Wotcha

To cut down on spam, we tend to remove users that haven't posted anything after a day or so, so this is the place to say hi for the first time.
Post Reply
Salopian
New User
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2018 6:55 am

#1 Wotcha

Post by Salopian »

Hello...

I'm recently retired, live in Shrewsbury and have now spent all of my pension lump sum on gear (that's music-playing gear, not the other sort). I listen in a smallish room which is too nearly a cube to be ideal (4.2 x 3.4 metres and 2.8 metres high), but we like our house, so I'm staying put. The shortcomings of the room have been ameliorated to some extent by hanging three GIK sound diffusing/absorbing panels behind the listening chair. The current system, which is not likely to change any time soon, is:

Marantz SA-KI Pearl Lite SACD player (used as a transport for CDs, but as a player for SACDs)
Auralic Aries Mini server/streamer with a 250GB SSD connected to hold a file library
Google Chromecast Audio for the BBC Radio iPlayer
TEAC UD-503 DAC/source selector; analogue out to
DSPeaker Anti-mode 2.0 Dual Core for room acoustic correction and tone control - the most important electronic component
Naim Supernait 2 amplifier
Duevel Planets speakers - 1 year old, and I would never countenance anything but omnis again

I've had valves, I've had homebuilt speakers (Hifi News Aces, single driver omnidirectional upward-firing)... I've had nice Proac floorstanders and a not-so-nice sounding Cyrus amp which I stuck with for years because of its pleasing size and operational simplicity. I haven't had a TV for years.

The upstairs system is a PC feeding a Maplin DAC plugged into a NAD 3120 from eBay (it may need an overhaul but is still working, albeit with a moderate switch-on thump) driving a pair of Videoton Minimax IIs that I've owned since I was 17 - foam surrounds still perfectly healthy.

I listen mostly to classical music, and favour grand Romantic stuff over baroque noodling. Don't like most sopranos, so Wagner isn't really on the menu. Bruckner is a mainstay of the collection, along with a lot of British music, but it's pretty all-embracing within its 1800-2018 timeframe...

I host the local U3A Jazz Appreciation group once a month. We all squeeze into my front room and listen to anything from New Orleans funeral bands to err, funky stuff. Not that I know anything about jazz - I was hoping to learn from the other group members. Once in a while they bring along something intriguing, but the last session (Dave Brubeck) left me cold. Blasted noodling. Too much like baroque music; I just don't get it. I want wallop, I want big emotions... like the best thing yet written this century (in my not-terribly-humble opinion), Anna Clyne's Night Ferry:



Enough! :)
Post Reply