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I listen almost exclusively to rock. I'm sometimes happy with my equipment, sometimes not. I blame my temporary living quarters mostly, ( loft apartment ). So what do you guys have and how happy are you with it listening to rock? Thanks.
Follow Ups:
I live in a NYC studio apartment, so except during the daytime (I'm freelance, have weekdays off sometimes), I listen at moderate to low levels. Plus, I've been going to punk/noise/rock/free jazz shows for over 22 years (most spent with hearing protection), and play in an instrumental art-rock band (through a HIWATT, a most scrumptious but somewhat loud amp.) I still go out to see bands a lot, but when I'm in my home enviornment, I don't like to listen loud at all! (sometimes peaks are under 80db, though I have gone up to the low 90s for peaks, not constant,though, and those levels are rare.) I had Northcreek Rhythms speakers, sounded GREAT on rock, but perhaps they wanted a bigger space than what my apartment and nearfield listening habits dictated (they now reside in my brother-in-laws loft.) They did resolve pretty well at low volumes, good when my wife is sleeping and I'm up late. However, a friend of mine turned me on to electrostatic speakers, and that was it for me.I now have Quad 63 USA Monitors. I use a small sub next to the couch to add a subtle bit of weight to the bottom-end. While these speakers do not have "slam" factor, nor the ultimate bottom end, their midrange is uncanny. I'm a guitarist, so that's what grabs me first. I love the sound of electric guitars through these speakers. You can hear the mic up against the amp cabinet, mic phase problems from careless rawk engineers, the hilarious bad phase effect used on some of Ozzie's Sabbath vocals, etc. Good electrostatics can come as close as you will get to hearing what the musicians were hearing in the studio (actually, BETTER than what they were hearing often, as most cone speakers have distortions not present in an electrostatic. I won't get into Yamaha NS-10s (ugh!). Even Genelecs, while "nice", don't cut it next to a good electrostatic. The closest I have found is a $1700 monitor that uses a ribbon tweeter.)
The beauty of these speakers is that they resolve so well at low and moderate levels. I can hear everything beautifuly late at night, in even proportion from lows to highs (because it's one panel reproducing everything, so no differences between woofer, midrange, tweeter. All from the same source) While they can play loud, they start to compress, but I'm not concerned with loud volume anyways.
Amps are two tube amps (Music Reference RM9, 100 watts/channel, and a Harman Kardon Citation V from the 60s, 45 watts, soon to be modded/upgraded) and one sand amp (Monarchy SM70 Pro, class A solid state Mosfet amp, very pure, smooth almost like tubes, no fatigue, faster than the tube amps which is nice for rock, but the tubes have the best midrange.) Preamp is an Audible Illusion Modulas 3. SACD player is a modded Soney ES555, and the turntable is a Rega Planar 3 with improved arm, and a Dynavector 20XL low output moving coil. The turntable, while it still sounds better than most cd players, is the weakest point. Will be upgrading to a Nottingham Spacedeck or Teres kit (monster turntables, though if I could afford it, I would love to try a Redpoint) pretty soon.
My system and musical preferences are listed in my profile - but basically I'm a rock fan.I like my gear and if I had to pick a weakspot I'd say it would be the speakers. They sound great with most kinds of music and are an excellent all around choice in their price range but I'm not sure they are the right choice for me and my limited musical preferences.
I used to have PSB stratus Golds and they were damn good but favored particular recording qualities and had some issues with bass that I couldn't fix that made them not too good with many records. The Spendors are very coherent and have decent punch - but I don't they can't really keep up with the rest of my set - that 13 inch woofer gets kind of high up in the bass/midrange and it's a mixed bag. Like I said overall it's a great speaker - but for my particular preferences I'm not convinced it's the best choice. There really isn't anything I can do is to start bringing speakers home for demo. Life's rough!
Give me rhythm or give me death!
VAC Avatar SE Integrated amp
Epos M15s / REL Storm sub
Audiomeca Romance/Romeo/Clearaudio Virtuos Wood TT/arm/Cartridge
Sony C222ES SACD changer
Discover cables.
What do you think of the tubes vs. solid state for rock (for example, White Stripes or new Wire)? Is there a big difference (even for "softer" indie rock like Neutral Milk Hotel)? I've been considering taking the plunge, but I think maybe I should spend my money elsewhere (like on a nice CD/DVD universal player).
Before I went with the VAC, I had a Pass Aleph 5, and I much prefer the dynamics and pace of the VAC. Granted, the Aleph 5 is not the last word in slam, and I did have a tube preamp at the time, but in my own limited experience, I don't think you lose much with tubes, you may even gain some in the fact that you can listen longer and louder without fatigue setting in. Of course vinyl helps in that regard too.Ultimamately, I'd like to get a more dynamic speaker...maybe the Reference 3A de Capo, or the Galante Audio Rhapsody's, or perhaps the JBLs that Rob Doorack mentioned.
I love listening to White Stripes (and Wire) on my tubes.
Mark
My first system...I'm only 23. Listen to mostly indie rock and funk but lately its been more and more jazz and hip hop.P2 w/ incognito and OL mods
Shure V15VXMRScott 299(a)
B&W 602 S3
Right now i'm using cheap monster cable, will probably get Frank's signal cable soon. As far as power conditioning I only wanted to spend around 70 bucks so I just went to Comp USA and bought the nicest/lowest noise surge protector they had.
Believe it or not, the amp and the speakers made the biggest difference in my system. I know its supposed to be the source, but... I've spent hours doing A/B comparisons with three different tables and cartridges, tried all different permutations and i've come to the conclusion that the V15 is only slightly more clear than my Grado Blue. But, the imaging and depth on the V15 blows the Grado away. The Scott might be the most musical amp i've ever heard. I love it, although S/N is a slight issue. Someday (not soon) i'll get a Mac tube integrated. Until then I'm pretty proud of this beginner $2K system.
If I'm correct, that Scott amp is tubed, right? B & W are not the best speakers to match with tubes (impedence dips in the bass.) I owned the first series 602s for a few years (moved up to a $2000 kit speaker, BIG JUMP, now running electrostatics, don't want to go back to boxes, except maybe for some vintage Tannoys someday). It sounded ok with both with 45 watt Dynaco monoblocks and better with a Music Reference RM9 100 watt tube amp. However, when I built the Northcreek Rhythm kit, a notable improvement in tube amp performance. While the Rhythms 4 ohm impedence would want to make someone keep SETs away (at least the low watt ones), the impedence is fairly even (4ohms nominal, dips only down to 3 ohms, unlike the B & W dipping from 8 ohms all the way down to 3 ohms). My tube amps sounded much better! (well, the Rhythms are closer to multi-thousand dollar speakers than the cheap lil' B & W 602s I had). Just a note from a tube lover who used to have those speakers.As far as the surge protector goes, most of these lousy outlet strips or even some of the better surge units are NOT made for audiophile use, and often can degrade the performance of your equipent (a $90 Triplite unit made my preamp sound compressed, dark, dull. I'm not kidding you, and the guy at Sam Ash Pro store, knowing I was using it with audiophile gear was not surprised that it sucked.) Here is what you should do: go to the tweakers asylum, do a search on jon risch. Go to his web site, and he explains how to make a very good audiophile-grade power filter/protector for under $100. If you are not into buying all the stuff yourself, go to diycable.com. kevin has it in kit form with everything you need, but of course you will pay more than sourcing it yourself.
Myself, I'm going to try DIY balanced power at some point, or buy the Transcendent Sound balanced power supply kit.
...and Denon HDCD DCM-370. Sub is a Velodyne CT-100. Don't let anyone dissuade you from buying Magnepan planar speakers for listening to rock! The bass is accurate, but if you want total slam, get a subwoofer with the 'Maggies'. That way you will have the timbral accuracy and breathtakingly detailed mids, and 'have you cake and eat it too' (strong bass slam). Maggies rock!!!
I listen almost exclusively to rock. My system consists of Naim pre - and power amps and a pair of JBL LSR32 monitors.Two extremely critical elements of rock are rhythm and the associated sensation of forward motion in the music. Yeah, I'm talking about that PRaT thing. In my experience no brand does of electronics does this better than Naim. Even the humble Nait integrated amp is better at getting the beats right than a lot of very much more expensive equipment.
The JBLs are a steal for the price. They have effortless, explosive dynamics that make most audiophile speakers sound broken. Since they're aimed at the pro audio market the LSR32s are routinely discounted. I bought a factory refurbished pair from musiciansfriend.com for $1400 and got 45 days free home trial to audition them too.
Very interesting Rob. Is you CD player Naim also?
Yes, the CD player is Naim CD3.5 augmented with a Flapcap auxiliary power supply. Primary source is a Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck / RB 900 / Denon 103 into a Linn Linto phono stage.
...decide for yourself.
I'm accumulating equipment and haven't yet completed my system, but here's what I have hooked up at the moment:Yamaha H3000 (power amp)
Carver CT-6 (pre-amp)
Nakamichi 670ZX (cassette deck)
Hitachi PS-38 (TT)
Carver CD/A 390t (CDP)My speakers are some old Shure 15" PA drivers in plywood cabinets with some big horns for the high end. (I have some Pinnacle CGT's but they're in my daughters room so our puppy can't get to them.)
The amp is killer. I also have a Yamaha H7000. I can't imagine ever needed it, but I'll hook it up anyway.
Even though the pre is a Carver....I like it and don't plan to change any time soon. The Nak deck is awesome. Best one I've ever owned. The TT is ok for what it is, but I want a better one. The CDP is ok, but I don't care for CDs so I don't use it much. I have all the drivers for a new home speaker project, but I've been putting it off.Overall, It's an ok system for rock. The Amp is certainly suited for it. Surprisingly, These old Shure speakers really shine best with classical music, but do well with live recordings too.
Reynaud Evolution 3 Speakers. Sony 555ES SACD player. Very musical. Not good for Linkin' Park. But great for Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, Everything But The Girl, Joe Jackson, Dan Fogelberg,
Seriously. You can see my system in the inmate's systems section, and while it's not in competition with the mega systems for mega budgets, I like it quite well.However, the Celestion speakers I use don't really seem to reproduce overdriven distorted REALLY HEAVY music that well, at least I felt that was the only type music that the Boston Accoustic that I was doing a side to side comparison with actually surpassed them.
I also have been totally underimpressed with multi-channel, and wonder if it is because of the smaller rear and center channel HT speakers, instead of matched, or because of the Pioneer 47a is sub-par. Certainly my vinyl rig outperforms even hi-rez recordings, especially since I added a Grado phono stage.
The Yamaha RX-1 has oodles of power, so no problem there.
Since my room is so live (not a good thing) I can barely even use my subwoofer without everything sounding like it is coming out of a gold Impala with 20" rims, but the wife hates carpet. I should be greatful that she allows speakers set out several feet from the wall.
All in all, I'm pretty satisfied, though I may upgrade my speakers, but more likely I'm going to have my Dynaco stuff modified and build a stand alone two channel tube system.
I, too, listen primarily to rock (with some country and blues thrown in here and there), and several of my friends have commented that my system is too "good" for the type of music I listen to. Be that as it may, I'm not gonna put together a crappy-sounding system just because the music I listen to isn't (generally) an audiophile-approved genre. Screw that. Were I you, I'd put together as good a system as your budget and priorities allow. Yes, there are a lot of bad-sounding rock recordings out there, but there are also many damn fine ones, too--and, besides, it shouldn't matter what the recording quality is; if you dig the music, you dig the music. PERIOD. (That said, I do strive to find the best recording of a particular album, but if one isn't available, no big deal--I enjoy the music and ignore the recording.)
IMO, - besides the fact that we all hear differently, and develop habits and preferences and familiarities, - (word)?, - we make assumptions about the GOALS of a good playback system....Mostly, - I think, - it involves a good or great all around system. The fact remains that very few systems are good all around and play to strengths of the designers tastes. If you dig the designer, her tunes and hear similarly, - you're more likely to buy her gear.
Krell amps, B&W speakers, and some other brands garner a lot of abuse on these forums for being "agressive" and fast and harsh. Some of these very qualities make for great rock reproduction IMO. (Nothing slams bass like Krell). Although a great slammin system made up of Krell/B&W or Krell/Dynaudio etc, may sound good for rock, - it would sound pretty bad for classical or acoustic jazz. And, - someone's hearing preferences may still lean toward the darker, and they may want to go with a "lush" or warmer sound. The term "accurate" takes on different meanings for different listeners and different types of music.
Ultimate slammin' rock N roll system??
Krell KAV300i (integrated), - or Krell CAST separates...
Wilson Sophia, or B&W N803 or 2, or Dynaudio
NAIM CDP, - CD5 with separate power supply.I do believe that it's possible to get a pretty good all around system for not too outrageous a fee, - but that's relative, - and not very easy....
Cheers,
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