Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

He has bought a couple of albums since visiting us (without having a deck!).

It may be a phase, I think a few of his mates are into it.

Not trying to say all kids will be the same in anyway, (I very much hope not in fact!) but looking back, I probably should have made him more aware of the financial commitment required if you chose to listen to music on vinyl compared to streaming before going through the ball ache of getting him set up with a half decent turntable. I Never really considered that the act of paying for music can be quite an alien concept to some younger people.

Sounds like you're nephew is deffo a bit more financially mature than mine was at that age!

There is a Sony Bluetooth deck that gets five stars in what hifi. Looks pretty neat and just 200 notes. Agree that's the easiest way to start, then accrue phono stage, amp, speakers etc later. Most annoying thing about phono is you need three power plugs and two sets of audio leads just to play a record.

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sony-ps-lx310bt

Edit, actually that one has a built in phono stage you can toggle on and off, so can start with Bluetooth speakers, or buy a cheap little amp and some normal speakers and he's set. Loads of used bargains on the bay for that kind of thing.

I have this exact turntable. Would definitely recommend - it's very good for the price. Bought it through richer sounds.

Very good!

my eldest (who is 20) is on his second TT (first one was a Dual i picked up off ebay for £20 - lasted several years and got him going), budget CA amp and some old Wharfdale Delta 30s from when I was teenager.

He's got a growing record collection and seems pretty committed to this anachronistic form of music reproduction.

Dual 505? I had one of those, a great starter deck, there's one that's doing the rounds in here I think. A NAD amp can be picked up for under £100 easily on eBay.

Thank you all (@Mr_Smyth particularly) for recommendations. I found a pair of trade-in LS50 Metas for £700 at a shop in Chelsea that are winging their way to me, and I've purchased a refurbished amp direct from Sonos for £500 to go with them. I know the Bluesound probably has the better DAC/listen but I like what Sonos are doing and trust their returns/warranty proceses, plus I save a fair amount over a powernode.

So, all in I am at £1,200 and I need to (cringe) buy some cables...

Looking at my local hifi shop in Shrews they have a pair of QED Revalations on sale for £100/2m, but it looks for the same money I can get a pair of terminated, burned-in cables made up by Futureshop. I've little idea what a reasonable amount to spend on cabling is, but i hear 10% of the cost of system is a starting point...

What do we think?

Extra credit: both the amp and the cables come with a returns policy... the other speakers that have caught my eye are the B&W 607 S3 which aestetically are a perfect fit. Any thoughts on those vs. the KEFs?

burned-in cables

😂

but i hear 10% of the cost of system is a starting point.

Yes, in snake oil world. Just buy some decent multi strand copper.

lol sounds like I'm saving money again then. HiFi does seem to be full of pitfalls huh? Bored of it already, thus leaning on you all.

Find some lamps at a charity shop and hack the cords off, I’m sure they’ll be plenty burned in. Extra props for charring around connection points.

Just get the van-damme blue stuff.
While cables do change the sound and some amps are best used with a particular type it’s not going to be a huge factor in your setup.
I would get at least 3m as 2 is a bit short and you might decide to move amp or speakers later.

Just buy some decent multi strand copper

I've always preferred solid core, although given how many years my "temporary" generic 79/0.2 has been in place, it's clearly not a big deal 🙂

I found the lack of flexibility a bit annoying.

Someone was advising using domestic 13a twin and earth for speaker cable at one time. And then there was a craze for braided CAT5.

Whatever you get, keep your cables off the floor with these handy elevators 🤣
https://artesaniaaudio.com/producto/cable-elevator/

I found the lack of flexibility a bit annoying.

It's slightly inconvenient once, and then it's a virtue. I'm going to rewire with this once I get the speakers in their final position.

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I got Van Damme Blue series Studio Cable from ebay. Think I paid circa £25 for two 2m lengths. The seller cuts them to length, strips the ends and and tidies them up with a bit of heat shrink too. I added. I fitted some banana plugs to mine.

Struggle to see why anyone would pay for anything more fancy TBH.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294137454691?var=592812300007v

Another vote for "temporary" 79 strand - I bought some a couple of years back as I wasn't 100% on speaker placement, naturally both the speakers and the temporary cable are still in the same place to this day - might invest in some of those cable elevators to squeeze the last drop of performance out of them though!

Another option is Linn K20.
wish i had known it was the same as Naim NAC-A5 just in a more flexible outer. the naim cable is a pain in the arse to route.

If you think mains cable sounds the same then your system isn’t up to much.
That said I would never pay the silly money that some spend on cables, back when i started in this hi-fi lark I had a few different cables one of which was Cable Talk 2.1 a thick green cable which definitely gave a different presentation to whatever other cable i had at the time (Rega I think)

I think of cables as a way to either tame a bright pokey treble or give a bit of life without changing a more expensive component.

Snake / Python oil

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might invest in some of those cable elevators

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Looks like one of the cheaper components in any hifi set up, no?

I have whatever the guy had I bought my speakers from. Some kinda nice speaker cable probably in the 5€/m range with Amazon banana plugs.
If I ever get to the measure room plus not almost only Spotify stage I'll get really fat cables to annoy my partner.

Right now I am wondering if my stuff is burnt in, or if I need to leave it running for a month with venga boys on repeat.

My word - I had a look for a laugh but missed the price, they must be even better than i could have possibly imagined! 😅

What would give more improvement, these or directional cables I wonder - probably be a very close call