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My Systems:
A quick look at some of my bits and pieces. Click on the images to enlarge
them.
Please note that this page is slightly out of date because I'm moving house
and most of these systems have been dismantled in the name of "decluttering".
There's also a few new items to add. So this page will change quite a bit
in a few months time.
Main system:
Apart from the CD player and speakers, the main system has remained much
the same for a while now. But, I've got a few upgrades planned - I'm adding
a home-made remote-controlled preamp that
will cater for 6-channel surround as well as decent quality stereo. I've also
got some monoblock power amps on the drawing board. To be honest, the best
upgrade would be a better room!
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A classic deck and arm combination from the mid-70's - bought from a
car-boot sale many years ago. Cost £4, but as it was my birthday,
a friend paid for me (thanks, Richard!)
The cartridge is an basic Ortofon 510, which works well and is easily
upgraded by buying a more expensive stylus (apparently the fixed bits are
the same throughout the range)
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Definitely worth the premium over the Alpha 7SE even if they are very
similar electronically - you get better build quality and looks, plus an
improved remote... |
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Bought second-hand, used mainly for producing compilations for the car...
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Good solid budget machine from the late 80's. Has resisted several attempts
at replacement on sound quality grounds. Hardly used nowadays... |
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Bought to match the cassette deck (and the CD player I had at the time).
Still sounds fine... |
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Still working, amazingly. Click here for
further info, including the schematic and lots of pictures... |
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Most recent purchase from The
Emporium in Diss.
They've got their own page...
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shown are the AV components: a 21" Sony tv, an old Panasonic hi-fi stereo
S-VHS machine and the $ky digital box.
The speakers are connected with standard QED 79-strand, and all other interconnects
are slightly better than standard, but no more than £3 each. The only
reason I bought them is because you can unscrew the plugs and repair them
when they break.
The kit stands on a hopeless pine rack that needs to be replaced when funds
allow... I recently took a bit of time to modify it - by removing the top
shelf and bringing down the overall height of the unit. I made the top shelf
double-thickness, and it's surprisingly strong as a result.
Workshop Hi-Fi:
An essential part of any workshop....
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Budget model that sounds fine in this application.
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Thrown out from work after a hard life in local radio - a slightly duff
laser means that it often fails to write the TOC, effectively wiping the
disc. Was fine for play-only, until the loading mechanism started playing
up... |
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Bought recently to replace an old Rotel RX-152 unit - the difference
in sound quality was quite a shock! Comes with RDS, Radio Text and remote
control. Haven't tried it in the main hifi yet, but otherwise highly recommended...
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Genuine bargains from Richer Sounds. Don't be put off by the strange
looks, these speakers sound fantastic for the £100 they cost...
They have a page dedicated to them
with more pictures and info...
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The television is connected to this system as well, via a switchbox that
makes feeding line-level audio into the amplifier much easier. The sound from
this system is really rather nice - the acoustics of the garage definitely
help - see the workshop conversion page
for details.
Office Hi-Fi:
Slightly better than standard PC loudspeakers... I felt that the Rogers
dB101's were too good to turn down another set, especially as the pair in
the garage might not survive all the dust of the workshop.
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AM/FM walkman, complete with RDS which I guess is a bit gimmicky on a
walkman... Sounds nice, too.
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I bought this just before the prices fell. D'oh! |
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I made this in 1991, when NICAM was relatively new... Read more about
it here... |
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Classic 80's amplifier from Arcam, which still sounds quite nice. I've
reverse-engineered the circuit, and taken lots of internal pictures, so
there will be a page with more details about it one day soon.... |
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As above - my favourite bargain... |
The main PC is on the second tape-loop, meaning I can make MD's from the
computer, and vice-versa. Quality is good enough for in-car use.
Despite the horrible acoustics of the room, it all sounds OK with a little
bass boost....
Other Stuff:
A few things sitting around unused at the moment...
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I have a decent collection of Rogers speakers and a section
of this website is dedicated to them.
Currently I have a pair of 11 ohm LS3/5a's,
a pair of LS7's and the loan of
a pair of BBC LS5/9's. While I'm not actively
using them at the moment, I plan to have them set up properly in a second
system soon.
I occasionally put listen to the LS3/5a's in the main hifi, just to remind
myself of their magic!
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Huge and heavy first-generation DAT machine. Despite all the 'audiophile'
tweaks that Sony built in, it sounds horrible. I'd much rather listen to
MiniDisc - the ATRAC artefacts are much less noticeable than the
sound of the ancient ADC-DAC's in this unit. And because it predates SCMS,
I can't bypass the ADC to make a digital recording.
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Auto-reverse deck with remote control. Despite looking the part, it simply
doesn't sound as good as my basic Technics machine, hence it is resting
in storage. |
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A compact class-A effort that sounds OK and runs almost as warm as the
A1! Sat in the tape-loop and also provided an aux input... |
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Circa 1990 Bitstream model with an incredibly OTT operating system. Would
add it to the office system if there was a spare input on the JVC amp... |
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Huge 70's silver monster. Has 2 tape-loops, and sounds OK, considering.... |
There's plenty more junk where that lot came from - I wish I could learn
to part with stuff!
Finally, for a chance to see similar pages, have a look at the uk.rec.audio
website set up by Keith Garratt. Submit your text and pictures and Keith
will put a page together for you...
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