A thread for Basschatters who have an interest in HIFI

[gafbass02]

Following with interest. My first job was at Tandy and I was a manager at Richer Sounds for years. I owned a ton of stuff, nothing super fancy. But I did love my ReVoX s22 CD player, nakamichi tape player and mordaunt short ms208s that I rebuilt from junked. 

[Nail Soup]

I'd like to have a HIFI, but my domestic arrangements means I don't..........I basically listen to music through non-hifi.. Radio on the TV, portable DAB radio MP3 player etc.

In the 80's I worked with a couple of guys who used to talk HIFI all the time.... I never wanted to get seriously into it, buti t did inspire me to buy some entry level stuff. So one of them lent me a hi-fi mag which had an some entry level suggestions.... That was good for a few years untill I moved house 25 yerr ago now it's in the loft..... see pics (will upload in a minute)

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Nail Soup
Add pics

[dmccombe7]

I still have my old separates still in use today.

Sony record deck  - 1976

Nad 3220 power amp  -  1980 ish

Sony CD player  -  1980 ISH

Phillips CD Recorder twin deck CD  -  2000 ish

Mission speakers

Bose speakers

Speakers run in parallel.

Still have all mine and my wife's vinyl and  CD's.

I very rarely stream or download albums. Only occasional songs i need to learn for bands i'm in. I prefer to buy CD's and have been slowly buying copies of my old vinyl albums.

Dave

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

I've had a difficult relationship with hifi.

Once, I lived and died for it and bought the best I could afford at any given point. 

That fostered an interest in music.

So;

Music 》Hifi 》"Music" 》Bass 》 Bands, rehearsals, gigs 》no more time for dedicated listening 》No more Hifi.

[JottoSW1]

13 hours ago, itu said:

The headphones may get benefit from different amps. I had a transistor based set first, but now I use a tiny tube headphone amp, and it is the thing. I think it is called Nobsound or similar. Ridiculously cheap, very functional with Stax.

Is the Kenwood's type "Cooking chef", like my friend named one unit he had? There was something wrong with the tape transport.

Mine have their own little Tube Energiser thing. Bought them in 1989 so they might be feeling their age.

[JottoSW1]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I still have my old separates still in use today.

Sony record deck  - 1976

Nad 3220 power amp  -  1980 ish

Sony CD player  -  1980 ISH

Phillips CD Recorder twin deck CD  -  2000 ish

Mission speakers

Bose speakers

Speakers run in parallel.

Still have all mine and my wife's vinyl and  CD's.

I very rarely stream or download albums. Only occasional songs i need to learn for bands i'm in. I prefer to buy CD's and have been slowly buying copies of my old vinyl albums.

Dave

 

This. Still listen to my albums but majority of my new/or new to me music is purchased on CD

[WinterMute]

Used to have the whole 9 yards, Quad 303's, 405 mk2, pre's etc. KEF 105.4 refs, B&W 802's, Garrard deck...

Aquired a second family with small boys and a living room that simply won't suit that kind of rig, so I've gone with ATC SCM11's and the C1 sub powered by a Cambridge Audio CXA80 amp for the digital and USB inputs etc. plus a Bluesound Vault 2i for the library. All the CD's are now in the loft, and I can run the lot from the phone.

Easy to throw things from the studio Mac onto the Vault over the network, so checking mixes etc. is really easy now.

The ATC's are cracking speakers, the sub integration is seamless. I'll probably change the amp out for something a bit more characterful at some point, but the CXA80 is a workhorse and doesn't let the side down.

The Vault rips everything to lossless and will handle the usual streaming service up to Tidal's HD master stuff if I could be arsed.

 

[LukeFRC]

44 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

Used to have the whole 9 yards, Quad 303's, 405 mk2, pre's etc. KEF 105.4 refs, B&W 802's, Garrard deck...

Aquired a second family with small boys and a living room that simply won't suit that kind of rig, so I've gone with ATC SCM11's and the C1 sub powered by a Cambridge Audio CXA80 amp for the digital and USB inputs etc. plus a Bluesound Vault 2i for the library. All the CD's are now in the loft, and I can run the lot from the phone.

Easy to throw things from the studio Mac onto the Vault over the network, so checking mixes etc. is really easy now.

The ATC's are cracking speakers, the sub integration is seamless. I'll probably change the amp out for something a bit more characterful at some point, but the CXA80 is a workhorse and doesn't let the side down.

The Vault rips everything to lossless and will handle the usual streaming service up to Tidal's HD master stuff if I could be arsed.

 

I ripped all the CDs to a NAS and then use bluesound powernode.

i was starting from scratch and my first serious hifi- if I remember at the time we had just got married and it was a choice between a hifi and tv. We went hifi and bought a tv a few months later. (This is 7 years ago btw not in the dark ages when TVs were particularly expensive) 

[ricksterphil]

Just got back into hifi over lockdown.

Set up is a Project 2.9 deck with an Ortofon OM10 cartridge through a Rega Brio amp and a pair of Castle Clyde speakers off of eBay for £80! I've also sprung for Chord cables (they cost more than the speakers)

The sound quality is pretty good for a total spend of <£800 and I'm reconnecting with a lot of the albums I bought in the 70's. 

I'm amazed at the cost of the very high end hifi stuff. There is a pair of chord Sarum 4m speaker cables on evilBay that are on for £2150.00  - yikes

 

[itu]

46 minutes ago, ricksterphil said:

I'm amazed at the cost of the very high end hifi stuff. There is a pair of chord Sarum 4m speaker cables on evilBay that are on for £2150.00  - yikes

If you buy a set that costs £20k, the £5 power cable is not an option. It is the same with RCA, or speaker wires. Everytime when a seller or buyer starts to use e(so)teric terms, run!

Do a search: "cable cooker". Enjoy!

[ricksterphil]

19 minutes ago, itu said:

Do a search: "cable cooker". Enjoy!

I did....surely they can't be serious?

Oh they are....and don't call them Surely!

[LukeFRC]

36 minutes ago, itu said:

Do a search: "cable cooker". Enjoy!

wow. 
When I bought my very modest Bluesound setup I looked at other options... theres a level of HiFi that seems to decend into a black hole I would rather not ever go down. 

[Woodwind]

On 28/09/2020 at 17:22, bassace said:

I bought a Quad amp in 1971 and still have it. I also had a pair of Tannoy Chatsworths at the same time but sold them ten years ago for £1k, replacing them with a smaller, but not quite as good, pair of Tannoys. I originally had a good collection of vinyl kept in mint condition but unwisely threw them all out when we moved two houses ago. The CD player came along a bit later. So the amp has been with me for nearly fifty years and is still going strong.

those Quads are special!

 

[Leonard Smalls]

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

theres a level of HiFi that seems to decend into a black hole I would rather not ever go down. 

Don't even think of looking into Machina Dynamica... 

And anything that boasts a quantum mechanical explanation for why it actually makes a difference is ripe for sniggering at.

Just ask James Randi!

As for Cryo treatment 🤣

[PaulWarning]

I remember the story about putting your CD's in the freezer to improve the sound, I was silly enough to try it, basically if people are looking for an improvement in the sound they'll hear one.

 

[LukeFRC]

19 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Don't even think of looking into Machina Dynamica... 

And anything that boasts a quantum mechanical explanation for why it actually makes a difference is ripe for sniggering at.

Just ask James Randi!

As for Cryo treatment 🤣

Wow - I was daft enough to google. Some review of a $400 wooden box with a credit card that shines a led light and apparently enhances the 0s and 1s in a cd! 
 

[L-mac]

Great thread. Thank OP!

A few years back, a timely and unexpected bonus arrived from work at the time of my 50th. Decided to treat myself to new hifi kit. Had a lot of fun listening to all sorts of different kit (interspersed with a fair amount of quantum physics b******s from salesmen!😂). Ended up with - 

naim super uniti steamer / amp

naim unitiserve server

rega RP3 turntable 

Cambridge CD transport

PMC GB1+ speakers

i think I’ve got my forever system (at least until the next big technology change) and it’s kept me sane during lockdown. 
My North Star when choosing the kit was something a Linn product engineer said to me back in Glasgow many many years ago “when you stop hearing a difference, stop spending money”.  Very useful when comparing £100 quid speaker cable to £1000 quid speaker cable! I’ve got the £100 type - probably cos I’ve got £100 hearing!
 

question for you folks. When you are buying new music what media do you go with. I tend to listen first via stream (Tidal) and then buy vinyl or CD depending on when the recording was made. So anything 80’s or earlier I typically will buy vinyl. Post 80’s - CD. How do you choose?
 

[Leonard Smalls]

6 minutes ago, L-mac said:

 

 I’ve got the £100 type - probably cos I’ve got £100 hearing!
 

My ears are the £50 type...

I use 2x5m Van Damme studio 6mm... Extremely low resistance and capacitance, so definitely electrically sufficient!

[leroydiamond]

39 minutes ago, L-mac said:

Great thread. Thank OP!

A few years back, a timely and unexpected bonus arrived from work at the time of my 50th. Decided to treat myself to new hifi kit. Had a lot of fun listening to all sorts of different kit (interspersed with a fair amount of quantum physics b******s from salesmen!😂). Ended up with - 

naim super uniti steamer / amp

naim unitiserve server

rega RP3 turntable 

Cambridge CD transport

PMC GB1+ speakers

i think I’ve got my forever system (at least until the next big technology change) and it’s kept me sane during lockdown. 
My North Star when choosing the kit was something a Linn product engineer said to me back in Glasgow many many years ago “when you stop hearing a difference, stop spending money”.  Very useful when comparing £100 quid speaker cable to £1000 quid speaker cable! I’ve got the £100 type - probably cos I’ve got £100 hearing!
 

question for you folks. When you are buying new music what media do you go with. I tend to listen first via stream (Tidal) and then buy vinyl or CD depending on when the recording was made. So anything 80’s or earlier I typically will buy vinyl. Post 80’s - CD. How do you choose?
 

A very nice system you have

Tidal is a game changer for me. For instance the other evening I listened to 6 albums without leaving my chair. I have recently taken delivery of a Innuos Zen server with 1 TB on hard drive. I will rip my CD collection on to it, together with whatever I borrow from family and friends. I will be able to stream same from the comfort of my own chair. Just started with the Zen in the last couple of days. I am a bit slow with tech, but so far the Zen is proving to be a very impressive piece of kit.

I have little interest in buying music anymore. The above arrangement will be more than sufficient to satisfy my needs. That is other than my vinyl. I Have pretty much all the vinyl I will ever need. Being a big fan of 70's classic and prog rock, I, like you find vinyl to be the preferable medium. For me these albums recorded entirely in the analogue domain, never transfer onto the digital domain all that well, even when remastered.

[wintoid]

I've got two hifis at home, and various other speakers and things around the house, all tied together with a piece of software called Roon.  Roon brings together my collection of CDs (all ripped) and downloads, and integrates it with Tidal (also works with Qobuz).  How it looks on the computer/phone is as if it's offering up a gatefold LP with liner notes on each album.  So for me, it gives me the stuff I miss about vinyl, but easy to use, and music in every room of the house.

The liner notes often have links to other artists/albums/producers and you can go down a rabbit hole realising that x artist played on y's album, but was in a supergroup with z.  Fantastic!  I spend hours lost in my collection.  And it's simple enough once set up for the rest of the family to use.

Unfortunately, Roon is looking a bit expensive these days, and they're into the subscription model, which I personally don't like, especially to be charged for listening to my own music.  I bought a lifetime Roon subscription some years ago, and it cost me about £350, which I rationalised as like buying the best CD player I'd ever buy.  I've certainly had my money's worth.

As much as I love my hifis, music in the kitchen whilst cooking is a great thing!

[BlueMoon]

I used to follow the latest hifi developments when magazines were the way to drool and to then drop a load of cash on something that was out of date almost immediately.

I broke the cycle when I paired a Quad set up with a pair of  Kef 104 ab's I already had. I've gone digital to some degree having now converted vinyl and CD's  and use a Bluesound Node 2. 

[Nail Soup]

On ‎30‎/‎09‎/‎2020 at 15:23, itu said:

Do a search: "cable cooker".

I can that somebody might want to sell a totally unnecessary product at a ridiculously high price......... but why target the audiophile market?

[Lfalex v1.1]

Oddly, All I do have left of my various hifi misadventures are cables for varying applications and a couple of mains conditioners/ purifiers.

The better one, a Lynwood Mega, is still doing good service in front of my TV and Blu-ray player.

Glad I kept that. It once managed to quell an attack of the buzzes from which my Ampeg preamp was suffering. The guys in the studio looked amazed when I dragged out a hefty black box and a bright green XLO mains cable. It worked,  though. 

[leroydiamond]

15 hours ago, BlueMoon said:

I used to follow the latest hifi developments when magazines were the way to drool and to then drop a load of cash on something that was out of date almost immediately.

I broke the cycle when I paired a Quad set up with a pair of  Kef 104 ab's I already had. I've gone digital to some degree having now converted vinyl and CD's  and use a Bluesound Node 2. 

Nice set up. How did you go about digitising your Vinyl. I have about 300 LP's but the thought of digitising them fills me with dread.

[Lfalex v1.1]

I did mine (back in the day) thus;

Turntable 》Hifi preamp with phono stage》out via "tape out" 》8 track hdd recorder》digital out to 》standalone Philips CD recorder.

These days,  I'd  go;

Turntable》preamp》stereo audio USB interface》laptop running DAW》WAV or MP3 to memory card or HDD/NAS drive as required》