Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Sent last week Elvis! Pm me your address again

The BBC still have Radio OB's, and their TV division effectively became SiS, who have recently lost their contract with the BBC which makes things more complicated. BBC Scotland do some of their own OB's using their news gathering trucks, but most of their Sports OB's are provided by private companies. BBC Wales regularly cover their own rugby.

ITV still have their own news gathering trucks, but I'm not that familiar with how they run their OBs.

I didn't realise BBC N+R still had as many units.
ITV do indeed have their own SNG fleet....I'm in the process of renewing it right now...first new truck about to be acceptance tested!
ITV doesn't have any of its own OBs anymore (I think Anglia was the last one to go)....For big events, it uses the big name OB companies and for smaller news OBs it just uses basic SNGs .

Anyway, all very OT!

Hi everyone, I've got a sony mhc-3600 mini hifi system which has 4 speaker outputs for the speakers (ss-h3600) that came with it: they are marked 'satellite unit' and 'subwoofer unit'.

Basically I'm pretty sure the bass is blown on them and was wondering what i could replace the existing speakers with: would I have to replace like for like or would I be able to use any speakers?

The power output in the manual is '20+20 watts (8 ohms at 1khz, DIN), 25+25 watts (8 ohms at 1khz, 5% THD) for the satellite speakers, and '30+30 watts (6 ohms at 110hz, DIN), 35+35 watts (6 ohms at 110hz, 5% THD).

Thanks in advance

I've got a 10 + year old pair of Tannoy Mercury M1's on stands but both rattle considerably and one I think the tweeter cone is actually gone

What would be a good replacement set of stand speakers? I had a set of Mordaunt Short MS10 i's before these and remember they kicked it!! Also had a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9's but seem to remember they were pretty neutral.

Make a pair > http://www.tnt-audio.com/casse/ipls3mtl2_e.html

or try the cabasse sloops that Geoff witters on about

Hi everyone, I've got a sony mhc-3600 mini hifi system which has 4 speaker outputs for the speakers (ss-h3600) that came with it: they are marked 'satellite unit' and 'subwoofer unit'.

Basically I'm pretty sure the bass is blown on them and was wondering what i could replace the existing speakers with: would I have to replace like for like or would I be able to use any speakers?

Is it the sub which you think is faulty?

For all you audiophiles out there try and check out half speed master recordings on CBS masterworks and MFSL. I used to buy them in the 80s.

Does anyone know anything about HDMI/surround receivers?

I have the following sources:
PC (DVI/HDMI + analog 5.1)
Xbox (HDMI)
BT box (HDMI)

and the following destinations:
720p Projector
1080p LCD
5.1 Speakers (analog)

So, I need an AV receiver with:
2x HDMI out
5.1 analog in
5.1 analog out (preamp)

Any recommendations or info about where to find a budget option?

Thanks!

Hmm... dont think there are very many budget options that offer dual HDMI output.

Cheapest option would be to get a normal AV amp with a single HDMI out and the get a 1:2 splitter that would output to both at the same time, like this:

Neet® - 2 Way HDMI SPLITTER BOX 1x2 Port - Active: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

That way, you control the output by simply turning one or other display option off / on.

Most ones around £150-£200 should have a 5.1 input / output. Try Richer Sounds.

Actually... you might be better off getting a cheap soundcard for the PC with optical out to keep the receiver cost down as well. If you do that, you could get this for only £130:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx500/deno-avrx500

Depends what you mean by 'budget' obvsly. I bought an AV receiver before xmas and considered the Onkyo range as they're much better specced from a feature point of view than similarly priced Yamaha/Denon/Sony etc. The TNR626 has two HDMI out (six in) and can be had for £280 at Richer sounds. I'm not aware of any receivers that will do PC-style 5.1 connections, does yours not output audio with the HDMI?

I was only put the Onkyos off by reports of the HDMI losing connection when coming out of standby and decided to go for a Yamaha option instead. If you need the features on a limited budget it might be worth the risk.

Cheers Soul, I think my PC has optical out already so I'll definitely look into that option + switcher.

Budget is probably <£200 - the PC is actually DVI converted to hdmi so no audio there, unfortunately. I may be able to bodge something using the receiver amp + sub out to use my current speakers, now I think about it.

You might not get surround sound over the optical cable. Both the soundcard and the whatever application you're using have to support some sort of compression such as DD/DTS etc otherwise it'll be limited to two channels.

If it's realtek oboard audio there's a chance the hardware will do it but you'll need the hacked drivers to enable it.

PC Tech thread >>>>>>

Really? I would have thought that the optical connection would just take the entire digital stream, comprising all of the encoded information. The it is up to the receiver to decode what it can.

It does, but unless the output is compressed there's only enough bandwidth for two channels.

Of course, but it is compressed into a surround format such as DD or DTS or whatever by the studio and then just sent as a bit stream, on the BluRay or torrent or whatever. No reason for your soundcard to understand them. c.f: A BluRay player not having a DTS decoder but the A/V amp being able to decode it. The BR player just pulls the bits off the audiotrack and sends them straight through the digital I/F. No?

BTW, I am not an expert just an enthusiastic amateur.

Windows normally re-samples the digital output to stereo - this breaks the compression (DTS/Dolby)

You need to make sure your output is what is known as "bit-perfect" (also known as bitstreaming) if you want your PC to send multichannel audio to your reciever for it to decompress.

I have a USB soundcard with optical out which was fine with surround sound on XBMC and Windows 7.

Thought I may as well ask in here - Looking to upgrade to a pair of floorstanding speakers and possibly a new amp from a Sherwood AX-4050R and a pair of Mordaunt Short MS20i that I currently use to something nicer, budget upto £350ish, ideally floor standing not bookshelfs, suggestions?

(Was due to be having an immaculate condition pair of B&W 220i on long term loan but that seems to not be happening anytime soon)

What is your source? May be your best bet for improvment. Sherwood is peobably your weakest link though. I would be looking to replace that with a secondhand Cambridge Audio, NAD etc. I had MS20s for years, sounded good, they were eventually replaced by mission 780se.

SL1210mk2.

Oh, you're good there then. :-)
Definietely look at the amp.

I agree the MS20s sound good but I dislike that they are rear ported.

I agree with Olly, an upgrade of the Sherwood would be my 1st move. Cyrus 7, Marantz PM-7200, Audiolab 8000S and Pioneer A-400 are all available for under £200 and are great upgrades. Speaker-wise, the MS20i's are quite good but the Mission 780SE's, Mission 751's, Dynaudio Audience 42/52's are very good. The 2nd hand market has some bargains to be had.

Second hand speakers can be awesome, and generally rebuildable.

Right. On the hunt for a new amp.
I currently have a jvc ja-s71, which used to sound fantastic, but suffers severely from a sort tone control cancer.
The speakers are Infinity Reference 51mkII and I almost only use it for record playing.
The local HiFi shop recommended Pioneer a-10 or a-30. Does anyone here have experience with either? I haven't been able to find much review/test material.
Some reviews of my speakers suggest that they would benefit a lot from the stronger a-30. Do you think it's worth it?
Are there any alternatives I should look at?