Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Imagine spending weeks breaking in a set of directional cables only to realise you'd be running them backwards. What a fool you'd feel

one of the cheaper components in any hifi set up

Depends how many you need. My super stiff 4×6mm² cables are making more sense now because they permit longer spans between supports🤣

If you think mains cable sounds the same then your system isn’t up to much

Citation needed.

Extreme cable designs can act as primitive tone controls, that much I think can be substantiated.

Cables either work correctly or they have too much resistance and/or capacitance creating low pass filters and are flawed. I have yet to be convinced otherwise by math.

Exotic bullshit is still bullshit.

Extreme cable designs can act as primitive tone controls, that much I think can be substantiated

Every cable is a low pass filter, but for normal designs using parallel wires of circular cross section with common separation distance, the -3dB point is >10MHz. If you're using passive crossover speakers, the inductors and capacitors in your low pass section have values multiple orders of magnitude greater than the inductance and capacitance of your speaker cables. It's just about possible to materially affect the crossover frequency by having a lot of resistance in the speaker cables, but they would need to be very long or very thin, or both.

No mention of the influence of dielectric type yet?
You measurement nerds are slacking.

No mention of the influence of dielectric type yet?

Doesn't need mentioning, because at audio frequencies it's irrelevant.

My speaker cables are 28 years old. Are they burned in yet?

I think I’m more impressed that the insulation hasn’t perished and crumbled to bits tbh.

Visit to Audio Gold on Monday to listen to some big ol’ Tannoys. Managed to convince the guy I’m designing a cocktail bar for to go for a pair of massive Tannoy Berkeleys behind the bar.

15” mid-bass driver and horn loaded compression tweeters. Gonna be lovely

(not actual speakers, they need to source and referb a pair)

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I'm trying to resurrect my Pro-ject Genie RPM1 turntable, which after moving house is missing a power supply. A bit confused as many available online state 'suit all Pro-ject turntables except Genie Mk1'. I don't know if that's what I have or not! The box I have for the supply says 240v 12v AC output, 200mA current. Can anyone confirm or find exactly what I need?

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You need the barrel connector dimensions.

I may have something in the garage. Will check

Edit: this is the right spec subject to the barrel connector size

https://cpc.farnell.com/ideal-power/77db-06-12/ac-ac-plug-top-power-supply-12v-ac-500ma-6w-21mm-plug/dp/PW05650?mckv=s1DtDwS0Q_dm|pcrid|224680288544|kword||match||plid||slid||product|PW05650|pgrid|48556615353|ptaid|pla-835922884743|&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING-945655906-48556615353-PW05650&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224680288544!!!network}!835922884743!&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwveK4BhD4ARIsAKy6pMJd48Xm7oeE9ybeYQ1zQp2gSpmvRuI4Yaq4q5G5zys9iRG1VFjjMh8aAsQjEALw_wcB

Ah sorry didn't say, I think that's correct what you've linked to, 2.1mm inner, 5.5mm outer, 'UK standard'? Why couldn't I find that?! Perhaps wasn't sure if current was too high. Thank you.

That's a pretty common size. If, like me, you've got loads of power supplies knocking around from external HDDs, routers, freeview boxes and the like you may already have something suitable. Voltage has to match, if the current is higher the turntable should only draw what it needs.

I do have quite a few, but most are DC output and the remainder I can't even read what's written on them! One of them got the motor twitching but not rotating. There is a chance the motor has had it of course. Have ordered the one above as per GGs recommendation.

Annoying that all these power supplies are unbranded, I should label them up one day>>>>>>>middle aged thread

Ah yes, I totally missed the AC bit. Ignore me.

what's our collective view on larger, multi-driver, bookshelf speakers over a pair of smaller bookshelf speakers and a seperate sub? The LS50s sound great in the mid and highs, but I'm missing a lot of low end...

Sub will be better for low bass.

I added a sub for a little low end that was missing, totally worth it. Such a difference!
I find myself adjusting the volume (of the sub) pretty much every time I put a different record on, I suppose that's normal though as they're all different volumes (?)

Thanks for the recommendation, power supply arrived next day and works! Next step is stylus, looks like a Reloop Black is cheaper solution than Ortofon 5E.

Last time I had a sub, I pretty much left it alone after I got the roll off and level sorted.

Some recordings just don't have that much bass in them.

I've never really heard a sub that sounded properly integrated into the music - have I just never had a good / well set up sub? Would a good sub + smaller speakers actually be better than I assume?

badly integrated cheap subs usually sound awful especially if they accentuate room nodes.
That thud thud thud of somebody’s ‘hi-fi’ choice influenced by MDMA and driving round the M25.
I want to hear bass being played just not like it’s in the back of a 3 series BMW...

Maybe I just don't know how to integrate them well... (To be fair I've never tried myself, only heard others').

How good a sub do I need for it to sound proper? Tempted to try again but nervous about too big an investment in case it's not loads better than I remembered