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dood64

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  1. True. But if you want to change track or volume or mute with the app on your phone, you need to unlock it, go to the app and then adjust. And the phone might be in another room. Having a remote always in the room allows for instantaneous access. Apologies for the confusion. Funny how over the years Kef used the same name for 2 totally different devices. I'm referring to the Kube crossover adjuster / equaliser, not the Kube subwoofer. The Kube came with the old reference speakers. My 103/3 speakers have 8 inch down facing woofers and the kube allows you to extend or not extend the bass. By not using the kube, the tonal balance of the speakers changes, hence the need to use an equaliser, which is better in the Wiim than the sonos.
  2. Thank you for your responses. S1. And I use Android, not Apple. That's a reasonable suggestion. Use Tidal on Wiim for the main hifi, and stick with sonos if grouping zones. I'm assuming I can log into Tidal on the Wiim and Sonos, but am I limited to the number of devices I can have Tidal on? I will want it on at least 2 phones too. By global search I was referring to searching a song or album eg on sonos app, and it will find it wherever it is eg on local device, Spotify or Tidal. I believe on Wiim it only seaches one source at a time, and Connect will only search within its own app.
  3. Apologies if this has been covered but I haven't managed to find a related thread. I currently have a few sonos devices, used for internet radio and spotify streaming. My main hifi is sonos, wadia 12 dac, MF M6i, and an old pair of kef reference speakers. I am considering changing the sonos to a WiiM (probably Ultra) for the following reasons: 1. I want to switch to Tidal, Qoobuz or Deezer to get better quality source music. I'll post another thread on help with which to go for. 2. I don't use the Kef Kube any more as it introduced a hum. So I can't switch off the bass extension and the midrange of the speakers is a bit exaggerated. The bass and treble settings on the sonos aren't good enough and I'm hoping the equaliser in the Wiim will do the trick. 3. Having to use the sonos app to control it is very cumbersome and not spontaneous, so the idea of a remote is appealing. 4. The 2 way Bluetooth on the Wiim is a plus, but in reality it is unlikely that I'll use it. Questions: 1. Will the Wiim actually be sonically better? A hifi dealer told me it would be a backward step. 2. The sonos dac will be able to deal with 1411, as does the wadia. But I'm thinking of hires streaming becoming more accessible. 3. For hires, the wadia will be limited and on paper the wiim dacs are better, so the ultra may make the wadia redundant. The hifi chap told me the sonos dac is better than the wadia(as far as numbers go) but to my ears the wadia is way better for spotify streaming. It is also better for CD listening compared to the dac in my old arcam CD player. So am I expecting too much of the ultra or should I settle for a pro plus and still use the wadia even for Tidal or hi res streaming? 4. I know there are lots of other streamer and dac options, but I'm not intending on splashing out. My system is old and I only listen intently infrequently. 5. Whilst I'm happy with sonos in the bedroom and kitchen, I do group zones, so I would have to get a wiim amp and a pro too. 6. Is the Wiim app interface easy to use? I have read that you cannot to global searches as you can with sonos. I will still keep my spotify account after getting Tidal or whatever. Any responses or advice welcome.
  4. OK so not actually square. 4.85m x 6.75m. Speakers are along the shorter wall, on either side of a sofa. They are 2.5 m apart, so about 1m in from each side wall. The back of the speaker cabinets is 40cm from the rear wall. Listening position is about 4.5m in front of the speakers with about 1.5m from the seats to the wall behind. The wall behind the listening position has sliding doors that open into the next room.
  5. Agree with all comments on trying out speakers and room optimisation, but difficult until I make a trip with allocated time to mainland. FWIW, I reconnected the Kube as it would be the quickest and simplist way to tweak the sound. Unfortunately the nasty hum came back so it wasn't related to the Quads or cables. As for Dirac, I'm assuming that needs dedicated hardware like a streamer to be purchased?
  6. Oh and BTW, in the hifi shop (different acoustics and a lower end MF amp) the 703s sounded way too bright to me, so not a solution.
  7. Thank you all for your responses. Really interesting article. TBH it's hard to accurately analyse the issue as I have spent so little time actively listening to music on the system. What I do recall is that the chap who serviced the speakers commented on the midrange. I didn't pay too much attention to the comment and it was only a short time after that that I bought the MF. My initial impression was that the MF was a lot cleaner than the quad amps I previously used. However, another thing that changed was that I took the Kube out because the din plug was loose and it introduced hum (but the cables on the quads also caused hum so it may be worth retrying the Kube). So it's likely the sound signature of the midrange is the combination of the service, MF amp and loss of Kube. The bass used to be even more lumpy with the quads. In my old home the sound of the system (quads, pink triangle turntable, Kube and Kefs) was phenomenal. But that was a large rectangular room with wooden floors and wall panels and soft furnishings. I can't do anything about the room. I wonder if I should try a vintage equalizer? (Ducking now, I can already see those eggs coming!)
  8. Its a large square room, carpeted. Speakers are along the end wall and listening position about a third of the way in from the back wall, between the speakers , so probably as good as you can get. It's the family room so changing the layout would not be family friendly. As the room is large I would need beefy speakers even though we don't listen loud, quality and control is more important. I was thinking along the lines of B&W 603 or 703, but for that money there are lots of options on the mainland.
  9. Hi there My current set up is Sonos streamer, Wadia 12 DAC, Musical Fidelity M6I amp and a vintage set of Kef Reference 103/3 speakers. Some time ago I had the Kefs serviced, including re-oiling the tweeters. I no longer use the Kef Cube (adjustment box for the speaker crossover). The M6I replaced my vintage Quad 34 preamp and Quad 606 power amp. I'm finding the bass a bit too muddy and the midrange overblown in this setup. To make a meaningful improvement how much would I need to spend on speakers and what would you recommend? Unfortunately here in Hobart there is very little to audition or buy, and the main hifi shop sells only B&W speakers. I'll post separately on questions regarding streaming and DACs. Thanks in advance.
  10. chipping in to this chat.. I am also a Hobartian and have been using the 7160 for at least a couple of years. The only issue I've had is after updating to the latest firmware I was unable to run my TAPs. Unfortunately it looks like the HDD has now failed. I'm now toying with whether to get it fixed or to replace it. My main requirements are: Reception. I used to use a playTV with my PS3 and that used to break up like crazy. The 7160 has been quite good in that regard but occasionally breaks up on OneHD. I like the dual tuner function. IR or equivalent is essential. Ability to play most video formats - eg I want to play movies stored on an external HDD or USB stick and play them through the PVR. This way I would then be able to move my WDTVlive to another room. Stream recordings to another TV or streamer such WDTV. Wifi would be good as I may have to move the position of the PVR away from the current ethernet access. Ethernet over power would be an option if there's no wifi. FTP would be nice, but having said that I have only had intermittent success transferring recordings across my network. I suspect that's to do with my network rather than the 7160. I'm happy to go with another toppy - which model would best suit? What is the reception quality of the panasonic? Are there any DVD players with built in PVR that would do the trick? I am likely to buy a new smart TV soon. Are there any with a decent built-in PVR that I should consider?
  11. thanks for your response. Yesterday it no longer said that the HDD was not detected. Instead it did a scan of the HDD, but then no recordings were listed. So either everything has been deleted or its not seeing the recordings. I'll see how it goes and may do a reset before sending it off. In the meantime I was wondering about a replacement. Are there any PVRs that can double as a streamer and support a wide range of video formats? If not, the next best thing is to be able to attach an external HDD containing movies, but the PVR would still need to be able to play the formats. Can you set up a PVR to record directly to an external HDD? I find it very time consuming to copy recordings to external USB devices, and I haven't had much joy with setting up FTP with filezilla.
  12. I have had the 7160 for some time now and have been quite happy with it. Unfortunately 2 days ago, it stopped allowing me to access recorded programs. It now displays a message to the effect that the HDD is not detected when I turn it on. I have called topfield support and they say it could be a loose cable or faulty HDD. I live in Tasmania, so would have to send the unit to Sydney and it is out of warranty. I'm not sure if it's worth spending on this or to bite the bullet and get a new PVR. Has anyone encountered this problem? Could it be software related and would it be worthwhile to do a software reset? Would I be able to save my recordings if I take the HDD out? Can I just swop the HDD with a new one? If I was to get a replacement, what new PVR should I consider? It needs to have twin tuners with good reception, and the Intelligent recording function (or something similar and reliable).
  13. I have experienced exactly the same problem after doing a firmware update. I don't know which version it is, but it must be the newest one as I did it through the firmware update menu on the toppy. Did you manage to fix it? I have also read that there are issues if you use a nas drive running twonkymedia. Mine does and I wonder if his is what caused the problem? The difference from your issue is that I didn't downgrade the firmware, I upgraded from an old version. So I haven't been able to do anything with taps as it has been in this hung state since the upgrade. It's possible that it doesn't support taps but I can't do anything about removing them because its hung.
  14. Being a Sony product, I hope it's tuner is better than the PlayTV which is pretty hopeless if your antenna signal isn't 100%.
  15. Thanks. I've installed fixcurrent which has made a big difference. I've also installed justEPG and mapped the toppy's EPG to the OK button, so can access either EPG. Still need to get my head around all the customisation of Just EPG.

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