What a strange week this was...

[plastic penguin]

The mother-in-law had a long weekend in Venice last week and couldn't fly home because of the ash cloud; Pinky and Perky are in charge of our country; my new job is going fantastically, and most strange of all...my hi-fi was hugely complimented.

I'm the first to admit that I've posted some real dross on this forum in the past, and this could be another one....

On Wednesday my brother and niece came down for the evening. Anyway, after handing out the teas and coffees, my niece asked whether I could play some music - I duly approved and plonked on some various cds on. Asked whether she likes her music, she nodded and said her boyfriend has spent thousands building up a Yamaha/Kef 5.1 surround sound system.

She bought in one of her cds and fairly quickly her jaw dropped. This is very unlike her because she could talk for England and probably achieve Gold Medal status.

ARCAM HAS PRESENCE OF MIND

I loaded some Country/Rock album (her boyfriend plays in a similar style band) and she said: "I've never heard that before. The voices really jump out at you..." At the end of a 30 min listen, I hinted at an imminent upgrade. She said, "no - don't! that's the best I've heard."

She then asked how much all that cost, so I told her around £1,100. She almost flipped. Apparent, he paid nearly 3 x that amount. We subsequently headed for the local boozer...

The point of this thread is that 5 stars and awards do not guarantee a great sound. Apart from my Monitor Audios, CD73 and Pro-ject TT, everything else is either three or four star rated. I know many have have mentioned this before, including WHFI mag, and including myself. Really, this is aimed at the newer members who always ask about Nad or Marantz. There's nothing wrong with that, but looking at 3 and 4 star equipment really proves there is no stigma about lesser-rated kit just because it doesn't get an overall approval from the professional testers - it doesn't necessarily mean it's inferior.

Right, I'm off to polish my toenails...[]

 

[Andrew Everard]

plastic penguin:
ARCAM HAS PRESENCE OF MIND



Love the subliminal message in the middle of that post, but shouldn't it just flash up for a split-second, then vanish?

 

[Anonymous]

lol, nice one PP. I think the only compliment I've ever been given on my system was that it was like having Cecilia Bartoli sitting on my wood burner. I wish I had his imagination...

 

[laserman16]

plastic penguin:

She then asked how much all that cost, so I told her around £1,100. She almost flipped. Apparent, he paid nearly 3 x that amount. We subsequently headed for the local boozer...

Also of course, yours is a music dedicated system where as he has perhaps gone for films.

 

[plastic penguin]

laserman16:plastic penguin:

She then asked how much all that cost, so I told her around £1,100. She almost flipped. Apparent, he paid nearly 3 x that amount. We subsequently headed for the local boozer...

Also of course, yours is a music dedicated system where as he has perhaps gone for films.

Totally agree - and if I was to hear his set-up, I would no doubt hear things not picked up by my Arcs. I've always been honest about my kit, never blown sunshine up its mains flex, just reiterating there are some immensely good alternatives to the current favs.

 

[laserman16]

Yup, it all boils down to what you as an individual are happy with.

 

[Anonymous]

Just like sausages.

 

[Anonymous]

nothing like a brother and neice to correct the reviewing of learned hifi enthusiasts

 

[plastic penguin]

laserman16:Yup, it all boils down to what you as an individual are happy with.

...that's why whenever I've home-demo'd an amp on my system and compared the two amps, I've declined the temptation, especially on sub-£1,000 amps. Most are better in certain areas, but don't do enough to justify the extra outlay.

It's nice to know I'm not a total crack-pot (this forum, with its many Arcam and MA haters can make you question your own sanity

), content in the knowledge that the RS6s exuberance compliments the Arcams slightly languid presentation.

 

[chebby]

plastic penguin:It's nice to know I'm not a total crack-pot (this forum, with its many Arcam and MA haters can make you question your own sanity

)

Try being a Naim owner!

There are entire websites devoted to hating us.

 

[matthewpiano]

PP - in many ways you have more sanity than most of us. You found a combination that works well and have stuck to it, avoiding the passing attractions of sideways moves. All power to you mate!

 

[plastic penguin]

matthewpiano:PP - in many ways you have more sanity than most of us. You found a combination that works well and have stuck to it, avoiding the passing attractions of sideways moves. All power to you mate!

Cheers, Matthew.

Yup, once I've settled in this particular job for a few weeks, I'll be hunting me an upgrade, partner....

 

[Anonymous]

plastic penguin:It's nice to know I'm not a total crack-pot (this forum, with its many Arcam and MA haters can make you question your own sanity

)
Dude, it's all about what you like. Fair play that you have a system you like. Enjoy every minute of it and the next upgrade 'moment' will present itself at some point in the future. Who knows, maybe when something breaks!

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:
plastic penguin:It's nice to know I'm not a total crack-pot (this forum, with its many Arcam and MA haters can make you question your own sanity

)

Try being a Naim owner!

There are entire websites devoted to hating us.

It's not always easy being a Cyrus owner either! "Overpriced shoe boxes" and all that.

 

[plastic penguin]

igglebert:plastic penguin:

It's nice to know I'm not a total crack-pot (this forum, with its many Arcam and MA haters can make you question your own sanity

) Dude, it's all about what you like. Fair play that you have a system you like. Enjoy every minute of it and the next upgrade 'moment' will present itself at some point in the future. Who knows, maybe when something breaks!

Course it's about personal taste - everything in life is a personal liking or dislike. I've never had a problem with that, but I do believe that some makes get such a bad press because....well, because it doesn't aspire to certain individuals ambitions.

Hopefully, this upgrade will happen end of July/beg August. This is heavily dependant on work, of course.

This thread is becoming too deep. It started out as a fun-fact subject...

 

[plastic penguin]

FrankTheTank:chebby:

plastic penguin:It's nice to know I'm not a total crack-pot (this forum, with its many Arcam and MA haters can make you question your own sanity

)

Try being a Naim owner!

There are entire websites devoted to hating us.

It's not always easy being a Cyrus owner either! "Overpriced shoe boxes" and all that.

Don't you just hate the word "shoebox"?

 

[crusaderlord]

Looks like those who like Arcam, Naim, Cyrus will all have many who hate what we like.

In the main i suspect with tongue in cheek that a lot of this is down to self justification of their own system - best to bash the others just in case theirs might in fact be better.

I cant help liking my Arcams - it sounds simply great to me - i do tend to jump to their defense too much rather than just smile and stick on a CD. I gotta say though that tweaking what you have really can reap rewards whether its mains, interconnects, speaker wire or stands etc there is an art to getting more from your separates.

 

[matthewpiano]

One of the big problems with hi-fi is that people get far too hung up on brands instead of listening to individual components on their own merits.

 

[Anonymous]

crusaderlord:Looks like those who like Arcam, Naim, Cyrus will all have many who hate what we like.

In the main i suspect with tongue in cheek that a lot of this is down to self justification of their own system - best to bash the others just in case theirs might in fact be better.

I cant help liking my Arcams - it sounds simply great to me - i do tend to jump to their defense too much rather than just smile and stick on a CD. I gotta say though that tweaking what you have really can reap rewards whether its mains, interconnects, speaker wire or stands etc there is an art to getting more from your separates.

Yeah i think some people seem to need to criticise other brands etc, just because they have some other kit. Before i got my Cyrus gear i had an all Arcam setup and really liked it for a while. Granted, eventually i found that it lacked a bit of excitement, (mainly the amp) but a lot of that was due to my taste in music. Anyway, i have tried Naim and Rega also. They were all great bits of kit but i loved the Cyrus more than all the others. I can still see why people would love the other brands though, they all bring something to the table and so much depends on taste in music, room acoustics, personal hearing etc. They all have their own "sound" and i think it's one of the great things with separates, there's so much variety to be had.

 

[the record spot]

Yup, very true - always been open minded about what could work and rarely pay any attention to brand name.

Current shortlist includes Cambridge, Yamaha, Leema, Harman Kardon and Unison. Throw in the odd used item and the list increases!

 

[Anonymous]

matthewpiano:One of the big problems with hi-fi is that people get far too hung up on brands instead of listening to individual components on their own merits.

I think people also get too caught up in "price bands" also. Not everything in the same price band is of a similar quality etc. I have discovered this recently, albeit with speaker cables and interconnects.

 

[plastic penguin]

Agree with everything mentioned on this page. That is the point i made with the original post; there are those who will read a review on a certain component with an armful (I know components generally don't have arms) of awards, and will buy because of the kudos of an item.

 

[Anonymous]

...anyway, back to trying to imagine Cecilia Bartoli in the front room...

 

[matthewpiano]

igglebert:...anyway, back to trying to imagine Cecilia Bartoli in the front room...

Can we make it Anna Netrebko instead please?

 

[Anonymous]

plastic penguin:Agree with everything mentioned on this page. That is the point i made with the original post; there are those who will read a review on a certain component with an armful (I know components generally don't have arms) of awards, and will buy because of the kudos of an item.

Indeed. I have found some "interesting" results only recently. For example, a £250 DAC being fed by a PS3 coming very, very close in quality to a £1000 CD player.

£1.99 p/m speaker cable sounding better than £12 p/m speaker cable. Shows the importance of auditioning and system Synergy!