Negotiableterms said:
JP, would you mind describing your system? Flat to 14 Hz with total cost below $600 is an intriguing combination.
Well, it's not flat, hence my interest in subwoofer correction. However, in my room, my sub doesn't start to roll off until just around 16 Hz and is only about 3 dB down at 14 Hz (Radio Shack SPL meter after corrections) -- so I was using "flat" as a relative term.
My main system right now is a scrounger's delight. The speakers are a pair of Tannoy Berkeleys that I found for an incredible price of $40 for the pair. The amp is a Fisher SA-16 console pull, which means the price works out to ~$20 for it. The 6BQ5 outputs are some strong Dynaco label tubes from my Dynaco SCA-35 ($4.99 Goodwill). The pre-amp is an abused Marantz 3200 that I picked up sans knobs and with water damage on its wood case for $10 at a second hand store, the knobs I have on it are stolen from a Sansui 551 ($2.99 St. Vinnies). The source is a Sony CDP-X111ES that I picked up for $15. The interconnects are a pair of Radio Shack Fusions after the name was sued out of existence and they were put up on clearance for ~$15 for the pair. The speaker cable is 6 gauge homemade wire made from a large spool I picked up at a garage sale for a buck and using some spare Dayton banana plugs I had sitting around here from a past project.
So, the price total here is $40 + $20 + $4.99 + $10 + $2.99+ $15 + $15 + $1 = $108.98
The subwoofer is a scrounged together Adire DPL-12 in a passive radiator alignment. The DPL-12 was a door prize won by a friend which I then traded some gear for ($15 Goodwill). The 18" on a side cube cabinet constructed of 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood was an under-the-table build using scrap materials from other projects, so I can't give the price, but it wasn't much. I paid the full price for an Adire PR-15 and got a nice discount on an Adire AVA-250 plate amp as they were changing over to a digital amp based plate and were closing out these amps. The 3 lbs of polyfill were from some pillow forms I bummed off of the Adire folks thanks to a "will call" pickup, so no shipping charges there.
Now, this design should've granted 16 Hz in room response, but thanks to my not having access to a decent scale, I ended up putting a little too much weight on the PR dropping the bottom end even further, though at the cost of midbass response. This didn't bother me as I intended this sub to work with my $15 Goodwill (with an additional $25 refoam kit) Quantum 2s (-3 dB @ 24 Hz anechoic, ~20 Hz in room) and it works well with my Tannoys that are only 3 dB down at ~35 Hz. The original 14 Hz measurement came with a certain subwoofer position that offered up this incredibly low response, but at the cost of a severe 40-54 Hz suck out (12-16 dB). I recently moved the sub around to smooth out the response a little bit, but it was at the cost of this real low end -- hence my interest in parametric equalization. The cost of the sub rounds out the total system cost to around $300, though I only occasionally use it, as the music requires it, thanks to these limitations imposed by the current position.
The Tannoy and sub combination results in a little bit of a ~30 Hz dip, but once I get my big amp (~200 wpc into 4 ohms pro amp picked up on a ridiculous discount) back from my friends this weekend, I'll probably rotate my Quantums back in and then the system will have that 14 Hz performance, though with some 6-8 dB differences in peaks below the Watkins woofer (and a slight 45 Hz 5 dB peak thanks to a room mode) threshold until I can figure out some means of equalizing the sub.
I also plan on hooking my Toshiba SD-4960 (~$58 shipped) and Sony PS-X500 Biotracer ($40 for table $65 for Grado Gold) up to this setup soon, so the system cost will go up and cease to be half the price of that sub tool.
Now you see why I'm such a cheap bastard? I've really lucked out with putting my system together. So, it's hard spending a lot of money on it when I've made it this far for a little cash.
Hope this satisfies your curiosity.
- JP
