What’s your Hi-Fi set up? spec and pictures please

[T1berious]

toasty said:

T1berious said:

Good god, man! That picture is so full of wrongness, it could send someone over the edge.

Shrugs, alas it's a Victorian house and its the easy room. I'd move and stuff but I quite like how it sounds

You want horror? Try this:

[Tony1963]

T1berious said:

Shrugs, alas it's a Victorian house and its the easy room. I'd move and stuff but I quite like how it sounds

You want horror? Try this:

I wouldn’t be turning it up to 11 in that conservatory!

[NumBMW]

Having a last day of shift couple of old fashioned’s in the 3/4 finished den. No lights just a salt lamp at the moment haha

New speakers arrived this week, the stands are delayed but I couldn’t just leave them in the box!

Naim Uniti Atom, Proac Tablette 10 Signatures, and Solid Steel stands on the way next week.
TV is a 15 year old Panasonic plasma still going strong.

In the meantime I’ve turned some plastic plant pots upside down.
I’m expecting a jump in the sound, otherwise I’m onto the “Snake Oil” thread !!

[TorqueDirty]

TorqueDirty said:

My currently rather untidy set up.

Musical Fidelity A308 Pre and Power combo
Musical Fidelity A308 CD
Yamaha RX-V3067 AV Amp
Kef Refence 203/2 Speakers
Monitor Audio Bronze Centre speaker
Montor Audio Studio Gold Reference 10 rear speakers
REL Storm Subwoofer
Bluesound Node 2i streamer

And some lamps I made from some drums and, on the other side, an old tripod!

Looks a bit of a mess just now but it sounds amazing with a really a good recording.

Looking at the pic I think I need a bigger TV - current is a 55 inch

Thought I'd post a couple of better pics of my current set up.

The Kefs really are very good and whilst they are not the prettiest speakers in the world there is no denying that they have "presence"!

[legzr1]

I ran the same 308 system with the previous Kef range (4.2s) for years and what a great sound it was with everything thrown at it. From hi-res classical and jazz to drum&bass on MP3!

Hard to replace so be careful if you ever get an itch to ‘improve’.

[Funk]

I noticed my M-DAC was starting to get intermittent on one channel so took a look inside to find nearly all the capacitors had what looked like chunks of earwax on the top of them:



I needed something to tide me over whilst I got the M-DAC recapped and found a Pink Fish member about a mile away from me who had a Topping D50 for sale. I have to say it's a cracking bit of kit for the money and I'm not actually sure I'll bother going back to the M-DAC; the only reason I might is because the M-DAC has a reasonable headphone amp in it which I used occasionally with my Sennheisers... Another PF member completely re-capped the M-DAC for me for £90 - £60 of that was the caps, apparently they're numerous and strange sizes! At least it's got another 10 years worth of life in it again now.

Other than that the system remains simple and pretty much as it was:

- PC running MusicBee/Spotify
- Topping D50 DAC
- XTZ A100 D3 amp
- Celestion A3 speakers

I did have to replace my interconnects recently, I'd forgotten the QED Silver Spirals I was using were my brother's and he wanted them back when he moved into his new house. I bought a pair of Audioquest Golden Gate 2 for about £60 and to be honest they sound much of a muchness compared with the Silver Spiral.

[TonyRPH]

Funk said:

I noticed my M-DAC was starting to get intermittent on one channel so took a look inside to find nearly all the capacitors had what looked like chunks of earwax on the top of them:

<snip>

The M DAC can benefit from a firmware upgrade which solves a few odd issues.

[Funk]

TonyRPH said:

Funk said:

I noticed my M-DAC was starting to get intermittent on one channel so took a look inside to find nearly all the capacitors had what looked like chunks of earwax on the top of them:

<snip>

The M DAC can benefit from a firmware upgrade which solves a few odd issues.

Cheers, already running the latest custom one - think it's A10?

[TonyRPH]

Funk said:

Cheers, already running the latest custom one - think it's A10?

I'm not sure about versions - but Jon Westlake (the M DAC designer) was offering firmware upgrades.

From memory he's on Pink Fish Media I think.

[BritishBlitz87]

I've finally finished my set up, all very retro: No speakers, the open-back headphones are almost too loud as it is past 7ish anyway



Clockwise from bottom left:
Sansui Se-8X Equaliser
Sony CDP-70
Yamaha A300 amp (only really used to listen to records)
Dual CS505-2 turntable
Technics tuner (not plugged in yet)
Yamaha KX-500
Denon DR-M30HX

All through a pair of Grado SR325s
Sorry for the appalling photos, being directly below a window isn't ideal for photography and my phone case creates an incredibly annoying shadow in the top left corner

[TorqueDirty]

legzr1 said:

I ran the same 308 system with the previous Kef range (4.2s) for years and what a great sound it was with everything thrown at it. From hi-res classical and jazz to drum&bass on MP3!

Hard to replace so be careful if you ever get an itch to ‘improve’.

Have to say that since the addition of the Kefs the itch to improve has dramatically reduced. A better network player is the only thing on the wish list now - and I think we have chatted about that before. The Cambridge Audio Azure 851N is calling but will have to wait until I am a bit "more liquid" !

Oh, and in true council style I am developing a hankering for a TV of unnecessarily large proportions (75 inch)

[NDA]

TorqueDirty said:

Thought I'd post a couple of better pics of my current set up.

The Kefs really are very good and whilst they are not the prettiest speakers in the world there is no denying that they have "presence"!

I have that CD player also the Bluesound.

The CD player is sitting unused as I have gone 100% streaming - my hearing is not what it was, so I can't tell!

[TorqueDirty]

NDA said:

TorqueDirty said:

Thought I'd post a couple of better pics of my current set up.

The Kefs really are very good and whilst they are not the prettiest speakers in the world there is no denying that they have "presence"!

I have that CD player also the Bluesound.

The CD player is sitting unused as I have gone 100% streaming - my hearing is not what it was, so I can't tell!

If your A308 CD it is sitting unused I'd guess you could still sell it for decent money even now. If I did not already have one I'd be in the queue!

[Bonefish Blues]

My CD player now only sees service as a DAC

[Itsallicanafford]

STiG911 said:

Itsallicanafford said:

ben5575 said:

Itsallicanafford said:

Sony FH-909r

Me: I quite like that.

Goes on to ebay to have a look at the pri....

I think their high price reflects just how rare they are and the fact they were the very pinnacle of the FH range. I looked for 4 years to find a good one in the UK. I would be interested to find out what they retailed new, must have been an arm and a leg as the quality of the unit is immense and the sound from cassette play back is absolutely gobsmacking.

When I were a lad, I worked in a mid-range independent HiFi specialist just after i left school. We stocked some of the greats - Akai, Aiwa, Yamaha, Sony, Technics (We could just stock and sell SL-1210s all day long if we wanted to)
Anyway, the FH-909r superseded me by a few months, but it's replacement - can't remember the model number - was just as outrageous in both looks, performance and price. It was 4 MIDI separates in an odd-but-cool grey 'feltish' finish (no, really), which each weighed a ton with speakers to match and cost £1099 - in 1990.

Thanks for replying, I would say around the grand mark might have been about right, there is very little info on the model on the web which is a surprise. Maybe it was the la scala system which you were thinking of, they had weird looking electrostatic speakers? After the 909 I think the quality of the Sony portables started to fall off as people became more cost conscious.

[ben5575]

BritishBlitz87 said:

I've finally finished my set up, all very retro

I used to dream of a ‘graphic equaliser’ like that. Sooo many sliders

I’ve been toying with a chrome bumper naim retro setup, but I keeping being drawn to this quantity of black plastic, knobs, switches and leds.

The Tamiya and Technics brochures used to keep me up at night as a kid in the 80’s. No doubt it’s all stupid money now.

[T1berious]

BritishBlitz87 said:

I've finally finished my set up, all very retro: No speakers, the open-back headphones are almost too loud as it is past 7ish anyway



Clockwise from bottom left:
Sansui Se-8X Equaliser
Sony CDP-70
Yamaha A300 amp (only really used to listen to records)
Dual CS505-2 turntable
Technics tuner (not plugged in yet)
Yamaha KX-500
Denon DR-M30HX

All through a pair of Grado SR325s
Sorry for the appalling photos, being directly below a window isn't ideal for photography and my phone case creates an incredibly annoying shadow in the top left corner

Cassette deck envy....

I'm seriously considering investing in tape deck but just know its going to be a hiding to nothing as I'd be having to shell out for cassettes to tape on.

But loving your system!

I had a Kenwood KX-5010 back in the day, I'd do anything to get it back!

How do you find sourcing blank media?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

BritishBlitz87 said:

Dual CS505-2 turntable

Why did some turntables come with strobe dots on the platter but no strobe. Was it in case you wanted to fire your own stand alone strobe at it? Did anyone actually do that?

[TonyRPH]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Why did some turntables come with strobe dots on the platter but no strobe. Was it in case you wanted to fire your own stand alone strobe at it? Did anyone actually do that?

They relied in light from AC incandescent bulbs, which provide a source of 50Hz illumination.

Turntables with a built in strobe lamp use a neon driven directly from the mains.

[skylarking808]

[quote=T1berious]

Cassette deck envy....

mmm that Denon makes me want another. Had a DR10HX and thought it was the mutts at the time.