advertisement


£500 to upgrade ??

H

hughmc2

pfm Member
Hi all,
my xmas pressie this year is £500 to upgrade my hifi.

But...being a bit of a newbie knowing which way to go is not as easy as I thought.
At the minute I have an Arcam A32 CD23, Denon TU1800, Quad 21L, X-Can V2, CA640P, Tech 1210 with AT440ML, Grado 80i's

I like to wear headphones but I also like to hear it through the speakers...there's only one way.......no, no stop that !

Anyway, what way should I go for best ? new headphone amp, phono stage, cartridge, cables, power amp / bi-amp ??? You can see from my system I have no problem with second hand. Suggestions needed.

I recently got the 60mm granite plinths for £70 and they made a massive difference. What will give me that improvement again ?

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee443/hughmc2/stereo050.jpg

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee443/hughmc2/stereo016.jpg
 
I'd look at hooking up spotify premium to your hifi with a decent DAC and keeping what you already own (for the time being)

that could be a worthwhile investment for now (unless you already have a system connected to spotify)
 
What don't you like about the system performance?
Does anything about it give you cause to question the performance?
 
DAC + streamer (SB Touch?) . In this way you can listen to some good internet radio and slowly move towards 100% streaming system.
 
It's not that I don't like anything it's just that when I changed from a Grado Prestige Green to the AT440ML it sounded so much better. Then i changed the Quad 11L to 21L's and the sound got bigger and sweeter. Then i bought the granite for under the Quad's and it transformed them. I'm really beginning to enjoy my music again and it just keeps getting better. I just wonder what else might I be missing ?

Can digital streaming really sound as good ( or better ) than good vinyl ? It would certainly save me chasing around carboot sales at 5.00am every sunday.
 
hughmc2 said:
Can digital streaming really sound as good ( or better ) than good vinyl ? It would certainly save me chasing around carboot sales at 5.00am every sunday.
Click to expand...

not as good, but sounds ok and the good thing is that you can create playlists on programs such as spotify....

mix your music and save the tracks you enjoy .... plonk yourself into your listening chair, crack a beer and relax without having to stand up ever so often to change the LP or cd

and ..... you have access to millions of tracks and artists that you don't have in your personal collection

then use your deck for 'quality' listening sessions
 
What's wrong with the arm ? I've seen lots of opinions on tonearms and I've gotta admit it's pretty confusing. I only left this as it was cause I saw a picture on one or other forum of a dream system. He had loads of Marantz Legend gear, dCS gear, Sonus Faber speakers and lots of other shiny stuff.
His cables looked like they cost more than my whole system but he had the same turntable as me, with the original arm ! :(

What would be a better arm and what might it give me ? ( and how would I change it. I once took the alternator off a Capri thinking it was the starter motor so it's not promising )
 
hughmc2 said:
What's wrong with the arm ? I've seen lots of opinions on tonearms and I've gotta admit it's pretty confusing. I only left this as it was cause I saw a picture on one or other forum of a dream system. He had loads of Marantz Legend gear, dCS gear, Sonus Faber speakers and lots of other shiny stuff.
His cables looked like they cost more than my whole system but he had the same turntable as me, with the original arm ! :(

What would be a better arm and what might it give me ? ( and how would I change it. I once took the alternator off a Capri thinking it was the starter motor so it's not promising )
Click to expand...

Some of that will be down to the 1210 being the currently fashionable 'in' retro TT.
So you will see them fronting all sorts of exotica.

In your situation I would say that the electronics are more than good enough and would be auditioning different turntables and speakers - those will give a very obvious difference.

You need to go and listen though.
If that were my cash I'd have flogged the 1210 and bought a good used Michell Gyro with a MC cartridge. But I cannot tell you that you'll like it.
That's why I asked what you see as the system shortcomings.
 
Speakers will give you the biggest bang for your buck over the other items. As always try them in your room with your gear and you can compare with your Quads. Second hand will reap even more rewards as you get a better spec speaker for the price. Factor in the sale of your Quads and you could have something like £800 to £900 to spend.

I like your granite slabs i bet they really tightened up the bass. Where did you get them from?
 

What would be a better arm and what might it give me ? ( and how would I change it.

More music.

Obvious candidates would be modded Rega's, Nima, Jelco 750. Needs a new armboard and dismantling of deck, best done by arm supplier if you're not into DIY.

Check out 'Time Step' for further info on Techie mods.
 
Looks like you haven't got room for some proper sized £500 vintage speakers. Shame.

So I'd be looking at a wallshelf for the 1210 plus an arm such as the ones suggested by Rustyb and possibly a new decent £250ish mc cartridge.

Oh, and mid to late January can be a good time to buy stuff off the Internet due to slightly less competition from other buyers.
 
hughmc2 said:
JIm,
the granite came from a local guy. £65 a pair. 300x300x60mm !!

They come unpolished but I just wiped them over then gave them 2 coats of clear laquer. ( about a fiver a can )I think that save me about £80 a pair.

and yes I am jock

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee443/hughmc2/stereo030.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats a good price for that thickness. They must weigh a ton. I used two asda chopping boards under each of my speakers making 40" thick and they are a great benefit if you have suspended wood floors as i have and what looks like you have too. As someone said early about vintage speakers, a good call. If you could get some Tannoy Monitor Golds, perhaps the 10" ones and make some cabs for them you will have bass to die for.
 
here's a pair of IMF speakers .... newly listed on ebay ... Buy it now of £80 ... not much said on the listing, but could possible be the ALS40 or ALS50 ... if so, these are 4 way transmission design and are very good for the money (assuming that the drivers are in good condition) ... so worthwhile asking a few questions from the seller, but be quick as these will sell fast

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140490161076&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

or alternativly, seek out a pair of old B&W DM2 ... 3 way transmission design with the same tweeters and supertweeters as the old spendor BC1, but are much better IMHO ... these sell for reasonably cheap (under £100 if you are patient on ebay)

then add those to your existing hifi with a dac and spotify and sell your current speakers and use the change to go on holiday over christmas/new year

that is what I would do
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Get an outboard psu for the 1210 ' it makes a huge difference and if you are using the heavy rubber mat ? get a Funk1200 mat , you will not believe how much better your 1210 will sound.

Swapping it out for a Gyro would be a sideways move , good though the gyro ' is the Techie is capable of so much more , the tonearm can wait.
 
Chris,
When i bought the deck the guy made a big thing of telling me it had a micro sieki mat ??? but it looked a bit "tired" so I bagged it and left it in the box the TT came in.

I have no doubts that what you say will turn out to be true, but you've got to explain to me.....how does changing the turntable mat improve the sound ?


Don't want to blow my money....once bought a CD because a hifi mag said it was brilliant ....."the eponymous Roy Buchannan" CD. Now I know what eponymous means !
 
Hi Hugh

Well i can only go by my experience as i currently use a 1210 ! which is heavily modified , it has a Timestep psu and replacement main bearing ' Isonoe feet ,an SME 309 arm .

And i have tried many mats ' such as a ' Herbie's way excellent ' the SRM acrylic mat ' a carbon fibre mat and two Funk Achromat's , the 1st one being the standard version ! which did not fit properly but i now have the 1200 version which is cut to fit the platter perfectly ' and it is by far the best sounding being more open and detailed with amazing clarity and vastly superior to the thick rubber mat ' which kills some of the life in the music.

You don't have to take my word for it ' so i would urge you to try and get one on a sale or return basis , oh and it works really well with a weight on top which i see you already have:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top