Neverending Story: Hifi Edition

It’s been an “interesting” morning, I’ve set up the Hi-Fi for the first time in my current listening room. As ever, you get loads of hassles and a Sh#t sound to start with. Here’s my “lowlights”

It begins...

Had an almighty battle getting the speaker cables to lie down neatly. As a diy cable it has + and - as completely separate runs and it’s a real pisser. No bought cable should do this as it looks utter shite and is a bloody frustration. Mine will be fettled and sleeved together real, real soon after today.

First switch on and I had a buzz. Suspected the black rhodium cable as it’s unscreened tightly twisted solid core with a thin enamel coating I switched it for Isoda and it made no odds. Switched on the DAC abd the buzz went. No idea why. The red mist was already descending though lol.

First few bars with Planets playing made them sound like something costing less than a tenner, switched to Ref 3a. Better but still on a par with what you’d expect from an average speaker sub £100 used and no better.

The speakers sit either side of a curved bay window, with a large easy chair and footstool sat between them. This was literally tossed aside. Big improvement, Still nothing like what I’m used to though.

Turfed out the Isoda (which was only fitted because I suspected a fault). The result was like having blocked ears syringed. Maybe it’s a bad fit for my system or maybe it’s utter shite. I doubt the latter, but that’s how it sounded today.

So far about two hours work, I’m only about 75% of the way back to the sort of sound I usually enjoy. Normally a move ends up with me selling the whole lot, but not this time. The Sonneteer and planets have been in a few locations and sounded wonderful. The Ref 3as are special. Then I have my beloved Spicas.

The carpet is really thick and heavy in this room. After years of hard floors, maybe I need time to adjust. Maybe I need to replace it with a less absorbent carpet or even a wood floor. There’s also a half wall I’m itching to tear down. This will allow me to listen further back, which I always prefer.

Even as it is, I can live with what I hear.....for now. The good news is that at the rate I go through houses, this one will be history before the year is out, maybe even before the Summer is done. Who knows.

Just thought I’d share in the hope it cheers up anyone who stays in one place and enjoys a settled listening room that they have fully sorted Oh and fir anyoneliving with furniture between their speakers, PLEASE try removing it. This is the biggest sonic killer I can think of.But we all listen differently so maybe it doesn’t affect your pleasure as much as it does mine,

Back to listening.....

Cheers for that. I think there’s also a real need for me to be about 15 feet minimum back from speakers to enjoy them. Then they usually need a couple of feet behind them too. Often, the only way to fix that is with a sledgehammer. If it wasn’t a structural wall, the sledgehammer would already have swung and done its job this morning. Again, very personal but how anyone copes with a small room and near field listening is beyond me. I’ve always been this way and many of my early years frustration and box swapping were to do with this rather than the gear.

So what have I learned/been reminded of? The listening room is the most important factor in good sound afaic. No doubt about it for me.

Couldn't you just have bought a house with a bigger room?

Good idea. I've never seen the point of knocking two rooms into one but leaving a stupid arch or whatever in the middle. Have one big room or two small ones but why go half way between? Also not a fan of near-field listening. Although my set-up is the opposite in that I listen from too far away (about 25 foot).

I’ve spent the he whole day making good and plastering the opening. At least I did it before the new carpet is laid. Otherwise it would’ve been two new carpets. Loads of dust everywhere though: It’s likely to take a few weeks to settle down.

Never found a job I couldn't do. I can turn my hand to just about anything.

I can turn my hand to pretty much nothing. Practical wise anyway. You should have seen the state of my airfix models. 

I used to go out with a model before I got married. She was a slim and beautiful Anglo Chinese girl.

b

Nice pic, Andrew.

S.

Got my springy feet too. I will use these in some way to decouple speaker stands.



mobile dice

Tesco??? I’m not made of money. I’m a Lidl man all the way

BTW all 8 of these cost me £30 delivered from Hong Kong.

I’ll soon find out

I’m finding it hard to get them rigid on spiked stands through thick carpet, so I decided to do the decouple route rather than couple. They might sound fab, or awful, or most likely it will mak little odds. For £30 it was worth a go.

Flog every other pair!