Audio Equipment Advice Needed

[Marko Tsourkan]

Somebody game a vintage high quality Yamaha amplifiers (2 pieces). I am thinking of adding a tuner, a CD player and a pair of speakers. I know nothing about quality stereo equipment (have Bose, but this is a real stuff), so would like to ask for recommendation. Something vintage with turning knobs would be preferable.

The amplifier has ports for 4 speakers.

Thanks,

Marko

[RRLOVER]

I am happy with my B&W 600 series speakers

[swarfrat]

Cool, love classic gear.

Two pieces, I presume that's a pre-amp and and amp combo?

Model numbers or pix of the front and rear panels would be helpful.



sr.

[rahimlee54]

As usual you'll need a budget speakers can go from 100 a pair well into 30-40k a pair. You'll also have to decide if you want to have a sub or not. Used is probably the way to go for your components, turner and cd player, used speakers are also a great value compared to new. Personally I have salksound speakers and avahifi components and really enjoy them but they were a substantial investment for me.

[Mr.Magnus]

i regret big time that i sold my vintage Yamaha Mx-1000 amp from 1987. last thing i did before selling it and the speakers was cranked the volym up abit to much so the window in the livingroom got busted. speakers i used was cerwin vega 15"



Just look at the badass display :P

[Marko Tsourkan]

The amp looks very similar to the one in the picture above. I will get the model number when I get home from shop.

I am not looking to spend a lot - I am not an audiophile, but would like to make the system complete with good quality units. The pre amp and amp, might have been the biggest cost already and I got them for free. One component in the amp needs to be replaced (cost $2.00), but that's a minor repair and the amp is still functional.

[Marko Tsourkan]

Another question. Does it make sense to buy just the speaker components and build the box myself?

How would one go about buying components? Are there specialty stores?

[Mr.Magnus]

Another question. Does it make sense to buy just the speaker components and build the box myself?

How would one go about buying components? Are there specialty stores?

well the cheapest way would be to order from online stores the components. but i would have a serious read on forums made for audio guys first to see whats good quality and best bang for the buck before building anything myself.

a good preamp for the amp is cx-1000 witch is from same timeperiod. the MX-1000u runs betwin 600-800$ today. If one wanted to buy a new amp today to match the quality and power of a amp like the MX1000u (1100 watt/1300VA rating), you would have to pay ALOT more

[Marko Tsourkan]

well the cheapest way would be to order from online stores the components. but i would have a serious read on forums made for audio guys first to see whats good quality and best bang for the buck before building anything myself.

a good preamp for the amp is cx-1000 witch is from same timeperiod. the MX-1000u runs betwin 600-800$ today. If one wanted to buy a new amp today to match the quality and power of a amp like the MX1000u (1100 watt/1300VA rating), you would have to pay ALOT more

I have two units, a taller and a shorter, which makes me think the second is a pre-amp. The amp looks visually very similar to MX-1000.

A tuner from that time period that could complement the amp and preamp would be great. A good quality CD player would be great also.

Making boxes for the speakers, magnetically shielding them, soldering (if needed) is not a problem.

Have no idea what to buy though, and don't have much time to spend researching speaker components on audiophile forums, unfortunately, so an advice would be greatly appreciated.

M

[split0101]

Hi Marco, lots of things here, let me try to get them answered for you.

Speakers
My suggestion is you buy them if you are not familiar with speaker design, its more complicated that buying a few components and building a box.

Building your own speakers. Very doable but it does require some know-how. The cabinet portion is simple enough, most people use MDF with veneer or plywood, then its braced and filled with acoustic foam. The cabinet needs to be built based on the speaker selection and design. This depends on a few factors such as; you want to go ported vs sealed, do you want full range speakers, towers or bookshelves, stereo listening or home theater 5.1/7.1/etc. Once you figure those out, then you can start looking to buy all the components. You will need tweeters, mid-range, woofers (depending on design), crossovers, etc. All these components will need to be matched to get the best performance out of your components.

If you are not familiar with these, buy a kit, check out http://www.parts-express.com. There are a bunch of places out there that sell kits.

If you want to buy, there are a ton of internet direct companies out there that make great stuff at very reasonable prices with great return programs.

Some suggestions:
http://fluance.com/about.eng.html
http://www.aperionaudio.com/
https://www.svsound.com/ (mostly known for subs)

Components
Preamp/Processor
If all you have is an amp then my suggestion it to pick up a preamp/processor. Without that you will not be able to decode most high fidelity audio formats like DTS or TrueHD. Most preamp/processor will come with ota tuners I would suggest checking out http://www.emotiva.com/. The XSP-1 is well regarded for its features at that price point. These can cost you as low as $100 all the way to 100k. Depending on your budget there are a lot of options.

Sources
These will be your bluray/dvd player, cd player, video game console, cable box/dvr, etc. The more sources you have the more inputs you will need on your preamp/processor. Lots of brands out there, I can offer you suggestions based on budget/needs.

Since your amp only has 4 outputs, my suggestion is you do a bi-amp design, i.e. you use 2 amp outputs to power one speaker and stick with stereo listening. With a good preamp/processor you can grow your system and add sources as you need.