[ericMM]

My dorm room needs a stereo, desperately. I'm used to listening to my dad's $20k tube-amped fancy-pants DAC system at home, but prudence prevents such an outlay at this point in my life. I don't even want a 5.1 setup because I don't feel like buying a TV. This is for music alone.

I have come upon some floorstanding optimus (basically radioshack) speakers which are probably not anywhere near audiophile quality. They have $150 price tags affixed to the back of each one and are at least ten years old. I also have a denon preamp that is no longer being used at home (AVD-2000) and I figured that if I ran my roommate's dvd player via digital coax to this unit, I could then buy a power amp instead of a receiver and get more power for my money (tell me if this reasoning is valid, otherwise I'll just buy an all-in-one receiver).

My dad suggested adcom equipment as he's used it in the past, but all the models I've looked at are really too high end for the speakers I have. I was kinda thinking of Onkyo for my current situation as they're inexpensive and decent. I'm willing to buy new speakers if these suck badly (a distinct possibilty), but I'd like to take my purchases in steps. Also, my dorm room is like 19 feet by 11 feet, so I don't need much too much amplification currently. I think my upper window for the whole system is $1000, if I had to buy new floorstanding speakers and a power amp. I figure that I'm going to have this stuff for a while so I'd like to do it right the first time.

With these constraints in mind, what would you suggest in order to make my listening experience swell?

[ericMM]

BTW...

I am looking at several avenues for procurement, none of which include new retail. Pawn shops, ebay, plain jane second hand... these all sound nice. I can also get good discounts on harmon/kardon, infinity, and probably yamaha/pioneer stuff.

Given your sources I'd take a tour round and see what options you have then ask for feed back. Generally speaking though nearly any 2 channel amp from a quality name brand will do you nicely. Something like a used Rotel or Adcom would be ideal. Maybe check Audiogon and see what's available there as well

[Chu Gai]

So you've got a preamp. Am I to understand that at the present time you don't have speakers and you're planning on buying the Optimus ones for $300 for the pair?

[ericMM]

I shall do that and find some model numbers. One question though: approx how many watts do you estimate an 19' x 11' room would require. 1/2 of the walls are concrete and the other half are drywall. The floor is tile, the ceiling regular "ceiling stuff." Three fairly large pieces of furniture, two made of like fiberboard and our futon. I'm describing the decor because I've heard that more stuff "soaks up" sound, making it less harsh but perhaps with less volume as well?

[ericMM]

Chu Gai: No, I just kind of found the optimus speakers and already own them. They cost $300 for the pair at some point in time; I stated this just to give an idea of their quality.

So currently I have some miscellaneous cabling, the Optimus $300 old speakers, the denon preamp, and a dvd player with digital out. All I need to complete the circle is a power amp and some speaker wire for the preamp/power amp and power amp to speakers.

However, if these speakers are not to my liking, I'm willing to invest in a new pair.

[John S]

On the cheap, do a search on Audiosource amp1/a's....

Get two of them, and bridge em, you will have lost of clean power. be warned they run hot.

But I have purchased these amps for as low as $79 from various sources.


Just about the cheapest audiophile amp out there, you can order em right off the web.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Hi Eric,

Welcome to the Forum!

Not sure what you mean by “coming upon” the Optimus speakers, but I get the impression you haven’s used them? If you’re used to your father’s megabuck system, you probably won’t be too happy with them. If I recall, most of the Optimus speakers had paper cone tweeters, which are the absolute bottom feeders of tweeters. I think others had horns loaded with piezo tweeters, the next-in-line of tweeter bottom feeders.

Bottom line, get something else if there’s anyway you can.

Quote:

I could then buy a power amp instead of a receiver and get more power for my money (tell me if this reasoning is valid, otherwise I'll just buy an all-in-one receiver).

You answered your own question when you said...

Quote:

my dorm room is like 19 feet by 11 feet, so I don't need much too much amplification currently.

Simply put, a room that small doesn’t need much power unless you have really inefficient speakers. Back in the 70’s heyday of stereo, most receivers had less than 100 watts per channel. Some had as little as 15 or 20.

Quote:

One question though: approx how many watts do you estimate an 19' x 11' room would require.

50 watts per channel should be plenty, unless you like to listen at ear-splitting levels, have inefficient speakers, or speakers with really low bass extension.

As far as what to buy, you’re off to a good start with the pre-amp. Adcom used to make an excellent 60-watt per channel amp, the GFA 535. There’s one on eBay right now. The Audiosource John mentioned I’m sure will work fine, but there’s no need to run a pair of them bridged in a dorm room. One will do.

Quote:

1/2 of the walls are concrete and the other half are drywall. The floor is tile,

The room is going to be a reverb chamber with so many hard surfaces. It’s going to be a miserable place to listen to music. Get a large area rug for the floor, for sure. You might find yourself suddenly interested in oriental rugs as wall art.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

[Chu Gai]

Quote:

I think others had horns loaded with piezo tweeters, the next-in-line of tweeter bottom feeders.

I quite disagree Wayne. The good thing about the piezo's is that they're indestructible. The bad thing about the piezo is that they're indestructible. At least you can burn out the paper tweeter.

[NickSo]

Sonic Impact T-amp

i got one for my bedroom system (paired with Athena ASB2 speakers), and it works great for the price.

since your dorm room is quite small, i think it'd work just fine.

better-than-average sound quality, cheap, small. perfect for a student in a dorm.

reviews:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/t-amp_e.html
http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/p...mps/t-amp.html

[ericMM]

Okay. I yanked my dad's parasound HCA-600 (60 watt x 2) from his center channel to test with my system. In fact the speakers do suck, but I have money to fix that. 60 x 2 does seems nearly sufficent for this room. I'm running the back controls on the amp at 3/4 of their max, and it's pretty loud. I'm highly considering a parasound 200 x 2 amp because it loooks as if I can get a good deal on it, but i'd settle easily for the adcom 60x2 or one of these parasound hca 600's.