LS35a and reflections . . .

[CJSF]

Sitting waiting for the Christmas dinner, the smells bring back memories when I used to enjoy all that Christmas meant, I'm listening to Chet Atkins picking away with Winter Wonder Land and such, the closest I get to festive music. Three years since I started to dig my way back from a very long, deep and dark place, overcoming personal issues, made possible by re assembling my life from the shards I could pick up. Mostly from my old hifi life and many years in competitive aircraft racing. The flying has moved from hi speed hair'm scare'm to thermal soaring gliders.

In hifi terms its been a journey that Is now, I feel, almost complete, the gaps in my memory are still filling but the frustration has all but disappeared. One has put a system together that has memories in presentation, satisfaction and pleasure. It has grown from a basic knowledge (memory) to todays pleasure and understanding, lots of memory nudges on the way. The nudge I most regret, I now remember what I did with my LS35a's, I gave them away along with my LS600's As I have said, I did not know what I was doing at that point in my life.

Been reading a lot of posts recently as I have wound down my system building to the tiny tweaks and adjustments I now make. Significant to me is the 'headless chicken' way people change their hifi 'boxes' in search of a better sound? Round and round they go with little or no lasting satisfaction.

The old ways to me are still best, TT's can be adjusted and tweaked to extract more, in doing this I found the amplified and speakers got better? . . . they certainly showed their strengths and hidden quality. Finally the Croft amplifier had to be changed, the only 'box change' I have made in the three years. It is also significant that as I made the changes the digital sources seemed to gain something too, they aint as good as analogue, but I use and enjoy them a lot .

So, because of the minimal box changes, I know my sound, as my memory returned, I was able to relate it back to my previous life, which in itself is very satisfying. All the modern changes were done in exactly the same manner as those early years, suck it and see, be honest in ones assessment, on more than one occasion I have had to do an about turn, fortunately, no expensive mistakes!

The most gratifying changes and improvements were the ones that often cost nothing, but were made possible because of a change earlier, giving more in-site in to the musical presentation therefor simple adjustments could be made and the results heard. The most recent is the speaker position changes, radical, but effective.

My one desire now, as I am very content with the sound, is to try a pair of 'LS35a type speakers'. I used them for ten years as my reference, my 35a's sounded like no others I heard in those times, mainly due to the room, system tuning and the stand I developed for them at that time, I'm still using those original prototype stands as I type. I always considered the PMC LB1 as a LS35a with base extension, but the LB1 does not have the imaging propertied of the LS35a . . . IMHO.

Christmas dinner will soon be ready, I'll be carving the meat . . . glass of wine, Christmas pudding with rum cream . . . then time to dream :?
CJSF

 

[Jim-W]

Hi CJSF.

I enjoyed reading this, particularly the way in which you describe how your interest in hifi became a transformative force in your emotional recovery from illness;however, I couldn't help thinking how ironic it is that many of us are plunged into 'dark places' as we struggle to get that perfect performance from our equipment. I have long since come to the conclusion that the equipment must be compatible with the space it inhabits and, in the past, I have certainly fallen foul of feeling that I needed to constantly upgrade stuff when a little tweaking/ thought would have been more appropriate. It's an enjoyable hobby in a 'boys and their toys' sort of way, but it can lead to listening to the equipment rather than the music:the medium rather than the message. Having said that, it's endlessly interesting and absorbing. Ultimately though, given the curent climate of food banks, cuts and poverty, none of it matters very much. Oops, a little bit of politics.

 

[stevebrock]

Yes it it refreshing - I practically got lynch-mobbed by the Rega haters on here with 'why spend money upgrading your RP6, just buy a BETTER deck'

I like yourselves actually enjoy tweaking my hifi, i am always playing about with toe-in, VTF etc etc

Kudos to you CSJF

Happy Xmas

 

[chebby]

My one desire now, as I am very content with the sound, is to try a pair of 'LS35a type speakers'. I used them for ten years as my reference, my 35a's sounded like no others I heard in those times, mainly due to the room, system tuning and the stand I developed for them at that time

You could put together a brand new pair of LS3/5As for much less than half of the price some old ones go for on ebay. (From a British company who still make the only BBC licensed LS3/5As.)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Stirling-Broadcast-LS3-5a-Shop

Worth keeping an eye on the site as they often have the cabinets and baffle assemblies (with all speakers and crossovers and cabinets already built and finished) in a complete kit for even less.

Minimal skills required. (Screwdriver and a bit of soldering to terminals). Even the cabinets are already varnished.

I am sure you could easily sell them afterwards for most of the initial outlay.

 

[CJSF]

My one desire now, as I am very content with the sound, is to try a pair of 'LS35a type speakers'. I used them for ten years as my reference, my 35a's sounded like no others I heard in those times, mainly due to the room, system tuning and the stand I developed for them at that time

You could put together a brand new pair of LS3/5As for much less than half of the price some old ones go for on ebay. (From a British company who still make the only BBC licensed LS3/5As.)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Stirling-Broadcast-LS3-5a-Shop

Worth keeping an eye on the site as they often have the cabinets and baffle assemblies (with all speakers and crossovers and cabinets already built and finished) in a complete kit for even less.

Minimal skills required. (Screwdriver and a bit of soldering to terminals). Even the cabinets are already varnished.

I am sure you could easily sell them afterwards for most of the initial outlay.

Thanks for the link Chebby, in my favorites for future investigation . . . however as you can see, I am so happy with my system, its not a priority.
CJSF

 

[CJSF]

Yes it it refreshing - I practically got lynch-mobbed by the Rega haters on here with 'why spend money upgrading your RP6, just buy a BETTER deck'

I like yourselves actually enjoy tweaking my hifi, i am always playing about with toe-in, VTF etc etc

Kudos to you CSJF

Happy Xmas

Mmm, the lynch-mobb tried it on me, I ignored them. The level my P5 is at is way above the money I would have spent on a TT to equal it, Like you it gives me pleasure to listen to a sound I have created, may even be considered unique? You can see from the above, 'satisfaction is breaking out', no such thing as perfection, but I like what I hear . . . :dance: CJSF

 

[CJSF]

Hi CJSF.

I enjoyed reading this, particularly the way in which you describe how your interest in hifi became a transformative force in your emotional recovery from illness;however, I couldn't help thinking how ironic it is that many of us are plunged into 'dark places' as we struggle to get that perfect performance from our equipment. I have long since come to the conclusion that the equipment must be compatible with the space it inhabits and, in the past, I have certainly fallen foul of feeling that I needed to constantly upgrade stuff when a little tweaking/ thought would have been more appropriate. It's an enjoyable hobby in a 'boys and their toys' sort of way, but it can lead to listening to the equipment rather than the music:the medium rather than the message. Having said that, it's endlessly interesting and absorbing. Ultimately though, given the curent climate of food banks, cuts and poverty, none of it matters very much. Oops, a little bit of politics.

'Listening to music' is something that I have had to train myself to do, in my previous life, it was all about the product, did it work? . . . These days, when one tweaks or upgrades one is obviously interested in the 'hifi', however, with no commercial pressure, I find, if it is right, one can drift naturally into the pleasure of the music, I dont fight it, I drift, its a great feeling, it can get almost euphoric. Especially, I find in these latter days, the tweaking is more of an inquisitive mind, 'what if' rather than 'thats not right', some times I like the 'what if', some times its 'so what'? The fidelity of the system is now so unified, I can enjoy digital as much as analog. This was not a conscious thing but I believe the digital side of my system has been dragged along as I made changes. The basic computer streaming is controlled by a simple, single input HRT DAC, cheap and effective, like the rest of my kit, it sounded OK so I did not mess with it and it has seemingly matured into and with the system. I know this is the TT/analogue site, but one has just spent 3 hours listening to streamed music, 'some of the best tracks from Pink Floyd', I had that drifting euphoric experience, it matter not if it was analogue or digital, one simply went with the flow, notable was 'Another Brick in the Wall', absolutely stunning, a room filling image, the childrens voices were so real, natural voice is a strong point of my system. Its now time for supper, cold meal, salad and pickle. CJSF

 

[edplaysdrums42]

Hi CJ

There's a nice pair of Harbeth P3ESR's on E Bay in cherry (not mine by the way)

 

[chebby]

Hi CJ

There's a nice pair of Harbeth P3ESR's on E Bay in cherry (not mine by the way)

Only £160 less than a brand new set (allowing for the £40 p&p that you wouldn't have to pay if buying from a dealer).

The 2 year 'SquareTrade' guarantee would cost an additional £289 whereas buying from a dealer would get you a free guarantee.

Really bad deal.

 

[CJSF]

Hi CJ

There's a nice pair of Harbeth P3ESR's on E Bay in cherry (not mine by the way)

Thanks for the 'heads up' Ed, but as Chebby points out they are overpriced compared to new, cherry would be nice, match the rest of my hifi wood.
. . . Over priced??? . . . watched a pair of original Rogeres 35a's go for £1200.00 over the weekend!!!
Before I make any move, I will get a pair of Harbeths from my friendly dealer for a weekend . . . The base response, or lack of, is what worries me, can I live with the reduced base compared with my PMC's that go down to 35hz? The PMC's shake the room when I put my pipe organ vinyl on!! Thats the other point with the PMC's, volume, they can get a wiggle on if I want it, despite just 20 watts of power . . . thats valve power!
However, all that said. I would not sell the PMC's, they would be as well as . . .
CJSF

 

[CJSF]

Be interesting to see how these Sterling's shape up . . . :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STIRLING-ROGERS-LS3-5a-SUPERSPEC-V2-NEW-BOXED-WALNUT-OR-CHERRY/231123625914?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D3786477924383955816%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D251406489230%26

. . . at the price they strike me as good value, but I cant see them staying at that price???

Never heard a pair of Sterling 35's, anyone had experience?

CJSF

 

[CJSF]

Done some more speaker moving, a few mm here and few there, extracted even better results than before, still angled in a lot but just a degree or so less produced what I can best describe as a 'hyper-focus effect' . . . the extra information extracted is amazing, pure musical note by note clarity is presented. We are moving into the realms of 'antithetical' here . . . but its that, without the edginess that so often goes with analitical, still smooth and musical.

Giving the LS35as a lot of thought, they cant match the base I get from the PMC LB1's, so I have put that idea to the back of my mind. Instead, I'm going for the Jensen Capacitor upgrade on the Icon ST40III and the PS1 phono stage. The work should be complete next week?

CJSF