Hi Fidelity, Hi - The Bear and Badger

davyK

Yikes that PS Audio room is dreamy.

I want to go in there and press buttons.

Would be worried if I was cursed with an ear to notice.....

g.man

Some old Pioneer amps do have a weird split volume control for balance. Had one many moons ago.

cockbeard

The thing about recent price increase in very true. I treated myself to a Debut Expression for one of my birthdays and I think it was around £250, their bottom end model is more than that nowadays. Also I get very confused by the massive prices I see on DACs and headphone amps, just because they were always components that were never expensive, because they weren't hard to do right and didn't need the damping etc because they don't send a lot of power through them

davyK

Yep. It was the split volume control for balance. Working perfectly now. RTBM.

mrsmr2

And not a single comment about the origin of the thread title. Too serious you lot (or too young).

Paul the sparky

I referenced Sue Pollard just the other day.

mrsmr2

Lol

davyK

mrsmr2 wrote:

And not a single comment about the origin of the thread title. Too serious you lot (or too young).

Age I suspect.

davyK

Listening to Kind of Blue on vinyl. Blissful.

Doubt it's better than CD (have a couple of versions on that medium) on my setup but I'm self indulgent.

poprock

mrsmr2 wrote:

(or too young).

I’m gonna live for ever.

mrsmr2

That’s more like it :-)

(and nice link)

Skerret

"Basically you're getting twice the bass with the TK241, which we've got available in this system."

"I don't know. I don't really know if I need all that bass."

"Oh I think you need all that bass. If you want a system to handle what you want... you need the bass. This is hi-fi. High fidelity. That means this is the highest quality fidelity. Hi-fi. Two very important things to have in a stereo system."

"It's the price."

"I have this unit in my home."

"Really?"

"Yes, I do. But, of course, I got it modified with the TK421. Which kicks it up another... 3 or 4... quads per channel, you know? But that's technical talk, that doesn't concern you...
You're still a little uncertain. You know what you need? A test drive. You need a test drive. It's one thing to hear it from Buck's mouth - it's another thing to hear it from the TK421. Let me pop in this 8-track. Listen, and tell me what you think.
~click
Hear that?
You hear the bass. Right?
You hear it? It kicks!
It turns! It curls up your belly.
It makes you wanna freaky-deaky, right?
Now if you get the system as is... it won't sound like this without the TK421 modification."

g.man

Dammit, why did I buy the TK420???

cockbeard

Did you sell him on some magic rocks

davyK

TK421 was the stormtrooper guarding the Millenium Falcon in ep4. Suppose that reference was deliberate?

LivDiv

davyK wrote:

TK421 was the stormtrooper guarding the Millenium Falcon in ep4. Suppose that reference was deliberate?

Haha.
Second I read that code number my mind jumped there.
"Why arent you at your post?"

Mal0wner

davyK wrote:

Selling CDs wouldn't garner much income I'd suspect. Probably could sell them by the kg. I like the cut of the jib of the Brennan boxes that are a CD rip'n'store + music streaming box. Works wirelessly with speakers and will work with a hifi amp too. They even have a web server on them that lets you control it with an app or full on webpage via PC. Very nice. https://www.brennan.co.uk/

I nearly went for a Brennan last week but I've taken the far cheaper route of installing Plex media server on a Raspberry pi and using a spare usb hard drive. It's all working well so far. I found I can cast my music from the Plex android app to a chromecast audio thing plugged into my hi-fi. Now all I've got to do is rip my CDs, 50 down about another 900 to go.

AndCallMeCharlie

Welcome any recommendations for amp, turntable and floor standing speakers pls

davyK

GurtTractor

I think it's worth mentioning that active studio monitors should be considered as a potential alternative to the traditional amp + passive speaker combo. They're generally designed to have a flat frequency response and high performance in general. You will need a line output source of some kind, like a USB audio interface or similar, and because each speaker needs power and audio cables it might not be as neat for every home setup.

Elmlea

davyK wrote:

This looks great, but I still lament that everything is a bloody video. I'm working, I could read a webpage on the side, but urrrgh....

Blue Swirl

g.man wrote:

Dammit, why did I buy the TK420???

Our g.man, loves to blaze dat 'erb.

cockbeard wrote:

Did you sell him on some magic rocks

Excellent.

The Daddy

AndCallMeCharlie wrote:

Welcome any recommendations for amp, turntable and floor standing speakers pls

What’s your budget, approximately? The Wiim streaming amp is apparently very good, and supports streaming stuff.

https://youtu.be/-RKBWheU-Qg?si=eV9XIBroooIGRBm1

Although you’d need a phono stage (Behringer do cheap ones, that’s all I’ve got and it does the job well). Plenty entry level turntables, just set your budget and do some Googling. Same with the speakers to be honest. Wharfedale do some good entry level floorstanders, I’ve still got a pair gathering dust in the garage, loved them when I had space.

davyK

I think having some sort of method to stream should be part of any setup now - I've achieved that by plugging a Bluetooth dongle into the AUX of my amplifier which lets me stream from a laptop or phone. I also have a DAB/FM/Internet radio in my hifi setup that lets me stream from the web (has Spotify built in).

If you get an amplifier it means you want to collect vinyl or CD with a dedicated turntable/CD player. Most integrated amplifiers have a phono stage which keeps things tidy, though a separate phono stage box will probably perform better.

If you can get a streaming box that can connect to the amplifier, or get an amp with streaming built in, then you can stream and play media with the same setup.

Facewon

This is where I gripe about Google discontuning the chromecast audio.

I still have one, and it's great. Plug it into back of old school amp. Bam, streaming on big system. Have it set up downstairs. Works awesome. I will say that speaker size can be entirely dependent on room. I've had the same Stanton record player for years. Originally going through a big chunky marantz amp and big cerwin Vega floor standing speakers. (sounded great) I now have it going through a second hand NAD amp and bookshelves in my office. (still sounds fucking great.)

The phono pre amp I have is really good and neat too. Cheap for what it is. I'll confirm name shortly. Have a little dac to get laptop sound into the same amp.

Means I have all options in one spot.

Record player was inherited from my grandfather, but the other bits cost me less than aus$800. Preamp $100 new. NAD $300 second hand. Speakers $350 on special.

I'd find a specialist Hifi place and go in and just check out a bunch of speakers, even if you're buying online. (I was aiming for more expensive bookshelves when I nabbed the ones I did. Preferred the sound on cheaper ones by blind luck.)

poprock

I used to have a nice Teac setup that I bought second-hand from a B&O dealer. Someone else had traded it in.

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