the HIFI stereo thread

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awangotango
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the HIFI stereo thread

Post by awangotango » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:29 am

What are you guys using for your listening of music gearwise?

I've always been into stereo gear and have spent alot of time and money trying out various things always with a guiding principe of finding what are called giant killers, which is gear that sounds much better than it's price and kills similar sounding gear that costs much more.

here's some of what I use:

headphones:
for in ear monitors (IEM's) it's definitly the soundmagic e30. They are around $40 and compete with 500 dollar grados. The grado ps500 is the best musical accurate full size phone but it's $500 and the little in ears I much prefer because you can headbang and dance while lsitening since they stick in tight


source :It's vinyl all the way for me. The tables and gear made in the late 70's is a pinnacle for price and perfomance. An old technics or pioneer table (I prefere direct drive which is the what all records were cut on) and a grado or AT or shure cart work well. There's many other things that make a difference liek the phone preamp, the styls shape.


for speakers I like the 80's ADS brand, 2 way

For amps again, I like the late 70's mid to hifi gear.


So basically buying gear that was made right in the wheelhouse and peak of the vinyl craze will get you a nice and natural sounding system. mid 70's to mid 80's.........and then the digital craze and it went downhill to my ears.



so now we get to how to listen to vinyl in a digital format and on the go...

I like the inexpensive sansa fuze+ and clip +....you can then buy a 32gig sd card and put in in the slot for lots of storage. All for $100. They sound really good actually. I rip all vinyl either to CD burner or directly to the computer (always from a real phono preamp though) and listen to WAV files which are lossless uncompressed. Exactly as the CD. But because they are vinyl rips it is totally different than the CD equivalent. It's not the digital playback that sucks, it's the digital recording and mastering because rips from vinyl to WAV sound almost as good as vinyl itself.


There is a DIY dac called the objective 02 that works well with vinyl and it can beu used via usb port form your computer to your preamp and out to your stereo. The squeezebox is also great for listening to music from your computer. the well tempered computer is a great website for how to dial in a computer to work as a stereo central command.

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TWANGGG
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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by TWANGGG » Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:00 pm

A couple of years ago I overhauled and calibrated my dad's old stereo system from the mid-late 70's. Nothing fancy - a Dual turntable with Shure cartridge, and a Sansui amp/tuner of which I used only the phono preamp portion to rip to digital via my computer DAW. I also added a new stylus so I wouldn't potentially ruin my records by using the old one.
It's not the digital playback that sucks, it's the digital recording and mastering
You're so right about this, awango. I think what was routinely done to music when it was pushed to the CD format was a real shame. This is the reason I don't listen to my VH CD's anymore!

As you said the original recordings from that era were recorded, mixed, and mastered to be cut on vinyl. The move to CD's allowed an opportunity for someone else to adjust the mix, eq, and dynamic range to their taste. I want to hear an album just as it was intended when originally produced, not somebody else's interpretation years later.

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by awangotango » Sat Nov 22, 2014 12:52 am

To try and suffer through listening to zeppelin or VH etc on CD when vinyl is right here is a shame. It's not even close. Vinyl and electric guitar and snare drums and hihats is a match made in heaven. So much more air and atmosphere and harmonics in vinyl. Part is just the medium itself and part is the devolution in guys who know how to record well. There's also the move from natural rooms like churches, houses, bathrooms, halls, barns etc where alot of our favorite records werer recorded to more acoustically 'treated' and 'correct' rooms which all sound pretty much the same and pretty close to dead sounding. A live room forces the recording staff to come up with unique solutions and the end result is a record with individual character. You cannot replicate an old victorian hallway to record bonhams kit or an old barn to record a guitar etc. Some still use these types of venues and analog gear but it's rare. I don't think records are going away anytime soon. I buy every couple weeks

sansui made some sweet recievers and amps back in the day and shure made some of the nicest cartridges.. I use the old 97Mb and V15III which both sound great. I'll bet that stereo you resurected sounds sweet

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by demonufo » Sat Nov 22, 2014 6:07 am

Whilst being a total vinyl nut (my current setup is a lowly but highly modified Rega P3 with Sumiko Blue Point Special EvoIII), the problem with trying to convince others of vinyl is the problem of setting it up just right. Many people buy a turntable and expect it to sound good. Even the best turntable/arm/cartridge combination will sound crap without siting it and setting up the arm/cartridge/balancing/tracking VERY carefully.

I once met a guy at a party who was raving about his vinyl and we got to chatting. Went round to have a gander at his collection of 1/2 speed masters which he'd spent a fortune on, and he put a Floyd album on (can't recall which one). It was a pretty high end deck and it sounded like utter dogpile, like the records were worn and damaged it was that distorted. My cheap deck(then Dual 505 MkIII) with a bog standard Ortofon OM20 (back then a very cheap replacement stylus) would have left it for dead. Honestly my old crappy Hitachi TRQ-730D open reel tape deck set at 1 7/16ips would have left it for dead. I could not believe that someones ears could be so bad as to think that this was quality hi-fi. :palm: The snobbery involved in the hi-fi world is incredible.

My current main system comprises of the Rega, heavily modded and well maintained Revox B77MkI, Musical Fidelity A1 integrated (late 2000's reissue - not the original), mid 90's Mission 752 Freedoms (a very fluid and benign load) and a Rotel RCD-991 CD player which shows up the dynamic limits of CD something terrible when comparing it to vinyl - especially the quiet passages. Also a Yamaha KX-393 which no longer gets used, and a domestic Marantz CD recording deck that is also pretty much redundant. All the high-end and valve gear got sold off long ago sadly. Probably won't be able to afford to ever replace it, but apart from a high-end turntable I don't miss any of it really. The amp does a pretty nice job, especially compared to the generic Marantz piece of crap I made do with for the last 10 years.

The sad part is, that nowadays I rarely get the chance to sit and listen. Nor can I sit still long enough...
So I like purple, okay!!!!!!

83.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot!

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by neikeel » Sat Nov 22, 2014 11:50 am

demonufo wrote:. :palm: The snobbery involved in the hi-fi world is incredible........

........The sad part is, that nowadays I rarely get the chance to sit and listen. Nor can I sit still long enough...
That's why both my decks (early 60's Garrard 301 and cheapo but much used Pioneer PL12d) are mothballed and I use CDs but more often just my i-pod into auxiliary input of my amp Technics 'whatever' and a pair of MS20i Pearls :(
Neil

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by awangotango » Sat Nov 22, 2014 1:06 pm

I do alot of listening out of the portable sansa player as well but it's all ripped vinyl. Ripping vinyl takes alot of time but it is worth it and so much more enjoyable to my ears than the same album on CD, at least for the music we listen to. Life is too short to listen to digital zeppelin. Make time and rip that vinyl. Just get a stand alone teac or marantz burner and burn it to cd then bulk convert it to WAV and you're done. by the way I feel WAV sounds different than flac even though both are lossless (i.e. same bits as the CD), because flac needs to be unpacked as it is played and WAV does not.

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by demonufo » Sat Nov 22, 2014 3:30 pm

neikeel wrote: That's why both my decks (early 60's Garrard 301....
Veeeeerrrrry nice indeed. A good solid plinth and the right arm, and they are giant slayers. Well, after a good service. :lol:
So I like purple, okay!!!!!!

83.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot!

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by awangotango » Sat Nov 22, 2014 3:47 pm

also look out for a technics direct drive. For rock music it's great. I recomment the sl 1700, 1800, sl1100 or 1200. Craisglist will have them for $60-200.

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by demonufo » Sat Nov 22, 2014 5:09 pm

Arms are a huge limiting factor on those though, and they go for far more money than they're actually worth in the UK.
So I like purple, okay!!!!!!

83.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot!

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by awangotango » Sat Nov 22, 2014 5:35 pm

yes probably cheaper over here.....I wrap my arm with fabric tape and it is supposed to make it less resonant. I had a $1000 rega p3/24 and $1000 LINN AXIS and for rock I prefer Direct drive techincs !

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Re: the HIFI stereo thread

Post by demonufo » Sat Nov 22, 2014 5:59 pm

Yes I heard Rega are pretty rare and expensive over there. Dirt cheap over here, and plentiful. Lots of upgrades available too. Michell VTA adjuster is an absolute essential mod for many. My cartridge just would not work without it on mine (way too much overhang, to the point where the lifter will not work due to the angle of the arm without a VTA adjuster :lol: )
Power supply upgrade makes a big difference too, and a thick Acrylic platter is also worthwhile. But those two kinda pushes it towards Michell Gyrodec territory money-wise. (Had one of those. Had to sell it. :( )

Although in all honesty, I don't listen to that much rock on vinyl anyway. Certainly not much modern or heavy rock. I'd sooner pick that sort of stuff up on CD rather than pay a premium for it.
So I like purple, okay!!!!!!

83.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot!

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