Office Stereo

From Zanecorpwiki

WARNING: Found the amphony t-amps from Think Geek has a problem. I'll be updating the write-up when I get a chance.

Motivation

I wanted a decent audio setup in my office. The fact that it's 90% music means stereo is all I need. Besides, I'd rather get two good speakers than 5 so-so models.

Speakers

Researching speakers wasn't too hard. People talk about them all the time. The rule with speakers seems to be: unless you're spending thousands of dollars per, you're not going to get everything... In other words, you'll have to sacrifice power for clarity, range for fidelity, etc. and vice-versa. Here's a tip: unless you're going to sitting 100 feet from your speaker in a giant room, don't worry too much about power. With good speakers with good sensitivity are plenty loud at 1W.

After advice from Jean-Pierre, my search focused on the Paradigm Atom and Paradigm Mini speakers. Both are excellently reviewedref group=notesSample Atom reviews: Stereophile.com and Audio Review. Mini Reviews: Home Theater Review, Audio Review, Ecoustics consumer reviews/ref The Atoms cost about $200 less, and are certainly the biggest bang for the buck. If you're looking for a step up from your computer speakers, pick up a pair of these.

I did end up spending the extra to get the Minis. Their low end range was noticeably wider when played back to back. Again, the Atoms were impressive compared to what I'd used all my life, but there were definitely things in bass heavy music that the Atoms could simply not reproduce. Depending on the range, this might not be a big deal if you're planning on getting a separate sub-woofer.

According the specs, the Atoms start to drop off at 90Hz, while the Minis start dropping at 70Hz. 20-50Hz is considered the lower limit of human hearing; the lowest note on a piano is 24.5Hz.refhttp://www.silcom.com/~aludwig/EARS.htm/ref Of course, it all depends on what you listen to whether it matters much. Actually... now that I think about it, maybe it would have made more sense to save the $200 difference and get a subwoofer with the atoms?

Both the Atom and the Minis have good sensitivity--meaning they are efficient. Both are efficient, but the Minis are a good deal more so.ref group=notesMy limited research suggests that compact speakers tend to have lower sensitivity./ref This means that you can adequately power the speakers and get good sound with a small amplifier.

PBS makes a comparible monitor, PBS B15 Monitor, and Mirage would be an option if space is at a premium.

Amplifier

First, I knew I wanted an amp--as opposed to a receiver--mostly for aesthetic reasons. All I needed was an amp (single source input), so all I wanted was an amp. For multiple inputs (and/or multiple outputs), look into receivers.

Amps were harder to research, but then I found it doesn't matter. Any amp that bothers to publish it's ratings is going to introduce less distortion than would be detectable by the human ear. Yes, a $10,000 amp will produce cleaner sound than a $200 amp, but as a human you'll never be able to tell the difference... no matter how good your ear is.

That isn't to say you should go as cheap as possible. I found amps for $100 that would do the trick, but they had a lot of quality issues--burn out, DOA units, etc.

John turned me onto class T amplifiersref group=notesClass T is not a class, it's a trademark on the key bit of the patented circuit./ref. Think Geek sells a pluggable Class T rated a at 15W RMS, 20W peak in stereo and 30/50 in mono. Many of the applications are battery powered and meant for mobility. I just wanted a tiny amp. These are 1/20th the size of the alternative.

The stereo rating is emjust/em sufficient to drive the a pair of the Mini's, so I ended getting a an amp for each speaker. If the music peaks, and their insufficient power, the signal clips and the distorted sound wave can damage the speaker. Damage from under power is (apparently) far more prevalent that damage from over-driving. Even with two, it was $150 for the pair. Not the cheapest, but it's not far off, and considering quality, size, efficiency, etc. these were the clear winners.

Shopping and Listening

Find a good audio store in your area and audition whatever you're considering. I found too--and this was surprising--that the speakers weren't any cheaper online that at my local store. This is probably because decent speakers have high-end economics (even the relatively affordable ones). Be aware, though, that they're going to have the speakers set up properly in a room designed to listen to speakers, so it's probably going to sound different/better there. Still, the best sounding speaker there will generally be the best sounding speaker wherever you set it up.ref group=notesSome speakers do need to set up a certain different from the wall, and may be more or less sensitive to how the speaker is positioned relative to the listener, so these are things it's worthwhile to look into/ask about./ref

You may also want to take a look at Craigslist or even eBay. A lot of audiophiles turn over their equipment with regularity and if you can be at the right place at the right time, you can get a deal. For myself, I consider eBay a bit risky for any big dollar purchase, even if it represents a good deal, but I'll also admit that I don't use it much so don't have familiarity with it. I would have liked to have found something on Craigslist, because I figure if I can listen to it, then that's 80% of the risk off the table, but I didn't find anything.

Final Thoughts

I do want to get a sub-woofer. The Minis are great, but they don't replicate the full spectrum of audible sound. The good news is that sub-woofers are almost always self powered, self contained, and their placement is not critical, so it's easy to add one on later.

For more info and references, take a look at my AV reference material.

Notes

references group=notes /