I look at audio systems producing only a facsimile of the ‘truth’, and if you find one systems facsimile more believable/enjoyable than anothers then it is better, even if it is less ‘accurate’ – such as by adding compression or boosting a frequency band.

The problems start when you want your system to maintain that believable quality over a variety of music styles.

The problems start when you want your system to maintain that believable quality over a variety of music styles.

I certainly agree with that. I once had a listen to some Klipsch horn-loaded speakers. Massive things built like PA speakers. Superb for rock, rubbish for choral.

Of course if you must have the very best:
How much for a boxed set?

@TurneyGuy – agreed, with my current set up, accoustic guitar and voices sound spine tinglingly good, and jazz just has me gasping breaths of joy at how good it sounds. AC/DC on the other hand, gets a bit messy when they turn it up to 11.
I’m trying to tweak and find a balance. However, I don’t think I’ve ever heard rock/metal etc sound just how it’s ‘supposed’ to on a system.

On that note, what equipment is regarded best for playback of rock and metal? Good old NAD?

A well damped room is my tip for rough recordings.

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/15/01/02/1850253/vinyls-revival-is-now-a-phenomenon-on-both-sides-of-the-atlantic

Ok, for those who asked for a pic, here’s the RP6 finally set up:

Had the cart finally fitted on Friday, so still running in. Loving the newfound bass retrieval and sound staging so far. Mind you, it’s not forgiving of poor quality pressings.

Also picked up a set of Neat Mystique II’s. Despite the crappy name they sound simply brilliant. Came across them completely by chance and went to demo them based on favourable reviews. Socks knocked off by how good they sound. Punchy controlled bass and incredible clarity on vocals and guitar.
Well chuffed.

Nice! I always hankered after Neat speakers.

I ended up buying a PR6 last week!!! Black, slight seconds due to a very slight mark on the plinth. £629 delivered.

Planar 25 for sale with RB300 arm and Clearaudio cable.

To be fair its not far that behind the RP6 with the same Elys 2 cartridge

Stick up a pic of the ‘mark’ on the plinth if you can? Always wondered what makes a slight second a slight second..

And yes buying the RP6 actually ended up a more logical step. After selling off the upgrades that I had already bought for the Planar 2, plus the table itself (currently selling for more than I paid) – plus making money on the plinth swap – the RP6 will have ended up costing me something around £275 for essentially a brand new table and cartridge.

My son played me a songs he’s recorded earlier. Played back from the computer via an external sound card to a 70W per channel amp through Monitor BX2s it sounded excellent. Until he picked up the guitar to ask my opinion on some amp settings. Then my ears got a Telecaster with some high output pickups through a 150W Fender amp with a couple of 12″ Celestions in it. Hi-fi is all very well but still misses the original by a country mile.

If you look into how classic vinyls were originally recorded you’re spending a fortune reproducing sound on pressing which are the result of some very approximative and cheap-jack recording methods. Rage against the Machine’s Tom miked up a tiny practice amp to get that huge guitar sound. The rolling stones recorded in rooms with the acoustics of a barn – literally.

So where am I going with this? If you want to reproduce rock and roll then lots of watts and some huge drivers will get you closer than worrying about vinyl/CD/mp3.

TurnerGuy – Member
A record deck suffers from far worse crosstalk than a CD, much more compression, and also distortion from the needle only tracking squarely in the groove during a very small proportion of its travel through the grooves.

However it is the compression and the higher crosstalk that probably makes vinyl sound better in some cases.

I used to use the vinyl crosstalk as a handy means for making compilation tapes. I discovered fairly early on that listening through ‘phones you could hear a pre-echo of the next track come in fractionally before the music started, so using a three-head deck like my Aiwa F-770 I could pause the tape at the end of a track, drop the stylus just at the end of the track before the one I’m going to record and listen for the ‘ghost’ music and hit the pause button. Worked a treat.
Still can’t listen to Go Your Own Way without expecting the music to jump tracks about a minute and a half in, though…
Vinyl’s great if you’re paying twenty-odd quid for a perfectly mastered 180gm virgin vinyl disc, however, such things didn’t exist in the early 80’s, except for very rare half-speed masters, which cost a fortune.
Which is why I abandoned vinyl for CD in 1982, I was so sick and tired of the utter crap that was being out by cost-cutting record companies.
When a disc is so thin that you can bend it until the sides touch, and hold a black record up to the light and be able to see light through it, you know the format is screwed.
Especially when, on inspecting a record that continually skips and seeing little white specks, they turn out to be fragments of paper from the labels of the recycled albums that were ground up and melted down to make new albums.
As TurnerGuy says, vinyl is compressed, it has to be, otherwise high frequencies will cause the head of the cutting lathe that produces the metal stampers to ‘ring’ which can then cause overheating and wreck the head, and bass has to be reduced to avoid transients causing tracks to run into each other, exactly the problem with my Fleetwood Mac album on Go Your Own Way.
Vinyl can sound fantastic; if you’re using quality kit, and are prepared to pay silly money for new vinyl.
I gave that up thirty years ago, I’m afraid.

I think the missing link that all you hifi buffs with your fancy turntables need is a Denon AU-310 Moving Coil Step-Up Transformer.

One of these bad boys….

http://www.christographer.co.uk/corporate–events/denon-moving-coil-transform.html

Just so happens I have one here doing nothing. I have no idea what it really does, just I needed it to run my system 20 years ago. Apparently they are quite desirable and seem to make good money on Ebay. If anyone can use it then feel free to make me an offer. It is no good to me.

Without so much as a Google, I’d guess it allows moving coil carts to drive a moving magnet input phono stage.

I’ll pass though, got an adjustable phono stage 🙂

Edukator is kinda right, there’s no replacement for displacement….

…. but which partner is going to let one have a set of guitar cabs running as mids?

Maybe what we really need is Tannoy Westminster Royals.

I know I do.

And the front room to fit them in 🙂

If it’s rock you’re playing, forget the Tannoys. Go for Klipsch La Scala
http://www.klipsch.com/la-scala-ii-floorstanding-speaker

With horn loaded bass and compression drivers for mid and high, they sound and feel like PA speakers. Useless for any other music though.

Stick up a pic of the ‘mark’ on the plinth if you can? Always wondered what makes a slight second a slight second..

Finally got around to putting a photo up as requested, of the damage that made my Rega RP6 “slight seconds” and £270 cheaper than RRP..

it took me a few minutes to spot it it did.