Pbr

dba that picture was from the Mana forum, is it in pf as well?

Pbr

Sorry correct link: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/

dba

oh yes indeed, a right royal row then went off,very funny read

Pbr

Have you a link for that?

dba

http://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showt...5&pagenumber=1

Pbr

Thanks.

dba

page 11 is worth a visit

zoog

Hi Tiggers

It's a Michell Orbe/origin live silver taper/ortofon rohman (- the dusted one!)
audio note step up transformer
audio note m3 phono pre amp
audio note Conquest mononblocks
audio note E-spe speakers
audio note silver i/c's and cables throughout.

Also put my home cinema through this system using a Sanyo projector and Sony DVd player, cant be bothered with surround and all that.....!

haven't replaced cartridge yet still deciding but main problem is the fitting and setup of the new one-I am totally incapable and so will have to drag the whole orbe into the dealers to get them to do it which is not a pleasant prospect as it doesnt like being moved and the whole thing is unbelievably stressfull!

tiggers

That's a beautiful system. The Michell Orbe is a fantastic piece of engineering and looks as good as it sounds. I have an LP12 which is all up to date and everything, but the Michell is special. The LP12 can't hold a candle to it in the looks department for starters.

The Audio Note gear is fantastically well made as well - I'd love to hear a system like that again one day. I love my Linn/Naim gear, but sometimes want to get out there and experiment again.

Know what you mean about carting it all off to the dealer - hope you get it sorted soon. Thanks for the reply.

Regards,

tiggers.

fatscoobyfella

Love the Audio note stuff.never heard the speakers tho!!.sounds lovely and refined and laid back...ideal for Vinyl..the Orbe is a lovely turntable...The Gyrodeck SE by Michell is a piece of art as well as bein a brill turntable at a bargain price..

paulr

I agree,spending say 10k on a stereo set up (3k amp 3k cd player and 3k speakers) you want the whole thing,customer service,home demo,chat for hours in store,borrow bits and pieces etc.


btw,2 points.

1.A/V outsells stereo by 15:1 nowadays
2.Ebay/the net has given a massive boost to the s/hand market.

Power Junkie

iTrader: (1)

As Said earlier, After working in pro studios for many years, I am very happy with my 3k system. Lots of things the HI-FI world try tell people is total rubbish. I work day in day out on equipment worth at least 1 Mill+ so if i want to hear something as it should be I play it in the studio.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Its all a load of b0llocks, your hearing degrades once you are past your teens so by the time you can afford it your ears are knackered anyway !

I spent a lot of time and money on hi-fi, its so easy to get caught up in the BS, spent a lot of time at hi-fi shows listening to different set ups, it all sounds crap if they play 'Rotterdam' by the Beautiful South for 3 hours.

paulr

Also depends on what you listen to,some rock music is badly recorded.
Thats why hifi shops always have Kate Melua.

tiggers

Whilst I may not agree with some of your post the above is absolutely spot on The Beautiful South and Phil Collins - both designed to make you spend your money on something other than hi-fi

tiggers.

tiggers

Actually you'd be better spending 5K on the CD, 4K on the amp and 1K on the speakers, but that's a whole different discussion

As for AV and surround sound I know it outsells hi-fi, but most of it is such poor quality you'd almost be better off with the TV speakers and then on top of that most people haven't got a clue how to set it up properly.

tiggers.

gareth123

The last dealer I bought hi fi stuff from lent me demo units for a few days. I thought most did this?

RobJenks

Try this experiment .
Get 2 photographs of yourself.
1 when you were a child and the other as you are now.
Put each photograph into a clear plastic folder .
Now go and listen to your favourite piece of music.
Now place both photographs into the deep freeze compartment of your refrigerator.
Now re-play your favourite piece of music.
It will sound better!!!!!!!!!!
Take the photographs out of the freezer and the sound will return to the former .
Also freeze your cd's and interconnects.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I found that a special ciggie did the most for any set up or given piece of music, very cheap !

corradoboy

Disagree with the negative comments about cabling differences. I'm not as into it as I used to be, and never went silly anyway but when I used to home dem cables, whether they were I/C or speaker, I used to listen myself and formulate my own opinions and then invite a mate around and repeat the test just to compare his appraisals to mine. More often than not we agreed, and his test was always blind.

My amp speakers and CD player are all well over 10 years old, and on listening to some new equipment recently I have no plans to change any of it. Added a bit of cheap surround kit to it and the necessary AV bits, but unless anything fails my money stays where it is. In the wifes purse

TelBoy

Some interesting comments. Generally, from my own experience, you get what you pay for, although past a certain point it just becomes a matter of personal choice rather than a huge leap forward in performance.

Most people would be astonished at what a decent set of amplifiers can do in a home set-up - it transforms music from straightforward "reproduction" into an event, capturing your attention and making it an experience rather than just "putting some music on". Certainly beats the hell out of watching more boring television!

Sometimes i go through phases of fiddling, sometimes i can't be bothered. Cleaning the contacts, freezing cds, swapping round interconnects, all sorts. All part of the fun, and no different to continually tweaking a car or such like.

dba

absolutely,its why anything B&W or bizarrely,BOSE,go for a song on Ebay,way over what they are worth.There are no bargains left on Ebay,you need to use the small ads for blagging a deal.Or buy a relatively unknown brand to the masses

as for bad recordings,i disagree a bit.Some cds are compressed to the point they sound loud,and fool the casual listener into thinking they are great.Copare these to such classics as the Joshua Tree,which were recorded through speakers,not mics,and the difference is chalk and cheese on most stack sysyems.But listen to the Joshua on a good system and its a different story.

fatscoobyfella

All good comments here fella's..But with the exception of the studio engineer i guess that no one on here has heard a bending wave transducer speaker..To me these are a huge leap forward in home hi fi..but only just becoming available for us to use..bein that there production was very expensive.Studio's and the military have used transducers for years.The true to life sound they give as opposed to a Push/pull kind of speaker unit are miles apart.Standard drivers give false tonal overshoots that are unavoidable but we find pleasin to the ear,because thats how speaker technology has lent us believe things have sounded,and there has never really been a viable alternative to the standard cone driver.
The only prob with a transducer type set up is that you need an amp with a very quick rise time to control the units..Valve amps and a majority on tranny amps just aint upto the job of controlling units this specialised.
The Audio Physics Medea Used just one transducer per speaker,and these sound very very good,but from memeory retailed at approx 30k.
Overkill Audio too are now building speakers with Transducers in.and are just starting to get reviewed in the Hi Fi press.
But the company that build the transducers for these companies have just started to build there own full speaker units for home hi fi that use 3 transducers in there top of the line series..These costing considerably less by a long way than anything out there at the moment..
I urge people to have a listen of a transducer set up,if ya can find anywhere to demo any..Really it is one of the 1st big jumps in Hi Fi on years..

TelBoy

From what i've heard though, their presentation comes back to the point of personal choice. It's a bit like electrostatics - some people swear by them, others find them uninvolving and clinical. High-end cone speakers really CAN convey a sense of real-life, so i reckon they'll be the speaker of choice for the majority for some considerable time yet.

ProperCharlie

I have also found that upgrading amps gets the most out of source and speakers. I have been dissapointed with some speakers, only to try them with a different amp and hear them really perform.

My most disappointing purchase was a s/h Linn Axis tt. At the time, I placed it on top of a chest of drawers, and plugged it into the built in phono stage of an old sansui amp - it sounded cr*p. 15 years later I still use the same TT, (albeit with a new cart) on a Sound Organisation stand, through a Trichord Dino + phono stage. It sounds fantastic.

TelBoy

In fact, PC, i'd say that after amplifiers, a decent surface to place the equipment on is possibly the next most influential upgrade.

If anyone into Hi-Fi needs to suggest a Crimbo present from their partners - ask them to get you a Base platform. Cost about £100, available from Audio-T branches and various online retailers. You will NOT be disappointed, i guarantee it!

More information here.

Pbr

Or a Mana platform, if they can justify the cost.

Vegescoob

To go with the recently suggested Current World Events forum a HiFi forum perhaps?

We boys and our toys eh.

Alan C

Having just spent several weeks listening to CD & Amp upgrade potentials to my 20 year old technics stuff, I have just plumped for some Sugden stuff.

Everything I heard only made the job harder. Every combination was subtly different. But nothing had that 'this is the one' factor until I heard the Sugden.

I listened to some of the same kit at the same time as Corradoboy & another good friend and it was a pleasure to listen to their comments and opinions over a beer.

Nothing was 'best' when we changed certain components, only 'different'. The Sugden kit I bought was the best I heard, period. But that's to my ears.

To CB it may sound terrible..

messiah

Home Cinema & Subaru's - 2 rather expensive hobbies I have.

I'm going to be after a new Sub before long, probably going for a REL. When I'm getting a new component, I usually buy a couple of magazines to see which stuff they rate then make a decision, I never go for the cheapest or the most expensive, IMHO if you buy pay next to nothing its usually sh!te, and the (really) expensive stuff isn't usually that much better than mid price stuff (say £500).

But then it's your choice, if you think it's great then thats all that matters...