Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

I imagine this is a very naive question. I've got a rather nice pair of Spendor speakers, that I'd like to shift. I don't want the cables to be visible and because of the orientation of the floorboards I'd have to lift every single one of them in a moderate sized room to run the cables under there - I don't want to do this.

Does a decent wireless / bluetooth widget exist that I can plug into the amp, then into each of the speakers? I assume not, or quick googling for it wouldn't confuse me quite as much as it has...

My Current setup

Speakers are Mass Loaded Transmission Lines with Fostex FE167e drivers (fullrange) - Made by my dad with a maple veneer :)

Amp is a Yaqin MC10L
Cd player a Rega Planet mk1
DAC is a Beresford unit
Turntable is a Lenco GL75 on a massy plinth with a Rega rb250 arm and denon dl110 cart
Phono preamp is an Angel audio unit
In the cupboard is also my HTPC running J-River Media Center, which feeds into the DAC and out to my Panasonic projector (you can just see the screen on the ceiling)

Just need to sort an amp and some speakers out for our dining room/kitchen now...

Ah! Nice set up - Damn wish I had kept my Goldring Lenco GL75 - such a great turntable!

yeah - they are truly outstanding when you get them out of the sprung chassis and onto some kind of massy (prefferably constrained layer damped) plinth

Just realised how much I miss good headphones so went and ordered some Sennheiser HD25-1's. Can't beat a good pair of neutral monitors.

Now to rip all my Autechre in FLAC...

excellent choice, squire

Yeh, they've always been a safe bet. Also, looks like apple have been making more of an effort in terms of sound quality as of the 4th gen iPod touch which is good. Saw somewhere the THD was quite a lot better than Cowan, Sony and the Sansa clip which is a bit of a surprise and stereo crosstalk is generally above average.

Speakers are Mass Loaded Transmission Lines with Fostex FE167e drivers (fullrange) - Made by my dad with a maple veneer :)

Gat dayum.

Always wanted to make some transmission lines. That's awesome.

somehow my speaker cables went missing. what new cable should I get? only for a simple stereo set up, not surround etc. I have no idea what the different brands are and what does something OK cost?

my speakers are half decent (built them myself innit) so I feel they deserve that I get something more than the cheapest stuff out there. but then again there seems to be no upper price limit for this stuff.

Costs of speakers / 10 = cost of cables

Walk into Sevenoaks or some such similar store with that budget in mind, know what length you need... budget / length = budget of cable per metre to buy. Buy that.

I'm not really sold by the arguments on a lot of cables, and don't get me started on oxidisation and other such stuff. As soon as you're away from the bottom end and you have reasonably decent cable in a decent material, I think you're just about done. Plugs help with convenience in the future but aren't really necessary, that said I'd always shoot for that convenience as you never can be bothered manually de-wiring when you're moving your amp in future.

Two-core mains cable usually does a fine job. 13A for if you plan on driving high power levels.

For very good flexibility, Sommer speaker cable is good.

I'm after some advice,
Looking at getting a new turntable, £500/600 budget inc arm and cartridge.
In your opinions would that money be best spent on something like a Rega RP3 with Ortofon M2 cartridge, or older secondhand equipment (and if so what's worth looking out for)?

Thanks in advance.

Two-core mains cable usually does a fine job. 13A for if you plan on driving high power levels.

For very good flexibility, Sommer speaker cable is good.

used solid core cooker wire for ages, great cheap alternative

used solid core cooker wire for ages, great cheap alternative

And there was me waiting to receive a flaming!

Yeah, there's a lot of shite spoken regarding HiFi. I sometimes wonder if the buffs realise the cabling used within the studio is just normal, good quality cable and not silver-stranded stuff which is purified in unicorn jizz.

yup +1 for high amp mains wire (just make sure its not going to ever get confused with actual mains wiring.....)

I'm after some advice,
Looking at getting a new turntable, £500/600 budget inc arm and cartridge.
In your opinions would that money be best spent on something like a Rega RP3 with Ortofon M2 cartridge, or older secondhand equipment (and if so what's worth looking out for)?

Thanks in advance.

I would pretty much always go secondhand.

can you pick up a secondhand gyrodeck for that kind of money? I know you used to be able to a few years back...

Do you have a decent phono pre-amp though? If not these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audiophile-Phono-Stage-amp-preamp-MM-MC-Brand-New-/130640889396?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item1e6acdc634#ht_1166wt_1187 are VERY good for the money

The sennheisers arrived today... They're really really nice. It took about an hour for either my brain or the drivers to burn in but they are truly awesome.

Thanks danb. In that case can anyone recommend somewhere in London (pref north or east) that sells secondhand hi-fi? I don't think I know enough about what I'm looking for to bid on ebay.

http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.php?65736-FS-Ruark-Sabres-London-%A3100

Massive bargain stand mount speakers (no connection with seller but have bought off that forum before)

Looking to buy some Bose Quiet Comfort 15's or 3's, ca anyone recommend any alternatives?

If you must have active noise cancel they are very good, but that's best for planes and other droning noise environments. For a good pair of well isolated phones ATH M50 (lots of fakes about) or Sennheiser HD25 are on ear, HD25's great for round town.

i have loads of super posh speaker cable lying around from my days of hifi addiction - will definitely get it together and stick it up her this month

:)

I'm considering buying a record deck at some point. I've considered going down the technics 1210 route, but wondered about a less DJ orientated option too. I'd be on a tight budget (ideally around the £100 mark), and probably will look second hand. I'd read a little about the Project Debut turntable. Sounded (scuse the pun) good for the money. Anyone have recommendations?

i have a white GR2 turntable in fantastic condition with original box i could do for around that price ? pm if you're interested and i'll sort some pics

Just noticed this thread. Have recently got an Onkyo TX-NR609 with Wharfedale 10.3s/10.CM/9.0s running as a 5.0 system. Need to get a sub at some point. Something small-ish but good (not a big room). Was looking at the Wharfedale SW150 - anything else I should consider?

Also another vote for the Sennheiser HD25s for sealed round town 'phones. Can't be beat for the price IMHO.