The Two Channel Advice Thread

https://electronics.sony.com/audio/audio-components/hi-res-audio/p/saz1

Seems like this is an option, and if price means performance, what a treat these must be.

 

This exact sort of setup is where I ended up with the KEF LS50 Meta. The concentric driver is great for giving you a huge sweet spot at a desk, and dynamic enough for me at moderate volumes. Can play to 'the room' when needed, but a sub would be valuable for this.

In terms of size, same height as the Harbeth, a little wider, but a lot deeper. Considerably bigger than the T&F @artur9 noted, but much smaller than the ATC SCM11 mentioned by @zonto.

 

@Beefy , I would never have considered LS50 as near field! Are the Meta worlds different from the original in some way? I have never really thought about that sort of listening before. Going to play with things today!!

 

Never heard the 'standard', but the Meta certainly work for the job.

As room bookshelf speakers they were easily the best I auditioned in the price range (Harbeth is WAY too rich for me!), but they definitely work *great* as nearfield. I'm pretty sure it's the concentric drivers, because no matter how high/low/forward/back I sit in my chair, they sound pretty much the same, with no weird horizontal or vertical off-axis effects.

[EDIT] Here are my audition notes from earlier in the thread, and setup as nearfield. They are now a tiny bit further apart, a touch more toed-in, and sitting on sorbothane pads, but the principle is the same.

 

HAHAHA, now that I looked at that pic, I remember seeing it already.Looked and brain didn't comprehend. I always assumed that nearfield needed crazy stuff like that Sony thing I linked. Will reread your audition notes!

 

Yeah the Harbeths mentioned here are much closer in size to the ATC SCM7 than the 11/19 models I originally mentioned. I really liked the ATC SCM40v2 I heard at a dealer last year and was considering a smaller pair for the WFH desk setup…

 

Finally some speakers for us bat people:

• I-ARRAY™ tweeters, for up to 100-kHz frequency response and wide directivity

 

Yep, the '7' rings a louder bell. I recall not being able to easily audition any ATC locally....

 

Harbeth kinda has a floatier sound, not quite enough that I'd call it airy though. ATC on the other hand is meatier and more mid centric. The SCM7 is probably a more apt size comparison though. If this is ultra nearfield, you'll want the smaller model. If a larger desk or occasionally filling a room, bigger is better.

 

So it's been about a year now... time for an update.

I did try the USB out and it did do the job, for sure. But then I got a little itch and built a Plex streamer using Ian Canada components and Ropieee. I like it a lot more than the Chromecast I was using before. Even had a little case made. Not sure it was worth the expense but it was fun putting the whole thing together and I still use it. Still a whole lot cheaper than the streamers available offering Plex, which are very few in 2025 as far as I can tell.

 

Do you use it for streaming movies and music?

 

No, just music. It's a music streamer -- a Plexamp endpoint. It does Roon, Spotify Connect and AirPlay as well but I'm pretty invested in Plex at the moment.

 

Hello Friends.

I have a Rotel RA-1072 integrated amp that I am currently using as a preamp. It sounds just fine but of course was curious about swapping in a straight up preamp in its place. There seems to be a few usual suspects the internet/youtube raves about (Benchmark LA4, Holo Serene, Bryston BP-??) but those are a little out of my comfort zone price-wise if I want to experiment. I don't see much in the budget category that has 3 analog input either.

I'm looking for a remote, a volume without channel imbalance (my Rotel is every so slightly unbalanced at low volumes) and at least 3 analog inputs, although 2 analogs and a digital would do.

I guess preamps are becoming less of a thing? Any recommendations?

 

I was going to quit Plex a while back, until they came out with Plexamp, I love it. Thinking about a headless Plexamp pi.

 

Schiit Kara.

 

My friend who had the pi4 and allo above also has a Schiit Kara that he likes a lot when he wants a ss pre to feed his 2A3 monoblocks. He noted it is very quiet.

Not sure what amp you will be using but it is worthy in his very good setup.

 

when you say analog inputs do you just mean unbalanced inputs (i.e. rca)? schiit saga 2 checks all those boxes and is a fair bit cheaper than a kara if you don't need balanced inputs and just want to experiment, if you're in canada you might be better off just looking for what you can find used though I'm not sure how expensive it is to get stuff across the border. The kara would probably have better volume matching at low levels since it's an attenuator and I think the saga 2 is a different scheme, but I'd be really surprised if it's an issue.

 

Im getting ready to integrate dual, powered subwoofers into my 2 channel system. Whats the currently recommended solution for crossover / time delay / bass room correction?

Immediate goal is ease of use, I dont want to spend years tweaking knobs. I can use REW and I'll deal with any 'it has to all be analog' nervosa later.

Im presuming miniDSP Flex is the answer but would like to know about other options. Any suggestions?

 

I went down this rabbit hole a year ago, and the only alternative to miniDSP with an equivalent feature-set that I came across was the Danville Signal Processor at a significantly higher price.

I integrated 3X sealed subwoofers and LS50's with the ports plugged with a miniDSP Flex and attained very good technical results in combination with REW, which I used to time-align the subs and then the subs and mains operating as distinct sources of low-frequency information. Having the Flex in the chain robbed the music of spirit/life somehow, and I just didn't enjoy listening to it even though the DAC and ADC in the Flex is technically 'transparent'.

If I were to do it again I would keep the miniDSP away from my Mains and use it as a crossover/delay inducer/DSP solution for the subs only, even if that means losing the ability to high-pass the mains. This requires finding a spot for the subs close enough to the listening position that you can time align by introducing delay to the subs instead of the mains.

Not sure if your subs and mains are ported or not, but this is worth watching before you set out. I read Geddes' white papers on using multiple subs and implemented his principles to the best of my ability.

If you have the flexibility in setup to time align the subs and mains physically, and you use Roon or another player that supports convolution filters, you can achieve an excellent result with REW without the need for an external crossover provided your subs have the ability to set crossover and phase. I've experimented with the various filters explained on 'Obsessive Compulsive Audiophile' YouTube channel and am now pretty happy with a minimum phase filter gated at 250 hz.

In my experience truly great deep bass integration requires significant investment (money and space) in bass traps unless you have a large room with close to ideal dimensions or more than two subs. Suspended floors are also a huge pain in the ass. Without flexibility in placing the listening position it is very hard to avoid a null in the 60-80 hz. range induced by standing waves generated by interaction with the floor and ceiling, which requires treating the ceiling.

 

That was my thinking. I have a JBL CR-1 I planned to use as a line-level crossover until my speaker choice gets nailed down but it doesn't do time alignment. I've just installed massive amounts of bass trapping and sound absorption in my room but I know active room correction and DSP would probably still help. So im thinking a device on the bass-only line that does those two things only & I keep the subs in the front, further away from me than the speakers.

I'll watch the video, thanks for the link, and I'll check out both the mini and the Danville.