Posted on 07/17/2012 6:44:42 AM PDT by beenaround
I would like some input on which in wall speakers to choose to replace the Polk ATi-A9 tower spkrs I have. I love the speakers but want to free up some space without sacrificing the sound quality I have
Price is not an issue. My listening preferences are mid 40's to mid 60;s and some 70's stuff all played at moderate to low level. I have a Parasound 2100 pre amp powered with Parasound 2250 2 channel amp (250 WPC). I also have a Cambridge DAC (DacMagic)
All my music is in WMA and MP3 (minimum 250 bps) form and stored on a hard drive as well as on thumb drives.
Any advice any of you can give me will be greatly appreciated as I have had no personal experience within wall speakers.
speakers are your most important component, so I disagree with someone above who stated don’t spend a lot of money. If you are going to spend anything over $500 for speakers, then they are most important.. they are the final delivery component of sound.
Klipsch are pretty awesome. And, yes, free-standing speakers, unless you want to hear what your wall sounds like. Unless specially-designed, not very good.
the only way to buy speakers is to go down to the stereo joint and listen to them personally. no second person or critic can make that decision for you. and to sign up on a political forum to ask technophile questions doesnt seem to make any sense to me.
Once you get over 250K, MP3 is fine for anything other than critical listening.
If I’m gonna sit down and LISTEN to the music while enjoying a cigar and a single malt, it means vinyl or open reel. Everything else is digital.
And MP# doesn’t compress the sound. Rather, it removes information. If the sound is compressed it is because the signal being converted to MP3 was compressed.
MP3 compresses file size, not sound. It can sound bad if you use a low enough bit rate because so much of the audible data is removed, but if the op is going 250 or higher, it will be more than fine for all but the most quiet and focused listening sessions. And for many it would be fine even for that.
My rock bottom is a low 160, but that is because that stuff is played in the car, if you get my drift. Also, once you drop below 160 you start losing audible bass frequencies. They are simply not there. As a bass player myself, that is a problem. :-)
—For the past 30+ years I’ve owned only Polks . Great company !—
FWIW, I agree. They are the best “bang for the buck” for me. I confess I am partial to cloth dome tweeters too. My first good speakers were ADS L810’s. They even had a dome midrange.
Polk is my “buy and forget” brand. If you spend a LOT of time shopping around and listening, you may find something better, but life is short. :-)
I recently recorded some music with producer David Hentschel (Genesis, Elton John, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, etc) Hentschel did the final mixdown on Genelec table top speakers. The main studio used them exclusively as well (top of the line, Los Angeles studio)
they are around 1,600 for a pair and very compact.. I think you would still need a subwoofer and center speaker of course if you are running this with a home theater system along with your television in 5.1 surround sound.
—we audiofiles like our vinyl. I have of course the standard dedicated drive for my FLAX and MP3 files, but you can’t beat LPs for analog heaven.—
Playing a record is not just listening to music. It is an experience. :-)
BTW, I just discovered that if you search vinyl along with record, etc. you can find a ton of mini “documentaries” on vinyl and record stores on Youtube.
You are correct about the MP3 method of reducing file size. It is unlistenable to me. Perhaps, I should say though, that if I had never listened to anything but MP3 it might be OK. But that’s not the case and I can’t dumb down my ears to that format.
BTW, FWIW, if you can get away with it, I’d go with in-wall speakers with at least an 8” woofer and a floor standing subwoofer, though you may be able to do some sort of infinite baffle wall sub.
Looking for a replacement set was a six month odyssey with extended listening time in many stereo store 'listening rooms'. I was in the same situation as the OP, where cost was a secondary consideration. In the end, Bose came out on top for the music I listen to. My favorites closely mimicked the choices of the OP so I thought it was worth a mention.
Your mileage may vary.
The first MP3 I ever heard was at 96K. I could not believe how good it sounded. “Just like a CD”. But then, I am from the days of analog and bad sound meant things like wow and flutter, limited frequency response and tape hiss. None of that was here.
Then I noticed that cymbal crashes had a sort of “swishy” or “aquatic” sound to them. I eventually found out that it was the low bit rate causing it. I did a lot of reading and comparison and, for me (with 58 year old ears), the “I can’t tell the difference” line is a bit rate of 360k. At that point it is “literally” identical to the original source, as far as my human ears can tell.
I use MP3 as my main format in my Zoom H4n to record live acoustic music (lately this means bluegrass). When played back on my home stereo, if you close your eyes you would think the guys are in the room.
agreed.. and there has been a lot of advances in needle cartridges in the past 15 years. Grado makes an amazing cartridge for around $200 ... Used turntables are cheap and affordable..
but then I guess we are using up more “space” of the original poster’s living area...
as for me, it’s a worthwhile tradeoff.. but I still listen to classical and jazz in the dark, so what the heck do I know.
used LP stores are still out there, at least in the major cities. You can buy classical music for 2 bucks an LP and they are normally in great shape due to the previous owner.
Paradigm offers a pretty extensive line of in-wall / in-ceiling products now; far more than a few years ago. Well worth a look.
“the only way to buy speakers is to go down to the stereo joint and listen to them personally. “
This + 1!!!
I should have added that.
Best speakers you will ever hear, and see.
If it's expensive, it must sound good.
If it sounds good, it must be expensive.
Repeat until broke.
Welcome to FR. If you want opinions, we got ‘em. We are an eclectic bunch with a wide range of knowledge and an even wider range of opinions. Find out want you wanted to know and stick around for the rest. We are nothing if not interesting!
That said, you may have some difficulty finding IN WALL speakers to match the dynamics of your Polks. I know that Polk Audio does make some in wall speakers, but they are small and designed for surround sound. The speakers you have have about the smallest footprint you can find in a quailty speaker. If you just want change for change sake, try a pair of vintage Kindel Purist - if you can find them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.