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Satisfaction begins with the right speakers

Tony L's speakers are, I think, 60 years old. My understanding is that good speakers can always be repaired or upgraded.

I would guess there will be an greater move to active, albeit of the smaller genre, as kids and other use the computer generated music that Spotify provides which has, literally, changed my life in how I listen to music.

Over the years you tend to listen to what your mates listen to.

With Spotify I can listen to anything and even at my age it has broadened my listening.
 
honmanm said:
Buy secondhand and move them on if you don't like them. Especially appropriate for electronics! The problem with speakers is that some parts can literally wear out - especially, surrounds stiffen or disintegrate of 15+ years. However you can usually guess whether you'll like a current-production speaker based what an older model sounds like.

When it comes to cables, follow the recommendations of the amp manufacturer & you can't really go wrong (& factor the recommended cables into the true "cost" of the amp(s)).
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Chaps

This is the best advice in this thread.

Regards

Mick
 
Do you really think so Mick?

What would you think if ... (I'm picking on Tom Evans for no reason, I think he makes great amps....)... if Tom Evans reccomended only Nordost Valhalla cables with his amplifiers?
 
bottleneck said:
Do you really think so Mick?

What would you think if ... (I'm picking on Tom Evans for no reason, I think he makes great amps....)... if Tom Evans reccomended only Nordost Valhalla cables with his amplifiers?
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Yes, but he doesn't!

He recommends Electrofluidics Monolith 20/20 with his amplifiers which is very reasonably priced and made by the rather clever Patrick Handscombe, who has also made some very notable speakers. Cable pricing is just nuts, since it's all about a suitably design link between amp and speaker. I.e. you wouldn't use Goertz with Naim amps.

They get rather warm!

Peter
 
bottleneck said:
Do you really think so Mick?

What would you think if ... (I'm picking on Tom Evans for no reason, I think he makes great amps....)... if Tom Evans reccomended only Nordost Valhalla cables with his amplifiers?
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Manufacturers recommend a cable that suits their amps. Their advice is usually worth following but if you want to experiment then that is down to you.

Personally I would stick with the manufacturers recommendation because they have done the experimenting.

Regards

Mick
 
bottleneck said:
Do you really think so Mick?

What would you think if ... (I'm picking on Tom Evans for no reason, I think he makes great amps....)... if Tom Evans reccomended only Nordost Valhalla cables with his amplifiers?
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In a sense I think Mick has a point.

My brother had a budget for up-grading his kit and fancied the solid look (I use the term in a specific sense here)of the solid build of Musical Fidelity tackle.

He listened to the doings in the shop and ordered the whole caboosh, same cables (prsumably MS recom ones) and all, to set up at home.

I think fair enough.

Perhaps slightly different but one hopes not too much so.
 
Mick Parry said:
Manufacturers recommend a cable that suits their amps. Their advice is usually worth following but if you want to experiment then that is down to you.

Personally I would stick with the manufacturers recommendation because they have done the experimenting.

Regards

Mick
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Hi Mick with , say, Naim and their inexpensive interconnects and speaker cable - all available cheap as chips on Ebay, you can't go far wrong.

I dont want to sound like a cable evangelist, so I'll quit while I'm behind :)
 
dudywoxer said:
that was pretty much my thoughts until I changed my deck. The first thing that I noticed was how much better the Denon cart was able to perform when strapped to a better arm, and the speakers where showing themselves to be more than capapble of showing the results, a couple of days later I changed cartridge, and the improvements where there again. Would better speakers have shown more, probably, but the cost of them could well have precluded the improvement at the front end.

I'm starting to think that providing you avaoid either a poor component, or at least a poorly matched one, anywhere in the chain, then it does not really matter if you start at either end or in the middle.
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First post here, but this thread kind of prompted me to register given my experience the past few days. My view is similar to yours. Why would it matter what you buy first, so long as you end up with components that work well together? Many of us bought speakers first, many bought amps, and many bought sources. As long as the second and third component match well with the first, and have the kind of sound you like, then you should be fine. It's all about having a plan and carefully considering options when making changes (i.e. listen before buying).

Electronics matter, no doubt. I've been running a new Audiolab 8000S with a Cambridge Audio BD650 universal player, into Quad 12L2 speakers. My impression was not good. Clarity was poor, and it was hard to follow each instrument. It kind of sounded smeared and also lacked smoothness. I assumed this was due to the high damping factor and high negative feedback in the 8000S. My old Exposure 2010s2 never sounded like that. But a big difference was that I used a matching Exposure CD player with that amp. I didn't put much stock into that until...

A couple of days ago I try out a Rega Apollo 35th Anniversary CD player with the 8000S. A huge difference! Clarity and smoothness in spades. I could hear everything and it sounded great. I am still trying to determine which amp is best but this proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that the source matters. Now in my case I went from a universal video player to a very nice dedicated CD player. If you aren't moving up in quality to that degree then it may be harder to hear an improvement.
 
spacey said:
......And the left speaker
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(2)%20Surround-sound-2-web.jpg
 
BlueEyes said:
Fusion, did you already have the 35th anniv Apollo? Didn't realise they were still available?
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A local dealer had a demo model, which I bought, and also a new one. I went for the demo to save $200.

I'm not sure where most folks on this forum are located. I'm in Canada. I don't think there are too many 35th's left, which is why I scooped this one up. I wasn't actually planning on buying a CD player that quickly...and I had narrowed things down to a regular Apollo or an Arcam CD17. But then I saw an ad for the 35th and that's all she wrote!
 
give me a good source and i'll still be smiling with pos bose speakers. on the other hand, if u give me crap source with my favorite speakers, i'd be pretty annoyed.
 
In this day and age I don't see why any audiophile can't have a very good source, amp and speakers for a few hundred pounds or less per item.

I also think it's possible to buy maxed-out, world class, about as good as anything in a swings and roundabouts kind of way: source, amp and speakers for £2000 or less per item.

So I don't see why any audiophile with an average income has to compromise on any components.

Maybe I should start a new thread on the sub £2000 World Class Component nominations?
 
lindsayt said:
So I don't see why any audiophile with an average income has to compromise on any components.

Maybe I should start a new thread on the sub £2000 World Class Component nominations?
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Yep, why don't you? - I'm sure many of us would enjoy reading of the hard earned (and expensive) lessons that you and others have learned. Not being sarcastic, for me that is what fora are for, to pass on your experience to others and discuss different approaches to the same goal.
Anybody else in favour?
Dave.
 
Much pseudo science in the audio world. Vibrating air captured by variable but sensitive instruments on the side of our heads...the signals from which are then interpreted by this perfect instrument of rationalization we call 'brain.'

A misnomer if there ever there was one.

Source / amplification / loudspeakers / room.

After many years, I assess in terms of a 'bottleneck' concept combined with a search for synergy. For lack of a better term, the assessment criteria is musicality.

Re: bottleneck...the system cannot be any better than it's weakest link...however the 'quality' of the bottleneck is very different when it shows up as a speaker bottleneck than a source bottleneck, etc.

Very fine full range monitors will become quite tiresome if fed from a noisy / brittle digital source. Initial impression of the sound may be a positive -- but a few hours or a few days will have the system not only turned down, but off.

Most systems of quality are 'built' around a room, even if the audiophile in question "ignores" the issue. Quality little speakers work better in more rooms. Quality big speakers are problematic in more rooms -- and we wax enthusiastic or discount specific loudspeakers instead of speaker / room interface.

Quite 'average' quality loudspeakers can sound truly wonderful in a difficult room, so long as the source and electronics are merely adequate and synergistic.

In my 35 years in this hobby, I have owned and particularly enjoyed perhaps five (5) very different quality systems in very different room environments. When I think back on those particular episodes (systems), there was a quality of musicality that was almost 'magical' -- and it was synergy that did the trick.

In my opinion, that synergy / musicality was easier to achieve in the 70's / 80's before the advent of digital CDs at the consumer level.... Another way of saying this: the digital domain is very, very difficult to turn into long term musical pleasure.

All that said, when I finally purchased big Tannoy DMT15 MKII professional monitors, and had them working properly within adequate but not great rooms, I have never thereafter found small high quality loudspeakers as satisfying. They can pretend quite wonderfully...but it is pretension.

Sufficiently pretentious?

WTS
 
if you want satisfaction in speakers theres only 3 you need to look at-

small- kans
medium- sara 9
large- briks

they only need say a linn classic as an all in one source and you're made.
 
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