Bit of a daft question

[Matt J]

How do you know what to look for and what NOT to look for when buying hi-fi/speakers? I mean how do you know what makes have a history of producing the sort of noise you like?

I'll be honest and admit to buying all my stuff without hearing any of it first, but in my defence its all been second hand and my viewpoint is that I can always move things on on for noor minimal lossif I dont like them, but I'm getting a bit lazy now, and would like to know what to consider and what to dismiss straight off.

When buying stuff I usually read a few reviews from the net, and from forums and stuff, how it looks is not really an issue, although I rarely think thingslook pig ugly, only eccentric/whacky looking stuff puts me off, anything else I'm perfectly willing to hear it before making my mind up.

I'm looking for some floorstanders to go with my meridian gear, not sure what to look out for and what to not even bother considering? any advice? Earls PMC's look like exactly what I'm after, although I have no idea whether they are what i should be looking at :Not Sure:

As well as the meridian CDP, I'll be using a planar 3 to start getting into a bit of vinyl, just need to sort out an MC cart (something else which is a mine field!)

sorry for waffling

 

[Emma Royd]

Nice MC is the Denon DL304,about £180,lowish output but I did'nt find that a problem.

 

[Guest]

Matt it won't matter that i say Kharma or Hawk says Living Voice or Davewhit says Tannoy or Bommer Spendor, Earl or Jammy with Neat. We've all eventually found what we're looking for. Now one of those brands house sounds may be for you or it may not. Half the fun is demo after demo. When you find the one for you. You'll know. What i would suggest that if you like Meridian and their house sound then you can afford to go for a pair of speakers with a bit more of an incisive edge. Wilson Benesch Arcs would be my tip. Second hand for a mint pair is between £1400-1600. They are standmounts and come with their own stands as standard but shut your eyes and you'll swear they're floorstanders.

 

[murray johnson]

Go to live unamplified music and listen. go to a hifi show & listen, go to a shop or two and listen, go to a bakeoff and listen. Make a note of what pushes your buttons. Work out whats important to you and what isn't.

There's no short cut, just listen to stuff and learn what it does.

 

[Mr Perceptive]

Matt

You really have to get out there and try and find some speakers that suit your tastes (and amplifiers).

I have two Meridian 557s, one pair very happliy drives a pair of Shahinian Arcs (s/h £800 upwards, but quite rare) the other drives a pair of Quad 22Ls. Although the 22Ls are normally my rear speakers they aren't bad for music, but not in the same league as the Shahinians

Mr Perceptive

 

[Kiang]

[No message]

 

[Papa Lazarou]

As Danny mentions WB Arcs gel nicely with Meridian kit.

Six months ago i used Meridian 507cdp/502 pre/557 power and these sounded great with my Arcs. Their sound is very open with great insight and the bass is fast and punchy. Most that have heard mine have been particularly impressed with their bass. They're one of the best standmounts out there below 3k. It takes a damn good floorstander to top them.

They may be above budget - if so also consider Dynaudio, Neat and JM Labs.

Above all else listen for yourself and discover what suits your tastes. You may not agree with what we like. Oh and get a home demo too.

 

[Kiang]

murray johnson wrote:

Go to live unamplified music and listen. go to a hifi show & listen, go to a shop or two and listen, go to a bakeoff and listen. Make a note of what pushes your buttons. Work out whats important to you and what isn't.There's no short cut, just listen to stuff and learn what it does.

so it should be written , so it should be done

 

[Papa Lazarou]

If your room is big enough buy these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dynaudio-Contour-1-8-MK2-Floorstanding-Loudspeakers_W0QQitemZ200029001722QQihZ010QQcategoryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[griffo104]

Well I just did a lot of demming until I found something that rocked my boat. Kept it untouched for 7 years now so I must still be happy (I'm on about amps and speakers).

I had a type of sound in mind, and the Linn gear did for me almost spot on. I went through so much kit at the time, Micromega, Marantz, Audiolab, Tannoy, Kef, B&W and so on. Never even had the Linn on a shortlist. Just an accidental trek to Griffin Audio in Brum one day, with some Godflesh, shostakovich and Dave Holland.

Went to listen to the new Arcam gear, got blown away by the Linn system - 6 months of searching over.

 

[Davewhityetagain]

No such thing as a daft question just daft answers :gag:

 

[Matt J]

thanks for the advice

The trouble I've had in the past is that the majority of Hi-Fi shops I've been to near me (nottingham) have treated me like a cnut from the minute I've walked through the door, never managed to get a home dem on anything from CDP's, amps, speakers etc. Now I have no idea why this is, I dont look dodgy (compared to some folks lol) and I can speak normal, although I'm a bit younger than your average hi-fi neville, maybe that puts them off orthey donttake me seriously, I did call in once on my way home from work with my workwear on, this obviosuly gave away the fact I'm a blue collar worker and they didnt even aknowledge me being there! is it just plain snobbery or what?

Anyway, seems a bit difficult to find places to dem the sort of things I'm looking at second hand, but I'll keep looking, any good places in the midlands?

 

[Guest]

John Roberts at Midland Audio exchange. Professional guy and stocks some pretty heady gear but has some great ex-dem and second hand bargains.

http://www.midlandaudiox-change.co.uk/and also

http://www.centralaudio.co.uk/

Also keep your eyes out for any bakeoffs .

 

[Matt J]

Managed to geta pair of speakers to dem, although I'm only doing it to compare them to my current ones as they are VERY similar, I have some spendor S3/5se's, Doug Stirling offered to send me a pair of his stirling V2's to compare. They arrived friday while I was at work so I'll try and pick them up on monday. They won best sub 1k speaker not so long ago so they should be no worse than what I'm used to.