I can barely remember a time when I didn’t have a way to listen to music. I think my first machine was a tape recorder, then there was a record player and a cassette player. Over the years the equipment has changed, but the music is the continuity.
In our front room now is equipment that mostly dates from when I bought it in 2001–Cambridge Audio CD player and Amp., Eltax speakers–and some that I’ve acquired in the meantime: a Denon cassette deck, a Rega turntable, and a Cambridge Audio phono-stage. In the shed I have a cheap Sony cdplayer/DAB radio combo.
Stan Tracey Quartet
It’s been on my mind lately to upgrade what I have, in part because I have some hearing loss in high frequencies, the kind that makes it hard to pick out what people say when there is background noise. I’m also listening more to vinyl and especially post-1950s jazz so I’m looking for a particular ‘sound’ in which the instruments are distinct and separate and I can hear the overtones
The Shed
My initial thought was to buy a used Denon minisystem as a straight upgrade. The I began to wonder about getting hold of some vintage hifi gear from eBay, and had a long look at what was around. Of course, there is plenty available, and working out which is nominally ‘best’ and then sniping for bargains is a tempting rabbit hole I’ve been trying very hard not to tumble into.
I then thought about transferring my cd and amp from the living room to the shed and buying upgrades for the living room, but see below for more on that.
So I haven’t made up my mind, but in the interim I spotted a comment, by someone with the same cheap Sony cd/DAB combo I have, that it sounded a lot better with a change of speakers. The device claims to accept speakers of a nominal 4Ω impedance, so, courtesy of eBay, some battered old Sony SS-85e speakers are on the way. With some fresh wire etc. from Amazon, and some improvised isolation provided by mousemats and metal feet, I should get a substantial upgrade in shed sound for well under £50 (including P+P).
I’m toying with having a turntable up there too, though that would mean major reorganisation and definitely another amp., so that can wait.
Living Room
Heavy Weather
I had a good exchange with Richer Sounds who said I should stick with what I have because it is as good as what is currently available around my price point. Assuming that to be true, (props to them for not simply seizing the opportunity to sell me something shiny and new), and given that I don’t really want to splash the cash on a serious upgrade, I started to think more about how I have things set up in the living room.
At present everything sits on a solid IKEA unit which is on castors on the carpet. The speakers are an exception: they are on spikes on fairly solid bamboo boards. It was obvious the moment I started to think about it that there is no effective isolation for any of the main components, aside from the speakers, from either system noise transmitted through the unit or general vibrations in the room. The effect of this has to be to degrade the performance of the units in precisely the way that will cause problems with my hearing. In fact it may well be the combination of this and my hearing that is making the music sound undefined.
So I’m going to focus on various improvised devices, drawn from internet forums, to isolate the turntable, cd player and amplifier. This includes both vertical and horizontal isolation of the turntable. The improvised devices include IKEA chopping boards, squash balls, steel bearings, furniture cups, oak cones, and sorbothane pads. Again all at rock-bottom prices.
I’ll report back.
Recent Comments