Home visit offer

Room to arrange and discuss bake-offs
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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Re: Home visit offer

Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Well Lindsay for a £350 system to even be comparable is a bloody good effort - me thinks.

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Lindsayt
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Re: Home visit offer

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Yeah, but that's just it. I'm not sure they were particularly comparable. Same piece of music at roughly the same volume and Terrys system sounded better. The sort of better you can tell in a few seconds, no doubt or debate about it. Different class better.

The challenge for me is to see if there's any particular weak link in my £350 system that could be fixed for a laughably small amount of money. Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't.

I think Terry's main system could take on any system sold new today in most UK hi-fi dealers at any price with a good chance of sounding equally good or better.

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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Well for me that is really nice, being a largely NVA system. I have always been conscious with you not appreciating NVA because of my AP50 being trounced by your Canadian single ended valves (always forget the name) at that bake-off in South London into those horns. Nice to know you have heard NVA working well.

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Lindsayt
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Going off topic for a little bit here by going back to that small South London amp bake off, I found this recent post on pfm interesting:
Use my Ta'us with a Tripath Bel Canto amp, sound great to me.
Source: http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/show ... 861&page=2

:music-listen:

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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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Unread post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

I found them a bit odd on the times I have heard them, and other products as well from the dispensing Chemist (yes funny ain't it :mrgreen: ) who designed them.

Not my cup of tea.

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Re: Home visit offer

Unread post by Andrew »

I've had a few Impulses over the years and really enjoyed them. I like the way they seem to fill a room with music without firing the sound right at you.

I'm pretty sure they were designed by Brian Taylor. I think the Indian Chemist bloke just bought the company later on. The range is now sold in updated form under the Aspara brand name. Brian Taylor is back at the helm.

I did prefer the earlier models to the later ones, although the build quality of the later ones was clearly better. Some fond memories of all, nonetheless.

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terrybooth
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Re: Home visit offer

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A very illuminating afternoon on Sunday, thanks to Lindsay. Considering I may well have spent more on cables than Lindsay has on the whole system I'd say he definitely has a bargain there. Musical and neutral but lacking some 'presence'. I preferred it to the sound of my Exposure /'Barik set up.

It is very tantalising to wonder if there are some simple things that can be done to the system to improve the sound. Sitting on the floor definitely improved things so building some stands would be a first try. Gettting the grills off the speakers may help (they have a delicate wooden lattice on them). Messing with speaker cable is difficult since the speakers have those little mouse-trap connectors.
Pioneer PL71/DL103/ Phono2/HiFiPi/P90SA/TIS/CubixPro

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Lindsayt
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Re: Home visit offer

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On the cable front I've just had £20 worth of 322 strand cable delivered, which is the thickest I can get into the speaker terminals. I'll be comparing this against the free lamp flex cables I've used so far with the SP-5500's.

I've been wondering if a couple of original Sound Organisation turntable tables would be about the right size to use as stands. If not and if I can't find any other suitable tables / stands, I'll knock something sturdy up out of plywood. So my £350 system is rapidly moving towards being a £400 one...

I thought your dining room system of Exposure to Briks had a nice clear midrange, especially vocals, but had that 1980's hi-fi sound to it. Some people like this presentation. Some don't.

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It what I call the 'Radio 2' sound - smooth and sweet, detailed even - but muddling stuff up in the background (especially the bass in that system).
Pioneer PL71/DL103/ Phono2/HiFiPi/P90SA/TIS/CubixPro

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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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I think it is great exercise Lindsay has got into. They had similar on AoS a years or two ago. I think they called it "cheap as chips" and I think at least one of the systems was shown at Scalford.

There are so many unrecognised bargains at ebay as long as you don't look for the ones already recognised to be good. It is easy to discover all by yourself by trying and it is interesting part of the hobby.

It is pretty easy to get a half way decent system, and some times you can even approach excellence. But it is always that last bit or musical pleasure or information that costs the most to achieve.

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