The aim here is to produce a collated list of other, usually cheaper alternatives to known brands and in particular alternatives to What Hifi tested products. It is to cover the huge amount of products that do not have the budget to advertise and/or submit items for review, but have been found to work well.
Please feel free to add to the list, either with a new product or to add further testimonial, positive AND negative to one of the products already listed. (If this thread could be linked to the My useful posts thread, I would be obliged.)
Please quote your sources, especially for the recommendations. It is better to have multiple recommendations, for example you and positive feedback from Amazon. If the recommendations are primarily from another forum, mention this but do not provide a link as this is against house rules.
Please do not provide links to individually listed items on ebay which will disappear once sold. It is better to suggest how to search for the item.
Prices; I have included standard UK delivery charges, but they will vary.
CABLES
Silver High Breed interconnect and speaker cable. Recommended by seasiders rock and 100% seller on ebay. Prices from £26.50 which tends to be used, a bit more for new. Available on eBay, search Silver High Breed. The usual sizes are available. Unusual construction of silver and copper cable with noise suppression valves, which looks like ferrite cores.
Chunky cables, interconnects. Recommended by Spacehopper and 100% seller on eBay. Prices from £27.00. Available on eBay, search Superb audio interconnects. The usual and individual sizes can be made up. Come with locking phono plugs.
MAINS PRODUCTS
BT MTU mains conditioners. Recommended by trevor79. Prices from £20, though it is a heavy item and postage can be as much again. Available on ebay, search bt mains and go through list. These are second hand, reconditioned BT mains conditioning units for telephone systems, but work for hifi as well. That may involve changing the fuse to a higher rating and one forum member The Record Spot bought one which turned out to have a split cable, so care is needed.
Maplins PSU. Recommendations from other forums. A cheaper alternative to the expensive upgrade Power Supply Unit from Russ Andrews for the DacMagic and certain Musical Fidelity kit.. Priced at £16.00. Search the Maplin site under AC adaptors part number L54BR. Note there are mixed reviews of this product and Cambridge and Musical Fidelity warn against fitting alternative PSUs to their products.
EQUIPMENT SUPPORT
Ikea Lacks tables. Recommendations from various What Hifi forum members, other forums and Ivor Teifenbrun the founder of Linn. Prices from £7.82 and available at your local Ikea store. It must be something about the thick but light wood construction and its damping properties. I have seen pictures of tables which have had their legs cut to size and fitted with spikes, supporting VERY expensive high end kit. Similar recommendations are out there for Ikea TV stands, particularly the wooden ones.
Supermarket granite chopping boards and place mats. Recommended by various What Hifi forum members, including me. Prices from £5.00 and available at your local supermarket. My Morrison’s placemats have stopped vibration to my hybrid valve amps from a wooden floor and the drawers in the cabinet they sit on. They are also used as plinths to place speakers on.
Blu Tack. Recommendations from various What Hifi forum members, including me. Prices from £1.50. A large pea sized dab of blu tack between speaker stand top and speaker base helps to reduce vibration and secure the speaker to the stand. Beware vinyl finishes on speakers, which can come off with the blu tack. Not everyone reports a sonic improvement.
Hifi
Headphone amplifier. The FiiO E3 and E5. Available off ebay and from Amazon. Search FiiO. Recommendations from other forums and feedback on Amazon. Prices from £9.06 for the E3 and £15.44 for the E5. These are very small headphone amplifiers to connect between ipod or MP3 player and headphones, or with the E5, also PC and headphones. The E3 is AAA battery powered, the E5 has a fitted rechargeable battery, charged by connection to a PC via USB. It also has a volume control and bass booster. This is possibly the cheapest bit of hifi kit available.
Please feel free to add to the list, either with a new product or to add further testimonial, positive AND negative to one of the products already listed. (If this thread could be linked to the My useful posts thread, I would be obliged.)
Please quote your sources, especially for the recommendations. It is better to have multiple recommendations, for example you and positive feedback from Amazon. If the recommendations are primarily from another forum, mention this but do not provide a link as this is against house rules.
Please do not provide links to individually listed items on ebay which will disappear once sold. It is better to suggest how to search for the item.
Prices; I have included standard UK delivery charges, but they will vary.
CABLES
Silver High Breed interconnect and speaker cable. Recommended by seasiders rock and 100% seller on ebay. Prices from £26.50 which tends to be used, a bit more for new. Available on eBay, search Silver High Breed. The usual sizes are available. Unusual construction of silver and copper cable with noise suppression valves, which looks like ferrite cores.
Chunky cables, interconnects. Recommended by Spacehopper and 100% seller on eBay. Prices from £27.00. Available on eBay, search Superb audio interconnects. The usual and individual sizes can be made up. Come with locking phono plugs.
MAINS PRODUCTS
BT MTU mains conditioners. Recommended by trevor79. Prices from £20, though it is a heavy item and postage can be as much again. Available on ebay, search bt mains and go through list. These are second hand, reconditioned BT mains conditioning units for telephone systems, but work for hifi as well. That may involve changing the fuse to a higher rating and one forum member The Record Spot bought one which turned out to have a split cable, so care is needed.
Maplins PSU. Recommendations from other forums. A cheaper alternative to the expensive upgrade Power Supply Unit from Russ Andrews for the DacMagic and certain Musical Fidelity kit.. Priced at £16.00. Search the Maplin site under AC adaptors part number L54BR. Note there are mixed reviews of this product and Cambridge and Musical Fidelity warn against fitting alternative PSUs to their products.
EQUIPMENT SUPPORT
Ikea Lacks tables. Recommendations from various What Hifi forum members, other forums and Ivor Teifenbrun the founder of Linn. Prices from £7.82 and available at your local Ikea store. It must be something about the thick but light wood construction and its damping properties. I have seen pictures of tables which have had their legs cut to size and fitted with spikes, supporting VERY expensive high end kit. Similar recommendations are out there for Ikea TV stands, particularly the wooden ones.
Supermarket granite chopping boards and place mats. Recommended by various What Hifi forum members, including me. Prices from £5.00 and available at your local supermarket. My Morrison’s placemats have stopped vibration to my hybrid valve amps from a wooden floor and the drawers in the cabinet they sit on. They are also used as plinths to place speakers on.
Blu Tack. Recommendations from various What Hifi forum members, including me. Prices from £1.50. A large pea sized dab of blu tack between speaker stand top and speaker base helps to reduce vibration and secure the speaker to the stand. Beware vinyl finishes on speakers, which can come off with the blu tack. Not everyone reports a sonic improvement.
Hifi
Headphone amplifier. The FiiO E3 and E5. Available off ebay and from Amazon. Search FiiO. Recommendations from other forums and feedback on Amazon. Prices from £9.06 for the E3 and £15.44 for the E5. These are very small headphone amplifiers to connect between ipod or MP3 player and headphones, or with the E5, also PC and headphones. The E3 is AAA battery powered, the E5 has a fitted rechargeable battery, charged by connection to a PC via USB. It also has a volume control and bass booster. This is possibly the cheapest bit of hifi kit available.