| Author | Message | ||
     Rocketman |
CD's are great, as function goes, and they do sound great when they work, but they are not without problems. I'd choose vinyl over CD if it were sound quality alone, even if I really couldn't tell a difference. So, whilst I have a lot of CD's, I've got a lot of vinyl too, and I've never stopped getting vinyl. The great thing is vinyl has made a resurgence and pretty much everything newly released is available on vinyl, by order at least. So how do we play vinyl. Well back around 1980 a friend of mine bought a Rega Planar 3 turntable. It was a top of the line budget turntable back then, and from a recently formed British company. Seven years later I bought a very expensive Linn Sondek LP12, only to find that it was far to good sound wise, and far to sensitive, to play my then aging vinyl. I swopped it for the Rega Planar 3, and I've owned the Planar 3 ever since. Rega's have a true lifetime guarantee, yet in all the years of use I've only ever had cartridges replaced and a few services. Well recently I took my 26 year old turntable to have a new cartridge fitted, and a service, and I ended up buying a new Rega CD player too. Well a week or three later, something came loose on the RP 3 tone arm, so I returned it back to the Audio Room for them to take a look at. I ended up buying a two year old 25th anniversary model Rega P25 turntable. I am stoked.  "The P25 is a celebration designed and produced during our twenty-fifth year manufacturing specialist hi-fi products. Our objective was to produce a turntable that would take a musical step further in performance from the legendary P3 turntable. We quite simply had more money to indulge ourselves in a more sophisticated design. The minimised high performance plinth derived from the P3 carries a sophisticated electronically controlled ultra low vibration motor assembly. With this design, our skilled production technicians can "trim" the vibrations from the motor. The plinth has a clever removable outer surround made from real solid woods with a variety of finishes allowing you to change your mind about the appearance of your turntable years after you have purchased it! The platter is hand crafted from floated plate glass 12mm in thickness. This makes for a superb platter material as it has few resonance problems, is extremely flat and has good mass. The P25 carries a market leading extremely high quality dust cover made from the highest quality acrylics. The mould tool to produce this dust cover would at today's rates cost in excess of £50,000 to produce! Finally, the P25 carries a high performance version of the legendary RB600 tonearm. The RB600 is lovingly constructed to extremely high tolerances by a dedicated team of production technicians. To further improve musical detail the RB600 carries an extremely high performance Rega designed phono cable assembly with state of the art Neutrik connectors." The Audio Room sells high end hi-fi. I'm lucky in that they are based 10 miles from me as there are about only 10 hi-fi dealers of such high distinction in the UK. Every time I walk in the place I wonder who can afford such musical indulgence. Their stock, though not massive, is constantly changing, yet nothing much is for sale for less than £1000, but there's more for sale around £2000 to £5000, including speaker systems. Today I walked in an saw some rather large floor standers, happily playing away some American prod blues guy I'd never heard of, and they sounded absolutely fantastic, yet they were at quite a low volume. The last time I went in the listening room I suggested I wasn't impressed by the sound of the speakers on demo. The speakers in question on that occasion cost a paltry £2500, but the guys said they might not be to everyones taste, Fair comment. Today was different. I hadn't been in the listening room a minute and the speakers I could hear were just that good there was no doubt. They blew me away. Mind you, these active Linn Artikulat 350/350A cost a whopping £22000. Man do I have great taste. Rocket | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
I think you hit the nail on the head. CD's are convenient, sound ok, and ideally the sound does not degenerate over time and usage. I'm no acoustical engineer, but I don't think anything that you can buy for your home sounds as warm and lifelike as a good pressed vinyl record, skips and static notwithstanding. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
oh...not to mention that you could get loads of album art and literature in an album cover. | ||
| Loki |
The purist in me says the vinyl The rational in me says optical The rational me realizes I have destroyed enuff of my hearing over the years(aircraft maint, moto-scooting and lest we not forget over driving my Cerwin Vegas(vintage '86 and still thumpin))that the purist would never know what he is missing. | ||
| Loki |
oohhh, The CVs turn twenty yrs old next month. Of all the stuff I have bought(for sound repro) over the years..... These two little D3Es are the only constant. | ||
| Court |
I listen to LOTS of vinyl. Say what you will, but when I pull them from the sleeve it's obvious they've withstood time better than I. Well. . . except the Stones and Led Zepplin ones.  | ||
| Rocketman |
I believe there's a remastered vinyl collectors set of Led Zep's work available Court. Probably unobtainable now though. What is regarded as a quality turntable in the States? What's popular? I know Rega's are available Stateside, but how 'common' place I know not. Rocket | ||
| Steveford |
How about cartridge recommendations? My Stanton 881S must be toast by now. | ||
| New12r |
Rocket, nice rig. I used to sell Rega and have a Mira and a Planet right now. Rega is well known in the HiFi crowd. My cousins have a HiFi shop here in Atl. I need a new turntable and the Rega is on my list of can afford. I will be getting a VTL ST150 tube amp for christmas and I cant wait. How about cartridge recommendations? My Stanton 881S must be toast by now. Cartrige, buy a dynavector, best bang for the buck. | ||
| Rocketman |
I have the Linn Intek amp. Linn's first attempt at an amp, and now a revered classic. I want to upgrade but the hi-fi guys tell me to keep it. I hear what they say, so I am, for now. Maybe when I grow up and have saved my pocket money, I'll go Naim.  Speaker wise, I have the first generation AE 1's (Acoustic Energy) but they're out of date really, what with technology moving well on with more advanced materials. That's a sad fact which translates to the sound, once great, now somewhat dated. So, for £500 you'd be hard pressed to beat these B & W CM 1's. Demo them and you'll be totally surprised. Everything about them is hard to beat for even twice the price. These are on the shopping list once the decorating is finished.  Rocket | ||
| New12r |
Never liked the B&W's, too harsh on the top end for my taste. I use Meadowlark(now out of the game) Kestrel's, First order x over(one cap, one coil, and one resistor), transmission line bass loading and time aligned drivers. The Naim gear is very good sounding stuff, I have liked all that I heard. I have seen your Linn used only once in the 6 years I have been into the hobby. Says a lot about the product. | ||
| Jima4media |
You really have to consider the source material that you are listening to. There is a big difference between classical instruments and Rock N' Roll instruments. How does one compare a closely mic'd 1699 Stradivarius with an over-driven 1966 Blond Fender Stratocaster, plugged into a fuzzbox that is deliberately adding distortion and noise? What recording equipment was used to record the source material that you listen to? State of the art digital or decades old analog tape, without noise reduction? Speakers are the next biggest consideration. Do you have speakers that move enough air to reproduce Timpani notes and high-frequency response that will duplicate the upper harmonics of cymbals? Is is better to have a $30,000 sound system or 30,000 songs? In the end it just matters that you enjoy what you are listening to. I enjoy my iPod with earphones just fine. (Message edited by jima4media on May 07, 2006) | ||
| Rocketman |
I've not listened to B&W speakers in the past, but the CM 1's really do perform lovely. I've not entirely made up my mind yet, but part of the problem is my little cottage has less room than my previous holes in the wall residences, so I need to capitalize on space too. That's a good thing in some respects though, as the room is much smaller the speaker won't need to work as hard LOL Please elaborate on your Linn comment. Do you mean the Intek wasn't so well received your side? I have my doubts about its performance, and nearly bought a Rega amp a few years ago, but several people said I was crazy to do so. Why is hi-fi so subjective. Rocket | ||
| Loki |
Rocket, Just like talking bikes among friends. So many outside factors to deal with. | ||
| Rocketman |
I couldn't for a moment find fault with the listening pleasure of any iPod. I bought my kids them or accessories for christmas. Here's a funny thing though Jim. When you're sporting earphones or headphones, no matter how good the recording or the playback equipment, you are depriving both ears from hearing the sound of both speakers. But isn't it good how great the sound is never the less  Rocket | ||
| Lowlife |
What is regarded as a quality turntable in the States? What's popular? The Technics "S" arm turntables are quite popular among the DJ crowd. Still, others pick them up because they are relatively cheap and durable. Music Hall and Thorens turntables are somewhat popular over here. The Music Hall MMF series tables are nice units for the money. Vinyl, in general, is not nearly as popular here in the states. Although many claim a vinyl revival is in the works. You really have to go out of your way to find a store that will stock new releases on vinyl. I get nearly all of mine online. Actually, I was just thumbing through a Plastic Head Distribution catalog (a punk/death metal/black metal outfit). They are located in Wallingford. Nearly everything that is available on CD is also available on vinyl in the catalog. That just doesn't happen over here. | ||
| Oz666 |
Currently forced to listen to optical media, but vinyl sounds better. (pops, clicks and wow from warpage not withstanding) As to hearing loss from #0 years of proaudio and $0 years of bikes, cars, airtools, etc. - try a pair of Mackie HR824's - bought `em for mixdown, ended up in my living room. OR a pair of Definitive Technology BP3000's (main speakers) not exactly flat, but sure overcome any hearing losses...   Oz | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
I've got an old NAD 2030 amp it's a US model so I have to run it thru a 220/110 transformer, it's nearly 30 years old now but still sounds so good. unfortunately the Linear turntable, & the 3D Acoustics speaker set haven't fared so well, I need a new deck, & a new bass cone for the 3D, It'll have to wait til I've sweet talked madame some more. Don PM me when you have a moment. | ||
| New12r |
You almost cannot kill NAD equipment. I know a guy who rebuilds speakers but for the cost of shipping to the U.S. I would get it done in France. | ||
| Court |
The Mackie HR824, in addition to holding thier value better than about anything ever made except the 300SL, are AWESOME. I currently am using Alesis near field monitors on my desk but the plan is for the Alesi (is that a word?) to replace the Bose in the dining room and make room for a pair of the Mackies. Behind the desk is another story. . . we're talking JBL Pro Audio. . . heck, my ears were shot anyway. | ||
| Rocketman |
I'm a fan of active systems, having once owned, and given away to a good friend, a fabulous prototype system made in conjunction with Quantum (amps - no longer in business) and Mission in 1981. The Mission's were the large 770's. Old technology now, but what a fantastic rock sound that active system gave out. Still does actually, except my friend who's still enjoying hours of pleasure from it has it at his finker deep in the Spanish mountains. So the HR824's look interesting but I'm not keen on the cheap looking wood cabinet, nor the way the speakers don't appear to be integral to the cabinet, but rather part of a fancy hybrid plastic front. I'm sure they sound great but not sure they're the best around for a £1000. I'll certainly look into them. Thanks for the pointer. No space for the big floor standers! Rocket | ||
| M1combat |
"I enjoy my iPod with earphones just fine." I use a Treo650 as a player, but I agree... headphones work "just fine" . Radio Shack sells a pair (Model PRO-35) that work excellently at a good headphone listening volume. They aren't so large that they can't be taken with you and they don't cost a lot... but they work brilliantly. I'm waiting for someone to make a set that hangs on the ears with speakers as good as the PRO-35's. | ||
| Rocketman |
I'm waiting for someone to make a set that hangs on the ears with speakers as good as the PRO-35's. They do. Stax SRS-2020 Electrostatic phones. Not cheap, but quality never is. Rocket | ||
| New12r |
If you want good headphones buy the grado's. Your wallet will tell you how good you want them. they start at like $100 and go to about $1,500, I have heard so much hi fi from being in the biz the grado's, to my ears are the best you can buy for any money. | ||
| Oz666 |
Rocket - the HR824's look better in person than in photos, but in my opinion, you would be hard pressed to spend twice as much and get a better, flatter, or more versatile box. They are not as sensitive to placement as many others either. Just go listen to a pair with some music that you are very familiar with. (besides you don't LOOK at the sound, and if you do, you need to share with me!) New12r, have you checked out headfi.com? I got my custom made Grado's through them. Oz | ||
| M1combat |
I mean the kind that hang on your ears, not cover them specifically. That said, I didn't realize that anyone made electrostatic headphones. Now I just need a sub for them  . | ||
| Rocketman |
Imagine, electrostatic headphones with a sub on top of your head lol Rocket | ||
| Rocketman |
That just brought back a memory. A chic I knew years ago had this like disco system in her rather large living come bedroom, where she also had this rather old and tatty arm chair. Inside the chair somehow she'd placed a rather substantial base bin and spliced it in to her system. That chair brought a whole new dimension to music listening pleasure I can tell ya. Rocket |
