Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Mike Solomons? I didn’t know he was still working!

303 is yet another purely ornamental piece of metal in my life that should find a new home (I actually had a pair of 50E monos back in the ‘90s). That, and the Leak TL/50 monos really need to find a better future than on my windowsill.

Jebus. Dusting must be a nightmare round yours

That leak looks ace, how does it sound? Have been eyeing up a stereo 20 - I guess that is a model or two up?

Yeah, I must get rid of these (and all the other assorted crap in this office/workspace).

I’ve had the Leaks for ~30 years and can honestly say they’ve had less than one day’s use in total. When I bought them with a small bonus that I knew would be otherwise spent on nappies and booze, the story was they were fresh off a Quad engineer’s bench (“rebuilt as a hobby”). Whether that’s true or not, I dunno. They’re functional, cosmetically battered, but probably still worth a bit more than the money I paid back then!

The TL/50s are BIG and NOISY. In truth they’ve never really had a good run out! There was a time I’d have happily swapped for a Stereo 20. I bought these when, for a short period of time, I had some spare cash - to replace a pair of Quad IIs that had been stolen from my office (edit along with assorted Macintosh computers… this wasn’t a random hi-fi heist!)

Never used them, except to connect for a few hours to see if they’re working.

303 is yet another purely ornamental piece of metal in my life

Ah yeah just realised the mono Quads are a different thing. I am not knowledgeable on all this. That refurb thing in NL looks great! Really tempted to go for the works and see if he can get my 33 to a place where I don’t sort of fear it. Like the sound of attenuators to mean you’re using a highter part of the vol, balsnce is so unreliable at low vol.

@Velocio
Late on this but some great small speakers that would fit: Rogers ls3/5a

Late on this

Don't worry, people have already suggested LS3/5A variants

just fished a bunch of CDs out of the basement - now to see if I have anything to even play them with, lying around here somewhere. might have a BD player maybe ?!

Love CDs at the moment. With everyone essentially giving their collections away, it's like buying vinyl in the 90s.

Bit random, but did anyone ever have the experience of blokes in a van trying to sell them fake speakers?

I guess that graft is pretty much dead now, but it happened to me twice when I was a teenager 25 years ago.

Same here. I’ve been buying up all my favourite and classic albums for a few quid to listen to in my car, which in reality is pretty much the only time I get to listen to records in any kind of unmolested state.

The M25 and A303 are my sound stages.

have had a rummage through boxes in the basement - haven't put my hand on a CD player yet. might just go to the car boot and see if I can pick one up for pennies

Along with pure pictures quality, test out the software that drives the TV. It's the interface you will.use everyday and if it's slow or difficult then you will hate the TV, regardless of image quality. For me, I like the android TV implementation on my Sony 4k led TV... It's a 2019 model but still good.

As for led or oled. Do you watch during the day? Is the TV on for many hours a day? If yes, go for LED with full array dimming (for decent black levels) .

If you only watch movies at night, then oled.

That's good advice. Cheers

Yeah, I got stopped a few times in the 90s on my lunch break around Borough and Elephant.

I have generalised but you get the gist.

Oled screens do suffer in rooms with high levels of natural light. They're amazing in near dark though.

Now is the time to be buying cds. A lot are going up in value but loads still dirt cheap, obvs. Cds are the new vinyl

Cds are the new vinyl

CDs were the new vinyl when I was a boy

Yes, noticed Protoje's 7 Year Itch has sold for 83 quid at some point!

https://www.discogs.com/release/2704454-Protoje-7-Year-Itch

Have a think about what you're going to use with it. I've got a virgin box for TV and a Shield for smart stuff so my TV is basically just a screen.

Adding third party smart stuff is very cheap and often means you can get away with an older model.

Relevant: https://youtu.be/3urXygZXb74

CD pricing is certainly in flux at the moment, charity shops are still really cheap, as are used CDs in record shops; HMV are almost giving away some back catalogue stuff (brought four Blue Note CDs for £3.99 each today). I think some of the sellers on Discogs are wising up though, stuff I've had in my basket for a while have gone up in price (but still haven't sold).

CD's are still only worth it if the content is really decent and rarer discs. There is so much dross offered by the box load on ebay and pretty much none of them would be worth shelf space.

If CD's do appreciate considerably I'm going to look like some kind of financial wizard. At the moment people just think it's weird.

I did fix up some CD based dj kit for a gig last night. Actually works pretty well as a DJ format.

Yesterday I auditioned lots of things.

The shop (AudioGold in N8) did not have Rogers LS3/5A in stock so we tried a pair of the Stirling LS3/5A paired with a Leben CS300XS. This combination... too bright and splashy in the mid/high.

We swapped the amp for a Copland CSA 100 as the Leben is known for being bright... but nope, it was the speakers, the sound of the LS3/5A is not for me, I dislike the mess at the upper end and on some of the more challenging shoegaze music the guitar, cymbals and parts of the voice are just a mess.

We swapped the LS3/5A for LS5/9 but to a similar effect. Moved onto the Tannoy Little Red Monitors... these were much nicer, tighter in the upper end and it cleaned up the sound there. But with both these and the Tannoy Legacy Eaton I found that they had too much boom, what they gained in the mid-high, was overpowered by the low. Don't get me wrong, I loved the sound of them and in a large space I think that these would be perfect, but in a small space the low end was too present and distracted.

Still on the Copland amp, we tried a pair of the Tannoy Autograph Mini-OW https://audiogold.co.uk/product/tannoy-autograph-mini/ now these definitely have a love/hate aesthetic being an almost toy size reproduction of Tannoy Westminster cabinets. The Autograph though... damn, all of the great mid-high of the Eaton, but the low end was proportional to the volume... it felt balanced at lower volumes and remained balanced going to higher volumes. I suspect in a really large room these speakers would disappear, but in the shop (which is roughly the same size as my front room) they did a superb job.

Just to be sure I also listened to some PMC DB1 Gold, and some Klipsch RP-500M... but nope, the Tannoy Autograph bested them each time... on the incredible high end and also on how balanced and full the low end was throughout the volume range.

So... speakers mostly chosen, the Tannoy Autograph. Though it comes with a caveat... rear ported and needing some space which I won't have unless I reconsider placement.

As for amp, I really liked the Copland. We went back to the Leben, still too splashy... and then onto a 1970s A60... this was nice, tight, punchy... but the Copland was slightly better in how it sounded and how it felt. Of course this is when I learn they're out of stock on it, and the one I've been using is their shop floor reference and they're awaiting a new batch (no date for it). I probably don't need the Copland CSA100 as the CSA70 would suffice... but it's not like they had one of those in stock either (not even as a shop demonstrator).

The speakers then... 80% sure it's the Tannoy Autograph, but will need to overcome the placement and also figure out the amp (if the waiting time is long).

In the meantime I've got RCA to XLRM adaptors arriving today that will let me put my PSI Audio speakers in the front room so I can try them out in that space. I still find the PSI Audio speakers to have a better sound, more detail, accuracy but also life... but so far my experience has only been in the very near field, barely 1m distance. I'll try them out in a larger space and will see if they retain the qualities I love in them.

The PSI Audio sound crap in a big space 😂 near field they are perfect, mid and they lose all of their power and fullness, they sound empty. Unrivalled at around 1m, not even in the running at 3m 🤷