My midlife crisis hit my ears
Discussion
Apologies for the clickbait title, but it seems that my midlife crisis is revisiting things from my youth. Trainers, albums and suchlike.
I have recently decided I want to go back to stereos/hifi as I have really missed it, and have a conundrum: Do I go for the tower hifi's (that can handle a streamer as well), or do I go separates?
Pro's for the tower - always wanted it, has vinyl, tape (I still have tapes and would like to keep the ability to revisit when I want). Fully working Technics tower for under a grand for example.
Cons - not going to be as good as separates. Time can't be good for them. Fixing them when they go wrong.
Unknown - can I put good speakers on them and will it make them sound better?
Pro's for separates - had them back in the day (NAD amp, cheap CD from Richer sounds). Better sound. Can scale up. Speakers I will be spending a good amount on. KEF or the like?
Cons - cost goes up as I will be adding to it. Amp, CD, Tape, Vinyl, Streamer (EQ???) and of course the speakers.
As a DJ, I already have a very good set up for that (Pioneer, Xone, Vestax, Yamaha speakers etc), so this is about audio clarity that fills a room with rich, warm sound. I had a good read of Billbring's '£2500' thread (thank you to all who contributed there).
So what would you do? Reading this back I think I know what the answer would be, but I'd prefer people with more knowledge than me to confirm it! Thanks in advance.
I have recently decided I want to go back to stereos/hifi as I have really missed it, and have a conundrum: Do I go for the tower hifi's (that can handle a streamer as well), or do I go separates?
Pro's for the tower - always wanted it, has vinyl, tape (I still have tapes and would like to keep the ability to revisit when I want). Fully working Technics tower for under a grand for example.
Cons - not going to be as good as separates. Time can't be good for them. Fixing them when they go wrong.
Unknown - can I put good speakers on them and will it make them sound better?
Pro's for separates - had them back in the day (NAD amp, cheap CD from Richer sounds). Better sound. Can scale up. Speakers I will be spending a good amount on. KEF or the like?
Cons - cost goes up as I will be adding to it. Amp, CD, Tape, Vinyl, Streamer (EQ???) and of course the speakers.
As a DJ, I already have a very good set up for that (Pioneer, Xone, Vestax, Yamaha speakers etc), so this is about audio clarity that fills a room with rich, warm sound. I had a good read of Billbring's '£2500' thread (thank you to all who contributed there).
So what would you do? Reading this back I think I know what the answer would be, but I'd prefer people with more knowledge than me to confirm it! Thanks in advance.
What do you really want from it?
I've enjoyed buying a few amps I never found the money for in my 20s.
I'd like to get hold of some different speakers to try.
I had enough disappointment with secondhand tape decks back then, I wouldn't want a £1000 system with a built in tape deck to go wrong.
A tape deck is a complex thing, I'd want one which could be fixed, with a the knowledge to do so freely available.
If I wanted a tape deck at all that is, Which I really don't.
The music I listened to on tape when I was young sounds a whole lot better digitally or on other people's vinyl now and then.
I guess it depends a bit what era you're harking back to, you could be needing a mini-disc or DAT on the one hand, or 8-track on the other?
I reckon some people who were young when DAB came out are pretty middle-aged now?
Stuff like 'multi-room' and active crossover multi-channel can be getting on a bit now?
The same issues are true of CD players to an extent, some you can buy new lasers or whole mechs for. But there's still other stuff in there to go wrong.
And some vintage CD players really were Not Very Good!
Having faffed with changing the mech in a 30 year old CD player, putting it in the loft and spending £300 on a new one was the right thing to do!
Old school 'hifi amps' are largely made of discrete components and simple chips which can be substituted.
Stack systems are more likely to depend on obsolete 'proprietary' or 'special to type' chips which you cannot get documentation or replacements for.
A broken amp is a project, a non-working all-in-one is WEEE.
I've enjoyed buying a few amps I never found the money for in my 20s.
I'd like to get hold of some different speakers to try.
I had enough disappointment with secondhand tape decks back then, I wouldn't want a £1000 system with a built in tape deck to go wrong.
A tape deck is a complex thing, I'd want one which could be fixed, with a the knowledge to do so freely available.
If I wanted a tape deck at all that is, Which I really don't.
The music I listened to on tape when I was young sounds a whole lot better digitally or on other people's vinyl now and then.
I guess it depends a bit what era you're harking back to, you could be needing a mini-disc or DAT on the one hand, or 8-track on the other?
I reckon some people who were young when DAB came out are pretty middle-aged now?
Stuff like 'multi-room' and active crossover multi-channel can be getting on a bit now?
The same issues are true of CD players to an extent, some you can buy new lasers or whole mechs for. But there's still other stuff in there to go wrong.
And some vintage CD players really were Not Very Good!
Having faffed with changing the mech in a 30 year old CD player, putting it in the loft and spending £300 on a new one was the right thing to do!
Old school 'hifi amps' are largely made of discrete components and simple chips which can be substituted.
Stack systems are more likely to depend on obsolete 'proprietary' or 'special to type' chips which you cannot get documentation or replacements for.
A broken amp is a project, a non-working all-in-one is WEEE.
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