Buy now or wait???

[jamesbond007]

So a friend of mine just had a baby and now that she's crawling around, he wants to get rid of some stuff and make some space in his basement for his daughter and her growing number of toys.

He's selling a 7.1 DIY speaker system, A/V rack, Denon AVR-3801 (110Wx7@8ohm), and lots of accessories. The drivers are from Audax, several sets of components and DIY enclosures. Shelves are wood (nonresonant) and also spiked, so it's ideal for turntable placement, which I do plan to get eventually.

1. Qty (1) Audax Three-way center channel
2. Qty (2) AudaxTwo-way MTM fronts
3. Qty (4) Audax Two-way MT rear surrounds
4. Qty (4) Black/silver metal speaker stands- can be sand or shot filled
5. Qty (1) NHT 12" sub w/KG-5230 300watt sub amp

I enjoy audio a lot and consider myself to be an audiophile wannabe. I say wannabe because I can't exactly afford my own dampened listening room, but I do have a custom stereo in my car (Eclipse HU/Boston Acoustics/JL) that sounds pretty amazing and I listen to a variety of Sennheiser headphones I have with my mini3 amp and cMoys, depending on what source I have and where I am in the apartment.

That said, I live in an apartment and really wouldn't be able to enjoy this equipment for a about 4 years when I get my house. (I'm on a saving plan for downpayment and such, so it will happen) Would purchasing this equipment now be a total waste? Just buy it when I get my house? My friend is asking for $700 which seems like an incredible deal. My roommates and I have a projector and home theater setup in the livingroom, but we're using some tiny-ass Klipsch (think ProMedia series) speaker kit that was only a few hundred bucks. They sound like shit and are way too small for the size of livingroom we have, but we have a nice Yamaha RX-V2700 receiver to power them out there (does HDMI). We could use the 7 speakers and the sub out there for now and I'll use the Denon in my bedroom. Granted, I wouldn't be able to turn it up much...

I need AT's help - do I buy now or just wait for something later in life? Like I said, it's a lot of power and sound for an apartment, but I will surely utilize it later when I get my house. Thoughts? Ideas? Yoyo, how long could I expect these speakers/drivers to last? They're currently ~3 years old.

Mains and Center
Surrounds/Presence
Sub Front
Sub Rear

All MDF is 1.5" - the sub weighs in around 200-250lbs, it's spiked. The mains/centers/rears are all about 14" deep, 1.5" MDF again, polly-filled. Sub and center (I believe mains as well) have baffles for air control inside. Ported. Rears are sealed.

Thanks,
~Travis

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Speakers should last a long time. I'm not a DIY speakers guy (I guess I'll add a "yet" to that), so I am not familiar with the quality of Audax.

Have you listened to them and liked how they sound in his environment? Did he follow a plan for making them, or are they his own creation?

$700 for a 7.1 setup built that well + stands + rack + a receiver is a good deal.

If you're dissatisfied with the current speakers (sounds like the quintet set?) and like the sound of these DIY ones, then this should be a good move. Being 3 years old should not be an issue. If something does go wrong with them, your friend might even be able to fix them for you?

 

[jamesbond007]

Yoyo, thanks for the fast reply.

From what I'm told, Audax is a sister company (or at least related to) the Focal brand of engineers. Focal is really big in the car audio industry and noted for their accurate reproduction of sound.

The sound is very neutral and is neither too bright nor too bassy. The speakers are meant to be paired with a subwoofer that does well in the higher of the low frequencies (think 60-120Hz), which is where the NHT does very well. I enjoy a brighter sound, so they needed a bit of tuning to boost the treble, but that was it. The sound is very accurate and you can hear the micro details or oddities in tracks through these speakers. (lips of the vocalist singing, breathing, a fan in the background, etc) This may be partially due to the Denon receiver, however, but usually you need a good pair of cans and headphone amp to hear such details.

If something went wrong, I'd likely be able to fix them myself, but yes, he could easily help me as we're great local friends.

Now I just need to find out what to do with the coffee tables in the livingroom. The subwoofer could easily replace one.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Yoyo, thanks for the fast reply.

From what I'm told, Audax is a sister company (or at least related to) the Focal brand of engineers. Focal is really big in the car audio industry and noted for their accurate reproduction of sound.

The sound is very neutral and is neither too bright nor too bassy. The speakers are meant to be paired with a subwoofer that does well in the higher of the low frequencies (think 60-120Hz), which is where the NHT does very well. I enjoy a brighter sound, so they needed a bit of tuning to boost the treble, but that was it. The sound is very accurate and you can hear the micro details or oddities in tracks through these speakers. (lips of the vocalist singing, breathing, a fan in the background, etc) This may be partially due to the Denon receiver, however, but usually you need a good pair of cans and headphone amp to hear such details.

If something went wrong, I'd likely be able to fix them myself, but yes, he could easily help me as we're great local friends.

Now I just need to find out what to do with the coffee tables in the livingroom. The subwoofer could easily replace one.

Tell him if you won't buy it, I would

I believe they are a sister company (or owned by JM-Labs). I can't seem to find confirmation from 5 min of google searching though. Focal is my personal favorite brand of speakers, and while I doubt they are the *exact* same drivers they are most likely similar in reproduction of sound.

If you don't like your current setup, see about selling it on CL for some $$ to help offset these. It's a step up IMO, and even if something goes wrong it's not too difficult to get help to repair them (even if your friend bails on ya).

 

[jamesbond007]

The Klipsch Quintets and the Yamaha receiver are not mine - they belong to a roommate. Although he likes the Klipsch, they're just complete crap for use in a large livingroom and I would have never bought them in the first place. My motto is, "buy it right or buy it twice".

The way I see it is we can use these (extreme light use in the apartment, obviously) for a few years until I move out and get my house. This is, of course, assuming we don't get kicked out for loud music. I will have a dedicated listening room (wife will have absolutely no say in this) and it will be setup properly! I'm drooling already...

DisgruntledVirus, would you really want to drive up from Ohio? The $700 price is a 'friend-only' price. If he sells to others locally, it'd probably be around the $1,000 mark or more. Just FYI.

If push came to shove, I would buy the rack at least (he's selling that seperately for only $50!) and it's insanely heavy-duty. I know that would be usable in any future setup of mine.

Yoyo, didn't you have some cherry-finish DIY? Dayton kits? Velodyne?

EDIT: Seeing as the plate amp and NHT/Madi woofer are $360 new, I'd be totally retarded not to buy these things! Link

 

[Excelsior]

From what i understand (I am DIY guy btw) Audax is pretty solid. The only reason they aren't being used much anymore is they ceased production a while back (if not all production, most).

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Yoyo, didn't you have some cherry-finish DIY? Dayton kits? Velodyne?

I'm working on a DIY rack
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/Fit_Done1.JPG

I did a DIY screen
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/sp...20Screen/4%20Finished/

I replaced the crossovers on my speakers
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/sp...%20Old%20Crossover.JPG

But no DIY speakers yet

 

[EvilYoda]

Considering that he's selling you a complete sourceless system for $700, it's not too bad of a deal. That said, DIY has very little resale value unless it's a very popular design using high-end drivers. The 3801 was a fine receiver, but it's not worth very much these days, considering how old it is (I have a 3805 that I'd sell, if I thought I could get any decent money for it). The rack and the speaker stands don't look too be too good of quality, but they look sturdy. The speaker construction looks to be pretty simple, but well done.

Audax drivers were pretty good though, I would have put them as a second tier company (with Seas, Scanspeak, Dynaudio, Focal, as top tier...the last two no longer supply to the DIY crowd).

Overall, I don't think you're getting a great deal, but I do think that you're getting good speakers (I'm assuming they employ popular crossover designs), and cabinets are not cheap. They'll sound better than anything you'd get retail, but that's not to say that you couldn't build something better if you were to try DIY yourself.

I don't think my reply helped you one bit, sorry!

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
The Klipsch Quintets and the Yamaha receiver are not mine - they belong to a roommate. Although he likes the Klipsch, they're just complete crap for use in a large livingroom and I would have never bought them in the first place. My motto is, "buy it right or buy it twice".

The way I see it is we can use these (extreme light use in the apartment, obviously) for a few years until I move out and get my house. This is, of course, assuming we don't get kicked out for loud music. I will have a dedicated listening room (wife will have absolutely no say in this) and it will be setup properly! I'm drooling already...

DisgruntledVirus, would you really want to drive up from Ohio? The $700 price is a 'friend-only' price. If he sells to others locally, it'd probably be around the $1,000 mark or more. Just FYI.

If push came to shove, I would buy the rack at least (he's selling that seperately for only $50!) and it's insanely heavy-duty. I know that would be usable in any future setup of mine.

Yoyo, didn't you have some cherry-finish DIY? Dayton kits? Velodyne?

EDIT: Seeing as the plate amp and NHT/Madi woofer are $360 new, I'd be totally retarded not to buy these things! Link

Yeah I wouldn't drive that far for that @$1k I was saying 1/2 joking lol

Yes you would.

 

[EvilYoda]

Hmmm, I guess I overlooked the sub. If you watch DIY pricing, a used plate amp and sub driver won't carry much resale, but still, with a well-built cab, that alone makes it a pretty good deal.

I retract my earlier statement.