[Super Hans]

Hi all, getting back into the audiophile/HiFi scene.

Fascinating stuff about me (not really) =
just got a little $25 USB dac for 3.5 headphones and RCA out. I think I got on the dac train late. Quite a nice difference from default Windows/PC audio with just that and my Bose AE2 headphones. (no, I didn't research those headphones before I bought them, they are ok).

25 years ago I bought an Exposure XX Integrated Amp with a pair of Royd Audio Sintra Speakers. Had an Adcom CD player that went kaputt after a while. I went to a higher end HiFi place here in Kansas City where they actually setup every set of speakers and amp you wanted to hear in a nice listening room. 18 at the time and didn't know much about audio. I brought some CDs and they hooked up stuff in my price range.  At first I asked why are there no bass and treble knobs on these expensive things. Salesman said "once you get up into proper/good equipment you don't need that. It sounds great and the way it is supposed to. On top of that, sound can get degraded the more connections and possible interference you put between your CD and your ears. That stuff does not improve sound." I said OK. New to me and it did sound really good. Forked out a lot of money and have been happy for 25 years. Happy with it until one speaker went south a couple months ago. I seriously went and had my hearing checked because I could hear better out of my left than right. Naturally it was the tweeter in the right speaker. It's confirmed, no ear wax and hearing is ok.

Tweeter quit working and two different local stereo repair shops looked at it and said the woofer was rubbing against insulation from wires that had gotten too hot and the tweeter was definitely bad. So looking into fixing it and not so much an easy fix. Whole new woofers and tweeters, neither guaranteed to sound good in those cabinets. Woofers were in-house made so can't swap em out with anything easily. The ScanSpeak tweeters are still made tho. I looked and looked at fixing them and put it on back burner.

Got some Pioneer SP-BS22s speakers to tide me over until I can get some that more match the quality of the Exposure amp. I plugged them into the Expsoure integrated amp and they were pretty dull and neutral. Plugged them into an Onkyo receiver with bass and treble, boosted the treble a little and they sounded much better.

So, how do I go about finding speakers that are a good match for my Exposure integrated amp ?

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome Super
At just over $500 I would take the Klipsch RB81II:
http://www.klipsch.com/products/rb-81-ii-bookshelf-speaker
Used its even more cheaper. But if your room are small and you have a good carpenter you would try a fullrange as Visaton B200 or Nirvana 10'' Alnico:
http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/an10classicalnicospecs.jpg

[RDavidson]

Talk to Millersound about fixing your woofer. They're THE BEST and have been doing this type of work for a long time. I'm certain they can help you. It would probably be best to send them your good woofer too, just to help ensure that performance matches. AND they can give the good woofer a checkup and refresh as needed.

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Super Hans 

[brooklyn]

[Phil A]

Welcome to AC! - many moons ago owned an Adcom GCD-575.

[JLM]

Welcome!

Since you last bought speakers the market has moved to tighter bass and a more sprightly presentation, think Tinkerbell vs the 7 dwarfs.  Tone controls are still missing.  DAC's are getting better by the month.  Vinyl hasn't gone away but digital is almost exclusively on computer based servers or streaming services.

First thing I'd do is have a local repair shop give your amp a good once over.  Contacts probably need to be cleaned and the caps are due to be replaced.  Make sure it is a viable basis for your revitalized system.

Next we need to learn more about you and your situation:  preferred musical genres (small ensemble, classical, rock, etc.); audio tastes (love bass, turn it up loud, into pinpoint imaging, etc.); budget; and room shape/size.

And you should do some homework (so you can sort out all the intelligent advice we give you).  Visit local shops and audition with your favorite music and take notes.  Try to find a local audio club.  Attend concerts (to tune your ear to the real thing) and big audio shows (mostly to veto what you don't want).  You might even read reviews (but that takes years to really learn how to read between the lines).

Take your time and take care.

[Guy 13]

A super warm welcome to AudioCircle Mr. Super.

(Super) Guy 13 

[Super Hans]

Thanks for the replies.
My music taste is mostly rock and classical. I don't care for deep thumping bass. I guess I like speakers to sound well rounded and as detailed as possible. I look for those nuances you hear when a bow goes across strings. I think those Royd bookshelf speakers fit my bill. I have been considering floor standing though. Weighing Pros and Cons.
I'm not in any hurry to purchase speakers. I want to research and listen to as many as I can. The Pioneer bs22s will work til then. Not bad for $90.

I am getting my Dad's old Kenwood KR-710 receiver this weekend. Last time it was used I remember hearing a crackling/static sound when turning volume up and down. And it seemed you had to get the volume knob in just the right spot for both speakers to work. I don't know if that was specific to that RCA input or if all of them sound that way. It may have been plugged into the phono input for all I know. Someone else was using it and I didn't look at it then.  It may need to visit the friendly local stereo shop.

Looks like my set up for listening area will be the Kenwood KR-710 receiver, bs22 speakers, old Sony 5 disc changer, budget DAC and a laptop with lots of music in FLAC format.
I've just got AISO, WASAPI, and Kernel Streaming configured in Foobar2000 so I can see which I like better. AISO4ALL so far sounds best without glithing, wasapi event sounds good but skips now and then

My audio Wish/Shopping list:
Headphones - thinking Sennheiser HD 600

Desktop Mini Amp - Speakers and Headphone out, try to keep that under $200. I want to do the Headphones some justice. It will just power budget desktop speakers other than that. Maybe something like the SMSL SA-160

USB Dac - leaning toward this Pro-Ject USB Box S+ http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=usbboxsplus&cat=source&lang=en , made in Slovakia for an Austrian company I think

USB cable - thinking one of the Supra USB cables,  so I know at least I didn't skimp on the connection. I know people disagree if USB cables make any difference. I haven't really studied it. I do know I will feel $40 better connecting hundreds of dollars worth audio and computer equipment with something a little better made (hopefully it is).

and Speakers down the line.