[zx10guy]

I bought a set of B&O earphones after getting tired of blowing out the drivers on various Sony ear buds which I paid decent money for. Back when they were playing around with doing vapor deposition of precious stones like ruby and diamond on the driver diaphragms. Not one of them lasted more than 2 years. The B&O earphones lasted and are still working to this day.



I've since replaced the B&Os with a set of Shure SE535s in clear.



When I do some serious headphone/earbud listening, here's the setup I use:



Grado SR100 (I'll also use my Shure SE535s in this setup), Ray Samuels Predator portable headphone amp, and Sony PCM-M1 DAT recorder.

[RABAUKE]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I bought a set of B&O earphones after getting tired of blowing out the drivers on various Sony ear buds which I paid decent money for. Back when they were playing around with doing vapor deposition of precious stones like ruby and diamond on the driver diaphragms. Not one of them lasted more than 2 years. The B&O earphones lasted and are still working to this day.



I've since replaced the B&Os with a set of Shure SE535s in clear.



When I do some serious headphone/earbud listening, here's the setup I use:



Grado SR100 (I'll also use my Shure SE535s in this setup), Ray Samuels Predator portable headphone amp, and Sony PCM-M1 DAT recorder.

My boy likes to listen to tunes, always was using buds, so I bought him a set of Grado's....wanted him to appreciate quality.

[KingOfJericho]

I've thought about picking up a headphone amp (Oppo HA-2) for the B&O H6s but I shudder at the thought of having to charge it a few times a week. Also, fumbling around with an extra device on the train is no fun, especially with the added dongle I have to use to connect the headphones to the iphone 7 now. Maybe I'll buy it for myself for my birthday this year and see how it goes.

[LuxAngelEyes]

Personally in my house i have a whole home home audio setup in 3 different areas. I do this all from a Denon 7.2 stereo system. It allows for 4 speakers in Zone 1, 2 speakers in Zone 2, and then a pre-out to an amp for Zone 3.

Denon has a great phone app that you can control everything through wireless and the received can do Pandora, Spotify, HD Radio, etc right from the unit. It works great for us and we even have a amp for a Subwoofer thats mounted in the ceiling too.

Overall its pretty cost effective

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by RABAUKE

My boy likes to listen to tunes, always was using buds, so I bought him a set of Grado's....wanted him to appreciate quality.

I hear that about quality. Even though the SR100s are not the top of the line for Grado and are years old, I still like the sound quality. I guess when I say ear buds, I need to qualify it as it appears when you get into high quality sounding ear buds they're called IEMs (In Ear Monitors). The Shures I have are great sounding and it's interesting the SE535s are actually a 3 way driver configuration. On travel, I use the SE535s exclusively. At home I bounce around between the Grados and Shures.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

I've thought about picking up a headphone amp (Oppo HA-2) for the B&O H6s but I shudder at the thought of having to charge it a few times a week. Also, fumbling around with an extra device on the train is no fun, especially with the added dongle I have to use to connect the headphones to the iphone 7 now. Maybe I'll buy it for myself for my birthday this year and see how it goes.

You should explore other options out there too for portable headphone amps. Not saying the Oppo isn't a quality unit as I have 2 of their Bluray players. But the Ray Samuels Predator portable amp is quality/compact unit. It measures 3.25"(including the volume knob)x2.875"x.75"; about the size of a Tic Tac box. Haven't had any issues driving various headphones with it. I can confirm the advertised battery life of the unit which is 7 days at 8 hours a day of use. Recharge time is 2 hours. It's pricey, but it's worth it to me. I've had mine for about 6 or so years now. Still working great. Here's the link to my amp on the manufacturer's web page. He has other amps for different price points and features.

http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/predator.html

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

You should explore other options out there too for portable headphone amps. Not saying the Oppo isn't a quality unit as I have 2 of their Bluray players. But the Ray Samuels Predator portable amp is quality/compact unit. It measures 3.25"(including the volume knob)x2.875"x.75"; about the size of a Tic Tac box. Haven't had any issues driving various headphones with it. I can confirm the advertised battery life of the unit which is 7 days at 8 hours a day of use. Recharge time is 2 hours. It's pricey, but it's worth it to me. I've had mine for about 6 or so years now. Still working great. Here's the link to my amp on the manufacturer's web page. He has other amps for different price points and features.

http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/predator.html

TBH, the Oppo is the least awkward of the options I've seen. It'll strap right onto the back of my iphone and connect via a shorty cord. The leather wrap is also a nice touch as a clunky metal box will surely end up scratching my phone.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

TBH, the Oppo is the least awkward of the options I've seen. It'll strap right onto the back of my iphone and connect via a shorty cord. The leather wrap is also a nice touch as a clunky metal box will surely end up scratching my phone.

My amp came with a velvet cloth "case". You can easily use a rubber band and strap it around your phone without issue. I've traveled with the amp loose and didn't have an issue handling the dual setup. Most of the time the setup stayed in my pocket.

[P1]

So the speaker wires coming out the wall are cut really short, some have zero slack. Do I just splice the speaker wire going into the back of my amp into this? Is there a more elegant way?

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by P1et

So the speaker wires coming out the wall are cut really short, some have zero slack. Do I just splice the speaker wire going into the back of my amp into this? Is there a more elegant way?

I think the intent for the lack of speaker wire slack is to terminate them to something like this.



You would then use a small "jumper" speaker wire to connect from your amp to this connector panel.

[BEM-S4]

Here's my take - have one really high end setup in your main listening room or theater then Sonos the rest of it. My advice would be MUCH different if you were doing new construction which I assume you are not. See key question below, and I know OP already has speakers installed but making this more broad advice for others. If you're purely looking to easily add music to other rooms and have the visual impact be at an absolute minimum, with as little actual construction work as possible, I think you just hook up the Sonos Connect to your main rack then run Connect Amps in other rooms. You have a variety of speaker options. Connect Amp + Gallos will sound better than Sonos speakers for example. If you want truly invisible Sonance makes an in wall speaker that is covered with drywall paper not a fabric or metal grille. You install those, tape and paint just like a drywall patch. Those are literally invisible - well you can see them in the same way you can see the actual wall but you know what I mean. So it's really how much in wall wiring you want to do. It's not typically too bad you just pop off the baseboard, cut your hole for the speaker and run the wire down to the gap between drywall and subfloor, and tuck your cables. The reason the Sonos Connect Amp plus in wall speakers is easier than another solution is you can keep everything self contained in the single room. Running to other rooms can get complicated quickly. It all kind of depends though on your particular space.

In my home for instance I have my main listening room set up with VMPS RM30s and RM2s. Friend of mine who does really high end systems (worked for Billy Joel, Marc Anthony, etc.) set it up for me. There's a Connect there. Master Bedroom we have Sonos theater setup with soundbar, sub and a Play 1 on each nightstand. Other rooms we have Connect Amp with Gallos (Guest Room, Office, Garage) and in the living room and dining room we went with the Sonance in walls with Connect Amp. The nice thing about the Sonos system is it's easy to retrofit and as you know is really easy to operate. There are other solutions that maybe save a bit of money but in existing construction home running everything to a single point can be a pain in the ass.

So question to OP - are all the wires for your speakers that you've already installed home run someplace? And the theater is the only standalone system? That would change the answer quite a bit.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I think the intent for the lack of speaker wire slack is to terminate them to something like this.



You would then use a small "jumper" speaker wire to connect from your amp to this connector panel.

From a sound quality perspective you're better off skipping these, but if install mandates because of short wires or whatever they can be used. Generally fewer connections = better.

[P1]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I think the intent for the lack of speaker wire slack is to terminate them to something like this.



You would then use a small "jumper" speaker wire to connect from your amp to this connector panel.

Yes, and I have a bunch of Niles ones that I could use for that. However, the stud is on the RIGHT and on my left is my SnapAV WattBox. I cannot go left, and I cannot to right. I could go UP, but then the wall plate would stick out above my BDI media center. So I'm thinking of just having all the wires "fall out" of the wall, just like this:



I just need to strip the speaker cables I have now, and connect them to the speaker wires that will connect to the back of my amp.

Splicing seems the easiest way, but is it the best way?

[P1]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Here's my take - have one really high end setup in your main listening room or theater then Sonos the rest of it. My advice would be MUCH different if you were doing new construction which I assume you are not. See key question below, and I know OP already has speakers installed but making this more broad advice for others. If you're purely looking to easily add music to other rooms and have the visual impact be at an absolute minimum, with as little actual construction work as possible, I think you just hook up the Sonos Connect to your main rack then run Connect Amps in other rooms. You have a variety of speaker options. Connect Amp + Gallos will sound better than Sonos speakers for example. If you want truly invisible Sonance makes an in wall speaker that is covered with drywall paper not a fabric or metal grille. You install those, tape and paint just like a drywall patch. Those are literally invisible - well you can see them in the same way you can see the actual wall but you know what I mean. So it's really how much in wall wiring you want to do. It's not typically too bad you just pop off the baseboard, cut your hole for the speaker and run the wire down to the gap between drywall and subfloor, and tuck your cables. The reason the Sonos Connect Amp plus in wall speakers is easier than another solution is you can keep everything self contained in the single room. Running to other rooms can get complicated quickly. It all kind of depends though on your particular space.

In my home for instance I have my main listening room set up with VMPS RM30s and RM2s. Friend of mine who does really high end systems (worked for Billy Joel, Marc Anthony, etc.) set it up for me. There's a Connect there. Master Bedroom we have Sonos theater setup with soundbar, sub and a Play 1 on each nightstand. Other rooms we have Connect Amp with Gallos (Guest Room, Office, Garage) and in the living room and dining room we went with the Sonance in walls with Connect Amp. The nice thing about the Sonos system is it's easy to retrofit and as you know is really easy to operate. There are other solutions that maybe save a bit of money but in existing construction home running everything to a single point can be a pain in the ass.

So question to OP - are all the wires for your speakers that you've already installed home run someplace? And the theater is the only standalone system? That would change the answer quite a bit.

Yes, although the house was built in the early 90s, all the wiring is already put in place. I just don't think it was ever used. The speakers that are in there now are junk, and I'll replace them over time. I pulled the ones in my master bath, for example, and they are Radio Shack. I cannot have that. Any suggestions on what I should replace them with? Thinking of B&W, but that might be overkill for my bathroom and bedroom.

And yes, the home theater is standalone. So two of the ten in-ceiling speakers are taken care of. Just need to power the remaining eight. My installer is going to provide me with a quote for an eight channel SnapAV amp. But is there a more cost efficient way? Can I buy two "cheap" amps that power four speakers each? So I buy a 9.1 channel amp, and drive the eight speakers with that receiver?

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

From a sound quality perspective you're better off skipping these, but if install mandates because of short wires or whatever they can be used. Generally fewer connections = better.

I get that. But P1et said his cabling run is short. So either he has to pull out the wiring and run new cabling long enough to reach his amp or he has to do some sort of splice/junction. I'm not all that crazy of doing an actual splice to the cable and figured a terminal block would work halfway decently. For full disclosure, if you saw the pictures of my dedicated sound room, you would know I treat sound quality as a serious thing. Not many people bother to have acoustical treatments in their room let alone proper speaker placement. The speaker cabling I have is point to point. In the situation of the front speakers, the cabling is just sitting exposed on the floor. For the rears, I have them hidden in the walls through conduits with the cabling still being point to point.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by P1et

Yes, although the house was built in the early 90s, all the wiring is already put in place. I just don't think it was ever used. The speakers that are in there now are junk, and I'll replace them over time. I pulled the ones in my master bath, for example, and they are Radio Shack. I cannot have that. Any suggestions on what I should replace them with? Thinking of B&W, but that might be overkill for my bathroom and bedroom.

And yes, the home theater is standalone. So two of the ten in-ceiling speakers are taken care of. Just need to power the remaining eight. My installer is going to provide me with a quote for an eight channel SnapAV amp. But is there a more cost efficient way? Can I buy two "cheap" amps that power four speakers each? So I buy a 9.1 channel amp, and drive the eight speakers with that receiver?

So not counting the theater, all of the other rooms the wires all run into a single point in the house? For example, do you have everything running into a utility room in the basement? Or do you have wires sticking out of the walls in each room so they don't all make it back to the same place?

Theater - you have JUST ceiling speakers? A much more conventional setup for a dedicated theater is front wall with TV will have left, center, right speakers and 1 or 2 subs. Then in the ceiling you'd have 2 or 4 speakers for surround. Could also do those in stands behind sofa or rear / side walls depending on size and layout of room. You would typically use a single receiver to handle all of that with an additional sub amp. I have no idea what you are trying to accomplish with the options you mentioned. For watching movies or whatever it all has to work together you don't just have duplicates of the same thing.

Hope this doesn't come off as basic stuff or talking to you like you're dumb or anything - based on your radio shack comment I assume you had nothing to do with the design and whoever did was a total jackass and built things in the easiest / cheapest way to advertise "whole home sound" when selling the place originally.

In wall speakers really depends on budget and what you're looking to accomplish. Remember all of this is only as good as the weakest link so if you spend big $ to R&R everything with Sonance Beryllium Tweeter gear and drive it with a crap source, you're wasting your money. Some of it also driven by size of what you have now, want bigger gear, etc. Also type of construction will dictate limits to a certain extent. My brother wanted a money no object totally nuts home theater but we had to settle for the best soundbar money can buy since the wall the TV needed to go on was an exterior wall of a 200 year old part of the house that was solid granite so no way to install speakers.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by P1et

Yes, and I have a bunch of Niles ones that I could use for that. However, the stud is on the RIGHT and on my left is my SnapAV WattBox. I cannot go left, and I cannot to right. I could go UP, but then the wall plate would stick out above my BDI media center. So I'm thinking of just having all the wires "fall out" of the wall, just like this:



I just need to strip the speaker cables I have now, and connect them to the speaker wires that will connect to the back of my amp.

Splicing seems the easiest way, but is it the best way?

I'd consider going further up for a cleaner install. But I don't see why using a crimped barrel connector wouldn't work either to extend the length of the cable. I just don't really like this option for some reason. I'm not all that crazy about using a terminal block either. Maybe soldering the two ends would be an option and then use shrink tubing to insulate the exposed area.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by P1et

Yes, although the house was built in the early 90s, all the wiring is already put in place. I just don't think it was ever used. The speakers that are in there now are junk, and I'll replace them over time. I pulled the ones in my master bath, for example, and they are Radio Shack. I cannot have that. Any suggestions on what I should replace them with? Thinking of B&W, but that might be overkill for my bathroom and bedroom.

And yes, the home theater is standalone. So two of the ten in-ceiling speakers are taken care of. Just need to power the remaining eight. My installer is going to provide me with a quote for an eight channel SnapAV amp. But is there a more cost efficient way? Can I buy two "cheap" amps that power four speakers each? So I buy a 9.1 channel amp, and drive the eight speakers with that receiver?

More than happy to help you out feel free to PM me, I just can't help much until I wrap my head around exactly WTF you're dealing with which sounds like a mess.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

For full disclosure, if you saw the pictures of my dedicated sound room, you would know I treat sound quality as a serious thing. Not many people bother to have acoustical treatments in their room let alone proper speaker placement.

We should compare notes. My main listening room is over the garage and I had the electrician help me run point to point wires under the floor. My rack also has all of the cable zip ties equally spaced, tabs perfectly lined up, etc. That's bordering on OCD. Speakers are one thing, but that's only one very small piece of the puzzle. I have GIK bass traps, acoustic panels, special drapes in the room, soft furniture and carpets, upgraded cabling all that stuff. So yeah the RM30s sound awesome, but they'd sound like shit without everything else.

[P1]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

So not counting the theater, all of the other rooms the wires all run into a single point in the house? For example, do you have everything running into a utility room in the basement? Or do you have wires sticking out of the walls in each room so they don't all make it back to the same place?

Theater - you have JUST ceiling speakers? A much more conventional setup for a dedicated theater is front wall with TV will have left, center, right speakers and 1 or 2 subs. Then in the ceiling you'd have 2 or 4 speakers for surround. Could also do those in stands behind sofa or rear / side walls depending on size and layout of room. You would typically use a single receiver to handle all of that with an additional sub amp. I have no idea what you are trying to accomplish with the options you mentioned. For watching movies or whatever it all has to work together you don't just have duplicates of the same thing.

Hope this doesn't come off as basic stuff or talking to you like you're dumb or anything - based on your radio shack comment I assume you had nothing to do with the design and whoever did was a total jackass and built things in the easiest / cheapest way to advertise "whole home sound" when selling the place originally.

In wall speakers really depends on budget and what you're looking to accomplish. Remember all of this is only as good as the weakest link so if you spend big $ to R&R everything with Sonance Beryllium Tweeter gear and drive it with a crap source, you're wasting your money. Some of it also driven by size of what you have now, want bigger gear, etc. Also type of construction will dictate limits to a certain extent. My brother wanted a money no object totally nuts home theater but we had to settle for the best soundbar money can buy since the wall the TV needed to go on was an exterior wall of a 200 year old part of the house that was solid granite so no way to install speakers.

Appreciate the help here. Let me explain what I'm dealing with. Remember, we still have ten "ceiling" speakers in total that I'm trying to make work. And yes, this was probably all done when the house was being built, hence the rap Radio Shack speakers that are in there now.

Everything is wired to all ten speakers, and they work, since I rigged them all carefully one by one to my receiver by putting on temporary splices. Not clean, but at least now I know. All cables for those ten speakers come out to a central location, as per the photo I posted above. That's in my TV room/home theater room. There, I have a 3.1 system now (all B&W, powered by a Sony ES receiver). Connecting the two in-ceiling speakers in that room will make it 5.1.

Formal dining room has two in-ceiling speakers
Master bath has two in-ceiling speakers
My deck has two outdoor speakers
Master bedroom has two in-ceiling speakers

I don't need audiophile quality such as what you're describing as having in your house.

[P1]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I'd consider going further up for a cleaner install. But I don't see why using a crimped barrel connector wouldn't work either to extend the length of the cable. I just don't really like this option for some reason. I'm not all that crazy about using a terminal block either. Maybe soldering the two ends would be an option and then use shrink tubing to insulate the exposed area.

I talked to my installed, and he doesn't do them either. They look nice, but it's just another point of failure. So I think I'll go the crimping/splicing route and shrink tubing the connections.

Any good suggestions for "bulk" speaker wire? I have AudioQuest for my B&W speakers, but am not going to spend hundreds of dollars in extending what is probably bottom-of-the-barrel speaker wire.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

We should compare notes. My main listening room is over the garage and I had the electrician help me run point to point wires under the floor. My rack also has all of the cable zip ties equally spaced, tabs perfectly lined up, etc. That's bordering on OCD. Speakers are one thing, but that's only one very small piece of the puzzle. I have GIK bass traps, acoustic panels, special drapes in the room, soft furniture and carpets, upgraded cabling all that stuff. So yeah the RM30s sound awesome, but they'd sound like shit without everything else.

Most definitely. If I were to do the room again, I may do some more things to help deaden the room some more. I didn't have the builder finish the basement so I carved out a dedicated sound room from the available space. While I haven't been anal about spacing the cabling and such, I did some other things which have been equally OCD. I had the electrician put in a 100A subpanel. From there I have 3 20A dedicated power feeds into the room. The lights and regular wall power outlets are on different 15A circuits. Two of the three 20A circuits have Equitech balanced power transformers hard wired next to the sub panel. One feed is dedicated for the two Velodyne subs and the other feed is dedicated to the Bryston 6B-ST amp. The remaining 20A circuit has a rack form factor Equitech 20A balanced power transformer which I plug everything else in to.

Other things in the room are 5/8" drywall with all walls and ceilings filled in with insulation and solid core doors.

Very pleased with the final acoustical results.