Tír Na HiFi

DaveF wrote: You never mentioned the Devialet you had on loan. Not one breath. I'm hurt.

Yep, you're right. Although that was more curiosity than potential purchase I think. Maybe. Probably.

In other news, you have me wondering whether it's all "worth it" and I'm not sure I know the answer. In a way I feel like we just arbitrarily pick a point on the upgrade line where we think we'll be happy, but I'm not sure in my case whether it has any bearing on my underlying enjoyment of the music. I can't honestly say, hand on heart, that I enjoy music more now than I have at any other point in the hifi journey, or indeed before the hifi journey started.

That said, I think I listen to more stuff now, and my depth of musical appreciation has deepened. Did that happen because of good hifi or would it have happened anyway? Best to not overthink it.

jaybee wrote: Speakers JPW MiniMonitors

I often think of those JPW Minimonitors and especially the particular sound they had with cymbals. It was just so dry, so controlled, so completely devoid of splash, that I still remember the disgust I felt on hearing them in your bedroom. How was that possible for 60 quid?

jaybee wrote:of course Simon hex-ed me back at System 1; whatever it was about my room at that point, the soundstage bloomed out of a dead silent void….
Simon lamented his suspended wooden floor, and told me one day I'd understand, one day……

I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry.

maybe you should try some Joseph Audio Pulsar standmounters and a sub??

I know I'd give your right leg for a pair!

I think what I like about the system audio speakers is they have that monitor sense of accuracy, it's almost as if the cabinet is just an integrated stand ?

Diapason wrote:

jaybee wrote: Speakers JPW MiniMonitors

I often think of those JPW Minimonitors and especially the particular sound they had with cymbals. It was just so dry, so controlled, so completely devoid of splash, that I still remember the disgust I felt on hearing them in your bedroom. How was that possible for 60 quid?

Do you know I saw a pair on adverts and he was looking for €70...

not a bad Capital Gain there!

Ah Memory lane ... Not as Exotic as some but i got many evenings enjoyment from each one ..
Pioneer SA510
Dual CS505 /Ortofon FF15E Mk 2 !!
Celestion Ditton 110 - Loved this system .. Blew the bass units 3 times , Peter Dand in Clonskeagh must have loved me ..

Then Upgrade
STD 305D - c/w SME 3009 and A+R P77 Stylus - Noel Cloney recommendation
Yamaha AX300
Kept the little Celestions but upgraded the SME to a Mission 774 original threaded head shell block ..
Wow i got years of enjoyment from this
I think next was a big Jump for me
Arcam AVR 200 DVD 88+ and System Audio 1530s , Mission centre and 77DS surrounds , KEF 30B Sub -think these are still going with someone on the Forum , it was a mixed Hifi and HT system
Then
Cyrus .. 8vs2 with PSX
Primare DVD 30
PMC FB1s
Then we had recession ... so that was the end of that ...
Had this for a few years with upgraded mains and interconnects ..
Cheers
Hoping to get back this year to a Streaming Hifi and an upgraded Sub and TV etc ... Fingers crossed

I'll try and keep this short, but it may take on a life of its own. A friend's parents had a Goldring Lenco/Trio/KEF setup way back in the long ago where I first heard Aladdin Sane and that was me hooked. So, first real job I ran around the corner from where I was working on Dawson Street to Tony Wall in Grafton street and bought a pair of Sony speakers (no idea of the model). At the time there was a second hand shop upstairs on Nassau Street where I got a Thorens TD150 with an AT VM8 cartridge and Trio 2000A amp and I was up and running. The Trio pumped out a healthy, I think, 17 watts and surprisingly had two phono inputs. As the audio press at the time dissed Japanese speakers, the Sonys' were the first to go, replaced by Wharfedale Dovedales. The Trio gave way to a JVC JAS11G rated at 33 watts, which in turn yielded to a Marantz 2230 receiver, 30 watts but a lot better bass than the JVC. The speakers went through a few changes as well, Tangent TM1"s got a stint, but kept blowing bass/mid units, so they were replaced by Sony SSG1's, which lasted a while. The Marantz had a pre out/power in link, so a NAD power amp was tried. It didn't last long, the sound was way too hard.
The next change was seismic, moving up to Arcam C200 pre amp and Meridian M2 active speakers. The turntable arm was replaced at least once, to a Linn Basik and the cartridge switched to Ortofon VMS20 and then VMS30. CD arrived in the form of a Pioneer 5 disc changer, soon to be replaced by Marantz and then Denon models. The Thorens was finally replaced with a Rega 3 with Roksan Chorus Blue cartridge and all was still, for a while.
An early Naim 250 became available with a Naim Snaps and NAC12 pre amp, so rhe Meridian M2's went in favour of B&W602's. The CD player became an Arcam CD33 and the speakers switched to Meridian A500's, which never got on well with the Naim and sounded very harsh. In came Ruark Sabres and all was well, except they lacked bass. So, another Naim system became available, CD5 NAC112, NAP150, Stageline and a Naim power supply and this, coupled with a Clearaudio Emotion Turntable with a Sumiko Blue Point cartridge and driving PMC FB1's (bought from JFK) was the dogs for a while, particularly with vinyl until I renovated a pair of Gale 401's, which have such a sweet midrange. Currently, for domestic harmony, the Naim gear is tucked away and the A500's have made a reappearance, coupled with Meridian 596, 561 and 556 and a B&W ASW2500 sub.
Reading back over the above, there's been so much come and gone. Some has stayed, and a lot of odds and ends I haven't mentioned, like the JPW mini monitors salvaged from a skip, various headphones and various tuners.
My favourite system? The Meridian at the moment is pretty damn good, the hardness is gone from the A500's when they're driven by the 556, but for musicality the Clearaudio Emotion with the Naim, particularly the 250 and the Gales have the edge. All's been quiet for a while, if only I can stay clear of Cloney's and eBay!

Enjoyed trying to keep up with all the changes Johnny! The bold print made it a lot easier to navigate ;) Funny you should mention Tony Wall as back in those heady, hazy days I heard proper marshmallowy (sic) bass for the very first time....as I walked past the shop! In I went and my life was never the same after that :( Even thinking about my own journey sends a shiver up my spine. I'm not about to lie on the psychiatric's couch just yet ;)

Mmmm, will try to be quick on this one, if that's at all possible when it comes to musings on HiFi history...

Entry point was an Aiwa Midi system, earned after months of schoolboy chores and selling all sorts of crap to raise funds . Always loved the dancing equaliser display...

Lasted 2 years and went the way of the mythical separates.
- Pioneer A300X amp
- Aiwa XC750 cdp (I think)
- Mission 780's
Blew the midi into the weeds... Added a Technics TT at some stage, sadly not an SL1210 which was iconic for the stuff I mainly listened to at that time.

Some issues with the Missions when still under warranty saw a quick upgrade to
-Mission 780SE's
No big change from the (very likeable) sound of the original 780's but of course garnered more print in What Hi-Fi...

First considered upgrade was the CDP. Went to a
- Marantz CD63SE
Heavily influenced in my youth by the mag reviews but in truth was a very nice player and well satisfied with it for quite some years.
Into that summer that Si mentioned above and got the itch. Spent an age dithering between amp upgrade to Arcam Delta 290, Audiolab 8000a or 8000s. And then Joe Lannigan pulled out a used
- B&K Pro5 and ST140 pre/power combo
that really delivered and so that came home.
The associated speaker upgrade odyssey took in all the models that Si mentioned and also including considerations such as Ruark Talisman's (or was it Crusaders?), Mission 752's & 753's, B&W P4's and CDM1's. Gutted that the Harlech's deflated us both but the
-Epos ES22's
were love at first sound. Really fantastic speaker, so well balanced, never lost their shape and knew exactly what they could do. Very proud owner for years - and still giving sterling service to current owner.
Spent good few years with this setup, always enjoyed it...

As it now inhabited a different room, a bedroom system composed of
- Musical Fidelity B1 amp
- Acoustic Energy AE109's
- Marantz CD52MkIISE
was assembled. Good fun albeit very much on the vibrant side of things.

A visit to one of the Cloney shows in the Burlington started me looking at new sources for main system in living room. Brought home a good selection to demo and settled on
- Classe CDP10
Very accomplished player, smooth presentation and much better resolution than 63SE.
Naturally (!) after a while, started thinking about reviewing the amplification... So after various demo's of (I think) Classe, Bryston, Copland, etc. the unpredicted outcome was ownership of a
- Mark Levinson 383 integrated
This was a really beautiful amp, built like a brick sh*t-house with a wonderfully smooth but open sound. Brought you into the mix with an unforced ease. No complaints at all.
As had now moved to a bigger room again, was now hoping to partner it with one of a list of bigger floor standers which included the likes of the original Sonus Faber Cremona's. But a great deal with Ivan gave me the chance to go for something I'd being eyeing for years after first hearing them at one of the Burlington show's:
- B&W N802's
This was supposed to be the end of the upgrade madness. All components were now balanced again.

Or so I thought... After a few months of the N802's, I had to admit that they weren't taking to the room too well. Listening position suffered from a bass suck out with the N802's that I hadn't experienced before. And the higher end seemed a little detached from rest of presentation at times. Tried a change of amps to Classe CAM350 mono blocks (which could drive a train) as thought that perhaps the ML integrated didn't have quite the horses. But after a week, missed that Levinson charm too much and went back to it. Whilst mulling over what next, Ivan called and suggested I try his
- Kharma CRM3.2FE's.
Worked a treat! Fantastic coherence, no issues with bass response and so dynamic. Ivan didn't get them back.

And so perhaps a year elapsed and I wanted to hear valves with the Kharma's. (Should probably have stopped going to the Burlington shows at this stage...) This was when I had the good fortune to land on the set of
- Jadis JA80 mono's.
Have never looked back. Toob-wise I've gone through couple of sets of KT88's and now on KT120's. Have had these amps for about 10 years I think and have never considered any replacement. Worked beautifully with the Kharma's.
Swapping the integrated for the valve mono's meant I needed a pre, so opted for a
- Placette passive
Appeared extremely transparent and let the valves get on with their job..

I think it was around this point that did some dabbling with cabling and went the way of Nordost for both speaker cabling and interconnects. To be honest, never really thought about cabling again after this.

Digital things started to change then. SACD, DVD-audio, etc. Always had been impressed by Wadia, both sonically and the offering of possible direct upgrade paths, etc. So after good few years of the above setup, I changed the Classe source to a
- Wadia 581SE
Great improvement in resolution again, still one of the most accomplished CDP's I've heard. Apparently excellent build quality. But lately I've been plagued with transport issues. Pretty much fine on Redbook but no longer reading SACD's. But it's still the incumbent.

Some relatively recent experimenting with possible CA options, which included trying Gerry's Classe CP800 as a DAC, concluded with the perhaps curious outcome that I now thought an active preamp was the way to go. So this resulted in an
- Aesthetix Calypso preamp
behind added. Along with some NOS toob rolling. Changed the presentation of the overall setup quite markedly (along with the KT120 power tubes). Firmer bass, more immediate top end. Great dynamic contrast but perhaps exacerbating the Kharma lean midrange at times.

After about a year of this newish presentation, I found myself not being ultimately happy with the overall shape of things. The above changes had definitely brought the planned gains but also highlighted some unplanned weaknesses. And so I wondered about changing the Kharma's. Not something I had intended at all as had owned em for about 10 years too. But after hearing demo's of Wilson Sophia 3, Avalon Eidolon Diamonds, very small hint of Magico's, I was totally taken with the
- Sonus Faber Amati Futura's.
Which continue to gently break-in and put a smile on my face.

As they finish up on a jazz version of Diamonds & Pearls and I realise that this is the most pathetic attempt to "be quick on this one" known to man... God, did I really blurt that much. Apologies if you've just read it all...

Gold, Steve. I'd almost forgotten about the bedroom system...

Steve wrote: - Mark Levinson 383 integrated
This was a really beautiful amp, built like a brick sh*t-house with a wonderfully smooth but open sound. Brought you into the mix with an unforced ease.

Probably the best summation of that amp. I had it on trial for a bit while it faced off against the Krell 400xi. Went for the Krell in the end which I regreted slightly but still a great amp. Got REALLY hot though.

How many here admit to being influenced by the hifi mags in the early days? I used to religously note the release date of What Hifi and if Easons didnt have on the shelf when I went in I'd be a right sulky little bollox for the rest of the day.