Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

eight grand for a pair seems like a huge bargain.

Only if they are actually worth anywhere near the other asking price. I'm pretty sure you could use DSP and cheap class D power amps to synthesise the "valve sound" in a way which would be undetectable to any listener in blind trials.

that’s one helluva HP snatchback.

Would love to know what CC paid for them, would be surprised if it was over 1k

Probably smell like cigar's though*

*Go into any higher end hifi shop and smell the used stuff, cigars. Am I doing it wrong by not smoking cigar's when listening to music? Semi genuine question.

Am I doing it wrong by not smoking cigar's

Well, you're doing it wrong with your grocers' apostrophe, but your smoking game would be on point if you combined valves with a pipe, so you don't need to take up the cigar habit. I'd put cigars with wood panelled 70s solid state stuff.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but my Denon subwoofer seems to have died. Just not turning on. The speakers still work running through it. At least they were until yesterday now one has stopped.

Any one know if this is reparable and if so where in London?

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Are the speakers active so all the subwoofer box does is distribute an audio level signal?

Could be the amp or the driver. Most likely Class D amp and they are prone to sudden failure. Plenty of DIY fixes but anyone working on it professionally will quickly exceed the replacement value.

Been procrastinating about replacing my 25-year-old B&W floor standers for years.
These caught my ear the other day. Retro design but with modern drivers and internals. Guess the same trend as the JBL L100. Liking the extra vinyl storage.

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They look really nice. Are they sealed boxes?

Ported at rear - should have said they are Whalfdale Lintons.

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Real bargain those! Had my eye on them for a while. Cheaper than Graham’s or Harbeths 😬

Have you heard them? I have. Would not recommend. Thoroughly average speaker for the money IMO. You can do better for sure. But they do look the business on the (expensive) stands.

Edit: I should add: I heard them in a good listening room, with a Planar 2 and a Rega Brio. So, nice kit. The lintons were very shouty while also being a bit slow IMO. If you’re gonna listen exclusively to 60s/70s rock, they could be decent for you. But if you have any real variety in your listening habits, they might not be good for you.

My Rogers LS7Ts look very similar to those with the grills on. Same sort of size and proportion, I’ve fallen in love with mine, they cost about £300 in tip-top condition.

Review of some ugly condish ones here
https://youtu.be/pHKbEFPYZO0

Sorry, missed this. Decided I'll probably just go for an external USB soundcard and plug it in to the laptop when required as that'll not be very frequent.

Next question: audio over IP, does it always require a dedicated cable run? My amp has a zone 2 which I'd like at the far end of my kitchen, running cable will be a ball ache, replacing the amp for something more modern is an option but an expensive one. Is there any way to do this over a switch and modem? Possibly more of a home networking question.

I do it with a Pi + Hat running Roipeee but I've seen that it will work without Roon.

The Lintons look good but they're close to second hand classic tannoys price wise (the speakers I'm not allowed in the interests of domestic harmony). Some Berkeley 2s with upgraded crossovers sold on hifiwigwam recently for around £1350.

Zone 2 as in a speaker output or Zone 2 as in a line out?

There's (so far as I'm aware) no real solution for the former. If it's the latter then there are various options but will require you to buy some hardware (and may introduce a little lag) so it's whether that's worth it.

We might be talking across purposes here. I want to utilise the (amplified RCA) zone 2 output on my amp ideally, which allows playback at the same time as the main 'zone 1' output. Had it working well in my last place, with kitchen speakers hardwired back to the amp, but the cable run in this place would be awkward and much longer.

Can Roon do that?

I know there's probably suitable modern multi-room kit that will do this, but budget is tight for these kind of toys.

No not heard them yet - but looked at some reviews. Generally prefer the sound of modern speakers but like the retro looks. I listen to loads of genres so need some good all rounders.
Think I will replace my Amp and speakers at the same time to matchy matchy so
will audition through my Technics SL1200GR.

Are you talking about something like an a/d converter that converts to wireless, then a wireless d/a receiver at the other end that does the opposite and then hooks up to another set of amp/speakers? Possibly, but seems pretty niche. Either run a long rca cable or just get a Bluetooth receiver and stream from your phone.
Two sonos connect/ports will do this but not cheap.

if you use a wireless solution, there will be a small delay between the 2 zones.

With sonos you can listen to the delayed audio in zone 1 so both zones are in sync.
Ps I'm not a sonos shill, it's expensive and not perfect, but it does the multiroom thing very well.

I just got my technics 1210mk2 back from being repaired (hardwired RCA cable was intermittent) and the stylus appears to be damaged in the process.

I'm not going to complain about it as its the cartridge i received the 1210 with, its an Ortofon Pro S, so a cheap 'DJ' cartridge I've wanted to replace for ages anyway,

If i set a budget of £500 but would rather spend much less if the returns are diminishing above half of that, what would you buy?

Bottom end, ortofon 2m red or blue. Top end, dynavector 10x5 or sumiko blackbird high output.