New Adventures in Old Hi-fi.............

[admin_exported]

I suppose that this one is not going to set the forum aflame..... but just to update regulars really......

Finally bought the woman an Arcam Delta 290 for £50.... in the end the Technics Amps held their value too much (an SU-A900 weighing in at £150 and lower powered examples usually fetching £80 or thereabouts). She loves it and it has re-ignited her listening.......

I myself have been buying lots of small things.... the most of expensive and proudest of which is below...

I have always wanted this version of the early Arcam pre and power..... I have not gotten my hands on it yet, it is being overhauled by the Arcam service team....

One thing that I noted is that it has XLR inputs/outputs and that means that I have to enter into a whole new world of cable-age.

Inspired by Chebby I bought a Denon TU-260L Mk II for a tenner and am currently relaxing listening to Radio 2 (Stuart Maconie - doing a Stone Roses 20th anniversary feature) sounding glorious and full and very un-DAB like (i.e. full, round sound, rich and full of the things that generally put a smile were it should be). A thanks to Chebby.

Finally I have made my first DAC purchase. A Cambridge Audio Dac Magic 2. I will be honest and say that I wanted a Beresford but I cannot afford it.... and £50 for a secondhand Dacmagic seemed fair. It too has balanced XLR outputs and I have just finished buying all the relevant cables off of Ebay (computer via toslink to Cambridge DAC and then XLR to amp).

I threw all my MP3 in the bin and remade everything as ALAC's through Itunes and I cannot wait to see what this DAC will do to that stuff... once the theory is proved that Beresford will be an easier proposition

So there you are.... nothing to ask and nothing to debate, just a boring blog like piece from a secondhand audio freak.

 

[Anonymous]

I am having trouble inserting a picture...............

 

[Messiah]

To upload photos - First of all you need to ensure the photos are hosted somewhere such as Flickr. www.flickr.com (Free site)
Once this is done you can start to post pictures. Personally I use Firefox but I assume it will be similar for Explorer.

You will need to get the address location of your picture so (using Flickr) click on the photo you want to upload. Once this is done you will need to right click and select 'properties'. You will then be presented with a small box of data and the top line will say Location. Copy the URL listed opposite this.

When you post there should be a tool bar available under the message header. Located on this is an icon of a picture of a tree. Click on this and it will bring up a little box. The top line will say Image URL. Paste the URL you previously copied here. Then set the Image Alignment. Once this is done the dimensions of your image should be shown. You may need to resize the image if it is too large (more than 400 pixels) as this really peeves of the Mods! Then just click on 'Insert' and job done!!

 

[Anonymous]

Messiah:To upload photos - First of all you need to ensure the photos are hosted somewhere such as Flickr. www.flickr.com (Free site)
Once this is done you can start to post pictures. Personally I use Firefox but I assume it will be similar for Explorer.

You will need to get the address location of your picture so (using Flickr) click on the photo you want to upload. Once this is done you will need to right click and select 'properties'. You will then be presented with a small box of data and the top line will say Location. Copy the URL listed opposite this.

When you post there should be a tool bar available under the message header. Located on this is an icon of a picture of a tree. Click on this and it will bring up a little box. The top line will say Image URL. Paste the URL you previously copied here. Then set the Image Alignment. Once this is done the dimensions of your image should be shown. You may need to resize the image if it is too large (more than 400 pixels) as this really peeves of the Mods! Then just click on 'Insert' and job done!!

To my rescue!!!!

I was doing all that you said before except that it had been so long since I had done it that I was direct copy and pasting the Flickr webpage instead of the image location.

 

[Messiah]

 

[the record spot]

Don't apologise! It made for a good read - good quality hifi doesn't bad overnight. Or even a few decades - a lot of that stuff still stands up very well today.

 

[Anonymous]

I never had a large budget and wanted a 'reasonable' hi-fi system for cheap

so ... after much research, bought a pioneer a400 amp for £70 (boxed and mint condition)

a marantz CD63 K1 signature cd player (boxed with remote in excellent condition) for £130

a pair of old B&W DM2 3 way transmission speakers for £50 (the very 1st handbuilt DM2 speakers from the 1970's) ... speakers excellent, some scratches on the cabinets, but have restained the cabinets and looks as good as new

so, in total, have spent £250 and can say that in a blind test, my system will sound fairly good compared to some of the much more expensive setups that cost thousands

 

[chebby]

bloatedgut:
Inspired by Chebby I bought a Denon TU-260L Mk II for a tenner and am currently relaxing listening to Radio 2 (Stuart Maconie - doing a Stone Roses 20th anniversary feature) sounding glorious and full and very un-DAB like (i.e. full, round sound, rich and full of the things that generally put a smile were it should be). A thanks to Chebby.

I cannot really take credit for the choice of tuner as I in turn just went for a much recommended (and cheap) option that has often been mentioned here on the forums.

Good though innit?

I too was listening to some R2 as background this morning and a Cheryl Crow cover of 'Here comes the Sun' came on. Incredible sound.

Does the Beeb 'massage' the signal on FM because all the music sounds deeper and bigger and more detailed (than DAB or iPlayer or Freeview) yet they too are only playing 24 or 16 bit WAV files. (Not as if we are listening to vinyl from EMT 950 turntables any more!)

 

[Anonymous]

dim_span:
I never had a large budget and wanted a 'reasonable' hi-fi system for cheap

so ... after much research, bought a pioneer a400 amp for £70 (boxed and mint condition)

a marantz CD63 K1 signature cd player (boxed with remote in excellent condition) for £130

a pair of old B&W DM2 3 way transmission speakers for £50 (the very 1st handbuilt DM2 speakers from the 1970's) ... speakers excellent, some scratches on the cabinets, but have restained the cabinets and looks as good as new

so, in total, have spent £250 and can say that in a blind test, my system will sound fairly good compared to some of the much more expensive setups that cost thousands

I like that... a very classic system. I have to say the early B&W's have really caught my eye too... I like the DM7's and this pair of DM-6s

LINK

All my stuff is secondhand apart from my speakers which I think are largely outstripped so I shall be upgrading when something comes along soon.

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:bloatedgut:
Inspired by Chebby I bought a Denon TU-260L Mk II for a tenner and am currently relaxing listening to Radio 2 (Stuart Maconie - doing a Stone Roses 20th anniversary feature) sounding glorious and full and very un-DAB like (i.e. full, round sound, rich and full of the things that generally put a smile were it should be). A thanks to Chebby.

I cannot really take credit for the choice of tuner as I in turn just went for a much recommended (and cheap) option that has often been mentioned here on the forums.

Good though innit?

I too was listening to some R2 as background this morning and a Cheryl Crow cover of 'Here comes the Sun' came on. Incredible sound.

Does the Beeb 'massage' the signal on FM because all the music sounds deeper and bigger and more detailed (than DAB or iPlayer or Freeview) yet they too are only playing 24 or 16 bit WAV files. (Not as if we are listening to vinyl from EMT 950 turntables any more!)

Ah no.... the choice of radio was nowt to do with yer good self... that was made quite a while ago, it was more providing the inspiration to go and do it, to go and get it.

As for why it sounds better I have no idea. I have my Pure radio with a line output going into my amp vs. the Denon and there is just no competition. So it could be the process of converting WAV file to 192kps and transmitting... or it could be the DAC in the Pure unit... but there is more roundness and richness in the Denon tuner... whilst listening to Classic FM the other day one of those DAb adverts came on that really push the argument of quality of a DAB unit over one of those rubbish analogue unit (you know it 'You could struggle on with an old and outdated analogue unit or you could be listening to this is high quality digital...) and it made me laugh.

I think that the joke of the digital switch over... whether it be television sets, radio sets, film to digital (both stills and in motion) is that although digital will get there this early history has seen end use quality diminish... a lot of LCD/Plasma screens have not been as good as good quality CRT. DAB radio is a disappointment and only know are high end Medium format and full frame pro SLR's beginning to produce the goods in stills cameras. In film production this past year has seen the introduction of a camera called the 'Red' which is stunning the film industry... the problem? It is the size of a small TV (CRT) before you start adding any accessories... not a hand-holder.

Anyway enough blethering... I am off to listen to Radio 3.