I think a real level would also be worth the investment.
I feel so inferior now. My kit went into a new cabinet back in 2010 and hasnât been out since ! Unlike some of you I donât feel to the need to fiddle with it - I might be missing out on some sound but I doubt it. It gets a light dusting on occasion but most of the time itâs left in its place. I am semi retired so have lots of time to fiddle but I donât. I just want to sit down and listen. To Spotify as well - not any of the expensive streamer services. ÂŁ10 per month is great value, and the quality is good enough for my 61 year old ears which have had a lifetime of shooting, motorcycling and gigs to contend with. I find thereâs too many other things to do with my remaining time.
I really feel the odd one out now.
They key line there is I just want to sit down and listen.
Im the same. Not such a small minority I wager.
The last time that I âre-builtâ my system was when I moved home twelve years ago. Since then, I have taken out individual items (LP12 for new plinth and cartridge) and servicing (CDS II and NAT-01).
I have no intention otherwise of âshaking downâ or ârebuildingâ anything else, even if I knew what this meant or what benefit might result from it.
I just use the system to listen to music, not to play around with the units as if they were toys.
I feel Iâm not alone now !
I like reading the posts on here but I sometimes think the whole point of good kit is the same now as it was in the past - to enjoy listening to music.
I do wonder if some of the technical things talked about on here are a little like the Emperors New Trousers. Iâd love to listen to them back to back just to see.
Personally I can detect no audible difference to my streamed Spotify content compared to my CDâs which were played on a machine which cost a grand back in 1999. In fact on occasion I can hear more now than I could then ! Perhaps theyâre remastered. I donât care !
Maybe Iâm a heretic or Iâm straying from the path of enlightenment for the true audiophile but I just like listening to music !
I just rebuilt my system to accommodate a replacement rack and new streamer/ps. I hated every minute of it. Made worse by the fact that I have very limited space in my listening room to pile things up. I do make sure I pull the connectors at least once a year to clean them and power everything down once a month (I think this desaturates the toroidal transformers). Both seem to noticeably improve things that you didnât notice had degraded sound wise.
Finished mine last night, it took 4.5 hours without any breaks. I need to check and probably make some adjustments with the level, itâs the hardest part as the floor is so uneven and I always get mixed up on which way to turn the nuts!
A DAC that is used for the TV failed to work but sorted it this morning.
Looks a complete mess at the back, best I could do but itâs past the test as the music sounds great today. The ND555 interconnect wasnât touching anything last night but I can now see it is slightly touching a burndy this morning! will need to tweak. It never ends!!!
I look at the units lower down the stack and wonder if thereâs a knack to getting the connections done while still maintaining correct cable dressing in such a tight environment.
I have the same issue. I build up from the bottom but the cables need to hang down from a higher level and I feel I can never get it right!
I keep the Burndy source at the top of the rack and the ps on the 2nd shelf from the bottom. Gives a nice u shape to the cable and is off the floor. Everything else is woven round them but not touching. Also, moving the rack and extra inch or so away from the wall really helps access.
Is there an issue if burndy from different boxes touch each other? And if burndy touch signal cables like between 552ps and 300DR etc. The burndy/signal highway between brains/brawn is crowdedâŚ
nut turning - righty tighty, lefty looseyâŚ
Of course you need to regularly rebuild your system, eveytime you decorate and paint the skirting board.
So thatâs once every 15 years, or every 30 if you leave it alternate times
All my equipment is on aluminium shelves bolted to the wall, so I need only move it a few inches forward to get behind for painting - which was all done last year.
Just read your previous comment about âToysâ that made me laugh I prefer the term hobby.
As well as helping us understand how it all works it can sometimes bring little improvements, while at the same time it gives us a workout
I have remarked before that I enjoy my system because it allows me to listen to music.
From comments that I read here, others seem to play music as a means of listening to their system!
Thatâs what I have in mind when I use the term âtoysâ.
Iâm sure hifi is like any system, periodic maintenance is sensible. Checking connections that might slowly become loose. Naim themselves recommend breaking and making DIN connections every so often to ensure theyâre clean.
A long time ago I used to run QED 79 strand bare into screwed banana plug connections. Every couple of months I could tell the system sounded harsh, a clean up of the bare cables restored smoothness.
For me it isnât that I like playing with my toys, I listen to music sometimes as background and sometimes to totally immerse myself. The latter is a lovely bit of escapism - and is helped when my system is on song, instruments clear and separate, Iâm in a little musical, tonal and spatial world of my own, and that does seem to change, for the better, after a bit of restorative maintenance.
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