Obligatory greeting number...

[rahds]

Hi folks, I'm ruthlessly following forum instructions and beginning with a 'Hi all' message and a few details regarding my musical / listening preferences.

I've three systems set up around the house, well, four if you include my 3 yr old daughter's room. I listen to "all sorts" of music", especially "anything that's good", of course. Mostly classical, jazz, Dylan, Zappa, rock and pop classics etc.

In the kitchen we use an iPod (7th Generation) on a Pure i20 dock and a Sony ST-SDB900QS DAB tuner into a Yulong Sabre D18 DAC (I'd love to use this in the lounge but it suffers drop outs from the Humax HDR/Freeview HD box) into an Arcam A85 and out through some Quad 12L2s. I'm pretty happy with this set up, although the speakers are very poorly placed, high on a shelf (free standing wire shelves).

In the lounge we use the afore mentioned Humax, into a Musical Fidelity V90 DAC, into a Cambridge Audio A840 V2 and out through a pair of Monitor Audio RS6s. This is a compromise as I was fortunate enough to acquire an early pair of Epos ES14s (and sand off the black finish to reveal and stain the real lightly coloured ash veneer underneath) and some, not Epos but very similar open-frame stands. However, the room (size) doesn't really justify their use and the missus likes the loo of the RS6s...(they're probably too big for the room too though)
This system also feeds a pair of JM Labs Focal Chorus 706s that are wall mounted in the conservatory.

Upstairs, where I'm currently sat, we have an iMac into a Cambridge Audio A840 V1 (I liked the V2 so much I got an old V1 too) and out through some wall mounted Linn Komponent 104 speakers backed up by a Velodyne Impact 12 subwoofer. This is in the so called "study", though I insist it's called "the family room" in a bid to encourage others in here. This system also feeds a pair of Mission 771 speakers sat on a dressing table in the bedroom next door. The Epos ES14s are, sadly, just sat here on a desk.

EDIT - Daughters room: (how could I forget?) iPod 5th Generation, on a Cambridge Audio basic dock, into a Sony TA-FE570 feeding Gale Mini Monitors. (Sounds ok, but hopefully when I swap things around she'll get the Mission 771s, not sure how it'll work yet though)

I (hopefully) bought some other speakers today - I'll not rest easy until they arrive - and their arrival will prompt further swapping.

I think that about covers it. Thank you for having me. So far.

[struth]

Hello and welcome to AoS Philip. lots of systems just like myself and you can never start kids off on the hifi road too young so well done.
once you get your bearings you could start a thread in the gallery and give us some snaps of your gear.

oh and please tell us what your new buy is?:eyebrows:

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Philip.

Nice introduction. Congratulations on assembling and running three (or four) systems. I have enough trouble running two!

Enjoy the Forum

[jollyfix]

Hello Philip, welcome to the forum.

[walpurgis]

Hello Philip. Welcome from me too.

Good intro! You certainly have a lot of Hi-Fi to keep you occupied.

As Grant says, we like new photos added to The Gallery, so if you get the chance.....

If you're planning anything new with your system (systems?), please tell us.


Enjoy AOS,
Geoff.

[Eagle owl]

Hello and welcome Philip.

Geoff. :wave:

[rahds]

Thanks for the kindly welcomes.

I'm guessing there's a more suitable thread for this, but as I was asked here, I'll reply here, for now.

Imagine my delight, when, the other day, I stumbled across this ad on eBay...

http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz160/Mr_WT/ScreenShot2014-11-12at101427_zpsb94ea0ea.png (http://s823.photobucket.com/user/Mr_WT/media/ScreenShot2014-11-12at101427_zpsb94ea0ea.png.html)

http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz160/Mr_WT/ScreenShot2014-11-12at101434_zpsb499af9c.png (http://s823.photobucket.com/user/Mr_WT/media/ScreenShot2014-11-12at101434_zpsb499af9c.png.html)

http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz160/Mr_WT/ScreenShot2014-11-12at101439_zpsa41f4d92.png (http://s823.photobucket.com/user/Mr_WT/media/ScreenShot2014-11-12at101439_zpsa41f4d92.png.html)

Yes. It really is a pair of Chartwell LS3/5As, in good condition, chucked in with an old Sony amp, for £25. This is the stuff of Antiques Roadshow highlights shows.

So, I made the purchase (£25 Buy It Now) and asked the seller if he could send the speakers, saying I wasn't bothered about the amp. I, perhaps in error, said if not I'd be prepared to fetch the speakers, a round trip of 300 miles or so. But thankfully the seller said postage was fine, £13. I asked if that included the amp, "No", that'd be £25. Fine. I sent him another £35 (£10 extra for his trouble).

Naturally I couldn't believe it. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. I told myself years of looking at ads, with only really one good find (my Epos ES14s, which are too big for the room they were in here anyway) had been rewarded. Several songs, dances and all round outbursts of euphoria later, a la kid at Christmas (Eve) I settled, but said aloud "It seems too good to be true", quickly adding "But it is true!" to convince myself that the old adage 'If it's too good to be true, it isn't true' was, in this case, wrong.

The next morning (yesterday) a courier truck arrived, stopped outside, I went out and there were two boxes, old Sony amp and pair of Chartwell LS3/5A size. But hang on, he's not asking for my name, he's asking for my partner's name. I signed for the boxes. They were two boxes of clothes a member of the missus' family had sent up for our daughter. Damn. Oh well, early days.

Then it came...

http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz160/Mr_WT/ScreenShot2014-11-12at103539_zps6fc35d0c.png (http://s823.photobucket.com/user/Mr_WT/media/ScreenShot2014-11-12at103539_zps6fc35d0c.png.html)

Well, yes. I'm guessing I sounded a little too keen, offering to drive down, and this made the seller curious. He'd not have to look far, there's a (granted, older and better looking) teak pair currently on eBay for £2K with time to run on the auction.

Naturally I asked if there was any salvage, 'No ' he said, his wife tells him the rear of the vehicle is so crushed it's impossible to remove the package. Any photos of the damage? Unsurprisingly I'm still waiting.

Now, I'm not out to buy items for 1% of their market value. And I can justify the purchase by claiming (largely to myself) that I've spent hundreds of hours, if not longer, scouring ads (out of interest granted, as a leisure activity but nonetheless the hours have been put in) and my reward amounts to a fraction of minimum wage. Not that I intended to sell the Chartwells, I'd already started looking at low power (tube) amplifiers, decided which current items I have I'd sell etc.

So that's the story. I've never been able to afford anything like the going rate for the Chartwells, and it had a fair chunk of 'dream come true' about it. But, alas, the rear impact, the van at traffic lights cliché. Now, it could be true. Could. Though is it even possible, an impact so severe the whole rear end of a vehicle is crushed? I have experience (2nd hand) of vehicle examination (post crash) and I've never seen the like - most cars can take quite a hit at the back with little more than bumper damage...

The other annoying fact is that earlier in the month (I've since discovered) he was selling a Sony reel-to-reel tape deck with the amp and speakers, asking £60. He took an offer and clearly the buyer didn't want the speakers or amp! So I feel I've missed out twice in a way.

I'll get over it. If I had a £ for every time I've said 'The Chartwells, the Chartwells' I'd be able to afford a pair.

Thus concludes this week's HiFi adventure.

Can anyone suggest a better place to put this story, or maybe a moderator can just move it to a more appropriate place.

Thanks.

[Macca]

That is unfortunate. Okay no way are you now going to end up with the Chartwells but it would still be good to know whether the car crash story was genuine or if the seller discovered their true value and made it all up.

[rahds]

UPDATE: Not only has the amp appeared on eBay, but the speakers too.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191413365735?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

My speakers! Serial numbers confirm this.

Naturally I sought advice on the matter. The seller continued with his 'car crash' nonsense.

Gimme my Chartwells!

[peter haynes]

Hi Phillip
Have ebay been any help - thinking of getting my next bit of kit from ebay but not so sure now
Have you got link to amp advert so I can mark seller as a dodgy one?
Peter

[rahds]

Hi, I can link you to the amp sale (same button missing on obscure 35 year old amp) - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231388668197?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT - this is not to say for one moment that the person/business selling the amp are "dodgy". Similar with the speakers, I'm not suggesting the business seller is "dodgy", I have no reason to doubt that both sellers (of the amp and speakers) acquired the items in good faith. They weren't to know I'd already bought them and had no wish to sell them, no wish to be refunded the pittance I paid for them and no wish to be openly and continually lied to about what'd happened to, what was, 'my property' when the fictional rear end collision took place.

I imagine everything about this escapade is, if not unique, then highly unusual. it's so easy to search for items online that there can't be many folks who a) have some valuable HiFi left over from the 1970s b) advertise them online without first searching for the items to get some idea of their quality and value c) sell them cheaply and d) invent a story afterwards concerning car crashes and hospitalisation!

It aint over to my Chartwells sing.