What stereo(s) do you listen to? What do you want?

[Guccinski L.V.]

Anyone is using https://www.hifishark.com/ ? I highly recc it.

Using restored MARANTZ 170DC, Pre-Amp and Cassette deck from the series, all from early 70s. Power is superb. Speakers are restored sealed PIONEER CS-E 700 in Teak.
I enjoy my audio system even when it is turned off.

 

[chobochobo]

I don't really use it, but it sometimes turns up in my searches regarding bits of hifi equipment. What's to recommend about it?

I had toyed with this mega lot of opera R2R with an Otari. This guy has a load of opera R2Rs that I've never seen on ebay or discogs. Some excellent stuff. Correction, probably almost all excellent stuff but opera like all music genres is very personal. Not everyone likes opera, not everyone who likes opera likes all operas. I can't get into Wagner at all. I'm firmly into a small set of Puccini, Verdi and Mozart mostly. I've been watching the Met Opera streams and expanding my horizons, but again half hte stuff is not for me.

Plus this is competing with the potential mega Garrard 301 for space and wallet-resources. I mostly listen to vinyl on a Yamaha GT2000L, and I like it but for the past month I've not really used it because of the newly acquired compact cassettes, R2R etc. Yesterday, I was checking out some ebay purchases that has been piling up. I chose one of my favourite albums, Getz Gilberto, I found a minty copy of the first stereo issue (I have the mono, the R2R and the SACD). Vinyl looked cleaned, I dusted it and used my zerostat, but the first side was really full of crackles. I checked it was clean as far as I could tell, but I put it on my cleaner and cleaned it. Not much better. Improved in later tracks, and not bad on the other side. The next discs didn't improve my perception of vinyl (vs R2R), some old Animals LPs that I had got from a Discogs seller, on a whim (they have this bit where they 'recommend' discs from a seller if you have just bought something from them. Crackly and static, but sort of expected given the condition. Then another LP that I just bought because it was there and 'why not if there's combined shipping', a bog-standard Fat Dominos greatest hits. This was great - clean sound with very little pops and crackles. It restored my confidence in vinyl, as did the next lot of Billie Holiday (I'd searched out the original mono releases).

Gosh getting long. Circle back to R2R. I was going through the tapes that came with my machine. Next up was Santana greatest hits, and it was meh. 3.75 ips, but still very meh - my Getz Gilberto was also 3.75 but it sounded a lot better. I guess it has a lot with the effort put into mastering and how they duplicated them.

So do I spend the bucks on the R2R which will likely need lots of pricey music, or the Garrard which is super pricey but I have lots of albums already and even new audiophile reissues/ 45RPMS are lot cheaper than the 15ips R2R music. Or do I stick with my Nakamichi Dragon, make recordings with metal/ chrome? LOL, first world problems.

 

[poorsod]

Another reason I’m thinking about jumping in to vinyl is because Art Dudleys daughter is auctioning of his vinyl collection on eBay. I figure it’s not a bad way to get started and help out the family. OTOH I don’t even have a record player or phono preamp!

Streaming is convenient although my dedicated streamer is down. I’m listening to music via Airplay Or Spotify. So is it worth it to get into physical media in case my streamer goes down again?

 

[chobochobo]

I found this googling for Art Dudley (sorry, I didn't know about him before)



I'm hoping I never get so serious.

 

[Guccinski L.V.]

Hording is bad no matter what the excuse...

 

[poorsod]

Art Dudley was a pro audio writer, editor and publisher for years so it’s not unexpected.

edit: oh you meant the guy in the video. I thought you were talking about Art.

 

[reidd]

Classical is the sweet spot in vinyl collecting. There's a ton of it out there, most of the buyers kept it in superb condition and since it's not super in demand today, prices are really reasonable. Too bad I'm not really into it

 

[poorsod]

One of my favorite articles about audio was written by Art Dudley

System Building Rulesand How to Break Them

www.stereophile.com

 

[gnatty8]

So I recently replaced my cartridge (Ortofon blue) and was wondering, just how much of a difference does "alignment" make when compared to eyeballing. Will the average person notice a large difference?

 

[Staxxx1]

I'm using Marten Audio Django XL speakers, which are floorstanders, so thinking of changing to an active pair of speakers called the Kii Three which will give me a smaller footprint in my apartment. This will mean also parting with my Absolare integrated amplifier but will hold on to the Memory Player server and High Fidelity cables.

 

[chobochobo]

So I recently replaced my cartridge (Ortofon blue) and was wondering, just how much of a difference does "alignment" make when compared to eyeballing. Will the average person notice a large difference?

Apparently not much. I've thought about this too, bought headshells with adjustable azimuth etc but then I'm fairly easily pleased when it comes to hifi. I don't buy expensive interconnects or cables, though I did pick up some used 'esoteric' speaker cables recently. My listening space alone precludes me 'getting the most' out of it.

 

[gnatty8]

Apparently not much. I've thought about this too, bought headshells with adjustable azimuth etc but then I'm fairly easily pleased when it comes to hifi. I don't buy expensive interconnects or cables, though I did pick up some used 'esoteric' speaker cables recently. My listening space alone precludes me 'getting the most' out of it.

I am only starting to pay more attention to my set up this year, as streaming has long been satisfactory for me. May be due to the fact that my hearing has sucked ass for years as a result of backwoods target practice sessions without hearing protection, motorcycle riding, and loud shows with no plugs. Anyway, next up will be new floor speakers.

 

[Staxxx1]

Happy to give you a run down of any speakers you may be considering - I have had several high end brands through the years, although am nowadays simplifying my system. (Wilsons, A Capellas, Peak Audio, Avalons, Kharma, Focal, B&W, Peak Audio, Focus Audio - which is great value for money I think, among many others). I still dream of getting some Rockports!

 

[Guccinski L.V.]

Playing around with audio speakers for many years I came to one realization: Your listening volume will be the most important factor in selecting the speaker. There are several speakers that have superb sound at high volume but subpar at medium to low. For apartment living one has to get something extremely efficient that could deliver at low listening volume (like DeVore Fidelity or Triangle). If one can put a real distance between his listening room and a neighbor then I would suggest to audition Wilson or ATC.

 

[Huntsman]

Perhaps this is a dumb question: Is there a device I can store like 50GB of digital audio on so that I can play it out of vintage audio gear that is not an apple, and not a general purpose computer?