Show your home stereo setup -- the LOUDER the better

Love the VEGAS!!

 

Me too man, me too.

These guys are right that quality is most important, but I've got a giant soft spot for ridiculous shit like my RE-38.

 

I'll chime in. This is my setup upstairs. Downstairs is an HK3490 receiver and JBL S38's. I know I'm dating myself as most of this is going on 20 years old but still rocks.
- Technics SA-DX1050 Receiver
- Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB Turntable
- Numark IDJ Pro Mixer
- Harman Kardon CDR 20 CD Player/Burner
- JBL 10" sub
- Energy Connoisseur C7 Tower Speakers
- Energy Connoisseur C-C1 Center Channel
- Energy Connoisseur C3 Book shelfs (behind photo - not shown)

 

Age doesn’t detract from a system if it’s maintained just like anythin’ else. Before this plague stuff happened, I heard a Western Electric setup. Must have been early ‘50’s??? Not sure but WOW.

 

My old neighbor had an amazing setup.

Can't remember everything he had, but there were two basically ancient McIntosh mono amps, one for each side and the sound they pumped out blew my mind.

Of course a good setup doesn't necessarily even have to be high dollar.

Most of my stuff is 20+ years old, which just means I was able to snag it on the cheap, but it was definitely very solid in it's heyday.

Sure some of it might need a bit of TLC after purchase before it's ready to puncture ear drums, but that's part of the fun.

 

I posted about these earlier in this thread. VMPS Tower II's. They were tucked into a corner at my last place being ignored. I got them set up at my new place. I have had a few opportunities to crank them up, and it's just awesome how clean and powerful they are. I haven't gotten started on fixing them up yet, but they still sound good.

 

The NAD 1700 I've been using as a preamp for the last few years has had a couple issues that have bothered me for a while:

• The L/R balance knob has never worked properly; It will only fade full-left, fading full-right does not work. This is likely an issue with the potentiometer, but no repair shop is willing to take a crack at a fix, and it's a relatively minor issue -- replacing the entire unit is likely more cost effective.
• After replacing the CV LS-12s with a set of CV RE-38, it became clear bass was lacking on the right side compared to the left. I've tested the speaker resistances with an ohmmeter and everything seems in order, the power amp seems fine and based on the L/R balance issue I'm willing to blame the NAD 1700 for this issue also.

This past weekend I swapped out the NAD 1700 for the Adcom GTP-500 from my secondary stereo setup and this seems to have resolved the bass issue as far as my untrained, tinnitus riddled ears can tell.

After looking up the specs, the NAD 216 currently powering the RE-38s seems decently suited:

NAD-216 specs:

• Continuous power output:
  • 125 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)
  • 400 watts into 8Ω (mono)
• Dynamic power output:
  • 170 watts per channel into 8Ω
  • 280 watts per channel into 4Ω
  • 400 watts per channel into 2Ω
• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz
• Total harmonic distortion: 0.03%
• Damping factor: 200
• Input sensitivity: 1.1V
• Signal to noise ratio: 117dB
• Speaker load impedance: 4Ω (minimum)

Cerwin Vega RE-38 specs:

• Power Handling (RMS): 5 to 400 Watts RMS
• Frequency Response: 27Hz-20kHz
• Sensitivity (dB): 102 dB dB
• Impedance (Ohms): 4Ω

With that said, the NAD 216 gets these speakers thumping and I've got no complaints; buuuuut I'd like them to get thumping-er if possible. After some combing over CraigsList ads, I came across someone selling a set of Adcom GFA-565 mono block amps that might fit the bill.

Adcom GFA-565 specs:

• Rated power output:
  • 300W into 8Ω (24.8dBW)
  • 450W into 4Ω (23.5dBW)
  • 850W into 2Ω (23.3dBW)
  • All 20Hz–20kHz at 0.02% THD
• Frequency response: unspecified
• Input impedance: 50kΩ
• Input sensitivity: 2.15V for rated output
• Signal to noise ratio (A-weighted, full output): greater than 106dB
• Damping factor: >1000, 8Ω, 20Hz–20kHz
• Dynamic headroom (at 4 ohms): 1.6dB

At the RE-38s rated 4Ω these mono amps would provide 50 watts more than necessary per-speaker and deafen anyone within two city blocks at "full" power.

The seller is asking $1,100 for the pair. Does anyone have thoughts on whether this is a fair asking price?

 

This is a great site to grab components
https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/