OT - Stereo speaker recs, and connection question...

[VT Skier]

I agree with Elac, but if you want new for $1,000 or less, I'd highly recommend Revel M16 monitors. Best stand-mount I have ever heard for anywhere near that price.

If you don't mind used, and I'd highly recommend that given the depreciation curve for audio gear, there's a pair of Revel Concerta2 F36 (floor standers) for $1,000 on Canuck Audio Mart. Excellent, especially at that price.

And many other good speakers (Audio Physic, PSB, etc.) available near your price or less.

[IJWS]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Two recommendations for the Maggie LRS. Interesting.

Love the Maggies, but...they require attention to set up and create a fairly narrow listening window. If the OP is only going to use this setup on his trainer, his listening window is about as narrow as it gets

They also require decent electronics - specifically an amp with some headroom (extra power.)

They don't have a lot of base, relative to larger bookshelf or tower box speakers, and without a subwoofer, may not be the best choice for rocking out on a trainer...

This. I was also surprised to see recommendations for magnepan lrs’s since they are really upfront about needing a nice amplifier. They are also super finicky and not a great idea in general for background/stoke music for a man cave.

Someone just recommended revel m16’s. I want those speakers. Very good rec.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by IJWS

This. I was also surprised to see recommendations for magnepan lrs’s since they are really upfront about needing a nice amplifier. They are also super finicky and not a great idea in general for background/stoke music for a man cave.

Someone just recommended revel m16’s. I want those speakers. Very good rec.

I have a pair of old ADS L520s on the floor in my pain cave, attached to a Sony 5.1 receiver, a Tivo Mini and a 32" Sony XBR. With Plex on the Mini (and on my NAS), I can play any number of saved videos or movies, including old TDF broadcasts and some Sufferfest videos. For the trainer or treadmill, I can also connect a laptop to the Sony, and have a Garmin USB receiver that pulls the cadence/speed or footpod signals.

Not a high fidelity environment.

The floorstanding fan tends to cut off some of the high end...

[ORMojo]

I was really into Dahlquist in the late 70s/80s. Had DQ-10s & 12s, and M905s & 907s. The 905s, on their original stands, look and sound as good today as the day I bought them, and still serve as my exercise room speakers.

[Bob Ross]

44 years as a professional audio engineer here, and y'know what I'm gonna say about speakers?

Pick the ones you like. Done.


However, since no one else addressed your second question(s) I'll give 'em a shot:

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Right now the Xbox is connected direct to TV via HDMI. And I have another HDMI cable that goes from the TV to the Sony receiver. Is there a better way to have this hooked up for better sound?

There is a remotely plausible argument to be made that it would be marginally better if you took HDMI out of the xbox into the Sony receiver first and then from the Sony's HDMI out to the TV ...however, then the corollary from video-world rears it's ugly head: Is there a better way to have this hooked up for better picture? See above re: 44 years as a professional audio engineer, so I know what my answer is ...but I'm also nearly blind, so take that with a grain of salt. Do know that if your current setup works you're already winning the battle, because HDMI is finnicky, especially at these price points; swapping the receiver and the display around may result in handshake or sync issues.

tl;dr - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The sonic difference will not be astronomical. [edit: or, quite probably, noticeable.]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Does it matter which device I'm running youtube off of, for example, would the sound quality be better running youtube off an apple tv or roku, as opposed to our xbox?

Six of one... If you want to make an overt difference look into an outboard D/A converter, and/or a hi-rez endpoint like Roon or Tidal. Otherwise, you're splitting hairs: Until the speakers -- and amplifiers, and codecs, and converters, and cables, and AC power supply, blah-blah-blah... -- are an order of magnitude better than the pricepoints being described in this thread so far, changing the source will not have a consistently reliably demonstrably noticeable impact* on the sound

*and that's just impact; I haven't even mentioned whether that impact will be an improvement or not.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Everybody needs a subwoofer.

Unless you have a pair of JBLs with 15” woofers and 175wpc then you don’t, in my experience, but short of that I’d suggest a subwoofer as well.

[oldguy00]

Thanks for all the replies, lots to think about!

Regarding the recs for Canuck audio mart, I'm not sure how much trouble it is for shipping from all these sellers. I'm in NS, most of the sellers are in Quebec or further west...
Plus, I'm always a bit nerous about buying used stuff in general (including bike gear...)..

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by pjm

For pop, rock and metal music, I would check it Emotiva.

Those look pretty cool, but even with their sale price, after I pay exchange and import tax, I think for that money I'd probably go with the klipsch rp-8000f (or rp-6000f).

[kingpin75s]

Originally Posted by VT Skier

I agree with Elac, but if you want new for $1,000 or less, I'd highly recommend Revel M16 monitors. Best stand-mount I have ever heard for anywhere near that price.

If you don't mind used, and I'd highly recommend that given the depreciation curve for audio gear, there's a pair of Revel Concerta2 F36 (floor standers) for $1,000 on Canuck Audio Mart. Excellent, especially at that price.

And many other good speakers (Audio Physic, PSB, etc.) available near your price or less.

I can support the above statements with experience having listening time on most Revel models across most generations. For used, the Revel tower F35 (my current backup system speakers) and the F36 (My previous primary speakers) are both fantastic and IMHO some of the best performing speakers for the $. You would need a large step change in your system as a whole to EVER outgrow the performance of these speakers.

The M16 monitors are really nice as well if you have a small enough space that you will not miss a tower.

If you really want to fill out your sound, a sub is really nice, 2 is better. Keep the crossover very low and the gain down to integrate it in a supporting role so you do not overload your base.

Keep your speakers away from the wall. 3' is better than 1' generally but all has to work in your space.

[IJWS]

Update: this thread pushed me over the line. I ordered some revel m16 monitors from audiogon. Pretty excited!