OT-Sound systems

If you like the way they sound, then they are great. If you don't, then they are junk. Never buy speakers you have not listened to personally.

Speakers are way too personal to ask anyone for input unless it is in relation to quality (of the device, not the output).

One thing I might add (after spending a lot on high end speakers for many years) is that once you get them home, you seldom notice those subtle nuances that you hear in the store when doing A-B comparisons. It's a good thing to remember if you want to keep costs down.

Very true. But there is one exception of a product that is so far below par on quality of any type that it has to be mentioned here so that future audio consumers never ever make the mistake of actually purchasing....

Bose.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Wow, a topic on rec model rockets that i'm an expert on. Before and during my last 11 years as a Tripoli member (I fly at Black Rock and LUNAR) I have bought and built numerous hi-end speakers. I most recently "blew up" a pair of B&W P-6 speakers and rebuilt them (mid cones and crossovers) from JM Labs/focal cones. Usher ? Yes a newer and well reviewed company with some great products. I'm sure if you buy a pair you will love them. BUT consider, build a pair of loudspeakers yourself with Usher cones. Google "Parts Express" or any of a number of worldwide loudspeaker suppliers and you will get about 10 times the value for the $$ and effort you put into it. As far as building your own cabinets, just buy pre-made, stained or veneried. Then,buy a good solid state amp and pair that with a tube pre-amp some (like Dared) even come with a remote. Nowq you will have a giant killer of a system, that even stereo salsmane from your local high end store won't be able to touch for $5000.00 bucks

I'm curious why you recommend a tube pre-amp and a solid-state (power) amp; I'd expect the exact opposite to be optimal.

I've always been under the impression that the putative advantage that tubes have over transistors is that they don't "hard clip" when over-driven. In other words, if you drive them to the point where the output voltage approaches the supply voltage, the output waveform doesn't have a sharp transition to a square wave; instead, the gain falls off as you approach the supply voltage, resulting in a rounded transition, and a much less harsh-sounding form of distortion.

For a pre-amp, where you're dealing in voltages of around one volt peak-to-peak, and low currents due to the high-impedance inputs to the power amp, it's dead easy to design a solid-state amp with plenty of "headroom" to make sure that you never come close to over-driving the amp. Where you run into issues is in the power amp, where you need higher voltages and higher currents, due to the higher output power levels and the low-impedance speakers.

- Rick "Electronics geek" Dickinson

Well, I heard that the S520 is a gem, I listened to it and I was like, how the hell can a little speaker like that sound so big? I heard theres a mod you can have done that makes it sound even better, but where can I buy the parts kit for that kind of mod? I am not shipping the thing to America and have it take the round trip and pay 3 times the cost of the speaker just for that...

I might add that Usher has set up retail outlets throughout Taiwan... I should be able to buy cones direct from them (probably cheaper too because their products costs 3 times more overseas)

Just to reply to Rick, who must by an engineer. I'm more of an experimentalist (same with rockets) than an applied theorist. Most tube amps (Mesa boggie exempted) have a power range under 30 watts. I've had success with 250watt mono blocks paired with the Dared tube pre-amp. I can drive these suckers (and they only have a 5 1/2 inch wide cone) to very loud rock concert levels. This is my preference , to recreate a live rock concert sound on two speakers. I recently ditched all my surround sound equipment (Lexicon) and multi speakers for two rebuilt B&W's and a dedicated subwoofer run with a professional crossover. I chose a tube preamp becauce I've been down the long, cold, and expensive digital road before. It's a lot of fun listening to tubes, their quirks and faults notwithstanding. Besides, some of these new Chinese companies have produced some beautiful and reasonable priced equipment. I've also had very good luck with tube life, having run a set of 3 in the Pre for almost 2 years with just a slight loss in volume. I can hardly wait to replace the set with new matched electrohamonix set, about $28.00 bucks. Also tube preamps need no rebiasing, but tube power amps do. If you think you are audiophile you owe it to yourself to run/own some tube equipment once in your life !

Hey guys I just got the Usher AU9000 and a pair of S520 and now I can rattle the ceiling tiles off with the bass! I bet a computer speaker in the same price range (I paid like 5-600 US dollars for this setup) cant even do that... I'd test how loud it can get but I think it might attract unwanted attention. The amp can do 165 watts per channel by the way... and the thing's weights like a ton (16Kg to be exact)

Heh heh. "No highs, no lows, it must be Bose".

Bose? all midrange mudd? mmmmm could be!