Audiophiles... here perhaps?

[Squidders]

This is way off topic but I was wondering if there were any bushcrafting audiophiles around? those in to their hi-fi or movies. if so, what have you got, get nerdy here!

I recently upgraded my lovely Kef Q Series speakers with some VERY lovely Linn ones and a: wanted to boast about how absolutely great they are and b: poll a little if it's worth trying to flog my Kef set in the member classifieds.

 

[Dougster]

Back when we were both working full time before the kids, we went out and got ourselves a Rega amp, arcam CD player with monitor speakers. That little lot set me back a months wages, phew - worth every penny! I'd like to add I spent almost a month researching it all, drove her indoors mad.

 

[Tony]

I've been looking into this stuff as my DVD home cinema box set got wasted in the flood we had. I might be interested in your Kef speakers I want to go to a few places and see the kit, hear it etc but the problem I've got is that I live miles from anywhere and so it's a major expedition to go and look into things, then there's the having to pick them up as quite a few companies won't let their stuff get posted.

I was looking at some q acoustic and Kef speakers.

 

[Jodie]

My ex-flatmate had some Wharfedale speakers which sat on teenly little spikes
on the floor, apparently so that the sound wouldn't transmit too much to anyone
living below (shame they didn't offer us the same courtesy!). Anyway he was
very pleased with me when I worked out the 'spaghetti' arrangements to
connect up the TV through the hi-fi's amp and out through the speakers, as
was I.

I quite like looking through the Maplin catalogue occasionally and dreaming of
a time when I win the lottery.

Everything I have is very cheap and basic or was already there in the flat. I like
popping round to my old flat and watching a film through the Wharfedales every
now and again.

 

[Squidders]

I'll stick them in classifieds so you can have a look.

I've been looking into this stuff as my DVD home cinema box set got wasted in the flood we had. I might be interested in your Kef speakers I want to go to a few places and see the kit, hear it etc but the problem I've got is that I live miles from anywhere and so it's a major expedition to go and look into things, then there's the having to pick them up as quite a few companies won't let their stuff get posted.

I was looking at some q acoustic and Kef speakers.

 

[gregorach]

Ooh, a topic close to my heart... Fellow hi-fi enthusiasts may want to look away now.

I'm currently running a pair of World Audio Design kit-built valve amps - a KEL84 integrated pre/power amp, and a Phono II RIAA stage with outboard PSU. My main source is my kit-built BIX turntable, equipped with an Ortofon MC25 FL cartridge. Speakers are a second-hand pair of kit-built LS3/5a clones with outboard crossovers. I also have a fairly crappy CD player, whose identity and provenance elude me right now...

The KEL84 is an EL84 based push-pull design delivering 15W true RMS into 8ohms with less than 1% THD, using an ECF80 input stage. This amp has been modified with a selection of high-quality components (AudioNote copper foil coupling caps, Black Gate bypass caps, a new DC heater supply built with HEXFRED soft-switching diodes, a psuedo-shunt attenuator built with Vishay resistors and the famous Alps blue potentiometer, etc) and wired through with 4N silver in PTFE sheathing. The Phono II amp is much closer to stock, the only modifications being the introduction of the "secret" 3.18uS time constant in the RIAA correction, a set of Ortofon 1:20 step-up transformers and the use of 4N silver / PTFE wiring throughout.

Interconnects are a couple of home-brew designs involving 4-core Litz braiding with mil-spec PTFE sheathed copper/silver conductors. Speaker cable is fairly standard Van Damme Pro heavy-duty twin-core.

I'd link to pictures of the amps, but World Audio Designs has closed down since I bought them...

 

[Squidders]

Very nice indeed - you're a serial tinkerer ain't ya

All my stuff is completely stock at the moment...

Arcam DV79 DVD player
Project Classic turntable
Arcam A85 and P85 amp(s)
Linn Espek fronts

On the way are...

Yamaha DSPE800 processor
Linn Katan speakers
Linn Ekwal Centre Channel speaker

 

[Klenchblaize]

Here is my set-up:

Cheers

 

[gregorach]

Quality! But I have to question the wisdom of having your turntables sat on top of your speaker enclosures...

 

[Klenchblaize]

Quality! But I have to question the wisdom of having your turntables sat on top of your speaker enclosures...

I forgot to mention the second set of independently driven high and mid range units mounted in the ceiling void via very large bolts through the joists!

Fortunately the 2” solid marble plinths between turntables and unit top have the desired effect and are aided by the speakers being spiked into 8” of solid concrete coupled to the house footings. It is certainly not audiophile thinking but no one has ever complained other than the Public House across the road!

Happy listening!

Cheers

 

[gregorach]

OK, now I'm jealous! I live in a fourth-floor flat with wooden floors... I've pretty much called a halt on the eternal quest for better hi-fi because there's really not much more to gain without moving house first.

 

[Klenchblaize]

OK, now I'm jealous! I live in a fourth-floor flat with wooden floors... I've pretty much called a halt on the eternal quest for better hi-fi because there's really not much more to gain without moving house first.

Hear what you say but at least there is always one more vinyl album to track down as part compensation.

 

[gregorach]

True... But I need more shelving!

 

[mark a.]

I used to be into it, before I moved house and could no longer justify spending lots on hi-fi when I have some DIY to do first... However, my current set-up is ok:
- Arcam CD72 CD player
- Musical Fidelity X-series amp (I think it's the X-A2?)
- Kef Q3 floorstanding speakers

It's nowhere near my dream system, but the room they are in now won't really justify anything better (the acoustics aren't that great, and the seating position is all wrong). However, I have still had many a happy hour listening to some top-notch systems that really get the soul moving.

The best bit is showing your sceptical friend (who thinks that a £100 mini-system is the epitome of musical experience) the wonders of expensive hi-fi. "Blown away" is a common term!

My favourite ever set-up I've listened to was so bizarre (and probably extremely expensive) I've no idea what any of the components were, except to say that it was turntable, valve amp and weird speakers. Who knows what my dream system would be, although perhaps a top-notch Bryston / PMC combo wouldn't be too shabby...!

 

[Klenchblaize]

It's nowhere near my dream system, but the room they are in now won't really justify anything better (the acoustics aren't that great, and the seating position is all wrong). QUOTE]


This whole business of a critical seating position has been compounded by the proliferation/use of small enclosures and equally small drivers. Get the largest enclosure/driver combination you can accommodate and MOVE THAT AIR for a music-to-room coupled experience!!

Just listen to what a Tannoy enclosure with single drive unit can do and there is simply no way you’ll want to go back to A4 (ish) sized monitor speakers however detailed they are.

Sorry, just realised this really isn’t buscraft at all!

Cheers

 

[Squidders]

That's why it's in "Other chatter"

 

[mark a.]

I learned a long time ago that in many ways it's pointless spending thousands on a fancy system if you haven't already spent thousands on getting your room right. If you can get your room right in terms of relatively uniform frequency distribution, the right reverberation time, minimise flutter echo and whatnot and you're laughing. The only problem is your living room now would now look like a cross between a recording studio and a mental asylum, with padded walls, carpets, absorbent corner catchers and the like.

I might also disagree with Kenchblaize, as I have tended to prefer the smaller speakers. Yes, a properly setup and well controlled monster speaker will get you to really feel the music, but smaller speakers tend to give more natural soundstaging and detail in more realistic scenarios, which will get you to be in the music.

 

[Jodie]

I like all that green stuff you've got there Klenchblaize. Very nice.

This thread very quickly moved beyond what I could keep up with though
I'm tiptoeing quietly out of the back of the thread...

 

[Klenchblaize]

No, hang in there please as no intention to hijack your thread.

I may occasionally work in “Post Production Room 20” at Abbey Road but I only speak from what my ears (and soul if I may be so bold) tell me.

Cheers