Greetings from sunny South Wales

[Hozepipe]

I always manage to miss (or forget) the 'welcome' section of forums. I've posted twice already, so a belated Hello from me. Seems like a nice place you have here :)

simon

[John]

Welcome Simon and enjoy

[Marco]

Hi Simon,

Welcome :)

It seems that you've settled in nicely already - good stuff and don't be shy! ;)

Marco.

P.S Can you add "South Wales" to the location details on your profile? Cheers!

[Hozepipe]

Thanks John

And now some filthy system details:

Front:
Pink Triangle Anniversary.
An immaculate early example in black, pink lid (of course). A recent addition replacing an also excellent PT1. The Anni has just been fitted with the latest carbon fiber/achromat-stuff armboard. Whoa! What a difference that made.

Arm is an Alphason HR100S MCS

Cart is a VDH re-tipped Transfiguration Spirit MC.

Middle:
ARC SP9 preamp
Deltec Black Slink IC
ARC D70 MKII

Ends:
NVA LS1 speaker cable into Acoustic Energy AE1 Classics on AE stands.

Strengths:
Fast, dynamic, plays realistically loud comfortably, very little (any?) bass overhang, lots of grunt and OOMPH. Very detailed but could be more so (I think the phono stage is the weak link). Plays music.

Weaknesses:
Can be a bit forward sometimes. Having a battle with HF hash (I think the power amp needs looking at). Speakers almost disappear but not quite, needs more of that. Bass is superficially not as deep as you'd get from bigger speakers but it is there and its palpable, just not truly seismic. Image focus is problematic, again preamp/amp HF problems possibly.

Other kit I've had:
Gyrodek. Bought blind to replace a PT Too. Well it's newer, must be better? Sold it a week later. Put the PT back in it's rightful place.
Alphason Sonata/Atlas (Very nice. At one time I had three HR100S arms in my possession)
PT LPT (my first proper TT. What a great little deck that is)
AT OC9 carts (had about 4 or 5 of them until I discovered the Transfiguration on a blind punt)

Moth 30 series amps x3 (little shoebox things, quite nice actually)
Lynx Stratos Monoblocks x4 plus Preamp (amps exploded, Preamp phono section broke! Lean and grippy, while they worked)
SD OBS Speakers (they were nice, wish I didn't sell them now. Would love to hear SD1s)
AE1 MK11 in rosewood (Best speaker I ever owned, foam went, got them rubbered, bad idea, sold them)
ATC SCM 12 (I'm sure they're good, but not in my system. Longed for the sound of the AE1s, so bought a pair of Classics, much better though I'm sure the originals were better)
BC1s (The mid range is a thing to behold. If it wasn't for the awful droning bass I'd have kept them)

Possible future upgrades:
Maybe an amp upgrade, interested in trying some NVA kit (might be a sore subject on here, so I've read ;)
Bigger speakers. Would like to see what it's like to actually have seismic bass. Currently deciding about some s/h AE2s...
Would love to try big Tannoys or Harbeth 30s
Tonearm. The Terminator or Funk Firm ANTI are top of the list so far.

s

EDIT: Forgot to add, I'd love to try a DD deck. Always lusted after an SP10. Been reading about the 1200s stuff on here which is very interesting indeed.

[Marco]

Nice one! We want pictchoors posted in The Gallery... :eyebrows:

;)

Marco.

[Hozepipe]

Hi Simon,

Welcome :)

It seems that you've settled in nicely already - good stuff and don't be shy! ;)

Marco.

P.S Can you add "South Wales" to the location details on your profile? Cheers!

Thanks Marco. I always get things arse-backwards hence settling in before saying hello! Social etiquette was never my strong suit.

Oh wow I just found this >> :sheep: how cool is that!

[Hozepipe]

Nice one! We want pictchoors posted in The Gallery... :eyebrows:

;)

Marco.

My listening room is also my office and it's a pig sty. But I will once I've had a bit of a tidy.

s

[Marco]

LOL. Don't worry, Simon, that's just added 'character'. We don't mind a bit of mess here! :eyebrows:

You can thank me for the Welsh flag. I should put some others on, but definitely not an English one (joking!) ;)

Marco.

[Hozepipe]

A Gog! That explains it! :lol: :sheep:

[Slatedeck]

Noooooo, Marco is def not a Gog, are you Marco :lolsign:

[Marco]

Och no, nae way! Or I could say, Certamente di no. Sono veramente Italiano :eyebrows:

;)

Marco.

[Hozepipe]

You did :)

[Marco]

I live in North Wales (and love it) but I was born in Scotland from Italian parents :)

Marco.

[Hozepipe]

I figured it out ;)

What's bugging me is I don't know the equivalent pejorative for us South Waleans. You must know Marco?

(and thanks for the heads up on Anthony Matthews in the other thread)

[Slatedeck]

Taffy or Taffs :)

[Hozepipe]

That's what everyone calls us, Gogs included. Tsk. Thought it might be something I hadn't heard of before for a moment. My Welsh is embarrassingly piss poor but I wonder what 'those Southern wankers with their electricity and inside toilets' is in the mother tongue?

[Slatedeck]

I'll ask the missus in the morning, my Welsh is poor too, can understand the spoken word but can't speak or write it to save my life.....:confused:

[Marco]

LOL. It's a funny thing, maybe I'm wrong as I've only been living in Wales for 8 years, but there appears to me to be more Welsh speakers (people for whom Welsh is their first language) in North Wales than South Wales, and yet the folk from South Wales are the ones with the proper 'boyo' accents! :lol:

In Wrexham, for example, which is the only town in North Wales that could be described in any way as 'large', you regularly hear people speaking Welsh all over the place. I'm not sure it's quite the same in the likes of Cardiff or Swansea. And if you go 10 minutes outside Wrexham you're literally into the 'wilds of Wales' inside little villages in the 'land that time forgot' where English is most certainly the second language. Indeed, you're considered a foreigner if you don't speak fluent Welsh! And if you're English, let's just say the welcome isn't always the most pleasant... ;)

In Scotland you have to go right up North or into the islands before you'll hear anyone speaking Gaelic. Slang is much more common, especially in cities like Glasgow, where folk speak a language all of their own, and it's bloody hilarious! :eyebrows:

Marco.

[Prince of Darkness]

LOL. It's a funny thing, maybe I'm wrong as I've only been living in Wales for 8 years, but there appears to me to be more Welsh speakers (people for whom Welsh is their first language) in North Wales than South Wales, and yet the folk from South Wales are the ones with the proper 'boyo' accents! :lol:

In Wrexham, for example, which is the only town in North Wales that could be described in any way as 'large', you regularly hear people speaking Welsh all over the place. I'm not sure it's quite the same in the likes of Cardiff or Swansea. And if you go 10 minutes outside Wrexham you're literally into the 'wilds of Wales' inside little villages in the 'land that time forgot' where English is most certainly the second language. Indeed, you're considered a foreigner if you don't speak fluent Welsh! And if you're English, let's just say the welcome isn't always the most pleasant... ;)

In Scotland you have to go right up North or into the islands before you'll hear anyone speaking Gaelic. Slang is much more common, especially in cities like Glasgow, where folk speak a language all of their own, and it's bloody hilarious! :eyebrows:

Marco.

Yes from what I've been told most of the Welsh speakers are in the North. Perhaps this is a reflection of the south having been more industrialised and cosmopolitan in the past?
I believe the speaking of Gaelic is also more widespread on the west coast than the east in Scotland. I live just outside Peterhead, about 30 miles north of Aberdeen, and nobody round here speaks it.:ner:

[Hozepipe]

No, you're absolutely right. I've lived in Newport most of my life and lets just say that the 'No' vote got good support here.

In Cardiff there's a stronger Welsh identity, it's the capital and slightly further from England. But my experience is that the welsh-speakers there can be very elitist, not all but quite a few. I hate not being able to speak my own language, bloody Saesneg!! I took an WLPAN course and did OK but it petered out because I found it harder and harder to progress - I'm an an imbecile when it comes to languages.

The Gog accent is really strong I thought, and bizarrely interesting (ever heard Gruff Rhys from the Super Furrys speaking?) - surely you've noticed Marco - maybe you're too close to it? But it's true you'll never hear an impression of it in mainstream media or comedy. That's the preserve of the classic 'Boyo' SW Valleys accent. I don't know why that is, probably because no gogs have ever become important enough for anyone to take notice of them :lol:

[Marco]

Aye, try telling that to Ian Rush or Carol Vorderman! (Not that she's considered that important or anything) :eyebrows:

;)

Marco.

[Hozepipe]

Only kidding of course, Super Furry Animals are (mostly) from North Wales and they're one of my most fave bands ever. I didn't know Carol Vordaman is Welsh?! She must have kept that quiet :)