Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Quite pleased with how well this went together. Mess visible at the bottom is cos my order of the aluminium stuff had a piece missing, will have to chase that up tomorrow.

1 Attachment

That looks great.

Fuck me the PS5 is fucking ugly / massive. I have one too but I think I’ve only seen it twice as it’s hidden in a cabinet.

Presonus Eris 3.5 BT.
I have a set of 4.5 already and wanted another.

Presonus Eris 3.5 BT.

Cool. Interesting cause I'm getting loads of amazon suggestions for it. Not sure if it was me searching your speakers or if it's being pushed. (I am so sceptical about amazon and its advertising practices)

I knew nothing about them. I bought the 4.5s maybe 6-8 months ago based on the recommendations of a muso friend of mine.

Install a pi.hole and use ad/tracker-blockers

That's really nice... where did you order it all from?

Cheers. Was worried it might end up looking like something temporary off an exhibition stand rather than contemporary furniture, but (modestly) reckon it's more like the latter.

Aluminium profile and fittings were all from KJN. Plywood for the panels and shelves from Wood Green Timber, MDF top from Homebase. Shelf front edge is Wickes finest U-section aluminium.

Was considering something fancier for the top, but given £££ and lead times decided to go the cheap and immediate route. Impressed with the vinyl covering, first couple of panels were a bit dodgy but they're out of sight. Did the top last and had nailed the technique by then, looks perfect.

It's so nice I'm wondering whether I should go a similar route to tidy up and help reduce the noise of my computing rack.

I've currently got it all on open wire shelving which was cheap, but the NAS is noisy so I like the thought of enclosing it in a unit that I could add some foam padding to. Obvs not stopping airflow, but absorbing the worst of the noise.

The only issues I've got when thinking of this are:

1. Can it take the weight? The NAS is heavy including the 8 x HDD - about 12kg total - but the UPS battery is even heavier at around 20kg... and both are on the wire shelving along with another 10kg of computers and switches. Minimum shelf weight is therefore around 20kg with the total being around 45-50kg.
   
2. Will it adapt as I change things? I don't replace everything at once, so sometimes need to increase and decrease shelf space and the layout to accommodate things.
   

You could do it with 30x30 profile if weight is a consideration. There are plenty of fastening options and it's very easy to completely over engineer this stuff. When unpacking the 20x20 it seemed more slender than I imagined, but think it's spot on in this case.

It can certainly be added to very easily. You also have the option of replacing parts and rebuilding but that's obviously more expensive and time consuming.

Did you use their design service and then just order everything they suggested?

Designed it all myself, 3D model fashion.

Looks superb @Brun - properly good.

Really tidy job, nice work.

So looks like my Denon stack is all on the way out. Woofer died. Skipped that and plugged speakers into the amp instead worked for a few days now one is dead again.

Looks like a I can find a direct replacement on eBay for about 2-300£ but thinking there is probably a better option out there now.

I mostly just play my music and run sound for my projector through it.

I wanted to sort surround sound out running from my MacBook Pro but spoke to the guys at Sevenoaks who had no clue.

The main thing with surround sound is the wiring. If you can't think of a way to conceal them you have a lot of speaker cables.

If I was going surround sound again I'd probably be looking at Sonons but obviously that's not ideal for music.

I do have a full surround sound setup that I need to get rid of (2x Wharfeldale 9.4, 2x Wharfedale 9.0, Wharfedale 9 centre and DENON AVRX2300W receiver) in part because I just can't fit it neatly in my new place. I do miss not having it though when I'm watching films.

I have an Atacama Hifi stand for sale if anyone’s interested. Some scratches on the metal parts due to the spikes but glass is all good.

3 tier.

Some info here https://www.whathifi.com/atacama/europa-ref-8/review

£65

2 Attachments

Discovered PSI Audio https://www.psiaudio.swiss/ , so now have some very nice studio monitors in my office.

Was looking for something for my desk that were tight directionally (nearfield monitors), sounded neutral and transparent so voices in calls were realistic and isn't, and then I've the added advantage of killer speakers should I want to put music on.

They look very nice (and very expensive!)

Yeah, jeez dude. Super pricey. What made you go for those over other substantially cheaper, well regarded monitors @Velocio?

In other news, is anyone using a Pi Zero W for Volumio/a similar streaming distribution? Unsure if it's powerful enough.

I've been running a similar setup for years on my desktop, with PMC's instead. I added a sub a few years ago and it completed the system really well. The problem with very small monitors is the power they need to develop accurate bass seems to slow mid range response.

jeez dude. Super pricey

That .swiss TLD suggests that the target market is 'merkins with far more money than sense. I imagine the investment by psiaudio.ch in an extra domain registration has more than paid for itself 🙂

What made you go for those over other substantially cheaper, well regarded monitors @Velocio?

I reduced the choice to Genelec 8030, Neumann KH-80, ADAM A3X... but frankly didn't like the sound of the ADAM's, nor the looks of the Neumann or Genelec. Of all three I most preferred the Genelec in sound.

I was clear with the shops I visited that I was aiming for a broadcast studio setup and transparency, for the mid-range to come out clear, balanced, and for it to stay clear and clean at low volumes. I also gave the space problem: small room, desk situated, nearfield, compact. And that on top of all of that I wanted to have something that made music superlative given that I work at that desk 8-10 hours per day and listen to music between meetings when I'm working on stuff.

After being disappointed in the other £1k (pair of speaker) options I opened it up to considering other options if price wasn't a constraint... was there a pair of monitors that sounded as good as I wanted and also looked good and could perform well at lower volume in such a small space? Did these things even exist?

It turns out yes, but the price was higher than my original budget. The PSI Audio A14-M Studio were smaller than the ones I'd been looking at, sounded better than the Genelecs (which had been my gold standard until I'd heard the PSI Audio), and perform on another level at low volume in the mid-range.

What really surprises me is how transparent they are... I do not hear these speakers. My KEF, my Monitor Audio, and other speakers I've owned and loved over the years all have their own tone, warmth, clarity. You get used to those and love how they bring some character to the music. But the PSI Audio are a different beast, I thought the Genelecs were transparent and neutral as I could close my eyes and occasionally imagine I was in the room with the musicians. But the PSI Audio gives that feeling constantly... and that's what I wanted.

The looks really helped though, as they're either side of the display and things like the KH-80 were just too ugly to consider.

Thanks for the in depth response. Can't argue with that. They certainly look smart. Disappearing speakers is a really nice sensation once you achieve it and yes, Genelec's are certainly ugly.

How is bass reproduction? Missing much low end?

The bass is there, not absent. But not enhanced or over-egged.

For the small room they're in it's definitely enough and earlier when Wolf Alice were being played through them I thought the bass rumbling and deep. I'm not sure they need a subwoofer at all, but if they were in a larger room I'd probably change my opinion there.

What I really liked when I heard them was something that I'd not heard before... speakers that fully balance the sound at low volume and at high volume and all the places inbetween. So yup, at low volume the bass, mid and highs are all there perfectly balanced, and they remain balanced even as they step up in volume. The bass isn't absent, and nor is anything else.

They're very very good and for what I wanted they're perfect.

I liked mine on their own for a long time but the sub just makes the system perfect and adds frequencies below 50hz which is handy if you spend a lot of time messing with synths (which I do).