[Mal Thomas]

Long story short: power amp died (probably old age) don't want to spend
good money for repairs - wanted to take opportunity to get a new one.

Anyway, decided initially to wait, save some money, then hit the internet
and local shops.

But in the mean time I needed to play music..I mean it's what we do right ?

So anyway, the wife and I lumped the Cerwin Vega's off their stands in the
lounge and moved my Fostex PM2's (active) off the iMac and placed them on
the stands. I hooked them up to the valve pre-amp and used iTunes (of all
things) via an Airport Express and an external DAC.

Well bugger me, the sound I'm listening to now is mind-blowing. The
soundstage is wide, deep, I have detail coming out of every musical orifice
so much so that my world has been turned upside down ;-) Now the Fostex
only have an 8" LF driver so I had to boost the LF a bit using the EQ on the
iMac to put some timbre and richness into the sound..but even so, Wow !

Now...this has got me thinking, rather than dump a load of cash on a new
power amp, I am wondering whether I should look for a decent pair of
floorstanding Active speakers. A quick look around Google hasn't turned up
much yet.

Is this because large floor mounted active speakers don't have a market or
am I simply not looking hard enough ??

Budget is about $3k-5K aussie dollars.

Cheers
Mal
Oz

[Eeyore]

Mal Thomas wrote:

Long story short: power amp died (probably old age) don't want to spend
good money for repairs - wanted to take opportunity to get a new one.

Anyway, decided initially to wait, save some money, then hit the internet
and local shops.

But in the mean time I needed to play music..I mean it's what we do right ?

So anyway, the wife and I lumped the Cerwin Vega's off their stands in the
lounge and moved my Fostex PM2's (active) off the iMac and placed them on
the stands. I hooked them up to the valve pre-amp and used iTunes (of all
things) via an Airport Express and an external DAC.

Well bugger me, the sound I'm listening to now is mind-blowing. The
soundstage is wide, deep, I have detail coming out of every musical orifice
so much so that my world has been turned upside down ;-) Now the Fostex
only have an 8" LF driver so I had to boost the LF a bit using the EQ on the
iMac to put some timbre and richness into the sound..but even so, Wow !

Now...this has got me thinking, rather than dump a load of cash on a new
power amp, I am wondering whether I should look for a decent pair of
floorstanding Active speakers. A quick look around Google hasn't turned up
much yet.

Is this because large floor mounted active speakers don't have a market or
am I simply not looking hard enough ??

Budget is about $3k-5K aussie dollars.

Not sure if you'll find them there but the best sounding speakers I've found in
ages are these.
http://www.pmc-speakers.com/

PMC = professional monitor company. They make home and studio models, passive
and active IIRC. They are just stunning.

Graham

[Mal Thomas]

On 3/01/09 4:51 AM, in article , "Eeyore"
wrote:



Mal Thomas wrote:

Long story short: power amp died (probably old age) don't want to spend
good money for repairs - wanted to take opportunity to get a new one.

Anyway, decided initially to wait, save some money, then hit the internet
and local shops.

But in the mean time I needed to play music..I mean it's what we do right ?

So anyway, the wife and I lumped the Cerwin Vega's off their stands in the
lounge and moved my Fostex PM2's (active) off the iMac and placed them on
the stands. I hooked them up to the valve pre-amp and used iTunes (of all
things) via an Airport Express and an external DAC.

Well bugger me, the sound I'm listening to now is mind-blowing. The
soundstage is wide, deep, I have detail coming out of every musical orifice
so much so that my world has been turned upside down ;-) Now the Fostex
only have an 8" LF driver so I had to boost the LF a bit using the EQ on the
iMac to put some timbre and richness into the sound..but even so, Wow !

Now...this has got me thinking, rather than dump a load of cash on a new
power amp, I am wondering whether I should look for a decent pair of
floorstanding Active speakers. A quick look around Google hasn't turned up
much yet.

Is this because large floor mounted active speakers don't have a market or
am I simply not looking hard enough ??

Budget is about $3k-5K aussie dollars.

Not sure if you'll find them there but the best sounding speakers I've found
in
ages are these.
http://www.pmc-speakers.com/

PMC = professional monitor company. They make home and studio models, passive
and active IIRC. They are just stunning.

Graham

Appreciate the opportunity to drool over these, Graham but with prices at
around GBP28,000 - they are slightly out of my reach !
But yeesh, yeah from what I have read, they sound good (er, well, you know
what I mean !)

I've had a bit more of a look around - nothing much has turned up down here
that I can find. Even less likely to find a local dealer who'll have
anything to audition either. So I think I'll probably stick with the more
traditional passive type. As I said in my OP, it was just an idle thought.

So....off to Google we go...


Cheers
Mal
Oz

[Eeyore]

Mal Thomas wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote:

PMC = professional monitor company. They make home and studio models, passive
and active IIRC. They are just stunning.

Appreciate the opportunity to drool over these, Graham but with prices at
around GBP28,000 - they are slightly out of my reach !
But yeesh, yeah from what I have read, they sound good (er, well, you know
what I mean !)

They make smaller ones too ! Totally affordable on your budget.

Graham

[Mal Thomas]

On 2/02/09 12:04 PM, in article , "Eeyore"
wrote:



Mal Thomas wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote:

PMC = professional monitor company. They make home and studio models,
passive
and active IIRC. They are just stunning.

Appreciate the opportunity to drool over these, Graham but with prices at
around GBP28,000 - they are slightly out of my reach !
But yeesh, yeah from what I have read, they sound good (er, well, you know
what I mean !)

They make smaller ones too ! Totally affordable on your budget.

Graham

Cheers Graham, since posting, decided to replace the Amp (Rotel RB-1070);
local dealer had some good deals going - not in the league of my dearly
departed Accuphase, but definitely not too shabby either. Looking, (as
soon as I find a local dealer for an audition) at the B&W 683's as a
possible pairing. Yeah I know the speakers should probably have come first,
but the Amp was too good an opportunity to pass.

Appreciate your time.

Cheers
Mal
Oz