Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Yeah, found that years ago when I had hifi gear, found it to be a bit like trying a car stereo in a Halfords. My local hifi emporium (now sadly deceased) used to have a room set up like a lounge that they would put anything you wanted to try in. Ah the good old days.

Yep, once spent many hours in the listening room on room at Audio T in Enfield. Tried out about half of the speakers they had in the shop.

Just seen this, can you send me through some photos...

@jontea I just bought one of these for my dad- recommended.

Buy speakers second hand on ebay, or pair it with cheapish bookshelf ones <£100

In other news I treated myself to a second hand pair of Kef R300’s this week. They is lovely

Anyone recommend what the symptoms are for a failing / "worn" crossover is?

In last few years my ages ruarks have gone from pretty decent to sounding quite "murky". Best description is that the peaks of what should be going through the big driver and "missing" from the tweater, at the same time the top end sounds more muted whereas before I feel like they were much more crisp.
Cpuld be totally making this up abd I'm just going deaf. Is there a scientific way of measuring the components (quite hard to get to) on the crossover board?

Capacitors are the usual culprit. Check to see if they have swelled or burst. Replace them with good quality 'audio' rated ones.

You need to remove capacitors from the board to measure them and even then you need a fairly specific instrument to do it. Best to follow the previous advice and get some replacements with the same values, audio rated would be best.

Is this the right place to ask? I want to get an amp and speakers for home. I’m tired of not hearing music properly and want a good full Range. I’m not an audiophile but want to hear all of a song, in reasonable quality.

Don’t know my arse from elbow. What way should I be looking for a nice entry ish setup, do I need a sub or are floor standers enough?

Circa 3-500. Don’t mind second hand.

These? https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/floorstanding-speakers/q-acoustics-q3050-matte-graphite.html

And an amp.

Floorstanders are enough (tbh, good bookshelf speakers are probably enough unless the room is pretty big).

What you go for might partly depend what kind of music you will mostly be playing - I've got some old 1970s speakers from Dazaa off here, and they sound fantastic with any more "natural" music but don't impress as much on electronic music...

Ask Dazaa here: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/250030/

He surely has something for you in your price range. Like he had for me and many of us on here.

Would avoid most of the Richer Sounds stuff tbh.

Second hand speakers that are reasonably efficient (90db/w/m or above) and a class-T switching amp will sounds awesome.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tannoy-Dorset-T185-Speakers-Dual-Concentric/153109663668?hash=item23a60c0fb4:g:etUAAOSwl39bVGC~

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fostex-FE167e-in-a-DIY-Speaker-Cabinet/163142010758?hash=item25fc058786:g:q0AAAOSw3fZaEgc~

Amp: https://www.amptastic.com/

That’s a pretty good budget for an amazing second hand system.

Id look for a ps audio sprout and some obscure British made floorstanders

Thanks all. Issue is I don’t know jack.

I listen to all sorts, from Dire Straits and simply red to hospitality records and a whole lot in between.

Thanks for the criteria @danb I guess that gives us some this to look for.

Jesus... what's between Dire Straits and Simply Mick?

Actually, don't answer that.

Smokey Robinson and the miracles, sam Cooke, frank ocean, future islands, arctic monkeys, solange, twin shadow and one of my favourites the war on drugs. I like varied music.

Mick's pink pancakes?

Heh! So do I chap. Just struck me as an off couple of examples to give as evidence.

Ignore me please. I'm very tired.

Is that amptastic mini really good?

I guess I'd need a good input source, I (hold your nose) use spotify from my phone, so not sure how to deal with input.

Thanks good to know.

Though obscure british floor standers I'd have no idea what to looks for.

I could happily make my own cabinets if that's a worthwhile option, if there are set design guides for speakers.

Yeah - most tripath based amps are pretty good, so long as the speakers arent too hard to drive.

Yup - was going to ask about inputs. Spotify premium is not too bad actually, so long as you enable the highest quality output.

DIY cabinets can be a good option, but that is a big rabbit hole to go down :)
If you don't go for fullrange drivers (I am a fan of these all though many are not) then you will also need to build a crossover, so that the highs get sent to the tweeters and the lows/mids to the main drivers.

I guess I'll get persecuted for streaming over bluetooth? We both have premium and that's how we listen (using bluetooth). Though that ps audio sprout has bluetooth.

Is there a list of floorstanders I can set up an ebay watch for and just jump on some that look good condition and not to far away?

Thanks

I have a pair of eltax book shelf speakers.
I imagine if you used a tablet/phone and one of those USB OTG things and an amptastic amp it would be fairly decent?

offer retracted as I remembered I'm supposed to be doing the same....

Not really up to speed on bluetooth stuff :)

As for eBay - its a bit like bikes but worse, there are utterly amazing speakers from some companies (Tannoy for example) and some pretty mediocre ones. Plus a whole load of snake oil.

There has not really been any great leap forward in speaker tech for the last 50 years or so. Some speakers will have foam surrounds attaching the cone to the drive unit, these can rot and perish. They can be replaced with various kits if you are methodical and have a steady hand. Likewise if they have crossovers, the capacitors may need replacing - again not too hard if you know how to solder.

I stream using spotify premium at the highest quality using one of these: https://www.whathifi.com/qed/u-play-bluetooth-receiver/review

They're less than £30 now most places and mine sounds absolutely fine to me. *disclaimer: I'm not a real audiophile... although I do record and mix music and would hope that I'm a reasonably discerning/critical listener