Hi-Fi

[leggo rocker]

I just love messing about with hi-fi. I'm one of those types who constantly fiddles with the system, adding and subtracting units. Moving the speakers, changing cables and cartridges in pursuit of the sound I want.

Lately, I discovered the joys of multi-amp set ups.

This morning I had another swap around and I am so fired up by the results I just had to tell someone (aprt from mopst of my street who must think the earthquake has returned to Lincoln.)

The trusty old Sony PS-X 65 now has a MC cartridge. This handles the vinyl very nicely. So clear and free of sonic feedback.

A Chord Phono Amp takes the signal from here to the Alchemist Pre-amp.

A pair of big old Sony ES power amps are now set up as bridged monos to feed the tweeters.

A further pair of monoblock Alchemists are handling the bass.

You need bi-wireable speakers and a pre-amp with a more than one pair of output channels to achieve this set up. I'm using a big pair of B&W speakers at the moment.

The advantage of this is that each amp only has to handle one end of the frequency spectrum and only one channel. So there's no crosstalk and the bass and treble signals are very clear.

This is, if you like, the same way that most bigger live venues would handle the sound, although obviously on a much smaller scale.

The separation you get by multi amping like this has to be heard to be believed. I thought bi-amping was cool, now I've tried quad amping I'm literally blown away by the sound.

I've been hearing things on records I've known for ages that I've never heard before, even voices 'off stage' that have been accidentally caught by one of the open mics.

Later, when I've got myself some banana plugs to make all the swapping easier, I'm going to try letting Alchemist handle the treble while the Sony's take care of the bass. Just to see if the sound is sweeter this way.

Yes, I do have better things to do, more important things even but this is more fun!

If you've never heard vinyl played like this, you are really missing something. It's like I have an entirely new record collection!

[leggo rocker]

Well, I got the banana plugs for easy swapping, and...

Now I've gone full circle and dropped the Sony's. They made the treble splashy and the bass wooley (when compared to the Alchemists alone, which have separate Bass and treble circuits).

Like I said, you can never stop fiddling!

[bullit]

Im moving in a few weeks, almost cant wait to rebuild my (home) system, 3 amps and 4 sets of speakers, got bannananannanas and everything so i'll let you know what i can find with my sound.

Maybe i'll use my away xover to seperate the signals; hm good thinkin leggo, inspiring me to play about with this area of my setup and stop dreaming of buying stuff i cant afford!

[leggo rocker]

Four recent purchases things have radically improved my set up. I say recent, I mean the last 12 months.

A sound isolation wall mount for the deck. 500% improvement with just this one item (28 quid on ebay!)

The MC cart. It's a must, simple. MM means Mushy Music, MC means Musical Clarity. Again, a total bargain off ebay. 26 quid for an old Bio-tracer PSX-600 deck complete with an unmentioned an barely used but very valuable Sony MC cart (some people just can't list their stuff properly).

Sadly, the third item wasn't so cheap. But after fiddling with various vintage speaker set ups I finally realised that this is the one area where Hi-Fi has left the past behind and really has moved on. New materials and technology mean that speakers of today really work. Yeah, I know, there's some great vintage speakers out there. But the cheap stuff is knackered, and the good stuff is very expensive.

So I took the plunge and spent £xxxx on a pair of REALLY nice B&W speakers.

Lastly, a great phone stage from Chord. Although I'd really like to find someone who can repair the Alchemist Bragi as I know it will make the system even sweeter.

The result is stunning. In fact, dare I say, I reckon it might even give Anorak Trev's wonderful home-brew Hi-Fi a run for its money.

Go on Trev, come up and listen and tell me if I am right!

[ACEtone]

have you got a matched pair of mics?

If you could record your sweet set up I'd be interested to hear it. Not as ridiculous as it sounds by the way.

If you have give it a try.
Play something really obvious.

I've got a very rudimentary set up and most of the time end up listening on headphones so I'm a little envious, but I figure in time my kids will want to crank it up too, so waiting on that is not such a big thing.
Will probably take another three or four years!

Question: What's the deal with straight tone arms versus the curved one? My Gemini has a straight arm and the right cartridge for this arm. Sounds good enought to me but as you know - often you think you know something until you hear the difference.

Amp wise I have a 1966 Fisher solid state that someone kindly gave me and it is a good one. Even mp3s sound good on it. Really nice warm round bass.
What do you think about tall of the tube/valve amp hype? Too much $$$
The other Amp I have is a 90s Sony tuner - sound is kind of harsh and being a digital piece if 5#1t no tone/eq. Sinful. Somehow in my likka studio I'm here wid me turntable and di Sony and di sweet Fisher is in the living room.
But it is not such a bad thing because when I listen back to my own recordings on speakers or headphones the Sony doesn't 'color' the sound.

Rambling again!

[AnorakTrev]

@ leggo rocker ,

You might just have your wish soon,me ole cocker !!

I will be coming up to Cleethorpes soon,so I will definitely give you a shout and come and listen to yor set-up.In fact,I look forward to it (tu)

Trevor

[leggo rocker]

@ Trev - Cool! Look forward to it. All the free coffee and cake you want in the cafe if you make it!

That goes for any R-A member who visits me.

@AceTone: Lots of stuff there, I'll answer when I am off duty!