[Johnny122]

Hello,

While searching for good (better than good) speakers, I found NX studio speaker kit and then found this website and the NX case kit from Reference North Audio. I'm french speaking (this may be easy to see ...) living in Quebec City. As I just found the best speakers  I will be looking for a matching amp. I know many people think tubes'amp are the best ones, is this true ? I'll be looking for that, just hope being able to search !

Thanks in advance to everybody that will help !

J Guy

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome Guy 

[JLM]

Welcome!

You're proceeding in the right order, loudspeakers first, then amp.  But don't forget about the influence of the room.  Suggest reading Floyd Toole's "Sound Reproduction".

Pros and Cons:

Tube amp sound can be changed by tube swapping ("rolling"), but can have excessive colorations (everything having the same "tint"), can be limited in output (SET amps in particular), cost of replacement tubes can be high, but nothing touches good tube palpability (image density). 

Solid state are easier to live with and modern class D sounds very good while being energy efficient and quite compact. 

Over the years have tried both, but have stuck with solid state for the most part and class D for the last three.

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[Johnny122]

Thanks JLM !

I found the paper, I'll carefully look at that. Room consideration was what I planned to look at today. I have a huge open space : living room, dining room and kitchen are about 27 feet wide, almost 40 feet deep and 9 1/2 feet high with a fireplace right in the middle. Furniture act as virtual walls. Hardwood floor, sheetrock and draperies in the windows.   

I know it's not the ideal place but I don't want a recording studio and I do not need watts by hundreds, listening the nicest music I can have in this room ... that's my requirement. Classical music being mainly what we listen at.

For tubes vs FET amplifiers, I would say my first thoughts were about size and heat ! That may be stupid but that's what I had in mind.

Thanks again J Guy   

[Johnny122]

JLM,

I looked at the paper, to say the least it's not an easy reading. To be honest, I do not have the required knowledge in audio nor in acoustics to fully understand these advanced concepts. However, I carefully noted one sentence probably the only one I understood "The better the stereophonic reproduction system, the less trouble we have with room acoustics.”  That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve.  I know I'm a beginner and it should be easier to get the most effective system if I look at the top ones.

According to my room, I will search the web to find out some basic facts to support or deny my idea to go with NX Studio. Another aspect I didn't mention is that I'm looking for small speakers even it there's compromises.

So, thanks for your support, I'll read more about that.

J Guy 

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Johnny   

[JLM]

Suggest looking for speakers that match your space and acoustical tastes (symphonic, orchestral, or chamber?).  For a large space, you'll need good efficiency with lots of bass, otherwise you'll end up with a small sound from "over there" that doesn't fill the room.  The NX Studio is not the right tool for the job.  I owned JBL 708P's ($4000/pair active monitors) for awhile that would probably fill your space and take care of your amp buying decision. 

Toole would recommend multiple carefully placed subwoofers to tame inherent in-room bass peaks/dips.  For music most would advocate for sealed designs and I'd propose more powerful ones to fill that large space. 

[Johnny122]

As I can now, I'll start a new thread to fully explain my situation.  I'm not an expert like you to be able to talk about my acoustical taste. I'm not yet there. In fact I never experience imaging and I know why ! I had good equipment (top of the line Pionneer in the 80's) but that's certainly because I never decided to have an audio room.  So far I put the speakers where they fit better and that was always in the living room with no special care to the basic rules.  No need to say it's not like the audio room pictures I see here in AC, but it answers a requirement : having nice music when we spend most of our tine.

It may be time to care about all those things but the basic need will always be there : good music in the living room even if it's not the best place. You are right, before taking decisions, I need to check many things ... and there are more than what I mentioned here. I'm sure you will see this new thread and I'm waiting for your comments.

Thanks again J Guy   

[Johnny122]

JLM,

Do you produce the The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel ? If it's not you it's your clone ! It's really well done. I'm listening Loudspeaker placement long version and I'm really impressed. I will look at everything in your channel. Thanks to have taken the time to prepare that, it's really informative for a newbie in HiFI. 

J Guy 

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome