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Active speakers with DAC and remote controlled pre amp


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Please give me a break, it would be fun to be on a forum without defending AVI all the time. Ash

 

Stanley Beresford comes in for exactly the same flack over his £120 DAC. He too is constantly barracked in some forums and banned from others.

 

And for the same reasons outlined in this thread: daring to challenge the status quo. Ash is right: electronics is incredibly cheap these day, the cost is in the case. And the expensive bits are the hard engineering - magnets, speaker chassis and cones.

 

Brian

Squeezebox Classic - Beresford Caiman-Gator DAC - Quad 520f with Dada refresh - Quart 980s German Tower Loudspeakers.

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Ash: Please give me a break, it would be fun to be on a forum without defending AVI all the time.

 

Stanley Beresford comes in for exactly the same flack over his £120 DAC. He too is constantly barracked in some forums and banned from others.

 

And for the same reasons outlined in this thread: daring to challenge the status quo.

 

Tony: heh, you're probably a victim for no good reason other than you are the harbinger of disruptive technologies.

 

Ash is right: electronics is incredibly cheap these days, the cost is in the case. And the expensive bits are the hard engineering - magnets, speaker chassis and cones. Stan is right: use your ears, not your prejudices.

 

Brian

Squeezebox Classic - Beresford Caiman-Gator DAC - Quad 520f with Dada refresh - Quart 980s German Tower Loudspeakers.

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Just a little more info for those considering their options on the new Mac laptops with firewire devices. The MacBook Pro's are no problem as previously discussed. However the new MacBooks come in 3 flavours, (UK english spelling), and the white one (I think the nicest for audio use) comes with a firewire 400 port as standard as well as two usb2 ports. The aluminium silver ones don't have a firewire option and are more expensive. The white MacBook costs maximum £719 GBP or $999 USD according to the apple website, and seems to me the one to buy. The MacBook Pro's are about twice that cost but don't offer any significant advantages for audio use.

 

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There is a thread on the pro-audio Sound on Sound Mac forum about the lack of firewire on the new MacBooks:

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=671160&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=365&fpart=1#671160

 

They concluded the MacBook Pro was a better bet than the older technology used in the white MacBook. Bear in mind that these chaps are using their Macs for recording and music production, which is more demanding than hi-fi use.

 

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The SoS thread is not really addressing the issues facing a 2.1 audiophile system. FW400 is entirely adequate for audiophile use and is slightly faster than usb2. Where it does score over usb, is that usb is not bus-mastering and firewire is. This means that FW is not prone to interruptions from the cpu when the computer is handling several intensive tasks simultaneously, resulting in far fewer dropouts and glitches. This is only mission critical when making live recordings which audiophiles do not do of course, since by definition, they only listen to previously recorded material.

 

I routinely use FW400 to control a sixteen channel recording and playback system of professional spec and have no problems at all. FW800 is really only required when more than sixteen channels are in simultaneous use.

 

With modern Macs using G4, G5, and Intel cpu's, USB2 is also entirely adequate for upto eight channels, provided the software is well designed so as to limit latency and dropouts.

 

For the highest levels of audiophile playback both usb2 and fw400 are entirely adequate and it will make no difference to 2.1 or 5.1 playback whether you use a Mac mini, any recent Mac laptop. or a 5k Mac pro. All will entirely meet the requirements. I do recommend Leopard and the latest iTunes though to guarantee an easy life. Vista is harder to get right, but the Mac does it out of the box.

 

Regarding sound cards, do not forget that Ashleys AVI ADM9.1's do the whole job, and an extra sound card is neither useful nor desirable.

 

If you want to use legacy Hi-Fi kit that has no digital ports, then my suggestion would be an Edirol UA25 at around £150GBP. There is simply no need for any thing more expensive as the sound quality is truly superb and 2-Channel stereo is fully catered for. If a high quality compressor is necessary then buy a UA25EX for about £20GBP more but it is only relevant if you make your own recordings.

 

If you want first hand detailed info on these topics do a web visit and email follow-up here. (usual disclaimer of interests) http://www.fwhifi.co.uk/

 

The lowest cost solution is a Mac mini with an iPod touch as a remote and adm9.1's. The nicest is a MacBook Pro, Airport express, and adm9.1's with a dedicated sub. The sound quality is awesomely superbly leading-edge, and most competent experts agree these setups will easily out-perform $20,000USD or £10,000GBP legacy designs.

 

Hope this helps, Regards to all, JCBrum.

Hope this helps those who are feeling a bit uncertain.

 

 

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