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Thread: A reconstituted audiophile

  1. #1
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

    Smile A reconstituted audiophile

    Hello and greetings to all the Art of Sound forum members. I guess you could call me a reconstituted audiophile, because at an earlier time in my working life and in another land, I was the manager of a Philips vinyl pressing plant and musicassette factory. In those days my personal home kit consisted of 15” Tannoy’s driven by Quad amps and a JVC QL-7 turntable with a Decca London Gold cartridge, a Philips N2552 cassette deck, a Revox B77 two track, 1/4 inch reel-2-reel and living room space was unlimited. My career path then diverted me into broadcast TV and motion picture equipment, and into photography as an aside.


    Now my best beloved and I live in the UK and the Tannoys are long gone, as are the Quad amps. For the past five years I have been running a simple NAD 326BEE driving Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers from a NAD C515BEE CD player.


    At present I am resurrecting the QL-7 turntable, which hasn’t been powered up for the last 20 years. A Shure M97Ve has just arrived which should match the NAD and the Wharfedales nicely. (I still have an Ortophon SL-15 and a JVC Z1s, both uninspiring.) Once that is done, I will set about examining the condition of my vinyl collection.


    SO, I guess the principles remain the same but technology advances at quite a rate. I know the fundamentals of audio recording and reproduction and heritage gear. The rest, I will rely on you all to teach me. I hope I won’t bore you.

    GrahamS
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  2. #2
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Surrey

    Posts: 7,103
    I'm Rob.

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    Hi Graham, from the kit I have had in the past which included a pair of the original Diamonds (I think I still have them somewhere?), I suspect that what you have got sounds very acceptable. What happened to the Tannoy's?

    Are you intending to stick with vinyl or go in another direction?
    Buy Bose...And get your parking validated!.

    https://youtu.be/ZCBe7-6rw4M

    No Highs...No Lows....It Must Be Bose!

  3. #3
    Join Date: Sep 2009

    Location: west mids, UK

    Posts: 3,268
    I'm Phil.

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    great to have you graham . what do you think of the supposed cassette revival ?
    ou might slip, you might slide, you might
    Stumble and fall by the road side
    But don't you ever let nobody drag your spirit down
    Remember you're walking up to heaven

    Don't let nobody turn you around
    … Walk with the rich, walk with the poor
    Learn from everyone, that's what life is for
    And don't you let nobody drag your spirit down

    Eric Bibb

  4. #4
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,786
    I'm Martin.

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    Hi Graham, welcome to the forum.

    Maybe you can settle the age old argument about whether 'mould release agent' is real or imaginary?

    Tech might have moved on in some ways but big Tannoy DC are still highly rated and used by a lot of members here so if you are thinking about maybe going back to them you are in the right place for advice.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

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    I'm quite happy with the Diamonds, Puffin, considering the space and room volume restrictions of a British end-of-terrace house, which is the very reason I sold the Tannoys when I moved in here.
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  6. #6
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hifinutt View Post
    great to have you graham . what do you think of the supposed cassette revival ?
    I think it's just an excuse to use some of the musicassette equipment that is languishing in lofts and basements. I would love to have a "legitimate" excuse to own a Philips N2552 again, but who would I be kidding?
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Puffin View Post
    Are you intending to stick with vinyl or go in another direction?
    What other direction is there? Reel-2-reel? My 1/4 inch 15 ips master tapes have deteriorated to the point of self-destruction. For convenience, nothing beats CD. Vinyl is a PITA in comparison, but is oh so satisfying.
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    Hi Graham, welcome to the forum.

    Maybe you can settle the age old argument about whether 'mould release agent' is real or imaginary?

    Tech might have moved on in some ways but big Tannoy DC are still highly rated and used by a lot of members here so if you are thinking about maybe going back to them you are in the right place for advice.
    Thanks Martin. AS for release agent, there was no such thing used in my plant, which used steam-heated hydraulic presses fed with pre-plasticised poly-vinyl chip patties. The first couple of pressings from a new stamper side may have suffered from cleaning residue from the nickel-forming process, but there was no "release agent" used in the press. I don't know whether such an agent may have been used in the presses that produced "high quality, limited run, manually pressed, certified defect free" (delete whichever is not applicable) records in "boutique" pressing plants, but the application of such an agent would certainly not have allowed for maximum efficient production output in a high capacity plant.
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

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    PS Puffin: The kit I now have sounds very "British" (very smooth, quite warm and definitely not harsh) and suits me well. I learned long ago that every country or culture has it's own preferential "sound character." Some are very similar, most are not. This is what matching components is all about
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    Hi Graham. Welcome from me too.

    Please feel free to contribute to any of the disussion going on, or start your own threads.

    Shame you sold the big Tannoys years ago. They do take up some room I know, but they sound glorious .


    Enjoy the forum,
    Geoff.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

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