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Total Rethink

We moved to a much smaller house and most boxes had to go. I reasoned that streaming is easy and takes very little room so kept a classic Naim system (just Hicap/32.5/250) with Roksan Xerxes turntable and a Squeezebox Touch tucked on top for streaming. It doesn’t take a lot of room and it sounds really good; I get a lot of fun from records and it is more of a talking point for visitors (thinking back to pre-COVID days!). I would greatly miss the records.

TIm
 
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I think it's probably interior decor advice you need more than hi-fi. I had a brief hankering to minimalise recently and then realised I'm still going to need a hi-fi rack, so what's the difference between a rack with 3 boxes and rack with 6 or 7?

What do you use for record storage? If it's IKEA, this is bulky and there are more discrete options using 12mm plywood.

To complicate matters, you didn't mention your cartridge. When anyone is falling out of love with their record collection and contemplating living without it, I'd first ask if the cartridge has seen better days. Perhaps a nearly new cart and a room tidy would reignite your vinyl passion?

Saying that, there's clearly a lot of sense in the suggestions to try living without vinyl for a while.
 
hifinutt said:
I think if you bought that one on the wam for 2400 from a well known chap ( cootie) you could sell it easily at that price . I think you will be surprised! As good as the Radford is

I drove my tannoys with 2 massive box valve amps and changed to a small active ss pre . Takes up much less space and sounds 80% as good . I am prepared to take that hit to save space . It really does boogie !!! ( tannoy Eaton legacy ) and that's with modest class d monoblocks . These tannoys can sound good with so many amps
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That's very interesting and I'll definitely give it a look but more out of curiosity than anything else.
 
Elephantears said:
I think it's probably interior decor advice you need more than hi-fi. I had a brief hankering to minimalise recently and then realised I'm still going to need a hi-fi rack, so what's the difference between a rack with 3 boxes and rack with 6 or 7?

What do you use for record storage? If it's IKEA, this is bulky and there are more discrete options using 12mm plywood.

To complicate matters, you didn't mention your cartridge. When anyone is falling out of love with their record collection and contemplating living without it, I'd first ask if the cartridge has seen better days. Perhaps a nearly new cart and a room tidy would reignite your vinyl passion?

Saying that, there's clearly a lot of sense in the suggestions to try living without vinyl for a while.
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The cartridge thing is quite intuitive of you. I have a Transfig Spirit which I can't use presently. The mc on the minimax hums so I use a mm cartridge. Until recently that was an Audionote IQ1 which I've swapped for my Dad's Ortofon bronze. The Bronze has added some extra punch and I'm enjoying it very much. The iron platter on the Thorens and the hum from the minimax has made mc problematic but the Ortofon is doing a sterling job.
 
I’m moving to a smaller house but can’t possibly get rid of my music collection (circa 4,000 LP’s and 3,000 CD’s). I’ll just have to find somewhere to rack out and store it all. I have, however, hugely downsized my system over the past few years. The music is the most important thing.
 
Ponty said:
I’m moving to a smaller house but can’t possibly get rid of my music collection (circa 4,000 LP’s and 3,000 CD’s). I’ll just have to find somewhere to rack out and store it all. I have, however, hugely downsized my system over the past few years. The music is the most important thing.
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I'll second that!
 
Whatever you do keep the Radford. By all means do your streaming experiment by parking your turntable for a while. By all means downsize your speakers to smaller ones eg JR149s, with which the Radford sounds sensational. But don't be tempted by the Sirens of sand-based audio being half as good. A Nelson Pass gets most of the way there, but the Radford still trumps it!
 
Juancho said:
Whatever you do keep the Radford. By all means do your streaming experiment by parking your turntable for a while. By all means downsize your speakers to smaller ones eg JR149s, with which the Radford sounds sensational. But don't be tempted by the Sirens of sand-based audio being half as good. A Nelson Pass gets most of the way there, but the Radford still trumps it!
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I admit that I love the Radford and the Tannoys together.
 
Pretty sure Paul at rfc had a Radford made for him so yes they are good I am sure . I bow to juancho greater knowledge but I do still find loads of smaller more practical amps can give a lot of joy with tannoy
 
I've found that the space problem isn't the system, it isn't the records I already have, it's the rate at which I acquire more. Increased level of enjoyment with system = increased purchases. Only thing I don't like is that records are now fashionable, I prefer being on the margins. I would build an extension before downsizing. Sorry this isn't much help.
 
Is streaming that great for finding new music? I use the radio, Youtube (since you don't need great sound quality), a few music newsletters, this forum, and the guy who runs the local secondhand and indie record shop. I'm not short of potential material, the limit is the available listening time. I don't have a streamer but suppose the laptop would do the trick if I needed.
 
forester said:
Is streaming that great for finding new music? I use the radio, Youtube (since you don't need great sound quality), a few music newsletters, this forum, and the guy who runs the local secondhand and indie record shop. I'm not short of potential material, the limit is the available listening time. I don't have a streamer but suppose the laptop would do the trick if I needed.
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Friends often suggest new music and the streamer is a convenient way to listen to it.
It's as though my system knows I'm thinking of trading it in, it's dropped the right channel tonight and I've had too much to drink to start faffing with it! Tomorrow's job I think
 
forester said:
Is streaming that great for finding new music? I use the radio, Youtube (since you don't need great sound quality), a few music newsletters, this forum, and the guy who runs the local secondhand and indie record shop. I'm not short of potential material, the limit is the available listening time. I don't have a streamer but suppose the laptop would do the trick if I needed.
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Based on what you are listening to or the music you have previously selected typically a streaming App will suggest similar Artists and also create a playlist like a tailored radio show. Also it will show a list of similar/related Artists and Music styles. I use Roon and have discovered loads of new bands this way.

I also use Shazam to find out what is playing on TV or in a cafe so I can stream it later. Likewise reading record reviews and then streaming to see if I want to buy the LP is a really useful thing.
 
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Ok so I guess the streamer suggestions depend on the cross section of music you play on it. Good if you use it as your main source or at least something representative of your range of preferences, not so great if you play all your favourites off vinyl! I guess you can follow a thread in the same way as Youtube which would be useful. Think it would go the same way as my cd player, a dozen disappointing discs in and it stopped being used.

Good as a preview before purchase although the record shop guy is very good too.
 
Evo said:
The mc on the minimax hums so I use a mm cartridge.
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Here's the rub. I've had hum issues in the past (a real puzzle with a wood bodied Grado) and they drove me crazy so I sympathise. It seems to me that getting to the bottom of your Minimax issue would be the best start. Have you established if it's a fault in the Minimax or a grounding/RFI issue in the system? If the former, could you contact Audio Emotion, since I think they are the distributor and are always super-helpful, I've found. If the latter, then I shall pray for you in an atheistic way.

It seems to me that you've got a great MC cartridge that you're not using, and a very good MC stage that you've left for dead. So whilst you may be delighted by the bargain fun of the Ortofon Bronze, ultimately you are not getting all that you could, and all that you've had in the past. I think that's bound to cause lingering disatisfaction. I do hope you find a way of sorting it, because you have brilliant amp and speakers and potentially a great vinyl system once you sort those issues.
 
hifinutt said:
Pretty sure Paul at rfc had a Radford made for him so yes they are good I am sure . I bow to juancho greater knowledge but I do still find loads of smaller more practical amps can give a lot of joy with tannoy
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Yes, last time I spoke with Paul he was using a Radford sta 25 from Radford Revival and he got a superb sound. He did recommend an active rather than passive pre- I think he was using a Tron at the time. My Indus does the job and didn't cost much and the Trin is in a different price bracket altogether.

I think I'm going to stick where I am for now and trim down the records.
 
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