• Home
  • Recent
  • Calendar
  • Register
  • Login
  • Home
  • Recent
  • Calendar
  • Register
  • Login
Iron Heart Forum
Iron Heart Forum

Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

Stereo - what's your rig?

General Chat
31
95
21.8k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • G
    gbougard
    Raw and Unwashed
    Joined: 20 Apr 2010

    After years of living an MP3 life, I've decided to get serious again with my records, CD's and so forth. I stumbled upon a wicked McIntosh 250 power amp

    and I'm looking for a nice (hopefully tube) pre-amp to go with it. I'll soon get a new cartridge and stylus for my good old Technics turntable and I'm in the process of getting a pair of JBL L80 speakers.

    So I'm curious to hear from you all what you use to play those records and cd's and audio files. I'm tempted by a wireless network device to stream from my computer (I'm also in the process of re-ripping my cd's to lossless, rather than MP3 format) to this system, but I have no idea what to get.

    Sly Dunbar bigs up IH on YT
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t2OM738mKY
    Sly & Robbie A Run Tings
    Gregory Isaacs Liveth 4 I-ver

    Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?
    Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
    Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.
    Ric

    last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 09:30 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • M
      mclaincausey
      見習いボス
      Joined: 12 Apr 2013

      I have a Mac mini with an hdmi cable to my receiver, which is high as you can go in the pioneer line until you hit Elite. Old Paradigm mains and JBL for center and rear. Sony sub. Vizio TV and Apple Bluetooth keyboard and Magic Trackpad. Harmony One remote, PS3, Con-crap Cable HD DVR. I think that's it.

      Nothing fancy and not a tube in sight, good enough for now though.

      Think it, be it.

      last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 13:06 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • B
        bertoni
        Joined: 17 Oct 2010

        I'd go tubes and vinyl if I had the cash. I stupidly chose the cd route all those years ago. Big regret. I get decent enough sound out of my Sonneteer Byron Cd player, Sonneteer Alabaster solid state amp, Penaudio Rebel2 + Chara speakers and all Gutwire Chime cable (slight cable overkill) though.

        last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 19:30 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • B
          bertoni
          Joined: 17 Oct 2010

          These are the speakers. Sweet sound.

          last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 19:35 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S
            shoque
            Joined: 28 Sept 2009

            Damn those look nice, are they really that high??

            last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 19:37 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • B
              bertoni
              Joined: 17 Oct 2010

              CD player and Amp (the one shown is the baby brother the Campion…they look exactly the same though, just get more output with the Alabaster) They're a british designed and made set. Sturdy build quality and very good sound for the price. It's a nice set-up...but as with tattoos, clothes, Mountain bikes etc etc....always want that lil bit more:)

              last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 19:38 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • B
                bertoni
                Joined: 17 Oct 2010

                @shoque:

                Damn those look nice, are they really that high??

                They're actually quite small. The little monitors sit on top of the bass unit. Tight and warm sound though. They deserve better than my cd player and amp to be honest.

                last edited by 23 Sept 2013, 19:39 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  Snowy
                  Joined: 15 Jun 2012

                  I have a nice Onkyo receiver + Bose speakers, that I picked up around 15 years ago now. I mostly stream internet radio @ 192Kbps via Sonos which works really nicely/practically. I start playing music before I get out of bed via my iPhone with no fear of passive speakers being on all night.

                  last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 10:35 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • J
                    joesaintjohn
                    啓蒙家
                    Joined: 9 Aug 2012

                    Totally a sonos family. Playbar and Sub in the Library, two Play 5s in our bedroom, two Play 3s in the den, and about to go for a Sonos Amp and switch for my pre-wired house speakers. Love the system.

                    Fat dudes need good clothes too.

                    last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 12:16 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • G
                      Giles
                      IHUK Crew
                      Joined: 22 Sept 2009

                      100% with you.  Sonos coupled with Spotify changed the way we consume music.

                      We have a Sonos Play 5 in the office.  At home we have the same but also a Bridge.

                      Nearly everyone who has played with our Sonos goes straight onto the Net and buys one, it's that good…..

                      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                      last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 12:25 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • J
                        joesaintjohn
                        啓蒙家
                        Joined: 9 Aug 2012

                        Yeah, we've been using Rdio for a year or so. Pretty sure it's similar to Spotify. That coupled with Sonos is such a great setup. Plus, the "add to queue" feature is super awesome. When we have people over, we get them all the app and connect it, so it becomes an awesome crowd sourced jukebox.

                        Fat dudes need good clothes too.

                        last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 12:29 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • G
                          Giles
                          IHUK Crew
                          Joined: 22 Sept 2009

                          Exactly the same here.  We had sir Robin Knox-Johston lying on the sofa fending off all-comers one night because he loved it so much…..

                          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                          last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 12:34 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • M
                            mclaincausey
                            見習いボス
                            Joined: 12 Apr 2013

                            Yeah in addition to the gigabytes and gigabytes and gigabytes of music that I have on my NAS (mainly live bootlegs), I do a lot of Spotify from the mini on the TV/entertainment system. I wish that Spotify had a visualizer like iTunes does, it would be really nice to have something cool on the TV during the music.  I've been known to put iTunes on and play stuff on it with the volume turned all the way down just for the visualizer while Spotify's playing, but that doesn't coordinate with the music.

                            Can't recommend a Mac mini HTPC enough. It's easy for anyone to use, powerful, flexible, and I don't have to worry about the ridiculous restrictions that services like Hulu plus place on devices (what business is it of theirs what kind of a computer I'm connecting from, I don't understand why some content's not available for example on an iPad versus a regular computer. Idiotic).

                            Think it, be it.

                            last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 12:48 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • J
                              JCar2666
                              Joined: 8 Apr 2012

                              SONOS is the shit.  I have two play3's, Playbar, SUB and two new products I'm testing for them.  Music quality is fantastic.  TV quality isn't so great yet but they're constantly updating the equalizer to help fix that.

                              last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 13:15 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Z
                                zwer
                                Raw and Unwashed
                                Joined: 11 Apr 2012

                                Googled Sonos. Need Sonos.

                                last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 13:46 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • J
                                  JCar2666
                                  Joined: 8 Apr 2012

                                  ^Now buy SONOS.  Certainly not cheap but worth it

                                  last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 13:48 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • Z
                                    zwer
                                    Raw and Unwashed
                                    Joined: 11 Apr 2012

                                    I would love to, but right now my most pressing need is a new computer, followed by a new kitchen, followed by a new IH/TW summer 2014 shirt, followed by a pair of Samurai 710s for my birthday in 2014…

                                    last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 13:52 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • GraemeG
                                      Graeme
                                      啓蒙家
                                      Joined: 30 Mar 2012

                                      In an ideal world I'd love a pair of stacked Quad ESL 57s…

                                      Unfortunately I don't have the space to fit them in.

                                      What I'm planning on getting is a Sonos sound bar set-up when I get sorted into a new place. That will hopefully play nicely with my TV, and give me something that does music and movies pretty well. Then I'll just have to rip my CDs into a nice, lossless format and put them all on a server.

                                      last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 22:09 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • JestreJ
                                        Jestre
                                        Joined: 19 Mar 2010

                                        Here's my gear, terrific stuff for the money I had at the time.

                                        Outlaw Audio 990

                                        Outlaw Audio 7075

                                        Onix Rocket RS450

                                        I have some older Paradigm surrounds & center in the attic due to getting ready to move.

                                        last edited by 24 Sept 2013, 22:44 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • S
                                          stew1234
                                          Joined: 26 Sept 2013

                                          Just got a used set of Mackie HR 824 monitors. They're old but for about $400 used they're great.

                                          last edited by 26 Sept 2013, 15:07 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          1 out of 95
                                          • First post
                                            1/95
                                            Last post
                                          Copyright Iron Heart 2022.