What made you love the SOUND of music, good Hifi.
Discussion
Planet Blatark-9 said:
StuntmanMike said:
I have met many people who love music but couldn't give a toss about sound quality, including musicians, perhaps that's a bit strong but I'm sure you know what I mean.
What inspired you to spent loads of money on quirky British ( mostly ) kit, what drives you to use vinyl instead of a hard drive.
What I really want to know is, was there a system that blew you away, made you looks at normal stereos and think no thanks.
Mine was my Dad's 70s set up,
Armstrong 626 Receiver,
Thorens TD 166 mk11 Turntable.
Celestion Ditton 44 Speakers.
Listening to my Dad's Beatles albums as a kid was something else.
Over to you.
How weird.... my Dad has had those speakers for decades, he still has them, i grew up with them... and I have always loved them!!What inspired you to spent loads of money on quirky British ( mostly ) kit, what drives you to use vinyl instead of a hard drive.
What I really want to know is, was there a system that blew you away, made you looks at normal stereos and think no thanks.
Mine was my Dad's 70s set up,
Armstrong 626 Receiver,
Thorens TD 166 mk11 Turntable.
Celestion Ditton 44 Speakers.
Listening to my Dad's Beatles albums as a kid was something else.
Over to you.
They were certainly a bench mark... - going on from that, it was a couple of state of the art setups in cars at cruises which also spurred me on.... and also an amazing demo in Rayleigh hi-fi of some M&K stuff.... always loved music
Ive allways loved seperates , however since ive moved in with my other half ive had to downsize.
But the first time i heard a friends system (Linn LP12 , Linn pre , amps and large Linn speakers cost around 20 grand.
He played some modern Jazz to me , im a bit of an old skool thrash metaller , so normally i would have vomitted on his album , but the sound absolutely blew me away.
In fact i would have listened to a moose farting through that system , anything he played sounded utterly as though you were there when they recorded there music.
But the first time i heard a friends system (Linn LP12 , Linn pre , amps and large Linn speakers cost around 20 grand.
He played some modern Jazz to me , im a bit of an old skool thrash metaller , so normally i would have vomitted on his album , but the sound absolutely blew me away.
In fact i would have listened to a moose farting through that system , anything he played sounded utterly as though you were there when they recorded there music.
By complete chance, as a student, I became a lodger with this chap - http://www.hificritic.com/messenger.html - and his family, and his Linn/triamped-Naim system trounced anything I'd heard before (or since).
At the other end of the technology spectrum, a few years later, I rescued a Lowther amp from a skip and took it to the guy in Kent who runs a Lowther museum. While there, he played a Miles Davis recording through one of those very old and very fugly Lowther horn cabinet thingummies. Total detail. Don't suppose it'd be much cop for reggae or perhaps for any over-produced music, but with that simply recorded acoustic material, there was such wonderful presence.
But... I don't do top-end hi-fi now. Not because it's expensive, or because I can't hear the difference; but because, being a geek, it always leads me to start listening to the sound of the system instead of listening to the actual music.
At the other end of the technology spectrum, a few years later, I rescued a Lowther amp from a skip and took it to the guy in Kent who runs a Lowther museum. While there, he played a Miles Davis recording through one of those very old and very fugly Lowther horn cabinet thingummies. Total detail. Don't suppose it'd be much cop for reggae or perhaps for any over-produced music, but with that simply recorded acoustic material, there was such wonderful presence.
But... I don't do top-end hi-fi now. Not because it's expensive, or because I can't hear the difference; but because, being a geek, it always leads me to start listening to the sound of the system instead of listening to the actual music.
From my mid teens I always preferred seperates. While all my mates were getting Amstrad or Bin-it-one systems I had destroyed mine an started buying my 1st Garrad turntable. I seem to have stuck wit my Mission 751's on an old Technics amp for music and Kef eggs with a Quad L sub on an older (now) Dennon amp.
When I was buying my projector I went to a house that had some truly outstanding sound system. He was running a set of Tannoy speakers I could have moved into with all my furniture. These were powered by cables bigger than run the 3 phase power to our house from amps I can't remember. What I do remember was all his music came from his laptop. I have never before or since heard sound like it. I want that sound soo much but would need a serious man cave in which to keep it.
When I was buying my projector I went to a house that had some truly outstanding sound system. He was running a set of Tannoy speakers I could have moved into with all my furniture. These were powered by cables bigger than run the 3 phase power to our house from amps I can't remember. What I do remember was all his music came from his laptop. I have never before or since heard sound like it. I want that sound soo much but would need a serious man cave in which to keep it.
Edited by crossy67 on Saturday 4th April 08:05
Great thread 
I had a Saturday job at a B&O dealership in East London in the late nineties but it was all the other hi-fi we sold that I loved. We only sold low to mid range equipment but I loved to demo kit. Mission and NAD became a favourite of mine and they were easy to pair and sell!
Playing the Titanic soundtrack on some Mission 77somethings or LFO by LFO banging out of a big NAD power amped setup was just as enjoyable. I haven't changed my setup since working there which is a modest pair of Mission M72s and NAD C340 amp but I still hanker after a pair of 753 freedoms
I have no idea what they were but we had a pair of speakers with a heavily slantrr front that a chap used to listen to every Saturday for a couple of months before eventually buying them. They had a pair of hidden 8" drivers in each cabinet and sounded fantastic with Reggae which is probably what got me into that genre too.
I had a Saturday job at a B&O dealership in East London in the late nineties but it was all the other hi-fi we sold that I loved. We only sold low to mid range equipment but I loved to demo kit. Mission and NAD became a favourite of mine and they were easy to pair and sell!
Playing the Titanic soundtrack on some Mission 77somethings or LFO by LFO banging out of a big NAD power amped setup was just as enjoyable. I haven't changed my setup since working there which is a modest pair of Mission M72s and NAD C340 amp but I still hanker after a pair of 753 freedoms
I have no idea what they were but we had a pair of speakers with a heavily slantrr front that a chap used to listen to every Saturday for a couple of months before eventually buying them. They had a pair of hidden 8" drivers in each cabinet and sounded fantastic with Reggae which is probably what got me into that genre too.
A couple of moments stand out in my memory. I went to a dealer in 1991 to buy a modest turntable. Listened to a couple reasonably happily, when the dealer plugged in a Linn LP12 that they'd had in as a PX. Through an ordinary Arcam integrated and my cheapie Celestion speakers, the bass and drums suddenly snapped into focus - at last I understood the term 'rhythm section'. I bought the turntable - and the Arcam amp - and still have it.
Nearly 15 years later I was looking for a successor to the Arcam. In another dealer, I heard the ethereal opening of Mahler 1 through a Musical Fidelity A5. Again, the thing was focus - flutes and clarinets parping through the misty dawn, then being menaced by distant trumpets - it had the delicacy to put everything in its place, then the power to keep the whole orchestra from dissolving into mush; the stormy opening of the finale was properly terrifying, as when I first heard it in a concert hall.
It took me a couple of years but I bought an A5 too. Still have it, still enjoying it.
Perhaps I'm fortunate, perhaps I'm benefiting from making my choices carefully, but I very seldom find myself 'listening to the equipment', which has probably saved me thousands that I've not spent on chasing the perfect system. If only everything in life was as consistently enjoyable!
Nearly 15 years later I was looking for a successor to the Arcam. In another dealer, I heard the ethereal opening of Mahler 1 through a Musical Fidelity A5. Again, the thing was focus - flutes and clarinets parping through the misty dawn, then being menaced by distant trumpets - it had the delicacy to put everything in its place, then the power to keep the whole orchestra from dissolving into mush; the stormy opening of the finale was properly terrifying, as when I first heard it in a concert hall.
It took me a couple of years but I bought an A5 too. Still have it, still enjoying it.
Perhaps I'm fortunate, perhaps I'm benefiting from making my choices carefully, but I very seldom find myself 'listening to the equipment', which has probably saved me thousands that I've not spent on chasing the perfect system. If only everything in life was as consistently enjoyable!
Brian Trizers said:
A couple of moments stand out in my memory. I went to a dealer in 1991 to buy a modest turntable. Listened to a couple reasonably happily, when the dealer plugged in a Linn LP12 that they'd had in as a PX. Through an ordinary Arcam integrated and my cheapie Celestion speakers, the bass and drums suddenly snapped into focus - at last I understood the term 'rhythm section'. I bought the turntable - and the Arcam amp - and still have it.
Nearly 15 years later I was looking for a successor to the Arcam. In another dealer, I heard the ethereal opening of Mahler 1 through a Musical Fidelity A5. Again, the thing was focus - flutes and clarinets parping through the misty dawn, then being menaced by distant trumpets - it had the delicacy to put everything in its place, then the power to keep the whole orchestra from dissolving into mush; the stormy opening of the finale was properly terrifying, as when I first heard it in a concert hall.
It took me a couple of years but I bought an A5 too. Still have it, still enjoying it.
Perhaps I'm fortunate, perhaps I'm benefiting from making my choices carefully, but I very seldom find myself 'listening to the equipment', which has probably saved me thousands that I've not spent on chasing the perfect system. If only everything in life was as consistently enjoyable!
Great post.........Nearly 15 years later I was looking for a successor to the Arcam. In another dealer, I heard the ethereal opening of Mahler 1 through a Musical Fidelity A5. Again, the thing was focus - flutes and clarinets parping through the misty dawn, then being menaced by distant trumpets - it had the delicacy to put everything in its place, then the power to keep the whole orchestra from dissolving into mush; the stormy opening of the finale was properly terrifying, as when I first heard it in a concert hall.
It took me a couple of years but I bought an A5 too. Still have it, still enjoying it.
Perhaps I'm fortunate, perhaps I'm benefiting from making my choices carefully, but I very seldom find myself 'listening to the equipment', which has probably saved me thousands that I've not spent on chasing the perfect system. If only everything in life was as consistently enjoyable!
You make an interesting point about enjoying the music and seldom listening to the equipment. The thread title refers to the "SOUND of music, good HiFi"; it can become very easy to fall into the trap of listening to the mechanics of the system's sound rather than the musical performance.
My work involves listening to and measuring speaker, and amplifier, performance. Certain designs have that special something that make it easy to forget their contribution and just get on with enjoying.
One of the best I've heard do this is the Impulse H2 speaker.
Crackie said:
Great post.........
You make an interesting point about enjoying the music...
Ah, you're too kind, Crackie. You make an interesting point about enjoying the music...
I think that word 'focus' is the key for me. When it's there I can forget that I'm listening to a stack of electric and acoustic boxes in the corner of my living room and be in the centre stalls of the Philharmonie or the Village Vanguard or wherever. No doubt a lot of planning and engineering go into delivering that moment, but the best kit is the stuff that isn't constantly trying to remind me how good and clever it is.
My best recent acquisition in proper hifi terms is the Something Solid EXR equipment rack I bought in 2012. A lot of materials and engineering have gone into that - carbon fibre, balsa, yachting string, a deliberately resonant steel skeleton - but the main thing I notice is that a singer in front of a band now has a much more believable scale and presence, whether it's Ella Fitzgerald, Jessye Norman or Brian Johnson. It all helps with the suspension of disbelief - and makes me realise I was wrong to think all a stand has to do is keep the kit off the floor.
Funny thing is, the focus doesn't always need big, swanky equipment to deliver it. I was off work for a couple of weeks last summer after an operation, and spent a lot of time propped up on the bed listening to our pair of Sonos Play:1s. Even fed with the 320k MP3s I usually listen to in the car, they produced wonderfully believable little musical images. A miniature chamber orchestra on top of the chest of drawers? Yes - so it seemed anyway. I suspect being properly comfortable and physically and mentally relaxed made a difference to my enjoyment too; never underestimate the psychological component in music!
H2s are horn loaded, aren't they? I've never heard one; perhaps I shouldn't - could be the top of a slippery slope!
Edited by Brian Trizers on Tuesday 14th April 11:28
Brian Trizers said:
H2s are horn loaded, aren't they? I've never heard one; perhaps I shouldn't - could be the top of a slippery slope!
H2s were marketed as being horns but they aren't really. The Focal treble is surface mounted on the baffle and the bass section is a tapered quarter wave tube ( Voight ). The mid section is a little odd; the rear of the mid driver is partially open, at the back and the top. The output from the front of the cone directly feeds a waveguide to increase sensitivity. H2s impedance dips well below 3ohms in the midrange between 1 and 2khz; sound can be very hit and miss with certain amps but get it right and they can take you to the heart of the music like few others.
Edited by Crackie on Monday 20th April 21:20
I think the front end was an LP12, the amp was a Ferrograph and the speakers were Mordaunt Short Signifiers - forgive spelling.
The LP was Coleman Hawkins playing 'Go 'Lil Liza'
Listen here https://youtu.be/aUfxVI3Skuk and imagine a young man in 1979 hearing high fidelity for the first time. Blew me away....
The LP was Coleman Hawkins playing 'Go 'Lil Liza'
Listen here https://youtu.be/aUfxVI3Skuk and imagine a young man in 1979 hearing high fidelity for the first time. Blew me away....
I've always spent more on DJ/Studio gear so the home hi-fi set up is lacking compared to some of you guys but for me it was my dad and his set up and then about ten years ago maybe more visiting a friend's studio. He was schooling me on the differences between Emu and Akai and all the different desks he had and then on the different pressings of vinyl. This song sounds better as this version has this song in the first couple of inches of vinyl. Or this one sounds louder because it's on 45rpm and works better in the club etc etc.... Crap in crap out is my mantra.
For me it was auditioning a little pink thing by Pink Triangle (Tracy Chapman) I can't remember the entire system but it was "transparent" in it's delivery. I do remember a fair chunk of my student grant going on an Arcam Alpha CD Player / AMP and Mission 760's and some decent stands. It fed an addiction that still haunts me (much to SWMBO's constant horror). Only a house purchase stopped me from getting some Martin Logans.... but one day....
Listening to Fleetwood Macs Rumours on a very excited uncles first hifi.
Still the first album I play on any new kit I but, from vinyl on a Garrard SP25 through to an LP12 on vinyl to the newest 24/96 version on vinyl.
Latest discovery is The Beatles on 24/96.
Shame most great recording are ancient. There is great new music, but all diabolically badly mastered.
So bad that the better the hifi the worse it sounds. Still that's progress......
Still the first album I play on any new kit I but, from vinyl on a Garrard SP25 through to an LP12 on vinyl to the newest 24/96 version on vinyl.
Latest discovery is The Beatles on 24/96.
Shame most great recording are ancient. There is great new music, but all diabolically badly mastered.
So bad that the better the hifi the worse it sounds. Still that's progress......
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