Need help with home stereo for college house (1 Viewer)

[tribefan226]

Ok me a 8 other guys moved into a house right next to a college campus. Needless to say we need a loud ass stereo for parties and such. Not too concerned about sound quality, as long as its got a good amount of bass and you can hear it from a block away. also, being in college, we are looking to do this as cheap as possible.


So far with our minimal knowledge we have peiced together a serviceable stereo system for the first month of school from various pawn shops and speakers weve picked up from friends for free etc. What we used for the first few weeks were a couple of 3-way 200W speakers that we picked up from a pawn shop and a yamaha htr 5930. this system worked great, it was super loud, exactly what we wanted. unfortunatly one of the subs on one of the speakers blew out. after taking it apart we discovered to spyder came unnattatched and the voice coil got fucked up. so we replaced it with an 80W 3-way speaker that we had lying around and it worked fine last weekend but it wasnt enough.


Now my question is, what should we do to get more volume? We were thinking about just getting a sub since the htr 5930 has as sub output on it but would we need an amp for it? would an amp help us get more out of the remaining 200W speaker since the reciever is only 80W per channel? Also we want to make sure that we get everything hooked up so that we dont blow out anymore equipment, we cant keep replacing speakers every month.

 

[Robert_J]

Without changing speakers, the difference between 80w and 200w is only about 2db when you factor in power compression. If you want more volume, you want more efficient speakers. Pro audio speakers are probably your best bet. What is your budget for this project?


A sub never hurts but your standard home theater sub won't keep up with pro speakers unless you are willing to spend about $20k on it. You need a pro audio sub. A BFM Titan 48 is a great choice if you are willing to build it. Here is one being run by a 10w car radio -


Finally, the speaker you blew is a woofer, not a sub. Yes, it is the largest speaker in the box, but it is definitely not a sub. Subs function from about 120hz and lower while woofers can go higher than 1,000hz.


I spent 3 years in two different off-campus houses with anywhere from 3 to 8 roommates. We used a 40w Sherwood stereo with some MASSIVE Fisher speakers during our parties. My last year and a half were spent house party free due to a homecoming shin-dig that got way out of hand. Plus our frat finally found a spot for parties.

 

[tribefan226]

Were looking to do this under a couple hundred. so far we have been just peicing it together with components that weve found in pawn shops. ^what fisher speakers did you have?

 

[John A. Casler]

Look for KLIPSCH or Cerwin-Vega speakers in PawnShops and Craig's List.


They will do what you want.

 

[CB750]

If you are a party animal what you want to try to find is a pair of used Elecrovoice Patrician speakers. As I remember they had a 18" woofer stand about 4 feet high and weighed around 300 pounds. They were very efficient speakers and put out a lot of sound.


A good second choice would be a used Bose lifestyle system. The guys and gals who come to your parties will think you and your buddies are cool because you have Bose speakers.

 

[tribefan226]

I've noticed that nobody is mentioning the wattage of these speakers. Does it matter? Will my 80watt/channel reciever be able to power any of the speakers mentioned above? What wattage should i shoot for?

 

[jessie007]

Hey all! I'm excited to discover this discussion site! It looks like a lot of people have the same questions I have. This looks to be a very helpful site. Home theaters are my hobby, but my day job is kitchen cabinet repainting. I am excited to interact with all and colabaorate. Looks like a lot of cool stuff here. Thanks in advance!


NOTE: Links removed by moderator

 

[Robert_J]

Wattage is one of the most useless specifications on both amps/receivers and speakers unless you are competing in car SPL events or you are using your speakers to power a 10,000 arena.


As I stated in my first post, the difference between your 80w amp and a 200w amp is about 2db at full blast.

Used PA speakers from Musician's Friend is always a good idea - http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-B212XL-12-800W-Passive-Titanium-PA-Speaker?sku=580025#used . There may even be a local store near you. Pawn shops are good but you can't determine how the items were used or any specs unless you look them up by model number.

 

[tribefan226]

ok i found a guy on craiglist with a pair of cerwin vega vs-120s. I looked it up and theyre 97 db @watt/meter which is way better than the 92 db @ watt/meter i had before. should be 1.5X as loud right? problem is tho that after doing some more research, i found out that the CVs are 4ohms and my reciever is 8. ive heard it is bad if you dont match impedances. Is there a way to run the CVs on my reciever without breaking anything?

 

[Robert_J]

Some receivers are able to drive lower impedance loads. My Pioneer's manual says speakers should be 6 or 8 ohms but it drives 4 ohm speakers just fine.


Plus speakers are not a true 4 or 8 ohms. It varies with frequency. I'd get them and try them out. You may have to add a small fan (like a house fan) blowing air into the cooling vents of your receiver during parties.

 

[CB750]

I agree with Robert that Watts are a pretty much useless.


Back in the 1970's makers of Stereo Receivers from Japan like Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood, Sherwood engaged in wattage wars. Every new model they brought to America main selling point was more watts over the previous model. Specifications grew from 40 watts to 150 watts and the wars sort of stopped. I own a Sansui 9090db which is the largest and perhaps most powerful of those wattage wars receivers. It is a very heavy unit that must weigh close to 70 lbs and is too large to fit into the standard 18" audio rack. I had and still do have it connected to a pair of Bose 901 Series II speakers and that combination is perhaps one of the reasons that I am experiencing a significant hearing loss later in life. The Sansui has a pair of watt output meters. At 10 watts things got loud. Party time was 20+ watts. Above that you could peal paint off the wall and the room lights would pulse. The volume setting the meters would meters would spike into the 50+ watts during loud passages. I don't think I ever pressed the amp close so called rated maximum power output of 150 watts because I never needed any more volume to cause pain to my ears.


I also remember back in those days that most receivers could easily exceed their rated power out put but after that significant harmonic distortion would occur. We used to call that clipping. Those with a weak receiver would turn the volume up to the point that clipping would start to occur and back off a bit and that would be the maximum sound the receiver and speakers could produce. Most of the time the speakers would be blamed for this distortion but unless the speakers were very cheap or damaged the usual suspect was a weak receiver.

As I remember cerwin vega made speakers that produced what was known as the California sound (lots of base and highs) as opposed to the more neutral New England sound of the east coast. Although I have not heard the vs-120's You tube videos demonstrate they may be a good choice for your party time speakers. If your current receiver can't handle them look for an old Sansui 9090 I am sure it will handle your job.

 

[John A. Casler]

Unless you need a tuner, why not pick up the Behringer A500 (around $225-$250 street NEW, and I would guess close to 1/2 that used)


In fact there may be any number of pro-amps (but most have fans which shouldn't be any big deal for parties) that would be as capable.




With the CV or KLIPSCH speakers it will NEVER run out of juice. while it claims 300wpc, it is actually a true 125/150 which should be totally sufficient to give you unclipped headroom. Just add a CDP and Party.

 

[Robert_J]

The A-500. I should have recommended it since I use a Behringer EP-2500 as my sub amp and Behringer Feedback Destroyer as my sub EQ.


I'd get is from Musician's Friend for $200. I'd even add the Behringer B-Control DeeJay BCD3000 DJ Mixer. You can "scratch" on digital music. That would have been very nice in my college days. We would record most of our music onto custom mix tapes. After those were over, we used a Lasonic jam box to cue up tapes. I got pretty good at switching between tape decks after 2 or 20 beers.

 

[tribefan226]

hey thanks for all the help guys. vs-120s fell through but i found a craigslist ad for vs-150s. 102db SPL!!!!! should be good right? hopefully this guy hasnt already sold them

 

[Robert_J]

Bigger and more efficient is always better.