What’s your Hi-Fi set up? spec and pictures please
Discussion
Harry Flashman said:
I am having one issue, which I think may be at the root of the initial problem with the sound I noted yesterday. The sound is very thin initially but as time goes on gets richer. It's not just my ear becoming accustomed to it, wife noticed it too. An hour after turning everything on, things are transformed. I played the same tracks at the beginning and end of the evening and at initial turn-on, low bass notes were simply not there. They were, later. Very noticeable on some drum and bass (Etherwood - both excellent for testing bass response, but also great music).
Please tell me that your wife noticed it from the kitchen, then the start of your audiophile journey is truly complete 
Personally I'd keep experimenting, and see if you think this situation persists. If it does, then you can try turning various components on in advance of listening and see if you can pinpoint one that makes the difference.
A Sonos lifestyle system will typically make everything sound "nice", and also somewhat homogeneous. The higher quality system you have now will tend to make well recorded material sound great, and badly recorded stuff sound terrible. This might also take some getting used to.
Itsallicanafford said:
Nice micro system! Can I ask how you are streaming through the PI? I have a pi + hifi berry and used to use as a roon end point, but I don’t use roon anymore, is there a way to stream tidal without roon? Many thanks in advance
I'm using Roon, I started using it about 5 years ago and have gradually built up endpoints around that. Once i'd got it set up on a Roon Rock server it's been incredible. Use Volumio OS, not HiFiBerry. Volumio has Tidal Connect built in. Do you have a DAC HAT on your Pi or are you outputting to a separate DAC via USB?
Finally got my case sorted out (had some additional openings cnc’d into it by a local machine shop to allow access to the speaker terminals. Really pleased with it. (photos prior to me realising i'd fitted the lid upside down!). Now that i'm happy with how it sounds, my plan is to change the speaker terminals to something which accepts a banana plug.
IN case anybody is interested, my current set-up looks like this. Most of the rooms have ethernet connection, as does the garage office. A couple are still using Roon over WiFi, which isn't great but you wouldn't notice the difference in quality on something like a Sonos anyway.
Edited by beanoir on Monday 23 May 10:14
Harry Flashman said:
What a great subforum this is: thank you for the help and advice, both of you.
I have just subscribed to a Tidal trial. As for subs, I use SVS subs in the AV room, but actually think that I don't need one for the two channel system. The bass last night was lovely and very adjustable from the BluOS app for the NAD.
Also, I have just worked out that I had the BluOS set to subwoofer on at the NAD at first. The system was killing low frequencies to the floorstanders, but neither was it then driving the sub (the latter problem remains). So I had nothing below 80hz.
On subs, mine have speaker level inputs, but the trouble is my amp only has two speaker out channels, with no spare for the sub. I could parallel (I think?) but the cabling starts getting messy.
The dirac dsp really helped as it completely cured some bass muddiness from room and placement issues. The room is a living room, so I can't just place the speakers where they sound best - aesthetics must be considered, sadly.
I am having one issue, which I think may be at the root of the initial problem with the sound I noted yesterday. The sound is very thin initially but as time goes on gets richer. It's not just my ear becoming accustomed to it, wife noticed it too. An hour after turning everything on, things are transformed. I played the same tracks at the beginning and end of the evening and at initial turn-on, low bass notes were simply not there. They were, later. Very noticeable on some drum and bass (Etherwood - both excellent for testing bass response, but also great music).
I think it's my amp - but surely a solid state amp doesn't need warming up? The MF is designed to be left on all the time and back in the day, it's what I used to do. These days, in a more power conscious world, I wish to turn it off. Or could this be that thing Funk mentioned above - the amp needing refurbishment of capacitors?
I can't advise on your amp, sorry, but it does sound like you're making the process rather complex, perhaps it's a function of the amp having too many parameters to fiddle with? It took me ages for me to be happy with the home cinema kit (Arcam and Dirac), possibly because you can endlessly mess about with it. In contrast, for my hifi setup in a different room I have a very simple 2 channel Clef Soloist amp, which has none of the adjustability of AV amps and I think that it sounds great, straight out of the box and doesn't allow me to fiddle. I would definitely suggest persevering with sub(s) though. As part of my hifi setup I have a pair of Dali Epicons that excel in midrange and treble clarity (to my ears anyway), but could do with a touch more bass. I added in a pair of REL T9i's, but turned them down nice and low so that they support and give weight to the Dali's without overwhelming them. I appreciate that everyone likes different things in their music, but to me this works really well as the bass is there in the background most of the time, adding richness, and can be felt more often than not rather than heard if that makes any sense? I have just subscribed to a Tidal trial. As for subs, I use SVS subs in the AV room, but actually think that I don't need one for the two channel system. The bass last night was lovely and very adjustable from the BluOS app for the NAD.
Also, I have just worked out that I had the BluOS set to subwoofer on at the NAD at first. The system was killing low frequencies to the floorstanders, but neither was it then driving the sub (the latter problem remains). So I had nothing below 80hz.
On subs, mine have speaker level inputs, but the trouble is my amp only has two speaker out channels, with no spare for the sub. I could parallel (I think?) but the cabling starts getting messy.
The dirac dsp really helped as it completely cured some bass muddiness from room and placement issues. The room is a living room, so I can't just place the speakers where they sound best - aesthetics must be considered, sadly.
I am having one issue, which I think may be at the root of the initial problem with the sound I noted yesterday. The sound is very thin initially but as time goes on gets richer. It's not just my ear becoming accustomed to it, wife noticed it too. An hour after turning everything on, things are transformed. I played the same tracks at the beginning and end of the evening and at initial turn-on, low bass notes were simply not there. They were, later. Very noticeable on some drum and bass (Etherwood - both excellent for testing bass response, but also great music).
I think it's my amp - but surely a solid state amp doesn't need warming up? The MF is designed to be left on all the time and back in the day, it's what I used to do. These days, in a more power conscious world, I wish to turn it off. Or could this be that thing Funk mentioned above - the amp needing refurbishment of capacitors?
Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 21st May 07:44
If you've been bitten by the hifi spending bug and want to look at good quality streaming then investigate Lumin. I've got one and use the Tidal hifi plus service, and IMO the sound quality is excellent.
Thanks for the advice. The amp is pretty easy actually as it's just my old Musical Fidelity A3.2.it seems to take a while to warm up enough to deliver the lowest bass notes. But minutes, not hours. I hadn't used it in 10 years...i think it was sulking.
All the fiddling happens at the NAD streamer, as it is a preamp and a DAC as well. And happily my first attempt at using Dirac has paid big dividends. It sounds great, and you can either tweak the curve in the app to change the sound (I don't bother) or use the app to increase bass on tracks that need it (I do it a bit, but not much as I am now getting used to tight, tonal bass rather than just big low frequencies).
The problem initially was that the preamp was set to subwoofer on (I have no sub connected) so everything below 80hz was going to the sub channel and not the floorstanders! Rookie error...
All the fiddling happens at the NAD streamer, as it is a preamp and a DAC as well. And happily my first attempt at using Dirac has paid big dividends. It sounds great, and you can either tweak the curve in the app to change the sound (I don't bother) or use the app to increase bass on tracks that need it (I do it a bit, but not much as I am now getting used to tight, tonal bass rather than just big low frequencies).
The problem initially was that the preamp was set to subwoofer on (I have no sub connected) so everything below 80hz was going to the sub channel and not the floorstanders! Rookie error...
For a 10-year-old amp that's been sat doing nothing I'd definitely suggest a service unless the used value of it makes it uneconomical. I've had an amp and a dying DAC recapped in the past and it made a big difference.
Amp caps that were on the way out:
DAC caps that were toast:
Edit: Looks like the Musical Fidelity A3.2 still goes for around £400 used so may well be worth having it serviced somewhere.
Amp caps that were on the way out:
DAC caps that were toast:
Edit: Looks like the Musical Fidelity A3.2 still goes for around £400 used so may well be worth having it serviced somewhere.
Edited by Funk on Monday 23 May 14:24
Latest purchase yesterday. A pair of Focal 918 speakers. I only had a brief listen last night and I am shocked at the difference compared to my MA RS6 they have replaced. Next purchase will be an ND5 XS2, but that's going to have to wait for a while.
Rega P3 with Exact cartridge
Rega Fono phono preamp
Yamaha WXAD streamer dac
Naim 202 Pre amp
Naim 200 Power amp
Naim NAPSC power supply
Focal 918 speakers
Rega P3 with Exact cartridge
Rega Fono phono preamp
Yamaha WXAD streamer dac
Naim 202 Pre amp
Naim 200 Power amp
Naim NAPSC power supply
Focal 918 speakers
Andy_mr2sc said:
Latest purchase yesterday. A pair of Focal 918 speakers. I only had a brief listen last night and I am shocked at the difference compared to my MA RS6 they have replaced. Next purchase will be an ND5 XS2, but that's going to have to wait for a while.
Rega P3 with Exact cartridge
Rega Fono phono preamp
Yamaha WXAD streamer dac
Naim 202 Pre amp
Naim 200 Power amp
Naim NAPSC power supply
Focal 918 speakers
A HiCap, or one of the many alternatives, would make a big difference to your 202. Rega P3 with Exact cartridge
Rega Fono phono preamp
Yamaha WXAD streamer dac
Naim 202 Pre amp
Naim 200 Power amp
Naim NAPSC power supply
Focal 918 speakers
Nakamichi,grew around a DR-3 tape deck which was the dogs danglies in the 90’s. NAD rebadged turntable. Mordaunt Short MS20’s and 70’s B&W’s (bass rich).
It’s been round the world and back,doesn’t really suit terraced house living !
Oh and a few odds and ends,still have 8-tracks in my ‘60’s motors.
It’s been round the world and back,doesn’t really suit terraced house living !
Oh and a few odds and ends,still have 8-tracks in my ‘60’s motors.
Edited by Dinlowgoon on Friday 27th May 11:40
Tony1963 said:
Andy_mr2sc said:
Latest purchase yesterday. A pair of Focal 918 speakers. I only had a brief listen last night and I am shocked at the difference compared to my MA RS6 they have replaced. Next purchase will be an ND5 XS2, but that's going to have to wait for a while.
Rega P3 with Exact cartridge
Rega Fono phono preamp
Yamaha WXAD streamer dac
Naim 202 Pre amp
Naim 200 Power amp
Naim NAPSC power supply
Focal 918 speakers
A HiCap, or one of the many alternatives, would make a big difference to your 202. Rega P3 with Exact cartridge
Rega Fono phono preamp
Yamaha WXAD streamer dac
Naim 202 Pre amp
Naim 200 Power amp
Naim NAPSC power supply
Focal 918 speakers
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