Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Troels would be a good place to start.

Hee hee

universe telling you to bin 6music ; )

following on from my heat resistant cable chat above - I think I've decided to just drill through the bottom of my alcove cabinets, through the floor into the underbuilding below my living room and then route speaker cable below the floor and up into the cabinet on the other side of the alcove.

when I have routed the cable, what's the best way to then prevent drafts from the underbuilding ? I had thought about using expanding foam but that seems p.permanent and I might want to change the cables at some point I guess. it might be best to just run the cable through a narrow channel in the (not yet existent) underfloor insulation - that might eliminate drafts I guess

Felt insulation. Cut to a strip, coil around the cable until it plugs the hole, then trim excess.

I don't actually know... Just making this up... But I'd do that.

what's the best way to then prevent drafts from the underbuilding ?

Make the holes the same size as the cables 🙂

You can get bungs in many combinations of overall size and through-hole size, single or double, if you need to pass one or two small cables through a much larger port.

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Get the R3, and a Hegel H95

Are you not running into physics here? There’s a reason that cabs for dynamic drivers end up being deep!

If money is really no object, how about some electrostatic units?

Fyne was started by a bunch of ex-Tannoy staff after Behringer took over.
I'm sure they sound great, but wish they had stuck with the retro look of Tannoy prestige range.

Does 6music have a house EQ curve (like R1 has/used to have)?

Klipsch R-41PM...
No idea how they sound but they look like they'd sound nice.
Which is the most important factor

Have now listened to LS50 Meta and LS50 Wireless II (both are surprisingly not as nice as the KEF LSX which feel more alive and less analytical)

Wow. Never thought I’d hear that. I liked the Meta’s but didn’t love, but I absolutely hated the LSX. Funny how subjective speakers can be.

@JB did you purchase a set of triangle floorstanders a while ago? I just auditioned a bunch of bookshelf speakers. The triangle cometé EZ were quite eye opening. Compared to similar Sonus Faber, B&W they were very very good and brought a really enjoyable lively sound to room.

Also interested in this lsx they're great/they're terrible discussion. Going to listen to a setup next week with sub (rel t/zero and without) wonder how I'll find them.

I did not @TRA - got a pair of Totem Sky Tower’s and love them. Paired with a Rogue Audio Sphinx v3. Switched out the stock tubes for Gold Lion ECC82’s though. Much better.

The LSXs to my ear were just so shouty and sibilant. No good for actual HiFi usage IMO. Computer at lower volumes maybe but as soon as they get even remotely cranked they were just hard to listen to. Unless one is heavily reliant on the streaming features of the LSX, you can get so, so much more for your cash.

Sibilant as a description worries me, it's my most hated trait of a speaker. I am looking for a minimal TV/music system but can't help coming at it from a hifi angle. So far I've been unimpressed with all the obvious powered speaker options so have been investigating a separates system.

Well, good luck. YMMV and all that.

I still really like the flexibility of separates. Not really into the whole HiFi in a speaker thing.

Are we not into the eternal compromises re speakers and hifi generally? The tannoy enthusiasts on this thread have a reasonable easy to drive almost sensitive driver as a result of the relatively big cabinets. A smallish standmounter is always going to be compromised at high volumes next to an old school coffin like a Klipsch corner horn. Dipole and electro static speakers are always going to have bit more presence. And of course there is budget and the joyous marketing and branding of hifi...

I fancy some DIY LX mini...

I'm in the market for a semi-decent tt while mine is being worked on. Fairly pressing. Up to £200
I'm in SE25
Hit me up with what you have got if you're selling one this month.

On speaker size.. true the drivers have a certain depth. But I don't see why a cabinet needs to be in portrait mode, or that the cabinet needs to be 2x or 3x the depth of the driver.

An octagon cabinet (or a big square one) holding a driver with central tweeter would provide the cabinet more space and more consistently shaped space internally.

I'm frustrated in my shopping as everything that claims to be a bookshelf speaker option is above 30cm depth when I have height and width to spare.

I can only conclude the bookshelves suited for bookshelf speakers only hold art books.

The rabbit hole I'm currently in is investigating whether a decent DAC driving input to PSI Audio A17 would do it. Probably seems to be the answer.

Well yeah bookshelf means stand mount really doesn’t it. I’m concerned that you only listened to KEF though? Or so it seems from reading your posts. What about something like the Neat Iota? They’re a fantastic little set of speakers and they truly are bookshelves. Designed to sit on a bookshelf in portrait or landscape. Available in fun colors. Made in England.

Those look fun… might make some

There are lots of “golden ratio” cabinet designs that are shallower and wider / taller.

Cabinets are usually deeper to avoid internal reflections from the back panel. If they’re active that’s where the amp goes too.

Sure...

But here are in-wall speakers, the KEF Architectural ones and it's an 8" (20cm) driver https://uk.kef.com/products/ci200rs which only requires 4.7"/12cm of depth in a wall.

It is clearly possible to produce high quality speakers with shallow requirements on the cabinet, it only appears to be a choice to not do so.

Even the PSI Audio's on my desk have 4" (10cm) drivers and only have a depth of 6.7" (17cm) on the cabinet.

It's hard to even find great passive speakers which are shallow enough for a bookshelf and yet could fill a room with expansive and high quality music.

If you want to put them on a bookshelf, you'll need sealed enclosures or front ported. Front ports put a limitation on the size of the front baffle, which leaves you with a sealed box.

My understanding is that modern port design provides more advantages