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Gbeer7
19-04-2010, 17:21
Hello everyone,

after the excitement (For me !!) of getting my Audiolab 8000m's i thought i would post some pictures of my setup.

I'm hoping this will work. Another thing to note, how much dust does a digital camera show up ! looked ok to my eye before the pictures were taken !

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4609/pict1391z.jpg
By gbeer7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/gbeer7), shot with 10MP-9KB (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=10MP-9KB&make=CAMERA) at 2010-04-19

Here's the full setup....Audiolab 8000cd, Denon tuner, 8000s and the two 8000m's....

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9084/pict1395g.jpg
By gbeer7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/gbeer7), shot with 10MP-9KB (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=10MP-9KB&make=CAMERA) at 2010-04-19

The lovely looking KEF IQ5SE speakers as well....

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7773/pict1397f.jpg
By gbeer7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/gbeer7), shot with 10MP-9KB (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=10MP-9KB&make=CAMERA) at 2010-04-19

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/6365/cablesz.jpg
By gbeer7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/gbeer7), shot with 10MP-9KB (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=10MP-9KB&make=CAMERA) at 2010-04-19

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8561/pict1392i.jpg
By gbeer7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/gbeer7), shot with 10MP-9KB (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=10MP-9KB&make=CAMERA) at 2010-04-19

Not a huge setup, but i'm enjoying it.

Graham

The Grand Wazoo
19-04-2010, 17:26
Graham - you need to stick [IMG] at the begining of those URL's mate

Alex_UK
19-04-2010, 20:33
Audiolab kit still looks timeless and clean to me - pretty much how it sounds. Nice one Graham, and people will be pleased to see your cables aren't touching the walls too... ;) (they aren't are they? :eek:)

Gbeer7
19-04-2010, 21:15
Cheers Alex, I agree with you. Just looks simply and clean. Its what i like. No, the cables are not touching the wall, just i think !

DrMartin
20-04-2010, 15:04
Looks tidy. I hope it works out for you. I tried a couple of 8000Ms with an 8000Q a few months back but they sounded way too harsh and toppy in my room which seems to suck out bass. Do your 8000Ms hum at all? Mine did. Also, one of the 8000Ms died after only 2 days for no apparent reason. I managed to send the whole lot back to Superfi and traded them for the Quad 99 pre + 909 power which was fortunate for me. At least with the Quad pre I can compensate for the bass loss by cranking it up a bit.

By the way, what's the issue with cables touching the wall?

Barry
20-04-2010, 15:13
Looks tidy. I hope it works out for you. I tried a couple of 8000Ms with an 8000Q a few months back but they sounded way too harsh and toppy in my room which seems to suck out bass. Do your 8000Ms hum at all? Mine did. Also, one of the 8000Ms died after only 2 days for no apparent reason. I managed to send the whole lot back to Superfi and traded them for the Quad 99 pre + 909 power which was fortunate for me. At least with the Quad pre I can compensate for the bass loss by cranking it up a bit.

By the way, what's the issue with cables touching the wall?

Don't ask! :doh:

DSJR
20-04-2010, 15:18
They look like proper original Audiolabs, unless the current ones can be got in this colour????

DrMartin, the Audiolabs don't have to sound harsh, but it's true that they'll not take kindly to bad passive crossovers feeding cheesy metal-dome tweeters. it all sort of adds up IMO. Anyway, there's not much there that sympathetic interconnects and speaker cables won't minimise..

DrMartin
20-04-2010, 17:32
Don't ask! :doh:

:lol: it's ok, I've done a search and found the discussion. Well I'm in big trouble, mine are currently on the floor AND touching the walls :eek:

DrMartin
20-04-2010, 17:36
They look like proper original Audiolabs, unless the current ones can be got in this colour????

DrMartin, the Audiolabs don't have to sound harsh, but it's true that they'll not take kindly to bad passive crossovers feeding cheesy metal-dome tweeters. it all sort of adds up IMO. Anyway, there's not much there that sympathetic interconnects and speaker cables won't minimise..

Interesting. Could you suggest some speaker cables that would play-down any potential harshness in such a system please?

Although I have to say that the Quad amps already offer a completely different (I would say 'more tonally neutral') presentation to those Audiolabs.

Still interested in some new speaker cables though.

Gbeer7
21-04-2010, 10:23
Hello Dave,

all my audiolab kit is no older than 2 years old. So all pretty new. The black does look alot better IMO.

DrMartin, sounds like you like you Bass ! What do you listen to ?

DrMartin
21-04-2010, 13:26
Hello Dave,

all my audiolab kit is no older than 2 years old. So all pretty new. The black does look alot better IMO.

DrMartin, sounds like you like you Bass ! What do you listen to ?

Hi, yes I do - in the sense that if there is supposed to be a kick drum thumping away in the rhythm section then I want to hear it and feel it - as I would at a gig. I can't really pin down any particular type of music that I prefer but I suppose that if you looked in the "Rock & Pop", "World" & "Jazz/Blues" sections in HMV you could probably find most of my CDs.

I do tend to buy CDs on the off chance that there might be something on one of them that takes my fancy. It doesn't always work out that way though. On the other hand, I'll buy a CD of some old favourite eg. Pink Floyd or ELP only to find that it sounds terrible and I can't bear listening to it. I'd rather listen to something that is well recorded and sounds good than a favourite piece of music that sounds awful. For example, I've noticed that a lot of the modern, so-called "R&B" stuff usually has quite high production values and I will listen to it even though it wouldn't necessarily be my genre of choice.

DSJR
21-04-2010, 15:44
With the Audiolab I'd forget any silver *plated* speaker cables, irrespective of the insulation used.

Stick to a good heavy duty decent copper cable and you shouldn't go wrong. I rather like the Van Damme "4mm" cable as a good, general purpose cable and I believe without checking that Mark Grant has similar available. (come back Cable Talk 4.1/Excel 4 bi wire - all is almost forgiven ;))

Hey, the ELP remastered CD's on the Victory label from a few years ago are great, especially Brain Salad Surgery IMO. The original CD of Trilogy is superb too IMO. As for the Floyd, the Doug Sax remasterings seem to get the best out of these old tapes and Meddle on original CD still sounds great to me..

Gbeer7
21-04-2010, 16:51
don't say that DSJR ! I've spent £180 on two chord chameleon interconnects. They are silver plated. Seem ok at the moment. Maybe a little to clear possibly.

Ali Tait
21-04-2010, 17:35
Should've gone for the Mark Grant!

Gbeer7
21-04-2010, 18:01
Bit late now !

My speaker cables are Chord Company Carnival SilverScreen......think they are copper wires...

DrMartin
21-04-2010, 20:25
With the Audiolab I'd forget any silver *plated* speaker cables, irrespective of the insulation used.

Stick to a good heavy duty decent copper cable and you shouldn't go wrong. I rather like the Van Damme "4mm" cable as a good, general purpose cable and I believe without checking that Mark Grant has similar available. (come back Cable Talk 4.1/Excel 4 bi wire - all is almost forgiven ;))


That's what I'm using: Cable Talk 4:1 bi-wire

- and that is what I was using with the Audiolabs and they honestly really did sound excruciatingly harsh - in my room, through my Mission 753 freedoms, fed by a Sony XA20ES CDP. I had to have pillows covering the tweeters just to be able to listen to the radio!

Same set up with the Quads - even with all the EQ off - much more neutral - a completely different story.

DrMartin
21-04-2010, 20:36
Hey, the ELP remastered CD's on the Victory label from a few years ago are great, especially Brain Salad Surgery IMO. The original CD of Trilogy is superb too IMO.

I can't see "Victory" on any of mine: I don't know what the lable is? they all say "Gas" on the side of the case and "Essential" and "Castle" on the actual discs????

The main deficit on mine is an almost complete lack of dynamics - far too compressed + the usual 'brightness'. I can't actually remember when I bought these but I think was over ten years ago.

Gbeer7
22-04-2010, 07:37
Have a good listen last night...had some Sheryl Crow on, Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton plus some Tom Petty. Sounded brilliant to me. Wasn't harsh at all. Maybe the speakers, CDP plus cables makes a difference. I only impressed with what i hear, wish i could have it on more. "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis the other night was awesome.
All about personnel taste and sound likes and dis-likes. What makes it all good fun ! :)

DSJR
22-04-2010, 21:22
That's what I'm using: Cable Talk 4:1 bi-wire

- and that is what I was using with the Audiolabs and they honestly really did sound excruciatingly harsh - in my room, through my Mission 753 freedoms, fed by a Sony XA20ES CDP. I had to have pillows covering the tweeters just to be able to listen to the radio!

Same set up with the Quads - even with all the EQ off - much more neutral - a completely different story.

753 Freedoms????????

Now I know why you had the problem with the Audiolabs. Interesting that the Quad set changes this so much....

Look out for some KEF Reference models from the late nineties. They're not pretty, but sounded superb and weren't too difficult to drive and will totally annihilate the Missionsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssss

jandl100
25-04-2010, 08:46
753 Freedoms????????

Now I know why you had the problem with the Audiolabs.

Hah! - yes.
Those Mission metal dome tweeters and Audiolab uber-clean sound would be a bit much for most folks, I think!

Back in the day, I went the other way - driving my Quad 63 stats I moved from a Quad 405/2 to an Audiolab 8000P power amp - the Audiolab was streets ahead of the Quad in that application, imho - it really got a grip on the Quad stats and tightened what had been a too-laidback sound.

DSJR
25-04-2010, 10:46
I can't see "Victory" on any of mine: I don't know what the lable is? they all say "Gas" on the side of the case and "Essential" and "Castle" on the actual discs????

The main deficit on mine is an almost complete lack of dynamics - far too compressed + the usual 'brightness'. I can't actually remember when I bought these but I think was over ten years ago.

BSS had the use of some wierd metallic sounding mics and the band made a point of mentioning this at the time. The Barry Diament CD mastering of this album early on took all the treble away and it sounded horrid to me. The "Victory Records" remastering was in the mid nineties and the metallic sheen was restored as it was supposed to be there. I personally don't find it compressed, but it is one of those discs that improves as the playback system does I found.

My copy of Trilogy is the original Atlantic CD (again, mastered by Barry Diament) and it sounds superb here and rather clearer than my old Island LP.