This is dependent on what you listen to. With most music sure, but with some electronic music it just can’t really be played without subwoofers (when thinking of “normal” speakers like most of us might have)
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Yes that’s entirely fair.
I suppose, if you want more bass QUANTITY, you simply add 4/8/16 subs instead of 1. But this principle doesn’t really work with mids or treble? 
My current feeling is that I assume I would prefer more small woofers/midrange speakers, than several subs.
Or you could treat the low end which is probably the most effective way of doing it over multiple subs. But that would be a big investment (likely around 10k to address 70% to 80%) and you’d have to sacrifice a lot of space, which most people aren’t willing to do. That and most people don’t have dedicated listening rooms.
Naturally, if you do treat the low end, it would also help with mids and treble because you’d be addressing the fundamental issues present in a small room (aka room modes), and that in turn will carry favorably to the harmonics
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Are there people you can hire to jam out your room for you? Surely you have to take measurements, and run the virtual room through a simulator, to figure out what ideal/perfect is. Is there…an app for that lol?
Yeah I’m sure you can hire someone or get a consultation but there’s some nonsense and half-truths that they like to tell people so I’d at least do my homework a bit. It’s easy to sell panels that look the part rather than perform how they should.
Acoustic fields (yt channel) is one that I’d personally look at if I had to treat my own room for complete treatment; they use activated carbon and diaphragmatic absorption to tackle the low end (has the most horsepower per sq foot). You can get a free consultation from them and they’ll most likely have a database with your room dimensions on there that they’ve gathered over the years from the rooms they’ve treated and built.
There’s probably software you could use to do all that but I haven’t used any so no comment there. There are apps in the app store or google play store that you could use to get a very general overview of how your room responds while music is playing. Just type in “real time analyzer” and some results should pop up.
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What do you guys rec for stereo or 2.1 amps around $2K? A volume knob would be nice, but of course not necessary. A built-in CD player would be cool, too, but I don’t want too much integration going on lol.
Teac still makes some good CD players, they also have some great older models people seek out for their performance. Same goes with OppO units, people still seek them out. Personally i have used an older Sony PS3 and keep a spare around as a back-up, problem is that requires a screen to use.
After i purchased my Innuos streamer, i ripped all of my CD’s to the hard drive with the built in ripper and have done the same with the few new CD’s i acquired the psst few years, it’s allot simpler than integrating a CD player in any of my systems, this way i have access to the songs across all my systems instead of limiting myself to one room in the house.
There is information out there on CD players, there are plenty of audiophiles that still use them. My own knowledge is limited and i have not needed to research the info in several years once i decided to finally y accept renting my music monthly via paid for streaming services.
SACD recorded disks seem to be the choice of the more hard-core audiophile folks but i won’t pretend to understand the technology or which manufactures had the go-to players “back in the day”.
I don’t think i have stumbled across a combination unit ever, not even in the vintage shops i find myself in when traveling… I’m not on the hunt though so not noticing what’s available is simply lack of focus on my part.
In my opinion a more complete unit with built in DAC, lots of inputs for use with HT, turntable, cd player etc. plenty of outputs, high power and general flexibility seems exactly what you are looking for.
Call my dealer, Arizona HiFi if you are interested in a price quote, he just started carrying the brand due to demand and would also listen to your other desires. He also has a great selection of speakers, some of which might fit your requirements and desires. 
Happy hunting, hope you are at least enjoying the HP’s. 
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I like the Hegel H120 used for that price
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I’ve never heard one… But from what I recall, the technology seemed pretty dead, for some reason. Wonder if my local store would have any, and a player hooked up.
Oh, the review amp(Questyle CMA 15) came in today! Time for a lot more headphone testing lol.
Looks nice & clean & simple! 
But only 3 feet is weeeeeeeeeird
I have been totally infatuated with higher sensitivity speakers for several years now and part of the reason is because they happen to work really well for my particular situation and home life. In my view one of the most important aspects of a speaker is that you be able to enjoy listening to it when the timing is good for you. Unfortunately for me that time is usually early in the evening when activity in my home is winding down and getting close to bedtime.
I desire a speaker that can give me a full rich sound, great resolution, and most importantly feel “alive” to my ears and do all of this at a low enough volume that i get a great experience and can do this daily without annoying my neighbors and my missus. 
Through trial and error, (nobody ever recommended an appropriate speaker to me because i never knew what to ask for nor what my own desires would ultimately be) i learned to appreciate the low volume, high dynamic capabilities offered up by higher sensitivity speakers. I do blend subwoofers into the bottom end, it’s not always necessary but a preference for either a richer fuller sound or simply to get the spacial aspects of the presentation more in line with my full, rich bodied preference.
As the years go by i find myself more often focusing on the sound quality. It’s not always about just relaxing and taking a nap, I find myself craving certain qualities present in certain musical genres. I’ve developed a real love of deep rich female & male vocals, other times it’s all about various instruments or I’ll get into the mood for the more etherial, light, vocals of some female artists. It’s some real picky, mood dependant musical whims I get into and certain combinations of equipment just seem to be more appropriate for its reproduction, the synergy is simply better. SET, DHT amps, tube based pre-amps, sometimes Class A amps, are my weapons of choice and since the ones I own are all lower power i have found that they mate well and tend to synergize best with higher sensitivity speakers.
Anything else i say beyond this would be all subjective opinions, the sky is the limit in this hobby and if you have enough $$$$, some manufacturers are happy to take you all the way into space and beyond. 
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Quite complex topic 
I’m a 2-way listener only and do have currently 3 complete different speaker setups. YES, 100% agree, if you go for high efficiency speakers >95db they best match with SET.
My “commercial” speaker has 88dB efficiency, but powered with 2x600Watt (solid state, A/B) 4Ohm they also sound pretty good.
On the other hand AMP matching is the most challenging part in my opinion. Listening to fullrange speakers is for me currently the most musical way.
Also I’ve to say, I’ve listened to several interesting DIY speakers and many of them sound 10xtimes better than average commercial speaker. So I’ve also stopped bying commercial ones. Just went to a bigger audio show here in Germany/Hamburg and was blown away how bad certain “high end speakers” sound (way beyond 70€k speakers) really bad - YES their look was awesome!!
Also going complete back to basic speaker/amp design, where real music listening started: go Mono Highly recommend Eduards DIY channel, very bright guy:
Rgds, Gerald
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How do you guys feel about Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 XD($4.8K) against bookshelf competition, or $2K range speakers, without sub?
Not compareable…I’m not a big bookshelf fan , to many crossover magic and massive dampening needs to happen …most Le Petit DIY variants (recommend Tangband W4 2421) destroy 3k€ bookshelf’s
The Harbeth XD is an amazing speaker and NOT a typical harbeth one. So get a chance to listen…it is a really good ‘neutral’ speaker! Don’t forget, efficiency is not that great 87dB, so not an good candidate for SET Provide 80/100Watt per channel and you’ll be happy.
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Are you able to audition them? @Veritas and I both had the C7s 40th. I think we mention it in the Harbeth thread. We both ended up changing to the 30.2s. I have limited bookshelf speaker experience to compare them to. At 4.8k, it is tough to recommend when the 2-5k bookshelf market is very competitive. Depending on what sound you are looking for, I think the C7s move slightly away from the BBC sound. It was the first speaker Alan Shaw created for Harbeth and maybe the last one to be updated. If you are interested in C7s, I would recommend looking for used 40th. Much of the innovations in the 40th were worked into the XDs, but with lesser binding posts. If you have the room, i think you’ll want a sub. Yes, 87db efficiency is something yo consider.
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I’ve seen the XDs for sub 3K, but mostly in cherry. The 40th only come in tamo ash.
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They look bookshelf-sized-ish I could get those on my desk, no problem. But they NEED that special stand?
They are quite large and heavy. I would not recommend having them on your desk. Anything that is not a floorstander is called a bookshelf and you should not actually place them in a bookshelf.
They are absolutely not lol but they sound fantastic