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audio amateur
03-14-2008, 12:09 PM
Well, after several months of patience I finally have something together in my uni dorm. This is the product of countless hours screwing about on the internet instead of studying. Oh well..
Anyway, this is what I've come up with:
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Here we have the old stands:D one made of the two drawers you can see missing from the chest, the other is the speakers' box.

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Here we have the proper stands, which arrived today:cornut: , after 1 month wait..

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Me in the 'sweet spot'

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The electronics..

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Transport or 'source' is my laptop, which is on my desk.
I'll contiinue in another post to put a couple more pix & comments on the BW's. Hold on
Hope you like
AA

Feanor
03-14-2008, 12:24 PM
Well, after several months of patience I finally have something together in my uni dorm. This is the product of countless hours screwing about on the internet instead of studying. Oh well..
Anyway, this is what I've come up with:
...
Transport or 'source' is my laptop, which is on my desk.
I'll contiinue in another post to put a couple more pix & comments on the BW's. Hold on
Hope you like
AA

Congrats. Looks like an elegant solution to me. :thumbsup:

(Draw the drapes when you're doing serious listening, (or various other things maybe).)

Ajani
03-14-2008, 12:33 PM
Congratulations! That's a substantial improvement in the stands and the entire setup really looks good now (how does it sound? We need a review :) ).... I've been curious about Trends micro components for awhile...

audio amateur
03-14-2008, 01:01 PM
Thanks for the kind criticism, I do pull the drapes for serious listening. Here are a couple more pics in order to get a proper idea of room layout:
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From behind

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Where the electronics hide

A couple questions for you all:

-My wires are banana terminated, would it help to apply electrical tape in order to minimize oxidation?
-The amp can be configured as power amp, should I do this as I can adjust volume with computer? (perhaps it depends on I/O impedance)
-Any recommendations about room acoustics, speaker placement here? I haven't played around yet as I just got the stands. The speakers as you can see are not the same distance from the side walls. There is also nothing behind right speaker (a big gaping hole where the sink is).

I've had speakers & electronics for almost a month now, but I haven't done any listening with the stands yet (besides having done so at the dealers' place), so I won't comment just yet. But I can say that it's a huge improvement over anything i've ever owned:)
Sorry for the grainy pictures

JohnMichael
03-14-2008, 01:27 PM
Everything looks good. If you made good contact when crimping on the bananas I would not worry too much about oxidation. Others might. Looks like an enjoyable set-up to relax from your studies. Good job.

E-Stat
03-14-2008, 01:59 PM
Well, after several months of patience I finally have something together in my uni dorm. This is the product of countless hours screwing about on the internet instead of studying.
Setup is very clean and elegant in its simplicity. Decades of experience has led me to the conclusion that simple usually sounds better than complex. Nice job!

rw

basite
03-15-2008, 05:37 AM
congrats
looking really clean :thumbsup:

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

bobsticks
03-15-2008, 06:32 AM
Very nice. I agree with E-Stat that simplicity is the key and this is a great example of a solid mini-system for that on-the-go student lifestyle. Good job.

I too would like to hear a little bit about the Trends micro components.

Rich-n-Texas
03-15-2008, 07:20 AM
Good job AA. Love the B&W's!

Please empty out the trash can. :smilewinkgrin:

Slippers On
03-15-2008, 07:50 AM
Well done A/A. Glad you've got something sorted out.

Mind you, I think you'll end up turning your bed around otherwise you'll break your neck listening too long in that position:9:

Now you have somewhere entertaining to bring back the girls after a night in the union bar!

Health to enjoy

Slippers On

Jack in Wilmington
03-15-2008, 08:07 AM
Good job AA. Love the B&W's!

Please empty out the trash can. :smilewinkgrin:

"Please empty out the trash can"
I never saw Rich as sort of a Mother figure. Did anyone else?

Rich-n-Texas
03-15-2008, 05:08 PM
You know how teenagers are Jack. :rolleyes:

L.J.
03-15-2008, 05:20 PM
Nice :thumbsup:

bobsticks
03-15-2008, 05:47 PM
"Please empty out the trash can"
I never saw Rich as sort of a Mother figure. Did anyone else?


Naw, but he does remind me of a crazy, wayward aunt...

filecat13
03-15-2008, 07:53 PM
Nicely done!

I've a couple of questions.

1) Is any/all of the furniture movable? In particular, can you move the dresser and the armoire (clothes closet)?

2) Are you going to show us your head unit (laptop)? What's on it as far as software you're using to spin your tunes? Does it have a port that allows line level output?

My original dorm system was almost as simple 38 years ago: two speakers, a receiver, and a turntable. Of course there were NO computers back then, either desktop or laptop, so you've got a much smaller footprint.

My original JBL L100 dorm speakers are still working flawlessly today in a secondary system.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-15-2008, 09:37 PM
Naw, but he does remind me of a crazy, wayward aunt...

Could it be Aunt Esther from Sanford and Son?

By the way, sweet dorm type setup AA!

thekid
03-16-2008, 03:47 AM
Nice set-up AA.

I can only say that having that speaker on the stand somewaht in the middle of the room would probably have not survived one of my college roommates regular "sipping and tripping" weekends.

Our set-up consisted of my all Technics gear hooked up to my Project 80's and a pair of triangular "corner" speakers we hung from molding hooks. One night while we were sleeping the molding broke and the speaker over my bed on the second or third bounce hit me and opened up a nice gash in my head.

Ajani
03-16-2008, 04:22 AM
.......Our set-up consisted of my all Technics gear.......

My first setup was all Technics too..... It's a shame Panasonic dropped the Technics line (Only the DJ equipment is still called Technics)....

raychristenpaul
03-16-2008, 04:46 AM
awesome setup. I just bought Kef iQ3 and sad to say I have not done enough homework on other speakers. I guess I will find out soonest as I complete my setup. I am really new in audio but since I have my first job - kinda a gift for myself. My very own first speakers. Yes....

audio amateur
03-16-2008, 05:19 AM
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Thanks again for all the comments, i tried my best with what I had.

John, thanks for the tip. The problem with moving the right speaker to the right is that my desk will be in the way of the direct sound wave, which I don't think is a good thing. also, there's a chair in front of the desk, which makes it even less possible. That's why I have everything moved to the left. The bass does not seem uneven, despite the empty space.
It seems you've re-edited your post, I've just noticed.

Sticks, Bert & rw (rw, why can't you ever give a proper name? lol) I like things elegant and clean so I guess I did my job, although it wasn't very hard.

Rich, I'll do so when the time seems fit:D

Steve, thanks for your hints & tips. Yes, I may well change the bed position but I'm only here for a couple more months:)
I am working on the girls, I'm working..

Jack, I think Rich is just a clean freak:) who knows where he got that influence from.

Filecat, yes i can move the dresser & amoire (athough armoire will be a big pain), but there aren't a huge amount of placement options. Computer is a Dell Inspiron 8600, nothing to brag about. I'm using WMP 11 at the moment, and it does a decent job. I'm using a usb DAC which means I'm not using the laptops sound board but rather a digital output signal from the a USB port, and having it converted by the external DAC.

Thekid, i believe I'm in a safer situation as far as sleeping. I'll make sure the right speaker doesn't incur any damage. It hasn't been really wild in here so far;)

Jack in Wilmington
03-16-2008, 05:22 AM
Could it be Aunt Esther from Sanford and Son?

By the way, sweet dorm type setup AA!

Or maybe Aunt Clara from Bewitched.

thekid
03-16-2008, 08:51 AM
Thekid, i believe I'm in a safer situation as far as sleeping. I'll make sure the right speaker doesn't incur any damage. It hasn't been really wild in here so far
Yeah but that's half the point of having kick a^^ system in your dorm room......rock it out!!!
Congrats again!!!

aevans
03-16-2008, 10:06 AM
I too am using my pc as a head unit.. my denon universal player died a few days ago.. I would not recommend running straight to the power amp, I got lots of noise when attempting this.. the pre in my system acts kind of as a buffer for the crap sound card..

also as you are playing on a pc you can do some interesting things with DSP, check this out:
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/media/ozone.html
it's a tube amp emulator.. some of the settings are a little goofy, but for extended background listening w/o fatige I can listen to this all day long. some details do get pushed to the back, but just being able to listen for extended periods makes it worth while for me. I use the "subtle analog modeling" setting. If nothing else it can serve as a cool distraction and a free way to try out a new sound.

aevans
03-16-2008, 10:07 AM
also if you want to avoid oxidation you can tin the connections with some solder.

TheHills44060
03-16-2008, 10:21 AM
wow great setup...would have loved to have had something like that back in my dorm days

hydroman
03-17-2008, 07:29 AM
WAAAAY better than my clock radio in the day...

Don't worry about oxidation - the system won't be there that long(You do plan to study and graduate, eh? ;) Next time you set it up i would tin the ends...

Can you suspend the speakers from the ceiling? Space is so limited...

audio amateur
03-17-2008, 08:40 AM
Thanks again to all.
I do plan to 'rock it out' haha but it's not all that easy with 10 watts per channel but I still manage good results:)
I'm guessing 'tining' means filling the banana plugs by means of a soldiering iron (wouldn't that melt the plastic?)? fact is, I'd like to shorten the wire lengths sometime, and re-use the bananas, so tining is out of the equation for now.
Space is limited is but sufficient, i like my stands:smilewinkgrin:

audio amateur
03-17-2008, 08:44 AM
I too am using my pc as a head unit.. my denon universal player died a few days ago.. I would not recommend running straight to the power amp, I got lots of noise when attempting this.. the pre in my system acts kind of as a buffer for the crap sound card..

also as you are playing on a pc you can do some interesting things with DSP, check this out:
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/media/ozone.html
it's a tube amp emulator.. some of the settings are a little goofy, but for extended background listening w/o fatige I can listen to this all day long. some details do get pushed to the back, but just being able to listen for extended periods makes it worth while for me. I use the "subtle analog modeling" setting. If nothing else it can serve as a cool distraction and a free way to try out a new sound.
I'd give it a try if it was free. I like to keep the signal free from EQ's and such. The fact is, I'm using an external DAC which means the signal is pretty clean, a hundred times more so than that of the line out.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-17-2008, 08:49 AM
Or maybe Aunt Clara from Bewitched.

Or a combination of the two???? Talk about schetzo!

aevans
03-17-2008, 09:31 AM
it is free, the only thing you get for additional money is more presets. click the download now button and then choose your media player.

I hear you on the EQ, and for critical listening I don't use any filters, but for recordings that are crappy (anything from the beastie boys, etc) I have heard improvements in the listenablility.

Rich-n-Texas
03-17-2008, 10:24 AM
Or a combination of the two???? Talk about schetzo!
No dudes. I'm Samantha. And when I wiggle my nose pix is going to be sitting ON YO DESK!!!

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-18-2008, 05:29 PM
No dudes. I'm Samantha. And when I wiggle my nose pix is going to be sitting ON YO DESK!!!

Run fer yer lives, I do not want pixies dumb dust to fall on me.......better yet, give me that nose.(chases after Rich)....git the hammer....