Nice Sound System for Home

My open dining and living room is 31' long and 16' wide so there's plenty of space for it now. But I fully intend on renting a commercial space and spooking people with the best bespoke and cohesive holography ever existed on this planet. Acoustics are 50% of audio so room 'loading' is extremely important and "gigantic" is rarely ideal nor is "industrial" with highly reflective concrete and tall ceilings that vacuum the sound away from the listener.

I'm hoping to find a space no longer than 50', no wider than 25', and no taller than 16'.
 
LelandJ said:
The speaker above is the one on top. The mothership which arrived last night is on the bottom. Hurts my arm/shoulder just looking at it, had to have four friends uncrate and place into my house. Now I gotta figure out a suspension system in addition to driver pairing FML.

View attachment 5814
Click to expand...

Indeed, that is enormous. Is this a single speaker, or for a pair?
 
I'm a mono purist, with my 'counter' perspective stereo sounds awful with inherent phase distortion. Never thought about it till now but that's a big detraction from holographic presentation. I guess holography is inversely proportional to any distortion.
 
LelandJ said:
I'm a mono purist, with my 'counter' perspective stereo sounds awful with inherent phase distortion. Never thought about it till now but that's a big detraction from holographic presentation. I guess holography is inversely proportional to any distortion.
Click to expand...

You can run mono thru 2 speakers. Does that setup have another matching unit?
 
OfficePants said:
You can run mono thru 2 speakers.
Click to expand...

You take me for a redetard? A mono purist doesn't believe in fake stereo, much less true stereo, when you go to a live acoustic performance a singer only has one mouth. Phase distortion comes from having more than one point source, this includes multi-way drivers in one speaker. One speaker, one driver, full-range, mono 78s define a mono purist. I'd rather wear Spanish sleeved Boglioli jacket than listen to stereo again.

Does that setup have another matching unit?
Click to expand...

No, lucky for me.
 
My current driver's supposed to fit on the new horn but turns out it only screws on 1/8" before it gets too tight. The Italian (so stereotypical) who made the smaller horn made the threading a little wider than it should've been which now means I need an adapter machined for what should be the same fucking thread size. We're talking less than 1/64" in difference unfuckingbelievable.
 
Most of what's being discussed in this thread is unintelligible to me and you may as well be speaking Greek.

However, I was over at a friend's house last week and was listening to some vinyl for the first time in quite a while and it piqued my interest. I'm not sure what his set up was, but he's owned a recording/production company in the past and he's set up various speakers in his living room so that when you sit on the small, central square of a Persian rug in the middle of his lounge you're right at the focal centre of the speakers (whatever the correct word for that might happen to be). It sounded fantastic.

So, I was thinking back to my childhood and how my dad used to have a belt-driven turntable and analogue amp that were finished in brushed stainless steel at the front and clad in wood around the sides. The amp had various knobs on the front and a couple of illuminated little windows with flickering needles that I used to love to look at when I was young.

Anyway, I thought that it might be nice to get something similar so that I can attempt to re-live my childhood.

Does anyone have any recs for some reliable, rather retro-styled hi-fi equipment (turntable/amp/speakers) that aren't terribly expensive?
 
Sadly JM the recent hipster fad for vinyl has pushed up the price for vintage, 70s 80s, tt s, to some silly levels. I used get them given to me. I only have about 3 left. You can still pi k them up at garage sales or chuckouts from time to time. Expect to pay &$150+ for a working tt. $300 + for amp.
 
Speakers are still pretty cheap. In fact I have about 4 sets of monsters in my shed I need to get rid of. Most speakers will last well.

If you are down here with a ute I can give you a set.
 
A small note. Leland would not even condescend to sneer at my equipment.

I have worked in radio and recording studios. Although my approach is similar to clothing, down to earth good quality but not seeking perfection or approval of forum it's.
 
What would your source be Jman? You want to start collecting records or just play off the internet?

And although I'm working towards perfection for a totally different time period, I'm very experienced in modern reproduction and can recommend things in different price ranges.
 
LelandJ said:
What would your source be Jman? You want to start collecting records or just play off the internet?
Click to expand...

I don't play off the internet, so I'd be playing my own LPs and CDs. As it stands, I've got very compact little Sony MD/CD player that was made for the Japanese domestic market and my records (and those of my father) are stored away in boxes.
 
LelandJ said:
You take me for a redetard? A mono purist doesn't believe in fake stereo, much less true stereo, when you go to a live acoustic performance a singer only has one mouth. Phase distortion comes from having more than one point source, this includes multi-way drivers in one speaker. One speaker, one driver, full-range, mono 78s define a mono purist.
Click to expand...

You mean retard, don't you? :dontknow:

I've never heard a single speaker setup, so it would be novel for me.
 
Journeyman said:
I don't play off the internet, so I'd be playing my own LPs and CDs. As it stands, I've got very compact little Sony MD/CD player that was made for the Japanese domestic market and my records (and those of my father) are stored away in boxes.
Click to expand...

The way you describe that old setup, are you looking for a tube amp? As mentioned here before, a McIntosh 275 would be a great place to start. It's not integrated, though. You need a good phono stage, an older NAD pre can be acquired pretty cheaply.
 
OfficePants said:
The way you describe that old setup, are you looking for a tube amp? As mentioned here before, a McIntosh 275 would be a great place to start. It's not integrated, though. You need a good phono stage, an older NAD pre can be acquired pretty cheaply.
Click to expand...

No, I don't think that I'm that bothered to go the way of tubes.

I do have a friend (not the one that I mentioned above, a different friend) who went way, way down the audiophile rabbit hole some years back and spent ages (and a heck of a lot of money) fiddling around with tube amps, special cables, little golden cones to place beneath his turntable and so on, but I'm not that bothered.
 
Tubes aren't difficult at all and if you go restored vintage then you'll get better sound for cheaper price than transistor. All you'd need to buy is a $20 voltmeter and bias the amp once a year assuming heavy use throughout the year which should take all but five minutes.

My turntable engineer's top of the line $25k Naim gear didn't sound as good as my old $900 restored H.H. Scott 299a amp did.
 
JM - its pretty easy to pick up a decent old amp or receiver (combined amp and AM/FM radio) You don't really need a receiver nowadays - although I'm not sure if your part of the world has DAB+ radio? If so any amp will do - and I highly recommend buying a DBA+ radio for a good sound - even RN is in stereo and static free sound. You don't have to spend big money on a DAB+ either - I have 3 of them and the cheapo $79 portable one does just as good a job plugged into the amp as does the more expensive ones. Although having a DAB+ that can connect to the home wifi network and play music or podcasts off the net or from a computer via wifi is a good thing

and - although leland and myself are coming from different perspectives - we probably don't disagree on most things. Or at least if I do - I'm not out to pick a fight about it.

I just recalled that Melbourne probably has more community and independent radio stations than most places, so more music choices.
 
I'd look at the AUS equivalent of Craigslist. That's usually where you'll get a decent deal. What do you guys use down there, anyway?
 
Rambo said:
What brands of equipment do you all have access to over there fxh fxh ? Speakers too.
Click to expand...
Probably pretty much the same as anywhere except with only 22m popn theres less stuff floating around second hand and new has dried up a lot on the last 20 years or so with the advent of low fi listening and MP3s etc. No one has any idea how good music can sound these days - even on half decent equipment - its all on phones, badly compressed MP3s and ear plugs.

Pantsy - we often use Gumtree - started off as a local thing - now owned by ebay - except its still free and encourages local pickups and cash exchange rather than paypal and mailing etc. Works well when it works well but theres still idiots who think they should get $150 price for a crappy old plastic 90s integrated "music system" that cost $200 new. Garage sales are better - I think its the equivalent to what USA calls "Lawn Sales?
 
Waiting on a 309 tonearm and SUT to test this 60 year old mc cartridge which is considered the very best ever made for 78s.

0.5 mV output and VTF of 7 to 15 gr, none of that weak 1.5 to 3 gr modern microgroove nonsense.

OrtoA2.webp
 
I'm glad that you explained what that was, otherwise I would have been looking at it, scratching my head and thinking, "What's that thing that Leland just posted?".
 
LelandJ said:
Look how ugly and expensive Ortofon's top line mc carts are today:
Click to expand...

$9000!?!?! Nine-freaking-thousand-dollars for a turntable cartridge?!?!?! That's even more insane than people paying $1500 for pairs of iGent boots that they never wear!

:ragecry:
 
Journeyman said:
$9000!?!?! Nine-freaking-thousand-dollars for a turntable cartridge?!?!?! That's even more insane than people paying $1500 for pairs of iGent boots that they never wear!

:ragecry:
Click to expand...

How about $300,000 for a turntable then? Least you get linear tracking. :ahahahaha:

gt.jpg
 
Here's my turntable finished in myrtle wood milled in Oregon. The cartridges were temporary.

myrtle.webp
 
Journeyman said:
$9000!?!?! Nine-freaking-thousand-dollars for a turntable cartridge?!?!?! That's even more insane than people paying $1500 for pairs of iGent boots that they never wear!

:ragecry:
Click to expand...

Was about to post 9k is starter money, but Panda-man beat me to it. You can drop a literal fortune chasing a dream.

This one, for example, is apparently 600k. Yes, that's a laser. AV DesignHaus Dereneville VPM 2010-1

126212_preview.jpg

P1070547-Laser.jpg
 
OfficePants said:
Was about to post 9k is starter money, but Panda-man beat me to it. You can drop a literal fortune chasing a dream.
Click to expand...

You mean nightmare, and I forgot about this laser tracking one you posted which I believe was a custom job. I'm sure at the price anyone could order one though.
 
LelandJ said:
You mean nightmare, and I forgot about this laser tracking one you posted which I believe was a custom job. I'm sure at the price anyone could order one though.
Click to expand...

It is. In my experience, you have to spend double to attain any noticeable difference, and those numbers start to get parabolic very fast.
 
Actually after a certain point the quality diminishes the more expensive it is.

For non-custom tables you're not going to surpass Shindo's $25k in sonic quality for 'new' production. He uses the 301, like mine, in his:

Shindos_301.jpg


The EMT 927a made in the 50's is considered the best ever but is extremely rare and probably around twice the price of Shindo's:

EMT9278.jpg


The one I'll have commissioned in the future will be just as heavy as the EMT 927a and made with Rekokuts behemoth cutting tables.
 
Forgot to post, no elite audiophile even considers belt driven tables anymore including the $600k above. Idler and direct drive are the only types of value.
 
LelandJ said:
Forgot to post, no elite audiophile even considers belt driven tables anymore including the $600k above. Idler and direct drive are the only types of value.
Click to expand...

Really?

I'm no audiophile, so I could be wrong, but I thought that audiophiles preferred belt-driven turntables because, with a belt drive, the belt isolates the motor from the platter (unlike a direct drive, where the two are directly linked), so whatever vibrations or interference the motor generates won't be transmitted through the platter to the record and the stylus?
 
I'm only speaking of enlightened audiophiles, there' more of the contemporary inexperienced audiophiles who believe the theory you just posted, and I understand it would appear to be common sense deduction. The reality is 'isolation' to the degree contemporary audiophiles seek and implement is paradoxically detrimental to sound quality. There are multiple factors at play, the motors of idler and direct drive are significantly more powerful, providing torque and stability unmatched in belt drives almost always with very weak motors.

I owned and used a Thorens TD125 for over a decade. When I switched to the TD124 (a belt/idler hybrid), I immediately understood the improvement in sound and now there's no going back. There are a few vintage exceptions to belt drives like this Fairchild 750 which has a 26 lb platter and a one inch wide 'tape' belt with a strong motor. I'm unsure how it would respond to a variable speed/voltage controller though which is necessary for pre-modern reproduction.

fair.jpg
 
This grail high up on my wants list is up for auction, unfortunately has a few needle runs and questionable greying especially in lead in groove. Should sound good enough with proper analog remastering:

grail.webp
 
LelandJ LelandJ - I've very little knowledge about quality audio stuff, so this may be heretical, but what's your opinion of older Bang & Olufsen gear, such as turntables?

The father of one of my friends used to collect B&O audio gear and he had an amazing set up in the 1980s, including a very solid-looking turntable that sounded good to my young, untrained ears - a Beogram 9000 or 7000, perhaps?
 
Last edited:
I've never played a B&O table but I'm sure you can get 'decent' sound out of one if you really needed to. You shouldn't consider it if you're looking to buy though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top Bottom