For the FAO of stereoists

[jamcg]

Jesus, what’s doing their hot water????!!! Average invented cylinder is usually 120-150l in an ordinary house, maybe up to 250 or so in bigger places. At 1100 litres it’ll need a huge amount of hot water input and probably need a circulating heater like a hot tub just to maintain temperature

I'm imagining somewhere with an 1100 washing facility has more of a plant room than your typical domestic heating system...

jamcg has prompted me to check now -

64mm incoming mains, three 90kW boilers, two 600L hot water cylinders, 4500l storage tank, cold water booster set to supply 5.0l/s at 5 bar.

Holy shit that’s lot of money right there. Would not like the subsequent gas bill

[mik]

Quick - before they sell out!

https://hifilounge.co.uk/product/audioq ... e-stopper/

I have no evidence as to whether these do or don't work, but I am not currently planning to buy any.

Every now and again you come across something in HiFi that is just mind boggling and this happened to me last week, my Audioquest rep, hello Toby, came in to demo us some new AQ cables which were excellent but whilst here he showed us their RCA Noise stoppers which we popped over any unused RCA sockets on the back for the amp we were using to demo the cables and the upgrade was instantly noticeable, I was listening with Billy and Michael and we all looked at each other and asked if we all just heard the same thing as it seemed to good too be true, so Toby took the caps off and the sound quality definitely took a step back, everything just felt a little flatter, lost some of the magic.

The mad thing is that these have been around for years but I wasn't aware, and even crazier is you get 10 caps for £49.95, I have no idea how they manufacture them and get the packaging printed and made for that, when you look at the plugs each one has 23 tiny springs in to help it fit over the unused RCA socket, it really doesn't make any sense but the long and short of it is that if you have a HiFi then you really do need to use these as for one it is good housekeeping and it is the cheapest upgrade you can get. AQ also do versions for XLR, USB and RJ45.

The basic idea is that any open socket on your kit is prone to EMI and RFI noise entering the delicate circuit which will kill dynamics and raise the noise floor, with the caps fitted you get a blacker background, lower noise floor and a more engaging cleaner sound, not to mention that they act as a great barrier for dust and corrosion helping protect your kit in the long run, overall they just help stop any signal degradation and you can't ask for more than that, especially for under £50 for 10.

This isn't about selling kit but I feel that now I've heard the difference these make it is actually a public service to all audiophiles out there, I just wish I knew about these 14 years ago when I started HFL, better late than never I guess.

[Mito Man]

Have audiophiles considered wearing ball gags and butt plugs whilst listening to music to ensure the sound waves only enter their ears? Can’t have the music entering any other orifices and degrading the quality.

[Gavster]

It would be amazing to see some double blind placebo controlled studies on shit like this

[GG.]

Sounds like a fun opportunity to try new kit. If you're not going to enjoy that process then just a get a soundbar

Not quite as exciting as Newt's new Cayman (well actually these days, I get more regular enjoyment out of the hi-fi than cars...) but I took delivery of some new loudspeakers yesterday. Effectively the big boy versions of the Sonus Fabers I already had, but the earlier non "M" version which are supposed to be smoother sounding than its successor and incidentally the last before the founder Serblin sold the company (think of them as pre-Audi Lamborghini if you will).

They are brutes size wise and the man I bought them from very kindly helped me manhandle them out the boxes. I think this is the first true 3 way speaker I've had since a pair of 603 S2 B&Ws 20 years ago.









I had a fiddle around with them and moved them back to the end of the room rather than the middle - interestingly they had a reputation for a surfeit of bass, however, this room seems to be effectively a giant bass trap so there's no issue with that here (if anything maybe I still need a sub ). There is certainly an extra sweetness to the sound, particularly in the midrange that was lost with the M. Noticeable on listening to classical music where stringed instruments have much more body to them.

The rest of the frequency range downwards is not "more" in the range that the smaller Auditor covered but goes several octaves deeper. You realise just how much of the music you are missing - the bass guitar that was unnoticeable before is now front and centre. Very pleased overall - now for some room treatment I think.

P.s. if anyone wants a pair of Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor Ms before they go on eBay then let me know!

[mik]

I took delivery of some new loudspeakers yesterday. Effectively the big boy versions of the Sonus Fabers I already had, but the earlier non "M" version which are supposed to be smoother sounding than its successor

Ooh - very nice. What's the model no? My current speakers are my first 3-ways (sounds rude) and I love that you can have all the mid-range detail without compromising the crispness of the top end, or muddying the bass.

(if anything maybe I still need a sub ).

I'd say you probably do > not to make the bass any louder, but to fill in the <60hz range that you don't really appreciate you are missing..... until you experience it. (note: without knowing exactly what they are, or therefore their freq response, I may retract this statement). Get a loan of one and.... just try it.

I'd also like to thank you and your glass doors for the reflectopron again.

[Jobbo]

Those are nice speakers. Always loved the finish on Sonus Fabers.

I have no need for any new kit currently but by coincidence I did my usual eBay search for Meridian DSP5200s last night and found a pair for sale 10 miles from me. In silver metallic, almost like unlacquered car paint, so not the best finish to suit a domestic setting, but a good price. I don't really have enough desire for them now, and I also realised they were from around 2004; I've been idly looking at them for some time

[GG.]

I took delivery of some new loudspeakers yesterday. Effectively the big boy versions of the Sonus Fabers I already had, but the earlier non "M" version which are supposed to be smoother sounding than its successor

Ooh - very nice. What's the model no? My current speakers are my first 3-ways (sounds rude) and I love that you can have all the mid-range detail without compromising the crispness of the top end, or muddying the bass.

(if anything maybe I still need a sub ).

I'd say you probably do > not to make the bass any louder, but to fill in the <60hz range that you don't really appreciate you are missing..... until you experience it. (note: without knowing exactly what they are, or therefore their freq response, I may retract this statement). Get a loan of one and.... just try it.

I'd also like to thank you and your glass doors for the reflectopron again.

These are the original Cremonas - from about 2003 so getting on a bit now! They supposedly have an in room response down to 32Hz but on listening to some Diesel Power by the Prodigy (seems very inappropriate on these speakers ) it certainly didn't have punch at that level that I had kind of been expecting. Again I guess it is the room - I have them 3/4 of a metre out from the rear wall and if I shoved them back it would likely amplify the bass but to the detriment of everything else.

I think the only interesting thing in the reflection is the Saturn V lego on top of the shelves

[GG.]

Those are nice speakers. Always loved the finish on Sonus Fabers.

I have no need for any new kit currently but by coincidence I did my usual eBay search for Meridian DSP5200s last night and found a pair for sale 10 miles from me. In silver metallic, almost like unlacquered car paint, so not the best finish to suit a domestic setting, but a good price. I don't really have enough desire for them now, and I also realised they were from around 2004; I've been idly looking at them for some time

Ha yes time flies - I think I originally started lusting after these Cremonas when I was the other side of 20

Those 5200 do look interesting and for £1,500 they seem worth a punt.

[Gavster]

Very nice speakers @GG. I'm a long time Sonus Faber fan albeit I'm at their entry level with my Toy Tower floorstanders. What's your amp for them, I've always assumed they really benefit from a LOT of power.

I first came across them back around 2003 when we dropped into a friend of a friend who was an audio engineer at a Soho post production house and he had a pairs of Electa Amator Is and IIs. They sounded glorious and I was sold on the house sound after that!

[mik]

They supposedly have an in room response down to 32Hz

I've searched, and seen the same info (freq range 32Hz to 40kHz) - which was the claimed response from SF, but nowhere seems to know whether these quoted at the "standard" -3dB roll-off, or -6dB, or...... what?

I came across someone pairing them with a pair of REL HT1205mkII subs (not sure a pair is necessary), which lead me to spot that Peter Tyson has their small brothers nearly new HT 1003Mk2 for what looks like a pretty tasty price......

I occasionally switch my sub off and listen to something through my main speakers only. They invariably sound really good, and the bass doesn't feel lacking. But then I immediately play the same track again, at the same volume, with the sub on. And the impact and added weight is always noticeable (and positive).

[GG.]

Very nice speakers @GG. I'm a long time Sonus Faber fan albeit I'm at their entry level with my Toy Tower floorstanders. What's your amp for them, I've always assumed they really benefit from a LOT of power.

I use a Unison Research Unico Secondo. I had one a few years ago before the Devialet but sold it as it was accentuating the bass issues in my old room.

Once I moved I had the opposite problem and the Devialet, despite being Class D was not up to driving the Auditors so I bought one again (https://chameleon-audio.com/unison-rese ... amplifier/ - actually this one in the photos which I bought from Greece earlier this year!)

It is a "Hybrid" so valve input stage and transistor power amp side. 180 watts per channel into the 4ohm load of the Sonus Fabers. Supposedly this is the same power as the Devialet but clearly the Unison has a whopping great transformer in it which the French amp doesn't. Objectively the Unison is much musclier.

The speakers probably deserve the Unico DM pre-power and/or set up as monoblocks but that's for down the line.

[GG.]

They supposedly have an in room response down to 32Hz

I've searched, and seen the same info (freq range 32Hz to 40kHz) - which was the claimed response from SF, but nowhere seems to know whether these quoted at the "standard" -3dB roll-off, or -6dB, or...... what?

I came across someone pairing them with a pair of REL HT1205mkII subs (not sure a pair is necessary), which lead me to spot that Peter Tyson has their small brothers nearly new HT 1003Mk2 for what looks like a pretty tasty price......

I occasionally switch my sub off and listen to something through my main speakers only. They invariably sound really good, and the bass doesn't feel lacking. But then I immediately play the same track again, at the same volume, with the sub on. And the impact and added weight is always noticeable (and positive).

I think from this graph they probably roll off at mid 40s at -3DB if I'm reading these scales correctly The 32 figure must be down to -6db (and even that seems generous from the graph).

[scotta]

I bought some new toys




https://www.altoprofessional.com/products/ts415




They are banging! Frequency response down to 33hz. They are rated to 138db as well. Multiple Eq modes for different uses and they also have bluetooth connections so you dont have to roll out the full controller and mixer every time you want to use them.

[Jimexpl]

Those are nice speakers. Always loved the finish on Sonus Fabers.

I have no need for any new kit currently but by coincidence I did my usual eBay search for Meridian DSP5200s last night and found a pair for sale 10 miles from me. In silver metallic, almost like unlacquered car paint, so not the best finish to suit a domestic setting, but a good price. I don't really have enough desire for them now, and I also realised they were from around 2004; I've been idly looking at them for some time

The 5200s sound good, but not at their new price unless you feel the design is worth it. I sorted out having a pair recovered in grey alcantara after the black metallic finish had been marked too many times -