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One for the HiFi Buffs, new toys!
flak monkey - 11/3/08 at 07:07 PM

Just got myself some shiny new hifi equipment, a Roksan Kandy L3 amp and a Exposure 2010 Cd player. Both upgrades for my existing system.

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/DSCF0965.JPG

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/DSCF0964.JPG

Anyone else into hifi on here? If so, what have you got?

My system is now the amp and cd player above, plus Denon TU1800 DAB/FM tuner, Sony MD-JS440 minidisc, ProJect Debut 2 Phono SB, Mission M71i speakers, QED silver aniversary bi-wire and Qunex interconnects.

David

oadamo - 11/3/08 at 07:19 PM

i used to be into it big time but not so much anymore. ive got a full nad setup with a rega p7 turn table and b&w speakers. needs updating now but it still sounds good.
adam

darrens - 11/3/08 at 07:26 PM

Have ummed and arhed for ages on getting one of those Project record decks, are they anygood?

Currently have (and had for while now ) Arcam DIVA A85 amp, Arcam CD72T, B&0 3000 Record deck - which sounded ace until stylus broke - can't find a replacement at a reasonable price for love na money now.

Hugh_ - 11/3/08 at 07:30 PM

I've got a cheap system but the speakers and amp are well matched.

Sony SS176E speakers (bi-wired)
Cambridge A5 amp

running through a M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 sound card from the computer and with reasonable wires. Also got a cheap Cambridge DAB unit but don't use it much.

flak monkey - 11/3/08 at 07:34 PM

quote:
Originally posted by darrens
Have ummed and arhed for ages on getting one of those Project record decks, are they anygood?

Currently have (and had for while now ) Arcam DIVA A85 amp, Arcam CD72T, B&0 3000 Record deck - which sounded ace until stylus broke - can't find a replacement at a reasonable price for love na money now.


The ProJect decks are fabulous, they win awards time and time again at every price range. They make LP's sound amazing, and certainly shame most modern CD recordings. They are also easy to upgrade the cartridge/stylus in (they come fitted with an Ortofon OM5e), but otherwise if you are content with the std one they will only set you back about £25 for a replacement.

Try and get a listen to some. There is a lot of info on their website about them too.

David

flak monkey - 11/3/08 at 07:35 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Hugh_
I've got a cheap system but the speakers and amp are well matched.

Sony SS176E speakers (bi-wired)
Cambridge A5 amp



I had an A5 before I upgraded, Dad has now claimed it, they are fab amps for the money!

[Edited on 11/3/08 by flak monkey]

donut - 11/3/08 at 08:05 PM

I LOVE hifi but don't own any anymore as all my music is on the PC and MP3 player. I do have a Cambridge Audio amp connected to the PC with KEF speakers.

Theres progress for you

jlparsons - 11/3/08 at 08:22 PM

i used to be into it but then worked as a sound engineer and realised how much of what gets sold to laymen as high end audio equipment is utter bullpoop.

Golden rule - your ears always lie to you, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are. An oscilloscope won't. But if you've ever spent more than £10 on an interconnect then don't even think about learning to use one because it will make you cry into your beer!

Confused but excited. - 11/3/08 at 09:04 PM

I'm a bit out of touch these days. the only really Hi-Fi bit of kit that I have left (as opposed to normal domestic audio gear) is a pair of Vitavox (Secomak Industries?)speakers. They drive down to about 14Hz, making your guts shake and the cross overs look like they should be in a power station. They have matched 12" bass drivers and huge three cell horns and sound better that anything that I have ever heard at any price.

dhutch - 11/3/08 at 09:49 PM

Looks very nice.
- I would like to get some decent equipent when i have more money and less i want to do with it.

At home we have quite a nice setup.
- Technics and Marantz cd players, sony mds-je780, quad tuner, linn kolektor preamp, and a cam audio a70 amp.
- We a collection of speakers in varous rooms, including some celestion sl-12's, jamo concerts, and some missions in the kitchen.


Sadly, here at uni all i have is a rather worn set of Altec 2100's running of a build in soundcard and rather a lot of 128bpm mp3's.


Daniel

darrens - 11/3/08 at 10:48 PM

quote:

Sadly, here at uni all i have is a rather worn set of Altec 2100's running of a build in soundcard and rather a lot of 128bpm mp3's.


Daniel


Assume you mean 128 kbps

ta

[Edited on 11/3/08 by darrens]

nick205 - 11/3/08 at 11:09 PM

Used to have nearly 4 years worth of What HiFi? in the loft from the days before they got themselves all confused with AV stuff

My old faithfull set-up consists of a Marantz CD52 II SE, Pioneer A400, Denon TU260L and B&W DM600 all hooked up with QED interconnects and cable. I also made my own speaker stands which weigh approx 35 sand filled kgs a piece

Sadly with kids in the house it's currently residing in the loft and I make do with a crappy Sony mini system and ipod in the kitchen Still I did spec a top line Audio system in the car

NigeEss - 11/3/08 at 11:31 PM

Nice

I'm running an Arcam setup, Alpha 9 anp and power amp, Alpa 8SE CD player
and Mission 733's. The speakers are from my earlier set up and although they
sound very good could do with an upgrade but not found anything that
ticks all the boxes at a sensible price.

Fred W B - 12/3/08 at 06:05 AM

I have a movie setup, with Nad front end and amp, and Misson speakers all round.

But let's get serious; what do you have in the garage?

If you look on the shelf over the red tool cabinet you can just see the NAD 3020B amp, Nad tuner and the AR 7ls speakers I bought in 1984, when I first discovered HiFi, and CD's were newfangled.

Cheers

Fred W B

WORKSHOP 2
WORKSHOP 2

[Edited on 12/3/08 by Fred W B]

flak monkey - 13/3/08 at 12:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by jlparsons
i used to be into it but then worked as a sound engineer and realised how much of what gets sold to laymen as high end audio equipment is utter bullpoop.

Golden rule - your ears always lie to you, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are. An oscilloscope won't. But if you've ever spent more than £10 on an interconnect then don't even think about learning to use one because it will make you cry into your beer!


I am not going to disagree, all audio equipment 'interferes' with the original source to some extent and introduces its own character to the music. This is exactly why some people love the sound of a particular system/component and others hate it. The key is getting a system of parts which all go together and produce the sound you want.

You can certainly hear a difference between freebe interconnects and £20 QED ones, much more detail in the mids and the bass response is crisper, mind you I would think most people would struggle to tell the difference between the Qunex and Black Rhodium £1,300 phono cable to be honest.

There is also no question that my system, and almost any other proper separates hi-fi system, sounds streets better than your average out of the box system from Currys.

The difference between my old cambridge A5 and the new Roksan is very distinct, and it has a sound I much prefer. However the differences are far more subtle than the differences between a cheap system and a seperates system. If all you listen to is over produced pop and mp3s then you probably wouldnt notice the difference between the A5 and the Roksan.

I remember having an argument with someone at uni who said that there was no difference between CD and MP3 quality. I simply asked him what he was listening to music on, and he said his PC speakers... I laughed and walked away.

Anyway my point is, any stereo equipment will change the original signal, some will like it, others wont. Hence why its so important to listen to the system before you buy it. Some systems 'colour' the sound more than others.

Thats enough this lunch time

David

02GF74 - 13/3/08 at 02:33 PM

this is my set up - audiolab based bia-amping to MA 50s. (ignore the silver arcam amp).

hifi
hifi


what you cannot see are 2 mains conitioner bocxes, nothing fancy, £ 60 maplin bixes but since photo was taken, I am useing fat screened mains leads.

following on from FMonkey, I am sure I have posted about interconnects and speaker cables. they are bits of wire and if you put scope or do any measurment on them, there is very little difference but some can make significant difference. Certainly the free leads that come with the equpiment should be thrown away but I have tried home made low oxyen copper through to vdH first and I culd hear hardly any difference - the carbon fibre vdh sounding a different.

Likewise with speaker cables - trued QED anniversary, nordost flatline and home made cables from CAT 5 LAN cable and I would be had pressed to say if I cold hear any differecne, the silver based QED seem bright but I find it hard to tell.

I seem to be rambling so what was the question again?

nick205 - 16/3/08 at 11:18 PM

quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
this is my set up - audiolab based bia-amping to MA 50s. (ignore the silver arcam amp).

hifi
hifi


what you cannot see are 2 mains conitioner bocxes, nothing fancy, £ 60 maplin bixes but since photo was taken, I am useing fat screened mains leads.

following on from FMonkey, I am sure I have posted about interconnects and speaker cables. they are bits of wire and if you put scope or do any measurment on them, there is very little difference but some can make significant difference. Certainly the free leads that come with the equpiment should be thrown away but I have tried home made low oxyen copper through to vdH first and I culd hear hardly any difference - the carbon fibre vdh sounding a different.

Likewise with speaker cables - trued QED anniversary, nordost flatline and home made cables from CAT 5 LAN cable and I would be had pressed to say if I cold hear any differecne, the silver based QED seem bright but I find it hard to tell.

I seem to be rambling so what was the question again?



Very nice

Tell me, do you have a dedicated room? Either that or you don't have young children or a SWMBO witha penchant for compact and wireless AV equipment

Bob C - 16/3/08 at 11:34 PM

Ahh - now I'm 50 my ears don't register over 7kHz. I still like to take the mickey out of folk with gold phono leads & welder wires to the speakers (of course there are no copper signal wires inside the boxes are there....)
One thing that I CAN actually "tell the difference" with is proper mains filtering - if you get a chance of a demo of a "james audio" mains "cleaner" box it might surprise you! Meanwhile I also enjoy the wondrous quality of mps3 squirted out of the 3.5mm stereo socket on me 'puter.

[Edited on 16/3/08 by Bob C]

Hugh_ - 7/12/08 at 02:35 PM

I picked up a Cambridge Audio DacMagic yesterday and it has transformed the sound I get from my system. Music feels much more in the room and vibrant, and bass is massively improved.

New setup: M-Audio Delta 24/96 soundcard, SPDIF Coax to CA DacMagic, RCA to CA A5 (soon to be replaced with Rotel RA-04), and biwired Sony SS176E's. Ooutput used to be RCA from the soundcard.

quote:
Originally posted by donut
I LOVE hifi but don't own any anymore as all my music is on the PC and MP3 player. I do have a Cambridge Audio amp connected to the PC with KEF speakers.

Theres progress for you


I play all my music over the PC; there is a phenomenal difference between a 128k MP3's and what can be achieved. I'm currently using ALAC (Apple lossless audio codec) which is typically 700-1100kbps; it takes up quite a bit of hard disk space, but storage is cheap. I can't tell the difference between it and a decent cd player. If you want I'll find a track to demonstrate and send it to you?

DarrenW - 8/12/08 at 09:21 AM

A mate of mine has just paid £1,000 for a pair of 25ish year old speakers for his flat. I wish i could remember the make now, apparently new ones are £16,000 a pair!!! They are rather beautiful.


Look a bit like these
http://www.tivolihifi.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_26&products_id=90

He said they were the type used in recording studios.

[Edited on 8/12/08 by DarrenW]

gazza285 - 8/12/08 at 10:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jlparsons
i used to be into it but then worked as a sound engineer and realised how much of what gets sold to laymen as high end audio equipment is utter bullpoop.

Golden rule - your ears always lie to you, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are. An oscilloscope won't. But if you've ever spent more than £10 on an interconnect then don't even think about learning to use one because it will make you cry into your beer!



Too true, industry standard mic cable? 95p per metre. Pair of industry standard xlr connectors? £4 a pair.

flak monkey - 8/12/08 at 10:50 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Hugh_
I picked up a Cambridge Audio DacMagic yesterday and it has transformed the sound I get from my system. Music feels much more in the room and vibrant, and bass is massively improved.

New setup: M-Audio Delta 24/96 soundcard, SPDIF Coax to CA DacMagic, RCA to CA A5 (soon to be replaced with Rotel RA-04), and biwired Sony SS176E's. Ooutput used to be RCA from the soundcard.


I have heard many good things about the DAC magics. One of my mates is getting one in january, so I will have a listen then

David

flak monkey - 3/1/09 at 05:15 PM

Most recent upgrade, a nice set of Acoustic Energy AE2 speakers.

Really do put the Missions to shame, but that was to be expected really.....



(Note thats not my stands....! )

David

mr henderson - 3/1/09 at 05:47 PM

I used to be into HiFi, many years ago, mainly because of the technical enjoyment of owning interesting and good stuff.

Eventually, though, I sort of lost interest when I realised that most of what I was listening to had originally passed through 12" celestion speakers in a plywood box!

John

flak monkey - 3/1/09 at 06:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson
I used to be into HiFi, many years ago, mainly because of the technical enjoyment of owning interesting and good stuff.

Eventually, though, I sort of lost interest when I realised that most of what I was listening to had originally passed through 12" celestion speakers in a plywood box!

John


Doesnt matter what it was mastered on, or what the band plays though in the studio, its all about getting the best/most out of whats on the source (be that CD or Vinyl). And re-creating that sound as best possible. Sure there a losses at recording and all the way through, but why make it worse? Its very easy to tell, on a good system, the difference between a recording which has been very poorly mastered (such as Metallicas Death Magnetic album) and one which has been done on good equipment (Dream Theatre and Nightwish albums).

There will be things in the mix which may not have been evident at the mastering stage or they may have been digitally removed. E.g the sound of the plectrum hitting the strings on some of Katie Meluas stuff.

David

gazza285 - 3/1/09 at 07:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson
Eventually, though, I sort of lost interest when I realised that most of what I was listening to had originally passed through 12" celestion speakers in a plywood box!




Have you seen the prices for an original (set of 4 natch) 12" Celestion in a plywood box these days?

mr henderson - 3/1/09 at 08:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by gazza285
quote:
Originally posted by mr henderson
Eventually, though, I sort of lost interest when I realised that most of what I was listening to had originally passed through 12" celestion speakers in a plywood box!




Have you seen the prices for an original (set of 4 natch) 12" Celestion in a plywood box these days?


Worth every penny, though!

gazza285 - 4/1/09 at 12:24 AM

Good job I'm stockpiling them then. Did have an original Sound City 4x12 loaded with Fane Pop 40s, lent it my mate and he skipped it when he moved house. Current eBay price? £600.