Do it yourself hi fi...........................

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Aug 10, 2019
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So, I have just gotten off the phone with a stone merchant. I am thinking that I am not happy with the speakers. They stand on a fairly springy wooden floor that is covered by fibre board that is covered by carpet..... the speakers are on spikes, but still I think that although the speakers are okay (Mission M64i's - bought because they were a steal at the price and they are the better - well supposedly, certainly bigger which as we know does not always mean anything - version of the M33i which was a 5 star winner) they are not being allowed to perform.......

However isolation plinths are jolly expensive (cheapest I have found is £150 off of Ebay)... so, I thought how expensive can two pieces of granite be? So I rang a stone merchant. He was nearly half the price of the Ebay Isolation Plinths.... it go me wondering about DIY Hi Fi. I am someone who believes that high quality materials gets you material returns on the sound... but is there an alternative source of cheap high quality materials that, although not designed specifically for hi fi, get the end user the same result.....

For example......

Flexible_Round_Stranded_Copper_Cable.jpg


How would these perform (maybe these ones are a little to thick) against speaker wire? The cables above are 'industrial' flexible round stranded cable.... maybe even braided copper cable.

We all know that times is tough for manufacturers.... and, from some recent posts, it is obvious to see that we on the forum are sensitive to that, but times are also tough for consumer and I would love to know if DIY Hi Fi performs well.

I would love for WHF to blind test some DIY things against some known products (say the award winners). Why? Because I expect there to be no difference? No. I expect the award winners to win hands down..... but it would be nice to know how the DIY stuff performs against them. I do not expect that WHF will be able to do that..... not in a nasty cynical way, but the magazine probably raises a lot of cash from advertising and any article that promotes cheap non-industry solutions could be a massive shoot-yourself-in-the-foot exercise. But it would be a fantastic read..... big guns versus more creative, though not necessarily designed for purpose, solutions.

The stone merchant is now, at my recommendation, looking into pre-cutting some plinths (whether that means that they are, or they just wanted rid of me and were smiling nicely????)..... but it is just something that made me think.
 

chebby

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Adding layer upon layer to an already 'springy' floor is just attacking a problem with elastoplast.

Get the builders in and get the floor sorted. Our kitchen floor was recently re-joisted and now sports american kiln dried white oak boards and does not 'spring' at all. It cost £850.

It will improve your house and you will be able to dispense with all that nasty fibre-board.
 
A

Anonymous

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chebby:
Adding layer upon layer to an already 'springy' floor is just attacking a problem with elastoplast.

Get the builders in and get the floor sorted. Our kitchen floor was recently re-joisted and now sports american kiln dried white oak boards and does not 'spring' at all. It cost £850.

It will improve your house and you will be able to dispense with all that nasty fibre-board.

Prooblem that I have is that it is Housing Association and I am poorer than a beggar in Trafalgar Square..... and I only partially mean that in a sarcastic way...... in that, even if the beggar is legitimate (and not one of the fraudsters), he still, technically, worth what is in his cup/hat/collection device. Add me up and I am worth minus figures.
 

idc

Well-known member
Hopefully the housing association will not notice the philips screws screwed through the carpet into the floorboards with the spikes set into the top of each screw. Use a bit of wood and a spirit level to get the screws level. Cheapest option of all. Blu tack between speaker and the stand will also help.
 
bloatedgut:chebby:

Adding layer upon layer to an already 'springy' floor is just attacking a problem with elastoplast.

Get the builders in and get the floor sorted. Our kitchen floor was recently re-joisted and now sports american kiln dried white oak boards and does not 'spring' at all. It cost £850.

It will improve your house and you will be able to dispense with all that nasty fibre-board.

Prooblem that I have is that it is Housing Association and I am poorer than a beggar in Trafalgar Square..... and I only partially mean that in a sarcastic way...... in that, even if the beggar is legitimate (and not one of the fraudsters), he still, technically, worth what is in his cup/hat/collection device. Add me up and I am worth minus figures.

If your floor is that springy. . .and you are strapped for cash, the housing association ( I assume you can obtain a grant) should be able to rectify any deficiencies with your floorboards. To qualify, you have to prove that you DON'T have X amount of pounds in your bank account (incl. savings).
 
A

Anonymous

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plastic penguin:
If your floor is that springy. . .and you are strapped for cash, the housing association ( I assume you can obtain a grant) should be able to rectify any deficiencies with your floorboards. To qualify, you have to prove that you DON'T have X amount of pounds in your bank account (incl. savings).

Aaaah.... well I am afraid that that is a theorectical solution....... you see I do have springy boards.... and it being a victorian conversion they are, places, sloped at an angle of 10ø/20ø..... however, the Housing Association have said, and will say, that it is too expensive to rectify and that there are other properties, in a worse condition, that need attending to first........ like a WHF review, the problems are assessed within the context of the moment........
 

idc

Well-known member
Bloatedgut ( I like calling someone that name with it starting a fight! ) you will find an extensive discussion on the subject of speaker cable vs electrical cable here . It would appear that the problem is, that the different electrical cables will become the subject of a which one is better debate, so we are back to the begining again. I can see why What hifi would not test non hifi cable as what is the point? There are so many different types and brands, so which one to test and would another not be better or worse?
 
A

Anonymous

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idc:Bloatedgut ( I like calling someone that name with it starting a fight! ) you will find an extensive discussion on the subject of speaker cable vs electrical cable here . It would appear that the problem is, that the different electrical cables will become the subject of a which one is better debate, so we are back to the begining again. I can see why What hifi would not test non hifi cable as what is the point? There are so many different types and brands, so which one to test and would another not be better or worse?

Well again I do not want it to be mired down in speaker cable..... it is an easy one to come up with..... it is less to do with what cable and then debating which type and brand and blahblah.... because that would trying to find the BEST non hi-fi cable...... whereas I just want to compare a creative DIY solution to a Hi Fi cable..... so it does not matter what you use...... just use anything.

But as I said ...... does not have to centre on speaker cable..... stone masons for plinths, BNC with phono adaptors for interconnects and whatever else can be thought of..... quality products that are not designed for hi fi use but could be put to that end, versus dedicated hi fi products, in a blind test.
 

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