It's been a year or two, so I was wondering. Budget system advice.

[bcoots]

Hello guys!
It's been a few / couple years since I built my last budget system for my office here at work. The small little Dayton amp has started giving me fits in terms of scratchy/noise/static when I turn the volume up/down so, I was entertaining the idea of just building me another budget system, just because... well it was fun the last time I did it, and I'll move this one somewhere that it doesn't get used quite as often etc.

CURRENT SYSTEM
Dayton Audio Bookshelf B652-AIR (Pair)
Dayton DTA-1 Amp
Dayton Audio Sub-1000 Powered Sub

Looking to keep the newer/upgraded version of a system in the $500 range. Let me know what you guys think, my hat is in my hand here as well, I'm by no means an audiophile, just someone who listens to music nearly the entire 9 hours I am here at work and enjoy decent sounding equipment. If a sub upgrade isn't possible at that price point, it gets loud enough to annoy the people downstairs so... I guess I could keep it or work around it, but if another $100 gets me a bigger/better sub, looks talk it out.

Thank you guys so much!

 

[cipriano]

When you say office, do you mean cubicle? Or a real office? It makes a big difference in what I would suggest.

 

[bcoots]

Thanks for the reply.
It’s an actual office. The room is 16x14.
My desk is a big u type shape desk. So I put the speakers on each corner facing me and the sub to the right of ny feet facing my chair.

 

[cipriano]

Elac is still trying to move a bunch of speakers before Christmas! A pair of B6.2 is still $150 which is a really great deal. They are not the most sensitive speakers in the world, so you would need a little more juice than the Dayton DTA-1 can provide (even if you Deoxit the scratchy volume pot which I recommend). A new FX Audio FX502SPRO, which features a TPA3250 chip, would sound great with the B6.2's. If you want to join us cool kids add a FX Audio FXTUBE01 tube preamp with some upgraded tubes. These really do sound amazing and they are a steal for $32. See Poultygeist's recent thread for info on that piece of equipment.

An even better sounding pair of speakers would be a pair of Totem Dreamcatchers. There are currently two pairs on that auction site, both of which have a "make an offer option". These truly special speakers would blow your mind. You could get the FX pre and amp for $100 then make a $400 offer on the Dreamcatchers (which are better than the Elac's but the Elacs are still pretty darn good).

 

[bigx5murf]

Have you tried spraying some contact cleaner and working it into the amp knob?

 

[gongli]

I would get Boston Acoustics A25 for $150 and mate it with a surround sound receiver from B&K or Arcam from ebay. Instead of a CD player, I would get the Chromecast Audio for $15 shipped and cast from your computer - also can stream music as well as play music files. This set up for well under your budget should sing for you...

https://www.accessories4less.com/ma...way-bookshelf-speaker-gloss-black-each/1.html

 

[gongli]

Use the Dayton sub to warm up the sound. This system will out play your present setup...

 

[drew_t]

The Parts Express page for that amp says it has a five year warranty and lifetime tech support. Contact them. Maybe they’ll replace it.