View Full Version : Back in the world of hifi at last
Hi
After a prolonged absence from the forum (and from hifi in general) I am unboxing my system for the first time in many months.
Now here's a funny thing. For the last twenty years or more, my lounge has always been built around the need to accommodate a stack of kit and yards of media storage. But during my hifi hiatus, the room has gradually become erm, well - normal. No big speakers taking up space against the most suitable wall, no racks of metal boxes. Instead, the furniture has been placed where it fits best, the telly has a spot where everyone can see it and all the paintings on the walls are unobstructed by stray bits of tech. My wife has never been happier.
Have you ever tried reintroducing hifi to a room that has got used to it not being there? It's quite a sobering experience. Two valve monos, a preamp, phono stage with power supply and separate step up transformer, CDP, turntable with power supply, squeezebox, pair of large floorstanders... Where the heck do I put it all?
It was never an issue before - new stuff simply filled gaps left by the old.
I'm seriously thinking of flogging the lot and slotting in a nice Quad 99 system - hifi without the hassle?
I'll let you know how I get on...
Cheers
Martin
Reid Malenfant
07-09-2012, 19:55
Have you ever tried reintroducing hifi to a room that has got used to it not being there? It's quite a sobering experience. Two valve monos, a preamp, phono stage with power supply and separate step up transformer, CDP, turntable with power supply, squeezebox, pair of large floorstanders... Where the heck do I put it all?
Hi Martin, what you do is no longer pay the BBC for a TV license & then just use it to watch blu rays & DVDs, maybe the occasion game if you are that way inclined ;)
Then you bring back the hifi... You know the stuff I mean, that stuff that helped you unwind & relax after a tough day at work...
:eyebrows:
TV just kills the brain cells, I mean WTF is there on there worth watching at the end of the day? Maybe a good documentary, something like Attenborough, well they are all available on BD or DVD, so Easternbenders & Horrornation Street can promptly go out the window :D
I know what I'd do, but then I did it years ago :)
However, I should add that I'm single & happy :rfl:
Good luck with whatever you do.. :cool:
I'm guessing speaker placement is going to be an interesting exercise.
"No darling, locating one speaker in the shed and one in the downstairs toilet interferes with imaging somewhat..." :D
I'm guessing speaker placement is going to be an interesting exercise.
"No darling, locating one speaker in the shed and one in the downstairs toilet interferes with imaging somewhat..." :D
Yep.
I've already had 'Can't you put them right next to each other in the corner?' and 'I don't see why I shouldn't put a lamp in front of it'.
Worst of all, my wife had the temerity to describe my 2nd Audios as 'ugly'. How very dare she.....
Martin.
I guess I'm quite lucky then, my significant other is as keen on music and the associated kit as I am. However, when I dared to try and bring a pair of Heybrook HB1's into the house she threatened to throw them out of a window, she really hates them for some reason. Mind you, I'm glad she does as I would never have acquired the DM2's otherwise... ;)
Hi Martin, what you do is no longer pay the BBC for a TV license & then just use it to watch blu rays & DVDs, maybe the occasion game if you are that way inclined ;)
Then you bring back the hifi... You know the stuff I mean, that stuff that helped you unwind & relax after a tough day at work...
:eyebrows:
TV just kills the brain cells, I mean WTF is there on there worth watching at the end of the day? Maybe a good documentary, something like Attenborough, well they are all available on BD or DVD, so Easternbenders & Horrornation Street can promptly go out the window :D
I know what I'd do, but then I did it years ago :)
However, I should add that I'm single & happy :rfl:
Good luck with whatever you do.. :cool:
Hi Mark
Too true. I've taken to shouting at the telly recently. Drivel.
Tempting though the single life sometimes is, it's hard to sit comfortably when your danglies are hung on the wall in a different room....
Cheers
Martin
Reid Malenfant
07-09-2012, 20:30
:rfl:
Ouch :eek:
awkwardbydesign
07-09-2012, 23:13
Who's a lucky boy then?
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/ListeningArea001.jpg
The fabric covers 8" of acoustic treatment, and the opposite wall-
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/ListeningArea002470x353.jpg
Rug with rockwool behind.. Just to make you jealous. (The top edges are now filled too!)
Who's a lucky boy then?
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/ListeningArea001.jpg
The fabric covers 8" of acoustic treatment, and the opposite wall-
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/ListeningArea002470x353.jpg
Rug with rockwool behind.. Just to make you jealous. (The top edges are now filled too!)
Quick, call the police - someone has stolen your hifi and replaced it with a load of portable gas heaters!
:ner:
Martin (jealous, me? OK, maybe a bit...)
jandl100
09-09-2012, 08:19
Hey, welcome back to the real world, Martin. Its good to see you around again. :thumbsup:
Maybe you should try and get hold of some of those old NXT 'picture panel', speakers and just hang the things on the wall with some nice art work!
Or maybe these Sequence wall-hanging speakers. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sequence-200-Wall-Mounted-Speakers-Brackets-/221117614593?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudio HiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item337ba30a01
You know, I've heard worse! :)
Hey, welcome back to the real world, Martin. Its good to see you around again. :thumbsup:
Maybe you should try and get hold of some of those old NXT 'picture panel', speakers and just hang the things on the wall with some nice art work!
Or maybe these Sequence wall-hanging speakers. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sequence-200-Wall-Mounted-Speakers-Brackets-/221117614593?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudio HiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item337ba30a01
You know, I've heard worse! :)
LOL! Of course you've heard worse - you must've heard everything by now!
It's nice to be back.
DON'T flame me fellas, and Simon SQ can shut up as well (:steam:), but a pair of AVI ADM40's (ONLY the 40's in this instance because spares and service may be easier in years to come, unlike the rather more disposeable ADM9 series) offer plenty of analogue inputs as well as digital ones. GOT to be better than a Quad 99 stack IMO...
Alternatively, and better for you I reckon, is to try to find a suitable cabinet in keeping, that can accommodate most of the gear to madame's satisfaction (been there and living uneasingly with the results ;))
DON'T flame me fellas, and Simon SQ can shut up as well (:steam:), but a pair of AVI ADM40's (ONLY the 40's in this instance because spares and service may be easier in years to come, unlike the rather more disposeable ADM9 series) offer plenty of analogue inputs as well as digital ones. GOT to be better than a Quad 99 stack IMO...
Alternatively, and better for you I reckon, is to try to find a suitable cabinet in keeping, that can accommodate most of the gear to madame's satisfaction (been there and living uneasingly with the results ;))
Interesting idea - I take it we are talking active speakers here?
Hmmm. Never heard any AVI stuff.
Ironically, the piano gloss of the Ushers is the only part of the system that doesn't cause domestic disharmony.
Food for thought.
Cheers
Martin
awkwardbydesign
10-09-2012, 10:01
Quick, call the police - someone has stolen your hifi and replaced it with a load of portable gas heaters!
:ner:
Martin (jealous, me? OK, maybe a bit...)
At least I'll be warm! Actually the 845 monoblocks ARE good heaters.
The rack covers are bead door curtains, taken apart and restrung BY MY WIFE. This is the important bit; she is involved in the decisions about how to hide the nasty electronics, and what rugs, wall fabrics, paint colours etc. to choose. All the acoustic treatments are hidden behind fabric that SHE likes, the wedges at the tops of the walls (unfinished in these photos) have LED lit alcoves in them for HER ornaments, the TV speakers are also hidden up there. Do you see my sneaky methods? If she then complains about the look of it all, well, it's HER fault!
Seriously though, we both like music, and a good sounding replay system, we like the same styles and colours of fabric, decor (!), etc. I am capable of making it all, so it doesn't cost too much, and she knows I can and will change it if needed.
I am very lucky, I know, but then so is she! (Don't tell her I said that.)
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