Howdy from a youngen in Cheltenham!

[ProfessiorP3PP3R]

Howdy all!

Thanks for having me here, been a lurker for many a year and finally decided to get involved and hopefully become an active member of the community!

I've been going strong as an audiophile for about 4 years now so started when I was about 16 so *maths time* that makes me 20!
My system:
My main system is currently my Yamaha C65 (which is now developing a fault so desperately need a replacement or to fix it!) As pre amp power my wonderful Sansui BA-F1 (rebuilt by the amazing Hyperion), driving some absolutely lovely JBL L100 Classics (these were my first ever new speakers... well new they were ex display from Audio T chelt). I've got a Teac UD-501 and Marantz CDA-94 as my dacs with a Pi set up for roon use and a gorgeous Sansui XR-Q7 tt with a 2m blue atm.

I've also got a headphone system for the office which is a tiny Aiwa P50/C50 stack running my Hifiman HE1000V1s.

Other things I own and are out of use rn: Sansui TU-217, Sansui CD-Alpha917XR, Braun PA4.

And I've owned and rebuilt several speakers over the years including one of my faves the Kef 104/2s!

Sorry to ramble on oopsie!

I've only recently moved into the Chelt area (from Stafford) and tryna find some good local hifi friends too, would be great to meet some like minded folk and demo some other systems too! I assume there's a big following locally since Chelt is blessed to have 3 hifi stores in its town centre haha!

Glad to be here all! Hope all are well

[walpurgis]

Hello Zak. Welcome to AOS.

Take a look around the site, you'll find every aspect of H-Fi is covered and there's music chat too, so just join in.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[ProfessiorP3PP3R]

Thanks for the welcome Geoff!

Hopefully will be able to get involved

[hifinutt]

welcome zak , yes quite a few hi fi guys in that area . reggie on here not too far away and open doors who did jolida is near

[ProfessiorP3PP3R]

Cheers Phil. Appreciate it.
Yea id really like to get to meet some fellow folk, it's nice to be able to taste other products without the outlay

[Lawrence001]

Howdy all!

Thanks for having me here, been a lurker for many a year and finally decided to get involved and hopefully become an active member of the community!

I've been going strong as an audiophile for about 4 years now so started when I was about 16 so *maths time* that makes me 20!
My system:
My main system is currently my Yamaha C65 (which is now developing a fault so desperately need a replacement or to fix it!) As pre amp power my wonderful Sansui BA-F1 (rebuilt by the amazing Hyperion), driving some absolutely lovely JBL L100 Classics (these were my first ever new speakers... well new they were ex display from Audio T chelt). I've got a Teac UD-501 and Marantz CDA-94 as my dacs with a Pi set up for roon use and a gorgeous Sansui XR-Q7 tt with a 2m blue atm.

I've also got a headphone system for the office which is a tiny Aiwa P50/C50 stack running my Hifiman HE1000V1s.

Other things I own and are out of use rn: Sansui TU-217, Sansui CD-Alpha917XR, Braun PA4.

And I've owned and rebuilt several speakers over the years including one of my faves the Kef 104/2s!

Sorry to ramble on oopsie!

I've only recently moved into the Chelt area (from Stafford) and tryna find some good local hifi friends too, would be great to meet some like minded folk and demo some other systems too! I assume there's a big following locally since Chelt is blessed to have 3 hifi stores in its town centre haha!

Glad to be here all! Hope all are well

Welcome Zak you've got some nice gear there. Those JBLs are lovely speakers think I heard then at a show if they're the ones that come with optional blue or orange foam grills.

I've owned and restored several pairs of 104/2s they're great speakers too, did you replace the foam doughnuts? Time consuming job that! I never bought the later biwire versions with foam outer surrounds as that was a job too far for me!

I've not heard the CDA94 but I've owned a couple of CD94 mk2s it's my favourite CD player. Although I think the CD player has dual DAC chips vs the single of the DAC. Or maybe it was the standard TDA1541A in the DAC and the single crown in the CDP.

Have you experimented with a dedicated headphone amp? I ask as I have owned several pairs of Hifiman headphones and I can say the higher range really need one to sound their best.

Good luck finding local members it's great to hear each others' systems and learn what sound you like and what's works well together (and in your room). If you're lucky you might be able to borrow something different to try out before considering the expense of an upgrade.

Having said that if you look in the classifieds and find something at a fair price you should have no problem moving it on without loss. That's how I learnt what I like and moved up the chain. It's very rewarding to make incremental improvements to your system. You might take a few steps back but as long as you take more forwards then you'll be doing well. And learn a few lessons along the way.

[ProfessiorP3PP3R]

Welcome Zak you've got some nice gear there. Those JBLs are lovely speakers think I heard then at a show if they're the ones that come with optional blue or orange foam grills.

I've owned and restored several pairs of 104/2s they're great speakers too, did you replace the foam doughnuts? Time consuming job that! I never bought the later biwire versions with foam outer surrounds as that was a job too far for me!

I've not heard the CDA94 but I've owned a couple of CD94 mk2s it's my favourite CD player. Although I think the CD player has dual DAC chips vs the single of the DAC. Or maybe it was the standard TDA1541A in the DAC and the single crown in the CDP.

Have you experimented with a dedicated headphone amp? I ask as I have owned several pairs of Hifiman headphones and I can say the higher range really need one to sound their best.

Good luck finding local members it's great to hear each others' systems and learn what sound you like and what's works well together (and in your room). If you're lucky you might be able to borrow something different to try out before considering the expense of an upgrade.

Having said that if you look in the classifieds and find something at a fair price you should have no problem moving it on without loss. That's how I learnt what I like and moved up the chain. It's very rewarding to make incremental improvements to your system. You might take a few steps back but as long as you take more forwards then you'll be doing well. And learn a few lessons along the way.

Hey! Thanks for the lovely response.
Yea those are the JBLs! I actually sold the 104/2 ready to downsize when I moved (I was moving into my partners so made sure to not have something invasive), but me and the other half went to some demos and ended up with speakers even bigger! Oopsie daisy. Very very happy with them.
On the subject of the 104/2 all of the units I had were early production years so 84-85 respectively, so just had the foam donuts of which I replaced ofc! Also replaced the ferrofluid in the tweeters on both units. Working on them was such a ball ache! But I enjoyed it.

The CD94 has the dual TDA implementation vs the single in the CDA, I think its a very different implementation though. I've never heard the CD94 and not sure how I ended up with a CDA but like anything it seems I did haha.

So the reason for running the hifiman off of a speaker amp is because I run them balanced directly of speaker taps using a XLR to banana plugs cable. I've owned several head-amps but with the hifiman I've found that a proper speaker amp really works for those higher end planar units. I originally ran them off my BA-F1 before the move.

[Alex_UK]

Welcome Zak, thanks for a great introduction! I got into “proper” hi-fi around the same age, although it’s taken a lot of experimenting along the way to understand the sound I like. Luckily my daughter who is 13 seems to enjoy decent sound too and has a vinyl and CD system made from some of my spares which she enjoys experimenting with my music collection on!

I love those JBL’s. Orange for me! My favourite colour.

Anyway, you’re already getting stuck in so good to have you join us and have fun!

[Lawrence001]

Hey! Thanks for the lovely response.
Yea those are the JBLs! I actually sold the 104/2 ready to downsize when I moved (I was moving into my partners so made sure to not have something invasive), but me and the other half went to some demos and ended up with speakers even bigger! Oopsie daisy. Very very happy with them.
On the subject of the 104/2 all of the units I had were early production years so 84-85 respectively, so just had the foam donuts of which I replaced ofc! Also replaced the ferrofluid in the tweeters on both units. Working on them was such a ball ache! But I enjoyed it.

The CD94 has the dual TDA implementation vs the single in the CDA, I think its a very different implementation though. I've never heard the CD94 and not sure how I ended up with a CDA but like anything it seems I did haha.

So the reason for running the hifiman off of a speaker amp is because I run them balanced directly of speaker taps using a XLR to banana plugs cable. I've owned several head-amps but with the hifiman I've found that a proper speaker amp really works for those higher end planar units. I originally ran them off my BA-F1 before the move.Ah you've run the headphones the same way as I did with my HE6s which are notoriously hard to drive. I used a 1000wpc (into 4 ohms maybe 100 into the HE6s) ice power amp though! It sounds crazy but it worked for me.

I had a heart stopping moment when I ran it at full signal for a few seconds before I put them on and I couldn't work out where the sound was coming from. Amazingly they suffered no ill effects [emoji16]

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Zac.

Great introduction - you started your journey a little earlier in age than I, but have made a great start, Well done.

I've often admired the JBL Century L100s. I first heard them in a record shop in Manchester. They were suspended from the ceiling and sounded very good. If I owned a pair I think I would have two sets of the foam grilles: one set orange, the second brown. (very '70's. :lol: )

What are your tastes in music? (We're a bit of a nosey bunch here. ;) )

Enjoy the Forum
Barry

[ProfessiorP3PP3R]

Welcome to AoS Zac.

Great introduction - you started your journey a little earlier in age than I, but have made a great start, Well done.

I've often admired the JBL Century L100s. I first heard them in a record shop in Manchester. They were suspended from the ceiling and sounded very good. If I owned a pair I think I would have two sets of the foam grilles: one set orange, the second brown. (very '70's. :lol: )

What are your tastes in music? (We're a bit of a nosey bunch here. ;) )

Enjoy the Forum
Barry

Hey Barry! Thanks for the welcome.

Yes bit of a baby here! Not quite sure how it started but it most certainly had nothing to do with my parents.

Yes the century's certainly are a classic, I've heard a pair of the century's myself and think they are *fine* not particularly exceptional and defo get more cop than they deserve, and all in all have aged poorly with there basic cab design and very of the era drive array. THANKFULLY! The new classics (what I have) solve all those issues but I'm sure you guys already know about most of that. All in all its basically a brand new speaker made to look like a 70s speakers its even bigger in proportions too!

Hmm music? It's always a difficult one to answer that. I'll get the likely most controversial category out of the way, and that'll be Disco. I'm a big listener of disco but I also study the cultural movement a fair amount too so its not just about the music with that. Other stuff is lots of female vocalists, especially jazz the usual Fitzgerald and all that.
Instead of me explaining I'll link my last fm library:
https://www.last.fm/user/ProfessorP3PP3R/library/artists?date_preset=ALL
Though this only accounts for stuff via streaming! And mostly doesn't represent my day today listening (P.s ignore the madonna phase :rolleyes: )

I must add that my last fm is mostly populated via work listening rather than critical listening. Adding to the stuff previously mentioned I actually enjoy a good Opera, really enjoy some of the 'modern' English operas like Porgy and Bess and also enjoy the jazz versions by the Likes of Ella & Louise. I suppose I can just say the usual varied taste but mostly it's female vocals, though recently been listening to alot more 60s/70s male soul acts. Mayfield, Roon Matlock, Billy Paul etc! Will say my personal favourite artist would probably be Grace Jones, though defo wouldn't consider here an exceptional singer: atleast her early-mid 80s stuff tend to be exceptionally well produced!

Hopefully that all helps!