4AmericanClassics wrote:Hi All, If given $1500, would you purchase headphones or speakers? If speakers, what do you recommend? I have purchased the Sonus Paradisi Oakland sample set because it is so highly recommended on this forum. I guess I would need a multi output interface and at least four speakers, because it has left, right, left rear, and right rear. There is also direct and diffuse. Do I need six speakers to use this sample set?
If given $1500 I'd go speakers, which speakers is the next question and subject to much debate, probably would be the best you can get (whichever those are!
) for $1500, but would be speakers just because I'm just a speaker kind of person, I rarely use headphones. As far as the 6 channel SP sets, I have a couple myself and no you don't necessarily need 6 speakers as between the direct and diffuse sources you normally send both signals to the same speaker pairs then use the slider in the set to adjust between the mix of both signals to more diffuse vs. more direct and / or vice versa, or you can go all direct or all diffuse. Depending on the set I usually go with a mix of about 85% diffuse and 15% direct, it's a preference thing though I guess. You could of course send the direct and diffuse signals to separate pairs of speakers hence requiring 6 speakers, but in my opinion you'd end up with about the same results as all you're doing then is basically the same, adding or subtracting more or less of one signal over the other into the mix, you're just now doing it on separate pairs of speakers, then you'd also have to figure out where to place those separate pairs of speakers for the best results. Go four speakers if it's speakers you want and you'll be fine.
Marc