What’s your HiFi setup?
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Since it was brought up in the collection thread, I thought we should do a separate topic on this.
My dad is a big HiFi buff (with a High End system for thousands of dollars), and I have inherited some of that interest, although I can’t compete with his price class. Of course, since the tinnitus, and especially the worsening, it’s not as important anymore. But I still like to have a decent sound system.
Cambridge amplifier, Pioneer DVD and CD player (that I only use for CDs these days), an old Thorens turntable and a couple of Klipsch speakers.
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Never been a HiFi buff: A few years old Onkyo amplifier and CD player plus an late 1980s Fisher turntable and two Fisher speakers. There is also a JVC tape deck from the 1990s I think. That’s my office/music room.
In my living room is an inherited old also 1980s Sharp amplifier with speakers plus a probably 20 years old Phillips CD player.
And I have two fairly modest and also older Sennheiser headphones…
Ok, try again… One from my old apartment (that still had my Linn Basik collectors edition turntable). That’s a full Akurate stack (which I bought piece by piece). The DS, pre amplifier and independent twin channel stereo power amp. B&W Nautilus 8 speakers.
And a new one that’s tidied up and purely digital ,,
Very nice!
My dad is a big B&W fan, and had the “big brother” of those speakers for a long time. Love that trademark treble(?) bit on top. Lots of nostalgia tied to these. I think he upgraded from those since; he has some true “beasts” currently, but I don’t remember the brand at the moment. I’ll snap a photo of his setup the next time I visit them.
(oh, and nice minions!).
I see that the fabulous USM Haller serves as a rack for that very fine HiFi setup, which is the shelf system that house my CDs at our home
Cambridge speaker, Pioneer DVD and CD player (that I only use for CDs these days), an old Thorens turntable and a couple of Klipsch speakers.
That’s a nice setup. Is that a Cambridge Azur 640 or 540 (they just look alike)? I suppose you meant to say “Cambridge amplifier”, not speaker? I think those Klipsch speakers have enormous sensitivity, so they’re easy to drive.
LOL, yes, amplifier. It’s the Azur 651A. When I got it some 10 years ago, it was such a revolution to me that it had a USB port, so I could connect my latop to it. I bought the Klipsches secondhand about 3-4 years ago, after a massive water leak that destroyed my older JBLs from the 90s. I’m very pleased with them, socalled “horn speakers”.
I see that the fabulous USM Haller serves as a rack for that very fine HiFi setup
It seemed to be made for it! 🙂
When I got it some 10 years ago, it was such a revolution to me that it had a USB port, so I could connect my latop to it.
So you have your laptop directly hooked up to your HiFi system and play music from there?
So you have your laptop directly hooked up to your HiFi system and play music from there?
That’s right. Same as Malte above, an audio cable. No wireless in this ancient household! 😀
Isee that the fabulous USM Haller serves as a rack for that very fine HiFi setup
It seemed to be made for it! 🙂
Yeah, looks great. Is that a WiiM Pro on top of the Linn devices?
What about your setup, Nick? With all your downloads and streaming and clouds and what-have-you, I imagine you just have a glowing orb in the middle of the living room, out of which all music emanates.
Haha, that’s great, I just gave that into the A.I.: glowing orb in the middle of the living room, out of which all music emanates, and voila, there you have it, that’s how I listen to music:
Looks kinda nice really.
I used to have a Technics Setup, with Technics receiver, CD player, Tape Deck, and turntable, with I.Q. floor standing loudspeakers. I found an old image of at least the turntable.
I sold all of that (except the tape deck, I kept that), and since I don’t have a dedicated “listening room” but it’s all part of our living room, I have a very streamlined, minimalist but capable setup.
I have a T+A R1000E, which is basically the equivalent of a “Swiss Army Knife” HiFi unit. It’s an all in one unit, a fully integrated amplifier, streaming/Network player, and even has a built-in CD player, and also comes with digital and analog inputs (and our TV and Blurayplayer are connected to it). I had been skeptical with these types of devives but that one I found quite convincing and extremely well built when I bought it years ago and it hasn’t let me down since. My speakers are a pair of Audio Physic Avanti.Haha, that’s great, I just gave that into the A.I.: glowing orb in the middle of the living room, out of which all music emanates, and voila, there you have it, that’s how I listen to music:
LOL! That’s the future right there.
I have a very streamlined, minimalist but capable setup. I have a T+A R1000E, which is basically the equivalent of a “Swiss Army Knife” HiFi unit. It’s an all in one unit, a fully integrated amplifier, streaming/Network player, and even has a build in CD player, and also allows comes with digital and analog inputs (and our TV and Blurayplayer are connected to it).
So not THAT far removed from an orb. Sounds impressive and futuristic.
The T+A plays just about anything you throw at is… CDs, WAVs, FLACs, ALACs, AIFFs, MP3, UPnP/DLNA, it’s got Qobuz/Deezer/Tidal/Roon “built in” (no Spotify though for some reason); all my music is on a NAS in our “utility room”, so it’s out of the way, and from there it gets served to wherever I need it.
The T+A plays just about anything you throw at is… CDs, WAVs, FLACs, ALACs, AIFFs, MP3, UPnP/DLNA, it’s got Qobuz/Deezer/Tidal/Roon “built in”
Hopefully you get updates many years to come for the services supported… That’s the kind of dependency on these devices that would puzzle me if I had such.
The T+A plays just about anything you throw at is… CDs, WAVs, FLACs, ALACs, AIFFs, MP3, UPnP/DLNA, it’s got Qobuz/Deezer/Tidal/Roon “built in”
Hopefully you get updates many years to come for the services supported… That’s the kind of dependency on these devices that would puzzle me if I had such.
I definitely understand that, we are living in a world were some things change fast… I bought the device in 2017 (there were few comparable units out there at the time), but so far, there have been regular updates and if I have any questions or issues, T+A has reliably answered. Can’t really complain about the service. I have a Qobuz subscription and use occasionally Roon (I had used Tidal for a while, never had a Spotify or Deezer subscription anyway) and so far it all works fine. But who knows what tomorrow will bring? Who knows if any of these streaming services will be there in five years, or even in two, or even next month… If I had to rely on updates to keep the device useful, yeah… I understand those worries.
However, my previous Technics system played for 20 years and never got any updates. Because obviously amps and CD-players usually don’t need updates. Classic HiFi devices did not require updates, there was no Internet, no way to even get updates, and the “bulk” of the T+A device is simply “classic HiFi“.
The thing that’s update relevant would be obviously music services like Qobuz/Deezer/Tidal/Roon. Now even if all of these went out of existence and the T+A would get no updates at all anymore… even then it would still be an excellent amplifier and CD player and Network streamer, it would still be an excellent amp for the Blu-rayplayer and TV set, and it would still be an exceptionally good DAC where I could hook up any additional devices I want, so it’s still quite “future proof”.
This is how it often looks when I listen to music, it’s usually evening. So it’s a snapshot from where I’m just sitting right now.
I posted once a video on the How Do You Live? thread, but since I had the display of the T+A turned off (which I sometimes have… as I said, I like it “minimal”, just a glowing orb emanating music without a body), it wasn’t visible.
On the pic here you can now see what I’m listening to as I post this.
I used to have a very nice Cambridge Audio setup, and even dabbled in vinyl for a while, but it got left behind in a hectic move from California. I haven’t had enough money to replace it since, and now I live in a tiny apartment and wouldn’t want to be rude to my neighbors, who are mostly quiet. I use some nice Sony headphones plugged into an external DAC for my phone. It sounds very good.
Do you still have cassettes for it?
Sure. Here is my cassette-collection:
MUSIC CASSETTES:
COCK ROBIN/FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES 1989
DEF LEPPARD/HYSTERIA 1987
DEPECHE MODE/VIOLATOR 1990
DIVERSE/STARTKASSETTEN ’90 1990
FILMMUSIKK/A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN – HANS ZIMMER ++ 1992
FRA LIPPO LIPPI/THE COLOUR ALBUM 1989
DON HENLEY/THE END OF THE INNOCENCE 1989
BRUCE HORNSBY & THE RANGE/A NIGHT ON THE TOWN 1990
I.K. START/HEIA, HEIA START! (single) 1989
MICHAEL KAMEN/CONCERTO FOR SAXOPHONE 1990
YVES LAFERRIERE/METIS 1999
MERCURY MOTORS/SMASH THE MOON 1990
PET SHOP BOYS/BEHAVIOUR 1990
JOE SATRIANI/THE EXTREMIST 1992
SIMPLE MINDS/STREET FIGHTING YEARS 1989
MICHAEL W. SMITH/I 2 (EYE) 1988
TEARS FOR FEARS/THE SEEDS OF LOVE 1989
THOWSEN/CALL ME STRANGER 1986
TOTO/TAMBU 1995
ALBUMS DUBBED TO CASSETTE:
ART OF NOISE/THE AMBIENT COLLECTION 1990
ATOMIC SWING/A CAR CRASH IN THE BLUE 1993
CHAPTERHOUSE/BLOOD MUSIC 1993
DIVERSE/GOD COLLECTION 1996
DIVERSE/HOUSE & TECHNO 1993
DIVERSE/SCORE CUTS 2003
DIVERSE/SYNTHESIZER MIX 1987
DJ DADO/THE ALBUM 1995
ELECTRONIC/ELECTRONIC 1991
FILMMUSIKK/CANYON DREAMS – TANGERINE DREAM 1987/1991
FILMMUSIKK/D.O.A. – CHAZ JANKEL 1988
FILMMUSIKK/DEAD SOLID PERFECT – TANGERINE DREAM 1988/1991
FILMMUSIKK/DREAMSCAPE – MAURICE JARRE 1983
FILMMUSIKK/GRAND CANYON – JAMES NEWTON HOWARD 1991
FILMMUSIKK/HEAT – ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL ++ 1995
FILMMUSIKK/HOT SHOTS! – SYLVESTER LEVAY 1991
FILMMUSIKK/K-2 – HANS ZIMMER 1991
FILMMUSIKK/METRO – STEVE PORCARO 1997
FILMMUSIKK/PAPERHOUSE – HANS ZIMMER & STANLEY MYERS 1988
FILMMUSIKK/THE PIANO – MICHAEL NYMAN 1993
FILMMUSIKK/THE POWER OF ONE (highlights) – HANS ZIMMER, LEBO M. 1992
FILMMUSIKK/RUNNING MAN – HAROLD FALTERMEYER 1987
FREIHEIT/LOVE IS NO SCIENCE 1990
PETER GABRIEL/SECRET WORLD LIVE (highlights) 1994
ANJA GARBAREK/VELKOMMEN INN 1992
JAN GARBAREK GROUP/TWELVE MOONS 1993
JAN GARBAREK/RITES (highlights) 1999
GREGORIAN/SADISFACTION 1992
HYPNOSIS/HYPNOSIS 1984
JEAN MICHEL JARRE/THE ESSENTIAL 1983
THE KLF/THE WHITE ROOM 1991
MERCURY MOTORS/HUMBLEBERRY WINE 1996
NEW ORDER/SUBSTANCE 1987
NEW ORDER/BBC RADIO 1 LIVE IN CONCERT 1987
NORTHSIDE/CHICKEN RHYTHMS 1992
PET SHOP BOYS/DISCO 1986
PET SHOP BOYS/ALTERNATIVE (highlights) 1996
PET SHOP BOYS/BILINGUAL 1996
RIDE/GOING BLANK AGAIN 1992
SACRED SPIRIT/CHANTS AND DANCES OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS 1995
SANDRA/TEN ON ONE 1987
SANDRA/PAINTINGS IN YELLOW 1990
SANDRA/FADING SHADES 1995
STAGE DOLLS/STRIPPED 1991
TALK TALK/NATURAL HISTORY 1990
TALK TALK/A-SIDES B-SIDES (highlights) 1998
TANGERINE DREAM/TANGRAM 1980
TANGERINE DREAM/LE PARC 1985
TANGERINE DREAM/OPTICAL RACE 1988
TANGERINE DREAM/THE BEST OF 1989
TANGERINE DREAM/MELROSE 1990
TANGERINE DREAM/IN DEN GARTEN PHARAOHS + BICYCLE RACE 1990
TEARS FOR FEARS/TEARS ROLL DOWN (BEST OF) 1992
TEARS FOR FEARS/RAOUL AND THE KINGS OF SPAIN 1995
U2/WAR 1983
U2/ZOOROPA 1993
U 96/DAS BOOT 1992
UTAH SAINTS/UTAH SAINTS 1993
SVEN VATH/ACCIDENT IN PARADISE 1992
VERVE/A STORM IN HEAVEN 1993
ERIK WØLLO/FOSSEGRIMEN 1995
YANNI/DARE TO DREAM 1992
YANNI/TRIBUTE (highlights) 1997
ZZ TOP/GREATEST HITS 1992
That’s really cool, I like vintage HiFi… cassettes were my own first way of listening to music, albums or songs dubbed to cassette, before I ever purchased my own albums.
Have you played them recently to see how they hold up?
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