What kind of audio gear do you listen on? Describe your system or systems.
My love of music and electronics have come together to form some pretty insane systems for surprisingly little money over the years. Most of my gear is used or bought broken and then fixed which allows me to get some pretty awesome stuff for not much cash.
Amps: Technics SU-8055 and SU-8077 integrated amplifiers, the 8055 does the high range, the 8077 the low. 47W/ch + 60W/ch for 107W of combined power per side at 0.02% distortion. Both amplifiers were acquired for relatively low prices and lovingly rebuilt. See inside the 8077!
Speakers: Polk LSi 9 speakers, biamped, fed by the above amplifiers. Some guy said they were blown but they didn't sound bad enough to be blown so I took a gamble and bought them knowing that Polk still sold parts....nope, just a bad resistor in the crossover. $2 fix. There's a Dayton 12" 120W powered subwoofer which lives under the desk to fill out the low end.
Sources: Home made PC, HD Radio Tuner.
This rig is probably the most accurate and despite being "only" 334W, it is stupid loud as well. The small room it's in and my close proximity to the speakers no doubt helps here.
The music rig at moms house....
This stereo is used only for music. It resides where my desktop computer used to sit before I moved from the house on a basically permanent basis. It's a bit too potent for a house with roommates so it stayed home where it could be unleashed while mom is at work when I come to visit.
Like the college rig, it's mostly vintage gear I got dirt cheap and rebuilt.
There's a Technics SU-8044 feeding a pair of ADS-L500 speakers, a Crown PS-200 (free amp! OMG!!!) feeding a pair of homebrew 12" subs using Dayton DVC woofers in repurposed speaker boxes that double as stands for the L-500s. Outside of the pic is a Peavey CS-800 being used in an unsupported 4 ohm bridge config feeding a Titanic MK-III subwoofer. 38W/ch for each of the ADS-L500s, 100W/ch feeding each of the two side 12" woofers and a whopping 1.2kW* to the Titanic MK-III.
*In bursts only; it's not supported by the specs but the CS-800 will run 4 ohm bridge for intermittent duty. The speaker can only handle 700W intermittently or 1kW for a few cycles so it's not running at the limit anyway.
The bass this system can produce will mess with your mind. The system has limited infrasound capability. It's been described as "soul moving bass". The amazing thing is that it does all that and it still sounds smooth. It's not a "one note thumper" at all.
Sources: Laptop or a turntable.
The Movie system...also known as "The Wall Of Sound"
This absolute monstrosity of a sound system has been around and evolving since I was a freshman in high school. 14 years have changed it a bit, it's gone through three TVs, two receivers, 4 HTPCs and several combinations of speakers but the formula has always been the same: A wall full of speakers and amps. It's slightly biased toward quantity over quality for maximum film impact but it has a few redeeming qualities. One, it's 5.1 and can be expanded to 7.1 and it can decode every surround format under the sun. Two, it's as loud as any IMAX thanks to its doubled up front stage (two speakers for every position, L, C, R). Three...the soundstage is insanely wide thanks to those doubled speakers; every spot is the sweet spot. Listening to BT's 5.1 albums on this thing is mad whack.
Main Receiver: Yamaha RX-V1065 (105W/ch)
Secondary front channel amp: Technics SU-V7X (100W/ch)
Secondary center channel amplifier: Technics SU-V5 (60W/ch)
Subwoofer amp: Technics SU-V60 (90W/ch)
Speakers: Sony SSM-B300H (FL, FR), SSM-B150H (C, SL, SR), Cerwin Vega 12" DVC subwoofer.
Sources: Home made HTPC, Technics SL-PD5 CD changer, cable box (music choice FTW!), Sony VCR, Toshiba HD-DVD player (glorified upscaling DVD player / historical relic).
Eventually this will merge with the music system to create something truly nutty. Speakers will be ones of my own devising and the "meh" Sony speakers will be sold.
