The evolution of an AV system

Matblack

Matblack

Matblack

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Someone else thread got me thinking about how my current system had evolved over time and I thought it might be useful for people to see it in one or two ways

Stereo Speakers: KEF Q30s > KEF 103/4s
Stereo Amp: Marantz PM50 > Used AV amp > Audiolab 8000A

AV amp: Marantz SR4200 > Marantz SR5400 > Denon 2805

Centre Speaker: KEF Q95C > KEF 100C > KEF 200C

Surround Speakers: KEF Q85s > KEF Coda > KEF Q30s

Sub: KEF PSW1000 > MS309

CD Player: ARCAM Alpha 5+ > Rega Planet

Turntable: REGA Planer II

My journey into hifi started with a AMSTRAD vertical record deck,/ radio/ dual tape deck, my first hifi after playing with my parents old Dansette record player to death. This abomination was quite frankly the worst hifi I have ever owned but one which I probably had the most fun with. The vinyl was placed vertically and screw to the turntable, the arm hanging down and tracking across the record using a motor. Although a bit a novelty the whole thing was made from paper mache and recycled paper-clips.

This was followed by a non discript AWIA (before AWIA were really pants) midi system which saw me in to my teens.

My first separates were bought not longer after I started my own job:

KEF Q30s (new)
Marantz PM50 something (2end hand)
ARCAM Alpha 5+ (new)

later a REGA Planer II was added to this for vinyl (2end hand)

God I loved those KEFs, I sat and listened to loads of speakers and the KEFs had a dimension that nothing short of £1000s could touch, not only that, they were made in my home town, how could I resist? Since then KEF have been my speaker manufacturer of choice and I've not found anything else which I like as much. My dream is some Model 4s (one day, they will be mine!)

Looking back its amazing how long this little lot lasted me and none of my friends had anything which could touch them during that time. It was only when out of interest I decided to put the pre outs of my stereo SKY box in to my amp and speakers that I started a chain reaction which led to the financial sink hole which is my AV room.

Not content with stereo I decided that AV sound would be fun and that coupled with the fact I found a cheap Marantz AV amp in Richer's open box sale (I'd always liked the Marantz AV stereo amp) led to my first AV set up, the

Q30s on front duties, some KEF Q60s (2nd hand) for the rear and a KEF Q95C (2nd hand) for the centre. Out of loyalty I suck with KEF for the sub too, in hind sight not my best decision.

This didn't change too much apart from the rear speakers which went through three different small KEFs after the the cat had an accident in the Q60s, then some small KEF bookshelf's blew on me before I bought the little Codas.

My next stint of upgradeitis really started when I decided to turn the cellar into an AV room and I got a bit over enthusiastic and started buying stuff even before the builders can to quote. This ultimately led to the biggest bargain I ever got, a brand new Marantz SR 5400, Programmable Marantz remote AND a SQART SCART all for £150!!!.

Until the cellar was ready the SR5400 was on duty in the living room and was gradually joined by all the cellar kit prior to transplant, some KEF 103/4s (Bloody brilliant), an Audiolab 8000A (knocked my socks off) and a Kef 100C. The Q30s were relegated to the back for the surround channels

During the time I acumulated the AV gear I started listening to music on my system and realised that the quailty left something to be desired. Although adequte for AV the music lacked something and that something was punch, the answer was to add the 8000A and direct CD input to that rather than through the AV amp. The lift this gave was unbelievable and led me to the conclusion that you CAN have you AV cake and eat your stereo cake too :)

Eventually this all went to the finished cellar with my newly acquired AE700 projector and my PC, so down here we had

KEF 103/4s
KEF 100C
KEF Q30s
Marantz SR5400
Audiolab 8000A
ARCAM Alpha 5+

Upstairs the old SR4200 powered a set of newly acquired Canton CD1s with a CD50 centre upgrade which still proves very satisfactory :)

Downstairs there have been a few changes, there's now a Denon 2805 in place of the Marantz AV as sold to me both performance wise and financially by DRZ over MSN :D.

My ARCAM went phut and the drawer died so I searched for a new and interesting CD player. The Rega Planet caught my eye straight away due to its outrageous styling and notoriously smooth sound and I search for one second hand for a while before finding one at a bargain £150. I only wish I had bought the REGA Jupiter and Io which sold on Ebay for a staggering £200 the week before.

My last upgrade was to change the KEF 100C for a 200C, one of the most critically acclaimed centres of the last 10 years which someone sold to me on Ebay for the staggeringly cheap price of £144 LOL!

So that is the story of my hifi exodus, a long and expensive (to me) journey from AMSTRAD novelty rubbish to respectable home cinema, hope you enjoyed it, LOL

We now have two systems

DVD: Pioneer 575A
AV amp: Denon 2805
Stereo Amp: Audiolab 8000A
Fronts: KEF 103/4
Centre: KEF 200C
Sub: MS309
Rears KEF Q30s (still a place in my main room and my heart for the old girls)
CD: Rega Planet
Turntable: Rega Planer II

and upstairs

Speakers: Canton CD1 w/ CD50 centre
AV amp: Marantz 5400

The future holds the lure of another Audiolab 8000A to power the centre and maybe a Denon 3805 or similar, and of course a Blu Ray or HDDVD player to the cellar.

Thats it

Feel free to add your stories

MB
 
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My journey so far has taken me through:

*loads of rubbish ghetto blasters etc*
JVC Rubbishy mini system

Then I bought a Cambridge Audio A1 + Mission DM7s and my trusty Philips CD723

Eventually I swapped the DM7s for Mission M73is and realised I wanted a meatier amp so out went the A1 and in came the A5 - a big leap for me at the time!

After that I got into AV so I used the DM7s as rears and the M73is for fronts and bought a Mission V6c - a fantastic centre IMO - really integrated well! This was powered by a RS managers-clearance special Sherwood RD7106-R. Packing all sorts of ludicrous performance figures into one bloody heavy box, it was the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread (TM).

That kept me quite happy until I was burgaled - I had taken the DM7s, V6c and A1 home and was coming back for the rest when they put through a window and emptied my flat - the only thing they didnt take was the floorstanders! I wasnt happy but the insurance cheque paid for my Denon 2805 which I was over the moon with until a chance encounter with some B&W Nautilus 804s in a mates house. Although I didnt like the speakers I couldnt help but feel that I had "wasted" money on my AV setup and so added a power amp to try and bring the stereo up to scratch - perhaps the silliest thing I could have done because although it made a massive difference to the quality I knew I could get more out of everything.

Cue Matblack adopting my Denon for a nominal fee and me purchasing a Musical Fidelity A3CR Preamp. Some reviewers have said in passing that it is perhaps the finest preamp ever made - im not sure I agree with that but for the money I paid it is pretty damn fantastic :D

The final piece of the jigsaw came together when I sold my M73is to pave the way for my new M35is - not technically brilliant but they made so much more sense to me than the Dynaudio Focus 140 / Audience 60s / ProAc Studios that I was looking at with a silly budget (I was prepared to go s/h but ideally I wanted new).

I couldnt be much happier with my hifi than I am now - it regularly makes me grin and I feel for a 20 year old student I have done rather well with it all :) It seems funny but getting burgaled was about the best thing that ever happened to my hifi! :)
 
Can us non-AV people post here too? :)

Apart from the ghetto blaster stuff, the first hifi I bought was a Sony MHC-551 (I think) back in Jan 1997. It was actually pretty impressive for the money (~UK£150). My sister has it now, and I'm still impressed that something that "crap" is actually fairly decent. I kept that until Sept 2000. I went to a friends house in the UK in June 2000, and he had just bought a set of separates. That's where the whole idea got into my head. I'd grown up with separates all my life, but I didnt realise you could spend less than £10k and have a decent system :p

I'd earned a ridiculous amount of cash for a 16 year old that summer, so I decided to buy something decent straight off rather than going the upgrade route. My father who'd initially been against me spending a fortune, started to encourage me to after we both heard the difference an extra couple of hundred made!

I really liked a marantz/mission set up I'd heard (didnt like the cyrus/mission stuff), until I went to the other hifi shop (isn't it ironic that the only 2 places at that time doing separates in Dublin were across the road from each other!).

There I tried:
Amp: Arcam Alpha 1, Alpha 7R, Alpha 8R & some other amp that I instantly took a dislike to. The Alpha 1 was underpowered, the 7R was brilliant, but when the 8R was plugged in I knew it was the one for me.
CDP: Arcam Alpha 7SE, Arcam 8SE, Arcam 5 (second hand), really old Naim player. The Naim player was smoother, but there was no where near as much detail. The 8SE wasnt that much better than the 7SE & the 5 dynamically hit the mark short.
Speakers: B&W 601S2, B&W 602S1. I was decided on the 601's until I came back for a second listening test and they'd just got the 602's in second hand at a bargain price. I listened to them, and they were a lot more balanced, and slightly more relaxed.

I walked out that day with:
Arcam Alpha 7SE
Arcam Alpha 8SE
B&W 602
Transparent Interconnect (free)
Supra Speaker cable (free)
castle stands (free)
for about ~ UK£800 which isnt bad considering what they threw in & gave me a 3 figure discount! I was possibly their smallest buyer too (very very high end shop), but they treated me like I was spending £10000 and gave me about 6hours in their demo room!

Shortly after, there was an MD deck & portable offer from sony, for ~£120 you could get an MD separate and portable, so I added that as my walkman was old news! That xmas, I was bought a NAD 402 tuner, from the same place for a very reasonable ~UK£35 (£180 new :o).
My system stayed pretty much identical until this year, I've demo'd lots of stuff since and either not been able to afford the improvement or heard no improvement - Only piece of hifi equipment that blew me away were £5000 valve monoblocks, and they wont be arriving any time soon!. I've added a TV, VCR & wharfedale DVD player & a new interconnect for my MD player. I was also given some Nordost Super Flatline Speaker cable which is excellent.

One change that stayed for a while was my fathers old B&W DM7Mk2 floorstanders (from 1980 - so probably diff to yours DRZ?). These were the dogs danglies when they were bought, but they are just too overpowering for the room. When I move, they'll be taken down from the attic and be allowed to live again.

This year, the t-amp revolution hit my screen and I ordered a few straight away. Since then I've been using the T-amp as my main amp. Its a little brighter than the 8R, but the detail is excellent, my CDP and speakers hold it back though!

My system at this minute:
Arcam Alpha 7SE
T-amp
B&W 602
Transparent Interconnect
Nordost Super Flatline Gold Mk2 Speaker cable
castle stands

Future plans:
After using the N O S DAC I bought for my father for xmas, I'm definately going to invest in one of these. I'm also currently thinking of adding a Yamaha DSP-E800 surround processor (I have a centre & rears I can use temporarily) for fun if I can pick one up cheaply & maybe some new speakers this year!
 
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The evolution of my AV system has been pretty convoluted since my early teens up to present day (some 20 odd years)

I had my late Father to thank for sparking my interest in all things audio.
As he had a profound interest in specialist hi-fi components throughout my childhood, incorporating reel-reel tap decks & 8 tracks to the bizarre Technics record decks that would play vertically.

With it my interest in hi-fi etc beginning some 20 years ago, it's going to take some brain-racking to remember what I have owned, some model numbers will be long forgotten so will have to generalise, but here goes.

I procured my first hi-fi system proper from my father when I was about 14, after he upgraded his previous system. I got his Aiwa mini separates system (when they produced decent kit, as said above).

This comprised of an integrated amp, separate tuner & separate cassette deck. Along with a pair of Wharfedale Linton (XP3 I think) Speakers.
My Father had upgraded to a complete set of Denon separates, which he had got imported. His system comprised of an integrated amp, tuner, cassette deck & he continued to use his Technics SL10 Turntable. The one that you could play discs vertically with. This was complimented by a pair of B&W DM110i speakers, which at the time I heard them blew me away with their bass presence. However I was more than happy to be inheriting his Wharfedales & Aiwa system.

He felt his Technics Turntable was getting a bit old hat so this was passed onto me :D . He replaced it with a Dual CS505-3 Turntable. Sometime after the Technics deck was passed onto me, the motor in the tonearm went kaputt! So my Father used this as an excuse to upgrade to a Linn Axis Turntable with Basik Tonearm (which is still knocking about to this day but needs a bit of a servicing).
So I got handed down his Dual CS505-3.

I eventually sold the Dual turntable when I migrated over to Compact Disc.
By this time I'd finished being a student & was finally earning some crust (I was around 19-20 years of age). I'd purchased a Philips CD player from a catalogue I seem to remember. I cannot remember which model it was (7 something or other maybe), however I can remember that it had memory on it in which you could store up to 250 CD Album titles. So when you loaded a CD into the player, it would display the Artist & Album title on the LED display. Ahhhh......I was a sucker for gimmicks in those days.

The Aiwa mini separates system was later pushed aside in favour of a Denon PMA 250 integrated amp. I always had liked the sound of my Dad's Denon kit.

This gave a really nice warm sound with the Wharfedales, which were still throwing the sound out like troopers. However as time marched on the tweeters were becoming increasingly woolly. They were finally showing their age.

I started demoing speakers in earnest (by this time I was in my early twenties). I was up for some floorstanders for the extended bass.
So after demoing numerous floorstanders I settled for the sound that a pair of Tannoy 611 speakers gave me. However I made the mistake of letting the hi-fi salesman demo me them driven by a Rotel separate pre & power amp, which sounded awesome. So I purchased a Rotel RC960BX Pre-amp & a Rotel RB960BX Power Amplifier. My first flirtation with bi-wiring occurred with this system, using QED speaker cable. I was very happy with the sound my system gave at the time.

A while after owning this system I got hold of a decent Philips Nicam VCR which I proceeded to link up through the hi-fi. I was taken aback by how good the sound of movies was through my system. So my 1st foray into AV systems began.

I did some research & came across the moniker "Dolby Pro Logic". Surround sound seemed like an enticing proposition. So after some further research into how I could integrate surround sound into my hi-fi system I took a journey to Richer Sounds.

There I purchased a Mordaunt Short Decoder One, Pro Logic Processor.
This let you output the main stereo channels to your hi-fi & provided onboard amplification for the centre channel & mono surround channel.
Along with this I purchased a pair of JPW Gold Monitor bookshelf speakers for the pair of mono surround channels & a Tannoy 609 Centre channel speaker.
The speakers were all connected to the system via QED speaker cable.

I have to say that once this system was set-up, the 1st film I watched through Pro Logic surround sound truly blew me away!
The film?.............Aliens. The sounds being picked up that I'd never heard before were a joy to behold & the ambience was intense. The ricocheting laser bolt in the trash compactor in Star Wars A New Hope was similarly impressive.

From that moment on......I was completely hooked on home cinema!

Having obtained an expansive surround sound set-up I was not satisfied with the size of my Television. So I saved & splurged one Christmas on a Goodmans 33" 4:3 TV. At the time this seemed massive (early to mid 90's) & I was quite impressed at the sense of immersion while watching movies. This set-up with the external processor was great as I was still able to keep my hi-fi stereo playback separate.

This system gave me many hours of enjoyment. However this was cut short one particular weekend when I returned to find I'd been burgled.
All my hi-fi & home cinema components were half-inched apart from the surround speakers, Tannoy centre speaker (found unmarked on the grass in the back garden) & my 33" TV (far too heavy & big for them to get out the window). I lost my CD collection of some 250-300 discs as well (many limited editions that I'd never get hold of again).

However all was not lost as I was fully insured so received a hefty payout from my Insurance company, including a credit note of £3800 for Andy's Records in order to replace my CD collection :cool:

I used the payout to purchase the following system after auditioning a good few floorstanding speakers.

Mission 734 Floor standing Speakers
Rotel RC970BX Pre-Amp
2xRotel RB970BX Power-Amps
Arcam Alpha One CD Player
Aiwa Nicam Stereo VCR
Yamaha Pro Logic Decoder (DSP E300 or 350 I think)
Cable Talk 3 Bi Wire speaker cable for the Missions
Heybrook Heyline speaker cable for the centre speaker
Monster & QED interconnects

These components were added to my existing TV, surround sound & centre speakers.
The added bonus being that I now had the 2 Rotel Power amps switched to bridged mono mode to output 200W to each of the Mission speakers.
This opened up the sound of my system no end. Just seemed to give a good deal of extra headroom to CD playback, giving an extra open-ness & better image positioning. It didn't hurt with the movie playback either.

I flirted later with a QED Digit outboard DAC but preferred the sound of the Arcam Alpha's DACs.

This system lasted me until I was shown Terminator 2 on my mate's Laser Disc home cinema set-up, backed up by an active subwoofer.

Once I'd seen this demoed, the upgrade bug hit me again.
However I held up on getting a Laser Disc player as I had read about a new medium that was just starting to really take off in the USA called "DVD".

I liked the sound of this new medium being able to fit films with the quality of Laser Disc, onto discs the same size as Compact Discs.

So I became en early adopter of DVD & imported a Panasonic Region 1 DVD player at least a year before DVD started taking off in the UK.
Of course the Yamaha Pro Logic decoder had to go in favour of an amplifier/receiver that could decode Dolby Digital.

I ended up purchasing a Sherwood Newcastle Receiver, as it was nice & cheap (the 925 model? not sure). The addition of a stereo surround channel with the advent of Dolby Digital made me enjoy my movies all over again. With positional effects left & right being very noticeable. I used the pre-amp outputs on the Sherwood to utilise my 2 Rotel Power Amps for the main left & right channels. This meant I could still utilise the monoblok'd power amps for my stereo CD playback through my Rotel Pre-amp.

I also at this point entered the world of sub-bass. :D
I purchased a REL Strata active subwoofer off one of my friends (as he had 2 of them connected up to his home cinema system :eek: )

The extra impact that this sub gave action films made my hairs rise on the back of my neck.

My Goodmans 33" 4:3 TV decided to shuffle off its mortal coil. So between my Girlfriend & I we purchased a 32" Hitachi Widescreen TV (can't remember the model).
The Panasonic Region 1 player after a couple of years of use decided to give up the ghost. So I purchased a Multi-Region modded Sony DVD player (can't remember the model of that either) that had a twin-laser pickup to improve CD playback. After purchasing this player & being impressed enough with the CD reproduction, I sold my Arcam Alpha One.

Sometime later I agreed with a friend to swap my Mission 734's for his TDL RTL 4's. I loved the sound of these, but they were bigger than the Missions so did not please the better half.

With the advent of DTS soundtracks I was not satisfied with my Sherwood only processing Dolby Digital. So that had to go & I purchased the Yamaha DSP E800 processor. This enabled me to choose the less compressed DTS soundtrack on compatible DVD discs.

I still felt the urge to go with separate amplification for each of the 5 channels in my 5.1 set-up. So to satiate this urge I crumbled into submission & purchased the Rotel RB976 Six Channel Power Amp. Which I promptly switched to 3 channel bridged mono mode (120W per channel) to power the 2 surround & the Centre channels.

This kept me happy in the Audio dept for quite a while.

However due to receiving a decent annual bonus from my employer, I decided to buy a top of the range DVD Audio/Video player for some Multi Channel Music goodness. So lashed out £1200 on the Pioneer DV-939A DVD Audio/Video Player. I promptly purchased a 6 channel analog interconnect to hook up the Pioneer to the 6 channel inputs on my Yammy Processor. I ordered some DVD Audio discs & was suitably blown away again with surround sound music! The CD stereo playback was also suitably impressive. The only down aspect of this player was that it only output a progressive scan signal with NTSC discs, not PAL (however I've only recently got hold of a display that will display a progressive signal anyway).

It was another good couple of years before I decided I needed a Universal player. As I wanted to be able to play SACDs as well.
I liked the sound of Pioneer's i-link audio connection technology for an all digital audio connection handling DVD Audio & SACD streams. It would cut down on the spaghetti interconnecting my system as well. I also wanted the best possible video connection as well in the shape of HDMI, ready for purchasing a compatible telly.

So I demoed the Pioneer DV-AV868AVi-S Universal Player at last year's Ideal Home show at Earl's Court & was impressed enough to purchase it on the day (saving £200 on the retail price). So I sold on my Pioneer DV-939A player.

I now had a player that would output a HDMI signal & would output DVD Audio & SACD Multi channel through the i-link output. Only I didn't have the compatible kit to be able to take advantage of these outputs.......yet!

I was becoming bored with having a big stack of separate boxes for amplification taking up lots of room. Never mind the mess of cabling to connect them all. That & the better half moaning about the amount of room that these <quote> "monstrosities" took up. The floorstanders took up too much real estate as well.

With the prospect of moving out of our small flat & into a decent sized house, I wanted to be able to install a more discreet set-up in the new house, which would also keep the better half happy.

The Hitachi 32" Widescreen TV was also going on the blink after around 5-6 years of use.

So I kept my eye out on the internet for the chance of any bargains.

I managed to pick up a Pioneer VSX-AX5Ai-S Receiver for £250 off the retail price before I moved earlier this year. This has the necessary i-link input to be able to connect my DVD player up to. So that was my digital audio taken care of.

Before we moved out of our flat to our new house I sold all my speakers on fleabay.

Once we had got sorted out with moving into the new house & settled, we purchased the JVC LT-32DS6BJ 32" LCD panel. This took care of the HDMI connectivity & I have to say I am astounded with the picture quality output at 720p!

I have now nearly finished setting up a discreet install in the living room of our new house. This is incorporating the Tannoy Arena satellite/sub speaker system. I have dropped all the cabling behind the plasterboarding in the living room & hidden all the cabling along the skirting boards with trunking from B&Q. I used QED Home Cinema Installation cable to link up all the speakers (around 100m worth). Along with QED & Bandridge Profigold Audio & Video interconnects.
The install gets the thumbs up from the better half & I am yet again blown away by the quality of my system, both with movies (audibly & visually) & multi-channel & stereo audio). So everybody's happy ;) & I'm still waiting for 2 additional Tannoy Arena satellites to arrive to finish my 7.1 set-up. These 2 speakers should be arriving in the next week or so.

The only thing left to add will be a projector later next year & a HD-DVD player. However I'm hanging fire for 1080p compatible projectors to surface.

So this is the convoluted story of the evolution of my AV set-up over the past 20 years. I know it's a bit long-winded, but if you've stuck with it this far......thanks for reading.

Writing this post has made me realise how much I must have spent over the years on this expensive hobby! However pursuing audio/visual nirvana has provided me with many increasingly exhilarating experiences over the years. So I deem it to be worth every penny.

I will be posting photos of my latest set-up in the "Post Your Home Cine & Hi-Fi Kit" thread once my final 2 speakers have arrived"

I may also post a thread with pics of the progress of installing this latest set-up.

Cheers
 
My first real stereo was 22 years ago now.
I started with a Walker CJ58 deck (think half price LP12 and you're pretty close), Quantam IA100 integrated amp (bought in preference to the normal NAD 3020 of the time) and a pair of first generation Tannoy Mercurys (still in use with a friend of mine).
I used the system so much that I actually wore out my copy of "Kind of Magic", pretty amazing bearing in mind that the deck was pretty good, including an Ortofon MC10 Super moving coil cartridge.

The next key step was to add some supports, including a Target TT1 wall mounted turntable stand (good stuff), a TT5 (which made no difference to the sound, but kept things neat) and a custom built pair of speaker stands made by myself and a friend from rolled steel tubing and 3/8th inch steel plate. When I finally mass damped them with sand, they weighed roughly 30kgs each. Unsurprisingly, they did make quite a big difference and were used for years with variety of speakers.

The following year, and CD was starting to take hold, so I bought my first CDP a Philips 373. With the system I had, sounded fairly similar to my record deck.
That was shortly followed by a Cyrus 2 with PSX. Supposedly a "killer amp" in it's day. Lets just say that I wasn't quite so "killed" after hearing it dem'd against a Naim Nait a year after buying it. The Nait walked all over it.

Along the way, I was offered a Linn LP12 at a very good price. What I didn't realise was how old the spec was. So whilst it was only £130 to buy, it cost another £300 to bring it upto spec with a Valhalla circuit board, new suspension etc etc. Not that I cared, sounded wonderful. The only problem was that I had a lot of CDs by then, and the LP12 made my CDP sound rubbish. So much so that I listened to a number of CDPs before buying one of the first external DACs ever offered, a Musical Fidelity Digilog. It still didn't made CD sound as good as the LP12, but it was a lot closer.

At the time, I then took a decision on whether to stick with LP or CD. As I wanted to focus on one medium, the LP12 and all of my LPs went. Lets just say that it was an interesting decision, and it's only been recently that I've not regretted it. I'll come back to that.

The next few years were spent in hiatas whilst at Uni.
On getting back on the bandwagon, a whole sequence of changes went through including:
CDPs - Marantz 52se, Arcam CD7se (vastly overrated in my opinion), Meridian 203 DAC (dirt cheap and much better than the 7se), Teac VRDS7 (built like a tank, but died. Unfortunately Teac couldn't get replacement parts), Naim CD5i (LOT of fun, but far from accurate sounding), a N OS DAC v1 (a little soft at the extremes, but more natural sounding than anything I've ever heard) and finally a N OS DAC v2 (which has the natural sound of the v1, with better extremes, it's awesome for the money). Most importantly, buying a N OS was the first time that I stopped wanting to have a record deck, it really is that good.
The last element was to add a decent transport to the DAC, in the shape of a Meridian 500 unit. Have to say that the improvement was there, though IMO the value of money is a little marginal.
Amps - A Nait 5 replaced the Cyrus 2, which was then upgraded via a hicap, 112, 82 and 200. Again, these are great fun, but really not the most natural sounding bits of kit around. More recently the amps were replaced by a Belcanto Evo 2i, which appears to offer 90% of what the top level Belcanto mono-blocks offer. In short, this is one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard, the fact that it costs nothing like the amount of most other kit just nicely finishes things.
Speakers - The Tannoys were eventually changed for a pair of Musical Fidelity MC4 stand mounts. Big ugly speakers, which on dem IMO easily outperformed a pair of Acoustic Energy AE1s, themselves now a classic speaker. Took me ages to find a good replacement, which was eventually a pair of Linn Kabers, shortly thereafter upgraded with new tweeters and mid-range units.
- Stands. For a while I need two racks and bought a Mana amp stand. Expensive bit of steel and glass, which definitely added leading edges and cleaned up the sound. Worked great with a lot of kit, but my Meridian transport absolutely hated it.
- Cables. I tried the usual DNM, QED etc. They were all OK. The QED Cnect4s being rather good. With the Naim gear, sticking with the standard recommended cables was the right answer. I tried some other cables, almost all of which made it sound worse. A classic example of the importance of system matching.
- Headphones - Used them quite a lot when younger, but since then mainly used them with my PC (great with CS). I now have a pair of Senn HD600s with a Rega Ear headphone amp. Infact they were bought in preference to a pair of Stax 3030s, which many rate as being the dogs nuts. Just a question of personal preference.

So I now have a stereo system that in many ways can challenge virtually any system I've heard, as I've heard a LOT of systems, does make me feel better. The only weak link is now my speakers, and I have some lined up for later this year.


The home cinema route is what might interest a few other people here.
My first attempt was to link one of the first generation stereo (pre-nicam) VCRs to my stereo system. Top Gun in stereo was awesome back then. That was later changed to a better Nicam JVC unit.
For amps, I took the add on route, also adding a Mordaunt Short Decoder one, which as dirt cheap from RS. Rears were provided by some JPWs and the centre by a Jamo 200 (massively underated, but very capable centre).
My first DVD was a Creative labs add-on for my PC, roughly a third of the price of a standalone DVD unit, worked wonders, and I've still got the card somewhere.
The first true AV amp was a grey import Marantz SR8800 unit from Singapore. Was completely enourmous, but made the customs man smile when I tried dragging it through "nothing to declare" in the biggest suitcase you've ever seen. I could have hidden a body in it. The amp was a third of the price of the equivalent UK unit and came with a brilliant learning remote that I still use today (RC2000).
Other changes were:
DVD - Pioneer 535, followed by a 575a.
Speakers - Several came and went including using my Musical Fidelity MC4s for a while (awesome), some Kef Cresta3s (nice), Mordaunt Short MS25is (nasty), MS 903s (OK) and lastly a pair of Kef Eggs (OK). The Jamo was eventually swapped for a Linn Centrik.
Amp - Marantz SR4300, with the fronts powered by my stereo system.
TV - Sony 29" CRT for years, followed by a Sony 32" unit (great CRT) and finally a Panny AE500 projector. Took me a year to convince my wife to buy the projector. Within a week she loved it so much that we sold the Sony CRT.
Sub - REL Q100 supposedly great with movies and music. I can't say I agree on the music side of things, never really got it to work well with music.

More recently has been the complete ditching of the AV side of things. The reason was fairly simple, films sounded better in stereo. Let me try to explain.
There's a few basic assumptions that need to be made:
1. Whilst additional channels of surround sound does add information, most of what you hear during a film is from the front speakers
2. The cheapest piece of kit in the audio chain will always be the limiting factor.
At the moment I have what I consider to be a pretty damn good stereo system. It's not perfect, but it's certainly going in the right direction. The AV kit I had was frankly pretty second rate. The result was that the signal being passed via the AV amp to my front stereo speakers was actually substantially worse than if I connect my DVD player directly to my stereo amp.
This is to the point that the improvement in listening to films in stereo is IMO so big, that I don't miss having rear speakers. Not that I have helped this by routing the DVD/freeview stereo signal via a Meridian 203 DAC.
The only way to resolve this would be to spend a LOT more money on a good surround processor. The key problem with that is that I could spend the extra money I would use on a processor on an even better stereo system, making the gap even wider.
So for me, I'll stick with stereo thanks.
 
As this is a twenty year plus journey I’ll try be brief !! I guess starting out before AV was dreamt of, has a least kept me true to music, and the experience some guys here have had with “pure” AV systems as a sacrifice to Stereo set-ups. Though I have now, and I consider successfully integrated AV, while with each step maintaining or improving the Stereo performance. As warning before reading further this will get a bit brand Loyal! .. Fortunately the “brand” has always put music first…. I guess they looked after we, in return for large sums of money ;)

Started as student, summer jobs and all that, first “proper system”

Dual CS505-2 TT, NAD 3020A Amp, Celestion Ditton 110 Speakers (CD wasn’t released !!). Plus a tape and tuner.
This system got me started for a few years, until I was “earning” and reading to many “Flat Earth” HiFi mags….. With I guess is when the brain washing started on a young flourishing Scottish company, and it’s then allies in Salisbury !!!!
Upgrades were sure then to follow, a bit hazy of the order, but I ended up with a
Linn Axis TT, Basik Plus arm, K9 cartridge. Then an Inca Tech Claymore amp, plus some Celestion SL6S speakers, as seconds direct from the factory.
The Deck got improved by a change to a Akito arm and K18 cartridge. And the speakers after some time changed to Epos ES14.
So far
Dual505 > Linn Axis
NAD3020 > Inca Tech Claymore (my dad now uses it, and it superb, and spanks the Audiolab8000a !!! especially after I tweaked the internal wiring !!!)
Ditton 110 > SLS > EposES14.

At this point most would have stopped, but I had found a new local dealer, and struck up a friendship….
The arm and Cart got replaced to the “holly grail” of the time, a brand new Linn Sondek LP12 Turntable in black ash !! Followed by a Lingo power supply, then a used Ittok arm, and an Asaka cartridge…..

Next the amp got “upgraded” dem’d Naim’s, Exposure but final bought a Linn Kairn, one of the 1st, with an Exdem LK280 Spark power amp.
This lasted some time, during which I got a Saturday, unpaid job, in said HiFi shop… because I enjoyed it !!!! Then at the same time as taking out my first mortgage the shop decided to close up due to recession etc….. As I had chance of staff discount, decided to take my chance, and bought a new Ekos2 Arm, exdem Troika Cart and my first ever CD player, the only one I could live with against vinyl…. Yep you guessed it… a Linn Karik, just after they started adding the on board DAC.
This gave me LP12/Lingo/Ekos/Troika.. Plus Karik CDP, Kairn LK280/S amps set up. With the Epos14. A while after I built a pair Dynaudio factory kit speakers, Gemini, some 12 years ago, and I still use them in the main system now !!! (think along Audience 122 lines).

Ok skip some 5-7 years, before any upgrade recommenced….
Add a Numerik DAC to the CDP. Plus a few Switch power supply updates to CDP and Kairn Pre-amp….
After a house more the AV side Started. Added Yamaha DSP-E800, great amp for adding AV to an existing Stereo set-up. As it doesn’t “break” into the stereo chain. Picked up some Kef Cresta 1’s for rear channel. And a Warfdale DVD player.
Built my own 12” sealed Sub. And an Dynaudio Audience 122 centre.
I then started collecting power amps, as an upgrade to the E800 built in ones, and to allow future upgrading to a processor only pre-amp.
The LK28/S moved to centre duty, a LK85 bought for the rear, and a Klout for the main left and right.
Added a Linto Phono pre-amp, which improves on the Kairn Pre’s built in item.
This then allowed me to change the Kairn Pre-amp plus the Yamaha for a used Linn Pre-Processor, the AV5103. Which out performs the Kairn stereo pre on music !! … but adds 5.1, DD and DTS. Then went to Proline DVD, then a Pioneer 565.
Added a second Klout, to bi-amp the Dynaudio’s, which now had customer crossovers from the States.

At this point started moving into Multi Room. One of the problems I found having your “stereo” and “AV” all in the one room is Soaps on TV !!! The wife and daughter monopolise the lounge !!! So to get access to music expanded the system to my Study. First linking in my old Kairn Pre-amp, picking up a bargain pair of Linn Tukans speakers of Audiofile candy for £120, unused !!!
Changed 32 CRT to 42” Plasma, big stereo sound improvement removing a big box from between the speakers !!!
Over the following year was a case of collecting power amps, and moving them around the house, ending up with the Tukans being driven by two LK140 power amps, and converted to active. This was a turning point, a long held ambition to having something running active !! And the point of no return. To me active simply rocks , passive set ups sound broken now !
So converted the Dyanudio’s to run active with the 2 the Klouts, using Keilidh/Ninka cards. Superb !!!

Next came a proper multi room set, using the Linn Knekt items, instead of long phono leads, and two pre-amps !…. hence I spent a lot of time on an auction site, collecting parts, and scouring the net for wiring diagrams, software, set-up tools and set-up information….
Once completed I then had the study “fully” connected, as a second listening room.

With the active bug still with me, and a very long love/hate thing with Linn Kabers, wasn’t convinced by the early ones, hence built my own design around the above Dynaudio’s to beat them ;) I set about an additional room upstairs, back to the auction sites for more Knekt items, and a pair of Kabers used from a dealer.
Again after more power amp swapping around the house, you can never have to many power amps ;) I sold 1 Klout, (a mistake) and bought AV5125, 5 channel for my main room, L+R active and centre passive, and put the remaining Klout on the Kabers upstairs.

In the last few months, the upstairs stereo room has been finished off, now runs Latest spec active Kabers with Ninka soft dome tweeters, using 1 Klout and 2 LK100 powers, linked to the lounge via Knekt, plus my old Karik CDP as “local source”
As the Karik has after 12-13 years service been placed in semi retirement, as I got “lucky” and Audiofile candy again and found a Linn Unidisk 1.1 going “cheap”.

So in summary, if anyone still reading

So Lounge is
LP12/Ekos2/Lyra cartridge/Lingo PSU/Linto Phono stage
Unidisk 1.1 Universal player ( CD,DVD-A/V, SACD)
AV5103 AV amp/processor
AV5125 Power amp
LK85 Power amp
Dynaudio L+R (active) plus Centre 122
12” Sub
Kef Cresta 1 rear
Linn Kudos Tuner

Study
Knekt Link, LK140 x 2, Tukans Aktiv

Upstairs set-up
Knekt Link, Karik CDP, Klout, LK100 x 2, Kabers Aktiv.

You can do AV and Stereo in one set-up, but not on the cheap !!! plus all of my updates have improved the 2 channel sound.... The AV5103 is a bargain used at present, around £800 for a DTS version.

Apologies for length of post and a bit of jumble….. scared myself now, and thanks to a very tolerant wife, wonder if I can convert her to Aktiv :D
 
Matblack said:
Someone else thread got me thinking ....
Click to expand...
:o Sorry about that. :D

Interesting story, MB.

DRZ said:
... and me purchasing a Musical Fidelity A3CR Preamp. Some reviewers have said in passing that it is perhaps the finest preamp ever made - im not sure I agree with that but for the money I paid it is pretty damn fantastic :D
Click to expand...
I also wouldn't agree. Take a listen to a Mark Levinson 32, among others. It's as close to sonically 'invisible' as anything I've ever found .... though at a price. However, if that had been "finest preamp ever made in that price bracket or close to it" ...... well, it's clearly a subjective decision, but personally I would be inclined to agree with that. I have a soft spot for MF gear anyway. I like the sound.

I don't have time to put a full history in words, but it started with stereograms in the 50's, and really took off with a Lecson AC1/AP3 Pre/Power combo driving IMF Mark 4 monitors in the ...erm, late 70's (maybe early 80's .... I'm a bit fuzzy on the exact timing, though thinking about it, maybe mid-70's). I still have that setup in my sitting room off the bedroom. I had a Quad amp system driving Rogers LS3/5As too, and that is still doing service in the library, though I have a Marantz KA-Sig CD player as a front end.

My current main system is a high-end Meridian player and a Mitchell GyroDec, SME5 and Ortofon Kontrapunkt b driving Levinson pre/power amps into B&W speakers. That's in the "music room", which is so named because it's where I listen to music, not because I play it myself, though I do, keyboard and guitar, but with more enthusiasm than skill or ability. My claim is that lack of ability is due to lack of time to practice rather than lack of inate aptitude, and I'm sticking to that like glue. :)

I said I had a fondness for Musical Fidelity. The family room has an MF A5 CD into an A308cr pre/A308cr power, and MA Studio 50 speakers.
 
man these are long posts! lol!

started off with a crappy JVC ghetto blaster

then got:

Marantz CD63
Marantz PM54 SE UK ( i think thats it model no.)
TDL RTL 2's

then got a Jamo speaker for parties. oh dear :o

then got swapped the above gradually for:

arcam alpha 7se
arcam alpha 9 amp
B&W P4's

(jamo got blown by about 300w RMS :D )

still got the P4's, but now attached to arcam Cd72 and AVR100 attached to the PC.

Mini system in the bedroom, which is shortly going to be Rotel amp and quad speakers, fingers crossed.

AV setup was originally some cheap pansonic thing that quickly got swapped for a sony DAVS800 setup. now running pioneer DV565 and VX812 amp. with mordaunt short full size speakers all round.

should be getting B&W MT30 speakers to replace these shortly along with Denon 3806 amp and 1920 dvd :)



update (15/7/6):

above future plans changed a fair bit.
The AV setup has had new speakers but no other changes (yet!) now running B&W CM's all round, CM4's fronts, CM's rears & CMC centre.

Study now has Cyrus 8Vs, Cyrus 8CD, Cyrus Hark stand and Monitor Audio RS8's.

Bedroom has got the Quad 12L's but a cambridge audio amp instead of the Rotel planned.

The Arcam AVR100 became an AVR200 and has now moved to the spare room along with the CD72.
 
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My first experience of hifi started years ago when I was at school. I had a long term loan of my parents B&O system (turntable, amp & speakers). The speakers were on their last legs so went out bought a pair of Wharfdale delta 70's with some birthday money.

I kept that for a couple of years until I got a part time job at college. After a few demo's and hearing different systems at shows I ended falling for a Musical Fidelity A1 amp. The front end was to prove a bit more complicated...

At that time I was listening to a lot of music on the move and in a impulse buy that most women would be proud of, I'd bought months earlier Aiwa's top of the range remote control walkman. I couldn't find a CD player I liked within my budget (maybe even outside it!), so I ended up buying a tape deck to partner the A1, a Rotel RD-865, while I thought about my options.

After what was probably years I eventually decided I was going to go down the vinyl route and had shortlisted the obvious choices, a Linn LP12 and a Roksan Xerxes to demo. The annual Bristol hifi show was a couple of weeks away, so decided to visit that first to get a better feel for what I was after.

Two items caught my eye, (or ear! :p ). For the first time I heard a CD source I actually liked. This coincided with vinyl getting harder to find at a couple of independent stores near me :( . My heart really wanted a vinyl front end, but my head was telling me to think long and hard before I jumped in.

I booked a demo with one of the local dealers for the two pieces of kit that caught my eye at the show: Meridian's 602 Transport and Deltec's (DPA Digital) PDM one series II DAC. I was impressed (my wallet wasn't, as at the time the 602 was one of the most expensive transports around :eek: ). but I decided to take the big plunge, as I figured it would stop me upgrading bits each year and losing money on them.

With the front end sorted, when the upgrade bug hit a few years later, the speakers were the obvious choice for replacement, After months of looking and not being 100 percent happy with what I heard, I had a demo of a pair Monitor Audio Studio 20 SE's. I was stunned, they had everything I was looking for AND they sounded musical! The finish options were the final icing on the cake - Piano black with rounded cabinet edges :cool: . I actually managed to get a fantastic deal on them by waiting a bit longer and ordering them at a show. I got lucky with the promotions they were doing and in the end I got them for little over half price!

By the time I got round to the amp I was also thinking of getting into the whole home cinema thing.

I really did love the MF A1. I just wanted something with a little more power, control and slam. The obvious choice was it's (very) BIG brother, the A1000, which had been discontinued by this time, however I managed to get a ex-display unit on loan. It was superb, however I wasn't sure of the retailers 'display only' claim of the unit and there were a couple of cosmetic marks on it. The short version is I wanted a bigger discount than was offered, so I decided to check out some other options first.

I really wanted an amp with a little room for expansion as I'd always wanted to try bi-amping the Studio 20's. I demo'd a Roksan Caspian integrated and liked it a lot, so after a lot of soul searching between that and the A1000, I decided to buy the Roksan and throw the rest of my budget at a Yamaha home cinema processor and a pair of KEF Coda 7 SE's for the rear channel - I'd decided early on there was no way I'd go down the home cinema amp route and to instead always drive the front channels via a hifi amp using the pre-outs on the processor.

On the AV side I already had a Loewe ART 1 TV and had gone through a couple of SVHS video's by JVC and Panasonic. I moved onto DVD a while later with a multi region Sony S725D.

I added the matching power amp to the Roksan, so I could bi-amp the studio 20's, before swapping the Yamaha processor for a Denon AVC10SE, while still using the Roksan for the main channel.

The problem now was that my front channel hopelessly outclassed all the others, so the upgrade, years later was there. After a lot of searching I eventually managed to find a second hand pair of MA Studio 10's in piano black for an absolute bargain £350 :) (iirc they were £1600 new in that finish!). I can't help but feel it's a bit of a shame to use them for just the rear channel though!

Coming bang up to date, this year has been quite busy, with a Monitor Audio Gold Reference Centre (in gloss black) finishing off the speaker duties and a Pioneer plasma screen (PDP 435FDE) being added and along with a Pioneer DVD player (DV868 AVi-S, which I got for half price in a sale!) connected via HDMI.

Sadly I don't seem to spend as much time listening to music these days. Lately I'm more likely to stick on a movie, but I can honestly say I that whatever format I choose I really do enjoy it. The system allows me to forget about the hifi and just concentrate on the musicians and music or the drama and excitement of the film and that's what's is all about at the end of the day.

/edit: Ooops, sorry for the long post. As you can probably tell, it's quiet at work here today!
 
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I currently own and very much enjoy:

-Incatech Claymore integrated amplifier (imo miles better that all amps I previously owned including Marantz PM66KI, PM6010KI, DPA Renaissance)

-Ariston RD80SL Turntable (heavily modified)/Rega RB250 (heavily modified)/Nagaoka MP11 cartridge (Started out with a Trio, then got a Thorens TD160B with SMEIII)

-Marantz CD6000OSE LE (first had a Technics SLPG-490A)

-Totem Rokk standmounters on sandfilled Atacama SE24 stands (I started with some nasty technics speakers, then bought some mad Sony jobbies from a car boot (they had square woofers), then bought some Eltax Liberty 3+, then Wharfedale Emerald 95's, then payed £18 for a pair of Ruark Swordsman, which brings me to my Totems).

Cables:

-Van Den Hul D102 Hybrid (CDP to amp)

-High purity SPOFC 0.25mm diameter screened cable (cartridge to amp, single uninterrupted run)

-Audioquest Type 6 speaker cable (factory terminated)

All my stuff was bought on a max bang for buck basis, and I've very much suceeded!
 
My "hifi history" is pretty short but here goes..

Had a Aiwa mini system (presumably after the time they were good!) for a while. It was okay and I used it for several years until it gave up the ghost. Used a mediocre set of computer speakers (funnily enough connected to my computer!) through my teens but when I moved out decided I needed something else. At the time I was renting films at a rate of knots so decided to put together a surround system. Picked up a Sherwood amp, Eltax floorstanders and some surround speakers for a few hundred pound. Although it's all budget stuff it still knocked the socks off the Aiwa. The first time I wanted a film in Dolby Digital I was blown away!

Since then I've added a PC running Windows Media Centre Edition that does the TV, music, DVD playing, etc. I'd imagine the noise generated by the electricals in a PC (and the fact I'm mainly listening to music on 192kbps MP3) is going to make sure it's no competition in the quality stakes but I'm no "audiophile" so it does me :)

dave

I'm still using it pretty much untouched now!
 
I will try to keep it short!

Started out with a crapy Aiwa mini system (bought before they became really crap mind) and whilst working in Budgens of all places one of the blokes suggested I had a look at what Richer Sounds had to offer when I was looking to upgrade, and so it begins.......

For £400 I picked up a Marantz PM57 amp, Sony CD Player (530?), a Sony Tuner and a pair of Tannoy R1's. Stuck with Richer sounds for the 1st upgrade when I picked up a Sony amp (940?) which for £200 I thought was rather good and it came with the recomendation of What Hifi which was so important back then. Next upgrade was to a pair of B&W 602 s2's because I wanted more bass and they certainly gave that (bought for £300, will have relevance later!). I only had a small room at this point and money was short so I was happy with that until I went to Uni and with more space the troubles really began.

Student loans were a terible thing and at the end of my 1st year I rather fancied a new cd player, demod anther Sony player that was going cheap from the Sony Centre but ended up with an Arcam CD72t - another What Hifi recomendation but I did sound very good. Going into the second year at uni me and the then girlfriend moved into a rather nice flat together with a nice living room for my kit. First things to be bought (literally before we had a table) was a 24" Phillips widescreen tv, it was a bit small but it was all I could afford at the time. To go with that I picked up a Toshiba dvd player, cant remember the model number but it cost the princely sum of £150 again from Richer Sounds (last but one purchase from those monkeys!). Dvd player and tv hooked into the stereo setup and it sounded really good but with lots of trips to the cinema at this time I couldnt help but wonder what a full 5.1 setup would sound like. I didnt have the room for two systems (still dont) so it would have to be a 5.1 system that would do justice to music aswell and I hoped that I could actually improve on the Sony amp in this respect. I knew that this would be expensive if possible at all and I started listening to amps at the £1000 retail mark, Sony ES, Pioneer 2011. Both of those were the market leaders at the time and could be picked up reasonably cheaply, around £600 IIRC but neither really blew me away. Out came a review of a Rotel pre/pro setup and What Hifi gave them a glowing review so I had to have a listen, bad move. At £1850 they were well over budget but I was smitten, they sounded amazing both with music and films.....

Back to uni for the final term of the 2nd year and the big loan cheque came through for that term, no idea why you get the most money for the shortest term but I dont think Superfi were too bothered! I knew that I could get 10% student discount from both Superfi and Sevenoaks so I poped into Superfi to see what they could do the Rotel combo, the chap said £1500, well atleast I thought he did but my debit card was in his hand before he changed his mind and I bought the pair there and then for £1500 a saving of £350!!!!!! Had to to get some rear speakers so I picked up some eltax bipolars from Richer sounds for £50 (last purchase from them, honest) and a bit later I bought a Velodyne CHT-10 sub but still no centre at this point. Started listening to speakers at this point in the view to upgrading to a new front 3 but of course it had to be a sizeable upgrade to do the rotels justice. Bigger 600 series B&W's werent really an upgrade, didnt like the sound of the CDM series and in the end I settled on a pair of Dynaudio Audience 52's and the larger of the 2 Audience centres, with the three coming to about £1000 - ouch, but I sold my 602 s2's for £320 £20 more than I paid for them (all my old kit has gone on ebay as I think people generally pay too much).

For the next year or so I was really happy with my system and I was really proud of it considering I was still a student! The only change was to swap the CHT-10 for another velodyne sub the SPL 1000 mkII which I picked up for £600 only a month old. I left uni and started my 1st proper job so my 1st big purchase was my Panny Plasma which cost me £1750 but I still love it 18 months on. In the last year or so my upgrading has got out of control, living at home has meant that I have been able to spend money on what I enjoy! I upgraded my Arcam CD72t to a meridian 507, my dvd player to a Toshiba 9500 (both bought 2nd hand) then Hifi Bitz started selling off the last of Tag Mclarens stock and when the AV32r dual processor came up for £1600 I just had to have one and it was bought within 10 minutes of hearing about it - it did retail at £4k after all! Then I sold my Meridian CD player and Tosh dvd player and bought a Tag DVDFLR with PSM for £1300 rrp £3k which comprehensively wiped the floor from both of them. I have also changed my speakers, going to B&W 805s's and a HTM4 and in the last 2 weeks I picked up a 6 month old Parasound A51 to do them justice.

I still have the Eltax bipolars though, I havent blown them up with 250 watts going through them and im not sure what I would replace them with. To say im rather pleased with my system would be an understatement but I would rather like to get hold of a Velodyne DD-12........
 
Viper,
I think you managed to get through a life time of upgrading in about 5 years!

How do you find the 805's - similar sound to the 602s? I heard some 805s before and I was blown away but I there are none going second hand!
 
Gosh, this thread sounds like a Gearheads Anonymous meeting.

Bob: "Hi, my name is Bob, and I am addicted to improving my Hi-Fi/AV setup"
Room: "Hi Bob"
:p ;) *ducks*

Is anyone really completely happy with their setup that they literally don't want to change a thing, even if you can throw unlimited amounts of money at it? Or is it similar to a Camera hobby, where there will always be something better in the horizon (or in your local shop, more likely)?
 
I went to richer sounds to buy some kit, got recomended some speakers for my budget (dont know which ones) so i picked the next ones up the price range while my dad wasnt looking, then the guy recomended this ugly Yamaha amp, and i didnt like the idea of an ugly amp when there was this nice looking cambridge audio A300 near it for £10 more.

Was very happy with the setup but it seemed to lack in the low notes, so i bought a mordaunt short 308 sub on the cheap (£130, bargain)

Then i bought some cheapish speaker stands and i dont know if it was a placebo affect as before they were mounted unevenly by books on my desk, but with the stands, they sounded a lot better to me. (i got taken the **** out of for it in the show us ** hifi sticky!)
 
jhmaeng said:
Is anyone really completely happy with their setup that they literally don't want to change a thing, even if you can throw unlimited amounts of money at it? Or is it similar to a Camera hobby, where there will always be something better in the horizon (or in your local shop, more likely)?
Click to expand...

VERY valid question.
I think the answer is all about disposal income. If you have some, we like to pander ourselves, generally in whatever hobby interests us, whether it's cars, cameras, watches, clothes, sailing or in this case hi-fi.
The way we justify the spending is by deciding that now we have some money that our system could do with a quick update. Go listen to kit you can now just afford, and it will certainly help.
For those without the budget, of course their system sounds fine.

Personally I think mine sounds great for the min, wonder what that says...
 
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