Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

deal - after thursday, i will have absolutely fuckloads more time.

i have been tinkering and shuffling stuff around, as i am spending lots of time in the sw. i have been on my own during the week down there, so when not studying (!) i have been listing to vinyl. i started with the focus, the amptastic and the royd mistrels, with the sl1210, the pioneer and the tannoys in london (with a dac and a firebottle phono stage).

as i have been going back and forward (and buying a couple of new bits), i have been swapping speakers/amps/tts/etc around to see what i like and to see what i will settle with when i go back to london permanently. all of the stuff i have bought has been used, so in theory, i should be able to shift it on without much loss.

so - the main set up is the modded 1210, a croft valve preamp (with phono), a hybrid dual mono power amp, a dac and the tannoy eatons. this is sensational. the 1210 almost feels too good for charity shop vinyl that doesn't get cleaned, but it has been interesting upgrading it.

the 2nd set up is a sony ps-6750, with the pioneer sa-9500 and some royd minstrels. this is excellent, but the cart is probably the bit that lets it down. the minstrels are amazing.

rambling on, i have just swapped the tannoys for the minstrels and i am now pretty certain that with the sony tt, the pioneer amp and the eatons (which are incidentally all from about the same year), that i am getting 90% of the goodness, for a shitload less outlay.

don't get me wrong, the main set up sounds sublime at the moment, but i am not sure that there are worthwhile gains to be had from all the fancy valve gear, so i am thinking bout shifting it on and having a fuck around with some of the new room correction software, to see what i can get out of the old 70s gear. none of it really needs any maintenance (valves, etc) and it is only going up in value.

anyone had a play with the lyngdorf/tact stuff? or any of the dirac bits? i like the idea of playing with things without the box swapping...