Mirages made in Devon
I'll get the Devon buyout of the way first, either it's just me or lots of folks will've noticed the disproportionate volume of 2nd hand HiFi for sale in the South West, probably from the 'Oh yes, that looks interesting! I wonder where it is? Oh, Exeter...' angle.
I've tinkered lots in the past few weeks, nothing pricey, in fact I've gone backwards in terms of cost. Out have gone a Cambridge Audio (please keep reading...) 840A V2, an Arcam A85 and several lesser beastettes. In with he much lauded Mini 1, Bantam Gold and. Roksan Caspian. Least of my quandaries, amplification. For now.
In the Gallery section I highlighted he dilemma/choice between an ancient pair of B&W 802 80s and some equally ancient but sounding considerably less worn out Kef Reference 103.2s.
Them a week later, the price was very right on a pair of World Design A25s - (XL tweeter, improved crossover and, with covers complete with World Design badges) - receipts showed the parts alone, without cabinets were over 400 well spent pounds. They're clearly 'better' than the 802s, I think. Though convinciing myself something costing the price of a small family saloon in the 1980s (I'm guessing here) must just must be better than something built for the cost of a year's insurance on a small family saloon in 2010., isn't necessarily objective, or healthy. Then there's the 103.2s, the A25s seem better, until I swap them around again. The Caspian was getting more from the 802s too, despite being lower powered than the amps it had replaced.
I doubt, to the point of certainty, I'm the first to be driven mad in such a way. I just wasn't really sure, or couldn't decide, the best combination. And maybe the test tracks I was playing to death weren't broad enough anyway, who knows?
Then I saw some "Monitor Audio speakers, £10" on Gumtree. I couldn't tell what they were. Smallish, and a tenner. That'll do, the landing needs a second system... Having sold a pair of Monitor Audio's acclaimed RS6s a few months ago, I wasn't expecting much.
To my delight, they were R852s, black tweeter, single wire version. But they were broken. Tweeters didn't work. Trimming an over long story slightly, I had them fixed. They seemed hardly used (stored in a loft for 20 years, replaced by "some small Bose?! speakers") and the bass drivers are like new. The tweeters had become disconnected at some point, that was all.
I'm listening to them (to music actually) now. And have been all evening. Overall they sound better than any of the other speakers I have, or have had, although I've not done a head-to-head with the ES14s, as they're broken. The R852s cost me £60 in total. I'm forcing myself to not start swapping speakers around again to unconvince myself they're better sounding than the others. £60, or £10 plus 2 hours labour.
Can this be right? Or is there such a thing as "HiFi blindness"? Whereby you inevitably forget the merits of formerly used equipment. Do you reach a state of desperation and subconsciously 'encourage' yourself to be satisfied, however briefly, for a while? Or are monarchs streaking with such regularity it long since ceased to be alarming?
It's not a mirage. The R852s are better sounding (in this room with this equipment), HIFi blindness is a myth. Unless you spend well into 4 figures there's no point buying newer speakers and amp.
I don't care if that previous paragraph is true. Just wanted to get this curiosity off my chest and hopefully ring a few recognition bells for folk. Tell me "it's ok" and that you "understand". Please.
Reply With Quote
