Recent content by Covenanter

I buy very few recording now as I mainly listen to classical music and I have one or more versions of everything I need. I couldn't be bothered with all the faff that does with vinyl and technically I know that vinyl comes with built in distortion (I'm not willing to argue about that. We did...

Music - the kit is just a means to an end.

I built a Connoisseur BD1 turntable early in the 1970s. That was the first piece of hifi kit I had. I made my own speaker enclosures but I can't remember what the drivers were. A Uni friend built the amplifier, my first degree was in Electronics, as he was a much better circuits man than me.

If they are no earths in the sockets then that is your explanation.

Hum nearly always arises from a "ground loop". This is where the components in a system don't share a common earth. This can happen even when they seem to have a common earth just because of a poor connection somewhere. For example, two wall sockets in a house will share the same earth wiring...

The last 3 CD players I've owned have all been Marantz. My SA8005 is 10 years old this year and is still going strong. I have always auditioned and what I really like is that I find that Marantz kit doesn't get in the way of the music. I don't want to hear the HiFi, I want to hear the music...

I have a very similar apartment to you, loft style, open plan with high ceilings. You do have to be careful about sound levels to keep the neighbours happy. I'm lucky that my current neighbours are lovely tolerant people but late at night I use headphones. I have KEF R700 speakers which are I...

I remember someone selling wooden block to keep speaker cables off the floor. They weren't cheap and the type of wood was supposed to make a difference.

I moved in with my then girlfriend, later wife, in 1976/7. She had a hifi based on an Armstrong amplifier (626?) and Monitor Audio speakers. It sounded good but was let down by the turntable which was a Philips. We were living in Lee in South London and we went to the recently opened Billy...

Find a good dealer and audition. The only thing that matters is what sounds good to you.

This will not be to many people's taste but try, if you can find a copy, Kondrashin's Shostakovich Symphony 13 "Babi Yar" on Praga Digital. This is Shostakovich telling the story of the Babi Yar massacre caried out by the Nazis in Ukraine. My review on Amazon said: "Visceral is the word that...

This is a bit left-field as it relates to medicine, but really you simply can't trust people's subjective judgements. If you look at medical trials, which they do double blind so that neither the clinician nor the patient knows which medication they are giving / getting, it is common for about...

Wow! There are so many wonderful recordings out there it's difficult to know where to start. If you are up for an investment and willing to do some searching then the "Mercury Living Presence Collectors Edition" is worth buying. It's a box set of 50 CDs all recorded with meticulous care using...

Objectively there is going to be very little difference in the performance of modern solid state circuits at "normal" room temperatures. Quality equipment will be made from quality components and thermal stability will be one of the criteria used for selecting components. Subjectively people...

I agree. There is no substitute for auditioning and a good dealer will be more than willing to set this up for you.