Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Office audio

I know many folks have chatted about their office audio choices but i haven't seen many actual offices with their audio setups.

Here's mine at the present (pardon the desk mess i'm doing year end finances and my table to the right is full of spare computer parts...in the middle of a rebuild).

Three speaker sets (one recent addition):

• Tannoy Revolutions
• Angstrom Legattos
• Missiion Rennaissance 737R

Driven by one of:

• Harmon Kardon HK380i
• Kenwood KR 5600

Whoah! I haven't seen a CRT computer monitor for like 6 years.

Or a beige keyboard!

"Many important objects from the Computer History Collection were on exhibition in a 14,000 square foot display that was located on the first floor of the National Museum of American History. The display featured over 900 original artifacts. They included Samuel Morse's telegraphs, Alexander Bell's telephones, a Hollerith punched card machine, a 4-rotor German ENIGMA encoder used during World War II, a Viewsonic CRT monitor, a beige Microsoft keyboard, and a Linksys router."

Nicely done!

Ya bunch of hoodlums.

Any more comments from the peanut gallery?

Nice lumbar support?

Very beautiful room. You did a lot with the 6' ceiling height. How do you like the Mission speakers?

I have a pair of Mission DS77 surround speakers which I picked up from Ubid years ago for something like $20 a pair plus shipping, and they compare favorably to my QS8s.

Do you have three 2 channel systems in your office? If so, why?

Which do you prefer, the HK or the Kenwood receiver?

Well if that's the best you've got...

Actually the room is a standard size height, the computer is just in a 3' alcove (7' ceiling) to one side of the room before the ceiling goes back up to a 8.5' height.

I suppose in hindsight i should have taken pictures of the other side of the office where there's two leather chairs and ottomans with side wood bookshelves for relaxing, reading, listening and sipping port.

At present i do have 3-two channel systems in the office.
Why?
I like the variation in sound style.
Each of the speakers has their own character for which i think my favorites are the Angstroms.
Although i bought the Kenwood receiver to drive the Missions and tested it with all these speaker sets, all the speakers are running off the H/K. The Kenwood will be used later. The Missions are actually not staying in the office forever but rather will form the deck audio system, being placed in the screened cedar gazebo over the summer.

The Missions sound very clear, perhaps even more articulate than the other two, but in that sense one could say they are bright. The driver is one of the first, if not the first to use a polyproylene material and rubber surround. I find them a bit bassy but i have yet to compare them to the M60s in the media room. The size of these Missions are much larger than the other two pairs so more bass is to be expected.
Overall (and for the price) they are a quality speaker.
I'm surprised more people don't look to vintage gear to start their home audio systems on small budgets.

Beautiful room. Very nice assortment of speakers and gear. OK, so you're a crazy audiophile nut type person. I feel a sudden and unexpected fraternal vibe.

I'm an enigma to my stereophile, vintage audio friend who has trouble understanding why i like and put together two channel systems and yet promote the multi channel surround experience as superior.
Can a person not belong to two camps?
It must be one or the other?

I love dvd-audio and sacd sound (no, playing a regular disc in DPL II does not remotely provide the same experience).
In that regard, or with movies in DD or DTS, i find the sound to be exceptionally greater and more immersing, but two channel sound is all i have in my office and main floor so why not build the best imaging and quality systems you can and why not do it on a budget?
Vintage gear is beautiful stuff. No plastic, beefy amp sections, real wood trims, nice lights, classic and classy!

I also build computers for fun and kicks, research, buy and support friends/family needs for help with the latest home theatre electronics, yet i don't have an iPod/ mp3 player or even own a cell phone, use a 10 year old CRT monitor, a TRACKBALL CORDED mouse, and apparently still have a 'beige' keyboard (how passe).

Go figure.

Try a nice tube amp and make yourself really happy.

Did that.
Been there.

Haven't had the chance to use the switcher for an A/B comparison unfortunately.

Hmm, maybe i should be shrinking some of these images down for those who don't own a massive CRT screen for viewing.

I'm always hesitant to buy vintage gear for fear of breakdowns, etc. I've had too many flakey old receivers. How's your luck been?

I haven't had any issues except one actually. There's the odd extra ding or scratch that wasn't noted but one seller (from ebay, one of only two times i ever bought a vintage item from ebay) REALLY didn't tell the whole truth about his gear. He neglected to mention the broken parts entirely and he stated that he cleaned the volume pots and all, and the sound was static scratchy.
The guy was a liar period.
I checked his feedback, for which he had tons, and about one in every thirty buyers complained about the same thing, that he sold them broken stuff, didn't disclose.
I managed to get some rebate amount to get the unit repaired, then i just gave it away to my stereophile friend as a side project if i recall.


Everything else i've bought has been primarily locally so i've had the chance to see it first. I've also bought through my stereophile friend and his audio network so again, reputable collectors.
Incidentally, these Mission speakers were from the CBC studios in downtown Winnipeg for 20 years, sold off on bulk auction.

Omigosh

When you go tube you go old tube all the way. Make sure to keep your pets out of that thing.

How does it sound?

Borrowed from a friend for kicks.
Again, i never A/B'd it with any SS units so i can't say whether the sound was better, worse, nicer, harsh, in any regard.
What i heard was sound of course, music and notes and such, but at the time i wanted to hear that tube vs SS 'variance' of warmth that everyone spoke of.
Without the a/b switch it was too hard to do that by ear and slow cable switching.
Overall music still sounded like music so i guess i could say it sounded just fine.

I'll ask to borrow it again sometime. I need the switcher to compare these M60s and Mission speakers anyway, again for kicks.