My first stereo system ever!

[fazek]

Hello there everybody!

I'm a student living in Denmark - and I have just bought my first serious audio setup, second hand. Well - I'm not quite sure how serious it would be considered by others, but I for one, was surely blown away by it. I have never heard sound and music in a fashion that I do now, never before did I have the pleasure of listening to music in a such a way, not in my home. It was a cathartic experience - much like the one I had when I went to my first opera (Turandot, by Puccini).

Anyway, HiFi is a completely new world to me. Stumbling across web pages and instruction manuals lost, unknowing and unwise, I ended up in this corner of the interwebs.

What I know, is that I love music. What I know, is that I am interested in pretty much everything in this universe and that I want to know more about HiFi. So where do I start? Where do I learn the basics of how things (speakers, amplifiers, etc.) work? How do I get into this and gather knowledge - are there any good books or websites around?

Second, what do you think of my system? Please don't be too harsh, it's the best thing I have ever had, and it gave many beautiful moments of chill-inducing music.

The setup that I have is follows: a laptop (Realtek HD Audio, couldn't see anything more precise), connected to the receiver, which would be a Sony STR-D665. It's a pretty old receiver, but it seems to work perfectly, even made an FM radio antenna out of a coax cable lying around And then I have my speakers, two floorstanders: LTC SP-800 It's setup in a big room that was supposed to be a living room originally, so the room is quite big.

I'm thinking of getting an external USB sound card for my laptop and I'm not too sure where I could be getting quality digital music from for my laptop, most of my music is in MP3-s, sometimes not in a good quality. I have no money to be spent on music though, a student's budget is a tight budget.

So please feel free to share comments and opinions about this setup - how I could improve it, how in general you would rate it among other setups and systems. And please, do tell me where to look for more information - I would like to learn about HiFi and speakers and this part of electronics. Thank you!

 

[Audio_Freek]

Fazek,

Welcome to forum and HI-fi world. The best system is something which make you feel happy and re-joy. Though people have debate on Highend models give the best out of the source the majority music lovers are happy with what they have and upgrading the stuff when the EXPECTATION on music quality increases.

In my case first, I was happy with some set-up which doenst have hum while player,later i felt the Tone needs to be natural then gone for upgrade, later the Bass was the part i hopped for perfection,so on at last looking for a set-up which give the bet sound stage and makes be float in air.

In my musical journey i reached the spot of "How a music should sound will all rich waves"

Coming to your set-up Connecting the Laptop to the Amplifier is a generic set-up made by most music loves nowadays. I shall share few of my suggestions to improve the sound quality.

1. Source- An MP3 would be good for entry level listening, but when you say "I love Music" then improve the source or upgrade the source to "Original CD/DVD" in case those are not reachable at your budget, Just Update all your MP3 to FLAC formats\Loss less format which give the best.The FLAC can be downloaded form free website\torrents in case your budget doesn't allow for legal downloads.

2.Converts- When you use Laptop with amp, you need a Bridge called DAC(Digital to analog converter), which converts the Sound from the laptop to amp flawlessly .DAC can be purchased in used \new and the entry level DAC would be enough as far now.

3.Amplifiers-Amplifiers are the hero in Music reproduction quality and these needs to be selected by two stages 1.Read reviews form online, friends or forum and finalize few models and brands.2. Audition the same and choose which is best for your ears.
Lot of people would prefer upwards sounding(Bright) and some on neutral and warm accordingly.

4. Speakers- Speakers are the Heroin's which need to be paired perfectly or almost perfectly to support amp.As you are in Denmark some wonderful brands should be available for throwaway price, its really worth even to go with Pre-owned stuffs.

coming to the stuffs you own namely Sony STR-D665, this is a AVR and not the Stereo amp hence you cannot expect the music quality with an AVR compared to same level Stereo Amp. But for time being use the AVR and save some money to upgrade to nice Stereo amp form Marantz,DENON,Yamaha,NAD,rotel,CA etc of which the entry level stereo amp's are with reasonable and low cost.

Speakers:LTC SP-800

I dont have any experience with these speakers, But specification seems to be fine for an entry level Set-up. 4way-89db sensitivity should be quite ok to be paired with Sony amp.But even then, its better to look for a good Bookshelf speaker for Music instead of Towers.The speakers can be upgraded to DALI or JAMO( Both are origin in Denmark) or the best Dynaudio(this would be my pick, if i was you

Let us know if you have any queries, so that our FM's would advice you to enhance the Music.

Happy listening

 

[fazek]

Hey - thank you for the reply!

Regarding your points - what kind of DAC would you recommend? As I've stated, I really have no experience in the field. Why do you say that the STR-D665 is not so good? What is the difference between a stereo amp and an A/V Receiver?

I don't think I would like bookshelf speakers in place of the current floor standers. I like this setup because it's lovely for music, but I do occasionally watch movies as well and I do appreciate the bass that it provides.

 

[just4kix]

Welcome to HFV, fazek. Looking to hear great details from you.