hamish hifi happiness

[The Vinyl Adventure]

righty then
here is my main system all neat and tidy for the first time, i have only just got everything to fit on the rack (apart from the napsc) and as such, for the first time, i actully want to show it off on a forum

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/P1010217.jpg

speaker shot

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/P1010219.jpg


check out my original xerxes and original roksan stand
i bought this deck and then went to uhes where they had this stand and isolation platform, they had taken it in part ex ages ago. i was so chuffed when i found out it was designed around the deck i had just bought. pretty cool 80's style roksan logo i think you will agree

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/P1010218.jpg

and here is my office system... does anyone else agree that my hifi rack may have become somewhat superfluous. im also fairly certain the perspex platform and sorborthane pods do very little in this contex but the turntable i orderd never turned up so there it stays

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/P1010221.jpg

also im fairly certain that the qed interconect cost me more than tripath amp!

[aquapiranha]

Nice! how are you liking the Bantam (?) amp? and I am liking the Linn....

[The Vinyl Adventure]

the bantam is pretty bloody good in fairness! im pleased with it anyway. the more intensive listening i have been doing whilst messing with the opamps in the 7520 has made me aware of the fact that you cant turn it up full whack as previously thought without the sound suffering. that said though it still performs very well at all volumes with the drop off of quality at full volume being relatively speaking only very slight! for the £80 i couldnt be more happy! i had a look under the bonet of it the other day and was actually really suprised to find (not that i really know what im looking at) it actually looked well made. i was expecting loads of realy skinny wires but its actually pretty hard core under there. even the thin bits of wire seem to have been extra insulated.

the linn, of course, is a beautiful thing!
i have posted this comment else where but i really do feel i have hit gold with having just bought the 7520 for upstairs and the linn for downstairs. they have both really changed my music listening life, and i dont think that can be said for many hifi purchases. they have both made truly massive improvements and i mean that as aposed to the normal audiophile 'massive' which i find normally means 'very slight but worth while' if you get my meaning!

[aquapiranha]

Thanks for the info Hamish. I had a Trends TA10.1 that I modified, and to be fair I thought it sounded amazing, again considering the cost. I am toying with the idea of buildind a chip amp soon. I think if you do not have an extensive vinyl collection that streaming is a very good way to go - and yes I am considering that too!

Oh, FB1's? I used to have a lovely pair of TB2S+'s....great speakers PMC's.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i love my pmc's i think they are the fave bit of the hifi the bass has such a level of control for the level that comes out (sorry im apaling at these sound descriptions)

any thoughts on how i could get a little bit more out of the bantam seeing as it sounds as though you have experience in the area!

[break-3]

I love that turntable stand - very cool. :smoking:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Thanks for the info Hamish. I had a Trends TA10.1 that I modified, and to be fair I thought it sounded amazing, again considering the cost. I am toying with the idea of buildind a chip amp soon. I think if you do not have an extensive vinyl collection that streaming is a very good way to go - and yes I am considering that too!

Oh, FB1's? I used to have a lovely pair of TB2S+'s....great speakers PMC's.


also,im not sure if this is of any use/interest to you but i have heard very good results from music recorded via a soundblaster x-fi in 24/96 from a tt. its a pain to do but it means you get to have all your vinyl in hires format for digi playback. from waht i understand the adc in these soundblasters is good enough in most cases as long as you have a good tt/stage to send it the signal

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I love that turntable stand - very cool. :smoking:


YEAH!!!!! i knew someone would think its as ace as i do!!

[aquapiranha]

i love my pmc's i think they are the fave bit of the hifi the bass has such a level of control for the level that comes out (sorry im apaling at these sound descriptions)

any thoughts on how i could get a little bit more out of the bantam seeing as it sounds as though you have experience in the area!

well the Bantam has a different layout to the Trends, however essentially they are the same really. It would certainly be beneficial to replace the coupling caps with better quality units ( the tank caps also) if you can post an internal pic that would help quite a lot.


I think the TB2s+ that I had were essentially the stand mount version of the ones you have, and I always thought they majored on a fantastic midband, though not to the level I get now. I will help any waay I can re. the Bantam, but I assure you there are many on this forum who could run rings around me!

[aquapiranha]

ARRRGGGGHHHHHH ! my eyes! my eyes!....

OK, so I am exaggerating, but I have a personal pet hate of blue LED's that are brighter then a super nova..... so I changed the one in my trends to a nice green one.... this would also match the rest of your kit. I did mention the blue ones on the the thread about the Beresford but was shot down in flames....lol

[The Vinyl Adventure]

hmm my knowledge may be to basic for such things.
that said id be very interested to learn about this stuff a bit more, if i post i photo of its guts could you give me some pointers

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i like the blue lights they all match the little light under my lacie hdd. it does all look a bit ford escort in the car park of homebase at 4 in the morning, but once you get past that......

[aquapiranha]

Cool, it would help. In the meantime, here is a link to the pages about modding the Trends, as I say they are not identical but it will give you some idea of what can be done.

http://lotusacoustics.com/a_downloads/tweakit_trends_ta10x_r0707.pdf

hope the link works.

[aquapiranha]

i like the blue lights they all match the little light under my lacie hdd. it does all look a bit ford escort in the car park of homebase at 4 in the morning, but once you get past that......

Haha brilliant, what a great way to put it... :lolsign:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Haha brilliant, what a great way to put it... :lolsign:

ah, your english then, i think that would have gone right over the head of someone from else were

il post a photo of the guts when im not listening to it...

it does look a bit less hard core than the trends one, im wondering now if it may be worth trackin down a trends one to compare them before i start messing with the bantam.
i know you cant tell a great deal from the look of the guts of these things but the bantam does look like they have just repackaged and improved something else where as that trends looks much more like it was deigned from the ground up

[aquapiranha]

The Trends uses a TA2024 chip, and the Bantam the same one, so I imagine that there is quite a bit of scope with the Bantam as with the TA10. post up a pic when you have time, cheers.

Here is the inside of the TA10.1 I had..

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb256/aquapiranha/trends/CIMG3042.jpg

[Spectral Morn]

HI Hamish


Thanks for the photos....boy I haven't seen one of those Roksan stands in ages. Used to sell them back in the late 80's early 90's when I was first in the audio trade.

The Beresford Dac is a bit fussy about what it sits on, so keep the isolation units in place. This is the conclusion I came to when I reviewed one as part of my Digital overview review...http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1919.



Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

inside of bantam

i dont think i have the skills to make this anybetter but any suggestions welcome

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/hamish_gill/P1010223.jpg

[aquapiranha]

Well, well Hamish, this looks familiar!

http://www.justblair.co.uk/plugins/content/imagesresizecache/ac2f20e51b6615f3a824b8a86857a331.jpeg

http://www.justblair.co.uk/surtrip1.html

And, if you scroll down, near the bottom of the page are some simple mods for that board..... have a look and see what you think. If you decide to have a go, I would advise starting a new thread in the DIY section with "before" and "after " pics etc.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

ha no wonder they can make it for so little money
ima gonna start doing some reading on all this stuff i think! im not sure my basic soldering skills are up to it though....

had a look at your little video those are some big speaker cabinets you have made(?) why so big, do they only have one driver? are they a success?

that rotel reciver is a beaut, i have a bit of a soft spot for meters and green glows etc how does it sound?

[aquapiranha]

ha no wonder they can make it for so little money
ima gonna start doing some reading on all this stuff i think! im not sure my basic soldering skills are up to it though....

had a look at your little video those are some big speaker cabinets you have made(?) why so big, do they only have one driver? are they a success?

that rotel reciver is a beaut, i have a bit of a soft spot for meters and green glows etc how does it sound?

Hi Hamish. I hope you can make use of the info on that site, it was certainly worth the extra gain in performance when I did the Trends.

The speakers were designed by a guy called Scott, and they are rear loaded horns. they use just one driver per cabinet, and these are "full range" drivers. The idea is that there is no crossover to introduce phase anomalies or rob the signal of any detail etc. Whether this approach works is a matter of opinion, though I think it they sound fab! of course, everyone likes a different sound. They are big to get good bass response from the drivers and other reasons too, and since they are very sensitive, you only need a couple of watts ( I have currently 1.8W) to drive them to deafening levels. One or two people here have heard them.

I have a tendency to pick up old bits and bobs here and there, at the moment I have been messing with a NAD 3130 amp and a Dual T/T, and I have lots of other things around - the rotel sounded quite good really, with a nice warm sound. I have like much of the other stuff given it away to someone who will use it more than me.

:)

[The Vinyl Adventure]

well either way they look bloody ace.. you must have an understanding other half!
i do the same with cameras, and camera bits. have a mooch at this ( http://hamishgill.blogspot.com/ ) click on 2008 at the side and scroll down to the bottom past the photos and have a look at my modded lenses, im much more capable in that area. id quite like to learn about hifi modding more but im not sure i have the space in my brain with all the camera stuff
i have done an electronics course and did acoustics as part of my sound tech course but its been years since and it seems to have left my brain for the most part
as odd as it sounds i spent so much on cameras and kit i had to ween my self off them with my hifi interest, needless to say, im now really broke!!

[webby]

ARRRGGGGHHHHHH ! my eyes! my eyes!....

OK, so I am exaggerating, but I have a personal pet hate of blue LED's that are brighter then a super nova..... so I changed the one in my trends to a nice green one.... this would also match the rest of your kit. I did mention the blue ones on the the thread about the Beresford but was shot down in flames....lol

a little dab of blue tack will do the job!;)