The *NOT BORING!* Hi-Fi faff chat and sales

Bullpup":15p32ptl said:
Does anyone know about repairing/reconditioning Tannoy Speakers please?

if the paper cone is damaged, it will need re-coning but if just the surrounding foam has perished, the ebay kits can be used to fix this at home.
 
Anyone up to speed with DAC's? I'm now pretty much itune'd up and plan to stick all or most of my music collection on an external drive and play through itunes. From what I've been reading a DAC can vastly improve the digital source, so I'm thinking I can plug in the PC and my DVD player. I bought a Marantz DV4100 a good few years ago and it cost a fair bit for a DVD player at the time. Lo and behold its virtually worthless now, I'm thinking for occasional CD play that I could use it in conjunction with a DAC to achieve something fairly passable for decent sound. Principally though it would be to improve the PC source.

So anyone done this?
 
I gather the old adage about the quality one puts in still applies in the digital age... in this case I prefer the sound of AIFF and so called lossless file types, whether through the Mac; on CDs burnt from the Mac or on files transferred to my iPhone. Not convinced the various DACs I have lying around make a more noticeable difference in rudimentary tests I've undertaken.

Incidentally, I note that various very early CD players with their better built transports and early DACs have something of a retro cult going on these days - check TDA1540/1s with various crowns on them on eBay.
 
Noticed one for sale on STW (shhh!) recently with really glowing reviews, sure a search would bring it up...
 
It is true that shit in equals shit out. Doesnt matter how good a DAC is, if its receiving duff from the source, you will hear it.

The humble iPod has very good quality DACs and sounds excellent if you have copied your music over at reasonable bit rates.

Most computers are very noisy and again, an external DAC wont help. Here the old tower PC reigns supreme as it can run better and better sound cards whereas the laptop or even most tablets are ok to mediocre.

External sound cards can help but its an extra box and lead.

Home Theatre PC's were a short lived fashion item a few years ago and they still make a little bit of sense now - powerful graphics cards for high resolution displays, sound cards etc - if it wasnt for HDMI, smart TVs and Blu-Ray.

CDs are shit - simple fact, very few albums were mastered as good as they could have been. SACD was a dead end - its all on-line now and all the better for it.

Live recordings on to reel-to-reel are where its at, or live high resolution digital recordings if you want real Hi Fidelity otherwise its mediocre all the way!
 
As a direct answer for Kaiser - I would seek out a quality surround processor as these have very high quality DACs and processing. Many were intended for quality 2 channel audio so dont be put off.

Most of the current receivers seem to be great at surround but cack at 2 channel making it frustrating if you want to be hi-fi.

Downside for some is that 'good' processors are 4 figures.

Upside is that if you are not so bothered by new or Blu-ray yet, there is literally thousands of second hand items that would make iTunes sound good.

I want a new TV and a B-R player but that would be bye bye to nearly all existing equipment if I do.
 
legrandefromage":fhsndsr4 said:
The plebs buy sound bars these days...

:roll:


This pleb got his beloved back today :cool: Been on loan to my mum indefinitely whilst we moved somewhere with an extra room! :LOL:

It's now in the bike area making me very happy indeed :D
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Consequently I've had to promise mum my Sherwood RD6103R amp to run her Kenwood turntable through ... if anyone has a pair of not too big (max 26cm wide, other dimensions less important) speakers that might suit drop me a line! :LOL: I'm in Stockport, she's in Wolverhampton, budget is 'challenged', say £30 :oops:

Also need a pair of speakers for a Denon f101 tuner/CD I picked up at the weekend - Richer sounds have Wharfdale Black Diamonds for £50 posted, guessing they'd be a good match but all info gratefully received!
 
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