What classics changed your hi-fi life?

[enbee23]

Just puzzled as to why there's a Musical Fidelity 'B1' stuck in the rack!

It was my first amp. Had dragged it out of hibernation that day to see how it compared to the other amps on the rack.

[enbee23]

1969 in an all night illicit West Indian drinking club at the back of a shop in West Green Road, Tottenham. Can of Red Stripe in one hand, smell of a good grass doing the rounds and goat curry and rice and peas on the bubble. Mad stoned Rastaman playing import early ska and old calypso and some Sam and Dave etc on beaten up 45's. System Garrard SP25 (unknown Cart) feeding (I think from my memory) a Linear Concord L50, driving an enormous marine ply open baffle fitted with Goodmans 18inch and Midax and Trebax horns. Brain shaking, even building shaking. BUT what music, not Hi-Fi, not clarity, but shear exuberant body moving noise, it would eat you, you had to become part of it.

A defining moment for me when I realised that music and Hi-Fi were too different things. Every thing hifi then was designed to reproduce the human voice and an orchestra. For me it gave a purpose to my as then hobby to try and square the circle, I want that vibrance and life but I want the clarity as well.

Excellent. Do you think you've achieved that aim?

[WikiBoy]

Excellent. Do you think you've achieved that aim?

That is for others to judge not me. I would say yes no matter what, wouldn't I

[Gromit]

Excellent. Do you think you've achieved that aim?

He's not done a bad job

[stupinder]

My first bit of kit was hitachi seperates fed by a technichs sldl1 linear tracking tt.
This didn't last too long before i sold it and bought a Musical Fidelity The Preamp -really simple and classic design IMO - a Crimson electric stereo amp and a pair of wharfedale diamonds on set of homemade stands. Still had the Technics tt though.
fially saved up enough to buy a second hand LP12 but never had the money to buy an arm and cartridge. This lot all then got swapped for a pair of Technics 1210s which were fed into a 300 w a side pa amp which in turn fed a pair of 15" bass bins, a set of 2 x 12" mids and a set of piezo tweeters. This remained the house hifi 'til it got moved into my record shop.
Made do with Richer sounds Cambridge audio cd, amp and various speakers fo several years befor I happened across my current set up of MAjik, karik, keilidh (and an lp12, basik k9) for a price i really couldnt say no to. Sold the lp12, as i didnt have any vinyl anymore, for more than i paid for the whole lot and bought a Lk100 amp.
i have to say I really love the hifi I have at the moment. It allows me to listen to much more music than I have ever done previously. I know there are better hifis out there and one day i may get the box swapping bug but for the time being i'm more than happy to sit bac an listen to the music. That said I've just bought a Revolver Rebel tt from a really nice guy at another forum and can't wait for it to arrive - ive been out and bought a few seconhand bits of vinyl to feed it with.
Bit off topic all that really. I cant really isolate a bit of kit that changed the way i look at hifi/ listen to music. The MF The Preamp was iconic I think but the great big Sound System i had was also brilliant, if impractical and my present set up is also great. At the end of the day all the kit i've had has allowed me to listen to music in the way that I wanted to at a particular time in life.
I go on a bit don't I??

[Mike Reed]

marine ply open baffle fitted with Goodmans 18inch and Midax and Trebax horns. Brain shaking, even building shaking.

RICHARD,

I stand to be corrected, but having built that speaker system in the late sixties, but with chipboard rather than ply, I think you'll find the woofer was a 15 inch. Maybe they did an 18, but I can't recall it. I still have an odd midax horn, in box, in my loft somewhere; from all those years ago!

They went to college with me and did time as the disco speakers in the student hall. Happy days. Wish I could remember them!!!!!

The most life-changing system I ever heard was in '64/5, when I went round to a Maida Vale flat to buy a Jason valve amp to start a system.

The chap sat me down in from of Wharfedale W3s (then the biggest) and played The Grand March from 'Aida' from his Ortophon arm (and I can't remember the deck, etc.) Absolutely gobsmacked. Never looked back.

[Neil McCauley]

The Beveridge Model 2. I heard these in Chicago many years ago. Even today, I have never come across a more persuasive presentation of the original recorded live event than these. It had nothing to do with sound pressure level either. It had a full height horn driven by an electrostatic array with a 15" woofer per side. In plan view i.e looking down on the speakers there was a near perfect 180 degree distribution as a consequence in part of the very clever horn mouth shape. You sat between them, not in front of them. Heartbreakingly good, but not as heartbreaking as what happened to the designer. Read http://www.beveridge-audio.com/Technology.htm

http://www.beveridge-audio.com/g/White_Lacquered.gif

[pure sound]

I once heard a pair of Beveridge Model 2's at the home of Swedish TT/arm designer Peter Forsell. With regard to presenting a palpable & solid image they were extraordinary. I remember Louis Armstrong standing in the middle of the room between the two speakers which were on each side wall facing each other and it being possible to walk round him! They did have other shortcomings imho ie areas of colouration & also some dynamic limitations compared with the best horn systems but in terms of presenting a 3D picture they were indeed head & shoulders ahead of anything else I've heard.

These were the speakers that people like Frank Sinatra used at home!

[griffo104]

Not really owned much calssic gear - LP12 excluded, but the LP12 didn't have the impact on me it should have had. For me the Michell Mycro is the component which did it for me. My first turntable, bought from Midland Audio Exchange with a bonus from work and whim.

It showed me that all the people telling me that cd was superior to vinyl were just telling me lies, damn lies.

Rather stupidly, I ended up selling the Mycro, I finally ended up with an Orbe via an LP12 but I really wish I had kept that deck.

The other component was my Magnum Dynalb Ft101a tuner. Really showed how good analogue FM sound could be, a wonderful sounding source component when used in conjunction with Radio 3 can be as good as good a component as I've ever heard, incuding silly priced cd players and decent turntables as well.

Neither component would probably be regarded as a classic as such, but they certainly were to me.

[Mike]

The Beveridge Model 2. I heard these in Chicago many years ago. Even today, I have never come across a more persuasive presentation of the original recorded live event than these. It had nothing to do with sound pressure level either. It had a full height horn driven by an electrostatic array with a 15" woofer per side. In plan view i.e looking down on the speakers there was a near perfect 180 degree distribution as a consequence in part of the very clever horn mouth shape. You sat between them, not in front of them. Heartbreakingly good, but not as heartbreaking as what happened to the designer. Read http://www.beveridge-audio.com/Technology.htm

http://www.beveridge-audio.com/g/White_Lacquered.gif

WOW! They look incredible!

I bet they wer NOT cheap.

What DID happen to Harold Beveridge?