Wish I'd discovered this forum before wasting £220 on an Audiolab 8000a!
- Thread starter Jon Perry
- Start date
What do you think is a fair price to pay for a pair of HBS1s?
There is no 'might' about it, when it comes to 'speaker stands making a difference. Although I really liked the look of the old Celef chrome 'table bases', with the Celef at 22"H x 12"W x 10.25"D a pair of Heybrook HBS1 stands will be just about perfect. Not pretty, mind, but the lovely wood finish of the 'speakers will dominate once the shock of the stands wears off (for her).
Suggest you focus purely on system setup, especially so, the 'speaker stands, before even thinking about changing out the amplifier. You've not really heard your existing system yet.[
So, thanks to the advice I received here, I have sold the 8000a for the same price as I paid for it; I've decided to keep the HK amp because I'm reasonably happy with the sound and several people said it is a reasonable amp. I've tested the Dual turntable which doesn't sound great because it probably needs a new cartridge. I'm going to spend the 220 on a new cartridge and some decent speaker stands. I love the sound of CDs on the system. The only disadvantage being that the Minidiscs don't sound as good, and now I'm totally dissatisfied with the quality of streaming services! This is a shame because I think they're a great way of discovering new music.
Craig B
Re:trophile
I don't know what they might go for in the UK. I paid $50 for a minty used pair over here in Canada. They were rather pricey new here; ISTR them being almost as much as the Heybrook HB1 loudspeakers.
Re the Dual sounding off, make sure that the stylus is scrupulously clean, there could very well be petrified crud preventing it from tracing the groove properly. A search on here will reveal cleaning methods.
Sound crazy for that turntable, I'd say 1/4 amount max
I guess you would be able to get at least £200 if not £220 from the sale of the Audiolab. Hence, it's only a waste of £20 or break even.
(Warning – expensive solution follows)
If you’ve got a lot of mini discs that you want to keep and the player has a digital output, try running that through a Chord M-Scaler and DAC combination. The algorithms used by its designer Rob Watts to reassemble the digital stream before converting to analogue might rescue the sound from compressed, flat and boring. Works well for me on Internet radio stations.
If you’ve got a lot of mini discs that you want to keep and the player has a digital output, try running that through a Chord M-Scaler and DAC combination. The algorithms used by its designer Rob Watts to reassemble the digital stream before converting to analogue might rescue the sound from compressed, flat and boring. Works well for me on Internet radio stations.
Pinky
In suspense, not compressed
There's a pair on the 'bay at the moment for £60. I'd say that's not too bad for a vgc pair (would be good if you could get then a little lower though). Although they're pick up only you might be able to persuade the seller to post as they do dismantle.
As for cartridge, agree that a good clean up of the stylus is worth a try. Failing that and depending on what it is maybe treat it to a new stylus? If it's one of the Dual/Ortofon 'concorde' style then you will have a few choices of type/quality/price.
The only atrac codec that was noticeably as you describe was LP4. Even LP2 was pretty good and SP was not lacking at all. Sony did a good job. I dont know the details of Sony Atrac but they removed sounds masked by louder sounds that people would never hear thats how the data rate was lowered ( in part) . There is no way that codecs that do the same can be restored as you claim Rob Watts does as the info is no longer there: The only thing that his thing can do is remove any artifacts due to the removal process. As for radio I dont know abut internet radio but DAB codecs are primative to say the least and DAB+ far better ( if only they had a good bit rate)
the caretaker
pfm Member
..very good advice
I didn't mean 220 on the cartridge. Most of that would be on the speaker stands
Craig B
Re:trophile
There have been many variants of Dual 505, with the first two, 505 and 505-1, featuring unique phono cartridge mounts that require accessory adapter plates (plus an accessory add-on counterweight) in order to fit standard 1/2" mount cartridges. These have recently become unobtanium as new parts but can be had used for a price.
Should yours be 505-2 or later, then 1/2" mount cartridges are directly compatible, however, you may need an accessory add-on weight in order to optimize setup, as the original OEM Ortofon weighs roughly 1/3rd of the average cartridge. Should your cartridge be a Dual ULM-65E (or Ortofon OM10) then Ortofon still supply replacement styli for these.
Suggest you link to a photo of your headshell and cartridge such that we can advise further.
Mine is the 505-1 unfortunately.
Yes I saw this pair. They look good but having to collect them from over 100 miles away is an issue. The other, possibly more important, issue is that my wife informs me that aesthetically, 19 inch stands plus the speakers would dominate our living room too much! Curses.
I think stands about 30cm high would be ideal and I wondered if anyone had any suggestions? What about these Atacama ones? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Two-Atac...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
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Absolutely - I don't dispute that. All depends what floats your boat and, if the 8000a is deemed to be "accurate", I appear to prefer less accurate and more "embellishment". Nothing wrong with either stance. My intention wasn't to criticise the amp, it just wasn't to my liking. If I could change the title of the thread I would!