Have most ticked their bucket list equipment yet, or are there still itches to scratch?

[maddog_007]

I have my piece of musical Nirvana right here in my lounge....

Had one on a weekend loan over 10 years ago...

Linn Klimax DS streamer par excellence.

Recently upgraded from Katalyst to Organik dac config...

Never heard any piece of digital equipment to match this one!

 

[Tony_J]

Early on in my encounters with Hi-fi I came across Lowther back-loaded horns and spent many years building various of their designs and variants of my own, so that was an itch that took decades to scratch. There are some things they do well - very efficient, great dynamics - but too much that they do badly - poor bass, shouty mids/highs, and even with the help of a sub and DSP it is tough to tame them adequately, so I finally gave up on them when I discovered that active crossovers and relatively modest drivers could produce much more satisfactory results. I suspect the active speaker building itch will be one that I will be scratching for some time now!

 

[Klassik]

Denon 3 head dual capstan x3. Coincidentally I would have bought one of these in the 80's as my top choice, but had a mini epiphany at the time that for £300 I could actually buy a lot of records instead and they sound better, so never did.

El Klassiko has a Denon DRM-800. It's quite a nice deck and the nice, big, and bright display panel is quite lovely. Being a late 1980s deck, the build quality was starting to be cheapened out a bit, but it's still working just fine 33 years later so it's hard to protest too loudly.

Always toyed with the idea of a high end Reel to Reel for the mancave , mainly because some of them look and sound great ..

R2R is something which Klassik has some interest in, but Klassik has passed on the few opportunities to buy one when they have come up here locally. Klassik's policy is not to buy obsolete format equipment where Klassik doesn't already have some media in that format. Klassik has passed on some Betamax VCRs for the same reason.

As a bit of a compromise, Klassik does have some cassettes with the R2R style reels. These were purchased at fair prices years ago, but the prices of these, even basic Type I Teac types, are quite expensive now. Just to show the craziness of blank audio cassette pricing, Tascam has come out with a new Type II cobalt tape with R2R-style reels for the US market. Klassik believes the tape itself is made by National Audio Company in Springfield, MO. The price is $35 USD per cassette!

Perhaps this is worth it for some, but the tape is probably inferior to even Maxell XLII type cobalt Type II tape. Granted, even NOS tapes of that kind are quite expensive these days.

https://tascam.com/us/product/424/top

Tascam has the same tape in more traditional reel form for $12.99 USD: https://tascam.com/us/product/424-s/top

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

I've got some decent gear. What I don't have is a nice room to put it in.

 

[bigrod]

I've got some decent gear. What I don't have is a nice room to put it in.

Have you had squatters ..

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

Have you had squatters ..

No, I bought a bungalow cheap. knowing that I'd have to redecorate it, but after the removals wallahs had dumped everything in the front 2 rooms, I suffered injury and didn't start the job until months after I should have. I am now where I should have been 2 weeks after moving in (it has been nearly a year) and I'm beginning to think my age is catching up with me so doing 1 room in a week is now not an achievable objective.

 

[JANDL100]

I don't have a bucket list.

Well, apart from MBL speakers.
And I've got those, had them for years, so yes I guess I have ticked off everything on my bucket list.

 

[tuga]

My recent move has again stressed the importance of the listening room.
I hope I can try horns again at some point

 

[DomT]

My recent move has again stressed the importance of the listening room.
I hope I can try horns again at some point

I had a significant bass problem here in Portugal for the first time in eight different houses. GAIAs fixed 90% of the problem. However I did buy a pair of Meze Empyreans before leaving the UK just in case my room problem wasn’t sorted out. I am glad that I did get them. Lots of great headphones out there. I thought that the Stax headphones would work well on classical music.

 

[DomT]

I have never had a bucket list. Most of the really high end systems that I have heard didn’t sound right to me and this was often because they were far too revealing of poor sources or that they sounded just not to my taste. I would be interested in hearing a large pair of Tannoys and also a very very good valve based system with appropriate speakers (maybe a pair of horns). Otherwise am quite happy with what I have in mostly mid-fi land.

 

[eddie-baby]

As a bit of a cassette enthusiast, it would be nice to own a high-end Nakamichi such as a Dragon, CR-7, ZX-9, or something of that sort. As time goes on, that's looking like less of a possibility as the prices on these decks go up and as the number of ones in good working condition dwindles. It's not something Klassik is too serious about though as Klassik does have a lower level Nakamichi cassette deck and a couple of other nice 3 head decks. Klassik will have to settle for that, Klassik's blank audio cassette collection, and Klassik's exquisite collection of VHS/S-VHS/D-VHS decks.

Tape was a great medium, allways remember the Dragon being something of mystical product, don't think I ever seen one though. There might have been one at a Wam Show once perhaps, but I might have dreamt it There's so much going on at these shows it's easy to get confused. And there's nothing like having gear at your own home anyway.

Had some what I thought was awesome technics tape decks. Those were my main source for a long time. Then CD-Rs took off and making perfect copies was easy and the tape soon went. Lovely machines good tape decks tho.

As you say, as time goes by a lot of these products are beginning to look past their sell by date. It's still great hifi but maybe prone to break down, or parts impossible to source, replace.

Dear Santa..

Need a big man cave for those!

 

[DomT]

El Klassiko has a Denon DRM-800. It's quite a nice deck and the nice, big, and bright display panel is quite lovely. Being a late 1980s deck, the build quality was starting to be cheapened out a bit, but it's still working just fine 33 years later so it's hard to protest too loudly.


R2R is something which Klassik has some interest in, but Klassik has passed on the few opportunities to buy one when they have come up here locally. Klassik's policy is not to buy obsolete format equipment where Klassik doesn't already have some media in that format. Klassik has passed on some Betamax VCRs for the same reason.

As a bit of a compromise, Klassik does have some cassettes with the R2R style reels. These were purchased at fair prices years ago, but the prices of these, even basic Type I Teac types, are quite expensive now. Just to show the craziness of blank audio cassette pricing, Tascam has come out with a new Type II cobalt tape with R2R-style reels for the US market. Klassik believes the tape itself is made by National Audio Company in Springfield, MO. The price is $35 USD per cassette!

Perhaps this is worth it for some, but the tape is probably inferior to even Maxell XLII type cobalt Type II tape. Granted, even NOS tapes of that kind are quite expensive these days.

https://tascam.com/us/product/424/top

Tascam has the same tape in more traditional reel form for $12.99 USD: https://tascam.com/us/product/424-s/top

Teac sold those cassettes in the 80s and I had about 20 of them. Then in the late 90s I threw away all of my NOS cassettes as a I didn’t have a deck and thought that nobody would want them. Fast forward 13 years and so was kicking myself as I got back into cassettes again and bought a huge amount of NOS cassettes at stupid prices; well before they got to the ridiculously absurd prices that they are at now.

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

NOS cassettes

wow I've still got packets of those, unused

 

[hifinutt]

gosh loads on my bucket list but inflation is predicted to hit 18% next year which is panicing me greatly !!!!! i should think hi fi purchases will be right at the bottom of the list if this carries on

amongst them are arc ref6se
wilson sabrina x
verity audio parsifal
boenicke w13
tannoy kensington

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62634795

 

[steve 57]

I got really into hifi in the early 90s, ended up with yam ns1000s and big solid state amps , mid 90s I got into hi efficiency speakers and small wattage amps, to me, there's something more natural about their sound.
My bucket list in the later 90s was all about old 1930s valves and 1960/ 70s high end loudspeaker drivers these to me sounded better than anything else I'd heard, (and I heard alot ! )

Since that time I still use the same valves, but my diy amplifiers have got much better, along with building better sounding speakers.

I still make a point of listening to alot of gear and occasionally think up or hear about ideas to incorporate in my builds
But I'm happy where I am at the moment.

A recent addition to my system is an early decca mk1 cartridge with a professional tonearm mounted on one of my garrard 301's. That was on my bucket list for around 15 years.
And it's a really nice combo
But unfortunately it won't make the wam show this year due to a lack of space in the car

 

[tuga]

@Klassik @DomT , I am curious as to what you find alluring in K7s when one can easily put a massive load of music files into an SD card or memory stick.

When minidisc came out that replaced my cassete deck and walkman, which I used in my travels also to record live musicians that I came across on the road. I never adopted the MP3 player craze because I don’t really enjoy music on the move that much except on the car, but started burning CDs when I got a car with a CD player. Nowadays I use a memory stick.
And I have a very cheap ADC which I used in the past to digitalise FM broadcasts of live concerts.

 

[p147]

Itching for a very nice Reel to Reel.

 

[Jules_S]

Minecraft was a wizard, not wazoo

Yep, of course, I always get the two names mixed up for the amp & CD. "Wazoo" sounds a lot cooler than Wizard though!

Many subsequent posters have also reminded me that I forgot to add R2R (tape, not DAC) to my bucket list. Current favourites for purely visual appeal are the Pioneer RT909 and the Akai GX-737, so I guess I'll start saving...

 

[DomT]

@Klassik @DomT , I am curious as to what you find alluring in K7s when one can easily put a massive load of music files into an SD card or memory stick.

When minidisc came out that replaced my cassete deck and walkman, which I used in my travels also to record live musicians that I came across on the road. I never adopted the MP3 player craze because I don’t really enjoy music on the move that much except on the car, but started burning CDs when I got a car with a CD player. Nowadays I use a memory stick.
And I have a very cheap ADC which I used in the past to digitalise FM broadcasts of live concerts.

I bought an Astell and Kern Kann DAP for £1000 and put ripped CD FLAC files on it. I compared it to my tapes (recorded on a seriously good turntable into a seriously good phonostage and cassette deck) but played back on my Sony Walkman WM-DC6 Pro. I much preferred the sound of the cassette. That was because the music had more ambience and 3D and tone. It was clearly not the most accurate but by comparison the Kann sounded 2D and flat and not that inspiring. So I sold the Kann. I used to commute into London for a while and took the Walkman and two cassettes with me. It was all that I needed.

Now that I have my end game turntable and phonostage I will be making a load of tapes on NOS cassettes. Partly because some of my LPs were never released on digital, partly because I really like the sound of a turntable recorded to cassette, and thirdly making mix tapes makes me feel like I am 18 years old again. Not necessarily ‘correct’ but it makes me happy. I wouldn’t necessarily choose tape to record classical music though.

My cassette deck is an Aiwa XK-S7000 that Alex Nikitin of Creek and ANT fame (and complete tape head) had customised (op amps and circuit) He also upgraded the heads with fully amorphous heads. We tested it against some Naks and other decks and it would be preference rather than better or worse against the best from Nakamichi.

 

[hifinutt]

Itching for a very nice Reel to Reel.

just for you