My Hifi journey began approximately 45 years ago as a young pre-teen... brought up on a diet of classical, big-band & the occasional bit of 'popular' music deemed as 'acceptable' by my parents...

 

Luckily, my two elder sisters managed to introduce me to something a little more contempary in the form of Hendrix, The Doors, Bowie and alas... The Bay City Rollers... 

 

Please note that these early photos of components/systems are lifted off the net, relying on my ageing memory but, I'm confident they are a fairly accurate depiction of my Hifi Journey...

 

So, my parents system was a Pye 3 in 1, we were not allowed to use the record player without seeking permission & then only with supervision from my father who was paranoid that we would damage something. As a result, many of my early records got played just once & transferred to tape, largely because my parents decreed my music to be 'rubbish'... LOL

 

One of the first albums I ever owned was a cassette copy of Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon which my parents ordered for me through the World Record Club. My teacher in Year 4 used it in a 'spatial awareness' lesson & I loved it... had to own it.

 

Fast forward a few years, as far as I can figure out, about 1982 & I received a Philips Spatial Stereo Cassette player... I remember it well, the first song I ever heard on it was Icehouse: Great Southern Land & it blew me away... I have no idea what the 'spatial stereo' button actually did but, it definitely made FM radio sound infinitely better...

 

 

In my early high school days I got heavily into the NWOBHM with bands such as Venom, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Saxon, Motorhead and the like. My parents absolutely loved that stuff... NOT!!

 

At around the same time frame, a school mate introduced me to Mike Oldfield.. talk about opposite ends of the musical spectrum but, something about his music just captured my interest... another lifelong obsession was born... funnily, my parents thought his music was 'rubbish' too...  On the 18th of May, 1982 I saw him live at the Thebarton Town Hall in Adelaide, it was my first ever concert & I remember it well to this day.

 

In 1983, an older friend of mine introduced me to Metallica in the form of 'Kill Em All'... wow... the speed, anger & sheer aggression of that sound sparked a lifelong love of Thrash Metal that continues to this day... My first record purchase was an import copy of Kill em All, bought in a little record store in an arcade in Adelaide circa 1984... cost me $25 of my hard earned cash (a lot of money for a record back then), I still own it along with a number of Iron Maiden albums & subsequently Ride the Lightening & Master of Puppets. Along with a variety of other albums, I still have these copies to this day...

 

 

 

At 18, I joined the navy so, my ability to collect & listen to vinyl was somewhat curtailed. A visit to Singapore in 1986 led to the purchase of what was then a very, very new piece of kit, a Sony Discman....

 

 

For appoximately the next 10 years, this was my hifi system... paired with headphones & at some stage, a pair of powered speakers (fairly small ones from memory)...

 

@Amber Technology

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

The journey continues.....

 

In 1996, married now (for 2 years), I decided it was time to get into 'real' hifi... We (I use the royal we here) purhased a Kenwood system containing a 6 disc carousel cd player & paired it up with a set of Infinity Studio Monitor speakers... as you can see, my understanding of what constituted HiFi would need a little maturation... LOL

 

 

Fortunately, the speakers were in somewhat better condition than the ones in the image above...

 

This system rocked, I loved it & played it LOUD... my wife wasn't too keen on either my choice of music or the volumes at which I liked to listen... a trend which largely continues to this day...

 

@Amber Technology

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

In late 1997, whilst visiting Adelaide from our posting location in Woomera, South Australia (yeah, most people think it odd that a Navy chap was posted to outback South Australia too... LOL) we visited Grenfell Hifi. There I found an amplifier that just blew my mind... A Musical Fidelity A3, dual mono block... I just had to have it. Can't remember what promises I made my poor wife but, $2,500 later I was the proud owner of my first quality Hifi amplifier... in the ensuing months I purhased a few components secondhand from a Hifi shop in Unley, South Australia which consisted of a Mission Cyrus DAD 5 CD player & a Nakamichi Twin cassette deck, I don't recall the model but, the photo below looks familiar...

 

 

I still own the Musical Fidelity A3 amp & after having it serviced recently, it is patiently sitting in a cupboard awaiting the day my son finally moves out & then it becomes his...

 

Somewhere along the way (around this timeframe) the Infinity Studio Monitors were moved on & a pair of Acoustic Research HO8's took their place...

 

 

@Amber Technology

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

At some point we (well probably me coz, the wife doesn't really care) entered the Home Theatre arena... our first foray was an Onkyo AV receiver & we purchased a pair of Infinity SM65 for rears & an Infinity centre speaker although the model escapes me.... I haven't included pictures of these as our HT remained separate from the Hifi but, the SM65 did briefly become my Hifi Speakers at some stage in the mid 2000's when my HO8's died...

 

 

In early 2000's a good friend of mine gifted me a Rotel RP550 direct drive turntable.. this marked my return to records... My modest collection (around 40 Lp's) was quickly retrieved from my parent's house & after the TT received a much needed service & partial refurb, I began rediscovering the music of my youth on vinyl... Ah, the memories...

 

 

This turntable is still in my possession & like the Musical Fidelity amp, will go to my son when he finally leaves home... (soon, I hope.. he's 24!!)

 

In more recent years, The SM65's entered the system as a replacement for my 'literally' crumbling HO8's... & then, in about 2018, I swapped them for a set of Jensen QX2 -35 floor standers. These too are sitting in a spare room awaiting my son's departure...

 

 

@Amber Technology

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

In 2020, having accumulated a little money over the years, I decided to indulge myself in a new Amplifier..... well, that's how it started... LOL

 

I wanted to experience a valve amp... I'd begun playing guitar in my late forties & experienced valve guitar amps; I liked what I heard in comparison to SS amps so, the search was on for a valve amp that met my needs & most importantly, at a price I could convince my wife was reasonable. After much googling, review reading, etc... I settled on a Prima Luna Evo 100.. unfortunately where I now live in Cairns, FNQ there are no HiFi stores (there used to be once) so, auditioning was not an option... I just had to take a punt..

 

So, for the princely sum of $3,250 I purchased my first new bit of hifi kit in nearly 25 years...

 

 

The purchase of a new amplifier quickly spiralled out of control as I decided that a much better TT was needed... about the same time I joined SNA to seek advice... here I discovered the 'classified section' where bargains abound... I also met @Bisguittin, who generously offered advice (among many others) & assisted me on settliing on a TT that was for sale in the classieds, an Acoustic Signature Primus fitted with a TA-500 Tonearm... A cartridge was now needed & Leon introduced me to @cafe latte who, lives only a couple of hours drive away. With Chris's guidance, we trialled a couple of cartridges within my not very big budget & settled on an ATVM95E fitted with a black diamond stylus... my journey into some serious listening pleasure was ignited.. Then Chris had to introduce me to his favourite cartridge, the London Super Gold... man, it blew me away... never heard anything like it.. decided that I had to have one... one day...

 

 

Whilst relatively satisfied with where I was at now, I decided that new speakers were in order... a pair of Tannoy XT6F was found online.. and duly purchased..

 

With the addition of the Tannoy speakers, I have to admit I found the top end a little to bright & brittle for my liking... to the rescue came @xlr8or, with Kirk's well considered advice a few tubes (well okay... all of them actually) were rolled to tame the top end... the resulting combination of Brimar 12AX7 Short plate O getters, E80cc / 6085 Amperex made in Holland gold pins & matched quad of Tungsol EL34B has resulted in a beautifully balanced & pleasant sound across the frequency spectrum.

 

Bit more phaffing around, change of speaker cable & the purchase of a Yamaha WXAD 10 with the idea of putting all my digital music & CDs onto a spare hard drive connected to the Wireless Router & I arrived pretty close to where I am now...

 

@Amber Technology

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

Most recently, I accumulated the funds to by my dream cartridge.. yep, you guessed it, a London Super Gold however, I was not convinced that my Acoustic Signature Primus TT would be a good match.... and then I stumbled upon a Technics SL1200 Mk 2 sitting, waiting for a new owner in our one and only local record shop... A conversation with Chris about what to look for & a deal was struck with the owner of said store... Brought home, new RCA's dogdily soldered onto the interconnects as the old ones were broken & the TT was inserted into my system.. The TT was fitted with a Stanton 680EE.. to be honest, this TT setup kicked my Acoustic Signature's butt..... I was pretty happy... of course, Chris had to mention that some mods could be done which would take this already good TT to another level... a discussion about which KAB mods to undertake ensued... The record collection has grown a little in the past 6 months.. well, okay... it's more than tripled..

 

Mods now completed, London Super Gold fitted... I can honestly say, I have reached my HiFi nirvana... I should stop messing around... just buy more records and enjoy them... 

 

 

 

 

Don't you just love that valve glow...

 

 

The complete system as it is today...

 

 

My entire listening space with sound treatment courtesy of my mother (RIP) who made lots & lots of quilt wall hangings which helped with toning down first reflection points in my 3 x 3m room..

 

 

 

@Amber Technology

 

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

So... am I done.. well.... I should be but, I just can't help lusting after a pair of Tannoy Prestige Kensingtons... just gotta save some pennys & convince the wife... 

 

 

Wish me luck eh...

 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading about my Hifi journey as much as I have living it.... thanks for reading...

 

@Amber Technology

 

 

10 hours ago, FNQ Outcast said:

So... am I done.. well.... I should be but, I just can't help lusting after a pair of Tannoy Prestige Kensingtons... just gotta save some pennys & convince the wife... 

 

 

Wish me luck eh...

 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading about my Hifi journey as much as I have living it.... thanks for reading...

 

@Amber Technology

 

 

Friend got some of this companies speakers they are amazingly well made.

https://www.adelaidespeakers.com/high-power.html

18 minutes ago, cafe latte said:

Friend got some of this companies speakers they are amazingly well made.

https://www.adelaidespeakers.com/high-power.html

Yeah, I've been looking at Adelaide speakers for some time now... price is somewhat more wife friendly too...

 

Also been looking at another Australian speaker company, Wyndham Audio

 

https://www.wyndhamaudio.com.au/collections/types?q=loudspeakers

8 minutes ago, FNQ Outcast said:

Yeah, I've been looking at Adelaide speakers for some time now... price is somewhat more wife friendly too...

 

Also been looking at another Australian speaker company, Wyndham Audio

 

https://www.wyndhamaudio.com.au/collections/types?q=loudspeakers

These have always interested me

http://www.eraudio.com.au/DIY_Speaker_Kits/Acorn_MkII_ESL_kit/acorn_mkii_esl_kit.html

1 hour ago, cafe latte said:

These have always interested me

http://www.eraudio.com.au/DIY_Speaker_Kits/Acorn_MkII_ESL_kit/acorn_mkii_esl_kit.html

I'd love to try a pair of electrostatic speakers & have seen a few going locally on gumtree. From what I read though, the glue used to fix the ribbons doesn't play well with our humidity...

1 hour ago, FNQ Outcast said:

I'd love to try a pair of electrostatic speakers & have seen a few going locally on gumtree. From what I read though, the glue used to fix the ribbons doesn't play well with our humidity...

They use epoxy so it should not be a problem at all. I used to have esl57's in Innisfail and I rebuilt them here and sold them as wanted more bass, the big full range ones I linked I almost bought.

The main thing with humidity is make sure dust covers are well sealed.

Chris

18 hours ago, FNQ Outcast said:

At 18, I joined the navy so, my ability to collect & listen to vinyl was somewhat curtailed. A visit to Singapore in 1986 led to the purchase of what was then a very, very new piece of kit, a Sony Discman....

 

 

For appoximately the next 10 years, this was my hifi system... paired with headphones & at some stage, a pair of powered speakers (fairly small ones from memory)...

 

@Amber Technology

 

My very first cd player was a very over-built Technics player like that. It was an unclaimed repair from a customer that wasn't faulty to begin with.  I was 18 at the time then. Brings back memories... 

A few changes afoot the past few days... No new gear but, I've 180'ed my room setup after some chatting with folk on here...

 

Have achieved better speaker positioning & the 'equilateral' triangle relationship between speakers & listening position... It's not perfect but, there are discernable improvements.

 

Looking a little more closely at affordable & practical room treatment options & considering a foray into DSP room correction in the form of the NAD C658...

 

 

Edited October 15, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

On 27/9/21 at 10:06 PM, FNQ Outcast said:

In late 1997, whilst visiting Adelaide from our posting location in Woomera, South Australia (yeah, most people think it odd that a Navy chap was posted to outback South Australia too... LOL) we visited Grenfell Hifi. There I found an amplifier that just blew my mind... A Musical Fidelity A3, dual mono block... I just had to have it. Can't remember what promises I made my poor wife but, $2,500 later I was the proud owner of my first quality Hifi amplifier... in the ensuing months I purhased a few components secondhand from a Hifi shop in Unley, South Australia which consisted of a Mission Cyrus DAD 5 CD player & a Nakamichi Twin cassette deck, I don't recall the model but, the photo below looks familiar...

 

 

I still own the Musical Fidelity A3 amp & after having it serviced recently, it is patiently sitting in a cupboard awaiting the day my son finally moves out & then it becomes his...

 

Somewhere along the way (around this timeframe) the Infinity Studio Monitors were moved on & a pair of Acoustic Research HO8's took their place...

 

 

@Amber Technology

I was posted to Adelaide in 1993 and did frequent Grenfell HiFi / Challenge HiFi and others near weekly - great times there that I fondly remember!

So, a NAD c658 has been duly purchased & I'm somewhat impatiently awaiting its arrival...

 

I'm working on some budget friendly first reflection treatment options that are 'portable' to suit my room arrangements...

 

Oh, & I'm considering a Parks Audio Puffin phono stage & bigger speakers or subs....

 

Yeah, I'm completely done messing with my system... Yeah right!!

 

Watch this space...lol

 

@Amber Technology

So... my system is morphing.. the NAD C658 unit has arrived... all connected up now.. some issues trying to get songs of my DNLA media server (poor man's NAS), abject failure & resort to a HDD plugged in the back & all is good...

 

No playing with DIRAC as yet... hopefully do first round of measurements this week... I have some acoustic foam panels coming, I'm looking at new speakers & mulling over a Parks Audio Puffin Phono stage with digital out...

 

So... whilst Hifi Nirvana was indeed achieved.. apparently I think there is something beyond that... LOL

 

@Amber Technology

 

So, the journey continues...

 

First DIRAC measurements & target curves introduced into the system... some fiddling to do with speaker placement & when it arrives, some room treatment with acoustic foam panels...

 

 

Some new toys ordered this past week in the form of a Parks Audio Puffin with Coaxial Digital out to feed a digital TT signal to the NAD c658 plus, it has some pretty cool features I'm keen to checkout such as Magic (click & pop removal) and some measurement tools for refining cartridge alignments

 

 

And an upgrade/upsize in the speaker department in the form of a pair of Adelaide Speakers 1093PQTL (upgrade 6.5" mids in Blackwood Veneer)

 

 

Happy (ier) days ahead...

 

Some very basic & rather inexpensive room treatment today... finally glued the acoustic panels to the acoustic pinboard & located everything according to some calculated & then observed first reflection points...

 

For details please see the link to the acoustic treatment thread rather than duplicating it all here...

 

https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/525234-uber-basic-uber-budget-treatment-of-first-reflection-points-yep-i-think-it-will-do/

Have you run any sort of Mode Cal software to see where you problem room modes might be?

Reason I ask as to me at least, I think you might have started on the slippery slope of doing room treatments a bit Ad Hoc.

I suggest you get the readout of your room first, then start treating the worse room modes with the appropriate treatments......a lot can depend on the furniture you have in the room.

 

I have two big leather recliners in my room that work as bass absorbers, so I haven't felt the need to put in bass traps for instance.

In a small room like yours [mines only a bit bigger] you can suck the life out of your system if you put stuff all over the walls, especially at ear / listening height.

 

If you are going to try a treat first reflections, I suggest you DON'T do it ear/listening height, do it ABOVE and over, so say from the ceiling treat a quarter of the way down the wall form the first reflection point, and around the same size along the ceiling, you'll get rid of the hash without losing ambience.

 

I'll Scan a good article about it [when I remember where it is 🤔 ]  and send you it as a PDF  - in a PM [ I Can't post it as it will break copyright]

4 hours ago, Tweaky said:

Have you run any sort of Mode Cal software to see where you problem room modes might be?

Reason I ask as to me at least, I think you might have started on the slippery slope of doing room treatments a bit Ad Hoc.

I suggest you get the readout of your room first, then start treating the worse room modes with the appropriate treatments......a lot can depend on the furniture you have in the room.

 

I have two big leather recliners in my room that work as bass absorbers, so I haven't felt the need to put in bass traps for instance.

In a small room like yours [mines only a bit bigger] you can suck the life out of your system if you put stuff all over the walls, especially at ear / listening height.

 

If you are going to try a treat first reflections, I suggest you DON'T do it ear/listening height, do it ABOVE and over, so say from the ceiling treat a quarter of the way down the wall form the first reflection point, and around the same size along the ceiling, you'll get rid of the hash without losing ambience.

 

I'll Scan a good article about it [when I remember where it is 🤔 ]  and send you it as a PDF  - in a PM [ I Can't post it as it will break copyright]

Ummm, not as such & yes, you are right you could call it an adhoc approach.. sort of... I don't have the old DIRAC measurement curves from my Tannoys & prior to doing any additional treatments but, I can assure you... it was a mess both in the bass region but, elsewhere as well.... actually, just realised I can get the old curves... here they are:

 

This is my old speakers (Tannoy XT6F) with no 'treatments' as such other than carpeted floor, soft quilted wall hangings, large sofa & decent curtains over the window... as you can see, Bass was not good & to be honest, the >500Hz region was pretty messy too... 

 

Now, it wasn't unpleasant but, I knew I could do better. I don't have the room for bass traps so, DIRAC is employed to manage bass modes. I like Bass, controlled bass so, I actually use a Harman 10dB boost curve & let DIRAC manage everything in the <500Hz area. It does a very good job I feel, bass is still very articulate but, it sounds like it should, clear, tight & controlled. From what I understand, DIRAC really doesn't manage reflection points so, I haven't bothered buying a full license. 

 

So, lots of reading both on this forum & other sources about treating first reflection points... chatting with other forum members & also deciding how much I was willing to spend, remembering that my listening room is still the spare room & needs to be flexible in how things are setup & can be pulled down if needed & I decided to do what I did... https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/525234-uber-basic-uber-budget-treatment-of-first-reflection-points-yep-i-think-it-will-do/

 

Now, I'm not a sound engineer but, I do understand the difference between a very active room & a dead room, thus I didn't go overboard... The result (my observations) before my new speakers arrived was that vocal clarity was vastly improved & some rather bright highs (which I actually think was predominantly the Tannoys themselves) were tamed. Listening to albums I was very familiar with revealed subtle sounds, low key backing vocals, etc that I simply had never heard before, ever. The sounds I was now hearing were very detailed but, with no loss of musicality & warmth. I was planning to do a new set of measurements post treatment with the Tannoys but, my new speakers turned up the day after I finished my modest treatments so... I didn't bother. What I do have is the new measurements from the Summoner speakers. It's unfair to directly compare the results because I cannot definitively say my treatments did all the work however, I think the measurements coupled with my own observations. 

 

Enter the new speakers & a new set of measurements:

 

As you can see.. the bass (with no DIRAC) is a somewhat abominable mess but, the >500Hz region shows a much flatter response. How much is a change of speaker vs any room treatment? To be honest, I really cannot say because I haven't taken the treatments away to do measurements... I probably should but, I probably won't because I am more than happy with what I believe I have achieved. I still use the Harman 10dB boost curve in DIRAC because, as I said.. I like bass... a lot...

 

So, yes... happy to acknowledge that my approach can honestly be considered 'adhoc' but, I think the measurements & more importantly to me, the results I'm hearing demonstrate reasonable success. Could it be better? Probably yes, can I be bothered.... well, that would depend on what it would require, how much it would cost & whether or not if fits with what the room is used for at other times...

 

However, all that said, I'm always open to suggestions, would love to have a read of the PDF you mentioned, always ready to reassess, learn & improve things, always...

 

Cheers

 

 

Fair enough.

I didn't realize that you were so far into "Digital " ways of trying to sort the same problem.

 

I agree.......Go For It if you want..............but by the same token........RAW none digitized  - Analogue DECCA is what you bought into..........to use digital processing is like, NAH! F it, I'll use this to make it sound better.

 

I like a challenge.......... A EAT Glo Petite phono stage will allow me to do that ,.......I hope......will soon find out.🙂

11 hours ago, Tweaky said:

Fair enough.

I didn't realize that you were so far into "Digital " ways of trying to sort the same problem.

 

I agree.......Go For It if you want..............but by the same token........RAW none digitized  - Analogue DECCA is what you bought into..........to use digital processing is like, NAH! F it, I'll use this to make it sound better.

 

I like a challenge.......... A EAT Glo Petite phono stage will allow me to do that ,.......I hope......will soon find out.🙂

Ah, now Mr Tweaky, you raise an interesting question here indeed...

 

It's one I have indeed pondered on in making the decisions I have made...

 

From a 'purist' perspective then yes... I have done the unthinkable in converting an analogue signal from an amazing cart to digital & then played with it... (some might say I'm destined for Hifi Hell in the afterlife).. 

 

However, I think from a practical perspective, I have made careful & considered choices to achieve the best overall soundscape in my challenging room without fundamentally messing with the source in a destructive manner. Subjectively, I do not believe I have compromised the output of the London Super Gold (Decca), I certainly can't notice any fundamental change in the richness, presence & overall performance in the soundscape I'm hearing but, it's less muddled, more detailed with the use of digital processing to fix room issues than it was without.

 

To be honest, I really don't buy into the whole Analogue vs Digital argument... people get very passionate about the differences and how one format is better than the other... I like vinyl, I do & prefer to listen to my favourites in this format over digital. Do some recordings appear or actually sound better on vinyl than digitally, yes, IMHO I think they do but, & it's a huge but, I think that has more to do with the recording, mastering process, engineering decisions, etc than it does to do with the format, interestingly, I have digital format music that sounds better than the vinyl version I might own too, same reasons apply.

 

Then of course there is the equipment you are using to play the chosen format & of course, the room in which you listen, & lastly... there is the issue of our own sound receptors & processing system (ears & brain).

 

I'm not generally a fan of using 'EQ' on music & with the exception of upping the bass (because a) I can & b) I like it that way) I don't believe my approach is really messing with EQ (although of course, technically speaking, I am). My Puffin offers a large number of options to 'tweak' the EQ, that I don't use (I might play with them one day, maybe), the NAD C658 also allows me to play with some tonal controls & of course, DIRAC (if I bought the full licence) would most definitely allow me to apply any EQ I want, but I don't want to do that.. all I want to do is control some room issues that I can't practically control with physical measures in the listening space I have.

 

I'm gonna leave it there for the moment... I'm more than happy to discuss why I think the issue of Analogue vs Digital is pretty much a furphy from a purely format perspective & I'm happy to 'hijack' this thread for the discussion, since it's my thread... LOL

 

I'll await to see if the flames develop... not from you Mr Tweaky I suspect but, perhaps from some others with 'stronger' views on the subject... (the reason I generally don't comment on the Analogue vs Digital threads)....

 

 

Edited December 18, 20214 yr by FNQ Outcast

How are you finding the new Summoner speakers?

I always love the old IMF Trasmission line speakers [well the ones made in the UK that is, not the inferior USA made ones....long story ]

I just had a look on the Adelaide Speakers website and see the 1093PQT are Transmission Line type speakers, but I don't see any Transmission line port, and there is no pictures of the speakers from the rear on their website , so I guess it must be somewhere at the rear.

 

I also see they have a option for a sealed version in a smaller cabinet

 

Which version did you get ?

1 hour ago, Tweaky said:

How are you finding the new Summoner speakers?

I always love the old IMF Trasmission line speakers [well the ones made in the UK that is, not the inferior USA made ones....long story ]

I just had a look on the Adelaide Speakers website and see the 1093PQT are Transmission Line type speakers, but I don't see any Transmission line port, and there is no pictures of the speakers from the rear on their website , so I guess it must be somewhere at the rear.

 

I also see they have a option for a sealed version in a smaller cabinet

 

Which version did you get ?

I got the 1093PQTL but, it's slightly modified in that Edward used a more efficient bass driver & a 6.5" mid range. They are transmission lines & the port is at the bottom rear of the speakers...