I have a pair of powered Klipsch bookshelf speakers, and while I don’t have any complaints about them, I’m thinking about getting an amplifier and switching to passive speakers, just for a more “purely analog” setup. The speakers I have right now have modern features like a remote and bluetooth, and I don’t think I’ll miss the remote and I never use bluetooth.
What do you use? I’m not an audiophile by any means, so I’ll probably see what affordable, used amp and speakers I can find at a record store or thrift shop, but I’d love to hear your recommendations, too.
Big fan of using the classifieds (craigslist or what have you) to grab semi-vintage gear cheap.
You don’t need a fancy amp, just something powerful enough for your speakers. Your speakers should
- fit the space
- have enough bass, or add a subwoofer
- be placed where you will hear the stereo ‘soundstage’
- be less than 20 years old so you don’t have to fuss over maintenance like redoing rubber mounts
- be listened to before you buy
I will always advocate for high-end headphones over speakers myself. Speakers that work and don’t sound absolutely horrible are good enough in my book.
I will say the thrift shop idea is smart. We got our floor speakers and receiver that way and I have no complaints. I’ll spend big bucks on speakers when I hit the lottery I never play.
The room is 50%, maybe more, of a speakers sound.
To me though, you’re truly missing an entire dimension (and one of your senses, touch) listening solely on headphones. I’m lucky that everywhere ive lived ive made a dedicated room for listening. They werent always ideal shapes but they worked. My current room is pretty good with some 703 panels to control reflections.
Ive always said, besides the fact there are a million distractions now, a big reason young people are not into music any more (or at least, high quality music) is they’ve never heard a great system in a great room. Its SO enjoyable when you hear that depth and liveliness you only get from speakers. Ive been into good sound since I was maybe 8 or 9, because my family had decent HiFi growing up that we would listen to. We liked good sound, even though we weren’t as technically knowledgeable back then.
And no I’m not an old audiophile kook. Snake oil is bs and dumb. My setup is goodwill finds and total under $800 for my akai TT, magnepan SMG a speakers, hafler power amp, and an onkyo receiver for switching. Oh and a schitt cheap phono preamp. $5 Sony 5 disc changer for CD.
People are regularly blown away by my setup. And its not even that good compared to many other big spender audio folks.
Go for the speakers and get your room situated. Youll enjoy music so much more.
Solid advice but it’s not really applicable to me in all honesty. My headphone listening station consists of an SL-1200mk3, a schiit jotunheim with internal phono card, and XLR balanced out Sennheiser HD800S. I also have a splitter hooked up to a sub if I really want to feel the bass on music that relies on it.
I don’t listen to music with other people generally, and if I do it’s not in a critical listening sense so my PC speakers or the downstairs thrift store technics floor speakers are good enough. I also don’t ever want to upgrade, and given my tastes that means I need to set aside a significant amount of money at the start.
I have a 1970s Zenith console, so its powered. I plug in my Pro-ject into the line in. It sounds amazing in my 1912 front room. I have replaced the subwoofers with modern versions. I will probably need to change the mids someday too. The amp inside the console gets pretty warm but theres lots of air space in there for it. I wish it had sound tubes but it was one of the first years that did it without tubes.
I never use the record player that is built into it but the retro power and volume are just so awesome, cool sliders with nice funky color under a glass surface
not a great picture but here is what mysetup looks like https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/473ebc45-0a86-4caa-a38b-8dd3a3a5e395.jpeg
Wow, that setup looks great!
You can get powered speakers without silly stuff like bluetooth, especially if your setup doesn’t include a subwoofer. I use Adam A3x speakers (I don’t think they even make this model anymore) and an Adam subwoofer, though, because I’m into sub-heavy genres like dubstep.
That said, I wouldn’t get new speakers just to be more analog - speakers cost money and you’re definitely going to lose money even if you buy used and sell your old speakers.
Passive magnepan smg-a’s and a 2 ohm hafler power amp!
Once you hear Maggie’s you dont want anything else. And these aren’t even the best ones! Saving up for a new pair of lrs+…
