As expected, the press has again focused on mega dollar gear. (The exceptions I found were an $800 Hsu satellite/sub combo, Sjöfn's $999/pair (the clue) monitors, $1700 Fritz Carbon-7 monitors, and $349 Schitt BiFrost DAC).
But I've been a bit bummed by the AC crowd also fixating on the uber priced stuff too.
So, for those of you who attended, what "reasonably" priced pieces were you impressed by. By "reasonable" I'm thinking about a piece that could fit into a $10,000 system.
I'm a huge Clue fan. Sjofn HiFi has performed an amazing feat by engineering that sound, accurate from top to bottom, out of those speakers. I heard folks in (the clue) room at RMAF stating that they sounded better than the Magico Q1s ($25k!!!). I also heard the Q1s and was of that same opinion. The set up in Sjofn's room was definitely under $10k. That Hegel amp was about $4.5k I believe (not cheap, but amazing performance at that price point), the Hegel DAC was about $2k and they were just using an old Xindak CD player as the source. Cabling was Supra which has giant beater abilities at really reasonable prices.
JLM,
What are you looking for exactly?
Is it a whole setup or just 1 or 2 pieces?
I must agree that Sjofn has hit the nail squarely on the head.
When they first showed in NY several years ago I was taken back as to the sound being produced with inexpensive Xindak gear.
It sounded so good we enticed the editorial staff of Sterophile in for a private listen. They loved the sound and a review followed.
What really got to them was the bass performance from such a small speaker.
I have no doubt that some preferred the Sjofn to the Magicos. The best set up so far for the Magico for me is with VAC gear and Reel to reel source. Amazing.
charles
SMA
Quote from: JLM on October 21, 2011, 10:03:04 AM
By "reasonable" I'm thinking about a piece that could fit into a $10,000 system.
That statement is scarey in and of itself. Back when I first started in this hobby $10k could have bought you not one but two brand new Corvettes. :roll: (Of course gas was 45 cents a gallon as well)
I could of defined "reasonable" as a $2,000 USD system, but that would have blown most away.
I'm not looking for anything in particular, just bemoaning how expensive of tastes so many "respected" audiophiles have.
I have under $5,000 USD into my main rig (CD only) and would never (even if I won the lottery) seriously consider spending much more.
I think the definition of a modern "affordable" high end system these days would be an I-pod into a decent DAC that contains pre-amplification functionality, into an amp powering reasonable decent bookshelf speakers. Add a sub if you listen to rock and you're there.
Or you could even get an integrated amp if the DAC doesn't have a volume control for some simplification, or better yet self-powered speakers if the DAC does.
You could definitely make-up some version of this for about $2000.
I'm with you there Bob, lots of affordable options available.
Currently I'm thinking of a HK3490 (a really nice 120 wpc receiver with DAC and iPod option), an Oppo 93 (universal player, even does 3D), and a pair of Sjofn cube speakers (28-30k standmounts, see above). This system comes in under $2k.
Just hope those deep pocket audiophiles can find satisfaction in a playback system south of $50k.
I'm going to be putting in a system for my wife in the kitchen (yes - still haven't gotten that done.....) SB Touch, HT Musicstreamer, AudioEngine A5+
< $1k since I already have the back end server for my other devices.
Bryan
all kinds of options that don't completely blow the budget.... I like some of the suggestions above, especially the new AudioEngine speakers that were shown at RMAF. One that I just put together for a friend:
www.newegg.com was blowing out some of the Martin Logan Motion series of speakers last week. They had the Motion 12 floorstanders for ~$550 per pair delivered. I got her an Onkyo receiver to power them, some decent entry level cables, and they are over the moon with the look, fit, finish, and sound quality. Honestly, I was surprised how good they sounded for the money. A steal at the newegg discounted price... not an overpowering visual for those significant others that are concerned about big boxes... but they dig deeper than I thought they would for diminutive floorstanders... newegg also was blowing out Pioneer receivers for a great price last weekend as well... get on their mailing list... the Pioneer would be a bit warmer sounding than the Onkyo for those concerned with that... I bet matching up a nice integrated amp with these would make a great budget system for a little over $1000.00... they were excited about all the music sharing capabilities and pandora and other features built into the Onkyo, even if the quality wasn't the same as feeding it digital from a spinning disk player....
I'm actually astounded at the relative quality of the playback of some of the I-pod docs w/ speakers available these days. They play loud without distortion and they sound like music filling the room. No, they don't soundstage, but they do fill the room nicely and that's perfect for a kitchen, or a dorm room, or for background music at a dinner party.
Quote from: JLM on October 25, 2011, 08:48:43 AM
I'm with you there Bob, lots of affordable options available.
Currently I'm thinking of a HK3490 (a really nice 120 wpc receiver with DAC and iPod option), an Oppo 93 (universal player, even does 3D), and a pair of Sjofn cube speakers (28-30k standmounts, see above). This system comes in under $2k.
Just hope those deep pocket audiophiles can find satisfaction in a playback system south of $50k.
Why certainly we can. Truly it is quite simple. All one needs is the ability to know tone, harmonic structure and proper timbre of real music.
Several years ago at the NY sterophile show I was walking past a demo of Marantz receiver and CDP playing through Monitor Audio speakers. The sound was spot on. Everything an audiophile would like.
What I'm saying is it does not take oodles of money just the ability to assemble a system that pleases you. Having more money to through into the game is not always the answer.
We have heard systems costing crazy money and they plain sucked. We have heard inexpensive systems that sound great. There is a happy medium.
Well thank goodness we have companies like Nightshade Audio, Soundfield, Eastern Electric, GR research, Vista, NAD, Triode Wire Labs, Rotel, Marantz and last but not least er Klauss of Odyssey and many more.
Now saying all that the source as well as the speaker should be the best you can afford. For me it would be speaker first. Then I would listen to every Receiver or intergrated I could audition in my home. The only dilemma here is access to the gear.
My rule of thumb is this. If the new piece sounds better to me and is within my budget than the previous one that is enough for me to decide.
Exposure and know how is the key. Not money.
charles
SMA
Here's another RMAF report:
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/
Scroll down the right side (another report of Sjofn cubes and, for me at least, a first time report of a real upscale Peachtree all-in-one).
Quote from: JLM on October 25, 2011, 08:48:43 AM
I'm with you there Bob, lots of affordable options available.
Currently I'm thinking of a HK3490 (a really nice 120 wpc receiver with DAC and iPod option), an Oppo 93 (universal player, even does 3D), and a pair of Sjofn cube speakers (28-30k standmounts, see above). This system comes in under $2k.
Just hope those deep pocket audiophiles can find satisfaction in a playback system south of $50k.
no doubt that system is gonna sound just as nice if not better than many $50k systems.
Quote from: JLM on October 26, 2011, 05:02:20 PM
Here's another RMAF report:
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/
Scroll down the right side (another report of Sjofn cubes and, for me at least, a first time report of a real upscale Peachtree all-in-one).
Yah, that's a great review/endorsement for Sjofn's (the clue). those little speakers (without even a manufacturer's badging!) will go far. The sleeper set of monitors for the next decade and beyond.