letsplayer Posted July 1, 2024 Posted July 1, 2024 Hi I visited relatives in the UK and found out that they had recently installed a HiFi setup. They have an Onkyo TX-NR636 amplifier and Dali Zensor 5 speakers. The amplifier is Japanese and I can buy it in Australia when I get home, but I can’t buy these speakers because they are made in Denmark. Therefore, could you advise what speakers I should buy for such an amplifier? Or perhaps it is already outdated and there is no point in taking it and there are more interesting options. The budget I set for the purchase is 1500 USD. The room area where the installation will be located is not big - 25 sqm. I also found this amplifier and speakers on ebay - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/296344751746 and https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/364108251662
Beyond Salvation Posted September 11, 2024 Posted September 11, 2024 Hi Tim All I can suggest is "patience is a virtue". Take your time & keep looking regularly at Stereonet classifieds, Gumtree or ebay. I've found there are lots of folks with more money than I, that upgrade their gear & you can benefit from that. I now have a system built up over years that I'm extremely happy with - if i'd paid rrp for it all it would amount to around 15K but my outlay has only been around 6K Research each piece that you buy & haggle within reason (you've gotta haggle!) Listen to as many systems & components as you can to build your knowledge. 1
Cloth Ears Posted September 12, 2024 Posted September 12, 2024 On 01/07/2024 at 11:35 PM, letsplayer said: Hi I visited relatives in the UK and found out that they had recently installed a HiFi setup. They have an Onkyo TX-NR636 amplifier and Dali Zensor 5 speakers. The amplifier is Japanese and I can buy it in Australia when I get home, but I can’t buy these speakers because they are made in Denmark. Therefore, could you advise what speakers I should buy for such an amplifier? Or perhaps it is already outdated and there is no point in taking it and there are more interesting options. The budget I set for the purchase is 1500 USD. The room area where the installation will be located is not big - 25 sqm. I also found this amplifier and speakers on ebay - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/296344751746 and https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/364108251662 There are Zensor 7's on Gumtree, but none near Canberra. And unless you have a friend in Melbourne CBD...or Queensland, I wouldn't recommend buying sight unseen. Other options for the same voicing would be to see if any Zensor 1's or 3's are available for a reasonable price and use the rest to get a suitable subwoofer. Or you could try taking your amp along to Integreat Electronics at 84 Barrier Street Fyshwick, ACT, 2609 and trying out the Dali Oberon 5 (I have no idea about the shop or the Oberon's, but it's local and worth a try).
James Horsburgh Posted September 28, 2024 Posted September 28, 2024 On 11/09/2024 at 9:55 PM, Beyond Salvation said: Hi Tim All I can suggest is "patience is a virtue". Take your time & keep looking regularly at Stereonet classifieds, Gumtree or ebay. I've found there are lots of folks with more money than I, that upgrade their gear & you can benefit from that. I now have a system built up over years that I'm extremely happy with - if i'd paid rrp for it all it would amount to around 15K but my outlay has only been around 6K Research each piece that you buy & haggle within reason (you've gotta haggle!) Listen to as many systems & components as you can to build your knowledge. Excellent advice. Onkyo do have some great legacy gear. They have gone bust however. They made tons of AV gear in a very competitive market. So theres no ONKYO snob value. I run a couple of M5000R's and frankly .....they impress me. I luv my Jap stuff and the best of it is probably Luxman or Acuphase but thats getting into hi end gear. Intergrated AMPs are fine and they often go dirt cheap. Yamaha make some really good integrated gear (just saying). A good AV AMP like your ONKYO is a bang for buck bargain and if you got it for free that's awesome. 1
ganache Posted October 8, 2024 Posted October 8, 2024 If possible I'd try to listen to a selection of speakers at a local HiFi seller. It would give you an idea of what sound is available and may expose you to products you really like. I think you should also know that often speakers sound different than what you expect when they are in your actual listening area. That is one benefit of working with a local dealer. Good luck in your hunt
almikel Posted October 10, 2024 Posted October 10, 2024 If you want to "jump the shark" for cost vs performance for speakers, take a look at any of the DIY Econowave designs - a horn loaded tweeter with directivity matching the midwoofer it crosses to. IMVHO the best "bang for buck" speaker design around - blowing away every box speaker with flush mounted drivers. There's good science behind this approach for speakers - you want the "off axis" response to closely match the "on-axis" response - so the sidewall reflections (from the off-axis response) are similar to the direct sound (Toole/Olive etc). Typical box speakers with a flush baffle mounted tweeter and woofer don't achieve this! Their off-axis response does not match their on-axis response. If looking for your first set of HiFi speakers (ie high fidelity) - look for a speaker that manages/matches directivity between the tweeter and the mid woofer, typically by having the tweeter mounted in a horn/waveguide. Revel/JBL do this often in their speakers, locally Paul Spencer at Redspade does this with his AV8 speakers ( http://www.redspade.com.au/audio/AV8.php), and his PSE144's (http://www.redspade.com.au/audio/PSE-144.php), which is what I run in my system. The Econowave approach has an awesome reputation on the interweb for great sound at low cost based on good science. cheers, Mike
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