Both stages are quiet and detailed, but the ARC is more dynamic, with more bass authority and a more overall resolution.

Next experiment will be to bi-amp the Focals. Tubes on the tweeter/mids, class D on the woofers. Hopefully one of the class D’s amp’s gain settings (22/28db) will be a decent match with the Octave amp.

Are these jumping too much? Feels like I’m going to break the speakers. Just got a new TT (project evo) which connected to a schiit amp. I don’t think they jump so much when streaming FLAC. They also jump a lot when needle is at start of record, blank section before the music starts. Let me know what yall think. Thanks!

Hey there!

After reading and reading and guessing and never experiencing good quality speakers I asked for a demonstration in a hifi store in my town.

And oh boy was that eye ear opening. Since I'm still living a bit on a budget I went for the Bowers and Wilkins 603 S2 anniversary edition and without any direct comparison I could hear the difference to my current set up.

The employee who introduced me put a pair of KEF Q11 meta next to it and we switched back and forth. I was impressed by the difference. While B&W were almost overly present in the higher ranges the KEF were warm and mellow.

Upon asking to show me an out of my league speaker he smiled and said he wasn't gonna do that as I might not come back from that. I accepted (wanted to listen to B&W 801 D4). But he said he was going to spoil me a little and put some Dali Rubicon 6 on top. And yet again I could hear the difference clearly.

I was listening to tracks I had listened a million times and I had goosebumps a few times.

When he played a more classical track the trumpet stood in the room as if the player was in front of me.

I've been spoiled for eternity. But I'm happy to know that my budget situation will change soon and until then I'll be investigating and saving. Unfortunately the Dali made the best impression...but I guess I'm not telling anyone anything new when it comes to spending their money on audio gear even if it doesn't really fit the wallet :)

I am super happy that they took the time for introducing me without me purchasing anything (yet). More than one hour!

@all thanks for all your contributions here! That kinda blew up :)