Shopping for an Audio System

[Randy W]

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Shopping for an audio system - got a quote back from the brother-in-law in Guangzhou. Ballpark figure around ¥100,000, which (~$16,000USD) is only a little less than what we paid for our parking space.

 

There is one audiophile shop in Yulin, which sells excellent quality systems w/HDMI support (six speakers, a receiver, and a blu-ray player) for around $1000-$2000, so we may just go with them as long as their receivers speak English. Their signature brand is Seignior - a Taiwanese brand.

There are also shops around town that sell professional-quality karaoke/PA-type systems for under $1000, but it seems like you get what you pay for there.

I also found out that when the wife said, "Wait until after New Year", she meant the CHINESE New Year. . . http://www.chinafamilyvisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/w0kuae.gif

[chilton747]

In looking at that system, those were the good old days when big sound came from BIG speakers. Those gray ones look like JBL cabinets or what we called Perkins cabinets. They were mainly used fro big club gigs when you need to get LOUD!! You would have to have crossovers and EQs to smooth out the sound. They were not particularly good for low volume applications. Those speakers had to be driven to get the sound quality, therefor LOUD was a byproduct.

 

They have come along ways since then. We used the bose system for a while and it worked good. Had a CD quality sound. Now there are powered speakers galor that have excetional EQ at just the right volumes for about $250 a piece. We use 4 of them and it fills a ballroom.

[Randy W]

In looking at that system, those were the good old days when big sound came from BIG speakers. Those gray ones look like JBL cabinets or what we called Perkins cabinets. They were mainly used fro big club gigs when you need to get LOUD!! You would have to have crossovers and EQs to smooth out the sound. They were not particularly good for low volume applications. Those speakers had to be driven to get the sound quality, therefor LOUD was a byproduct.

 

They have come along ways since then. We used the bose system for a while and it worked good. Had a CD quality sound. Now there are powered speakers galor that have excetional EQ at just the right volumes for about $250 a piece. We use 4 of them and it fills a ballroom.

 

For $15,000, you get a lot of electronics built in. These are top quality speakers at ANY volume. He played them at a very listenable volume while we were there, and they were concert-hall quality.

 

CD's fall short, in my estimation. They were designed to fit 70 minutes of music onto a 700 mB disk - that's why we're looking in the $1000 - $2000 range for DVD quality equipment. There are several different standards there - DVD audio, DTS, Dolby digital, etc. Music is analog, not digital, but you can make the difference inaudible by going from 44kHz sample rate (CD-quality) to a higher rate (48kHz - 96kHz).

[tsap seui]

Looks nice, Randy. All I can see though is $16,000usd spent to hear the neighbors above and below you to kicking on your door between songs. To get better use for your money you may want to buy a single family home so you can feel as well as hear the music. No sense buying a Ferrari and driving it 30 miles per hour. Know wudda mean.

 

My first wife and I had twin 15" JBL woofers in their cabinents in each corner of our living room, with 25" wide JBL midrange horns (with drivers that weighed over 15 pounds a piece), and 5 pound JBL tweeters sitting on each bass cabinent, run by a quad Sansui preamp into twin 300 watt per channel MacIntosh tube amps. The system had twin 8 pod per channel equilizers and I ran two different Teac 4 channel reel to reel decks and a high tech studio grade Tehniques turntable.

 

When I joined up in a nightclub band we wound up taking 4 of the 15inch JBL woofers and putting them into two Community Light and Sound bass horn cabinets, two of the JBL midrange horns and with one of the equalizers and a 16 pod mixer we ran the system with only one of the MacIntosh tube amps. Basically half of the home stereo system for a 7 piece club band. Then again, that was the technology of the mid 70's. We miked everything through the mixer and never had a problem with not enough volume, or srystal clarity, no matter the size of the hall.

 

It was crazy but man the house stereo sounded like a nightclub on party nights. It was massive overkill but we were all young and into loud rock n'roll...then again we were up in the wooded mountains of Harpers Ferry, West by Gawd Virginia in between the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers in a single family home on a few acres. Too many cars parked on the property was more of a problem than the sound. To top things off, my chopper was parked in a guest bedroom, we'd get lit up and wander off into the bedroom to chrank up the Harley and listen to it sing in the bedroom while Steve Miller was shakin' the house foundations in the livin' room. Oh the good ol' dayz, we were lucky to survive them.

 

When I was in Chinertucky with the wee rabbit she would be fiesty and put on some Al Green, turn it up a bit and clothes would get lost, only trouble was when neighbors started knockiong on the door asking us ot turn it down. Not used to living in an apartment like setting I thought, dang, you don't need to lose much money living in China to listen to music, unless I buy a single family home.

Edited January 9, 2013 by tsap seui (see edit history)

[Randy W]

I had a pair of the MacIntosh tube amps - they were only 30 watts (fine for home listening). At $60 each, that was hard to pass up. I kept them alive for a long time - I could swap tubes between the two until I found which one had broken. Electrotex in Houston and Radio Shack kept a good stock of replacements.

 

After I had to give up on repairing them, I gave one away as a gag gift at a Christmas gift exchange thing. Somebody maneuvered so he could get it, and then wanted to buy the other one from me.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

His speakers look a lot like some of the pictures I've seen of Altec-Lansing Voice of the Theater speaker systems - and sound like them, too. The Voice of the Theater speakers were often sold as separate components, for DIY cabinet builders.

 

http://www.oocities.org/ec1288/images/Big_AltecA5.JPG

Edited January 10, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)

[chilton747]

What type of horns are those?

[Randy W]

What type of horns are those?

 

From the looks (and sound) of it, I'd say Altec Lansing (but I don't know any technical details on them). I know he makes his own amplifiers, but sells brand-name pre-amps. He seemed to have the equipment to be able to make speakers, but I don't know where these came from.

 

He published a paper on the tube amps - unfortunately only in Chinese.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Fu Lai]

ai curumba!