Zeos recommended in his review of the BS5 if you cant get the RB42 the neumis are a good alternative. The reviews on the BS5s all report they get more low end when you push then up against the wall. I got a set and they sound great for 90 bucks. Ran them with my reciever also with the smsl AD18.
Members recommend the PA3, thinking picking one myself for a backup amp. I hear the RB42 like power so maybe other posters can weigh in on RB42/PA3.
And you know the saying squeaky wheel gets the grease. So ask away in the amp section.
Thanks for the reply I think I will end up making a post about the amp if I decide not to go with the PA3 since I don’t have many other ideas for what to get in that department. Would you say for being close to the wall the BS5s are better than the RB42s?
That’s not a bad idea, I will be upgrading my pc soon as well when new AMD cpus release so might just do a big all in one desk/pc/audio upgrade which would change my overall budget quite a bit. Might grab the amp for now since its a good price and just wait on the speakers as I think the amp upgrade would even benefit my current pair of MBs.
I went D10s because its a digital passthrough and I use the DAC for a headphone amp I already have.
I don’t know if I can add a DAC into the chain with the miniDSP at all really
For anyone confused this is what I mean: PC>D10s>miniDSP HD>SA-50>MB42x is my chain and i want to know if DAC can be between miniDSP and SA-50 to improve upon the built in DAC of the miniDSP
The D10s is already serving its purpose as being the sort of HUB where my other things are connected so that I only have one output on my pc and it also serves as the DAC for my headphone amp. Improving that side of things is not really a concern of mine ATM.
sorry for the late reply, I just got home from work.
Depending on what speakers you go with you would probably want more power then the sa-50 can provide. Also it’s more a quality power concern as well, I would recommend something not class d as ime class a/ab sound better and offers higher quality power for your speakers. I would start looking in the $200 and above range, some good stuff to start out with would be a Emotiva basx a100 or a Parasound Zamp v3. My preference is the Parasound. A little higher up would be a Parasound new classic 275v.2 which would be pretty nice.
So even front ported speakers still get some benefit from being pulled of of the wall, just to a lesser extent. I run KEF Q100 that are front ported on one of my desks and they do enjoy a little space. I’d say at least 9-12 inches.
It’s good for what it is and would be a bit better than the SA-50 I think, but ultimately still a Class D measurement based design. Which some people like but it would be more similar in performance to what you have already than not. I think if you really want something higher quality you would want to look at some class a/ab amps like the ones i mentioned above.
I have the RB42s on one of my desks and they are a fun little speaker that has some decent low end in nearfield. Just something that i like to run on my workbench with a cheap smsl bluetooth amp and not worry about SQ. If you are looking for something more impressive than what you already have I would look higher.
Wow thanks for the super detailed response and I see you have already seen my other thread about the amp. I am starting to think that I should go class A/AB like you said the more I research amps. Also good advice on the front ported speakers I will keep that in mind for sure.
Do you have experience with any speakers in the $400-$500 range?
Will have to further respond to anything tomorrow as this is a new account and I have hit my limit on replies for the day!
The only one that fits your range are the KEF but they are discontinued so you would have to go Q150 or buy used. Also the s2000pro but it’s active and i think there is better stuff out there for your money.
there’s a bunch in that $500 price range that is good though. I’m sure somebody can make some recommendations that have more hands on experience.
It’s a bit pointless in my mind.
MiniDSP HD takes digital signal, fiddles with it returns it as analog signal.
Kinda pointless running dac → minidsp.
I mean you can use digital signal out from dac to minidsp but signal should remains the same/unchanged, no point in that, unless the dac has some other meaning.
Some like to dac a dac and dac a dac, cause they can, but original signal might degrade at some point so less sound quality, usually dacker’s don’t use highend dac’s anyways.
If you just run speakers amp and headphone amp, hook both to minidsp.
Fiddle with signal if needed or wanted, think the same signal can be used with different output setting, so plenty to tweak and change.
Minidsp sounds great for a 2.1 listen/livingroom setup.went back and forth on just getting yet another cheap AVR but building a component setup has its benefits. Guess not so much when you are going for audiophile.
