NLC - hifi

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:38 am

Here's the puppy:-

http://www.fat-man.co.uk/docs/product_0 ... kers.shtml

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:17 pm

Hmm, that's very cool

You could do a lot worse than to pick one of them up without speakers, then spend a few hundred notes on some nice bookshelf jobs with stands... Would give you a cool system to start with and some nice speakers if you ever wanted to go the whole hifi hog, so to speak!

I like the way that you can plug in your TV or an external CD source too - good deal for the cash

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:32 pm

we've had them - they are pretty good

Shug has a set in Bg for ages

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:37 pm

Andy G wrote:we've had them - they are pretty good Shug has a set in Bg for ages

Andy, I pray that i never visit one of your shops with my credit card

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:13 pm

I say spend about 20 quid on an MP3 player, another 20 quid and you have one each. Job done.

That leaves 1,460 quid to spend on petrol and FF 2008. You can even bring the better half at, wait for it, *NO EXTRA COST*. You can even bring your "hifis" with you too.

Music, who needs it

Robin

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:30 pm

graeme · Post by **graeme** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:11 pm

GregR wrote:Here's the puppy:-

http://www.fat-man.co.uk/docs/product_0 ... kers.shtml

Interesting concept. The warm, velvety tone of a valve amp paired with a 64kbps lossy-compression pocket-sized digital source.

I shall ponder that one while I enjoy this snack of Beluga caviar and spaghetti hoops...

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:38 pm

graeme wrote:Quad speakers are still fantastic... I have 2 pairs, and the quality of built and sound is incredible. The L-Series won more awards that you can shake a stick at, and the follow-up L2 series are even better (I have a pari from both ranges). I've never seriously auditioned any Quad amps as they are beyond my budget.

Greg, for your budget I'd look first at Arcam, Roksan, NAD and Rotel for stereo amps. I chose Rotel, but you can't really go wrong wthi any of those - personal preference is 99% of choosing hifi.

For speakers, try B+W or Quad L2-series. I'll vouch for the Quads as being simply b.e.a.utiful! Floorstanders will give you a deeper bass, but if you might find a nice pair of bookshelf monitors for your money. Correct positioning and sticking them on really, really heavy stands (try Atacama) will improve the lower end.

Ultimately, stay the hell out of Richer Sounds. Go find a nice dealer who will let you bring your own CDs and set up a listening room for you to try stuff. Then give them your business (i.e. I'm dead against buying hifi kit online just because it's cheaper!)

Get a decent surge protector power strip, but don't get suckered into all the £100-cable nonsense.

Good luck! A nice hifi will bring you oodles of pleasure and enjoyment for years, and is a really rewarding way to spend your hard-earned.

Good advice...

I bought used as it's a better way of stretching your money out. You could spend say £250 on the amp, £250 on speakers. Need a cd player so that's £100. Stuff like interconnects/speaker cables/speaker stands another £100. Then you might want to think about vinyl (which I love, and I suspect you might also

. Say £300 for a used turntable. You can either go for a fixed chassis, or a suspended subchassis. I went for a Rega Planar 3 which is fixed, but as a result takes less setting up. I felt a good first toe into the vinyl water. If you get a used turntable, you'll want to get a new cartridge. I spent £70 on a Denon DL110 high output moving coil cartridge, which goes well on my TT.

Total so far, £1000, not including a new cartridge... (and maybe another £100 for a phono stage).

Tut mentioned the Linn Sondek LP12 which is the dog's danglies (some might say) but still v pricey (compared to your budget). Something like a systemdek IIX900 would be around your budget if you wanted to go for a suspended subchassis (benefits from better isolation).

Basically, there's a million different variables, all of which can arguably make a difference, and at the end of the day everyone's different. The only way to find out is to listen to different stuff and see what you like.

Once you've got the basic setup, you'll prob want to maybe upgrade to better speaker cables or whatever, so if you don't max. your budget at the start you'll have more scope for guilt free additions...

Oh yeah, and you'll want to get hold of plenty of vinyl and that can be pricey, especially if you're buying new. I'm currently trying to stop myself from splurging on new records over christmas.....

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:13 pm

Pop round if you want to listen to my cheap AV / MP3 setup, perfect for me needs. Need to bring beer mind.

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:08 pm

£80k for speakers http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/04/04/kef_mu ... y_aud.html

Cheapo alternative £11k for speakers http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/05/11/bws_di ... akers.html

£150 for a turntable whatever that is http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/06/05/the_15 ... table.html

Jacobite · Post by **Jacobite** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:35 pm

I've got an ecclectic mix of old Quad esl 57's leak valve amps, EAR pre, systemdec turntable's with some more modern stuff thrown in to spin the silver discs on inc MarantzCD, Quad 77 pre -power combo and 99 cd-p ~ not all the prettiest of wife friendly gear I'll grant you but often I'll spend hours just listening to music

what most important is that what ever you get you demo in a similar enviroment to the one you will use it in with the music that you listen too
even the best systems in the world can sound very clinicical and cold with some artists music

Much of the modern equipment is designed to produce music that will be on in the background rather than envolving you with it so that you sit there enthralled with what your listening to
just my 2p's worth

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:42 pm

[quote] These new speakers from French audio specialists, Waterfall Audio, are certainly a departure from your typical wooden enclosures.

Made entirely from glass, the stunning looking Victoria EVO and IguasÃ§u EVO speakers [famous African/South American waterfalls, even if the second one is unpronounceable], make it look like the drivers are floating in the air. The Victoria speakers stand 40in tall [IguasÃ§u 34ins] and both are just 10in wide.

â€œThe Victoria EVO, is a three-way/four-driver design, includes Waterfall's proprietary, downfiring, 8-1/2-inch passive woofer, the IguasÃ§u employs identical drivers (including the passive woofer) in a two-way/three-driver arrangement. Both models use a key Waterfall technology: the Acoustic Damping Tube (ADT), which performs near-total damping of mid- and low-frequency 'back-wave- artifacts, and precise damping control of midrange reflections, allowing the speakers to produce superbly accurate, high-end performance within their effectively undamped glass enclosures.â€

BiggestNizzy · Post by **BiggestNizzy** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:05 pm

I'm happy with my wharfedale Diamond 9.1's maybe not that flash but they are hooked up to my Ebay Spec Linn Majik and I use my XBOX 360 and TV as my sources (yes they are the week link in the chain) but they do the job and I get great sound

Aplogies for the crappy phone camera image

Post by **Shug** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:22 pm

graeme wrote:
GregR wrote:Here's the puppy:-

http://www.fat-man.co.uk/docs/product_0 ... kers.shtml
Interesting concept. The warm, velvety tone of a valve amp paired with a 64kbps lossy-compression pocket-sized digital source.

I shall ponder that one while I enjoy this snack of Beluga caviar and spaghetti hoops...

But hook them up to an iAudio D2 playing FLAC files - moist...

Yes, I've tried it.

tut · Post by **tut** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:14 am

My doctor, who is also a family friend, has cancelled his order on an Aston DB9 and bought a new Hi-Fi system instead.

He got a £20K discount on it, and paid £50K for a complete set up.

tut