Wow! Back in the 1990s I lived in London's Fitzrovia, just around the corner from a place called "The Cornflake Shop", which sold extreme top-end hi-fi equipment - I'm talking 15 grand plus just for a pre-amp and several times that for a turntable. Used to look in through the window sometimes at these beautifully sculptural objects and wonder what sort of people would buy such things. Since I never actually saw a single customer go in there in all the years I lived there, I never did find out! Looks like they're still in business mind, so someone must have.
anyone got 13 grand for a turntable?
- Thread starter thetyreman
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RobinBHM
Established Member
I feel a bit bad, I have a Linn LP12 that's been up in the loft for 10 years....sitting right next to it is a Naim pre / power amp.
I should really get around to selling them.
I should really get around to selling them.
chris watford
Established Member
I believe it is. Another over modded deck is the LP12 and one of the main reason for these mods is to eliminate rumble. Most audio quality t/t's these days are rumble free, and as audiophiles have a habit of box swapping equipment, they are often for sale secondhand/used.
Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)
Established Member
I really wanted a LP12 35 years ago, but could not afford one. I ended up getting a Thorens TD150, to which I added Linn springs, and added a Rega RB300 arm on a Linn-type board. It is used with a Supex 900, and still going strong (several belts later). I am inspired by some of these builds to make a better case for it. Any references?
Regards from Perth
Derek
Regards from Perth
Derek
thick_mike
Wood Shortener
Hifi wigwam has always been a good source of information on all things Hi-Fi and music related. They have a healthy DIY section with plinth and speaker builds.
Here’s my 401 plinth
https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/116980-new-plinth-for-my-401/
Here’s my 401 plinth
https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/116980-new-plinth-for-my-401/
Misterdog
Established Member
Not when it is done correctly.
My analogue set up sounds as good as my digital replay system.
Though the analogue side, turntable, cartridge, phono amp (pre)
would retail around £ 10K whereas my digital DAC cost £ 650.
22 Kg.
Jimmy69
Established Member
I love hifi but I think after a certain price point you start to get serious diminishing returns on the the listening experience. My problem is that I'm not sure where that price point is.
Now if I had that kind of money
https://www.touchofmodern.com/sales...razad-limited-edition&sale_id=chronomeans
https://www.touchofmodern.com/sales...razad-limited-edition&sale_id=chronomeans
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
The weakest link in pretty much any audio setup are the speakers (or more specifically, the speakers and the room); but room modifications aren't "cool" so don't tend to get discussed that much. I'd say it can obviously also be expensive, but I guess people spend big money on audio components too.
Point being; spending thousands on tiny (potential) improvements to amps and sources always seems a bit misguided to me; when the speakers may have several dB of linear and non-linear distortion, and the room reflections could be giving you double digit dB nulls.
Top end HiFi is a chase for perfection, which most people never achieve, but that's part of the enjoyment. There used to be HIFi shows, which were just amazing fun. There is nothing like them now, not in Scotland.
Years ago, when I was into HiFi, I had a room set up with all my gear. Detached house, so volume cranked up until you could really feel the music, which is probably one of the reasons why I am half deaf now. Anyway, one evening I went into my room carefully put the record on the turntable, lowered the arm expecting some thunderous music, only to get the sound of the cartridge skating across the record. Closer inspection showed the complete lack of a stylus. My lovely little toddler had somehow got into the room earlier in the day and had a play with the turntable. lol. That was just CD's were arriving on the scene, so all my analogue stuff went into the loft. been there ever since. Then I got into photography......
Years ago, when I was into HiFi, I had a room set up with all my gear. Detached house, so volume cranked up until you could really feel the music, which is probably one of the reasons why I am half deaf now. Anyway, one evening I went into my room carefully put the record on the turntable, lowered the arm expecting some thunderous music, only to get the sound of the cartridge skating across the record. Closer inspection showed the complete lack of a stylus. My lovely little toddler had somehow got into the room earlier in the day and had a play with the turntable. lol. That was just CD's were arriving on the scene, so all my analogue stuff went into the loft. been there ever since. Then I got into photography......
I always wondered why manufacturers didn't close the loop on HiFi system, so you could tune the system to the room. Imagine what could be done now with multi channel processor controlled systems.....Nah!!! MP3's on my phone with bone conduction headphones are fine!
The problem with very expensive Hi fi is that for most folks they cannot afford it when young when their hearing is top notch and not really worth buying when they have the money in later life as their hearing has lost the range, and even the best Hi fi cannot make most of the singers of today sound any better.
Looks gorgeous but I thought he almost came a cropper at times. Rounding over four symmetrical corners by hand would be beyond my humble abilities and with all that power sanding I'd have definitely gone through the veneer. !
He starts with a spray of 'Isolator' - is that some kind of sanding sealer ?
He starts with a spray of 'Isolator' - is that some kind of sanding sealer ?
Woody2Shoes
Impressive Member
I remember, as a teenager, being proudly shown a shiny new (compact cassette) tape deck by the dimmest boy in the school. He told me he'd chosen it in part because the salesman had told him that the cassette should be vertical not horizontal, during playback, to overcome any distortion due to the effect of gravity...
Misterdog
Established Member
Back in the 1950' Peter Walker of Quad, set about creating a loudspeaker with the lowest distortion and room coupling possible.
The issues were well known back then.
The Quad Electrostatic loudspeaker is still regarded as one of the finest available.
3000 volts of 'static' electricity moving a Mylar membrane (think clingfilm) less than 1mm.
The downside is that by definition the speakers are the size of a door (though only 40mm. deep). And need to be positioned at least 1M away from the front wall.
Misterdog
Established Member
Though many poor systems make singers sound full of sibilance, which is just added distortion.
Krome10
Established Member
I seem to remember seeing speaker cable for sale years ago at around £13,000 per metre. Free postage though, which takes the sting out of it
And even "kettle leads" will into the thousands.
I was never convinced by any of it, but the nail in the coffin was seeing very expensive digital leads, which supposedly transferred the ones and zeros in a way that made them sound better (and worthy of the price tag). Snake oil is too weak a term imo
Someone touched on acoustic treatment (well, speaker placement) above, and coming from more of a recording studio rather than hifi point of view, this is something which I believe reveals the lack of sense in the hi fi world. To my mind expensive equipment with no regard to acoustic treatment and speaker placement is akin to buying a Ferrari to drive on pothole ridden blind corner rural roads of some back water.
Speaking of water, with so much of the world having no access to clean water, it does strike me as obscene. But I guess it's best to keep politics out of this...
And even "kettle leads" will into the thousands.
I was never convinced by any of it, but the nail in the coffin was seeing very expensive digital leads, which supposedly transferred the ones and zeros in a way that made them sound better (and worthy of the price tag). Snake oil is too weak a term imo
Someone touched on acoustic treatment (well, speaker placement) above, and coming from more of a recording studio rather than hifi point of view, this is something which I believe reveals the lack of sense in the hi fi world. To my mind expensive equipment with no regard to acoustic treatment and speaker placement is akin to buying a Ferrari to drive on pothole ridden blind corner rural roads of some back water.
Speaking of water, with so much of the world having no access to clean water, it does strike me as obscene. But I guess it's best to keep politics out of this...
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
Up until a few years ago the answer was kinda "no"; the reason being that you can electronically counter some (usually low frequency) issues with equalisation, but comb filtering in anything above the lowest bass frequencies can be so localised that it's pretty much impossible to correct the problem (room wide) by just adjusting the source. Ethan Winer over at RealTraps has (or had - the last time I checked some years ago) some really good videos on the subject - showing how moving a mic just a few inches can result in quite different frequency responses at the listening position.
As such, only (some) subwoofers really came with such correction tools (supplied with a microphone and a closed loop mode where they'd "read" the room to correct their response).
However, I understand that some of the latest systems (such as Dirac) are doing much more, and are apparently worth trying. Unfortunately... marriage, family, etc. etc. kinda put paid to my days of filling rooms with audio gear so I'm a bit of out date with this stuff now
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
I've always been amusing by positive reports of the 30kHz capability of "super duper neodiddlyum ribbon tweeters(TM)"... from middle aged males whose hearing likely tops out around 14kHz
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
Nice.Back in the 1950' Peter Walker of Quad, set about creating a loudspeaker with the lowest distortion and room coupling possible.
The issues were well known back then.
The Quad Electrostatic loudspeaker is still regarded as one of the finest available.
3000 volts of 'static' electricity moving a Mylar membrane (think clingfilm) less than 1mm.
The downside is that by definition the speakers are the size of a door (though only 40mm. deep). And need to be positioned at least 1M away from the front wall.
I was lucky enough to meet the late Siegfried Linkwitz at an Audio Engineering Society talk some years ago - he was very much focussed on speakers with low room coupling; usually with open baffle "normal" drivers rather than electrostatics though.
Getting speakers away from walls is always challenging in our relatively small UK homes, sadly.
