Do I need my hifi at all?

A

Anonymous

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The answer is no!

sell the Naim gear. buy the MM-1's.....

Spend the rest on Single Malt

or other
 

floyd droid

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Perhaps you have answered the question by asking it of yourself Chebbs, if that makes one iota of sense. Once you sold your TT i thought,aye up whats on ere then. Then sold out to the dark side !!,only kidding mate. Anyways, you appear to spend a lot of time at the computer and love your radio above all else, from what i can deduce. So, do you really need a hifi ?.
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A

Anonymous

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No buy some active speekers either with a built in dac or a seperate one,a laptop and your off.
 

chebby

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Thinking of MM-1s + another pair of SR60i headphones - for my computer.

And plugging in a half decent pair of small active or powered speakers (like something from Epoz maybe or some Quad 11L actives) for the DVD/HDD/Freeview box.

That covers the bases for Freeview radio and 2CH sound from DVDs and telly.

I have the Panasonic connected to the Beresford already and could control volume from that if the active speakers have no internal means of controlling it themselves.
 
chebby:

...is a question I keep asking myself since hearing the B&W MM-1s a few weeks ago.

Mmmm, I'm getting concerned for you, chebby....
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Depends whether you like the traditional look, set-up or not. In some ways, imo these MM set-ups takes away some of the Kudos and character that a trad system demonstrates -- if that makes sense?
 

AL13N

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chebby:
Thinking of MM-1s + another pair of SR60i headphones - for my computer.

And plugging in a half decent pair of small active or powered speakers (like something from Epoz maybe or some Quad 11L actives) for the DVD/HDD/Freeview box.

That covers the bases for Freeview radio and 2CH sound from DVDs and telly.

I have the Panasonic connected to the Beresford already and could control volume from that if the active speakers have no internal means of controlling it themselves.
I like your thinking... "Simplify-y, ma-an!"
emotion-2.gif
 

chebby

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plastic penguin:Mmmm, I'm getting concerned for you, chebby....
emotion-4.gif


Depends whether you like the traditional look, set-up or not. In some ways, imo these MM set-ups takes away some of the Kudos and character that a trad system demonstrates -- if that makes sense?

I have no interest in the look of the Naim boxes. I am on record as thinking them ugly.

Not sure they have any 'Kudos' either. Only one of our friends is into hifi and he has a Primare + ATC SCM11s so there is no-one to impress but me.

Music hardly ever goes on when any of the rest of our friends are around (except possibly very low in the background).
 

SteveR750

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Do you play / own any muscial intruments?

If not sell your hi fi and take up guitar, it really is much much more relaxing spending hours thinking that the dis-harmonic arhythmical cacophony emanating form said instrument / amplifier is music of the most artistic and original ever produced, well at least since this morning. Trouble is you will then enter a whole new tonal world with endless new wallet emptying opportunities
 

shado

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Nothing wrong in going down the Wifi/Computer route and Naim has an ideal solution which I am sure would work with those speakers. I am fortunate that my Cyrus gear sits adjacent to my AV gear on the same rack, with the Sonos box hidden behind the Soundbar. I enjoy Lossless files/CDs and 256 bit rate Napster files through S5/Wharfedale Diamonds 9.0/Kef iQ 50 & occasionally Zeppelin. Believe me, this is not the end of Hifi, just another welcome companion(journey/choice).
 
A

Anonymous

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SteveR750:

Do you play / own any muscial intruments?

If not sell your hi fi and take up guitar, it really is much much more relaxing spending hours thinking that the dis-harmonic arhythmical cacophony emanating form said instrument / amplifier is music of the most artistic and original ever produced, well at least since this morning. Trouble is you will then enter a whole new tonal world with endless new wallet emptying opportunities
No Chebby, don,t take up guitar, if you think hi-fi as a hobby is expensive then......
emotion-8.gif
 

jaxwired

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Chebby,

I've had similar thoughts myself. 99% of my listening is alone during late night sessions.

Add a wadia dock and iPod classic to my benchmark DAC1 (which is also an great headphone amp) and I'm just missing the headphones. AKG K701s are going for less than $250 USD. This would give me literally world class sound which should well exceed my existing hifi. And that's a pretty small investment for the SQ achieved.

And the great thing abot a head-fi rig is that you don't get any nasty room acoustics messing up your sound.

However, I do occassionally like to share my music with someone. I would pretty much lose that.

The other thing is, that headphones always sound a little unreal to me. Don't get me wrong, the sound is incredible, but the sound stage and depth aren't right with headphones. There's something more earthy and physical about music from a full hifi that headphones don't provide IMO.
 

SteveR750

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jaxwired:

Chebby,

I've had similar thoughts myself. 99% of my listening is alone during late night sessions.

Add a wadia dock and iPod classic to my benchmark DAC1 (which is also an great headphone amp) and I'm just missing the headphones. AKG K701s are going for less than $250 USD. This would give me literally world class sound which should well exceed my existing hifi. And that's a pretty small investment for the SQ achieved.

And the great thing abot a head-fi rig is that you don't get any nasty room acoustics messing up your sound.

However, I do occassionally like to share my music with someone. I would pretty much lose that.

The other thing is, that headphones always sound a little unreal to me. Don't get me wrong, the sound is incredible, but the sound stage and depth aren't right with headphones. There's something more earthy and physical about music from a full hifi that headphones don't provide IMO.

Live music often makes your insides shake. Headphones are unlikely to ever do that....
 

jaxwired

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Steve, right on. Headphones are definately not a perfect substitute for a full blow hi-fi. However, the sound achieved with a high end headphone rig is rarely achieved by a high end hi-fi. A buddy of mine has Sennheiser HD 800s. He's using a balanced cable from a valve headphone amp. It's pretty special.
 
A

Anonymous

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jaxwired:headphones always sound a little unreal to me. Don't get me wrong, the sound is incredible, but the sound stage and depth aren't right with headphones. There's something more earthy and physical about music from a full hifi that headphones don't provide IMO.

Unlike any speakers this side of a years' salary, a pair of good headphones offers the full range of audible frequencies, at hardly no distortion. (As most people seems to like distortion, some prefer to add it with a valve amp though.)

What speakers don't offer is a true stereo perspective (unless you listen to an artificial head recording that is).

As for the physical punch of a live concert, no speakers I've ever heard really offer this -- though some goes a long way in simulating.
 

manicm

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Actually Chebby, I'm also considering re-sizing.

I'll be doing 2 things very soon:

1. Auditioning those Rega R1s with my Solo Mini.

2. Even more importantly - (WHF gave it a lukewarm review but others were more positive) - I'll be auditioning the B&W Panorama which will rid me of all boxes, finally give me some dialogue in movies and I can even get a digital iPod dock and connect to its digital inputs.

If music is not too bad on the Panorama, and movies are nice I'll be selling all my boxes. The only thing I might miss a bit is a tuner but I'm sure I'll survive.
 

SteveR750

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Fahnsen:

jaxwired:headphones always sound a little unreal to me. Don't get me wrong, the sound is incredible, but the sound stage and depth aren't right with headphones. There's something more earthy and physical about music from a full hifi that headphones don't provide IMO.

Unlike any speakers this side of a years' salary, a pair of good headphones offers the full range of audible frequencies, at hardly no distortion. (As most people seems to like distortion, some prefer to add it with a valve amp though.)

What speakers don't offer is a true stereo perspective (unless you listen to an artificial head recording that is).

As for the physical punch of a live concert, no speakers I've ever heard really offer this -- though some goes a long way in simulating.

So true, it's another good reason for taking up playing rather than just listening to music. Most people are stunned by how loud a moderately played drum kit sounds like in the flesh. nothing like any hi fi system I have heard for sure, but then modern recording techniques are probably responsible for a lot of that. I use a virtual studio / mixing desk on my PC and it is easier to create articial stereo and depth than capture the real thing.
 

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