Any Audiophiles here?

[DiZZ]

So, are there?

I'll get the ball rolling, heres my setup:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/limau/stereo2.jpg
http://users.bigpond.net.au/limau/m6_good.jpg

NAD C320BEE amp
NAD C521BEE CD player
LSK M6 kit speakers

The speakers, I'm proud to say, I built myself.
You buy the kits from the The Loud Speaker Kit and then put them together yourself. If you're a hands on person like myself its all very satisfying and fun. You can also finish them however you wish. I've gone for a simple vinyl verneer, although I'm tempted to replace it with a real wood verneer.
The LSK claim that they're speakers are able to perform with compeditors that cost twice as much with the same specification. With a pinch of salt, I'm willing to beleive that. When I bought my equipment I demo'd it with B&W 601s, which are very similar in specification. The 601s had an edge in bass refinement (slightly sharper) and a wider image. Thats about it.

The NAD gear was chosen because they are basically the best bang for buck in the "Mid-Fi" market.
Its won quite alot of awards and rightly so, in my opinion. While the C320EE only outputs a modest 50W, it sounds far more powerful. Difficult quite-to-loud transitions are handled with ease and the immersively deep soundstage draws you in. Sometimes I'll sneak away for a 10 minute listen and still be there an hour later...

The C521BEE makes a nice matching pair with the C320BEE. It produces very neutral "uncoloured" sound and doesn't bloat anthing out of proportion. Oh, and they look dead set sexy in the titanium finish.

Please feel free to share your HT\2 Ch. setup.

[sirhc55]

Hi DiZZ

I have been an audiophile since working in Tottenham Road in London in the 60’s.

Over the years I have had everything imaginable in the way of HiFi. In Australia I was the first person to buy the very first Sony CD player and I was also one of the first to buy a SACD player.

Today I run with an Onkyo TX-DS797, a pair of bi-polar NEAR speakers and also a pair of Jaycar 4 way systems plus an accusound centre speaker. To play CD’s I have a Neuston media centre connected to a wireless system that enables me to transmit my music from the computer from a 120Gb H/D.

For vision I also stream MPEG4 from the computer as well as having a DSE DVD writer and two other DVD players for DIVx. On wednesday Foxtel will be installing a PVR for me.

I also stream Foxtel to a LCD TV in my bedroom.

[BBJ]

Hiya, Well good to see that word DivX hehe love it as i have divx player for sometime now Chris, and with a very large collection of movies to go with it.LOL I run sansui receiver here in the lounge and also another old Sansui amp on the other computer as well. I am a music nutt as background in radio over the years have collected a lot, Mp3's well i have 50,000+ normally on this computer, till 1 of my drive spat it so have to get another drive oneday when i stop spending money on camera gear.
But can never have too much music, and well always something to watch in this house as well.
Cheers

[Onyx]

Yep, well my dad is. We've got a Denon receiver powering Mission 733 front towers, w/Boston Acoustics centre and rears for HT.

I've inherited his "old" stuff to put in my room. A sony receiver, which run my computer sounds thru. The Left channel's output is cutting out more frequently lately, and will one day completely not sound. It's a 5 channel amp, but output only to 2 speakers as I only have 2 ears and find the 'surround sound' theory a bit BS. My pride and joy is a now decade old triple chamber bandpass sub, Sound Dynamics or some other name; a Canadian made thing. That thing thumps as hard and as fully sick than any lebmobile can.

My attempts at home made speaker box didn't turn out so well. Granted, I didn't buy a pre-fab kit but just went to a hardware store to get 25mm MDF and cut to size. 105 cu ft IIRC, built it for a 15" sub. Sealed the joints with silicone, lined the interior panels with concrete - for more rigidity or so I thought... the first time I cranked it, the concrete shattered and dropped into a pile of rubble in the bottom of the box. I also fried the amp driving the sub, more due to mismatched impedance than amplifier gain.

[SoCal Steve]

Ah, my other Love! I wondered when we'd get to that.

While I was in college a friend of mine had an outstanding audio system and I got hooked. When I graduated with a BA in Business I took a part time job with a stereo chain and soon ended up managing a few of their stores. I had always loved science and knew how to work with wood, so I gravitated towards speaker building in my spare time.

I had been studying my friend's audio magazines voraciously and I became the company speaker Guru and when they purchased the storied old national brand Stephens Trusonic and moved it back to California, speakers became my full time profession. I designed quality mid-fi home speaker systems for the following 20+ years. I have one patent on a special dipole home theater speaker, USP #5,212,732.

I've owned a few pieces of state of the art equipment, but that was back when hardly anything ever went for over a grand. Today the cost of the best equipment is way over my head. (You think lenses are expensive? Just look at power amplifiers! You can buy two cars for the price of some of them.)

I tend to use the benefit of my experience and selectively build pieces of equipment. Last October I finished a tube preamp using 4 - 6922's that cost me about $1000 in parts and 9 months of designing and building (+tweaking). I am very happy with it though.

Music is as glorious as the colors of nature. Ya just gotta love 'em!

Thanks for starting this thread.

[Glen]

Steve, that is quite an audio resume!

[Hlop]

I'm in it since middle of 80-s. Love Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow and other oldies.

Current system:
Denon 2802 AV receiver
Pioneer DV59
Bose 501 Floorstanding towers
Velodyne CT-105 woofer

[ajo43]

Interesting the way people who have one hobby (like photography) will often have several mild obsessions. In addition to an interest in stereo equipment I also love mechanical watches - IWC, Omega, Tudor (and I'll bet some of you guys do to).

So my stereo equipment is:

NAD T752 Surround Sound Receiver - I know a purist would skoff at the surround sound chip but it works for me. I haven't been 100% happy with the NAD. Just a few too many bugs for my liking (if only they could do a firmware upgrade to fix them). I would go Yamaha if I had the choice again.

Yamaha - CD player

KEF 2005 - speakers - these little babies are great and knock the socks of Bose for the 1/4 the price.

Cheers

[Hlop]

I haven't been 100% happy with the NAD. Just a few too many bugs for my liking (if only they could do a firmware upgrade to fix them). I would go Yamaha if I had the choice again.

I really was disappointed by NAD since they come out with "Proudly Made in China" label. Quality control seems to be very poor on that factory Before it was my favorite brand

[the foto fanatic]

I love British-made audio gear - solid, dependable and indestructible (also upgradable!). This is my system, which has been evolving over 20 years. Although the pre-amp is new, the power amp is still from that era, and I won't change it until it breaks :

NAIM NAP 250 power amp
NAC 112 pre-amp, with Hi-Cap & NASPSC

ARCAM DV88 (Diva) DVD player

EPOS ES14 speakers

I'm a bit like Onyx - can't quite come to terms with Surround Sound music, although I concede that it's great for movies.

[sirhc55]

SoCal Steve - Ah the beauty of tubes in a power amp. I had, many years ago, a Quad system that was just brilliant and then I followed it with a Pioneer which had trannie pre-amp and tube power amps in the same box. When hooked into a Tannoy 12" system it was a blow away - never did like the Quad Statics.

It is great to see that the top amps these days still use tubes (or in English valves)

[SoCal Steve]

Chris (sirhc55)-

Amazing that after so many years, nothing sounds quite as musical and rich as a good old vacuum tube. They'll be with us for some years to come. Some may disagree, but that just makes the world go 'round, don't it.

IMO tubes are even more important in preamps than power amps.

[sirhc55]

Steve - the problem with valves in pre-amps has always come down to noise and distortion. I believe that there are some very esoteric designs in valve pre-amps that have overcome some of these problems.

Long live the valve

[nigels]

I have 2 tiny Cambridge speakers, so there

Nige

[SoCal Steve]

It's really about enjoying the music isn't it, Nige?!

[sirhc55]

I have 2 tiny Cambridge speakers, so there

Nige

Nige - no good without an amp

[DiZZ]

It's a 5 channel amp, but output only to 2 speakers as I only have 2 ears and find the 'surround sound' theory a bit BS.

Yeah, I'm of the same thinking. Alot of people don't realise how impressive a simple 2 channel set up can sound.

We have a very basic HTIAB setup as well, and whenever I play a DVD that uses the rear channels alot, I find I can localise the sound far too easily: the sound is coming from two speakers behind me rather than being part of the scene.
I have no doubt that you could get it to sound very natural after throwing alot of cash at it.

[tnzz]

DiZZ,

Have you checked out diyAudio Forums:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/

[christiand]

Hi,

over some years I have accumulated:

DUAL turntable
NAD receiver
NAKAMICHI casette deck
LUXMAN CD player
ROTEL amplifier
PARADIGM speakers

the beauty is, my ears don't get tired when listening for longer periods.
I still believe that my old high school in Germany had the best system.
They had a BRAUN valve system (30 years ago).

Cheers
CD

[tasadam]

Ok, so I had better share what I have, for those reading this thread are clearly interested.

Amp - Denon AVR3805, 120W x 7 channel, 2 channels can be sent to another listening room with different source and still provide 5.1 channel system for main room.
Speakers - B&W
Front DM602S3
Rear DM601S3
Centre LCR600
Sub ASW650
Cable - 99.9999% oxygen free, 380 odd strands, 10mm thick x 2 figure 8 copper cable.
Projector - Panasonic AE-700E LCD
Screen - Screen Technics fixed, custom size 1400x795
SDTV set top box - will do til I can afford a HDTV dual tuner toppy with HDD...
CD player / DVD player - still putting up with my original old carp, was ready to buy a Denon DVD3910 but went and bought a CAMERA instead... (that is why I'm HEREE, isn't it?)
I listen to music in 2.1 channel direct mode, where the amp turns off all the unnecessary processing guff (& the centre and rears) and just puts out an amplified signal. Will also convert digital to analogue if using coax to the amp as in the case of the current DVD player - lovely soft full sound from my current CD player thru analogue - the DACs in it work well.
Sub takes care of anything below 80hz, as the centres provide well for anything higher.
With the laptop connected to the projector and some nice bubblegum for the brain in the background, slideshows at my place will never be the same...

Might I recommend this forum - the Home Theatre section is a wealth of info, sort of the equivalent of this place for the D70 and related matters!!
Must post a photo of my system one day...

[ru32day]

Steve - the problem with valves in pre-amps has always come down to noise and distortion. I believe that there are some very esoteric designs in valve pre-amps that have overcome some of these problems.

Long live the valve

I have a Musical Fidelity Valve CD player - aside from looking really cute (the valves stick up at the back with their own little "silos" - they look a bit like ears), it sounds very open and sweet.

However, about six months ago I decided I wanted to go to surround sound, so I bought a Redgum CD/DAC, which I think sounds just as good (with the right interconnects) and which allows me to get good audio from a DVD player (when in stereo anyway).

Mind you, I'm still hanging on to the old Sherwood (US) valve amp I inherited from my parents as a project for my retirement (it has more than 20 valves in it!) - still works, but it doesn't sound like I remember it from childhood - all I can hear now is distortion.

On the subject of surround sound, there really seem to be no good surround amps in the mid-price range. They seem to go from reasonably basic to exorbitant. I ended up going with Cambridge Audio (not related to Creative and the speakers), but had to add a power amp for the front speakers before I was happy with the result.

I guess I'm not as bad as the bloke who runs the store, who uses four power amps (one for each speaker - he doesn't use a centre speaker).

I've also recently had a pair of forty year old Jensen (US) speakers refurbished and I'm overjoyed with the result. Merlin Audio in Canberra has good prices on stereo gear (although most of it is pretty high end) and the guys there are really helpful and good at mods and repairs. Bill (who did my speakers) also designs amps, interconnects etc himself and the results are outstanding. I've included the website as they're worth a look for something a bit different to the average hi-fi store.

http://www.merlinaudiodesign.com.au/

[tasadam]

I have a Musical Fidelity Valve CD player - aside from looking really cute (the valves stick up at the back with their own little "silos" - they look a bit like ears), it sounds very open and sweet.

I had a test listen to an MF modern CD player, it costs $3000 and all it does is play CDs. Didn't even have a fast foreward button.
But that sound stage really opens up in front of you.
Get the valve amp fixed before your retirement - start appreciating what it was that your childhood ears enjoyed earlier!

[SoCal Steve]

Get the valve amp fixed before your retirement - start appreciating what it was that your childhood ears enjoyed earlier!

Tasadam - God, that is so true on several levels! Back when transistor radios were new (yes, I'm that old...sigh) I use to have an amazing FIVE (and people did count 'em... five) transistor model pressed against my head half the time. The rest of the time I was listening to 45rpm records on a tube record player. It's still around, and listening to an old record on it still conjures up the good old memories even if the fidelity is just God awful.

Then there is the classic tube equipment from the 1960's golden age of tubes and the new stuff that builds on the lessons learned then. Good stuff but soooo very expensive! That's why I like DIY. It ain't pretty, but it's much cheaper and it can sound very rich. (Like the word play?)

My former boss when I was a loudspeaker designer was Jeff Hipps, who is currently (and had been formerly too) employed by Sherwood Electronics in La Mirada, California as Vice President of Marketing. He makes all of the decisions as to what features and types of circuitry each of their products will employ. A most intelligent and decent guy who was wonderful to work with. He complimented my skills and never got in my way. Sherwood is no longer an American company. They have been owned by Koreans for some time now.

Cheers, Steve

[ru32day]

Sherwood is no longer an American company. They have been owned by Koreans for some time now.

Cheers, Steve

I think the same goes for Jensen - I have nothing against Asian manufacture as a rule, but for high end audio equipment, the Asian-made stuff often just doesn't display that indefinable something in the tone that the original companies had.

That's why I'm clinging to this American-built ancient stuff (even though the transformer that I have to run the valve amp "down under" sounds like its drawing current from the whole suburb when it switches on - something between a "boing" and a "thump"). PS: The other great thing about the Sherwoood Amp is that it came with (and I still have) the circuit diagrams.

[Matt. K]

Dizz
Can't see your turntable? Surely you don't listen to CD's? Nothing beats LP's for human voice. Jazz, for instance.

[robboh]

My kit here is:

Naim NAIT 3
Naim CD3
Rega Planar 3 (in lovely bright lime)
Naim NAC5 cabling
Image 302 floorstanders (kiwi company - little more suited to HT than music but still not too bad)

Sounds great and the little UK high-current amps can really drive for the low power ratings.

Oh, cant resist... iPod 4G 20gb

[DiZZ]

Dizz
Can't see your turntable? Surely you don't listen to CD's? Nothing beats LP's for human voice. Jazz, for instance.

Actually I (well my dad does) have a B&O Beogram 4002 thats going to waste in the lounge. I need to get a decent, affordable phono stage and poach it for my system. Something like the NAD PP-2 or the Amber PhonoMM.

And I have to agree with you LPs still whoop CDs in terms of warmth and neutrality. Heck, even CDs recorded in the analog domain (Jamie Cullum for example) sound much much better than a complete digital recording.
There was an article in the latest GG about how supplies of reference grade tape was drying up as studios switch to digital. It would be an awful shame for analog to be phased out for good.

[SoCal Steve]

I love to haunt the used record stores. Where "All sales are Vinyl." There is one nearby that sometimes sells decent albums as cheap as 20 for a dollar! Now you just can't beat that! I purchased one pristine Beatles album from them for $5.99 not long ago.