The Audiophile/reference music thread.

[stefmeister]

I dropped my kid off at a play date last night and the dad has a pair of these he bought 5 years ago in UK.

 

They run off a complete set of McIntosh amps,preamps,Dac and record player.

Had to have a listen and he was eager to show it off a little.

 

Will make sure the kid goes there often[emoji1787][emoji6]

 

No audiophile will pass on the opportunity to let others audition his system.

I hope there was copious amounts of nods of approval whilst being forced to listen to Diana Krall and Stereophile test tracks.   

[vanniri]

No audiophile will pass on the opportunity to let others audition his system.

I hope there was copious amounts of nods of approval whilst being forced to listen to Diana Krall and Stereophile test tracks.   

Yes, 99% correct, only change the he to: he/she. The female variety is less common but not less serious.

 

Once I had to listen to the difference between speaker cables raised above the floor vs. lying on the floor. It goes without saying I was blown away by the difference in soundstage, transparency, ability to place individual instruments/singers, etc. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Can anyone tell me anything about these?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Also, I need to replace my amp. It's an old Marantz pm 7200, 95w/channel superstar, that is going to the agent for a service / fault finding mission. I have since found its replacement (in terms of quality and power) is north of 40k. Eeeek. I bought it for GBP 250 or so back in 2003. Seems it was quite the powerhouse, and not matched since.

 

It was powering 2 Jami x550 floorstanders, which are still pomping out massive bass and crystal clear mids and highs. I won't need to replace these, ever. Just add to them.

 

So. What could reliably drive these, while having 4k passthrough ability!?

 

If it comes down to it, I'll repair it (if possible) but I'm not sure if possible.

[patham]

Can anyone tell me anything about these?

 

Can't say I know of this make, but rule of thumb is often that the less flashy the amp exterior, the better the internals are. I like the heat sink detailing.

 

About your Jamos - A good set of speakers should never die if they are not mistreated. My current set-up is mis-matched, as I found my 20 year old Tannoy bookshelves still are better surrounds than the Polk bookshelves that match my floorstanders.

 

My last amp shopping was before 4k was a thing, so can't help too much on that either. I used to be a fan of Onkyo and their gear is normally cutting edge, but their use of cheap capacitors back in 2012 turned me off them. I replaced my failed unit with a Sony (STR1050, now is the 1080), as I don't actually listen or watch enough to justify the good stuff, and did not have time to do research. Even with the subwoofer packed away, the amp and Polks crank out some good sounds, and movie soundtracks / explosions still sound impressive.

 

So if you are ok with mass-market AV receiver stuff, the 1080 has 4k passthrough. Probably is a downgrade for quality and "useable" power though. Paper specs say 100W / channel at 0.09%, so might be worth checking out.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Thanks, will check it out.

 

Yeah, the speakers are proper. It seems I had decent taste back in the day. ????

[gummibear]

https://youtu.be/lzRvSWPZQYk

[patham]

Can't say I know of this make, but rule of thumb is often that the less flashy the amp exterior, the better the internals are. I like the heat sink detailing.

 

About your Jamos - A good set of speakers should never die if they are not mistreated. My current set-up is mis-matched, as I found my 20 year old Tannoy bookshelves still are better surrounds than the Polk bookshelves that match my floorstanders.

 

My last amp shopping was before 4k was a thing, so can't help too much on that either. I used to be a fan of Onkyo and their gear is normally cutting edge, but their use of cheap capacitors back in 2012 turned me off them. I replaced my failed unit with a Sony (STR1050, now is the 1080), as I don't actually listen or watch enough to justify the good stuff, and did not have time to do research. Even with the subwoofer packed away, the amp and Polks crank out some good sounds, and movie soundtracks / explosions still sound impressive.

 

So if you are ok with mass-market AV receiver stuff, the 1080 has 4k passthrough. Probably is a downgrade for quality and "useable" power though. Paper specs say 100W / channel at 0.09%, so might be worth checking out.

 

 

The Brisbane summer thunderstorms seem to have destroyed my Sony STR1050 HDMI out circuitry yesterday. I will do a bit more troubleshooting over the weekend, but its not looking good. The rest of the amp seems fine, but losing the pass through and having a work around of "video source linked directly to TV", and the "audio channel of same source going to the amp" will mean that all users will need a 30 minute briefing every night to get it to work (technophobes), and that might just drive me nuts.

 

HDMI circuitry seems remarkably sensitive, when my Onkyo packed up the spike along the HDMI cable fried the TV HDMI circuits at the same time. Anyone else had that happen ?

[gummibear]

I bought one of these off Amazon for my TV,amp,dvd player and satellite box.

Protects against surges and apparently keeps electricity noise down.

 

[patham]

I bought one of these off Amazon for my TV,amp,dvd player and satellite box.

Protects against surges and apparently keeps electricity noise down.

 

 

Not too sure my ears could ever hear electrical noise....

 

For my HDMI issue, I also need a surge protect on my incoming sat cable feed, and I reckon in the storm build-up and close strikes there is enough eddy currents induced (electro-static discharge) that I would need surge protects on all the individual HDMI cables as well. 

 

All gets kind of pricey and bulky

 

 

PS. A hard reboot of all the gear seems to have cleared the gremlins in the amp. All circuits back on line now. No new amp shopping for me.

Edited November 1, 2020 by patham

[The Ghost]

I was lucky enough to get a Sonos Move for Christmas and as mobile/ portable speakers go the sound is astoundingly good - I’m beyond impressed.

[Warthog]

To all the honorable audiophiles:

 

Please help...

 

I have a vintage Sansui tuner/amp combo, together with which I run a vintage Marantz turntable. Works excellently well.

 

I wonder if there is a bluetooth gadget out there which I can plug into the Sansui amp(those red & white pluggies), to be able to listen to stuff of inet/cellphone etc.

 

Thank you...

[Let's Ride]

To all the honorable audiophiles:

 

Please help...

 

I have a vintage Sansui tuner/amp combo, together with which I run a vintage Marantz turntable. Works excellently well.

 

I wonder if there is a bluetooth gadget out there which I can plug into the Sansui amp(those red & white pluggies), to be able to listen to stuff of inet/cellphone etc.

 

Thank you...

Yes you get them. I think incredible connection should have them. Or any hifi store.

[DR ◣◢]

https://m.takealot.com/logitech-bluetooth-audio-adaptor/PLID32732283

[Warthog]

Let's Ride & DR:

 

Thank you Gentlemen.

[DR ◣◢]

Let's Ride & DR:

 

Thank you Gentlemen.

Happy to help a fellow audiophile.