anyone got 13 grand for a turntable?

[sploo]

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...

But cables definitely matter... if you don't use any it doesn't work

Unfortunately snake oil and "woo" is way too common in home audio, and refreshingly seems to be much reduced in the pro audio world; where people seem to understand the need for good acoustics and sturdy cable connections - rather than flashy gear and £1000/m cables made of unobtainium that have been skinned in mouse willy leather.

 

[Krome10]

Getting speakers away from walls is always challenging in our relatively small UK homes, sadly.

It's been quite a few years now since I looked into it and read up on the subject, but I seem to remember concluding that unless a room is VERY big, and/or designed for acoustics from the ground up, having speakers close to the wall is actually to be preferred.

A bit off topic though, so my apologies...

 

[Spectric]

Unfortunately snake oil and "woo" is way too common in home audio,

I think it is just a common sales technique these days to sell someone something they do not need, want and will not use. Audio cables have always been a good point for discussion and there is so much hype about every single aspect but at the same mostly unfounded. Some of it could be true if the frequency was much higher than 50Khz because then you encounter the skin effect, this is where current density is more concentrated at the surface of the conductor than in the centre but at 20Khz it is really not an issue. In high frequency SMPS's to overcome this effect we used multiple smaller Csa conductors in parallel rather than a single conductor and also copper foil. This cable hype also impacts Pc cables and the like, plus I had some clown trying to make me switch to a smart meter by telling me it will save me energy because it will know my consumption and provide the right amount of alignment, I did not ask what was being aligned.

 

[sploo]

It's been quite a few years now since I looked into it and read up on the subject, but I seem to remember concluding that unless a room is VERY big, and/or designed for acoustics from the ground up, having speakers close to the wall is actually to be preferred.

A bit off topic though, so my apologies...

You can get bass reinforcement from rear or corner loading a bass speaker, and some speakers are designed to be mounted in a wall to effectively use the wall as a huge front baffle, but generally I believe its always a bad idea to have speakers close to side walls, due to the reflections interacting with the direct signal from the drivers.

 

[Sandyn]

cables made of unobtainium that have been skinned in mouse willy leather.

I got 200m of that for £40 when my local Maplin closed down

 

[Sandyn]

Ahhhhh....'I wish Festool made HiFi'....... I can hear people say!!!

 

[Misterdog]

Getting speakers away from walls is always challenging in our relatively small UK homes, sadly.

My final upgrade is building an extension for it.

Though it also provides a nice basement room for a workshop below. Win Win.

 

[PeteHB]

Out of interest I looked at what people will pay for a Garrad 301 or 401 I was staggered.
I have had a Transcriptors reference turntable for years which as well as being aesthetically pleasing functions very well indeed paired with an Ittok arm and Karma cartridge.

 

[sploo]

My final upgrade is building an extension for it.

Though it also provides a nice basement room for a workshop below. Win Win.

That's pretty much paradise for a music lover, and would definitely warrant a thread on the forum when/if you go ahead

Out of interest I looked at what people will pay for a Garrad 301 or 401 I was staggered.
I have had a Transcriptors reference turntable for years which as well as being aesthetically pleasing functions very well indeed paired with an Ittok arm and Karma cartridge.

As with anything that gets a cult status. It would be interesting to run a bunch of properly controlled (double blind) tests with various such cult gear and see if aficionados could actually tell the difference. For some kit (that might have a particular "signature" sound) it's possible; though of course it doesn't answer the question of whether it's actually better (for whatever metric of "better" is being used).

 

[Misterdog]

That's pretty much paradise for a music lover, and would definitely warrant a thread on the forum when/if you go ahead

I have just submitted the plans, 5.6M x 6.2M should cover it.
Think it might cost more than a £13K turntable though.
The back of the house is a nightmare anyway, 220mm solid brickwork with 3 exterior walls to most rooms and North facing.

 

[sploo]

I have just submitted the plans, 5.6M x 6.2M should cover it.
Think it might cost more than a £13K turntable though.
The back of the house is a nightmare anyway, 220mm solid brickwork with 3 exterior walls to most rooms and North facing.

TBH I'd consider money spent on a good listening space as better use of the cash than boutique audio gear. If you haven't already, it might be worth engaging a specialist audio place to advise on the design/layout; as small changes to the dimensions or angles can greatly help the acoustics.

 

[shed9]

TBH I'd consider money spent on a good listening space as better use of the cash than boutique audio gear. If you haven't already, it might be worth engaging a specialist audio place to advise on the design/layout; as small changes to the dimensions or angles can greatly help the acoustics.

Totally agree with this advice.

You could try contacting some Universities and offer your space as a real world experiment. I've seen people do this in the past with great results. Maybe a little different these days as academia is too keen on invoicing collaborations but worth a punt.