What is that one thing you own that suprised you the most.

Thinking of doing the same with my L80T3s. Only have 10" woofs in those and am thinking a sub would rock my world once properly balanced for my room.

What sub did you pair with the L100s?

Polk PSW 505 mostly because it was on sale cheap ($180) had decent reviews, and is good down to 28 hz -3 dB. positioning took some effort, but worth it.

your L180 T3s have a great reputation for clean mids and bass but will benefit from some lower extension from a sub.
 
The one thing that surprised me the most, probably would be my small Fisher KX200 integrated.
 
I have some 6" RCA full range bpc speakers that sound darn good.

Got em for free they had rca jacks on the ends of them that I clipped off.

Wouldn't want to crank them too far but for normal listening their excellent...
 
Pioneer SG-9800 graphic equaliser.

Best bang for buck tool to finesse and tailor how I like my music.
 
I was surprised at how much better sounding my Schiit Gungnir was compared to my Peachtree iDac. The Gungnir has a much more authoritative low end, and a larger soundstage.
 
My more-than-a-decade old 30Gb Zune. Just keeps working. And I use the Zune software to help organize my digital PC music.
 
A humble, yet loveable EL84 singled ended Magnavox tube amp. It has turned my audio world upside down. I've never had thousands to spend on amplification, but I've had some fairly good amps over the years. This unassuming wonder shames them all. It is eminently listenable for hours on end.
I've stopped thinking in terms of bludgeoning myself with big watts and more in terms of simpler, better watts. I'm anxious to build my own now. I'd also like to look into solid state SE.
 
Jbl l46. I have heard many many 8" speakers and unlike mosy of them, these have the bass of a true subwoofer.
 
Realistic T-120s, and the fact that I listen to them almost daily while my Smaller Advents sit unused.

To open them up, you wouldn't expect much. However, my buddy STILL laments selling his. They were fun.

The broadband absorption panel....by far. Game changer is an understatement. Profoundly affected the hobby for me more than any piece of electronics or pair of speakers.....and I've had the good fortune to experience some fairly interesting stuff. All of it was a given a fair chance to show its true sonic capabilities thanks to the absorption panel (ok, several absorption panels). Without them performance was disappearing like a fart in the wind...and I didn't even realize it.

Thanks for reminding me again, Michael, that I need to get off my ass and build some absorption panels. :yes:

Jbl l46. I have heard many many 8" speakers and unlike mosy of them, these have the bass of a true subwoofer.

Word. These are baby HPM-100's with better upper registers. I'll never part with mine, and once I can get that damn woofer out, I'm recapping them. I swear, they're glued in something fierce. Don't want to damage the box, so it has been tough. Already ordered some more crossovers, in case I wanna go back to stock, tho I doubt it.

WONDERFUL two way.
 
Mine were stuck, just needed a tap from the bottom with a small chisel.

I may try a mallet. I mean these things are stuck! The boxes are so mint, I don't want to scuff them any more.

Wait...now that I think about it, I think I tried a mallet. May have to resort to a razor slid under the basket or something.

Anyway, great speakers, and I think I gave 10 bucks for mine. Needed one tweeter and a refoam.
 
An old pair of AKG K240 "Studio" headphones. Paired with an old Pioneer SX-590 at my desk at work and old Denon CD player. Amazing sound and EXTREMELY comfortable. They work really well with an old 5th gen iPod and a cmoy headamp as well. Makes me want to lay out some $$$ and move up the AKG line.
 
My pair of Smaller Advents. I knew that they are well regarded. But they sound better than anything made in 1975 has a right to.
 
How good Kloss's Cambridge Soundworks Model Sixes sound on mid-fi receivers.

How smooth the Realistic STA-2200 sounds. I did not expect anything like that from that unit!

That the hype surrounding the A. Jones Pioneer bookies (SP-BS22lr) was true!

That a tiny Lepai LP-2020A+ didn't sound like crap but was actually OK for $20?

Etc., etc., etc. New surprises are just around the corner. What can I say? I'm cheap!

cnh2
 
I was surprised by a pair of Presidian PBS 5053 bookshelves I grabbed at RS back in the mid 00's on close-out sale of $19 (IIRC). With a decent amp, and some sponge foam on the back internal wall, these really sound good and go lower than their specs list. With a bass-heavy Realistic STA 2280, the bass response is extremely smooth and sound like a 10" woofer should sound like despite being 6.5"

Alpine Type R 10" subwoofers in a tuned, internally baffled and rectangular ported boxes are the best sounding subs I've ever come across. I spent years wasting money on JL Audio W3, W6, Crossfire BMF, etc. and on a whim, I grabbed a 10" Alpine R and even went with a store made box and run it at 100w up to 450w and still fails to please. It's still as tight as it was a week after I bought it. Hard to believe a $200 sub can outpace a $400-600 sub with actual sound quality. I don't listen loud anymore, but when I want it, it's there. It also sounds really good at lower listening levels where it spends 98% of the time. Used it for a home theater set up initially at 100w and it was great for that purpose too.

MCS 3233. Despite it's 33 wpc @8ohm, it sounded more like a punchy 80 wpc after putting slightly higher rated fuses in and exhaust fans on it so it'd run cooler (It's possible I might have been running it at 4 to 6 ohms, hence the original fuses popping at higher volume, so it might have been doing closer to 50 wpc and the fan kept it alive longer than possible). Had a high THD, but man it rocked. Was once told by my buddy's dad that he thought it was closer to 100 wpc given how loud it could get w/o clipping, and he had higher-end stuff so I always took that as a compliment, but I remember he was the one that taught me about THD and showed me the difference with "noise" inherent to the amps between that one and his, which had none LOL.
 
Last edited:
After thinking about this some more, I think that my iPhone and iPad are the most delightful audio surprises for me. I use my Cd player less and less, my tuner only occasionall, ditched vinyl a long time ago, and now play most all of my music through an iPhone cotrolled by an iPad
 
I'm still surprised at how good my Marantz 1060 is sounding after rebuilding it from an awesome parts list supplied by a fellow AK'r. Well worth the extra time and $$. :music:
 
My Jolida 502 P power amp. I wondered for quite a while how a tube amp would work out with my Maggies but not having a lot of money to spend I was reluctant to embark in the experiment. I finally decided that I would try the Jolida and if it showed any promise at all I would then proceed to save the $ to really get into this phase. Well, it has been almost a year now and not only has the Jolida moved my Conrad Johnson amp aside but I really have not had the itch to look further. Still marvel at the wonderful sound I get with a relatively low power tube amp and shake my head...
 
Back
Top Bottom