Jimbos Audio ramblings

[Macca]

My room volume is large and to be honest needs a fair bit more absorbent material but mainly on the walls.
I have plans for some first reflection point panels which need to be made and will probably include some artwork although they may simply be covered in a coloured material. As you may remember my mate Steve has done this in his huge acoustically treated rooms and it works very well indeed.

I use the foam wedge panels from Studio Spares https://www.studiospares.com/acousti...5mm-465300.htm on the door (which was giving off a distracting flutter echo) and on first reflection point. Cheap and get the job done but I am not really bothered about looks - although I think they look okay.

Helps to start with a good room which you seem to have. Then you don't really need to do that much.

I might be moving in late spring and new room is an acoustic nightmare.

[Jimbo]

I use the foam wedge panels from Studio Spares https://www.studiospares.com/acousti...5mm-465300.htm on the door (which was giving off a distracting flutter echo) and on first reflection point. Cheap and get the job done but I am not really bothered about looks - although I think they look okay.

Helps to start with a good room which you seem to have. Then you don't really need to do that much.

I might be moving in late spring and new room is an acoustic nightmare.

Look ok for the price, certainly inexpensive Martin. I will have a removable panel made for the front of the glass book shelf and probably use rock wool battens for the other first reflection points.

I have had a few rooms that have been an acoustic nightmare, usually dead square and small!

I was not sure of this room because of the wooden floor but it has not been an issue at all. I need all the help I can get with the bass!

[Jimbo]

I am sure I am not the only Audiophile who has decided to keep most of their system the same for a long period of time. When you look round the net and indeed in the very few hifi shops that remain there is always a constant barrage of new and shiny toys pulling at your wallet and ready to drain your bank account but often I have found products have become "The next best thing". Ok there are always possible improvements to be had but it can be a time consuming and expensive road to travel as I found in the 1980's when I first started to become obsessed with all things audio.

Back then I knew nothing. I was eager to put together a system that sounded good but what was a good system as there was so much kit and so many posibilities and until you try a lot of it you cannot make any valid judgements and therefore I became a "box swapper". I spent about half my salary I buying new equipment then keeping it for 6 months or so before moving on. Always lost money! But luckily then as now there were ways to try stuff for free. I had a great hifi shop near near and could borrow and listen to a lot of gear and there was always the option of popping round your mates to listen to their gear. Funny isn't it how we all end up with a different range of equipment and very rarely do you find two people have exactly the same system. This gave me an inkling into the complexity of putting together a hifi system and it was only in later years I worked out we all heard everything differently and had different rooms and different size wallets!

Anyhow after about 5 years of furious box swapping and so many systems I cannot remember every bit of kit I had I did stop. Eventually I knew what sound I liked from a system and what were the important aspects that ticked the boxes for me. They were the typical Audiophile terms such as transparency, imaging, naturalness, soundstage and clarity. Each of us can attribute particular areas of sound we think are important and key to our listening experience. Back in the 1980's it was probably "how fu%%kin loud does it go"!

So with an understanding gained from huge amounts of box swapping and an empty wallet I knew what sound I wanted form my system and therefore when I returned to hifi in 2015 after a 25 year hiatus I had an aural image in my head that I wanted to translate into a system and that is exactly what I have now in my current set up. There are now more avenues than ever to wander down searching for your hifi dream as the internet has exploded our exposure to hifi through forums, YouTube videos and online magazines but I had a rough idea which ares to look in to put together my current set up. I knew I liked valves, I knew I liked natural sounding speakers but what I had forgotten was how good vinyl sounded.

Without going back to deep and in too much detail of my hifi history I had spent 25 years not indulging much actively in his as I put all my money into purchasing a property. During this period I had a basic CD set up but having accidentally stumbled on vinyl again I knew that this was where I needed to go with my system, hence why I run a turntable for 95% of my music listening.

Sorry about the ramble but it is an attempt to explain why I have ended up with the system I have today. So without going into too much detail I have popped a few pics up of the current gear sitting in the corner of my listening room.

VPI Scout 1.1 turntable with JMW 9T tonearm and 2M Black cartridge

7AC3A9DC-BCA1-47F8-B8C1-436DA4BEF41A by , on Flickr

8596E466-B73C-4E00-8FD1-02E59162C68D by y, on Flickr

06E5FA2C-B3E8-459F-87F5-7E0FE593C6DB by sy, on Flickr

Croft 25R Preamp with upgraded line stage and al NOS valves
EB4D0289-E3BC-4208-B0E3-AF471410D3CE by y, on Flickr

IMG_0033 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/162281319@N03/[/url], on Flickr

Croft 7R power amplifier with upgrader transformer
4117A2A5-0F78-49D6-B169-EBCDFF526F24 by J
, on Flickr

Heco Celan GT 702 speakers

991321B0-2FCB-4186-A226-C3355B91AC02 by y, on Flickr

[Jimbo]

This wood burner has certainly been useful over the winter so far. Keeps the room at steady 21 oC and certainly helps warming the system up. I have to turn all my system off at night as it is all valve so each evening requires usually an hour before the system is running at its optimum capacity. Now it is good to go within 15-30 mins.

I have noticed quite a difference to the sound of my system when cold and then running at a room temp of 21oC. I guess the electronics, cartridge rubber suspension and speaker cones are all operating as they should at this temperature?

2A9A6F79-28DC-4DBC-8E31-199099495D33 by James Kortvelyessy, on Flickr

[struth]

saw your pics on flikr jim.. all very good, sharp snaps. i was impressed..

[Jimbo]

saw your pics on flikr jim.. all very good, sharp snaps. i was impressed..

I use a Panasonic GX80 which I bought about 4 years ago. Some of the lenses give it the edge over Phone pics but I feel its days are numbered. Nice to use a real camera, albeit digital rather than a phone.

[struth]

I use a Panasonic GX80 which I bought about 4 years ago. Some of the lenses give it the edge over Phone pics but I feel its days are numbered. Nice to use a real camera, albeit digital rather than a phone.

bigger lens yes.. ive a canon powershot at moment but i dont get out much and often if i do i forget it. lol

i used to get a new one every few years to keep up but i quite like this one. the camera on the pixel is good tho too.

[Jimbo]

Phone cameras can't get anywhere near a good camera in low light conditions either. But the computational photographic imaging is catching up. Soon phone cameras will only just have to capture an imagine and the computer chips will take the information from the sensor and turn it into a fantastic picture. True Ai photography. To be fair some have got close to achieving this already.

[Gazjam]

Great read Jimbo.
Great looking room too, nice balance between the system and the vibe.

Its a great thing to have a system Blog I think, its good to be able to look back past bits of kit and setups you've enjoyed in the past.

I think we start out striving for "The System" we have in our heads initially?
Then as you say learn through expensive sideways moves and eventually end up with a system that ticks the boxes for the music we listen to.
A big part of that learning curve for me was hearing other peoples gear, stuff you might never hear, and realising that sometimes you just dont know what you like till you hear it!

You've found a happy spot, enjoy.

[Jimbo]

Great read Jimbo.
Great looking room too, nice balance between the system and the vibe.

Its a great thing to have a system Blog I think, its good to be able to look back past bits of kit and setups you've enjoyed in the past.

I think we start out striving for "The System" we have in our heads initially?
Then as you say learn through expensive sideways moves and eventually end up with a system that ticks the boxes for the music we listen to.
A big part of that learning curve for me was hearing other peoples gear, stuff you might never hear, and realising that sometimes you just dont know what you like till you hear it!

You've found a happy spot, enjoy.

Thanks Gary, it is always great to hear other stuff but I must say I have not done enough of this since the pandemic. I do get a listen at a mates place regularly but it would be good to hear more.

I am very happy with the system I have now and to be honest it would take something very special indeed to improve almost any aspect of it. I guess the speakers could be the weakest link in the chain but they are good enough for now. To upgrade them to something better would cost a fair bit but this would be my next possible move.