Evening all
When not doing my day job, I review hifi equipment for magazines. Its great- I essentially get paid to do a hobby. My current subject matter is causing some me consternation however. In your opinion is this curio currently helping my turntable hammer out LCD Soundsystem;

a) Really very striking and handsome indeed
b) A big shiny munter


Price and performance not relevant to this (I've worked them out for myself and everything). I just can't decide whether it is a beauty or a beast.

Thanks for looking.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 22:17, 30 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I'd fuck it

( broadsword, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 22:31, Reply)

Sympathy or genuine affection?
Not quite sure how I'll turn that into copy either.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 22:35, Reply)

I like the way it looks like a robot face
I'd have hours of fun twiddling his nose
( broadsword, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 22:46, Reply)

ugly
no question
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 22:41, Reply)

Not bad, but not great
I like that you can see the valves, always quite a good look, but the metal bits look a bit crap, as do the cylinders at the corners.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 22:59, Reply)

Yeah the cylinders at the side are a bit argos tv stand
but, robot face hi-fi! It's the future of audio reproduction!
( broadsword, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:01, Reply)

It also looks kind of like
A PC tower has fallen over, and some bits have fallen off. Also, I doubt it needs to be quite so big.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:09, Reply)

Its certainly very large
and very heavy, and very hot- the cat curled up in front of it earlier.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:13, Reply)

What mag do you write for?

( broadsword, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:16, Reply)

A few
This is for Hifi Choice. I also do work for Hifi+ and have just accepted some work from Wired as well.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:18, Reply)

Cool, gotta be worse ways to earn a few quid

( broadsword, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:21, Reply)

Going back to the bigness point
There's loads of empty space, so why don't they just put more amplification in? MOAR AMPLIFICATION!
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:20, Reply)

well
it looks cheap and nasty, therefore it clearly costs a bomb
(Halfy By light alone, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 23:16, Reply)

Well
It costs a Wetherspoons burger shy of eight and a half grand but to be honest most stuff at this price point looks a bit weird. They generally look less like a scale model of a power station though.
(Leonard Hatred briefly did some work on, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 0:57, Reply)

Ugly as sin
and not very practical. My missus would forever be walking into it and spinning the controls. Plus, you would have to bend over to adjust it even if you were sat down on the sofa in front of it (it looks like it was designed to act as a coffee table), which I would bet would get tiresome pretty quickly.

It's crass, too. The thing looks like i was meant to sit right in the middle of a room, which to me screams "look at me, I'm the kind of stupid twat that pays eight and a half grand for hifi equipment".
( Kroney, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 6:50, Reply)

Hmmm
Warning! Rant alert!
This is probably one of the ugliest pieces of home electronics I've ever seen, but it has valves and costs a fortune so it's gotta sound good - right?
I take issue with most of the 'Hi Fi' buffs that I've come across (not in that sense). I used to work in the acoustics arena and I've done quite a bit of work in 'room tuning'.
Most that I met had more money than sense and also had almost zero knowledge of acoustics as a science. Ask the Hi Fi buff what the Rt60 of the room is, what the resonant frequency of the room is, where they sit, what's the absorbency/reflectivity of the fittings/what they wear, how many people sit in the room, where they sit and, most importantly what is the ACTUAL frequency range of the human ear - generally they have no idea.
As to the power output of Hi Fi - why have something that will give out 500 watts+ when the output of an entire symphony orchestra is 25 watts?
Beats me!
And don't get me on to the 'vinyl is the only true medium' argument.

CP (ex member of the institute of acoustics)
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 10:10, Reply)

I have a colleague who has paid hundreds of pounds for new wires to connect his stereo to his speakers.
He swears blind that he can hear the difference.

*facepalms*
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 10:24, Reply)

I always use decent cable in my kit, there IS a massive difference over cheap cable.
Hundreds of pounds is a bit over the top, but I bet he can hear the difference, and if he's got the money, why not?
( broadsword, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 13:08, Reply)

I quite agree with you
The minute somebody starts talking about "musicality" I want to claw my eyes out. Sure, there's going to be a difference between a decent set of seperates and a 99 quid all-in-one job from Alba, but once you get to a certain quality level, sound is entirely subjective.

My current equipment consists of a TEAC hifi amp, with a PS3 in the AUX channel, a Sky box in the Tuner channel and a pair of standmounts connected with decent, but not expensive, cable. Sounds like a pretty ghetto setup, but I promise that it sounds just as good as the last decent hifi I had. Would a set of gold plated cables help? I doubt it. I may eventually get a decent AV amp, but only because I'm getting tired of having to swap remotes all the time.
( Kroney, Sun 1 Aug 2010, 8:08, Reply)

so right
High end hifi is so much more about penis extensions than sound

And it comes down to preference. There are good electrical / electronic reasons for having good thick cable connecting amplfiers and speakers. Gold is a good conductor, but audible differences?

As for room acoustics - the effect is way more noticeable than the OFC cable!

Still, I can't heat fuckall above 12k now anyway! And my midrange is screwed too!

Hint from your uncle rabbit: use eardefenders when working in hi decibel environments and in low level one too if you are exposed to it for along time. Remember, it may not be cool to wear ear defenders, but they are way cooler than hearing aids!!
(CheatingRabbit, Sun 1 Aug 2010, 15:00, Reply)

rough as fuck, uglier than kerry katona's man pit

( SteveFrench Cardio is for homo's. do you even lift bro?, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 10:21, Reply)

I think in the right living room, it would look really good, but not many people would have the right living room for that (design wise).
For example, I can picture it with beech-wood flooring, white walls, flatscreen on the wall, some really nice speakers on towers.... basiclly, like a harrod's showroom.

But in your average living room; doesn't work (aspheticly)
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 10:55, Reply)

It looks shocked and it's got massive nipples

( Theoban What of it, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 10:56, Reply)

'Orrible
It looks like one of those knock-off Apple products that tries to achieve the same aesthetic and fails miserably.
(Zoz prayed for twink on, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 11:25, Reply)

Mad, pointless but fun.
I would love to play my Ghost Box stuff on it and pretend I was in a 60s version of the future.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 13:58, Reply)

I kinda like it
and would describe the design as 'neo-victorian'. It would go well in the home of somebody who collects old train sets and collectors items from the industrial revolution.
(Bret Mong Keys Eggs has wet his weapon, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 14:37, Reply)

size counts
Single ended class A amplifiers are usually very ineffecient.
However, the output valves, look like KT88 which being pentodes, are probably being used in a class AB - which reduces the transformer size and eliminates odd harmonics.
!
The size is due to the physical size requirments of the output transformersm

The mains transformer will be hefty to - the 6.3V filament heater will be quite a meaty secondar coil (needs to supply some 6 to 8 amps constant)

Couple of questions
1 are the heaters dc regulated or ac? Always makes a difference - especially to audio knobs
2 self biased or dc biased? Again dc bias regulated?
3 ultralinear or not assuming I was right about KT88
4 why aren't the mono block?

As for aesthestic appeal - it doesn't do it for me, but I wouldn't blow 8k on a valve amp; I blow more than that on forming a company to make the fucking things and fail dismally.
(CheatingRabbit, Sat 31 Jul 2010, 15:52, Reply)

Can I have your babies?

( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Sun 1 Aug 2010, 10:33, Reply)

of course
Come and collect them - but I warn you that 3 teenagers aren't cheap and they argue like hell too














Or did I misunderstand?
(CheatingRabbit, Sun 1 Aug 2010, 15:03, Reply)

It's just that I am overawed with your understanding of valves and stuff
When I did my aprenticeship, we learned about them as well as transistors, and even integrated circuits.
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 7:51, Reply)