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allenh

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Posts posted by allenh

  1. 45 minutes ago, simple_torture said:

    Gonna hold off on this for a little bit--will probably miss the variants, but I'm just excited to try this out. Lots of people have been telling me to give Barnett a listen and I haven't gotten a chance yet, so this might be a good time to dive in.

    The single I've heard doesn't really sound like her Solo stuff, If I didn't know it was her I wouldn't have guessed if I'd just heard the single without being told who it was.

  2. 11 hours ago, streetwaves said:

    I think you can easily say that one brand produces great this or that. I'll name several great Marantz receivers but I can't name a single great Marantz turntable or speakers. Same goes for McIntosh and Pioneer. 

    You can if you take a short snapshot in time but in reality you need to add the caveat that they have all also produced or still produce utter crap. If you are talking vintage then Marantz produced some very good tables in the 70's that were easily the equal of the intended competition but they also produced some not so great ones and the same is true of every other component they manufactured. Speakers from back then, well very few people managed really good speakers back then although there will always be the gems in most manufacturers output they are just harder to find and because they were so difficult to produce consistently well, so one pair of the same speaker could be very different from another. Speakers are one of the few things that have consistently improved in hifi terms over the years.

     

    The problem is all these companies have been going a long time so personnel, ownership and markets change which very much has an effect on what they produce. All the big brand consumer electronics companies all produced some great gear in the 70's because HiFi was fashionable and there was a lot of money in it for them but as the money ran out this diluted down to ranges of quite a lot of complete crap in the late 80's / early 90's which some but sadly not all have steadily moved back upwards from since but as far as the big names go we are nowhere near the zenith of the mid to late 70's and there's a lot of once great names selling utter shit on the back of that once well respected name.

     

    sadly in the 80's all these companies aimed at wider and wider parts of the market in an effort to stop the decline which meant they produced crap at the bottom and took away from the R&D at the top.

  3. On 26/08/2017 at 6:24 PM, Tardcore said:

    kind of a vague opinion--I am guessing you are basing these statements on vintage products.  Technics at the very least has put out some complete crap.  Their claim to fame is pretty much based on one model (1200).  Marantz receivers have run the spectrum over the years.

    A little harsh on Technics as they've produced at least 3 or 4 others that are worthy of admiration but yep pretty much spot on.

     

    On 25/08/2017 at 5:39 PM, streetwaves said:

    I'll take Technics, Thorens or Linn over a Marantz turntable any day. Marantz receivers on the other hand...

    To say one brand produces great this or that is very wrong because without exception every big name manufacturer (and especially the far eastern ones just because of their prodigious output and life span) has produced complete and utter rubbish and absolute gems at some time in their lives.

     

    Even the likes of Thorens and Linn are not immune to this. Thorens went through a long bad patch toward the very end of the TD160/166 where their later products were more than a little plastic and didn't really deserve a Thorens badge and Linn isn't a great example as they couldn't even manage to produce their own design of turntable until the Basik, the LP12 when originally sold was an Ariston RD11 with a Linn badge on it and has evolved from that with an ever unrealistic price tag ever since. Linn has also built some pretty woeful speakers and a lot of the electronics (amplification and CD players etc.) are average at their price point at best

     

    I'm not a fan of Marantz turntables over any other but the current Clearaudio unit with a Marantz badge on it is pretty stunning for the money and a good few of the proper vintage output (before the wasteland of the B.P.C. years) are easily the equal of the direct competition at the time.

     

    The only brands that haven't let at least one turkey out into the wild are those small obscure companies that don't just inhabit the very high end either made something great and didn't last long or made a few great products and didn't deviate from those.

  4. 21 hours ago, dynabcn said:

     I have just received in Spain the limited boxset. It looks really cool! I attach a photo (BTW Customs / UPS made me pay like 32.5 euros for the box... terrible). 

    So... Is the color of this vinyl (greenish) the same as the indie version one? Captura-de-pantalla-2017-08-24-a-las-14.

    Strange, I ordered mine from Warners US because it was cheaper than the UK store but I got two shipping emails, one from Warners US and one from Warners Europe and it arrived yesterday from Warners Europe without any customs charges.

  5. 18 hours ago, lethalenforcer said:

    I think Coke may be in the set and also a US Indies exclusive (whereas UK has clear), as @YouTwo speculated. Still waiting for someone to confirm.

    The Roughtrade UK page says clear where the US one says Coke Bottle

     

    16 hours ago, defectiveepitaph said:

    I think coke stand alone is on the Rough Trade site

    https://roughtrade.com/us/magazines/a-deeper-understanding

    https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/new-releases

     

  6. Yes it does make sense and logic would say that a higher range turntable from a mid range maker would probably be the better bet but in reality that isn't always the case and there's no rhyme or reason to it.

    And if you're looking to spend that sort of money on any bit of HiFi you really do need to be listening and comparing all of the options that you possibly can before your hand goes anywhere near to handing over any money.

  7. 2 hours ago, Thomas³ said:

    The vintage shop where I got my turntable has a Revox turntable in with one of those arms, but it is too damn expensive. Any standard mount automatic recommendations? 

    No pretty much the Technics is the only one I can think of but as I say the one I'm thinking of is fixed for tracking force etc. Which is fine if you're not going to experiment with cartridges.

  8. Only the other day my wife was asking me what else do you want to do when we are in New York? And as luck would have it I saw your post yesterday, so I've just got to say she's really really pleased you are opening on the only weekend we are going to be in New York in the only 2 weeks we are going to be in the US this year, if I'm limping at all or maybe wincing from where the bruises don't show when I come in on opening day you'll know why.

  9. The trouble with posting brand names is that all the bigger ones will probably have produced utter rubbish that would be an insult to fire wood all the way up to absolutely stunning and all points in between, plus if they've been around a while they will have had a golden period and some not so golden periods. e.g. Sansui from the early 70's to around 79/80 is generally a safe bet but from the early 80's on things really trailed off to utter crap.

     

    As general rules look at what's been used in the construction, if they weigh a lot and money has been spent on the cabinets then that's probably a good sign but that isn't always true e.g. I doubt you'll see many pairs in the US but a pair of Kef Coda 7's are pretty light, have pretty average cabinets and generally can be had for a very low price but will destroy a lot of very expensive speakers with ease. Google is your friend so research a lot.

     

    Those Rectilinear's are very nice speakers if in good condition but may be a bit too much speaker for your Sony to drive properly so you might want to aim a little lower down the food chain for now.

    As to price they are not something we saw over here in the UK so I can't help on value but someone else might be able to. If you do buy them though you'll be upgrading everything else up to meet them sooner or later and check the foam around the drivers

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectilinear_Research_Corporation

  10. On 16/07/2017 at 8:08 PM, whoa said:

    I'm not too great with North/East, which is where it's all hip and stuff now. Maybe someone else can chime in here. Rough Trade is out in Shoreditch (hop off at Liverpool Street and walk through Spitalfields Market), but not sure what else is that ways now. I think Erased Tapes still might have thing on the go that ways too, might be wrong.

    If you do go to Splitalfields there's a record fair on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month which is always worth a look.

     

    Also don't forget Camden Market, sadly there has been a bad fire there recently but I know the main record shop survived although it is right on the edge of the fire affected area but I'm told should be re opening soon and there are other stalls selling records around the market. There is a shop on the way up to Camden lock from the tube which is Out on the floor records in Inverness street and there's also All ages records in Pratt street which is a punk and hardcore place.

     

    There's a few popping up in Hackney as well, have been going in to Cosmos records recently on Hackney Road when I'm in that part of London and I know there's a couple more around there. As @whoa said it's all very hip and trendy around that part of London but that does mean there's new interesting little shops popping up all over the place.

  11. If you don't want to spend too much money go used. First I would junk the Bose speakers for something better, look round for a better turntable 2nd and keep the Sony for now and maybe look for something better there last.

     

    Look around for some used HiFi speakers in places like yard sales, charity and junk shops or ebay or craigslist locally but ideally the charity and junk shops so you can take them back if they're faulty, you may also find a better used turntable that way as well.

     

    The AT60 divides opinion in that in reality the arm is no better than those used on a Crosley but in general it is better made and everyone has to start somewhere so it will do a perfectly good job for you until something better comes along at the right price, the Sony amp if it's working ok again isn't great but will do a perfectly good job and you may find if you switch the phono amp out on the AT and use the phono in on the Sony it will work better than using the phono amp on the AT.

     

    I expect this is also where you've gone wrong so if you've plugged the AT into the phono in's on the Sony try turning of the phono amp in the AT or try plugging into one of the other inputs on the Sony.

     

    And lastly jettison the Bose as soon as possible.

     

  12. 20 minutes ago, patreeeek said:

    This one is weird In the UK it's still cheaper for me to order the box set from Warner US than to order the indie exclusive or from the Warner UK store.

     

    From Warner US the box set works out at £38.75 shipped to the UK, from Warner UK it works out at £58.99  and the indie exclusive from Plaidroom Records works out £39.51 shipped to the UK. Customs won't be stiffing me for £20 that should be about £12 so I'm sticking with my Warner US order and the UK clear for now.

     

    And yes I'm double dipping on this one because as @lethalenforcer said it is the War on drugs.

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