They sound good and look nice.

[admin_exported]

Hi

My AVI Neutron 5 Amp Pak speakers arrived today. Fortunately the courier arrived as my wife was about the leave the house, which meant that they were in the hallway when I got home, rather than sitting in a depot all weekend!

I have connected the headphone socket of the Mac with a long lead to the input on the rear of each speaker and am playing music on iTunes.

I am suprised on how good they sound. I don't know all of the reviewer jargon but they are very clear, with decent volume and bass for a small size.

What else is impressive is the finish. They look nicer in the flesh than is expected and everything is solid. My only annoyance is that gloss black shows hand prints.

If there was a way to upload a photograph I would as I am quite smug with them on the little tables.

Thanks for your advice on here. I think I've made the right choice although in fairness am not hugely experienced or familiar with a vast range of products.

 

[mikeinbrum]

I'm glad your pleased with your buy. I think you really have got yourself a tasty little bargain. plenty of scope for you to add bits and pieces to make it sound even better- should you get bitten by upgradeitis!!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what I would need to add.

The music is being played via Front Row now as I can use the little Apple remote control.

It's so easy!

I've taken a photograph if it can be uploaded.

 

[chebby]

Later on you could connect it (via an optical cable and an optical minijack adaptor to your Mac's headphone socket*) to a good DAC with it's own volume control.

Either of the Beresford models (TC-7510 or TC-7520) would do this job well. The external DAC would be better quality than the internal soundcard and using a proper volume control - external to the computer - avoids having to use 'digital volume' which reduces the bit rate and the quality. A TC-7510 for instance will give you more digital inputs in case you want to plug in the DVD or Blu-ray (especially for Freeview radio as well as DVD sound) or a PS3 as well.

Another of many options could be a Sonos box or Squeezebox so you don't have to be using the computer for streaming things like internet radio and gives you the wireless option too.

That can all come later though. Have a great weekend enjoying the new system.

* The headphone socket on a Mac also doubles as an optical connection with use of a minijack adaptor like this....

 

[Anonymous]

Somebody else said about Beresford but I'm still not sure exactly what it will do to the sound.

I hope these pictures show...

 

[Alec]

i would be surprise if a bersford would improve things much at this level, but thats no more than a hunch.

 

[Anonymous]

Macs actually have quite reasonable analogue outputs so I expect the sound is good.

If you are going to start adding external boxes then you may as well have bought their ADM9s, which have the Beresford bits all built-in.

It would be foolish to buy the "wrong" pair of speakers, only to "patch them up" later with clutter. It would be like buying HiFi separates when you source is actually a computer, therefore meaning you have to buy more stuff to get the desirable sound.

 

[chebby]

al7478:
i would be surprise if a bersford would improve things much at this level, but thats no more than a hunch.

At what level? The 'level' we are talking about is bettering the performance of a computer's built in soundcard fed from a headphone socket.

This is NOT the full AVI ADM9.1 gear pictured.

They are speakers with amps. (No DAC included.)

 

[chebby]

Eddie, I have an iMac 20" with optical minijack connection and I also have a 1.5 meter 3.5mm analogue headphone -> 2 RCA phono lead.

I have done the comparison with the internal soundcard and an external DAC connected optically. There IS a difference. We both know this.

 

[Alec]

chebby:al7478:

i would be surprise if a bersford would improve things much at this level, but thats no more than a hunch.

At what level? The 'level' we are talking about is bettering the performance of a computer's built in soundcard fed from a headphone socket.

This is NOT the full AVI ADM9.1 gear pictured.

They are speakers with amps. (No DAC included.)

Quite right too, forget me, i know nothing.

I do agree with Eddie Pound on the ADM9.1s tho, if you have/had the budget.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, Chebby. The Beresford will be better, I'm sure.

What I was saying though is that the analogue output of Macs is still respectable, whereas my Dell laptop it utter balls.

What I was also saying is that if he wants DACs etc then AVI do a product to suit that.

Neither your Arcam or Naim system has suited your computer source so you've had to bodge it with add-ons, which wouldn't have been necessary if you used ADM9s, a Supernait, Cyrus 8XPd, etc - all of which are designed to be used with Macs.

 

[chebby]

Eddie Pound:What I was also saying is that if he wants DACs etc then AVI do a product to suit that.

Yes for about twice the price of the active Neutrons he has just purchased for £549.

Eddie Pound:Neither your Arcam or Naim system has suited your computer source so you've had to bodge it with add-ons, which wouldn't have been necessary if you used ADM9s, a Supernait, Cyrus 8XPd, etc - all of which are designed to be used with Macs.

I have no idea what you are talking about Eddie.

I am loving the new Naim gear. How do you know what suits me - or does not suit me - or my system?

Oh, and your suggestion of a Supernait alone costs £1000 more than my Nait 5i and CD5i combined. (And I would still have needed to buy a CDP). Similarly the new Cyrus 8XPd with a matching CD player would be way over my budget. Given that much more budget I would have gone for the Naim XS/CD5x combi, with my Beresford!

 

[John Duncan]

Now now, let's keep this about pictures of Neutrons please.....

 

[chebby]

They look very nice. They would go well with my system in a smaller room.

The Rega RS1 for £399 (available in piano gloss black for a small premium) are gorgeous as well and sound fantastic.

My thoughts are turning to PMC DB1i or Neat Motive 2 though.

 

[John Duncan]

chebby:My thoughts are turning to PMC DB1i or Neat Motive 2 though.

Mine too, always. Not sure I'd get away with floorstanders again though (but more likely than getting away with a sub...)

 

[chebby]

JohnDuncan:Not sure I'd get away with floorstanders again though

Unless you are going to wall mount them I dont see the difference. A standmount with good stands takes up just as much usable space as a pair of compact floorstanders. (Often the stands have a bigger 'footprint').

To my eye an elegant pair of compact floorstanders can look nicer than some speaker stands! (J'accuse Partington Dreadnoughts)

 

[John Duncan]

chebby:
JohnDuncan:Not sure I'd get away with floorstanders again though

Unless you are going to wall mount them I dont see the difference. A standmount with good stands takes up just as much usable space as a pair of compact floorstanders. (Often the stands have a bigger 'footprint').

Yes, I know that, but they then become less versatile in that when my OH gets fed up with them, we can't have the "why can't they just go on shelves" conversation. Actually, maybe that's a good idea...

 

[chebby]

JohnDuncan:

Yes, I know that, but they then become less versatile in that when my OH gets fed up with them, we can't have the "why can't they just go on shelves" conversation.

My OH is the opposite. The biggest 'upgrade' difficulty I am going to have is tearing my wife off the R3's as they go out the door! She loves them. Thinks they are pretty.

 

[Anonymous]

We had some friends over at the weekend who thought the speakers were nice.

Dave had an idea that he could get his iPod from the car and plug them straight in via the headphone jack. We did so and he was very impressed, saying they easily outperformed his Zeppelin and weren't too dissimilar to his HiFi separates.

Again I think they can stay without buying any additional bits. The wife loves plugging them into her MacBook and playing iTunes, iPlayer, and Spotify.