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What speakers do you recommend to go with MP & 30 ACD?

sparkie7 said:
i'm squatting over here from kiwi-land, hehe. the exhange rate is better here. been living in UK for 11 yrs, and decided to head back south, but stopped over in aus for an EXtended stay :D:D and your broadband plans are ridiculous!! no unlimited downloads = sucks
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oooooooo from over there aye? yea i wanna go over there it looks so nice but cold (i HATE the cold).

yes, internet in australia SUCKS. i only have 25gb and its pathetic. i could use that in a week.. thinking of going to TPG (200gb for $80 (currently paying $100 for 25gb))
 
Actually those small BOSE speakers are pretty damn good.

I'm usually not so high on Bose but in this case their not bad at all.

Bose companion 3 series 2
 
Has anyone got any experience with Behringer...

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/MS40.aspx

These seem like an elegant choice (optical input) with a pro audio heritage.

The black/silver would also look great.

MS40_P0384_Right_web.jpg
 
sparkie7 said:
thanks, another stick beating. i'll try to track down a set of 'em tomorrow. cant wait. thanks all for the great feedback and advice :D:D
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What speakers do you have in your AV system? If you're planning on replacing those any time soon then you may want to consider moving them to your Mac Pro. I know its a kind of per-person scenario but when redid my whole AV setup a few months ago, I moved the amp and the central three speakers to my office for use with my Mac Pro. Great sound and let me put the money I would have spent on specific speakers on my Mac Pro towards better speakers for my lounge.
 
VirtualRain said:
Has anyone got any experience with Behringer...

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/MS40.aspx

These seem like an elegant choice (optical input) with a pro audio heritage.

The black/silver would also look great.

MS40_P0384_Right_web.jpg
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Behringer is the poor mans audio pro company, if you're an audio gear snob then they are absolute junk and shouldn't be touched with a barge-pole :D But if you're after some cheap and cheerful gear that generally works nearly as well as stuff costing 2x to 5x as much, then they can be a pretty good choice.

My few bits of behringer gear has never let me down, their comps (only used live) patchbay and BCF2000 still keep on doing the job, at an nth of the price of some of their competitors.

For a bit more cash these two would be an option.

http://www.genelec.com/firststep/

http://www.tannoy.com/StudioDetail.aspx?pid=17&sid=33
 
iBug2 said:
Take it from an audiophile:


2. Open up your wallet a little bit, go out and buy M-Audio studio monitors like Studiophile BX5a or BX8a, you can find them for 300$/pair in amazon.com, or even cheaper maybe. Don't be fooled by the retail price. You also need a USB or Firewire interface to drive the speakers, I use M-Audio Fasttrack USB Pro, costs 200$, so you can build a Hi-Fi sound stereo for your Mac Pro for under 500$. And trust me, the quality is excellent for that price, I have that, and my 15k High End setup, and I honestly spend more time on my computer listening to music, not because it sounds better or anything, it ofc sounds worse than a 15k setup, but it's acceptable quality and I need to be on my computer.
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+1

I was thinking of getting some B&W's with Rotel Equipment and M-Audio's Profire 610 for the DAC, but those Studiophile BX8a's look like quite the bang for the buck after doing some research..... I could put the money I save by going that route towards a new mac pro :rolleyes: What do you think?
 
LeoFio said:
+1

I was thinking of getting some B&W's with Rotel Equipment and M-Audio's Profire 610 for the DAC, but those Studiophile BX8a's look like quite the bang for the buck after doing some research..... I could put the money I save by going that route towards a new mac pro :rolleyes: What do you think?
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If you really really want to spend about $650 on a pair of speakers. Get the B&W 685, these are THE best speakers I've ever owned, for music or theatre.

And these are very easy to drive and sounds amazing.
 
myca said:
Behringer is the poor mans audio pro company, if you're an audio gear snob then they are absolute junk and shouldn't be touched with a barge-pole :D But if you're after some cheap and cheerful gear that generally works nearly as well as stuff costing 2x to 5x as much, then they can be a pretty good choice.

My few bits of behringer gear has never let me down, their comps (only used live) patchbay and BCF2000 still keep on doing the job, at an nth of the price of some of their competitors.

For a bit more cash these two would be an option.

http://www.genelec.com/firststep/

http://www.tannoy.com/StudioDetail.aspx?pid=17&sid=33
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Those aesthetically don't work for me (one is white the other blue).

What about the Roland DS-90A... are they decent?

http://www.roland.com/products/en/DS-90A/specs.html
 
jjahshik32 said:
If you really really want to spend about $650 on a pair of speakers. Get the B&W 685, these are THE best speakers I've ever owned, for music or theatre.

And these are very easy to drive and sounds amazing.
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Yeah the 685s were the ones I was looking at. I will still probably go that route with a rotel pre-amp/amp. Will they sound alright with "only" 70W being driven to each speaker?
 
VirtualRain said:
Those aesthetically don't work for me (one is white the other blue).

What about the Roland DS-90A... are they decent?

http://www.roland.com/products/en/DS-90A/specs.html
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Well Sound on Sound gave them the thumbs up, but said they were a little expensive for what they were.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun00/articles/rolandds90.htm

I think they'll cost more than the behringers, but if you can get a good deal on them they could be a good option.

If they still cost what they did at release then the price is getting into mackie territory.

http://www.mackie.com/products/mrseries/index.html

That's their lower end monitors, their HR series are THX certified and very nice, but only really needed as reference monitors.
 
LeoFio said:
Yeah the 685s were the ones I was looking at. I will still probably go that route with a rotel pre-amp/amp. Will they sound alright with "only" 70W being driven to each speaker?
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Yea their very easy to drive thats the great part. They pack a HUGE punch. Before I owned the B&W 805S which were phenomenal but the 685's packed a bigger punch in for the base its amazing.

Of course the 805S tweeters were much better but the 685's tweeters wont disappoint especially at the $600 price tag compared to the 805S $2500.
 
myca said:
Well Sound on Sound gave them the thumbs up, but said they were a little expensive for what they were.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun00/articles/rolandds90.htm

I think they'll cost more than the behringers, but if you can get a good deal on them they could be a good option.

If they still cost what they did at release then the price is getting into mackie territory.

http://www.mackie.com/products/mrseries/index.html

That's their lower end monitors, their HR series are THX certified and very nice, but only really needed as reference monitors.
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Thanks!... Good insights. I think the Roland's can be had for about $400/pair but they are tough to find as it appears they are EOL.

I want to spend about $500.

If I wanted to go with some active studio monitors without an optical input, what would you recommend for a stand-alone DAC?

I can get some Mackie MR5's or M-Audio BX5a deluxe for about $300. If I could get a nice DAC for $200, that would be a good solution as well.
 
Don't compare B&W 685 to M-Audio Studiophiles. I own B&W 804S and Studiophile BX8a. They have nothing to do with each other. B&W and other HiFi brands don't produce nearfield monitors. If you buy a B&W speaker, you need to listen to it at 3+ meters distance. You can't have decent sound if you place them near your display and sit on your computer.

I took as it as you were asking for speakers to listen while you are on your computer. You need to buy a nearfield monitor for that.
 
iBug2 said:
Don't compare B&W 685 to M-Audio Studiophiles. I own B&W 804S and Studiophile BX8a. They have nothing to do with each other. B&W and other HiFi brands don't produce nearfield monitors. If you buy a B&W speaker, you need to listen to it at 3+ meters distance. You can't have decent sound if you place them near your display and sit on your computer.

I took as it as you were asking for speakers to listen while you are on your computer. You need to buy a nearfield monitor for that.
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Man I almost bought a pair of 803D's for $6000 brand new from this local dealer guy who just got fired from his job. I never went through with it because I had to buy better and more expensive amps to drive those beauty.. but that was a crazy deal.
 
jjahshik32 said:
Man I almost bought a pair of 803D's for $6000 brand new from this local dealer guy who just got fired from his job. I never went through with it because I had to buy better and more expensive amps to drive those beauty.. but that was a crazy deal.
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6000$ isn't a bad deal for 803D's. I'd buy them in a heartbeat if I had 6k cash lying around, my PS Audio GCC 100 would drive them easily.
 
iBug2 said:
6000$ isn't a bad deal for 803D's. I'd buy them in a heartbeat if I had 6k cash lying around, my PS Audio GCC 100 would drive them easily.
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I only had an old rotel amp RA-985BX (that drove the 805S pretty well but still a little anemic but was great with the 685s) that was too weak to drive those. I was looking into mcintosh but damn those cost as much as the 803Ds.
 
jjahshik32 said:
I only had an old rotel amp 985 (that drove the 805S pretty well but still a little anemic but was great with the 685s) that was too weak to drive those. I was looking into mcintosh but damn those cost as much as the 803Ds.

Also you can get used but prestine conditioned speakers of any kind from www.audiogon.com. I've even spotted $500,000 speakers there up to a million and thats a discount lol.
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Well I'd always trade a 6k speaker + 1k amp to a 6k amp 1k speaker setup.

And yeah getting a 1M speakers for 500K is quite a discount. The only problem with those is you need a 2M worth house and a giant living room.
 
iBug2 said:
Don't compare B&W 685 to M-Audio Studiophiles. I own B&W 804S and Studiophile BX8a. They have nothing to do with each other. B&W and other HiFi brands don't produce nearfield monitors. If you buy a B&W speaker, you need to listen to it at 3+ meters distance. You can't have decent sound if you place them near your display and sit on your computer.

I took as it as you were asking for speakers to listen while you are on your computer. You need to buy a nearfield monitor for that.
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I was going to place the 685's at an angle on either far side of my setup...so each speaker will be about 4-5 feet from my listening position. That is still probably too close for these speakers, but I want something that would last, can be used later in life, and be expandable since I will not be living where I am today forever.
 
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