Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

I often want to put it on at 3am when I can't sleep, very quietly so my partner doesn't hear and wake up

I've heard that under-pillow speakers are excellent for people who want the radio on at night while sharing a bed with somebody who wants silence.

I turn it right down, I can still hear it...but it's quieter than the hiss

I thought that was the effect all these currently highly fashionable ASMR audio streams were going for 🙂

Ha thanks all!
I might get a 2nd hand transistor radio from eBay and see if that helps.

Decided to add a Ruark MRx as a satellite speaker to the little music centre thing that is the R2.

Rationale being that when I'm listening to the cricket in the kitchen, I can have the speaker in here instead of just turning up the sound from the main unit in the living area.

Anyway, unlike the R2, the MRx has no display, so you are compelled to use the app to operate it.

Instructions provided are in essence "plug it in, download app, enjoy".

Then you discover that the Ruark Link app is no longer available "for reasons beyond our control". So you need to use something called UNDOK, for which Ruark do not provide any instructions.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it's taken me a good 90 minutes to get to the point where I can actually play something. And I'm only a semi luddite. I imagine much of their target audience would have struggled to get this far.

tl/dr: if you are going to sell a premium product which requires an app to make it work, make sure your bloody app is available!

I'm gonna write them a little note and see what they say.

to/dr: if you are going to sell a premium product which requires an app to make it work, make sure your bloody app is available!

The real lesson is that no well considered product requires an app to make it work. Using the internet of shit to provide additional non-essential functions is already bad enough.

The real lesson is that no well considered product requires an app to make it work.

Yeah, that is a fair point. The R2 doesn't require an app to make it work, and I'd never felt the need to use the app as I assumed (seemingly correctly) that it would be shit.

I didn't consider that the MRx would have no functionality outside of an app. I was a bit surprised / annoyed to discover that this is the case.

Do Sonos require the app to make them work?

Yes

Thanks. I've dropped a note to Ruark saying "nice speaker but not impressed with using someone else's app and no instructions".

Let's see what they say.

Nothing beats a couple of wires connected to some speakers for reliability and simplicity of operation. I've been listening to Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, recorded with three microphones, an orchestra a small band and the singer. As much as we've wanted all the digital bells and whistles, a lot has been lost.

Nothing beats a couple of wires connected to some speakers for reliability and simplicity of operation.

Agreed. I have a wired set up elsewhere and I'd always choose that for "proper" audio purposes.

This application requires small size and convenience. Just turned out to be slightly less convenient than anticipated.

It's a tricky trade off. I've got a couple of wifi based systems that are pretty reliable and portable but it's easy to upset them for one reason or another.

New (s/h) speakers and stands for the study. Annoyingly the stand plinth is too big for the speaker, so this is the only orientation that doesn’t look too ridiculous.

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LS50s?

Interested in how these sound.

Yep. They’re omnidirectional coaxial 2-way drivers with some clever cabinet design. Optimistically described by some as “baby-blades” but I’m expecting them to just be decent down to 150hz or so and then not much below that. I’ll post a review once I’ve had a good listen.

The stands are filled with sand or lead or something and bonkers heavy.

LS50s

Never seen them on their side. Actually quite nice like that.

If the top plates are removable you could get a new pair cut from 3 or 5mm steel.

https://www.lasermaster.co.uk/easy-order

I can make a dxf drawing for you if you give me a sketch / dims.

That’s a very kind offer but they’re welded on!

If they can perform under 150hz they are defying science. There's bound to be a bit of fitting the room involved though. I would watch out for room modes and the one note bass effect.

They look great though.

Why do you say they won't go below 150Hz? Aren't they rated to ~50hz? Surely in the room you'd get decent response down to about 80 right?

I've been sorting out my home office space finally. Unboxed my old stereo from 2001! Had two sets of speakers, krix Brix which were used in as rears in a 5.1 setup and a pair of krix kdx. The Brix were ok but muddy and lifeless. The kdx, so much more open and lively. Bit large for the nearfield setup. Connected to a mad c320bee. I'm now thinking about what DAC I could use permanently as currently it's just a fiio alpen a7 from years ago.... Or a better class d amp, or tubes or...

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Why do you say they won't go below 150Hz?

Probably something about wavelengths and apertures.
The wavelength at 150Hz is already over 2m, more or less an order of magnitude larger than the effective baffle diameter. The speaker becomes an omnidirectional radiator, whereas at 1.5kHz it is quite directional. Because the energy at low frequencies is spread out over the full 4π sr, the sound pressure level at the listening position will be corresponding lower for a given total radiated power than it is at high frequencies where it is concentrated in a much smaller angle. If you correct for this by filtering (boosting the input power at low frequencies), you just end up with a very powerful omnidirectional radiator, which is going to sound pretty nasty in anything other than an anechoic chamber. Also, the amount by which you would have to boost the LF input would mean your woofer's voice coil would also serve as your room heater.
TL;DR: Small speakers can't have a flat response at low frequencies, because physics.

It was a response to Freddos comment about his own expectations. Small speakers create bass below 125/150hz but it's hard for it to be controlled. It has a tendency to be non linear in amplitude which might mate with the room modes or not.

I liked both answers :)