Fellow forumites, thought I would document my journey down the hi-fi (well maybe mid-fi is a better term as there is nothing really extraordinary in my system). The pics are just random ones that I found to describe the situation at the time and not necessarily the listening set up.
So, prior to lockdown 2020 I had a very nice and perfectly adequate system in place. Cambridge CXN, VA 802 and some entry level energy floor standers. I enjoyed it and since I was not really home much, the novelty of listening had kept me happy for many years.
Fast foward to lockdown and discussion begin between myself and @Schalk on adding a Predator in the mix. This now obviously meant new speakers were needed. Its only logical
. Due to a delay in the Predator building chain, new speakers made an appearance first. Monitor Audios RX8. They were nice, but I felt that something was missing ( well a lot was missing)
Well, they did duty for a little while and then the Predator arrived
When I hooked this up and listened for a few week and then I had convinced myself I needed something else. Something bigger, something stronger, something that was going to rock my world. So @TimbaLand had a set of B&W 804's D2 up for sale. A drive to Fourways, a listen, followed by a bank transfer and I had a pair of these babies.
I really enjoyed the B&W speakers. I had never heard B&W speakers that I liked before so this was an eye ( and ear )opener for me, but after a few weeks I still felt something was amiss. Along comes @resham to invite me to a demo a few sets of Dynaudio. I was pleasantly surprised and found myself wondering how nice they would sound in my house, so I guess I had to find out. Somewhere along the line I also got a turn table but I am yet to be converted to a fan. Its different and very enjoyable but not a game changer for me. Not yet, anyway.
In the interim, the Predator has to go in for a a bit of a check up so I got these CA 851w power amps from @Tzs503gp . Contrary to what I had been told they paired really nicely with those dynaudios. I then started reading up a little (and not understanding a lot ) on room intricacies, so for shits and giggles I hooked up the a set of book shelves ( bought for my home office) in the room and my mind was blown. A real light bulb moment for me. This was really enjoyable. The patch on the wall is my failed attempt at sticking on an acoustic panel.
Along the way I then reached out to a few forum members for room treatment, but I ended up going outside the forum to Oxland Acoustics. This also was an astounding difference. Not sure why I didnt do this sooner.
My next step is to sell off some of the surplus equipment and then a very comfy listening chair. The TV is a secondary tv so I watch while standing or leave it for background noise, hence the high mounting. And find something that will protect the speaker stand from nick and dents so I can remove the bubble wrap from the base.
A huge shout out to the forum for all the advice on this journey, and especially for the pointers on room specific issues and treatment.
So, prior to lockdown 2020 I had a very nice and perfectly adequate system in place. Cambridge CXN, VA 802 and some entry level energy floor standers. I enjoyed it and since I was not really home much, the novelty of listening had kept me happy for many years.
Fast foward to lockdown and discussion begin between myself and @Schalk on adding a Predator in the mix. This now obviously meant new speakers were needed. Its only logical
. Due to a delay in the Predator building chain, new speakers made an appearance first. Monitor Audios RX8. They were nice, but I felt that something was missing ( well a lot was missing)
Well, they did duty for a little while and then the Predator arrived
When I hooked this up and listened for a few week and then I had convinced myself I needed something else. Something bigger, something stronger, something that was going to rock my world. So @TimbaLand had a set of B&W 804's D2 up for sale. A drive to Fourways, a listen, followed by a bank transfer and I had a pair of these babies.
I really enjoyed the B&W speakers. I had never heard B&W speakers that I liked before so this was an eye ( and ear )opener for me, but after a few weeks I still felt something was amiss. Along comes @resham to invite me to a demo a few sets of Dynaudio. I was pleasantly surprised and found myself wondering how nice they would sound in my house, so I guess I had to find out. Somewhere along the line I also got a turn table but I am yet to be converted to a fan. Its different and very enjoyable but not a game changer for me. Not yet, anyway.
In the interim, the Predator has to go in for a a bit of a check up so I got these CA 851w power amps from @Tzs503gp . Contrary to what I had been told they paired really nicely with those dynaudios. I then started reading up a little (and not understanding a lot
) on room intricacies, so for shits and giggles I hooked up the a set of book shelves ( bought for my home office) in the room and my mind was blown. A real light bulb moment for me. This was really enjoyable. The patch on the wall is my failed attempt at sticking on an acoustic panel.
Along the way I then reached out to a few forum members for room treatment, but I ended up going outside the forum to Oxland Acoustics. This also was an astounding difference. Not sure why I didnt do this sooner.
My next step is to sell off some of the surplus equipment and then a very comfy listening chair. The TV is a secondary tv so I watch while standing or leave it for background noise, hence the high mounting. And find something that will protect the speaker stand from nick and dents so I can remove the bubble wrap from the base.
A huge shout out to the forum for all the advice on this journey, and especially for the pointers on room specific issues and treatment.
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