How Long Has Your Journey Been - Are You There Yet ? [Archive]

RobbieGong

12-02-2018, 12:40

Started here early 2011 and I'd say thats when the journey really 'took off' I'd been into music and sytems since childhood.

Am I there yet ? At times I thought I'd never make it, but gosh what a journey and YES !!! I've got there.

It's most definitely come together and I'm enjoying the music and find my system as thrilling as I ever hoped.

All the hard work, upgrades, open heart surgery on the Techie etc has been done.

The only thing I'll contemplate is hearing some Spendor D7's in my system at some point in the near future otherwise, no probs as currently every listen is a thrill :)

Pharos

12-02-2018, 12:51

Different position Robbie, started in '67 as an apprentice, we all were interested and building stuff, and the music in 'the revolution' was very good. Then at 22 bought professional stuff, and progressed over the years, sometimes wrong directions, sometimes backwards.
Now I have about £35k's worth in new prices, and am still wondering.

This is partly because the meaning of music and the art itself have changed so much; why buy a gold spoon with which to consume poison?
But it can be good when we find a gem.

paulf-2007

12-02-2018, 13:00

Got back into it in 2007 as in my name, although had half decent kit as a teenager and spent many years recording.
Been through open baffles, front horns and bass reflex single driver all diy with valve amps of various types. Dismissed solid state based on early ss guitar amps being lifeless. Had belt drive, meh, idler drive, bit more like it and lastly direct drive, spot on speed and straight from cold. Had mc carts, happy with mm, Shure ultra and currently Decca mk4. What have I learned? Room treatment or a good room is key.
I like horns and single driver but the Zu's do it for me in a small room. Old jap crap solid state receiver does bass control better than expensive single ended valves but still good enough in the midrange and top end and at 1/15th of the price.
I wouldn't say I'm done as only recently did I try the Decca even though I'm content. I just rarely see anything for sale that can tempt me.

karma67

12-02-2018, 18:59

i started in 2014,at the moment im very content,a small itch for a better amp but turntable wise im there.

topoxforddoc

12-02-2018, 19:19

I started in the late 70s as the saturday boy in Canterbury Hi-Fi - in those days a very small shop, managed by Ken Kessler. KK got me bitten by Decca cartridges and valve amps, and I've been going along ever since then.

alphaGT

12-02-2018, 22:59

I started in 1975, at the age of 13, I built my first system. A Technics receiver, AKL speakers, and a very nice ADC ‘table. It sounded pretty great for the times.
My second system was not so great, and left me wanting for my old stereo. So it wasn’t long before I started on my third system, which I kept for 20 years! An Adcom amp and preamp with Vandersteen 2c Speakers, Sony ES CD player, and Denon record player. A very nice system that did not leave me wanting. I wound up giving the whole system to my daughter and her husband.

So now I’m on my 4th system, and I am much, much closer to the Holy Grail than ever before! I am very pleased with what I have now, Krell driving Legacy Focus, a VPI table and Cary CD player. Magnum Dynalab tuner. I am very pleased with it, and was planning even more upgrades, but it’s sounding so right I’m holding off on any changes. Will this be my last system? It’s very possible! I may make a few more upgrades? But, it wouldn’t surprise me if I got the itch to build an even better system? Or perhaps a second system? I’ve always wanted a little tubed system for the bedroom. Building a HiFi is not a means to an end, it’s a hobby! The day you are finished is the day it stops being a hobby.

Russell

struth

12-02-2018, 23:23

Been into music all my life but only in last 12 years did I start it up again after giving it up for family reasons(money and space and time to listen to it when working 7 days a week, 16 hrs a day) Obviously anyone's system can be improved in some way, and it can be much fun doing it, so no reason not to keep going if you can afford it. In a good place sound wise so glad Ive no choices to make being skint:eek:

Jimbo

13-02-2018, 07:55

The journey is never over, just regulated by finances. Imagine a long lost relative leaves you a few £100000 then the itch to move on would be unbearable.

So many folk on here have posted saying they have reached the end of the journey, only to pop up a few months later having bought something new or find they have another "itch" to scratch!:lol:

jandl100

13-02-2018, 08:48

My journey has taken about 45 years so far and still very enjoyable.

Am I there yet? :scratch: A meaningless question for me and misses the point entirely.
This will be the end of my journey -- :deceased:

Macca

13-02-2018, 18:12

Started buying records in 1983, bought my first separates system in 1988. So 30 years man and boy. I decided a few years ago that it was ridiculous that I am still mucking about with the system a quarter of a century later so vowed to get it all sorted, done, finished, and totally what I want, by the time I hit fifty. That means I've got just over 8 months to do it. Don't get me wrong what I have now is pretty good and I could live with it if there was no option. But although it is close, it isn't exactly the sound I am after.

paulf-2007

13-02-2018, 19:22

Pharos

13-02-2018, 22:58

The trouble is Martin that when we think that we have done it, that feeling gradually fades over the months as we learn and habituate, and our brain 'susses' the new illusion. Then we start again.

Barry

14-02-2018, 00:10

Nearly 50 years, and yes - more or less 'there', though I still like to tinker with cartridges.

walpurgis

14-02-2018, 00:15

1971 first attempt at putting a 'Hi-Fi' together (dismally).

Macca

14-02-2018, 08:06

Have you heard the sound you are after

Only in my imagination...I have heard systems that do different parts of the what I am after. The trick is to assemble them all in one place.

And yes, I know what you're thinking, and you're right.

Jimbo

14-02-2018, 12:24

Only in my imagination...I have heard systems that do different parts of the what I am after. The trick is to assemble them all in one place.

And yes, I know what you're thinking, and you're right.

That's the difficult bit. When you heard all those bits they were in different systems in different rooms. The variables are infinite. If you were to assemble all those bits in your room they would almost certainly sound different!

Macca

14-02-2018, 12:45

That's the difficult bit. When you heard all those bits they were in different systems in different rooms. The variables are infinite. If you were to assemble all those bits in your room they would almost certainly sound different!

Hence my interest in why things sound the way they sound. If you have that knowledge you should, in theory, be able to get the sound how you want it.

Or I could just carry on trying stuff at random. Big Tannoys are next.:D

Jimbo

14-02-2018, 12:48

Hence my interest in why things sound the way they sound. If you have that knowledge you should, in theory, be able to get the sound how you want it.

Or I could just carry on trying stuff at random. Big Tannoys are next.:D

You have certainly got enough room for the Tannoys.

I am frustrated by the fact that the sound I would really like would mean a) a bigger room and b) bigger speakers - Oh yes and c) lots more money!:)

Macca

14-02-2018, 13:05

Money is the clincher. Big Tannoy DC appear to be the only realistically affordable 'super-speakers.' Unless you count QUAD ESL but impressive as they are that isn't the sound I am after.

speedracer

14-02-2018, 15:24

I have just revisited a post I put in the gallery here when I joined pondering if I had reached my end game or not, and of course I hadn't, in fact I have changed every single component at least once since and some by a factor of 3 or 4 chasing my dragon. However I must say that I have been pretty happy with all incarnations and they have all been similar, in that my amps have all been valve, similar with phono stages, and have only been trying to tweak rather than drastically change the sound I want. So no, I haven't, but have been close, and I wonder if that is the best one can hope for given a finite budget and room limitations.

paulf-2007

14-02-2018, 15:55

Only in my imagination...I have heard systems that do different parts of the what I am after. The trick is to assemble them all in one place.

And yes, I know what you're thinking, and you're right.i did wonder if it was in your head, would be too easy to hear it, but then it would probably be out of reach money wise.
I've never thought of a sound I would be looking for, just buy and try and got what I like now, the differences are so small it just gets harder to get an improvement.

Macca

14-02-2018, 19:58

i did wonder if it was in your head, would be too easy to hear it, but then it would probably be out of reach money wise.
I've never thought of a sound I would be looking for, just buy and try and got what I like now, the differences are so small it just gets harder to get an improvement.

There were some JBL 4365 speakers doing the rounds of the shows a while back, with Mark Levinson amplification. I don't know if you heard them? They would do me. They sound exactly like I want/expect an 'ultimate' speaker to sound. But I can't afford them (£10K) and I can't be arsed to do the massive amounts of extra work it would require to get the money to buy them.

alphaGT

17-02-2018, 15:21

Back in the late 80’s at a local stereo shop, I heard what then cost about $25,000, a system that taught me what a stereo was capable of. My present system comes very close, but I still lack the deep soundstage, the detached from the speakers sound, almost a 3D effect of the music hanging in space between the speakers. It could just be placement, the real life limitations of where I can place my speakers and other furnishings? But I am very close and I do have occasional glimpses of my Holy Grail.

Russell

macspur

17-02-2018, 23:35

It's taken a long long time to reach what I've got now, but I remember years ago having an Onyx amp on loan while my Cyrus was in for repair and paired with my old B&W CM2's and a Marantz CDP it had everything.... depth, separation soundstage etc and I've never quite foundthat sound again.
Mac

Gazjam

18-02-2018, 07:09

All started for me hearing Tubular Bells and Wish You Were Here wafting out my neighbours window of a Sunday morning back in, oh, 79/80?
My next door mate’s big brother was into his hifi and as a ten yr old I thought I want some of that...
My pal was a couple of years older than me, and had the family radiogram in his room, so after school we’d listen to the Clash, Adam and the Ants, Floyd and lots more.
So just south of 40 years here, reckon (as Grant says) I think Im finished chasing the hifi kit.
Have a nice 2nd system for the Office with leftover bits so happy with that.

Nowadays its more about the music, The systems more than good enough but if I was honest it DID take to getting to a certain level to get me there?
Over the years dipped my toe in various kit, nowadays I’ve all the formats covered pretty well I think.
Reckon I’m done system wise, I may get the SME V arm silver rewired at some point but apart from that no desire to change.
That said, with the new Dac Im listening to vinyl a lot less so who knows.

Puts on Rose Tinted Glasses...

My First ‘system’ was my Dads radio cassette he got for his 40th which I pilfered, got some Solavox speakers from the local Comet and hard wired them in.
Felt like a proper audiophile though when I got my first seperates system, Amstrad Receiver, cassette deck with the Solavox speakers.
Lovely. :)
Remember rubbing shoe polish into the bass driver of those speakers, my mate said it stiffens the cone and makes them sound better - happy days.

mikeyb

18-02-2018, 09:42

Have you heard the sound you are afterYip, in my living room right now [emoji4]

Lurch

18-02-2018, 09:52

My journey has been 31 years and counting. It all started in 86 when I heard my first proper separates system (Rega 3, A&R A60, Warfedale diamonds) at a neighbours. Bought my own rig in early 87 (Manticore Mantra, Rotel 820, Celestion DL6) changed to a Cambridge C50/A50 pre power a couple of years later, THEN added a Technics CDP in 95 and changed speakers to KEF Cresta 3s in 01. Nothing changed for the next 15 years, then I got an inheritance so decided to head back down the rabbit hole.
This saw me spending 3 months buying various items to throw together using my mid 80s knowledge of what was supposedly the dogs danglies. I then made the mistake of holding a bake off as I thought I had a shit hot system (OL deck & arm, Hana SL, IA PS1.2SE & LA4 PRE, 4x Tag Maclaren 125Ms & B&W 683 S2s) oh dear, how wrong I was.
However 18 months and several thousand pounds later, with only the deck/arm/cart, CDP & DAC still in the system from that 1st bake-off in late 2016 I am damn close to where I want to be. I could happily live with what I have and the sound it produces, for the next twenty or so years.
So YES, my hifi journey should be over, but in reality I know I will end up investigating better carts & TTs and make said purchases at some point in the future.

Macca

18-02-2018, 11:49

. I then made the mistake of holding a bake off as I thought I had a shit hot system (OL deck & arm, Hana SL, IA PS1.2SE & LA4 PRE, 4x Tag Maclaren 125Ms & B&W 683 S2s) oh dear, how wrong I was.
.

What went wrong there, then? It does look pretty good on paper.

Tim

18-02-2018, 13:12

My interest in music and a means to play it started in earnest in 1974.

Not had many systems, (1) Pioneer PL12D, Trio KA-3300 and JR149 speakers started me off.
Next an all Mission system when I moved away from LPs in the early 80's (2) Cyrus One, PCM II CDP, 763 speakers. I sold this when I moved to the Caribbean in 2000. When I came back I had nothing and was offered a complete system by a friend who moved to China in 2005. (3) Musical Fidelity CD/AMP and Monitor Audio GR60 speakers. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but I had nothing and was really pleased to be able to listen to music when I didn't have any spare cash to buy much more.

I was never totally content with the MA sound, finding it harsh and too detailed for my tastes, it sounded like Hi-Fi not real music to me, if that makes any sense? I would often journey to shows and retailers to try alternatives out, but normally found them to be not that different within my budget. I wasn't prepared to change anything until I found something I knew I could be happy with long term. I knew what I wanted, a natural live music sound, I just couldn't find it.

Then I joined AoS in 2011 looking for a headphone DAC and advice regarding the dissatisfaction with my sound. I bought a Beresford DAC primarily for headphone use and by accident stumbled across file based audio. I had an old netbook and put foobar2000 on, ripped a CD to FLAC and whacked the lot into my amp via Stan's DAC. I was very puzzled to find it sounded better than my CD player and you can still read the posts here about my discovery. I wasn't totally convinced so took it to a dealer and plugged it into a high-end system, both myself and the dealer were surprised how good it sounded and I was converted to file based audio.

My next system from recommendations here was a (4) Rega Amp/DAC and Harbeth SHL5 speakers. Without boring folk who have heard this before, when I heard the Harbeth sound I knew that was it, that's what I'd been looking for. All was fed by a custom built music server and file based audio was here to stay.

I moved to China myself in 2016 and again sold most of my system, so at the moment I'm kind of in limbo, with a stop gap system as I know I'm going to move again. I hope to move this year and when I do I'll get the Harbeth's back and a turntable to go with the music server for system 5, which for me is intended to be it until as Jerry puts it, journeys end :deceased:

Never say never and if anything breaks I'll need to replace it, but I don't intend to be searching very much, just enjoying the music. So I'm not quite there yet due to all the moving, but I know exactly what I want in my next system - I just need a permanent home to put it in :)

Lurch

18-02-2018, 16:05

What went wrong there, then? It does look pretty good on paper.
People brought all manner of exotic things along (aurorasound Vida phono, Modwright 36.5, Modwright integrated, Reference 3a Veenas etc etc) which made me realise there was more to a good system than buying well reviewed boxes and wiring them up in the correct order. Whilst the sound I had was way better than my old Mantra/Cambridge/KEF setup. It was a million miles from the musical reproduction/landscape the kit I was introduced to that day could produce. Luckily I still had money left from my inheritance to bring me to where I am today. Skint but reasonably happy.

Bksabath

18-02-2018, 18:29

Firs record at age 7 Crocodile Rock
13 first job in Telly repair shop first 4 W valve amp
1976 age16 working for congress PA system from Margaret which to Chaplin 5000 ear phones and 200K worth of Microphones best Gig City lights whit live Band in St mark Sq
Few years as DJ in FM radio and discos including a club owned by Italian mafia (cover for 5kg of Virgin Mary a week)
Few gigs from Tina to Ramones best gig Adam Ant Milan 1984 (over 3 hours on stage he would not stop)
Got drunk whit a few moved to UK ... and did it all Lemy told me U do to much speed at a party ...
got married and divorced now my kid doing masters in Sheffield
Been whit last GF 17 and then speakers where to big and look untidy so split up and now I am pretty happy in cheapest house whit big living room I can find ...
Are U there jet? No way just got a pair of Maggies and look forward to start room treatment in new house in spring
Looking forward to Patty Smith gig in Venice in June ...

Blueflash

18-02-2018, 20:46

My journey started when I was about 9. I heard a system that had a GL75 into a big amplifier then into Tannoys.

From that moment on, I was hooked. I had a pair of ancient headphones that made everything sound a lot better when hooked up to the various valve radio sets I managed to acquire,

The Hifi took a back seat while I concentrated on getting the business off the ground, but as soon as I could, I started looking for some decent sounds. A few wrong starts, I made the mistake when CD came out of turning everything on just before I wanted to have a listening session and turning it all off when finished.

I had a Krell KSA50, Kef 104 speakers and cannot remember what preamp I had.
When I moved to Hereford I found English Audio and they introduced me to the delights of active speakers ATC50A`s and the SCA2 preamp with a stern warning about source needing to be good.
I ended up getting a Wadia 16 player.
That was when I learned that Digital Audio needs to be left switched on 24/7. That was probably my biggest upgrade made. Before as I mentioned, I would switch the stereo on just before a session, then switch it of when finished. I noticed that I would listen to one CD and that was enough.
I was more used to the Pro Audio approach ( I used to help set up the sound in football stadiums for events) so I would never have thought of leaving anything switched on Un attended.
The difference when digital is left on, the Preamp on standby and turn the ATC`s on about an hour before a session was staggering.
I had depth, width and sweet vocals and lead guitar acquired a pleasant rounded out sound that didn't make my fillings rattle.

I now have a self built DDDAC with well over specced power supplies, an Audionote CDT3 transport, a 6KVA total balanced mains unit, a fresh ATC SCA2 about 5 years ago, and last year I had the speakers bought up to the latest spec including the ATC S type tweeter.
So I would say that completes the journey as far as the electronics side of things can be. If there was a way of running 16 Tent powered Dac boards, I would do it, but that would involve adding buffers onto the main board and giving them a very clean 5v power supply with individual regulators for each buffer IC.

The only thing left to do is the mains supply. Later on in the year I will be installing 25sq mm CY cable from the meter to a dedicated consumer unit then running a 16 sq mm CY cable to the 32A socket and two 10 sq mm CY cables going into the double Furutech mains socket.

But in the meantime I am thoroughly enjoying my system. I now have to make myself stop listening too late into the night during work days, a couple of 1-00 am`s do tend to take the shine off the day but it is self inflicted. So apart from the mains, my journey is over and I have never enjoyed recorded music so much.

Pharos

18-02-2018, 22:17

Why did you buy a fresh SCA2?

Blueflash

19-02-2018, 07:25

Why did you buy a fresh SCA2?

I had to sell the first one when money got tight ....

Yomanze

19-02-2018, 11:08

Hmm, I probably started around 2005, late starter in my early 20s, but a music fanatic & music journalist at the time. After spending a summer with a mate's old Kenwood amp and a pair of Mission speakers; my first 'serious' setup was a Pioneer A400, Mission 780SE speakers & a Marantz CD65DX, which then progressed onto STAX headphones, Exposure 2010S amp, Theta DAC and Amphion Argon2, yet I wanted more...

I got into the mindset of learning DIY HiFi electronics & seeing this as a way to 'improve' cheaper kit and also buying DIY kits that I never really finished, so instead decided to splurge on a HiFi that I hope will outlast me. I have spare tweeters and spare TDA1541A chips, the rest should be able to be repaired routinely if need be.

What I find now is small incremental tweaks make me happy, for example, deciding to decouple my speakers & all my components from my lively wooden floor. My system has lasted for years without me getting bored or fatigued, so I am now very wary about major system changes.

If my Royd RR3s ever did pack in, then I'd probably go for some Magnepan 1.7i speakers, or some Thiels, or maybe just use my Royd Sorcerer "SE".

alphaGT

19-02-2018, 13:21

paulf-2007

19-02-2018, 21:33

Yip, in my living room right now [emoji4]
Oi I was asking macca, but I'm pleased for you mike:)
I also have the sound I want but didn't know until I got it.

mikeyb

19-02-2018, 21:39

Oi I was asking macca, but I'm pleased for you mike:)
I also have the sound I want but didn't know until I got it.Oops lol

Bksabath

20-02-2018, 05:41

It sounds like you’ve lived a very exciting life Sandro! Perhaps you could write a book when you’re old?

Russell
Well quite a few nice things to say like chatting whit Charlie Chaplin or drinking Barbera whit Brian Ferry but also a lot of regrets and mistakes ...
If only my spelling was beterer :)
Maybe when I get old ...:lol:

alphaGT

20-02-2018, 11:39

Well quite a few nice things to say like chatting whit Charlie Chaplin or drinking Barbera whit Brian Ferry but also a lot of regrets and mistakes ...
If only my spelling was beterer :)
Maybe when I get old ...:lol:

You’re as old as you feel! And that’s what they made spell check for!

Russell

Pete The Cat

22-02-2018, 11:23

For most of my journey since the late 70s my focus has been on the music, and so even though I was interested in hi-fi and read all the magazines of the day I lived with a budget system covering record and CD until about ten years ago.

After a period of researching, box-swapping, tweaking and all the rest I seem to have got "there" about two years ago. In part this is because I'm now at least satisfied, and occasionally quite thrilled, with the sound. I think the moment came when I got a Townshend Rock + Heed Orbit which lifted my vinyl into the same division as my CD (Karik + Numerik). In part it's also because I've realised that in spite of music having been my main leisure interest for over four decades I, and I suspect many of us, are really only scratching the surface of what's available in the world and so that's where I should be spending my time and cash again - more records and CDs !

Nowadays I research music by listening to internet radio stations which cover musical genres that I thought I knew a lot about, yet I can go five hours at a stretch without hearing something that I know - it's fabulous.

Pete

Lawrence001

23-02-2018, 13:49

I started in 1990 at the age of 17 when I got my first separate, a Kenwood CD player. Manders HiFi in Grimsby kindly lent me 2 models to see which I preferred. One was 4 times oversampling and had 10 random track selection buttons and the other was 8 times and had 20. As it was being played through a cheap Aiwa midi system there was no difference in sound, but of course I wanted the 20 buttons! This was followed by a second hand Pioneer amp and a pair of JBL XE2 speakers that won a demo back at Manders and I was up and running! Following that I would buy a new piece of kit every few years from Richer Sounds until ebay really kicked off. I've had hundreds of things come and go since then, and had my ups and downs, but the direction of travel has always been upwards.

Anyway I think I might finally be there at last. The pieces have slowly been coming together over the last couple of years, an ice power class d amp, django tvc (similar to music first) and very recently some good dacs and BKS 128 ribbon hybrid speakers. It was almost there except the bass from the rear ports was slightly waffly and there was a slight feeling of a gap in the middle. I put this down to the vagaries of the room and thought I could live with it, but I did find myself using my headphone setup more than previously. I was starting to come round to the idea that I would have to change the amplification or speakers but then my tri vista dac finally got repaired after sitting in a box for over a year and suddenly it all came together early days but it is the sound I've been after (given the limitations of the room). Didn't think a dac could sort those problems out so quite a surprise. I might be a bit less active on the classifieds, at least that's the plan. Just need that spdif to USB convertor and I'm done! Then there's trying a few cables... maybe some isolation... Oh well we'll see!

Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

Bksabath

30-05-2018, 09:12

And a record player for analogue bliss Yes ?

Vanzapp

30-05-2018, 14:08

My Uncles' system started me off back in '74. Leak ,Thorens and a diet of Clapton, Cream, The Who Live At Leeds, Hendrix, Elton John etc etc and here we are 44 years later (Blink of an eye). My first album purchase was 'Not Fragile' Bachman, Turner Overdrive with the embosed gatefold sleve. Happy days. HiFi has moved on a bit for me since then. Can't be arsed with the constant fettling and cleaning of vinyl, though I do understand the nostalgia and that the 'faff' appeals to some. These days my source is a less than romantic FLAC storage device, but I can listen endlessly without disturbing the flow of red wine just swiping the tablet for the next track or album. The system I have now is by far the best I've had and if the mood takes me I can still tinker with it. I don't think this 'journey' is ever done, but for me that is part of the joy. Discovering that new thingamybob which gives the improvement that 'I think' I can hear.......and on.......and on......

YNWaN

30-05-2018, 19:15

For me there are two quite different aspects to this audio ‘thing’. One is the enjoyment of music but the other is the ‘hobby’ element. I’ve been heavily involved in the enjoyment of both for forty years or so and for the last few years (perhaps ten) I’ve basically been fine with my system in that I can easily listen to music without ‘audio niggles’ spoiling the experience. That doesn’t mean the ‘journey’ is over though, it probably never will be for me, I’m always interested in potential improvements whilst simultaneously being quite happy with what I have :).