MeBob's System - for upgrade.

[alphaGT]

There's never been anything shabby about Marantz to my knowledge, so an amp that beats it is great! Class D amps have come a very long way in recent years, constant improvement on that front. But, from what you say about all the young ones underfoot, seems you should ditch the whole setup and get a nice headphone amp, and some headphones! Go hide in the den in silence. Although, I never did. My daughter got very used to sleeping while the stereo played on!

There are some upscale audio salons in the larger cities here in the States, but in Richmond VA, near where I live, there are a few shops as you describe. But one, I'll plug now, Audio Art, in Richmond, has a great selection of new and used gear. Too bad there isn't such a place within a reasonable distance from you. I've learned a lot there, and have only been there a few times since the late '80's. but it a very dangerous place, the things I've seen there have caused me to spend a lot of money! Perhaps if I had never seen it, I'd be happier with much less?


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[meBob]

Hello All,

Firstly, I'd like one day to be able to spell absorbtion (absorption) properly.

I was giving some thought what oldius said:
"Step 1 is the speakers and their interaction with the room."

I clapped my hands in the room where my setup is and listened for an echo, I've already done this before when I moved the system into the room and at the time thought everything was ok. I heard what I thought was a weak echo, but this time decided to test it. With drawing pins, I pinned a blanket on to the wall directly facing the speakers, there was a noticeable difference in SQ, especially the bass which seemed more controlled and focused.

Turning the volume up to 9.30 usually within orchestral crescendos produces a slightly bright confused sound where detail suffers, With the blanket up it seemed easier on the ears. I've also yet to put a rug on the wood floor.

I'm now looking into a more permanent solution to that wall.

Thanks to Geoff (oldius) and everyone else who emphasized the importance of this point.

[meBob]

Hello jandl100,

It begs the question, if an amp can be made that small and perform as well as it does, where will things be in 30 years, bringing match boxed or even sugar cube sized amps to bake offs?

I'd be happy to look at any recommendations you make.

I've done post on this thread entitled "Sound absorption".

Basically, I want to now sort out the room acoustics (as best as I can) and maybe new speakers before a new amp.

[meBob]

Hello alphaGT

I've tried headphones in the past, but I just can't seem to sit wearing them and listen for any extended periods like I can with speakers. It's a pity, It would have solved a few problems and been cheaper.

We're together using words like "Upscale" and phrases like "spend a lot of money!" - ouch!, I'm starting to feel faint and a nose bleed coming on.

I have a feeling though maybe to get what I want I might have to "suck it up" and spend some of my hard earned!

[oldius]

Rob (meBob) visited last night and listened to three sets of speakers driven by two different amps.

I really enjoyed it and I'll be taking a couple of amps and some speakers to see what best suits his ears and room soon.

The biggest surprise, for him, is that forty year old gear can sound quite good!

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[Zoidburg]

Rob (meBob) visited last night and listened to three sets of speakers driven by two different amps.

I really enjoyed it and I'll be taking a couple of amps and some speakers to see what best suits his ears and room soon.

The biggest surprise, for him, is that forty year old gear can sound quite good!

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Nice one Geoff, be interesting to hear Robs thoughts now and where he sees his system going.

[Andy831]

Excellent news Geoff, this is exactly what he needed I think.

Agree with Ben it would be good to gauge Robs impressions first hand if he has the time to reply to the thread.

[oldius]

I felt Rob needed to just listen to some other gear and see what kind of sound he preferred, so we had a Japanese studio monitor, an American studio monitor, and a traditional BBC style loudspeaker. We listened to a large, powerful pre-power and an integrated amp using digital sources as that's what Bob uses. Based on his comments, he much prefers a warm sound and is very sensitive to an 'etched' treble. My suggestion is that he now experiences a comparison between some speakers in his own room with his own amplifier to see if he actually likes the sound of his own speakers.

He currently takes a feed from a PC sound card but I have no experience of that so he may need further advice once his 'rear end' is sorted!

[meBob]

Hello Geoff,

Thanks again for the listen and a very pleasant evening with yourself and Burt!

"The biggest surprise, for him, is that forty year old gear can sound quite good!".

Slightly understated there Geoff, I'd say "can sound superbly good!" myself!

[meBob]

Hello All,

A few thoughts and observations on my visit to Geoff's (oldius) last night.........

With my own system I sit facing two shoe box sized speakers and a single amp, sitting myself down and facing Geoff's JBL control speakers was quite a different experience, relatively they look like behemoths compared to mine, looking at them and the much larger size of the room they were situated in, I came to the conclusion this will be a very different sound to what I'm used to! To the side there is an impressive array of kit that feeds the speakers, my curiosity was peaked.

The music began (and the HiFi experience!), at first I wasn't able to sit back in a foot tapping mode and allow the music to wash over me, there was just too much information being delivered with a power and authority way beyond my own system. I can't remember the name of the artist in the first piece played (Geoff?), it was a live/acoustic piece, with the instruments creating a deep ambience in the background and artist's soulful and emotional voice leading the way. The depth of detail was so good that I could pick out individual guitar strings within chords, cymbals fully articulated and there was fully floated 3D effect with complete separation of instruments and voices.

For the first forty minutes or so, I was fixating on details and nuances within the music itself and not paying enough attention to the piece as a whole. I did after a while start to appreciate the larger picture and move into that foot tapping mode.

For the first setup Geoff demo'ed, he's used the word 'etched' to describe my appreciation of the system, I never found the system in anyway offensively bright or unlistenable. I think it was a case of information overload, the sheer amount and quality of the information reaching my uneducated ears then challenged my single core processor (of a brain) to make any sense of it. I'm basically just not used to that much quality (caviar for the ears?).

The second system Lentek/JBL wasn't too far away from the first one, but was an easier listen for me, less in depth analysis, but nevertheless there was copious amounts of detail in there, just delivered in a slightly different way.

The third system, vintage KEF Reference/Lentek combination was quite a bump from the previous two, compared to the other two, in the first few minutes or so it actually sounded quite dull, then after a few tracks suddenly came to life for me. It's a completely different presentation to the Lentek going through Yamaha/JBL setups, a much warmer and I thought musical presentation, with some foot tapping going on. There was still detail, but just not to the fore.

I will describe last night's session as an enjoyable eye and ear opener. If I've learnt anything from it, it's that I should have the right speakers in place before I spend elsewhere, the difference of the third system to the previous two highlights how much of an effect speakers can have on a system. I've also learnt I shouldn't be frightened of vintage kit!