dhc:
I wonder where you are at with your system from 2013?
I started my passion with hi-fi in the mid 70's. I had gear like b&o, luxman amps, nakamichi, teac decks, Akai reel to reel, Kef 103.2, later 105.4 speakers, thoren table, formula 4 arm and Shure mark V Cartridge, Stax headphone.
Then I left home to come to Canada. Never had a chance to get back into it. I missed it a lot. Used to have 4-500 LPs, spent 10 minutes to pick a record, another 5 minutes to clean and set it up. Ran to my spot to listen for a few minutes. Then all over again lol.
By chance I bought a pair of AG 3.5 in 2014, a set of AG reference surround and a centre. I came across with this article about how good emotiva was. I bought XPA-5 and the Sherbourn PT 7030 7 channel pre/pro. Thought would go with the digital route with lossless format (I am a complete rookie after 40 years).
Problems started - Sherbourn didn't come with a manual. I read something like "if u need a manual u better get a professional to do everything for you ..." At that point I thought maybe I should have invested in a used bema m3 lol. My space in the basement is far from OK much less good, "sorta" rectangular shape with hall way to laundry room on one side, stairwell going up on the other side, a small bedroom on the third side with gun and wine cabinets in front of it. basically it's a half finished basement with concrete floor, no ceiling but all dry walled.
I use monoprice XLR connect cable, 12 guage speaker wires. I hooked everything up without any sonic adjustment. Back in the days we always played everything FLAT. Even if I had to I wouldn't know how to play around with all this high tech buttons and switches lol.
A few days later I finally got some sound. It was OK but far from my old system 40 years ago much less the SUPERB QUALITY I was led to believe. I knew my inability and lack of modern techniques were most of my problems. I could have bought the KEF R900 and the Marantz pre/pro from a neighbourhood stereo shop for $9000. Now I spent more money and didn't know how to set it up. The 3.5 were barely delivering any bass. For a quick fix, I bought a 800 watt mirage Sub to lie to my ears. I lost interest, gave up and walked away for 3 years.
Lately I am downstairs messing with it again. Took me a few days to re-learn how to turn everything on again. I would hate to admit a defeat to my passion and sell everything for cheap. Or I should give it another shot.
First, I gotta re-learn new gear, concepts, operating procedures, pricing etc. I hung out in high end stereo shops, helped them move gear around for demo, in return these old guys showed me stuff. Now I am learning online. Can't believe everything we read, right? I am reading up how to treat my space. Owens Corning 703 are no where to be found in Canada OUCH!!!! A couple of sites offer to do it for $5000-$8000. WOW, REALLY???
Someone suggested AG SA amp. First, can't find it. Second, other gurus said just feed THE 3.5's with a lot of clean power and forget about the sub amp.
Another problem, I am running a 5-channel power amp with a 7-channel pre. There is hardly any surround coming out of my back AG Reference Surround. Damn, my head is spinning now lol.
Am i missing a few steps in hooking up therefore getting inferior sound? I prefer no extra colouration, just the way it was recorded. Should I continue with emotiva big power amps for the main and keep the XPA-5 for surround? Or should I get something like a Spectron, or your Axiom? Big amp for speaker main in? Or another amp to feed the second coil?
I just got married last year, for the first time, and started a new business 2 months ago, I would be more cautious this time around in buying gear.$1000-$3000 is automatic. Over that I will have to think about it. I don't included gear. I also wanna remodel my basement to turn it into a listening room. That should improve a of right there.
Any advice, from anybody, would be appreciated. I feel like Carlos santana asking for help to plug in a guitar lol.
I wonder where you are at with your system from 2013?
I started my passion with hi-fi in the mid 70's. I had gear like b&o, luxman amps, nakamichi, teac decks, Akai reel to reel, Kef 103.2, later 105.4 speakers, thoren table, formula 4 arm and Shure mark V Cartridge, Stax headphone.
Then I left home to come to Canada. Never had a chance to get back into it. I missed it a lot. Used to have 4-500 LPs, spent 10 minutes to pick a record, another 5 minutes to clean and set it up. Ran to my spot to listen for a few minutes. Then all over again lol.
By chance I bought a pair of AG 3.5 in 2014, a set of AG reference surround and a centre. I came across with this article about how good emotiva was. I bought XPA-5 and the Sherbourn PT 7030 7 channel pre/pro. Thought would go with the digital route with lossless format (I am a complete rookie after 40 years).
Problems started - Sherbourn didn't come with a manual. I read something like "if u need a manual u better get a professional to do everything for you ..." At that point I thought maybe I should have invested in a used bema m3 lol. My space in the basement is far from OK much less good, "sorta" rectangular shape with hall way to laundry room on one side, stairwell going up on the other side, a small bedroom on the third side with gun and wine cabinets in front of it. basically it's a half finished basement with concrete floor, no ceiling but all dry walled.
I use monoprice XLR connect cable, 12 guage speaker wires. I hooked everything up without any sonic adjustment. Back in the days we always played everything FLAT. Even if I had to I wouldn't know how to play around with all this high tech buttons and switches lol.
A few days later I finally got some sound. It was OK but far from my old system 40 years ago much less the SUPERB QUALITY I was led to believe. I knew my inability and lack of modern techniques were most of my problems. I could have bought the KEF R900 and the Marantz pre/pro from a neighbourhood stereo shop for $9000. Now I spent more money and didn't know how to set it up. The 3.5 were barely delivering any bass. For a quick fix, I bought a 800 watt mirage Sub to lie to my ears. I lost interest, gave up and walked away for 3 years.
Lately I am downstairs messing with it again. Took me a few days to re-learn how to turn everything on again. I would hate to admit a defeat to my passion and sell everything for cheap. Or I should give it another shot.
First, I gotta re-learn new gear, concepts, operating procedures, pricing etc. I hung out in high end stereo shops, helped them move gear around for demo, in return these old guys showed me stuff. Now I am learning online. Can't believe everything we read, right? I am reading up how to treat my space. Owens Corning 703 are no where to be found in Canada OUCH!!!! A couple of sites offer to do it for $5000-$8000. WOW, REALLY???
Someone suggested AG SA amp. First, can't find it. Second, other gurus said just feed THE 3.5's with a lot of clean power and forget about the sub amp.
Another problem, I am running a 5-channel power amp with a 7-channel pre. There is hardly any surround coming out of my back AG Reference Surround. Damn, my head is spinning now lol.
Am i missing a few steps in hooking up therefore getting inferior sound? I prefer no extra colouration, just the way it was recorded. Should I continue with emotiva big power amps for the main and keep the XPA-5 for surround? Or should I get something like a Spectron, or your Axiom? Big amp for speaker main in? Or another amp to feed the second coil?
I just got married last year, for the first time, and started a new business 2 months ago, I would be more cautious this time around in buying gear.$1000-$3000 is automatic. Over that I will have to think about it. I don't included gear. I also wanna remodel my basement to turn it into a listening room. That should improve a of right there.
Any advice, from anybody, would be appreciated. I feel like Carlos santana asking for help to plug in a guitar lol.