Box count

twinkletoes

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Could you live without the clutter of separate boxes? or is it part of the fun? Lately, I've been eyeing up the "all-in-one" active speaker, some smarter than others and i must admit the allure of fewer boxes and cables on show is starting to entice me. Anyhow I've been looking at JBL's new line of active speakers specifically the 4329p. Regardless of what anybody thinks of them could you live without the box count
 

twinkletoes

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Oppo DVD 105D, Iota AVXP 7-230 Power amplifier, REL sub, Kef Reference speakers, WDMyCloud. That's as few as I can get down to.
Thats still quite the count, mine is an intergrated, cd player, dac, Apple TV currently no streamer but use an iPad or computer/laptop.

Got to admit it’s all starting to grate on me a little these days.
 

Noddy

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An active version of my system would cost £1,000 more. And if an amp blows, the entire system is kaputt. I only really have one amp and speakers, the Wiim Mini is hockey puck sized.
 

Gray

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could you live without the box count
Probably could and maybe I should, as there are a few rarely used boxes in my cabinet.

I've never had to concern myself with how things look though. Over the last 45 years I've had full sized, half width, standard height, taller, black, silver and grey boxes, sometimes all at once 🤪.

The amp I've most recently bought has an integrated DAC. But I didn't need it to have one.
I can see the appeal of the 'all in one', but having all the eggs in one basket doesn't appeal to me.
I forsee possible repair price shocks hitting a few owners of 'lifestyle' products - when the do it all decides to do nothing.
 
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twinkletoes

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Probably could and maybe I should, as there are a few rarely used boxes in my cabinet.

I've never had to concern myself with how things look though. Over the last 45 years I've had full sized, half width, standard height, taller, black, silver and grey boxes, sometimes all at once 🤪.

The amp I've most recently bought has an integrated DAC. But I didn't need it to have one.
I can see the appeal of the 'all in one', but having all the eggs in one basket doesn't appeal to me.
I forsee possible repair price shocks hitting a few owners of 'lifestyle' products - when the do it all decides to do nothing.
Thanks Gray for your thoughts, i can see the planned obsolesce being a serious issue in a few years for some folks, especially with the more computerised types of products like kef as you're not only at the mercy of the product but that of APP support.

The "lost the lot" line of thought in regard to product failure would worry me, but having said that not many products are designed to be worked on and repaired and difficult to do so as spares aren't that readily abundant.
 
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twinkletoes

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The Oppo has a 7.1 channel output, as well as 3 USB inputs and a DAC for optical and coaxial. Also has a built in streamer and headphone amp. If the Swiss army did DVD players instead of knives ...

Just a pity than nobody makes anything quite like it these days. Unless you know different ...
pretty much an all-in-one then! no a very forward thinking product.
 

DCarmi

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There's a possibility of one of the kids may be moving out around the end of the Summer. This means the attic room becomes a little used guest room and a office/man cave. Obviously I'll need to populate it with some audio stuff (and a comfy chair).

I was thinking of an all-in-one but now I think I'll take the Marantz PM6006 and companion CD player upstairs and replace them with something different downstairs (where the vinyl is). We'll see how things work out later...

So basically not all-in-one.
 

npxavar

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The Oppo has a 7.1 channel output, as well as 3 USB inputs and a DAC for optical and coaxial. Also has a built in streamer and headphone amp. If the Swiss army did DVD players instead of knives ...

Just a pity than nobody makes anything quite like it these days. Unless you know different ...
Unfortunately it does not have a phono input, nor a stereo input to accommodate a turntable that has an integrated phono stage. If someone wants to add a turntable, he will probably end up with a stack of boxes.
 

npxavar

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And a variable output.....
Try Reavon X200 ...... :cool:
The Technics SA-600 is a CD player/Streamer that is more versatile in stereo inputs, adding phono and line inputs on top of what Oppo has. It also ... includes an amp.

I would prefer that it had a pre-out though, I don't think you can power KEF Reference speakers with it.
 

matthewpianist

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I have both a separates system (separate t/t, CD, streamer, integrated and speakers), and the Technics Ottava SC-C70Mk2 all-in-one (speakers built in). The separates set-up is notably superior as an all-round listening experience, but if I could only have the Technics I would still very much enjoy the music, and I wouldn't feel as if I was hard done to.
 
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twinkletoes

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I'm surprised, people seem to refer to all-in-ones such as Naim unit-style products, doesn't seem many if any have jumped on the active streaming speakers like the kef style products. More interesting still is many seem to see these products as lifestyle products. There seems to still be a real thirst for separates still, though the industry will have us believe otherwise. Or is it that the boy and girls that like the separate boxes are just louder/more vocal?
 

Witterings

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If it offered the same quality of sound I'd love an all in one ... especially if it incorporated surround sound, streamer, a hard disk recorder, DVD player, Android TV box and was Amazon voice friendly ... I could make one incredibly cluttered corner a whole heap tidier .

The reality is there are always going to be better individual units and if a part of it failed you're completely buggered.
 
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I'm surprised, people seem to refer to all-in-ones such as Naim unit-style products, doesn't seem many if any have jumped on the active streaming speakers like the kef style products. More interesting still is many seem to see these products as lifestyle products. There seems to still be a real thirst for separates still, though the industry will have us believe otherwise. Or is it that the boy and girls that like the separate boxes are just louder/more vocal?
I suspect people who buy an ‘all in one’ box aren’t very likely to visit a Hifi forum. Nothing to ask, if you’re satisfied!
 
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