Painful Reality Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 OK... Seems that my initial assessment was a bit rough for this cheap POS. While I still think this amp is uninvolving, turdish and yet another proof that you should never trust what you read but only trust what you hear... I'll admit that this $130 thingie beats some quite more expensive offering. I just realized that after setting the foot in an Hi-Fi audio store (a thing I haven't done in a loooong while). I didn't remember how much the typical HiFi range between $1000 and $3000 sucked (Conrad Johnson, Musical Fidelity, etc.). Another thing I didn't remember was how boxy minimonitors do sound. I wanted to buy a pair for a temporary replacement for my CWs (or Lamhorns) but the sound was so crappy that even the CW and their horrible integration in my small listening room is still better than what came out of these small things. Moral of the story the Trend still sucks but it might be a relief that costlier amps also sucks. the CWs suck in a small room but minimonitors under $3000 sucks even more.don't bring your 2 years old daughter with you when you go to a HiFi store (unless you give her a sedative). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 What I find most amazing is that your daughter is already two years old. Hope all is going well tis you and your family Jeff. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Don't beat around the bush... tell us how you really feel! [] Hope things are going well for you in your new place... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 27, 2007 Author Share Posted September 27, 2007 Hope things are going well for you in your new place... Things are pretty good actually. The weather of Perth is incredible. Life should remain good until the mining boom goes bust. Some dowsides are: horribly bright rooms due to the masonery used everywhere even in interior walls. awful line power fluctuating anywhere from 220V to 260V. It's power conditioner country if you want to use tubes. incredibly expensive houses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 "Another thing I didn't remember was how boxy minimonitors do sound. I wanted to buy a pair for a temporary replacement for my CWs (or Lamhorns) but the sound was so crappy that even the CW and their horrible integration in my small listening room is still better than what came out of these small things." Yup. I love my Cornwalls, but this room is to small for them to work proper. Oh well...I won't live here forever... OTOH, the old audio buddy and I picked up some B&C 12CXB coaxials. I put a pair in 3.5 cabinets and have them port tuned to the low 30's, and cobbled up a crossover network copied from the original XO-2 network or whatever. They ain't fully optimum, and are tuned about 20 hertz lower than the Fs. But they cruise right on down.....TS parameters have their place, but the aren't god.... Now these speakers integrate with the room much much better. You can get them back far enough to get a good stereo image. Where I always seem like I'm jammed up against the Cornwalls and can't get far enough back. Hell, coaxials may not even float your boat for all I know. But I doubt I could have done better for 200 bucks. And I never could get into bookshelf/mini-monitors. They always sound compressed when pushed a little, never efficient, and never really have any decent bass. I like a speaker to do at least 40 Hz with a little authority. What's the little Trends digi-amp sound like on you fullrange Lamhorns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmasonry! I'm so sick of drywall I could puke. I want NO drywall in my next house. Hi Jeff. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
consistent Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 So Painful, you're in Perth. That's where I live! Send me an email. I am waiting for the 'little amp' to arrive but I am going to hook up to a 12v battery and see what pops out! Told its better than the crap from the wall. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 Hell, coaxials may not even float your boat for all I know. But I doubt I could have done better for 200 bucks. And I never could get into bookshelf/mini-monitors. They always sound compressed when pushed a little, never efficient, and never really have any decent bass. I like a speaker to do at least 40 Hz with a little authority. What's the little Trends digi-amp sound like on you fullrange Lamhorns? Coax are cool. I usually love Tannoys. The Trends did sound like crap with the 16 ohms load from the Lamhorns. Dean judiciously made me remember that digital and solid state amps don't like high impedence load (V=RI and all). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmasonry! I'm so sick of drywall I could puke. I want NO drywall in my next house. Greg Then go for the old fashioned wood planks covered by plaster... That is what I had in my best sounding room ever. Masonry walls sounds like shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 So Painful, you're in Perth. That's where I live! Send me an email. I am waiting for the 'little amp' to arrive but I am going to hook up to a 12v battery and see what pops out! Told its better than the crap from the wall. Cheers I arrived in Perth early February. Cool place but unrealistic price of houses. Other than that, it's a paradise for a die hard cyclist. I'll hit perfection when I'll get a Perth based job and ditch the fly in fly out (though 4-3 ain't that bad). Crap from the wall is an understatement. I've had better line voltage in Senegal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Coax are cool. I usually love Tannoys. The Trends did sound like crap with the 16 ohms load from the Lamhorns. Dean judiciously made me remember that digital and solid state amps don't like high impedence load (V=RI and all). Ok, cool. Some folks don't like coaxials, or dual-concentric speakers. The old timer audio buddy had a pair of 12" Tannoy monitor golds for about 30 years, and then pawned them off when cash got tight and they started fetching large prices. He came across a B&C 12CXT years later and started raving about it. I visited once and listened to it, and really liked it. In the same visit, he had a pair of little Tannoy moni-monitor's witth a 6 inch dual-concentric. And a 10" Tannoy driver. These were newer versions of Tannoy speakers. We compared the one little mini-monitor, and the 10" Tannoy mounted in around a 4 foot cabinet to the B&C 12CXT in the same size cabinet. Both port tuned to 40 hertz or so. Little quickie listening comparisions, without much relevance, but enough to get a idea...... The little 6 inch mini-monitor sounded pretty good, but I'm not much for bookshelf speakers.......just a glorified multimedia speaker IMO..... The 10" Tannoy had good bass and lower midrange, but the mid and top was just a bit more ragged compared to the B&C 12CXT. Maybe some crossover work could solve that. The Tannoy tweeter assemblies are rather cheap compared to the B&C 12CXT, just a little plastic tube thing over the diaphragm. The B&C was more refined in the way of sound and looks. A old EV 15" with a T-35 tweeter came pretty close to the 12CXT, just a little rougher sounding. I wanted a pair, but at 270 bucks a driver, I couldn't really swing that. Then the old timer got a pair of B&C 12CXB's, and told me that he like these better than the 12CXT. He kept pumping me to buy a pair, and I jumped for 200 bucks total. Sans crossovers. These use a little more sensitive compression driver for the tweeter, no cheap plastic tube. A concave aluminum horn(mylar diaphragm) behind the woofer....The B&C 12CXB response graph is more ragged looking than the 12CXT. But they sound good to me, and I do pad the tweeters a bit. Dan loves his 12CXB's.......he always complained the Tannoy 12" monitor golds had a peak at 70 Hz that he had a rough time taming or couldn't knock down enough to keep him happy. He figures the B&C 12CXB is just as good as a monitor gold, maybe a little better. I didn't know the Lamhorn drivers were 16 ohms......that probably turned out a little thin sounding... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/kingrex/t20.html http://www.audiomagus.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage_modern/product_id,43/category_id,2/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,27/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Clipping a digital amp never sounds good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cut-Throat Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Another thing I didn't remember was how boxy minimonitors do sound. I wanted to buy a pair for a temporary replacement for my CWs (or Lamhorns) but the sound was so crappy that even the CW and their horrible integration in my small listening room is still better than what came out of these small things. OK - I also found that the Trends amp stomped all over the Monarchy Monoblocks I had. As far as Mini monitors go - Pick up a pair of the Tekton Design 4.5 Single Driver Speakers for under $500 a pair - They are the Bomb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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