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Affordable HiFi in production today

[QUOTE If I had a cafe I'd let dogs in. They are generally less annoying than children and they let kids in everywhere![/QUOTE]

Whilst I have no wish to derail this thread further, but being extremely ancient (1942) I can remember when it was normal to see dogs in pubs and most were 'well behaved' as were their owners. When I was living in Den Hague in the late '70's, it appeared that it was almost 'de-rigueur' for both the owners and some of the clientel in restaurants to have dogs running around.
These days the 'bad behaviour' of dogs and children is sadly more a reflection of the owners / parents lack of control and training, a trait which appears to be on the increase in a 'society' in which everybody has 'rights' but apparently few 'responsibilities'.

Mike K.
 
Whilst I have no wish to derail this thread further, but being extremely ancient (1942) I can remember when it was normal to see dogs in pubs and most were 'well behaved' as were their owners. When I was living in Den Hague in the late '70's, it appeared that it was almost 'de-rigueur' for both the owners and some of the clientel in restaurants to have dogs running around.
These days the 'bad behaviour' of dogs and children is sadly more a reflection of the owners / parents lack of control and training, a trait which appears to be on the increase in a 'society' in which everybody has 'rights' but apparently few 'responsibilities'.Mike K.[/QUOTE]

Still is in Cumbria. I was in the Fell Bar, Penrith the other day and there were five people and five dogs in the bar.
 
MVV said:
If you are seriously interested in good sound on a budget the Sonus one (streaming) takes some beating and if you want a bit more power get two and use them as a stereo pair.
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I've had both the Sonus one and the Audio Pro C10 - C10 streets ahead IMO.
 
Martyn Miles said:
Slightly off topic, but if you look in Hi-Fi News nothing is affordable.
I’m surprised it’s still being published.
Years ago they reviewed a more balanced range of items.

Now we have Ken Kessler raving about Wilson speakers whilst playing
The Dave Clark Five.
The world’s gone mad, I tell you...
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I can't speak to the magazine historically, but higher end stuff is pretty much its raison d'etre now. Hi-Fi Choice is its sister magazine and this covers the more affordable end of the spectrum.

That said, there's one more affordable item in Hi-Fi News each month (just as there is one 'exotic' item in HFC each month). The latest issue features the Pro-Ject A1 turntable - £369.
 
Gerard124 said:
Are there any other cartridge bargains along the lines of the Audio Technica AT-VM95E?
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Audio Technica AT-3600. £16 on eBay if you don't mind a few weeks wait for delivery. No, it's not as good as an AT-VM95E but christ, it's far better than it has any right to be for £16!

It also works brilliantly on old Garrard SP25s, AT6s and the like, if you happen to be the sort of weirdo like me who enjoys fettling these...
 
40 odd years ago my Systemdek, Meridian M2s were way beyond my income and had to get Mum as Guarantor to buy them on tick.
Working in a house yesterday the Lady said her man used to be into Hi-Fi and a chap came all the way from England to pay 250 pounds for his amazing Technics Hi-Fi. She near fainted when I told her replacing my needle ( no point introducing cartridge into the equation) would cost 1800 quid. The Insurance Broker and my wife near fainted when I told them what my Oracle turntable would cost to replace.
People would think me insane if I told them what half the cables would cost to replace let alone the system. However when I was making silly money, I made loads of contacts all over the World on Audiogon, hence Stateside dealer prices or used. Used to think £4.5K for a Shunyata Hydra and Anaconda cable was insane- $2K from the States for both not so bad.
After redundancy, like to think of myself as a regular working man and gave up the magazines when 11K turntables, sans arm or cartridge were being described as quite nice for mid priced? I've never spent that on a friggin car.
Sorry for the rant. Back to the OP, affordable and good, recently purchased (3rd hand) an Emotiva PT-100 pre combining DAC, tuner and mm/mc phono stage.
Short changed after my two Suprateks? Given it betters the Myryad pre and MF DAC that selling more than paid for it (mediocre phono stage aside), I have to wonder how they can produce stuff offering this quality for their low prices.
OK living in rip of UK, it allows opportunist/profiteers , to near double the actual price but hey ho.
Did I think an £185 buy replacing four boxes costing near 3K would keep me happy, if I,m missing the last 2 or 3%, I couldn't give a fig. Compact, convenient and sounds great.
Will be paying the rip off price here for their new integrated and using it as a pre in case my Pax go tits up or more likely I have to take out a Mortgage to buy a new set of valves in a few years.
 
Gerard124 said:
Excellent, very pleased it's not a plastic top.

Surely there can't be anything else offering such a combination of design, technology, materials, ergonomics, heritage, SQ at this price point, longevity etc? Seems very good vfm in todays hifi market place.
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It’s a very good package and often available with a decent discount, I was that pleased with the GR I bought BNIB from an office supplies auction as a punt for the home study/office system I grabbed an ex dem 1200G for the main system not long after.
 
The average Joe could have very different budgets depending on their own circumstances.

The richest guy I know only has a Bose wave radio and CD. That's it!

I'm considerably poorer than that! I spent £5000+ on my system, 20+ years ago.

Andy
 
Martyn Miles said:
Slightly off topic, but if you look in Hi-Fi News nothing is affordable.
I’m surprised it’s still being published.
Years ago they reviewed a more balanced range of items.

Now we have Ken Kessler raving about Wilson speakers whilst playing
The Dave Clark Five.
The world’s gone mad, I tell you...
Click to expand...

I enjoy Ken's writing but he's been mad for decades.
 
I think to bring the cost down to anywhere near where the interest of an average joe might be engaged the vinyl would need to be ditched.

Assuming our imaginary ordinary householders already have phones and maybe a Spotify account what we need is only a bluetooth dac, amplifier and speakers. I'd imagine the first two can be had in one box these days so just two items really : amp and speakers.

Would the average person expect/want to spend more on hifi than they did on their (non OLED) telly? I doubt it. So I reckon max budget ought to be £500 give or take.

I don't buy new hifi and take little notice of it so that sounds to me both quite a lot and yet not enough either. Even Creek now want £3k for an amp they used to sell for £120.
 
To clarify, and returning to original post the idea is what affordable kit is still out there for folk with an interest in HiFi as a hobby (like us) not your average Joe happy with a £40 Bluetooth speaker.

For example there are lots of other interests where folk will spend to get into it e.g - cycling (1k bike?), sailing, golf, gym membership, football season ticket, gaming machines/pcs & the software etc - folk find ways to spend on their interests when they can.
 
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