Hello, first-time poster here. I have been in the community for a while as a passive member and I have been even longer in the headphone game. I have recently dabbled into speakers, out of a desire to transform our living room to a listening area (had no speakers except for the TV’s before).
So, I went and bought Argon Audios’ alto A5 active speakers, they are excellent. I have a cambridge dacmagic 100 taking the optical from our tv and running them from there, just so I can stream through our android tv. It even supports Tidal these days, nice.
They sound really nice, and for the price they sound even better. Really made me and the missus happy. But… As an audiophile I crave to boost to audio to an even higher standard. So here’s what I’m wandering about:
Would it be a good idea to buy a powered subwoofer to go with the altos’, or is it better to save up so I can buy better speakers altogether?
I’m thinking about spending ~500€ for the sub. There isn’t many options except for really expensive one’s in my country. There is a used market, kinda.
Thank you guys already if you even bothered to read my “problem”, hope you can help out or atleast form a discussion on this!
So imo if you already enjoy the A5s and are content with the sound they offer, you could pick up a matching sub like the BASS10 mk2 and be pretty set
I think if you wanted to make a significant upgrade for powered or passive speakers, you would be spending in the 700 ish range imo, so I would just wait and save
That BASS10 is actually a pretty good (and cheap) idea. That BASS10 seems really compelling but cant really find any reviews for it though. Would have to buy from their website directly, so testing / returning in the case I don’t like it would be a hassle.
Would you happen to have other options in mind?
There is this store called HifiStudio where I would probably make my purchase from, they have atleast some DALI subwoofers, B&O, some Polks, but most of them seem really cheap of I cant find any reviews for them.
I am trying to navigate the hifistudio site (having a bit of trouble lol), but they seem to have some pretty nice stuff. Personally I am not a fan of polk or B&O subs, and the dali subs are good but not stand out to me. I have heard the A5 speakers but not their subs, but I would assume that might be the best pairing for the price for those speakers. (also most likely going to work just fine)
It is a bit messy site ill give you that. I have contacted Argons people, I think im going to negotiate a deal with them after discussing possible return etc.
Now I only wonder is there a case to be made in buying the 12" version? The angle here would be “futureproofing”. It is quite the step up from the 10", spec wise atleast.
My favorite store. <3
Agree fully with M0N on this one. If you want to “future upgrade” plan the sub, you would go in the 700 range. Even with the 12" ones also getting more adjustment and setup possibility’s that they offer better.
Making sub integrate better for the front end.
Now that the sub has been up-upgraded. That gives you more room with speaker upgrade in future. Bigger better actives or passives. Saving more is a great choice to get better audio gear. Getting over the great “need” is hard.
Seems i short of miss read a bit. M0N talked about actual speakers for 700 and i for the sub for 700.
My brain just wanted to noticed “sub” and woke up. lol
For my bad experiences i still stand for the 700 range for sub. Then you get more adjustment possibility’s and actually pretty good subs. The cheaper ones just ain’t that good and getting them to work good with front speakers can be more of a hassle…
If getting more gear with room corrections and dsp and that short, could go lower and make adjustments on that.
Another good site is https://www.stpaulssound.fi/ with more Studio grade active speakers and subwoofers plus with good prices. If going mood swings to that way at some point.
Well, hmm. That site was a new one for me, though has a lot of Genelecs, which is typical for our countrys’ shops, I guess. Seemed promising though, they had a lot of I hadn’t seen before, like Dyn’s and Adams products.
I will probably try to find something used or then go for the Argon and upgrade the whole system later on, maybe if I can keep my walley in check until black friday or something lol.
Imo I really don’t think you need to spend that much to get a good sub, I think it’s not really worth spending under 300 for a sub, but in the 400-500 range you can get some solid offerings for the price imo
Hmmm, I would really go for the rel here imo. The svs is more suited for home theater, and the kef is good but not great from my experience, I think the rel excels the most with music
The rel and svs are similar on options besides the more adjustable phase and speaker level in options. I guess I would just have to ask how @Beastros plans to integrate this sub into his setup
I did actually order a pre-amp. Thought I’d use it with my NFB-11.28 to just check wether I like the tube-sound on some of my headphones or not. I guess I’m going to integrate it as part of my speaker set-up, if that is possible?
TV–>Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 --> Tube-Amp --> Alto’s, Sub?
Actually don’t know any better. Hjalp
Thank you all for the discussion. I think the REL is the choice for now. Another thought has popped up though, would I benefit from a receiver with this aforementioned setup, and if so, how?
