Calling All Hi-Fi Buffs !

[mikey4444]

During my work this week, I met a chap that had the best hi-fi set up I have ever heard, comprised of this lot :::

http://www.audioresearch.com/en-us/products

He had to switch it on for 15 mins to warm up !....valves and all that.

Absolutely bloody wonderful....never heard anything like it before. He had some B+W speakers, that looked like Daleks !

[Old_Geezer]

Audio Research is a well known name.
But after I left my teenage I ceased to be so fussed about fidelity of HiFi.
Rarely listen to music for it's own sake these days. Always background to something else.

[hc4361]

Was his listening room set up properly for acoustics, resonance, anti-vibration and all that jazz?

[mikey4444]

OG...tend to agree with there !

I have a Mission Cyrus system at home, which cost me a great deal of money 25 years ago, but now spend most of my time listening to Radio Three through my Pure DAB radio.

HC...as far as I could see, the room he had this installed was set up as carefully as could be. The cables linking everything together cost thousands alone. I have never heard music replayed like this before.

Funnily enough though, he didn't have any vinyl, only a massive CD player.

[NoMercy]

My OH has just bought himself a pristine and unused record player from a colleague. Now he'll be on eBay at every opportunity buying vinyl. I despair!

[mikey4444]

PS...whether he is still on speaking terms with his neighbours though is anyones guess ! Those speaker were monsters !

http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Speakers/Home_Audio/800_Series_Diamond/800-D3.html

[mikey4444]

I have just checked out the price of those speaker....£12,500 a pair !

[HansUrbancka]

He'll still Not have the wonderful sounds of music played by an Orchestra in a Concert Hall; such as the Royal Festival, Royal Albert etc. He'll certainly get ear shattering volume to disturb all his neighbours, without real finesse to the music.

Hans.

[mikey4444]

Hans....he only had a pop music CD to demonstrate his hi-fi ( Phil Collins )
I had some Wagner and Shostakovich in the car but thought it might be too cheeky to use them !

As the vast amount of music is heard in either broadcast or recorded form,
its difficult for most people to tell if the fidelity of what they are listening to home is correct or not.

But from what I heard on Friday, this stuff was the most impressive I have ever experienced. If I had a criticism, it would be that it was set up too wide, and really needed a much bigger, deeper room. In a small concert hall, it would have been amazing.

[-Talbot-]

O dear ... all that snazzy equipment and he abuses it with Phil Collins.

[Tilly2]

Mr T still uses the Yamaha amp that he bought in 1974 before we'd even met. It cost a lot of money but is still going strong. Money well spent, he says.

I usually leave the house when he decides to listen to some music.

[NoMercy]

Talbot, Phil Collins is one of the greatest! Every single song he produced was a hit :-)

[mikey4444]

No accounting for taste I suppose !

[NoMercy]

How very dare you, Mikey. I am a connoisseur of music...

[-Talbot-]

I did like him in Roger Rabbit.

[wolf63]

I volunteer in a charity book and music shop. Collectors come from far, far away to buy Vinyl. We also sell online and the music sells well.

I have loaded all my music onto my laptop and just play it all randomly whilst I am playing with the laptop.

[Tilly2]

Is no one impressed with Mr T's amp?

[mushroom25]

hi-fi buffs? flanders and swann had the measure of you guys way back in the day....



// Who made this circuit up for you, anyway? Bought it in a shop? Oooh, what a horrible shoddy job they fobbed you off with with....
Surprised they let you have it in this room anyway, the acoustics are all wrong. If you raise the ceiling four feet... put the fireplace from that wall to that wall... you'll still only get the stereophonic effect if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard. //

[vulcan42]

Tilly2, yes, I'm impressed, as I also have Hi Fi equipment bought about the same time and is still going strong. It's made by Marantz and has a warmth and depth that modern equipment,no matter how expensive, lacks. CD's are very clear but in my opinion also lack the warmth that vinyl displays.

[Tilly2]

Thanks for the response, Vulcan.

Mr T says the same. He loves his Vinyl and his amp.....and his speakers! They are all very precious.

[HansUrbancka]

@Tilly, You have a man who knows something worthwhile about Audio. Why not stay awhile with him and listen to a few vinyls. Who knows. he may have a record of whom I think was the greatest of all Tenors... John McCormick.

There is a story that two gents were leaving a concert of John McCormack and one said " How wonderful his breathing was when he sung" tp which his friend replied "Nobody has heard John McCormick breath when he's singing".

Please just click the following link and have a listen to a 1916 recording and ask Mr T, what he has to say about my comments.



Hans.