Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

I know this is a minefield, speaker cable.
What snake oil should I buy?

Approx 3m per speaker and Nana plugs.
20 quid?

£20 total or £20 per meter?

I've got QED Silver Anniversary XT (from futureshop.com) and I'm sure it sounds better than the Cambridge cables I was using before. I tried some Chord Odyssey II which are significantly more expensive and couldn't discern an improvement or any real difference.

I have some spare I bought from richer sounds I don't need. I paid £50 but will take £20. It's only 2.5 metres per side if that works for you. It's this. http://m.richersounds.com/#!/product/QED-XT40

I'd probably go for the n50 if I didn't already have matching kit for the 6005.

I was hoping 20 quid all in....

£5 per 10 metres cable off ebay, and double screw banana plugs, also off ebay. Don't believe the hype, it's just cable.

Edit: plugs

Cable

Van damme blue - good enough for recording studios; £2/M:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/van-damme-speaker-cable-studio-grade-2-x-150mm-twin-axial-blue-priced-per-metr-n02ju?cmpid=ppc&gclid=CjwKEAjw3qu5BRC-0uCw8O6Y5zcSJAA_WtdLf-T6znAnkgVdpKcNqFyrFa0rrmICy7yp7mftrzF0choCQi7w_wcB

Yeah sometimes it comes down to the aesthetics! I've got Togo and have a look and listen to them, will probably arrange a listening to them at richer sounds as they seem to be the only ones that stock both...
But was told by a sound recordist that my ripped mp3s will sound shite whatever I'm listening to them through so hey ho...

Yep, this.

Yup. If you want decent cable that doesn't get used for 'house bells' you can't go wrong with Van Damme.

I’d just buy something from the cheaper end of these https://www.studiospares.com/Cables-Leads/Cable-Speaker.htm?pl=2147483647&ps=2

@johnnyhotdog, only place I can find that will let me demo the Pioneer and Marantz, is the Bromley branch of Sevenoaks Hi-Fi, so off there for a listen tomorrow, good 15mile ride, but the weathers looking amazing so should be able to get my tan on whilst heading there...

Update no.100222455
My Beogram is fixed, again, again.
Lets see if it gets back to me in one piece.

Let me know what you think please!

Like I say, I'd probably live with the Marantz for the aesthetics but I'd love to know the real world view.

Will do going to take down a mix of tracks I like on a usb stick, some lo-res mp3's, higher quality ones, some flac's and see how it goes.
Suddenly quite excited haven't auditioned hi fi for years...

Any suggestions for a pre amp for my new Dual record player, so I can use it with my active studio monitors?

@johnnyhotdog so it seems both the pioneer and the marantz only recognise fat32 usb drives so the range of tracks I spent fifteen mins copying across didn't work in either so had to rely on the old iPhone 4 to pump in tunes via usb cable

Long story short spent most of 45mins playing the pioneer, it's got a clearer, more defined sound, just sounds better, the marantz sounds good but the pioneer was more revealing, instruments stood out, you could hear front to back. Tried it with tracks I knew well and of variable quality, to see how it did with them and they all sounded amazing, which could just be my limited ear, or how the electronics do a great job of making every track no matter the bitrate sound good.

More extensive thoughts in the listening moment below...

Pioneer n50 vs marantz 6005

Pioneer sounds clearer better separation of instruments and vocals, a bit "bright" but sounds better back to back. Bass a bit thin but the better presentation feels right despite the occasional lightness of bass.
Marantz sounds good but a bit muddled in comparison to the pioneer. Instruments closer together, less separation, a bit muddy.

Like how the marantz sounds but the pioneer seems to give you more, clearer, fuller, higher. The pioneers quicker to connect to the iPod via cable as well.

Pioneer reveals everything, super precise, not sure how it'll sound in my system but prefer how clear and revealing it is.

Thanks for that - decisions, decisions!

I'm going to Richer Sounds on Wednesday to help a friend audition a new system so I might see if they can squeeze in an audition of the Marantz and Pioneer also.

You might have issues when I rang richer sounds to try and organise auditions in Holborn and London Bridge??? They didn't have any opened box ones, said I'd have to buy it to listen to it. Why I ended up in Bromley..

Don't think you'll be disappointed with the marantz if you decide on it, it does sound good...

how much? the little tisbury gets pretty good reviews.

tisbury >

That is lovely. I don't much about pre amps and how much you should pay, but I was hoping a lot less than 129gbp.
I have found pre amps online for 15-30gbp, but what should I be aware of when looking?

i don't think the tisbury is what you want, anyway :(

You need a phono stage, either in a pre amp or by itself. Is it important to have volume on the pre amp or can you control vol on the monitors?

If you need a pre amp with vol then maybe a 90s japanse unit from eBay?

check out a few reviews. i don't know that much about matching pre-amps to active speakers (prob should have said nothing!), but at 15-30gbp you can afford to experiment

Like this maybe:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-Pre-amp-RC850-/222105250494?nav=SEARCH