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Post by stevew on Mar 28, 2020 21:26:10 GMT
Christ, we need something to look forward to.
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Post by jimbo on Mar 28, 2020 21:31:20 GMT
That’s so well expressed James.. (or is it Jim- sorry I get lost sometimes. Welcome to world ahead!) When this is all over I’ll host an audio addicts party. Sounds a great idea! |
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JimBlog
Apr 5, 2020 7:05:35 GMT
via mobile
Post by stevew on Apr 5, 2020 7:05:35 GMT
Great read.
... and you would still listen to those albums today.
Well, I would.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 5, 2020 7:10:27 GMT
Becoming an Audiofool
Being an Audiofool is a strange affliction. I have often tried to figure out why I became so interested in HiFi and how this interest resulted in 40 years of box swapping, endless hours discussing equipment, thousands of hours spent reading magazines and audio related articles and heaven knows how many hours noodling on forums like this one.
I suppose it was really all about the music.
My father was a muscian and played the clarinet, indeed it was the only possession he bought with him when he left Hungary in the 1956 revolution. He played classical music and jazz and it was memories from a very young age of him sitting in a chair playing the clarinet that probably got my auditary system working. Both my parents were huge classical music fans as indeed was my grandfather and their enthusiasm penetrated my brain so I pretty much grew up until the age of 12 listening to everything from Hungarian gypsy bands to Opera. We had LPs of every period of classical music form Monteverdi to Rachmaninoff. My school friends used to take the piss when they were talking about Mud, Slade or Status Quo and I mentioned Handel or Bach. I could appreciate the pop music going on around me at the time but I still prefered the sound of an Oboe or violin to that of a electric guitar. However in the summer of I think 1976 I had just become 13 and I was at school hanging out by the canteen and the canteen manager had his cassette radio on playing some music that was to become a massive turning point and influence in my life. He was playing Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd and I was mesmerized!
That autumn I bought my first LP or should I say LPs with my birthday money and I can still remember buying them from the HMV store in Wolverhampton. The record were, Wish You Were Here, The Song Remains The Same, Queen ( A night at the Opera) and Vangelis (Heaven and Hell). Yes the last one was an Oddball but my music tastes and collection are anything but straightforward. I remember the smell of opening the black plastic wrapper Wish You Were Here came in. I remember the smell of the cardboard and looking at the postcard that came with it inside and I remember looking at the artwork and being enthralled. This record was played constantly and too all my family whether they wanted to listen too it or not! My only problem was I played it on a bush all in one record player similar to this one.
This beast was all I had and it was not great, the bastard ate records for breakfast and was at best functional. However my parents did let me use their Radiogram which looked something like this:https://www.adverts.ie/other-furniture/vintage-radiogram-gec/15021276
I had to get something better but I was only 13 so it was not until I was about 14 that I could save up enough pocket money from washing cars and mowing the lawn and buy something that even resembled a hifi system. This was when I had the chance opportunity to buy my mates dad's Prinzsound SA 2001 amplifier. However I had no speakers so I built some myself using two drawers out of a chest of drawers. I simply cut a hole in the bottom of them and stuck in some speaker drivers. I wish I had pictures of these. The drawers were orange and they were probably a half way house between a box enclosed speaker and an infinite baffle speaker. I also bought a turntable which I think was a Thorens, it was second hand cheap, beaten up and had a wonky tone arm but it played.
I had a STEREO at last. I could play music but this was the beginning of becoming an Audiofool. I knew I could do better. I has seen massive silver Japanese Receivers in magazines and proper speakers and my mind raced at the possibilities. Although I could now play music I knew there was possibly more on the record than I could retrieve with god knows what nail I was dragging over them at the time. However all these early steps from the Mono Bush Box to the radiogram and then to my primitive cave man lash up unleashed more audible improvements.
So this is how the bug really started and once it had taken hold it proved impossible to shake off!!
Wish you had pictures of the speakers too lol Sounded awesome |
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Post by jimbo on Apr 5, 2020 7:21:34 GMT
Yeah, i do still listen to two of those records occasionally.
My mum was not too happy about the drawers being used for speakers! lol
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Post by antonio on Apr 5, 2020 18:08:18 GMT
Nothing oddball about Vangelis - Heaven and Hell, great electronica. I remember going out and buying my first LP. I'd be late 14 or early 15 years old, went to buy Jethro Tull - Aqualung, couldn't find it anywhere so purchased Yes - Fragile. Not too difficult to guess what was my second LP was. Great days.
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Post by macca on Apr 6, 2020 6:59:53 GMT
LPs were a fiver in the mid-eighties when I started buying them. Singles were a quid.
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Post by hammer on Apr 6, 2020 7:25:28 GMT
When I started buying albums they were 19 shillings (That's less than £1)😀
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Post by macca on Apr 6, 2020 7:30:47 GMT
I was only earning a tenner a day in 1985 so I had to work 4 hours just to buy one LP.
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Post by jimbo on Apr 6, 2020 8:22:25 GMT
LPs were a fiver in the mid-eighties when I started buying them. Singles were a quid. I think this is the price when I stopped buying LP's in 1981. |
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 6:58:52 GMT
Hi Jim,
I edited your post as it wasnt showing correctly on Tapatalk.
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Post by rexton on Apr 11, 2020 7:17:38 GMT
What's the plan with the Spendor's, Jim?
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 8:18:17 GMT
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Post by jimbo on Apr 11, 2020 8:25:39 GMT
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Post by brian2957 on Apr 11, 2020 9:42:31 GMT
What's the plan with the Spendor's, Jim? Well although I do not have my system up and running at the moment I am planning hooking them up to Helen's Rig (1976 Sony Music centre). They have not been used for 6 months so I thought they could do with a bit of use.
Longer term they may not be suitable in the next house we are hoping to buy so they will become part of a second system and I will look for something bigger but this is going to give me a headache. Looking for something that does the same as these but on a bigger scale may not be easy?
Yup , they sounded absolutely superb in your last room James . |
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Post by brian2957 on Apr 11, 2020 9:44:12 GMT
Good grief , makes you wonder how Glen Croft manages to build these amps . |
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Post by jimbo on Apr 11, 2020 13:32:07 GMT
Yes they are a work of art, all point to point wired, no PCBs. That will be the next challenge for Oliver. Try and build a BB3 without a PCB!
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Post by antonio on Apr 11, 2020 13:52:14 GMT
"and a few more valve porn" Some people will have a w@nk over anything.  Me, I just like to see a nice exterior. |
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 14:01:59 GMT
Yes they are a work of art, all point to point wired, no PCBs. That will be the next challenge for Oliver. Try and build a BB3 without a PCB! Funny you should say that but when Alan built the original , it made absolutely no difference when we swapped to the PCB. In truth, its was probably better |
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Post by jimbo on Apr 11, 2020 14:13:44 GMT
Yes they are a work of art, all point to point wired, no PCBs. That will be the next challenge for Oliver. Try and build a BB3 without a PCB! Funny you should say that but when Alan built the original , it made absolutely no difference when we swapped to the PCB. In truth, its was probably better Good to know and impressed you evaluated both options! |
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
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Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 14:15:27 GMT
Funny you should say that but when Alan built the original , it made absolutely no difference when we swapped to the PCB. In truth, its was probably better Good to know and impressed you evaluated both options! Of course we did! Admittedly, part of the original was still a PCB in places but there was plenty of P2P Involved when Alan built it |
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 14:17:45 GMT
Also, the signal path is usually shorter with a PCB...I prefer that
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Post by firebottle on Apr 11, 2020 17:17:46 GMT
So much easier to build on a pcb.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 17:44:47 GMT
So much easier to build on a pcb. Absolutely |
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Post by jimbo on Apr 11, 2020 17:45:02 GMT
So much easier to build on a pcb. I suspect that's the real reason folk prefer them. |
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
Posts: 16,398
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Post by Bigman80 on Apr 11, 2020 17:58:11 GMT
So much easier to build on a pcb. I suspect that's the real reason folk prefer them. Continuity too, Jim. It's far easier to make them to the same standard. Less to go wrong too |
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Post by gninnam on Apr 11, 2020 18:18:00 GMT
Great looking system you have.
Would love to try Croft gear one day as never used (or heard for that matter) any and they always look nicely built.
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Post by jimbo on Apr 11, 2020 19:17:19 GMT
Great looking system you have. Would love to try Croft gear one day as never used (or heard for that matter) any and they always look nicely built. Thanks, Croft gear does sound very good indeed but like all equipment it is all in the ear of the beholder. I have a very long association with Glenn's gear since his first Croft Micro back in 1982.
My preamp is modified to a higher level than the 25R spec and of course the valves are all NOS so sound quite a bit different from the standard JJ Teslas Glenn fits as standard. I think all Croft gear benefits from NOS valves.
Try and get to hear one if you can - best to go for a Croft Micro 25 Preamp ( you get a MM phono stage thrown in aswell) and a Series 7 power amp.
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Post by rexton on Apr 11, 2020 20:43:49 GMT
Croft gear is very very good. I have an Epoch at the heart of my valve system. I'll never sell it.
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Post by brian2957 on Apr 17, 2020 19:21:45 GMT
Wow ! Cool ...looks much better than the setup you had in the old place James  |
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