buying a 2150

Looking to invest in a decent two channel system. I'm plucking pieces from different manufacturers on line and came up with the following:

outlaw 2150 receiver
oppo s/e blue ray player to play cd's
orb classic 2 speakers with sub

I'm wondering what people who know more about audio than I do think about the above and whether there are other suggestions you may have.

thanks

I haven't ever heard the Orb speakers, but I will say this: your plan is very close to what my long-term plan is for my own living room stereo system. I've already got the RR2150, and I plan to eventually replace the OPPO Digital 980H with the BDP-83SE as a stereo source (for CD, DVD, DVD-A, SACD, and BD). Speakers will get an upgrade, too, but I'm not sure what I'll do there.

One thing you might consider: if you pick up a small and inexpensive display (maybe something like a 7" LCD), you could have access to the BDP-83SE's on-screen information and could then easily use it with any disc format the player supports. It doesn't have to be fancy, as all you need is a composite video connection to be able to see the menus. CD and SACD are easy without a display, but player setup is going to need a display and once you have one in place permanently you can easily enjoy other music options like DVD-Audio, DVD and Blu-ray music discs (concerts, etc.), and even MP3 files stored on CD-R, DVD-R, USB, or a file server (although that last one will require a DLNA-compatible file server and a network connection to the player).

Great decision on the receiver and player.

I have owned the classic 2 orbs with sub and paired them with an rr2150. My thoughts on the Orbs: ok if you are looking for sat's and are limited on what you can place out in the room. Orbs are nice, but they will definately be the weekest link in your proposed system. I believe the recommended crossover is 120 hz, making it very easy to localize the sub.

I had the orbs in my system for roughly 6 months and am now running in-wall's (Def Tech uiw65). Which I prefer even without a sub (although missing all below 70hz), but will likely get an Outlaw LFM-1 Compact sub eventually. Ideally I would be running bookshelf speakers, but it is in the living room and my wife is the primary user - she prefers not seeing the speakers.

thanks for the input. I at least know that I'm on the right track. Really hoped the orbs would work BUT not tied to them. Nice to get feedback from those who have the equipment. Any ideas about decent speakers for the price of the orbs (about $700 - $800)? They are going in the living room as well and I'm not sure how my wife will take to the idea of towers so they may have to be bookshelf on stands.
Thanks for the tip on a small display, it would not have occured to me until after.

I also have a set of Orb Audio mod 2's. The 886 Audessy set the crossovers at 150 for the Orbs. I have two Uber 10 inch subs and DefTech Mythos One's as my fronts. The Orbs fill out my 7.1 setup. All in all my system sounds great as a surround sound unit and as a stereo sys I finally tweaked it to sound the way I want it to. I tried other center channel speakers and found the Orbs to better present dialogue than the more popular larger ctr channel speakers. My wife wears 2 hearing aids and the Orbs were the only ctr channel speakers she could hear clearly. There seemed to be too much low frequency sound from the ctr for our taste. The Orbs were not my first choice but when my wife saw the copper Orbs she had to have them. I knew then that these speakers would sound great because they looked real good with the home decor. Such is life.

Well, I have an Orb Audio Super Eight subwoofer in my RR2150-driven two-channel system. I'm quite pleased with it. I have the sub paired with cosmetically-pleasing NHT Classic Three speakers in glossy piano-black, but unfortunately, NHT is no longer in the speaker business, so they're not available any longer. It's too bad, because I think they sound amazing with the RR2150.

I just bought a Yamaha av receiver and may be looking to sell my RR2150 if you're interested. It's in "like new" condition and is a great overall 2-channel unit.

tru blu -

NHT is back! They shut down for a few months and are now selling direct. They actually just made some new product announcements as well. I love the classic 3's, ended up buying their in-wall 3's thinking of putting them in my living room, but I had some odd stud spacing where i wanted to place it. The in-wall 3's are now in my storage room, never been hooked up.

Well, well…just checked the NHT site for the first time in months and, yes, it seems they're back in bidness. That's good news. And in that case, I'd say cetb should go over to nhthifi.com and let his wife have a look at the Classic Three bookshelves. They're in the price range he cited. My wife thinks they're pretty easy on the eyes, but to be honest, ours are somewhat hidden. Anyway, thanx for the info, ndskurfer!

thanks everyone, heading over to nhthifi.com now!

If you are going to demo the NHT's, you might also consider demoing the Outlaw Bookshelves. Especially if you are not going to get a sub.

Can someone give me advice if the 2150 receiver and Paradigm monitor 7 speakers would make a good marriage. Starting with the impedance and other important data is this a good combination or is one too much for the other?

Thanks....(in the learning phase)

The 2150 would have no issue driving Monitor 7's. Mine drove some Studio 60's for a while (until I sold them), and the RR2150 has no problem with them.

thanks bruin. do you have outlaw speakers? i wondered why no one recommended them. how to they compare with the nht's. i have heard neither. i really like the commitment these guys have to putting out a superior product but.......

I got my NHTs before Outlaw Audio got into the speaker business, but I've always been a tad curious about the Outlaw bookshelves. However, besides the fact that I own Classic Threes, I also recommended them for cosmetic (read: wife-centric) reasons, given that the Orbs were also a consideration. Not to disparage the Outlaw bookshelves at all, but they have a more traditional box design. The folks around here who own them seem to think pretty highly of them, though.

I've had my bookshelves paired with a RR2150 and Paradigm APDR-12 sub for about6 weeks now. I love the them. Amazingly big sound packed in a small container. I also own Outlaw LCR's, but have to admit that I like the warmth of the bookshelves for music better than the LCR's.

cetb: Actually, I have NHT's myself (my RR2150 is paired with NHT SB2's and and Outlaw Compact sub) and I have not heard the Outlaw bookshelves. It was my impression that the Outlaw Compact sub, provided the kick that really brought the system to life. Without the sub, I thought they were lacking. Given the good reviews by others, I would certainly listen to them, if I was going without a sub.

Interesting, 73Bruin…I've never heard much about the SB-2, but the SB-3, its big brother in the NHT line at that time (both were discontinued a few years ago), always came highly recommended. I've never matched either against the Classic Three, but I've read in more than one place that the Classic Three represented a fairly significant step beyond the SB-3. I'm currently using a sub with my Classic Threes, but the truth is that they'd be just fine without it. Just $.02…

Tru blu - I noticed the difference a sub makes when playing piano recordings. I am not sure that these are the right words but it seemed to provided a lot of presence and substance that was otherwise missing. But speaker evaluation more than anything else seems to be a highly personalized experience.

Speaking for myself only, if I was buying speakers for $500 or more, I would want to compare several brands and not just go by reviews, especially for speakers for a system that will be primarily used for audio. I would also advise cebt to look at B stock especially for the evaluation. My rational is the sound should be the same as would the return shipping, if he decides not to keep them, but if the cosmetics are good and he decides to keep them, he would have saved up to $150 between the discount and shipping. So far all of the items that I have purchased from Outlaw as B stock have been flawless.

You're absolutely right, 73Bruin…comparison-shopping is an imperative in audio, and e-commerce is making that soooo much easier. I entered the forum nearly four years ago on a speaker hunt in anticipation of my new RR2150, but even then mail-order wasn't as smooth and easy as it is now. I had to make the rounds of more audio stores than I wanted to, with a stack of CDs at the ready. My biggest concern at the time was getting adequate bass from bookshelf speakers, and I was astonished at how well the Classic Threes delivered. At the time, I had no intention of getting a sub, and if I'm completely honest, the only reason I have one now is that I got bit by the audio bug and became a tweak-asaurus. Thankfully, my wife still puts up with it.

I'm interested if the price is right. Is it still 4 sale?

Are you still interested in the 2150 receiver? I have one almost new and want to go in another direction with my system. Let me know if you are interested.

Any feedback on my earlier post? Thanks...

welty;

I am going to buy new. I live in canada so for piece of mind would like warranty attached to new. jimboyeb seems to be interested in buying it from you though. thanks for the offer

is ther3 any plans too do 230v model

This thread suggests there is hope on this subject.

Hey all. Just a follow up to first thank every one who offered input. In was invaluable. Well I just received my rr2150 and all I can say is wow! I'm still waiting for my nht speakers and am purchasing the oppo up here in canada in a month. my first impression is that this guy is HEAVY. pulled my old reciever out and into the garage for my outdoor speakers. hooked up with turntable (which we haven't been able to use properly in years) and to existing two way speakers. WOWOWOWOWOW - impressed with the sound already. Vinyl hasn't sounded this good in some time AND pulls in radio stations (yes we still listen) with reasonable clarity (I think we must live in low point in southwestern ontario) and sound. I can't wait to set up the nht's and then the oppo. Thanks again everyone for making this a lot easier for relative newbie.
For anyone considering the rr2150 stop considering and just buy it, you'll be VERY pleased

chuck

cetb:

Did you demo any of the speakers you were considering or is that step just beginning? If you demo'd anything I would be curious as to what you demo'd and your relative ratings.

hi bruin

no i didn't demo. because i live in canada, i researched a short list and the classic 3's won out. i know it's not ideal BUT the shipping, duty, taxes, exchange all combined were going to kill me. my budget was about $750-$800 which was a bit of a challenge. my short list, so you know, were orb's but i needed a sub and outlaws but i needed a sub. they took me over my budget and with the oppo in my near future i really tried to stay within budget. the nht's have arrived, have been set up and i'm VERY pleased with the sound. i play a LOT of jazz and i must say that i'm hearing things in the recordings that i haven't heard before. the bass is amazing. it doesn't dominate but rather is flat with the mid and tweet. i must say, though, that it does sound a bit tight. like opening a nice bottle of wine before it has time to breathe. i don't know if that makes any sense but i'm hoping that it softens up a bit over time.

Hey cetb. Fellow jazzbo here. I spent weeks being amazed at the new sounds I got from the RR2150/NHT pairing.

Your comment about tightness, though, reminds me of something I discovered a couple of years ago. Have you tried the NHTs with your old receiver? It's interesting to me because I realized the crispness and clarity of the RR2150 when I hooked up the NHTs to my old Yamaha for a little bit. It revealed that the Yamaha did this "warming" thing to the sound that didn't feel as spot-on as the RR2150. After a couple of days I couldn't wait to have the RR2150 back in place. I realized that the NHTs definitely convey what's fed to them.

hey tru. thanks for the feedback. maybe it is me that has to adjust to the sound not the sound adjusting me. my old receiver was a nad and it pooched so we brought a cheap sony in from outside. i have never liked the nad but it came with my wife and i was mortified by the sony, hence the upgrade. prior to that i had a b&0 beomaster and b&w speakers. lost that in a divorce so i haven't heard decent music in years. maybe i just got used to substandard equipment and have forgotten what it is like to have crisp, separated sound. i'm thrilled and am putting my order in for the oppo next week. i think i will be set for a while..............finally! again, thanks to everyone who guided me, i'm once again excited about listening to music!

Well, as folks around here keep stressing, much audio stuff is clearly subjective——and you know it when something moves you. The RR2150 has been the centerpiece of my system for awhile now, and I still just love sinking into vinyl, esp. jazz. I can't tell you how many times I've spun something like Lucky Thompson's Lucky Strikes several times in a row, just to marvel at how beautifully the RR2150/NHT pairing renders Connie Kay's cymbals. Here's to good times ahead, cetb.