And now, the end is near...

[Haselsh1]

Those flat screen tellys have the worst sound of anything that makes sound.

You are seriously not kidding.

[Macca]

You are seriously not kidding.

I know. I lasted 2 days with mine before I went to the huge effort of putting a proper hi-fi system together to run the sound through. It was offensive to listen to, regardless of settings. They make all sorts of claims for how good the sound is as well, complete bollocks. The 1979 Sanyo black and white portable I had as a student sounded better, with it's little mono 2 inch driver.

[struth]

Depends on viewing habits. I play at night a lot so have it very quiet. Downstairs I can run it through the q acoustics via a tos but usually font bother.
Quite like telly being telly

[Lerxst]

You can probably keep the radiator under the window off in the winter!

Looks great!

[Haselsh1]

You can probably keep the radiator under the window off in the winter!

Looks great!

LOL, yes the room is about twenty two feet long with another dual radiator so the window one is actually turned way down. Surprisingly though the amplifier barely gets hot due to the valves being run well below their limit.
The house is rented and is (by Lincolnshire standards) quite expensive but the sound in this room is the best I have ever had. Absolutely loving the extra low frequencies over a room that used to be twelve feet long. The B&W's though do not go as low as the old KEF Q500's with maybe a whole bottom octave being missing. The midband though is so damn neutral and the treble is so smooth when compared to the KEF's.

[Haselsh1]

Well over the last five/seven days Sue and I have heavily indulged in music reproduction via the sound system and we both agree that the sound has changed quite dramatically. This can only be due to either the power amplifier bedding in at last or the B&W's bedding in at last, or both. They will probably both have around 100 hours on them now but the sudden change in sound is quite dramatic and the stereo sound stage is so bloody obvious now where it certainly wasn't. Absolutely loving this new presentation especially the imaging which is now completely engulfing...!

[Haselsh1]

OK, another update on the current sound system.

I was getting a little tee'd off with the sound and was thinking that just maybe a damn big transistor power amp may be a better choice. I then remembered a member of AOS talking about transformer outputs. Light switch moment followed.

Mine and Sue's main issue has always been the treble which is a tad too explicit. So, last night, new hi-fi session using the 8 Ohm taps. CD was 'Organika' from The Peaking Goddess Collective and within maybe the first ten bars it was highly obvious that things were different. The synthetic kick drum had much more weight and heft. The whole sound was warmer and more mellow and much more like a classic EL34. The treble was very rolled off and way more restrained and generally more valve like.

So we swapped back. Thin, weedy sound with no real substance. Absolutely dreadful in comparison. So after 14 months of owning the pre/power and 10 months with the loudspeakers we have now discovered the 'real' sound of our system. We now have a sound that is full, warm and much more powerful in its presentation.

I guess we now have to start all over again. First choice..? Brand X, Moroccan Roll.

[Jimbo]

So the end isn't really near.

[brian2957]

It's good when a plan comes together Shaun . Took a while mind , but hopefully you're there now

[Haselsh1]

So the end isn't really near.

Maybe tonight when it is all dark and spooky with the glow of the valves and the curtains are drawn we may well be facing the final curtain.