Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Some heavy dub would see those daffs spinning at 33 1/3

Picked up a Leak Stereo 130. Lovely little amp. Honestly 70% the reason for purchasing it was the looks. Fits right in at my place. Mostly do casual listening and for this it seems more than capable. Not quite as "warm" sounding as my old Pioneer/Luxman but not dull by any means. Nice having a modern amp but not stray too far away from the midcentury looks.

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looks great. what are the speakers?

Thanks. 70's british, Omar-something. Kef drivers. Rebuilt the crossovers and renovated the cabinets. Next step is a nice streamer. Bluesound node? Currently using a cheap Arylic but it's a bit wonky.

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That wiim mini pro? Tuck it away out of sight though, it's a shiny black box, not so mid century.

https://wiimhome.com/WiiMPro/Overview

Beautiful. The Leak 130 is supposed to have similar internals to the Quad Vena 2 and the Audiolab 6000A, which means it’s excellent for the price.

I use a laptop and USB DAC but appreciate that this doesn't suit everyone.

I’ve decided that the Klipsch r-41m isn’t right for my requirements. They are excellent in terms of detail, and if I was just listening back to records from a static position, I wouldn’t have any problems, but the sound is super directional.

I’m using this almost only to DJ, so there’s a lot of physical movement which means I’m moving in and out of the optimum field of the audio and that makes it hard to consistently track what I need to listen to.

I lack the vocab for what I need here, but I suppose it’s something that has a ‘wider’ sound, so the optimum listening position is much larger, appreciating that there’ll be certain sacrifices over the detail that can be expected.

If any of that makes sense to anyone, what alternatives could I look at?

There’s plenty of powered, XLR connected DJ-specific speaker sets I could run out of a mixer (although not this specific one), but ideally I’d be looking for some passive bookshelfs that I’d use with the CA amp I have.

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have you tried having them with less toe-in?

I have. Moved them around a bunch. Just find myself constantly chasing the sound.

Nearfield listening is not conducive to moving around. The sweet spot is tiny when your speakers are that close to each other and have that much toe in. You need headphones.

I got sucked into Youtube hype and bought a stupid chip amp from Amazon with a tube pre section and f me its good. Not just at its price point, but just good period. Its really ugly, it has a stupid novelty VU meter, its small and has a huge power brick, but it sounds very good. I guess I still have pointless reservations rooted in snobbery about buying a cheap amp to power expensive speakers and feel like I should have a similarly expensive amplifier but this is just really good.

I don't remember enjoying my speakers as much as I am right now, even when powered by my Rogue Sphinx which was 10x the price of this. I don't know if that says more about this amp or the Rogue, but I think its really worth checking out if you need an amp - not just a budget amp - but an amp full stop.

Oh - looks like Amazon UK aren't stocking it yet but its the Aiyima T9 Pro.

All speakers of a similar size will be pretty much the same in terms of directivity when you are that close. Unless you can find some omnidirectional speakers, but the only ones I've ever seen are very expensive. I'd experiment with them pointing away from you, towards the wall etc so you can get a balance of reflected sound that will be more consistent.

How did you choose between all the options out there?!
Fosi looks good too…
I wish for something that has 2 sets of RCA inputs, but maybe that’s old man thinking.

Purely because Sean of Zero Fidelity reviewed the original version of the T9 and outside of some issues that were resolved with the 'T9 Pro', really liked the way it sounded and said in some cases he felt it was comparable to amps in the $1k range. He doesn't have sponsors and has a tiny Patreon that pays him like $350 a month. I feel like I can more easily trust the opinion of someone like him than I can someone who has affiliate links and sponsors etc.

As far as I understand its a generic product that several people make, but it came from Amazon and can be returned very easily. I decided to get it over one of the Fosi options purely because Sean hadn't reviewed any of the Fosi ones... I currently have laptop via USB and TV via Optical going into my Topping E30 and that is connected to the T9 via RCA. I listened to it with optical straight into the T9 and that sounded decent also, but I have the E30 so I may as well use it.

It really can push a lot of air through my woofers which none of the other amps I've used with seem to have (Onkyo A9150, Rogue Sphinx v3 and an SMSL AD18). Even though its the Apprentice theme song, I really love Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights and it sounded outstanding. Tight low end rumble that I've not heard before from these speakers.

I'm particularly surprised, b/c the Rogue was $1695 and gets outstanding reviews from basically everyone that reviews it and they all say how much of a great value proposition it is. Feels like a lesson in diminishing returns and not being sucked in by shiny MiUSA HiFi stuff and reviews from audiophile publications... It still feels weird having a $170 amplifier pushing a $2600 pair of speakers but whatever. It sounds good.

Is this the end of the road? Of course not. I will inevitably end up buying a nicer amplifier again, just because it looks nice, but this scratched an itch. Would still very much like an Accuphase on aesthetics alone. I also quite like the idea of a Parasound P6/A23+ stack. Total overkill on both accounts but just looks cool.

I have a topping DAC feeding a fosi BT30D (chosen for the sub out) driving some old Krix bookshelves that need grunt and a paradigm cinema sub... Haven't enjoyed my music as much as this in ages.
Big empty space under the shelf is where the old NAD 320bee used to be

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And you need more record storage space!!

You need headphones.

Not for mixing.

TBH I would argue if you mix records and stand directly in front of speakers it's never going to be an audiophile experience with proper imaging and dynamics. They are just monitors really.

a generic product that several people make

Looks very like the Douk I was ridiculing a few pages ago. I leave it to the reader to come up with explanations for your enthusiasm, there are several possibilities, all of them well worn tropes in audiophilia.

I'm somewhat cautious to redact a screen before I post it, or to prep the screen so that there's nothing that reveals work or private things before I post it.

i.e. some PSI Audio nearfield monitors on my desk

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There are loads of passive nearfield monitors that should do a better job in that position. From experience I'd think you'll want a sub to compliment anything that will fit nicely on those stands.

PMC DB1, ATC SCM7, Adam T5V or early passive KRK Rokit if you can find a pair.

In this thread? Where people are spending thousands on speakers just to put them in an untreated alcove or cover the drivers with untested diffusers/waveguides?

Thanks - yes, you are right, and to @Mr_Smyth ‘s earlier point - I think I need to go back to facing them outwards. This set up had previously been in a different room that was smaller, so I think that’s a bigger part of this than the speakers themselves.

@eskay yes! Am liking the look of Tylko: https://tylko.com/furniture/vinyl-storage/3763252,j,small-black-plywood-vinyl-storage-with-drawers-and-backpanels-plywood-70x83x40cm

Thanks for that, yes have been looking into Adams lately and have liked using Rokits in the past, also Yamahas. Will take a look into those others too, cheers.