Home speakers

[Botnst]

I have a small room with a 37" Sony Bravia to which I would like to attach some old speakers .... BIG old speakers. From when bigger was better.

Anyway, the room is about 12 x 16 so I don't need a lot of energy nor would surround sound be especially effective (as I understand it). I figure 40 watts/ch should push the speakers (wired tunable with a potentiometer for woofer, mid and tweeter in a cabinet, 2 cabinets). the speakers were a gift and I haven't taken off the screen to see the speakers but the previous owner said they were tunable. Hell, free is tunable, right?

All comments will help. Thanks.

[tbomachines]

I'm not sure what you're asking...you'll need a receiver or an amp though unless they are powered. I've got some old Sony Hifi speakers in my living room (TV) and they sound fantastic hooked to an ancient aiwa receiver (thrift store $20)

Tunable = crossovers?

[Botnst]

$20 amplifier! That's my goal!

[KarTek]

"Tunable" probably means there is at least one level control on the back of the speaker that controls the volume of the horn/mid/tweet. At the office we have test gear that I run when setting up commercial audio systems - basically, a device "plays" a calibrated sound through the system and a mic hooked to an analyzer shows the response of the system.

In the real world, you can pretty much make the adjustments by ear and it will sound pretty good. For an amplifier, look for one that has an output greater than or equal to half the power handling capacity of the speakers.

[alabbasi]

Craigslist has a pile. I bought a set of Technics floor standing speaker and a Marantz amp for about $150. Don't forget to buy decent cables and interconnects. They make a difference.

[daveuz]

Hooking a turntable to it? Many newer receivers do not have a phono pre out on them.

Vintage audio equipment available

[E150GT]

Originally Posted by daveuz

Hooking a turntable to it? Many newer receivers do not have a phono pre out on them.

Vintage audio equipment available

I learned that the hard way. You can buy them though for about $50 online

[Botnst]

Originally Posted by alabbasi

Craigslist has a pile. I bought a set of Technics floor standing speaker and a Marantz amp for about $150. Don't forget to buy decent cables and interconnects. They make a difference.

Wait, you mean zip cord isn't good enough? Dang, things have changed.

Seriously. Back in the olden days I'd just buy however many feet of lamp cord and wire it up. Later somebody told me that polarity made a difference (now you know the level at which I happily reside).

[Botnst]

I used to have vinyl records. My ear can't tell vinyl from another recording type. 60% upper-range right ear hearing loss.

[teezer]

here's the thorn in your thinking when going with the older stuff

volume control

you've got to position the receiver within arm's length to be able to deal with the volume differences, then run the speaker wires

the remote tv mute or sound level button doesn't control sound anymore



..

[MS Fowler]

The foam surround deteriorates with age, reducing low freq response. Maybe "killing" the low freq response would be more accurate. No problem--LOTS of sites online that sell replacement foam. I installed replacement foam on an old set of Fishers and was amazed at the difference. Not expensive, either. Pretty simple repair, just shim the voice coil to keep it centered, and glue the new foam. After the glue dries, remove the shims.

[tbomachines]

Originally Posted by teezer

here's the thorn in your thinking when going with the older stuff

volume control

you've got to position the receiver within arm's length to be able to deal with the volume differences, then run the speaker wires

the remote tv mute or sound level button doesn't control sound anymore



..

Completely depends on setup.

[Jim H]

Originally Posted by Botnst

Wait, you mean zip cord isn't good enough? Dang, things have changed.

Seriously. Back in the olden days I'd just buy however many feet of lamp cord and wire it up.

I may make a difference, but it takes a Golden Ear to tell the difference.

Happily, I'm old enough and have probably lost enough hearing from playing an listening to loud music that it does not make a difference.

Go ahead, use zip cord, and pretend you can't hear anyone who tells you otherwise.

Later somebody told me that polarity made a difference (now you know the level at which I happily reside).

Again, it can make a difference, but it also depends on where you are relative to the speakers...

I put the 'rib' wire of the zip cord on the 'red' or "+' terminal of the receiver and speaker, put the other wire on the other terminal, turn it on and enjoy.

[G-Benz]

Lots of cheap, old gear on ebay that will suffice for your needs. Also, many are old enough to still have the phono input required for turntables.

Just keep the speakers away from the TV. Older speakers aren't shielded and those large magnets might skew TV performance.

As far as interconnects...it could turn into a "synth vs. dino" discussion. Interconnects are important when you are dealing with long runs between really serious class-A components. High-end connections are only useful if the rest of the gear is of the same caliber. Otherwise, it's analagous to a casual first-time rider buying a $10,000 competition bike.

[MTI]

While I admire and sometimes covet older audio gear . . . for most folks, you're much better off with modern technology that is much more capable and efficient than trying to hold onto the past. For the few times you need a turntable . . . why not one of the newer USB platters? For most of us, our music is either on CD or digital audio files (MP3, ACC, MP4 . . ) or we stream digital content which is well suited to modern playback systems.

Bot, if your Bravia has audio out RCA (line level), then you can drive the speakers through a small integrated amp, but you'll be using the volume control on the amp to adjust volume, so the amp will need it's own remote. If you want to use the tv remote, then you'll be wiring from either a headphone jack or outboard speaker terminals and then to a small power amp, which would drive the speakers.