[larkone]

Sounds like it is time to get out those 99p I/Connects and replace the speaker cable with bell wire to try and get back to the sound you used to love.

[Arcam_boy]

Originally Posted by Dazzor

Mark,

How much better is this system compared to the Naim/Dynaudio you just sold? ( I hope it's better)

I know it's tricky to put into words sometimes but give it go if you can

Cheers
D

Hi Darren.

This is obviously a very subjective review but I found the Dynaudio Focus 110's to be stunning speakers, very natural voicing and an unbelievable amount of bass from such small speakers.

The Naim XS seemed to be a very good partner for the Dyn's and it was a very good combination indeed. I was in two minds if I wanted to swap really and was more than happy with the overall sound.

Things fell in to place rather quickly and I literally had the Dyn's sold and some 805S's in my lounge within a 24 hour period.

The 805'S aren't as bassy as the Dyn's although have a slightly more detailed mid range and sweeter treble. Some tracks, mainly female vocals and piano recordings, sound better on the 805S's where as some of the bass heavy stuff I listen to - Lil Wayne/Usher etc sounded better on the Dyn's as they just had that extra ooomph behind them.

Once I got the 805S's I knew I had to have a Classe amp to power them as the first time I had a set of 805S's I really wanted a classe amp but settled for a musical fidelity A5 as at £4k the Classe was out of my price league.

The Classe has really opened up the 805S's. The mid range and treble are out of this world now. Stuff from Emeli Sande/Adele/Birdy etc are stunning, you can hear every breathe they take, every keynote of the piano and you really get a sense of emotion from the singer. The bass is tighter than it was with the Naim (maybe due to the extra power on tap) but doesn't seem to go quite as deep.

I am very happy indeed with how it sounds now and as a whole its certainly a nicer sounding system than the Naim/Dyn combo. New vs New its comparing a £3k system vs a £6k system. Is it twice as good? No, but I guess you get that as you move further up the ladder.

I did say I could happily live with this system for the next 5 years, which I'm 100% positive I could, but currently got a pair of B&W PM1's on loan. I'm not sure there going to be a massive leap in sound quality over the 805S's although they do look a little nicer in the lounge I must admit so we'll have to see what happens in the next week or so...

I think I can safely say I'll be sticking with Classe/B&W for the foreseeable future. My next upgrade will most likely be a Classe CP800 although that will most likely be the back end of next year before I have the funds to start looking at that.

[Dazzor]

Thanks, Mark....nicely worded, made a lot of sense


I think I really want to hear a pair of Dyn110's. I do not and will not have serious money for a Hi-fi/stereo set-up anytime soon...however, I keep thinking about all sort of options.

My current thinking is the 110's driven by something like a Meridian 557, fronted with an MDAC...should be doable for about £1.5k.

Right now Hifi is off the radar as I need to rebuild my HT system for my new house/living room....I'm going for the new B&W M-1 mkii's. I think they will work well with my Yamaha Z7 and SVS SB12+.

All the best

Darren

[belloire]

interesting to hear your thoughts on the PM1's Arcam Boy. i originally heard them driven by Classe (albeit £13k of Classe) and they were amazing. my Vincent amp didn't quite have the same effect, though they were still amazing.

[alpha10]

Originally Posted by Dav1dF

I love all those little details as its all part of the performance. I've been trying to find the Goldmund album I mentioned to him which seems to have disappeared from Napster - it sounded like they'd mic'd every part of the piano as you could hear every single detail of its workings. I'll post it up later when I find it out.

Have you heard Sia's "Breath Me" I swear you end up with spit on you it is so close mic'd....

Enjoy

[Dav1dF]

Originally Posted by alpha10

Have you heard Sia's "Breath Me" I swear you end up with spit on you it is so close mic'd....

Enjoy

Yup, it's an album I've used for demo many times

[dogfonos]

Can a hi-fi be too revealing?

I come at this from a different angle. Brief answer, IMO, is no.

A more considered response is that sometimes assembling a hifi system awakens our inner obsessive, although I doubt most of us care to view it this way.

You’re familiar with the phrase: ‘the means to an end?’ Well, what happens is “the means” (i.e. the hardware) gets muddled up with “an end” (i.e. perfect music reproduction). We lose our focus. Very slowly and subconsciously, our aim shifts from achieving perfect musical reproduction to collecting gorgeous hifi hardware (Arcam-boy, re-read your post #32 and tell me I’m wrong!). In no time at all, we’re in over our heads and can’t see the wood for the trees (and other such idioms). But help is at hand…

I went through all this back in the 1980’s and now consider myself to be a ‘high-functioning, recovering audiophile’. Fortunately, Guru Maharaji and the Divine Light Mission were on hand for me but other, less costly solutions that won’t screw with your brain and break up your family are available.

Tell you what, because I’m a decent sort, I’ll take all that hifi gear off your hands and send you a replacement budget mini system. No longer the need to fret over err, fret noises etc because you won’t hear them. Can’t say fairer than that.

[lazarus]

Im sure i remember reading a while back of some hifi reviewer stating that on one particular lp he could hear a low rumble which upon investigation, turned out to be a subway train passing near to the recording studio that the mics picked up.

i cant for life of me remember where i read it though....

[Arcam_boy]

Originally Posted by alpha10

Have you heard Sia's "Breath Me" I swear you end up with spit on you it is so close mic'd....

Enjoy

Just purchased the CD, I quite like Sia although she's normally a featuring artist.

[phil t]

Originally Posted by dogfonos

You’re familiar with the phrase: ‘the means to an end?’ Well, what happens is “the means” (i.e. the hardware) gets muddled up with “an end” (i.e. perfect music reproduction). We lose our focus. Very slowly and subconsciously, our aim shifts from achieving perfect musical reproduction to collecting gorgeous hifi hardware. In no time at all, we’re in over our heads and can’t see the wood for the trees (and other such idioms).

Seriously?

Perfect musical reproduction or perfect reproduction of a RECORDING? The two are not the same, although some recordings are closer than others.

[Doomlord_uk]

Perfect musical reproduction or perfect reproduction of a RECORDING?

whilst the former is what we imagine we are pursuing as an end, the only thing we *can* do is work with what is on the recording, and trust that it was well made. It is often the case, however, that it is not... At any level of replay capability, there are recordings that are good, bad and just indifferent... so perhaps in a way the goal is to buy the system that matches the recordings we really like. OTOH, what music recordings we like is very much determined by what we use to play it on... so then buy and listen to the recordings that work best on our system. So round we could go in circles.

Anyway... either you want to hear what's on your discs or you do not. You choose your discs and your replay system accordingly. There's no correct answer, at least not until the day all music is available as perfect recordings. In the meantime, I have to say dogfonos is right... we can and we do get caught up in the shiny equipment and then find outselves unprepared both for what it can do and how that affects our music, and of course we can overlook just how (disproportionaly?) expensive this hobby can get too.

I disagree, it’s the hifi and/or the recordings.

It is these, but it is also the listener. Beauty is in the eye - and the ear - of the beholder. How we perceive very directly affects what we perceive and how, in turn, we respond. Critical listening is NOT the same as relaxed listening 'for pleasure'. I would go so far as to venture that each involves different areas of the brain, too. So I stand by my assertion that Arcam_boy is in part part of his problem.

[Arcam_boy]

Originally Posted by Dazzor

Right now Hifi is off the radar as I need to rebuild my HT system for my new house/living room....I'm going for the new B&W M-1 mkii's. I think they will work well with my Yamaha Z7 and SVS SB12+.

All the best

Darren

Could you not combine a nice stereo system with a HT system?

You could get some 805S's and a HTM4S cente for the same price as five new M1's and a sub. They wouldn't even compare for film or music. The only thing is they're about 6 times the size!!

[Dazzor]

Originally Posted by Arcam_boy

Could you not combine a nice stereo system with a HT system?

You could get some 805S's and a HTM4S cente for the same price as five new M1's and a sub. They wouldn't even compare for film or music. The only thing is they're about 6 times the size!!

You're right, Mark, of course you are.....Thing is, I've sort of been there and done that already: Beresford TC-7220; My experience..

I was running XTZ 99.25's for my front-3 and M&K K4's at the back/surround. The Beresford allowed me to run my Roksan Caspian M-1 series for pure stereo ( I didn't like the pre-out from my AVR method)...fronted with a Rega Dac. (You had one of these for while too as I recall)

I sold the stereo stuff and all 3 XTZ's because I wasn't getting the time and/or opportunities in the main living room to listen to music the way I wanted to...and I needed to free up cash at the time.

Also, I'm moving to a house with a bigger, squarer lounge, as opposed to a narrower lounge & dinning room knocked through and behind my viewing position. The new place is also knocked through with the dinning area but I can now rotate my Pio 5090 90 degrees (Wall mount) and so have the sound more confined in a square with a wall behind me...if that make sense? Wifey and I like the idea of small wall mounts for the living room....in-walls would be nice but I've not got the time and energy for an install like that (15 month old son and a new one due mid July). Maybe down the line I'll sell the M-1's and go in-wall, who knows?

I want to keep HT seperate for the foreseeable. Ultimately I'd like a true stereo set-up in a little outbuilding in my new garden. Done correctly a room can make such a difference, instead of just focusing on kit. Also, it's a place for me to beat a retreat to; music can be played at levels that will put a smile on my face without impacting on the rest of the family......, It's a way off becoming a relaity but I can dream

Right, back to the Hifi madness of Mark.......Have I got this right?

You had the 805's & stands up for sale (possibly because you and the wife preferred the look of the on-loan PM1's more?)....then you retracted the sale because after some friends popped round and you did some back-to-back listening you all agreed the 805's were a level above?

Oh how fickle we can be in this hobby....that did make me laugh, Mark.

Wish I had your dilemmas mate

ATB

Darren

[Arcam_boy]

Ahhh ok at least you've had chance to try it and know what works for your situation. I'm a little the same. Used to have quite a decent home cinema set up in the lounge which was pretty poor at stereo so used to sit on my imac in the corner of the lounge listening to music through the in-built speakers.

In a moment of madness/genius I listed the lot on here and sold it all to start on my hi-fi journey. Best decision I've made in a long time

The M1's are excellent little speakers. I've got 2 of the mk1's in my xbox room as rears and there very impressive! When we re-decorate the lounge I plan on building a false wall along where the television hangs and install some B&W in-walls, as discretely as possible, so when we do watch a film we can still have 5.1 without more speakers or using the hi-fi system.

Yeah on initial listening I was really impressed with the PM1's and the wife was loving the look of them as well, and its not often I get the from her to spend more money on hi-fi. So I listed with 805S's on PFM to see if I'd get any biters and within a few hours I go two offers of my asking price for the speakers. I was pretty much set to go and give Davidf the nod on ordering me a set in.

However on plugging the 805S's in the next day I wasn't quite so sure myself. Then I did a few A/B tests and started falling out of love with the PM1's but still wasn't sure. Then once we'd done an A/B comparison again in the evening it was quite clear the PM1's couldn't replace the 805S's sonically in anyway. It just goes to show how good the 805S's are after 5 or 6 years. The PM1's are What Hi Fi's stand mount speaker of the year above £1500+ and yet I've now had four people prefer the 805S's over the PM1's even though I was swaying towards them based purely on looks.

I'm now debating whether to buy a Classe CDP or stick with the Oppo and put the money towards a decent DAC for a Sonos ZP90.