Hifi of Yesteryear vs Today's effort!

[Jfhuk]

21 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

They were designed for OB use originally, hence the LS3/ part of their designation and the handles (you probably knew this), but found their way into many editing channels indoors as LS5/8s were considered a bit expensive and overkill for the task of 1/4" editing. 

I was told that mine came from BBC World Service. I hear that a Chinese firm has made a clone, haven’t heard one, but a couple of friends have and say it sounds exactly the same.

[Lady Elanore]

Yes I agree. I have a pile of Neutrik Quad XLRs and they take some beating...in every sense of the word.

 

Huge prices for digital cables are just ripping off HiFi junkies who can't help themselves. I consider it very cynical and more than a touch of Emperor's clothes to the whole thing. I'm not endorsing buying the cheapest bit of crud, but there is a sensible balance that can be achieved and I reckon most people instinctively know, roughly, where that is. 

 

Many years ago at the start of my career I wanted to impress the crew I was working with, so collected a drum of starquad and a pile of XLRs from our operational stores. I sat at home in my own time, and started to make up around 30 XLRs. 5-10 meter lengths in general. I stripped the ends etc, laid everything out and figured I would be done in no time thanks to my efficient and systematic preparation. Unfortunately, I had been slurping the odd spot of alcohol to help with the tedium...

 

The next day I present my cache of beautiful. newly made cables to the crew and wandered off to complete my duties on site. After a short while I got called back by the boss. "Excellent work Amanda, I commend you for your abilities and great work ethic", at least that's what I thought he would say.

 

Actually what he did say was "why the hell have you made up 30 odd, various lengths, double males and double females" 

 

Yes, I had made 30+ gender bender cables! 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited 1 September, 2021 by Lady Elanore

[cheezemonkhai]

@Lady Elanore

 

Ooops

[fabdavrav]

16 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Redid all the capacitors on my old mid range speakers, changed the fluids on the tweeters and inspected the cones which were all in excellent condition.

 

The electrolytics were not leaking, but some were borderline on spec.

 

Was considering an “upgrade” to MA silver or b&w 603, but was disappointed on the test listen.
 

Speaking to both companies they said it was higher range models which were  the equivalent replacements. The eye watering costs of these options made a repair of substantially cheaper pair suddenly the only option.

 

Worrying thing was how midrange speakers no longer live up to those of the recent past.

 

 

Upgrading an old set of speakers, without changing the cross-over design is the best way to get more value & better sound without the risky "will it sound rubbish". That's one of the reasons why when I re-did my MA's (as linked to a few posts above) I did not alter the cross-over design..to prove how much of a difference/improvement can be made.....

 

Mind you I spend a bit of time watching Danny at GR research...the build of many top end speakers is shocking. You are paying for the name & a glossy cabinet finish...yet the 3D waterfall charts show very bad sound....This is one of the best comparison videos:-

 

WOW! Finally a UNICORN! The $118 Sony SS-CS5! - YouTube

 

Here's another good one:-

 

$4000 Revel VS $350 Wharfedale | The Results Might Surprise You! - YouTube

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

6 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

@Lady Elanore

 

Ooops

 

 

Still, it meant they didn't forget me (and I was tying to get a spot in OBs so it didn't do me any harm) and as I bought the crew some beer afterwards to make up for my faux pas, I think it helped me fit in with them. Even if they did give me stick for it...for several years! 

[cheezemonkhai]

1 hour ago, fabdavrav said:

 

 

Upgrading an old set of speakers, without changing the cross-over design is the best way to get more value & better sound without the risky "will it sound rubbish". That's one of the reasons why when I re-did my MA's (as linked to a few posts above) I did not alter the cross-over design..to prove how much of a difference/improvement can be made.....

 

Mind you I spend a bit of time watching Danny at GR research...the build of many top end speakers is shocking. You are paying for the name & a glossy cabinet finish...yet the 3D waterfall charts show very bad sound....This is one of the best comparison videos:-

 

WOW! Finally a UNICORN! The $118 Sony SS-CS5! - YouTube

 

Here's another good one:-

 

$4000 Revel VS $350 Wharfedale | The Results Might Surprise You! - YouTube

 

 

 

To be fair most of the internals are well made on mine, although the capacitor mounting/hole design was a bit "interesting".

Ended up having to drill out the PCB to go from a pinhole for the eletrolytic to a marginally larger pinhole for the new non-electrolytic caps. Figured I'd do it right and only once, so lucky I used to occasionally rework PCB as part of my day job.

 

I do know what you mean though, with some speakers looking like they were put together by the work experience person on a bad day.

 

[skomaz]

So here's a thing...   Reading this thread has reminded me that I've got a pair of q acoustic 2010i sat on a shelf in the spare room.  They used to be wall mounted in the dining room at our old house but we moved 7 years ago and I've never used them in the new house...   I'm now thinking that I may need to invest in something to hook them up to for my 'home office' (aka the kid's room that happens to have a desk in it).

 

 

Maybe a half decent micro system that doesn't take up too much space and can alos be rigged up to the telly that's in there...

[Lady Elanore]

I've got a nice Onkyo TX RZ800 I'm going to be selling soon, that would be perfect for you needs, you wouldn't notice it's even there   

[skomaz]

That might just be a bit overkill for what I'm after...

[Lady Elanore]

39 minutes ago, skomaz said:

That might just be a bit overkill for what I'm after...

 

 

I think it might be a teeny bit too big for your needs  It's probably bigger than your microsystem. But on a positive note, it's quite heavy  

[cheezemonkhai]

18 hours ago, skomaz said:

So here's a thing...   Reading this thread has reminded me that I've got a pair of q acoustic 2010i sat on a shelf in the spare room.  They used to be wall mounted in the dining room at our old house but we moved 7 years ago and I've never used them in the new house...   I'm now thinking that I may need to invest in something to hook them up to for my 'home office' (aka the kid's room that happens to have a desk in it).

 

 

Maybe a half decent micro system that doesn't take up too much space and can alos be rigged up to the telly that's in there...

 

Not sure if the tweeters use fero fluid in those, but if they do get it changed as it basically turns thick.

There are at least a couple of people who will service two tweeters and post them back to you for not much more than the minimum quantity of the fluid.

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

Further to my mini rant over cost of things like cables, I found this.... (and its a special offer price)

 

https://www.richersounds.com/-1623776428.html

 

If only people realised that the stuff they listen too wasn't recorded using cables as (allegedly) good as these.   Sometimes it's battered mics and bell wire (and yes this is proof that everything is better when battered...or is that a different thread?) 

[cheezemonkhai]

57 minutes ago, Lady Elanore said:

Further to my mini rant over cost of things like cables, I found this.... (and its a special offer price)

 

https://www.richersounds.com/-1623776428.html

 

If only people realised that the stuff they listen too wasn't recorded using cables as (allegedly) good as these.   Sometimes it's battered mics and bell wire (and yes this is proof that everything is better when battered...or is that a different thread?) 

It’s balanced and earthed ffs!

 

You could use twin and earth and bar some flexibility issues it’ll be fine, because that’s the whole point of a balanced connection!!!

 

That really annoys me!

 

Here’s another cable with pricing that is best described as challenging:

 

https://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/cables/streaming-cables/optical-cables/atlas-mavros-optical-cable/

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

It says something that they offer trade-ins against a cable!!

 

Perhaps there is indeed something to commend yesteryears hifi over this modern Emperors clothing 

[Lady Elanore]

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

https://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/cables/audio-cables/xlr-cables/atlas-mavros-xlr-interconnect/

 

 

£2,600!! for an XLR!

 

 

 

 

.

Edited 2 September, 2021 by Lady Elanore

[cheezemonkhai]

😠😠😠

[Breezy_Pete]

Stupidity can be very costly.

[Lady Elanore]

If I wanted to listen to some music it would be cheaper to hire a band than buy one XLR. I'd need 2 cables for my amp anyway, so I could hire a support band as well! 

[mac11irl]

genuinely the law of diminishing returns says there is no way the fidelity difference between the 2600 quid cable vs a 50 version is 52 times better...

[cheezemonkhai]

£20 of connectors and £10-20 of cable will make you a pair of 1-2m  leads with good plugs and cable.

 

Since balanced reject noise… 

[Lady Elanore]

Nobody spent this kind of money on cables and interconnects when recordings were made, that's pretty much a guarantee 

[cheezemonkhai]

On 03/09/2021 at 02:57, Lady Elanore said:

Nobody spent this kind of money on cables and interconnects when recordings were made, that's pretty much a guarantee 

By the time they’ve purchased two XLR they could have had a number of guitar amps…

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/marshall-amps/jvm-guitar-amps/marshall-jvm410c-100w-2x12-combo-amp

 

Cable or more amp to tour with… I think I know who wins!

 

 

[Lady Elanore]

They do a very nice fridge, with weighted and realistically moving knobs 

 

https://marshallfridge.com/products/black-edition-4-4-marshall-high-capacity-bar-fridge

[cheezemonkhai]

6 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

They do a very nice fridge, with weighted and realistically moving knobs 

 

https://marshallfridge.com/products/black-edition-4-4-marshall-high-capacity-bar-fridge

Nice 👍

[AnnoyingPentium]

Maybe not quite as sophisticated as you lot with your expensive Hi-Fis since I'm a bit of a tightwad and operate on a tight budget anyway. So I present to you all one of the critical components of my stereo system, my 1981 Technics RS-M215 tape deck. It works and cost me £18. I can't complain