Roy wrote:
[snip]

Thanks for replies. Well, ATC, AVI and Spendor seem warmly suggested. So
I guess the next stop is the Cornflake shop. Had a look at their website
and I see they sell the first two makes.



Fish

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 15:47:40 +0000, Fish wrote:

I'm moving to a smaller house soon and alas my present audio stuff will
need changing for a smaller, more neighbour-friendly set-up.

At present I have a Bryston pre/power combo (250-watter) and a pair of
large Dynaudio floorstanders. Nothing-special CD-player as imho cd-players
are nothing special.


Sheesh - 250W is enough to cook on.... :-)

Have a look at any mid-price, fairly sensitive, half-decent speakers &
couple them with a little pure class A amp. Valves are nice... (you could
even build your own! I've just built a MOSFET headphone amp that would
scale up quite easily. I bet it only cost me £30 or so if you include
the bits from the "scrap box".) You may be surprised at how little power
you really need; most people can get away with about 3W to 5W per channel
under real-life surroundings. Remember that to double the volume you have
to square the power, so 250W is about twice the volume of a 25W amp, which
in turn is about twice the volume of a 5W amp! The more sensitive your
speakers are, the better. The music will usually sound clearer and
"faster" without necessarily being a lot louder.

--
Mick
http://www.nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini information
Also at http://www.mixtel.co.uk where the collection started.
Currently deserting M$ for linux... :-)

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 15:47:40 +0000, Fish wrote:

I'm moving to a smaller house soon and alas my present audio stuff will
need changing for a smaller, more neighbour-friendly set-up.

At present I have a Bryston pre/power combo (250-watter) and a pair of
large Dynaudio floorstanders. Nothing-special CD-player as imho cd-players
are nothing special.


Sheesh - 250W is enough to cook on.... :-)

Have a look at any mid-price, fairly sensitive, half-decent speakers &
couple them with a little pure class A amp. Valves are nice... (you could
even build your own! I've just built a MOSFET headphone amp that would
scale up quite easily. I bet it only cost me £30 or so if you include
the bits from the "scrap box".) You may be surprised at how little power
you really need; most people can get away with about 3W to 5W per channel
under real-life surroundings. Remember that to double the volume you have
to square the power, so 250W is about twice the volume of a 25W amp, which
in turn is about twice the volume of a 5W amp! The more sensitive your
speakers are, the better. The music will usually sound clearer and
"faster" without necessarily being a lot louder.

--
Mick
http://www.nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini information
Also at http://www.mixtel.co.uk where the collection started.
Currently deserting M$ for linux... :-)

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 22:12:39 +0000, Fish wrote:

Thanks for replies. Well, ATC, AVI and Spendor seem warmly suggested. So
I guess the next stop is the Cornflake shop. Had a look at their website
and I see they sell the first two makes.

Cornflake do indeed stock both ATC & AVI. Another store that isn't
often mentioned in hi-fi circles, but which is an excellent retailer
of both ATC & (I believe) AVI equipment, is:

Robert Taussig Co. Ltd
1 Formosa St
London
W9 1EE
United Kingdom
Tel: (020) 7286 1728
Fax: (020) 7266 2365

--
Anthony Edwards

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 22:12:39 +0000, Fish wrote:

Thanks for replies. Well, ATC, AVI and Spendor seem warmly suggested. So
I guess the next stop is the Cornflake shop. Had a look at their website
and I see they sell the first two makes.

Cornflake do indeed stock both ATC & AVI. Another store that isn't
often mentioned in hi-fi circles, but which is an excellent retailer
of both ATC & (I believe) AVI equipment, is:

Robert Taussig Co. Ltd
1 Formosa St
London
W9 1EE
United Kingdom
Tel: (020) 7286 1728
Fax: (020) 7266 2365

--
Anthony Edwards

No. Highly efficient speakers are generally less accurate than "lowish"
efficiency speakers. They tend to become unlinear at high outputs.



Mmmm now were getting interesting.

From my own experience of building everything from 1/4 wave baffle to v.
large transmission line (only ever built 1 of the pair - size of a wardrobe
with 12" bass driver) I have always felt that l/speakers (or more accurately
the boxes in which they are mounted) are the weak link in any hi-fi. Record
decks, amps cd players all work within fairly easy to define sets of
physical parameters - Speakers don't. The interface between a speaker and
the room in which it is used is not easy to define and often changes over
time (people move around, furniture gets moved, doors get opened or closed
into the room etc. etc.)
I have often found that the easiest way to deal with bass is just not to do
it at all! Small, sealed (infinite baffle) enclosures made with very heavy
damped panels and a simple crossover using very high quality drive units
often sound fantastic (BBC monitor LS1 fans may now smile smugly) BUT they
need vast amounts of amplifier power to produce any response below 100Hz
(and no - a subwoofer is not the answer) Fed with a low power amp (I used
to own an old 8watt amp which produced superb results - I have yet to hear
a better mid-range) But it's not Hi-Fi! Sounds great until you hear "live"
music again and realise that there is a lot more going on than just what's
being shown through your, admittedly very clean, small window on the world.
Check your own hearing response - you might be surprised at how little HF
information you can "hear" (which doesn't mean that anything above your limt
of hearing isn't playing a part in what you perceive as a leading edge or
transient sound -- but that's a whole other debate!
I often wonder when live music was last heard when I listen to dealers demo
or show set-up of hi-fi - There is a definite "hi-fi sound" which bears no
resemblance to real world music or sound.
Listen to simple sounds through anything which you intend to buy.... Solo
piano is an acid test, as is speech - record a radio Scotland (or radio 4 if
your not lucky enough to live in this neck of the woods) interview and burn
it onto CD. Play it in the shop and see whether it sounds "real"
Once the mid range is "right" then start to worry about the top and bottom
end.
And that's when the zeros start to appear at the end of the price tags!

No. Highly efficient speakers are generally less accurate than "lowish"
efficiency speakers. They tend to become unlinear at high outputs.



Mmmm now were getting interesting.

From my own experience of building everything from 1/4 wave baffle to v.
large transmission line (only ever built 1 of the pair - size of a wardrobe
with 12" bass driver) I have always felt that l/speakers (or more accurately
the boxes in which they are mounted) are the weak link in any hi-fi. Record
decks, amps cd players all work within fairly easy to define sets of
physical parameters - Speakers don't. The interface between a speaker and
the room in which it is used is not easy to define and often changes over
time (people move around, furniture gets moved, doors get opened or closed
into the room etc. etc.)
I have often found that the easiest way to deal with bass is just not to do
it at all! Small, sealed (infinite baffle) enclosures made with very heavy
damped panels and a simple crossover using very high quality drive units
often sound fantastic (BBC monitor LS1 fans may now smile smugly) BUT they
need vast amounts of amplifier power to produce any response below 100Hz
(and no - a subwoofer is not the answer) Fed with a low power amp (I used
to own an old 8watt amp which produced superb results - I have yet to hear
a better mid-range) But it's not Hi-Fi! Sounds great until you hear "live"
music again and realise that there is a lot more going on than just what's
being shown through your, admittedly very clean, small window on the world.
Check your own hearing response - you might be surprised at how little HF
information you can "hear" (which doesn't mean that anything above your limt
of hearing isn't playing a part in what you perceive as a leading edge or
transient sound -- but that's a whole other debate!
I often wonder when live music was last heard when I listen to dealers demo
or show set-up of hi-fi - There is a definite "hi-fi sound" which bears no
resemblance to real world music or sound.
Listen to simple sounds through anything which you intend to buy.... Solo
piano is an acid test, as is speech - record a radio Scotland (or radio 4 if
your not lucky enough to live in this neck of the woods) interview and burn
it onto CD. Play it in the shop and see whether it sounds "real"
Once the mid range is "right" then start to worry about the top and bottom
end.
And that's when the zeros start to appear at the end of the price tags!

"Fish" wrote in message
...
I'm moving to a smaller house soon and alas my present audio stuff will
need changing for a smaller, more neighbour-friendly set-up.

At present I have a Bryston pre/power combo (250-watter) and a pair of
large Dynaudio floorstanders. Nothing-special CD-player as imho
cd-players are nothing special.


:-)

"Fish" wrote in message
...
I'm moving to a smaller house soon and alas my present audio stuff will
need changing for a smaller, more neighbour-friendly set-up.

At present I have a Bryston pre/power combo (250-watter) and a pair of
large Dynaudio floorstanders. Nothing-special CD-player as imho
cd-players are nothing special.


:-)

On Sun, 4 Jan 2004 00:01:48 +0000 (UTC)
"David" wrote:

(BBC monitor LS1 fans may now smile smugly)

Is that the same as the Radford monitor 1 ?

BUT they
need vast amounts of amplifier power to produce any response below 100Hz

No **** ;-)

--
Spyros lair: http://www.mnementh.co.uk/ |||| Maintainer: arm26 linux

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are tasty and good with ketchup.