The Hi-Fi discussion thread

duotone

@Devil#20 ;
I found this cool old revisited review of the B&W 602 S3 speakers: https://www.whathifi.com/features/was-then-bw-602-s3-review

Fuengi

Picked up some lovely old Wharfdale Linton 3xp speakers this week. These seem to be pretty well regarded for Wharfdale's even if they are not the end all in detail.

They work great in the room and with the Sansui definitely have a warm, restrained but easy listening sound. 

Just got a copy of Burn Your Fire For No Witness by Angel Olsen, really struck with this setup with the bass on the track Iota, I can hear the reverberation of the string, it's almost visible.

Definitely more air and separation and I can crank up the amp & it seems to open up the speakers without immediately adding lots of volume. Much more range.  

I know nothing about cartridges and I hardly dare, but i currently have a M75ED Type 2 which came with the turntable. Worth exploring alternatives? 

Fuengi

Holy shit, Brothers in Arms is a fantastic record. Listening to Ride Across the River, the drums are gorgeous, guitar incredible and the added sound effects from the jungle... I thought they had added in a monsoon then realised it was just pissing down again outside. 

boogieman

Fuengi said:

Picked up some lovely old Wharfdale Linton 3xp speakers this week. These seem to be pretty well regarded for Wharfdale's even if they are not the end all in detail.

They work great in the room and with the Sansui definitely have a warm, restrained but easy listening sound. 

Just got a copy of Burn Your Fire For No Witness by Angel Olsen, really struck with this setup with the bass on the track Iota, I can hear the reverberation of the string, it's almost visible.

Definitely more air and separation and I can crank up the amp & it seems to open up the speakers without immediately adding lots of volume. Much more range.  

I know nothing about cartridges and I hardly dare, but i currently have a M75ED Type 2 which came with the turntable. Worth exploring alternatives? 

I had a set of Lintons at one time, they replaced another blast from the past, a pair of Celestion Dittons. Lovely warm sound like you say, sounded really nice with vinyl but didn’t quite cut it with cds. 

Fuengi

Bought a nice Rega Planar 2 this week, it's the one with the walnut edge trim and the older R-200 tone arm. Lovely. 

It's had a new upgraded motor, but I found the ball bearing at the bottom of the sub-platter bearing was missing for some reason. It was running a little slow due to this but I cleaned out the well and put in a new ball bearing & oil, plus changed the belt and it's spot on now for speed. That's quite a satisfying job when it goes right.

The cartridge is the R-100 which must be original. It sounds great, a definite step up from my Sansui. 

Also picked up some B&W DM4 speakers in September and really enjoying those. 

Danny1969

Fuengi said:

Holy shit, Brothers in Arms is a fantastic record. Listening to Ride Across the River, the drums are gorgeous, guitar incredible and the added sound effects from the jungle... I thought they had added in a monsoon then realised it was just pissing down again outside. 

Agreed mate, it is superbly recorded. It was done on a Sony 24 track digital so there's a crispness about it that wasn't present on other recordings done on Studer or analog tape machines at that time. 
That album sold millions of CD players.  Hi Fi shops would demo The man's too strong so people could appreciate the lack of noise on the quiet passages and the dynamics of the loud parts. 
The expression in the guitar licks on the title track makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up still. 

marantz1300

I have a lot of old gear I've picked up over the years.
Turntable
Linn LP12, Ittok, Suprex 900
Amps
Naim 32.5, 42, 12S preamps.
140 and 250 power amps.
Musical Fidelity Pre 3A, MVT and MX.
P270 power amp.
Nad 3020  (on loan to a friend)
Nytech 252( on loan too)
Meridian M2 active speakers  and 101 Preamp
Speakers
Linn Kan Mk 1 (I gave Kan 2's to my son).
JR 149 
Tannoy Eaton (old 70's)
Celestion SL600
Cassette deck
Nakamitchi 480 
CD 
Denon (Midi system )
https://naim-discourse-files.s3.dualstack.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/5/9/59944fabaa19a7daa8f5a56ae7d4f357f054f346.jpeg
https://naim-discourse-files.s3.dualstack.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/8/d/8dbe7020929746328c90c08345df4c5259edeffc.jpeg

richardhomer

marantz1300 said:

I have a lot of old gear I've picked up over the years.
Turntable
Linn LP12, Ittok, Suprex 900
Amps
Naim 32.5, 42, 12S preamps.
140 and 250 power amps.
Musical Fidelity Pre 3A, MVT and MX.
P270 power amp.
Nad 3020  (on loan to a friend)
Nytech 252( on loan too)
Meridian M2 active speakers  and 101 Preamp
Speakers
Linn Kan Mk 1 (I gave Kan 2's to my son).
JR 149 
Tannoy Eaton (old 70's)
Celestion SL600
Cassette deck
Nakamitchi 480 
CD 
Denon (Midi system )
https://naim-discourse-files.s3.dualstack.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/5/9/59944fabaa19a7daa8f5a56ae7d4f357f054f346.jpeg
https://naim-discourse-files.s3.dualstack.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/8/d/8dbe7020929746328c90c08345df4c5259edeffc.jpeg

Thought you might have had at least a Marantz CD player as well…

TheMarlin

TheMarlin said:

I’m using:

NVA P90SA MK2 passive Pre amp
NVA M300 mono block power amps
Home built Rega based TT
Audio Origami Tone arm
Schiit Mani TT Pre amp
Nagoaka MP500 cartridge
Denon 3910 SACD player into Topping D90 MQA DAC
Bluesound Node2i with upgrade power board and upgrade Sbooster BOTW MK2 power supply
Varioos Tannoy Monitors
Rel Subwoofers 
NVA SSP interconnects
NVA LS5 speaker cables. 

Primary source is vinyl, then streaming.  Occasionally pop a CD on. 

Sounds rather lovely!

Added a second system for the living room. 

Expertly rebuild Leak Stereo 20
Music First Audio Copper Classic V2 Pre amp
Tom Evans Groove MK2 MC Phono Stage. 

Denon DP55K turntable with Michel Technoarm 2 and Koetsu Black MM cart
Upgraded Ear MM Phono
A second Bluesound Node 2i
Topping D90SE DAC
And another Denon CD player used as a transport. 

Again with Tannoy Dual Concentrics and a Rel sub

also have a third Hifi in the garage I’ve built for my cousin. Yet to install it. 

marantz1300

I use to have a marantz CD 94. Lovely bit of kit.
Wish I still had it.

viz

Turntable: Kuzma
Phono stage: Pro-ject
CD: Proj-ject
Amplification: Bryston
Speakers: PMC

Fuengi

I picked up a Marantz CD-53 CD Player for the office a while back, nice crisp thing. Got a Rotel amp that somebody gave my which I really like and a pair of B&W DM4's to play it through, very easy on the ear. 

Sporky

I have a very not-proper-hifi setup which I like a lot.

BlueSound Powernode 2i - streamer/amp combi
Pair of Cornered Audio C5 speakers
SVS SB1000 Pro subwoofer

RobDavies

Sporky said:

I have a very not-proper-hifi setup which I like a lot.

BlueSound Powernode 2i - streamer/amp combi
Pair of Cornered Audio C5 speakers
SVS SB1000 Pro subwoofer

The Bluesound stuff is meant to be superb for streaming…. Although I went for the Marantz in the end, mainly because it has a display and a ridiculous amount of connections.  

TheMarlin

RobDavies said:

Sporky said:

I have a very not-proper-hifi setup which I like a lot.

BlueSound Powernode 2i - streamer/amp combi
Pair of Cornered Audio C5 speakers
SVS SB1000 Pro subwoofer

The Bluesound stuff is meant to be superb for streaming…. Although I went for the Marantz in the end, mainly because it has a display and a ridiculous amount of connections.  

Bluesound is very good for streaming, but they have a crap noisy power stage. 

There is a popular mod when you remove the amp board, replace it with a properly built one, and a separate isolated DC power stage. Makes a huge difference to the sound. 

Once that’s fine, they stand foe to toe with streamers five times the price. I like them so much, I have two Node 2i streamers, one for each system. 

KDS

Fuengi said:

Bought a nice Rega Planar 2 this week, it's the one with the walnut edge trim and the older R-200 tone arm. Lovely. 

It's had a new upgraded motor, but I found the ball bearing at the bottom of the sub-platter bearing was missing for some reason. It was running a little slow due to this but I cleaned out the well and put in a new ball bearing & oil, plus changed the belt and it's spot on now for speed. That's quite a satisfying job when it goes right.

The cartridge is the R-100 which must be original. It sounds great, a definite step up from my Sansui. 

Also picked up some B&W DM4 speakers in September and really enjoying those. 

My first record deck was Rega P2, great deck, actually I don’t think you can go wrong with Rega just pick your price point. I currently have the RP10, it’s best deck i’ve Ever heard, not trying to be controversial  but makes Cd sound ‘flat’

KDS

Turntable: Rega Rp-10 Aphete 2 cart
Phonostage: Rega Aria
Musical Fidelity Cd 5.5
Musical Fidelity amp: 5
Speakers: PMC Fact 8

want to change amp some point in future, impressed with the high end Rega amp..... but curious to hear the valve options, really like to demo some hifi valve amps, anybody here got any recommendations?

Sporky

RobDavies said:

Sporky said:

I have a very not-proper-hifi setup which I like a lot.

BlueSound Powernode 2i - streamer/amp combi
Pair of Cornered Audio C5 speakers
SVS SB1000 Pro subwoofer

The Bluesound stuff is meant to be superb for streaming…. Although I went for the Marantz in the end, mainly because it has a display and a ridiculous amount of connections.  

I pretty much just use it as a Spotify Connect client, plus there's optical from the main PC. I went for it because it was small, had an appropriate power output for the Cornereds, a sub out, and wired Ethernet. 

I should probably try the other network stream stuff - I've got an SSD connected to one of the mesh boxes, so that should act as a media streamer for the few things I have that aren't on Spotify. 

Fuengi

KDS said:

Fuengi said:

Bought a nice Rega Planar 2 this week, it's the one with the walnut edge trim and the older R-200 tone arm. Lovely. 

It's had a new upgraded motor, but I found the ball bearing at the bottom of the sub-platter bearing was missing for some reason. It was running a little slow due to this but I cleaned out the well and put in a new ball bearing & oil, plus changed the belt and it's spot on now for speed. That's quite a satisfying job when it goes right.

The cartridge is the R-100 which must be original. It sounds great, a definite step up from my Sansui. 

Also picked up some B&W DM4 speakers in September and really enjoying those. 

My first record deck was Rega P2, great deck, actually I don’t think you can go wrong with Rega just pick your price point. I currently have the RP10, it’s best deck i’ve Ever heard, not trying to be controversial  but makes Cd sound ‘flat’

I can believe that. I've got a spare set of B&W DM4'S in my office with my Marantz CD player, but the sound from the Rega turntable is a far more pleasant experience. 

viz

KDS said:

Turntable: Rega Rp-10 Aphete 2 cart
Phonostage: Rega Aria
Musical Fidelity Cd 5.5
Musical Fidelity amp: 5
Speakers: PMC Fact 8

want to change amp some point in future, impressed with the high end Rega amp..... but curious to hear the valve options, really like to demo some hifi valve amps, anybody here got any recommendations?

I would say maybe for your preamp but definitely not to power those Fact 8s.