# dayton bookshelfs



## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

OK i'm finally going to purchase a starter bookshelf set for my room, hopefully this week.

I'm looking into the dayton BR-1S

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-642&scqty=1

this looks like a nice setup for a novice to HT like myself.....and the reviews on the PE site look somewhat promising. Honestly, it should be 10x better than the current speakers i have in my room. I'm also probably going to purchase the dayton amplifier on PE. I'm particularly interested in just getting my toes wet as far as building a speaker system.

amp - http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-812&scqty=1

for 140 bucks for the pair of daytons, i think they are a semi-bargain for what you get.....i'm not looking for ultra-pristine sound for my room, because i don't think it's possible since my room is about 15x12, and it just does not call for a high-end speaker system in there...i think this setup will suit me just fine....


does anybody here have any experience with this dayton set?


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## minitruck_freq (Mar 27, 2005)

ive had the br-1's for about 4 years. i use them for my mains in my HT. you cant beat them for $140.


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

minitruck_freq said:


> ive had the br-1's for about 4 years. i use them for my mains in my HT. you cant beat them for $140.


that's good to hear bro...so i'm assuming the vocal performance is sufficient for this setup? that's what i'm particularly looking to get....as well as some more response as far as percussion....

the little 4" speakers i got now are nice when you sit dead in the center, and sound halfway decent from a distance, but the vocals just are not there as far as the presence


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## mavster (Dec 13, 2007)

Dude, that Dayton amp is not even worth it..lol

Pick up a Pioneer HT reciever for that price...

Thats about how much I paid for my receiver...


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## mavster (Dec 13, 2007)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-VSX-516...ryZ14981QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Ends today...can't beat it for the price...


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

mavster said:


> Dude, that Dayton amp is not even worth it..lol
> 
> Pick up a Pioneer HT reciever for that price...
> 
> Thats about how much I paid for my receiver...


good looking out....that has an optical in, i can actually use the opt out from my current receiver.....

i'm so new to home audio, so i guess it's best not to rush.....i may scratch that amp for now and do more research... 

that receiver is a little big for my application, i need something that's going to fit snugly in my desk....i never measured it, but it's definitely not 16" wide....i'd say around 11.5"....


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

wow, thanks to PE's quick shipping, i should have my package by tomorrow, i'll try to post some pics of the daytons as soon as i can....

now to look for an amp...anybody have any suggestions for an amp with less than a 11" width footprint, with at least 50 rms x 2??


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

i really like the looks of those br1's. definately look to be a lot better than the polks i was considering at jerkit silly. i also like the looks of those bookshelfs zaph did with the er18's and seas silks but for simplicity and dollar for dollar those br1's look like they'd be the way to go. let us know how you like them.


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

mavster said:


> Dude, that Dayton amp is not even worth it..lol
> 
> Pick up a Pioneer HT reciever for that price...
> 
> Thats about how much I paid for my receiver...


i've decided to roll with my current shelf receiver for now, and wait for that little dayton amp to go on sale....then i will use my computer as the receiver....this will save me a lot of desk space, which is good since the speakers will look friggen big once they are put together....since i don't really use cd's in my room (i rip them to the cpu) and i never listen to the radio, i think just having the two channel amp will be just fine....

i really don't feel like snaking wires through my room just for a HT receiver, too much work.....


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Different drivers, but basically the same idea,[ speaking of my bookshelf speakers with the silk tweeters ], I love the look of the speaker and the kit is reasonable !

http://www.partsexpress.com/pdf/300-642.pdf

Good luck and looking forward to hearing how you like those !!


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## envisionelec (Dec 14, 2005)

mavster said:


> Dude, that Dayton amp is not even worth it..lol
> 
> Pick up a Pioneer HT reciever for that price...
> 
> Thats about how much I paid for my receiver...


The Dayton can be bridged and has more continuous power capability than your typical HT receiver. Think of it as a more specialized stereo amplifier.


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

I put together the dayton set last night. The manual says it should take about 2 hours to put together.......well, about 5 hours later i was finally finished  










here is a picture of the dayton compared to my current pea-shooters. When i saw the size of these, i was a little nervous. The build quality of the cabinet is very good, it's 5/8" thick, and is relatively solid. The finish looks really nice and there are no seams that could be seen without closer inspection...also the holes for the speaker screws are pre-drilled which is a nice convenience.

here is a picture of the drivers, both front and back. i got the shielded speakers, just in case i would like to use them by a telivision in the future.


















here is a picture of all of the components that come with the kit to assemble the crossover. the inductors are pretty weighty, much heavier than they look



















The manual does a pretty good job as far as instructing how to assemble the crossover. Since I have never assembled any sort of electronic device, I was a little unsure, as far as how to solder the board. The pictures showed how it should be soldered, I was just unsure if the board was internally wired (which it was). I forgot to take a picture of the rear of the board, soldered (sorry bout that), but here is a picture of the front of the crossover with a partially complete picture, and a complete picture.



















With the inductor on the bottom right, it looks as if it's pressing too close to the terminal, which it is, but there was room to insert the terminal no problem, it just looks a little....unprofessional  . Hot glue came in handy, as far as glueing the components down, although longer resistor to the left has some dried up hot glue underneath, to serve as a little pedestal, since the manual recommended this resistor have complete airflow around the resistor.

I was originally using a soldering iron, a crappy one at that, but once the tip broke I was stuck with a traditional iron which you will see in a picture below. That type of soldering iron worked great, contrary to my expectations. Anyway, I digress. Here are both of the crossovers, along with the touted soldering iron.










Here is a picture of the cabinet, before glueing down the crossover on the bottom, and the acoustic foam. I completely forgot to get pictures of the the crossover and the foam, sorry bout that.










And here is a picture of the finished cabinet.  I used the rubberized rope caulk for around the woofer. That stuff is so sticky, not to the touch, but when there is pressure on it. I'm convinced that the woofer is stuck to the baffle for good. 










And here is a picture of the finished speakers in my room.










Surprisingly, they do not look as intrusive as I thought they would be. And the flat black theme helps it to stay unobtrusive. 

Once I listen to them some more, I will post up my thoughts on that as well as what I think of the whole package, but so far I'm impressed. I plan on breaking the woofers in with some bass tones through WinISD.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

pontiacbird,

Very nice !!


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

Hic said:


> pontiacbird,
> 
> Very nice !!


I agree, bravo job well done. How do they sound?


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## rekd0514 (Sep 24, 2006)

Very helpful! 

Ya how they sound? You forgot the most important part.


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## envisionelec (Dec 14, 2005)

rekd0514 said:


> Very helpful!
> 
> Ya how they sound? You forgot the most important part.


Hopefully, he's too busy breaking them in to report.


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

ezaudio said:


> Hopefully, he's too busy breaking them in to report.


haha, yes, i'm going to hold off on giving any comments on them for now, just because they are still hardly broken in. I may use thumper's method of breaking them in this week, to give the tweeters a workout as well as the woofer's suspension. The suspension on the dayton mid seems pretty springy already, but i just want to make sure to somewhat cover the bases.....

also, i have a nice suckout (that's the only way i could really describe it) right in the center of my room. i think this is more a characteristic of having the cabinets right next to the wall. if i listen to the speakers if i'm sitting far across by the back wall (opposite of where the speakers are facing) the bass response jumps back to where it should be. i'm not sure if it would help if i brought the speakers a bit to the left, to have them more in the center of the room, but i'm pretty sure it's to my detriment that they are close to the wall. 

i tried moving the speakers about two feet away from the wall, and i had an immediate change in the depth of the setup....imaging improved, and depth improved a LOT....i have to say though, compared with my other speakers, everything sounds so much livlier, and has much more of a realistic tone, especially with some of billy Joel i've been listening to. the vocals have much more of a presence than before.

take my prelim review with a grain of salt, this is my first taste of anything home audio related, and remember the speakers setup i'm coming from. i'm sure anything will sound better at this point  also, i'm running, maybe about 5 rms to these speakers, as my receiver was designed for 4 ohms with about [email protected] ohms....my settings are pretty much flat, with a bit of a bump at the top end of the spectrum to make up for my abused sense of hearing


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

pontiacbird said:


> i've decided to roll with my current shelf receiver for now, and wait for that little dayton amp to go on sale....then i will use my computer as the receiver....this will save me a lot of desk space, which is good since the speakers will look friggen big once they are put together....since i don't really use cd's in my room (i rip them to the cpu) and i never listen to the radio, i think just having the two channel amp will be just fine....
> 
> i really don't feel like snaking wires through my room just for a HT receiver, too much work.....


I'm using the Dayton APA-150 amp for my computer setup and believe me, it brings the beef! I'm bowled over at how much power it belts out to my original B&W Blueroom MiniPods.. Here is a pic of my desk:


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

those look awesome!

yea, i think i will stick with that amp, i'm gonna wait for it to go on sale at P/E.....and i've got to figure out a DAC for the optical out on my receiver, since it's got no RCA outs (which is just stupid lol)

i've read it's got some issues as far as the auto-on, that it takes a little bit of input power (volume) to sense enough voltage to start up....what's your take on that?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

They have a DAC here: http://www.amabilidade2002.com/toslink14.htm


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

pontiacbird said:


> those look awesome!
> 
> yea, i think i will stick with that amp, i'm gonna wait for it to go on sale at P/E.....and i've got to figure out a DAC for the optical out on my receiver, since it's got no RCA outs (which is just stupid lol)
> 
> i've read it's got some issues as far as the auto-on, that it takes a little bit of input power (volume) to sense enough voltage to start up....what's your take on that?


I had that problem with the onboard sound from the motherboard. Last month I upgraded to an M-Audio sound card and that seemed to cure the auto-on issue. Generally though, I just turn the unit totally off since I'm not there most of the day. Something I read recently about parasitic power consumption of home electronics has me turning everything off when we leave for the day..


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

Hic said:


> They have a DAC here: http://www.amabilidade2002.com/toslink14.htm


yes, but that one looks to have only a digital out, or one rca out. i don't know if i could get that to a stereo rca out. thoughts on that?

edit: i'll try to email them, see what they say.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

No thoughts on it, I just listed it from a thread in general.


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## pontiacbird (Dec 29, 2006)

bump up....

Just purchased a Dayton APA-150  from Parts Express.....

pics and thoughts are coming....


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