What are your biggest desires for audio in 2021!?

Maggies have always been appealing to me, they get some mixed reviews but I get the sense it is more people who dont know what they are getting into. I just dont have a proper listening area/room to make speakers work well outside of my little near fields on my desk. Speakers would likely be another rabbit hole anyways. I do enjoy taking on a bit of research every now and again.

I update my home theatre stuff about once every 5-10 years depending upon leaps in technology, perhaps I’ll figure out the room issue and put together a 2.1 channel setup with more of an audio focus rather than video. Right now I got the whole dolby atmos thing going but most movies dont even use it properly. Plus the quality of movies has dropped so much in the last 10 years (at least in my opinion) that I hardly watch them anyways.

There’s a number of high end audio shops in Toronto and surroundings that I should visit once the madness subsides. I think I actually have the ear now to maybe appreciate, or even more importantly not appreciate, what I’m hearing.

4 Likes

My cat would love maggies, LOL, she doesn’t bother my present speakers, but maggies well to her they might just look like some big tree to climb. From the folks I know that have them, they like a little power and some room to breath to sound their best and to get that sweet spot a little larger. But with a good sub(s) they do sound pretty nice.

2 Likes

Thats what I gathered as well regarding the maggies. Positioning would be the greatest hurdle for me to overcome.

2 Likes

For your desk:
https://www.magnepan.com/model_mini_maggie


About the 3.7i.

Yes, they do require some space. I would go with their own bass panels instead of a traditional sub. I have power.

3 Likes

@pennstac Re: cat. Maybe get something more monitor-esque that can sit on stands that are claw-resistant?

1 Like

Maggies, btw, were the speakers that hooked me on high-end, like 30 years ago, when I heard them at someone’s house. They were amped with Quicksilver tubes, and the music was from Kind of Blue (on vinyl). It was that total cliche: Sounded like Paul Chambers was standing right in front of me playing the bass. In some ways, I think that sort of combo may represent the purest as well as the purist kind of hi-fi sound.

5 Likes

I don’t know, Steve. I’m generally not a fan of little speakers in a big room. I’ve got some older Polk monitors on stands in the master bedroom, and some Sonos Play 5 on stands in the rec room at my wife’s house (but no sub there - it needs one).

1 Like

How big of a room @pennstac and what are you going to feed the speakers amp wise? Just curious?

1 Like

I know the feeling. I really like having full-range. Was just trying to think of solutions vs. the cat!

2 Likes

For 2021, I have two major goals:

  1. Buy a house so I’ll have room for my headphone equipment, but also so that I can get a good speaker setup going. (Been thinking a lot about the Buchardt a700 speaker system, but I’d love recommendations on this, too!)

  2. Expand and organize my music collection, especially the offline part of it. I have a tendency to stream all working day long and forget to add things to my library or, if I really enjoy them, purchase and download them. I’d really love to break this bad habit.

I think that, if I can achieve these two goals, that’ll be a really good enhancement to my quality of listening.

6 Likes

I agree, the early reviews of the A500 look amazing. Especially considering ADP in a difficult listening space.

1 Like

You read my mind on the Hegel / Hint 6 idea. Love me an integrated.

2 Likes

Exactly! Those early reviews for the a500 make me super excited for the full-length a700. I just hope the reviews for the a700 are just as good, since I’d really like to get the full towers :crossed_fingers:

1 Like

Thank you for understanding that my autocorrect is not as interested in DSP as my listening space probably will be. :slight_smile:

1 Like

I think I mentioned it before - sort of an L shape, main is 14’ x 25’ with about a 10 x 10 entry that also opens onto a dining room. Existing amp power is Wired4Sound STI-1000, 500 watts RMS into 8 Ohms per channel (stereo 2 channel). Pretty clean, class D ICE done properly. Can handle 4 ohm loads well. I still have my old Sansui AU-919 as a backup.

The Wired4Sound has both balanced and RCA input. If I ever replace it, I think I’d probably want to look to some sort of tube monoblocs, like used ASL Hurricanes or one of the new Dynaco Mark III builders amps.

Running joke at this point, but main goals for me are to quit upgrading the stuff I have and enjoy music more. I’ve gotten several very bad upgraditis symptoms over the past few years.

Professionally speaking, I’m looking forward to learning more of the technical know how of dacs and amps as well as starting to understand power and other areas I’m less familiar with in terms of full sized systems to portable devices! Gonna be a big year for learning, that’s for sure.

8 Likes

OK, we’re already (nearly) two months in, but it’s always good to have a plan. Also, this forum really helped to re-ignite my interest in audio gear.

I just kicked off 2021 by ordering the IE300.

I’d like to upgrade my computer/desktop setup and have an eye on the RME ADI-2 DAC for the headphone chain and also get a decent DAC for the living room system.

And maybe a little AMP for portable use …

Or a nice new next-level headphone …

On the “enjoy your music more” part - I will re-rip a few of my CDs as I initially ripped them as MP3 with storage space in mind :man_facepalming:

4 Likes

Honestly, im quite happy with my setup right now, but I would love to try some of the sumitfi stuff like ZMF, Final, susvara, and a few others. I’m also quite interested in getting my hands on ier-Z1R and VX. Mad24 is also up there, but I will wait for more reviews first

2 Likes

An entirely new can with TOTL performance and TOTL aesthetics. I’ve always wanted to try Abyss 1266, Raal, or ZMF but don’t like their look or the headband design. I need another can to add to my Stellia and LCD-4 arsenal.

2 Likes

Maybe replace my loudspeakers. Much as I still like and enjoy the Rec III’s they are getting old. Bought used in 1978, modified same time. Depends on 2W’s, wallet and wife. I’d like something planar, Maggie 3.7i, Martin Logan CLX (which would need a sub), or maybe something Wilson Audio. And get the oriental rug down in the room, and finally either get the 1920’s living room suite out of storage (it was re-upholstered) or get a new suite. So the room isn’t too live. Oh yes, glass fireplace screen and andirons since the chimney was redone last hear. Maybe it’s not all audio, but the listening room needs more soft stuff in it, and I want to be comfy.

1 Like