[sychan168]

Hello,
    I'm an engineer and almost compulsive tinkerer, who is interested in high quality budget or DIY audio gear. I just signed up after poking around and reading a few threads.

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome 

[Blackmore]

Welcome to AudioCircle.

[Wind Chaser]

Welcome to Audio Circle. 

[sychan168]

   Thanks - hoping to learn alot!

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[JLM]

Welcome!

I'm a retired engineer and know the personality quirks of engineers.  That's a warning to avoid creating Frankensteins that only a proud papa could love.  Worked in a town with a huge engineer population and realtors moaned when listing a home owned for years by an engineer that are either run down or full of idiosyncrasies.  I've got PV solar panels and whole house automatic generator on my house.  They may be smart, but questionable if they'll add to the resale value.  Recommend putting your engineering talents to working smarter, not harder.

You should appreciate manufacturers who have long a history, manufacturer their own gear (like drivers), and do extensive R&D.  Thinking of companies like Benchmark and JBL.  You're ideally suited to suck up all the latest research.  Like Floyd Toole's "Sound Reproduction" 3rd edition that is the consummate audiophile guide to learning how speakers behave in-room (a huge pitfall that most fall headlong into).  And the latest trend in speaker design: controlled directivity (read reviews at audiosciencereview.com).  Another aspect that nearly all audiophiles have avoided is the inherent design and sonic advantages of active speaker design, but studio professional have used for decades. 

Along those lines consider a Benchmark DAC3 HGC ($2199 DAC, preamp, headphone amp, remote), Morgami Gold XLR cables ($110/pair, 15 ft), and Genelec ($3800/pair, 2-way active, controlled directivity).  To that you may want to add room treatments (visit GIK here at Audio Circle), Dirac Live (DSP room correction), and swarm of subwoofers (visit AudioKinesis here at Audio Circle). 

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC sychan   

[sychan168]

I'm a retired engineer and know the personality quirks of engineers.  That's a warning to avoid creating Frankensteins that only a proud papa could love.  Worked in a town with a huge engineer population and realtors moaned when listing a home owned for years by an engineer that are either run down or full of idiosyncrasies.  I've got PV solar panels and whole house automatic generator on my house.  They may be smart, but questionable if they'll add to the resale value.  Recommend putting your engineering talents to working smarter, not harder.

   Yeah, I know it all too well. I spent an hour the other day walking a lead engineer back from massive scope creep and building a shiny new thing when the last shiny new thing wasn't completed yet!

Along those lines consider a Benchmark DAC3 HGC ($2199 DAC, preamp, headphone amp, remote), Morgami Gold XLR cables ($110/pair, 15 ft), and Genelec ($3800/pair, 2-way active, controlled directivity).  To that you may want to add room treatments (visit GIK here at Audio Circle), Dirac Live (DSP room correction), and swarm of subwoofers (visit AudioKinesis here at Audio Circle).

   You know, there is another stereotype about us engineers: we're sometimes cheapskates! As much as I appreciate the measurable performance benefits of the Genelecs waveguides and DSP, I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on a pair of speakers.
   I also have more of a sense of accomplishment from something that I built myself, rather than something that has performance qualities that can only be detected by sensitive instrumentation. Squinting at some charts on ASR between the Icepower 125asx2 I have, and the Hypex NCore NC252MP based amp that Amir also reviewed, I was pretty certain that I wouldn't hear those differences between -85db and -93db THD, on the other hand, I might enjoy the Raspberry Pi streamer I assembled myself more than one that measured better that I bought fully assembled.

   Hmmm, now, a photovoltaic array on the roof, that could be fun! Though I've been thinking a ground source heat exchanger would be handier with the more extreme temperature we've been having. Luckily I get no joy from digging ditches, so I'm unlikely to take that on!

[JLM]

Considered groundwater heat pump when we built, but it would've been $20,000.  In fact looked to buy an existing groundwater heat pump house but wasn't impressed with their monthly bills.  With PV solar panels and a juicy incentive package our combined electric/propane in a bigger house is 1/3rd of their's 16 years later and got a 30% federal tax credit.  Understand they've gotten more efficient.  The old ones switched to electrical resistance forced air at low temperatures, the most inefficient method possible for heating a house, and that drove me nuts.  BTW the panels aren't on the roof (didn't like the idea of holes and having to pull them down and replace them to re-roof), so they're on a lend-to over our deck. 

Prefer to call myself frugally responsible.  We each have individual values (and pocketbooks) that drive how much we're comfortable on spending.  IMO speakers are the biggest factor in how your in-room system sounds and the room is the second biggest factor.  So I don't scrimp on either.  Agree that much of what is measured can't be heard, we don't know what to measure that correlates to better sound, and that we suffer many ignored elephants along the way to spitting out gnats (majoring in minors).  BTW the Genelecs I mentioned were 8050B, suitable for mid-field listening and lack built-in digital anything (which is far better done by other means).  Not overpriced considering that for $3800 you're getting 4 mono-blocks included.

[dwmaggie]

Welcome to a wonderful place sychan168.  Check out the Digital Amplifier Company DACs, I'm pretty sure Tommy O'Dac only uses balanced inputs and outputs.  For fun and under a 1000, check out the Magnepan LRS intro model and money back guarantee.  They may take some time to position correctly and you will still need a sub.