Any audiophiles here?
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 37
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From: Dallas, TX
Sorry if I'm threadjacking but I was awake really early and got interested in this thread. I wouldn't call myself an audiophile but ....
My home theatre system consists of a Yamaha RX-3100 system and Onyx Rocket Speakers (RS750 mains, RSC 200 center and RSS 300 surrounds). Power cleaner and cables are Monster. I know, many will bash Monster but I was anxious to get my system up and running and went with what I could get my hands on quickly. ) My audio room is medium sized (about 14x14) and the speakers easily fill the whole house!
I selected the Yamaha receiver because it had plenty of power to drive the speakers without an amp (I plan to add an amp soon) and produced a very warm sound. The back has plenty of outlets. The chassis is about 50lbs and very solidly produced. The internal components are great and the Yamaha sound stage options are incredible.
The Onyx Rocket loudspeakers are to speakers what the S2000 is to cars. You can check out their products at www.av123.com and read the forums. Those who have the speakers are quite enthusiastic about them. For a 5 speaker set-up I paid approximately 3K and wouldn't hesitate to buy more of their products.
The speakers are beautifully produced. I have the rose wood finish and they look great but it's all about sound and Rockets deliver huge! I was nearly ready to purchase a set of B&W's until I read the review about Onyx on audiorevolution.com. You can play rap to classic on these puppies. The bass goes very deep - I don't need a sub woofer. The bass is very responsive. The highs are rolled off. This is not a JBL sounding system (no offense to JBL, just a comparison). The tweeter isn't harsh sounding and won't fatigue you after many hours of listening. The mids are very full - probably the best part of the mains. One downside if you will, the speakers require a lot of power to drive them. The other downside is they are internet delivery. Don't worry, if you order them you will keep them. The last down side is you'll find you aren't driving your S as much
The center channel is incredible. The only comparable center is the ML which costs 5x as much. The rears give very good accents and acoustics. It's great to switch between 2 channel and 5 channel music. It will be hard to find a better center channel then this one. If you do - expect to pay a lot for it.
What I really like about the Rocket speakers is how they're able to handle music and movies. They deliver high marks on both and I found this isn't easy to do for many speaker set-ups. I found Klipsh was really good at movies but too harsh for music. B&W's were good for both but nearly 10K for a 5 speaker set up. If I had to compare, I would say the Rockets reminded me of the Vienna Acoustics speakers which is a compliment to Rocket. Smooth highs, warm sounding and able to produce a very good sound stage.
For anyone looking into speakers, I highly recommend Rocket speakers.
My home theatre system consists of a Yamaha RX-3100 system and Onyx Rocket Speakers (RS750 mains, RSC 200 center and RSS 300 surrounds). Power cleaner and cables are Monster. I know, many will bash Monster but I was anxious to get my system up and running and went with what I could get my hands on quickly. ) My audio room is medium sized (about 14x14) and the speakers easily fill the whole house!
I selected the Yamaha receiver because it had plenty of power to drive the speakers without an amp (I plan to add an amp soon) and produced a very warm sound. The back has plenty of outlets. The chassis is about 50lbs and very solidly produced. The internal components are great and the Yamaha sound stage options are incredible.
The Onyx Rocket loudspeakers are to speakers what the S2000 is to cars. You can check out their products at www.av123.com and read the forums. Those who have the speakers are quite enthusiastic about them. For a 5 speaker set-up I paid approximately 3K and wouldn't hesitate to buy more of their products.
The speakers are beautifully produced. I have the rose wood finish and they look great but it's all about sound and Rockets deliver huge! I was nearly ready to purchase a set of B&W's until I read the review about Onyx on audiorevolution.com. You can play rap to classic on these puppies. The bass goes very deep - I don't need a sub woofer. The bass is very responsive. The highs are rolled off. This is not a JBL sounding system (no offense to JBL, just a comparison). The tweeter isn't harsh sounding and won't fatigue you after many hours of listening. The mids are very full - probably the best part of the mains. One downside if you will, the speakers require a lot of power to drive them. The other downside is they are internet delivery. Don't worry, if you order them you will keep them. The last down side is you'll find you aren't driving your S as much
The center channel is incredible. The only comparable center is the ML which costs 5x as much. The rears give very good accents and acoustics. It's great to switch between 2 channel and 5 channel music. It will be hard to find a better center channel then this one. If you do - expect to pay a lot for it.
What I really like about the Rocket speakers is how they're able to handle music and movies. They deliver high marks on both and I found this isn't easy to do for many speaker set-ups. I found Klipsh was really good at movies but too harsh for music. B&W's were good for both but nearly 10K for a 5 speaker set up. If I had to compare, I would say the Rockets reminded me of the Vienna Acoustics speakers which is a compliment to Rocket. Smooth highs, warm sounding and able to produce a very good sound stage.
For anyone looking into speakers, I highly recommend Rocket speakers.
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,914
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From: Tampa, FL
My Setup:
Onkyo TX-SR706
Sony PS3 - Blu-Ray/Media Server
B&W 604 S3 - Front
B&W LM1 - Rear
B&W LCR6 S2 - Center
Sunfire True Signature - Sub
Samsung HLP5085W - DLP
Informative Forums:
AVS Forum
Home Theater Forum
Onkyo TX-SR706
Sony PS3 - Blu-Ray/Media Server
B&W 604 S3 - Front
B&W LM1 - Rear
B&W LCR6 S2 - Center
Sunfire True Signature - Sub
Samsung HLP5085W - DLP
Informative Forums:
AVS Forum
Home Theater Forum
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
From: 9400ft ASL, Colorado
My two-channel setup:
- Squeezebox Duet streaming FLAC files off my Mac Mini Ubuntu server (not shown)
- Rega Jupiter CD
- Audio Research LS2B mkII preamp
- Audio Research VT100 mkII amp
- Soliloquy 5.1 loudspeakers
- various cables with good $/perfomance ratio
- APC power conditioner
- Squeezebox Duet streaming FLAC files off my Mac Mini Ubuntu server (not shown)
- Rega Jupiter CD
- Audio Research LS2B mkII preamp
- Audio Research VT100 mkII amp
- Soliloquy 5.1 loudspeakers
- various cables with good $/perfomance ratio
- APC power conditioner
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,315
Likes: 0
From: Mandeville, La
Originally Posted by omgitsoop,Feb 25 2009, 01:23 AM
p.s. this did inspire me to take a stab at building my own cmoy again....
Registered User
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,492
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Damn, I thought audio was dead! I've been an audiophile since college (graduated 79). The 70's, 80's, and 90's were the golden age. I can't believe how many great high end companies have faded into the mist.
I still have two turntables and my collection of vinyl including a bunch of Sheffield direct to disc recordings but they are getting used less and less.
As to the original question of headphones, my reference is a pair of Stax electrostatics. But electrostats aren't exactly practical for portable use. I've tried a bunch of headphones over the years but my current portable setup is an iPhone 16GB + Headroom total airhead amp + Shure E4C ear canal phones.
The ear canal phones can't be beat IMHO. Tiny package. No batteries required. Excellent noise isolation for the user and everyone around you. Very easy electrical load and efficiency even for solid state op-amps in portable devices. Excellent overall sound quality if you have a good seal in the ear canal. The Etymotic ER4 started the category but there are a number of great choices today. And quite frankly, these phones are better than the compressed audio being pumped out of any ipod. Therefore, I can't see spending more when the source material is the limiting factor.
The Sony or B&O grade of earbuds are OK for for a high noise environment like running or where you don't want noise isolation but in absolute terms, they suck really badly compared to ear canal alternatives.
I laugh like hell every time I see some poor slob on a plane lugging the Bose noise cancelling behemoths. They sound terrible, they're huge, they crap out when the battery dies, the isolation isn't nearly as good as my Shures, and you are nagged by the hiss as a byproduct of active noise cancellation. Oh, and all of this mediocrity is not cheap.
Aside from ear canal phones, I'd look at Sennheisers and Grados if you want over the ear cans.
As for car audio, I don't see the point. I'll gladly spend tens of thousands on my home system but a car? C'mon! S2000? Comical! I bought the car to hear the engine at 8,000 RPM and feel the road. Even a luxury car is not a place where you can enjoy music as it should be. My wife's car is an 08 Infiniti G35 with the studio on wheels. Burr-Brown 24 bit dacs, sound stage optimized for the driver, etc. Stereophile gave it a good review and it's nice. But no car audio system will ever come close to my home system. And my home system will never be a live performance. That's just reality.
I still have two turntables and my collection of vinyl including a bunch of Sheffield direct to disc recordings but they are getting used less and less.
As to the original question of headphones, my reference is a pair of Stax electrostatics. But electrostats aren't exactly practical for portable use. I've tried a bunch of headphones over the years but my current portable setup is an iPhone 16GB + Headroom total airhead amp + Shure E4C ear canal phones.
The ear canal phones can't be beat IMHO. Tiny package. No batteries required. Excellent noise isolation for the user and everyone around you. Very easy electrical load and efficiency even for solid state op-amps in portable devices. Excellent overall sound quality if you have a good seal in the ear canal. The Etymotic ER4 started the category but there are a number of great choices today. And quite frankly, these phones are better than the compressed audio being pumped out of any ipod. Therefore, I can't see spending more when the source material is the limiting factor.
The Sony or B&O grade of earbuds are OK for for a high noise environment like running or where you don't want noise isolation but in absolute terms, they suck really badly compared to ear canal alternatives.
I laugh like hell every time I see some poor slob on a plane lugging the Bose noise cancelling behemoths. They sound terrible, they're huge, they crap out when the battery dies, the isolation isn't nearly as good as my Shures, and you are nagged by the hiss as a byproduct of active noise cancellation. Oh, and all of this mediocrity is not cheap.
Aside from ear canal phones, I'd look at Sennheisers and Grados if you want over the ear cans.
As for car audio, I don't see the point. I'll gladly spend tens of thousands on my home system but a car? C'mon! S2000? Comical! I bought the car to hear the engine at 8,000 RPM and feel the road. Even a luxury car is not a place where you can enjoy music as it should be. My wife's car is an 08 Infiniti G35 with the studio on wheels. Burr-Brown 24 bit dacs, sound stage optimized for the driver, etc. Stereophile gave it a good review and it's nice. But no car audio system will ever come close to my home system. And my home system will never be a live performance. That's just reality.
