Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Lee Newman said:
I just think if it works okay and then a hard restart fixes it for a minute it - either has to be heat or something screwy with the programming.
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Heat is my feeling. I’m going to pick up a new wood isolation platform. It will give a couple of air barriers and a solid wood barrier to help disperse and absorb some heat and see if that helps.
 
Thackeraye said:
Does anyone have a set of active speakers connected to their TV? Don’t fancy a full home theatre system, but quite like the idea of connecting it to a stereo set of speakers, that I can also use to stream music from. Don’t have much of a list, with the Kef LSX II at the high end price wise.
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I use a sonos playbase. The current ones are the arc/beam/ray. New ones connected via the HDMI eARC/ARC on your tele.

They take the 5.1 from the tele and make it 2.1 through the bar. I’ve been massively impressed. Also allow you to add 2 ones and a sub wirelessly as surrounds/sub down the line if you ever wanted.

As sonos you can do all the streaming/internet ratio/podcasts you’d want to it through their app which is also really easy to use.
 
Angsty said:
What’s the price point? You all know I’m a fan of Bryston, but I buy all my gear used.
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€1500 to €2500. Preferably towards the lower end. Higher end is for something perfect.

Bryston isn’t overly available here. In the UK yes, but brexshit has murdered that option. Also the used market isn’t anywhere near as good as in the states, it’s really eBay or what the two higher end dealers on the island have had in on part exchange.
 
So further. Woke up this morning, day after playing a few last night, and in standby it was doing that clocking thing and when I hit the button it was all screwy. Never done that in standby before. Turned it off at the main power switch again and will look at it again this evening.

The Audio GD is definitely what I’m leaning towards if I do need to replace. I’m just a little reticent because I can’t find all that much in terms of long term reviews of their higher end stuff online. It’s all for the lower end or glowing short term “reviewer” pieces!
 
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Joe Mac said:
So further. Woke up this morning, day after playing a few last night, and in standby it was doing that clocking thing and when I hit the button it was all screwy. Never done that in standby before. Turned it off at the main power switch again and will look at it again this evening.

The Audio GD is definitely what I’m leaning towards if I do need to replace. I’m just a little reticent because I can’t find all that much in terms of long term reviews of their higher end stuff online. It’s all for the lower end or glowing short term “reviewer” pieces!
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The Audio GD stuff looks interesting, but I’d be nervous about service if needed.

Are there any NAD C165BEE preamps on closeout over there? I really like mine- punches way above its price. That’d leave money for a nice DAC.
 
HiFi Guy said:
The Audio GD stuff looks interesting, but I’d be nervous about service if needed.

Are there any NAD C165BEE preamps on closeout over there? I really like mine- punches way above its price. That’d leave money for a nice DAC.
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No it’s gone from the local that sells NAD. They still have your power amp listed but the pre is gone. I had a look at the C3somthing that sounded interesting but wasn’t quite what I wanted, especially as it runs the analogue in through the digital sound processing because digital volume control.

I’ve done a lot of looking the last few days. Hell at one stage I was like “sure I’m going to have to borrow for this anyway, why not got the whole hog and get the Auralic Altair G2.1”. Thankfully I talked myself down from that.

I was also seriously considering the Schitt Freya and one of their DACs but they’ve discontinued the DAC that hit in the sweet spot for me!

I totally get the service issue. A consoling factor there is that it will come from an official dealer in the Netherlands who would have to handle any warranty issues. But even if handled well to China from Ireland via Netherlands won’t be quick! That was similarly why I was happy to get my Jays CD transport but then equally there is far less that can go wrong with a CD transport and the main thing will be the laser. The Jays has such a simple and available nos mechanism for the top loader that I’m 100% confident I could source and replace it myself if I was getting no joy from them.

I’m sure I’ll get sorted in the end if the PS is for junking but right now there are too many options and none that are affordable seem to hit just right 😂
 
Joe Mac said:
No it’s gone from the local that sells NAD. They still have your power amp listed but the pre is gone. I had a look at the C3somthing that sounded interesting but wasn’t quite what I wanted, especially as it runs the analogue in through the digital sound processing because digital volume control.

I’ve done a lot of looking the last few days. Hell at one stage I was like “sure I’m going to have to borrow for this anyway, why not got the whole hog and get the Auralic Altair G2.1”. Thankfully I talked myself down from that.

I was also seriously considering the Schitt Freya and one of their DACs but they’ve discontinued the DAC that hit in the sweet spot for me!

I totally get the service issue. A consoling factor there is that it will come from an official dealer in the Netherlands who would have to handle any warranty issues. But even if handled well to China from Ireland via Netherlands won’t be quick! That was similarly why I was happy to get my Jays CD transport but then equally there is far less that can go wrong with a CD transport and the main thing will be the laser. The Jays has such a simple and available nos mechanism for the top loader that I’m 100% confident I could source and replace it myself if I was getting no joy from them.

I’m sure I’ll get sorted in the end if the PS is for junking but right now there are too many options and none that are affordable seem to hit just right 😂
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How old is that PS unit? Did you buy it new?
 
Mather said:
How old is that PS unit? Did you buy it new?
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Four and half years and yes new. Three year warranty. I did shoot their support email a line but not heard anything back. Honestly with a 2 working day turnaround I’d be shocked to hear back before Monday.

Barring their power strip, which I do like, I don’t think I’d be going back to PS Audio anytime soon to be honest.
 
Joe Mac said:
Four and half years and yes new. Three year warranty. I did shoot their support email a line but not heard anything back. Honestly with a 2 working day turnaround I’d be shocked to hear back before Monday.

Barring their power strip, which I do like, I don’t think I’d be going back to PS Audio anytime soon to be honest.
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That's too bad. I mean aside from the repair time I gotta think for a unit of that price the repair has by far gotta be the easiest option in terms of price.
 
Mather said:
That's too bad. I mean aside from the repair time I gotta think for a unit of that price the repair has by far gotta be the easiest option in terms of price.
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Yeah I’ll see what they have to say first and maybe get onto the fella in Britain who is their distributor and repair man that covers here but man is doing anything to Britain a pain in the arse right now.
 
Thackeraye said:
Does anyone have a set of active speakers connected to their TV? Don’t fancy a full home theatre system, but quite like the idea of connecting it to a stereo set of speakers, that I can also use to stream music from. Don’t have much of a list, with the Kef LSX II at the high end price wise.
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Like @Joe Mac, i just have a Sonos soundbar (think I have the Beam?) hooked up to my TV and then have the ikea Sonos speakers as my rear surrounds. If it fits your style you could use the ikea Sonos lamps as rears too.

I think the Sonos stuff is pretty good for music listening but have also loved the KEF speakers I’ve had in the past. I’ve only had their passive speakers though hooked up to an amp. I like the Sonos enough in terms of sound quality but I can’t say I find myself sitting there to do active listening if that makes sense…
 
MikeH said:
Like @Joe Mac, i just have a Sonos soundbar (think I have the Beam?) hooked up to my TV and then have the ikea Sonos speakers as my rear surrounds. If it fits your style you could use the ikea Sonos lamps as rears too.

I think the Sonos stuff is pretty good for music listening but have also loved the KEF speakers I’ve had in the past. I’ve only had their passive speakers though hooked up to an amp. I like the Sonos enough in terms of sound quality but I can’t say I find myself sitting there to do active listening if that makes sense…
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Yeah I love it for tv but for music I’d maybe do a podcast or some internet radio. But then it’s in my living room so it’d only be used for that if I was cleaning and didn’t want to have the big tube amp on. I thought it sounded good for what it was but then equally I want actively listening whilst sat down in front of it.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I’ll see what they have to say first and maybe get onto the fella in Britain who is their distributor and repair man that covers here but man is doing anything to Britain a pain in the arse right now.
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So.... and pardon my asking because I know this is kiiiinda a loaded question. But can we talk about Brexit for a minute?
In 50 words or less?
How does it affect you sending something for repair? Like do you have to pay duty on repair fees on the way back? Or some sort of import/export tax?
 
Mather said:
So.... and pardon my asking because I know this is kiiiinda a loaded question. But can we talk about Brexit for a minute?
In 50 words or less?
How does it affect you sending something for repair? Like do you have to pay duty on repair fees on the way back? Or some sort of import/export tax?
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So everything is a mess. Sending it there isn’t an issue I just get a courier company to deliver it.

Getting it back is a nightmare. Everything from the uk is an utter mess. No one from any postal or courier provider seems to have any idea about how the paperwork should work and things that you’ve paid duty on in and advance or that aren’t due duty on are caught up in the net. Once the courier companies/postal providers has declared it due to customs it’s impossible to get it overturned even if it’s not due, no proof is proof enough. I think I’d get myself off a murder charge easier.

It’s sad but I kinda don’t buy anything from the uk unless it is something urgent and there is absolutely no alternative available.

Which is all a long way of saying no duty is due on an item returned for repair. Maybe as it’s out of warranty it’s due on the new parts and labour, at a stretch. But even if properly declared I don’t trust that this would happen and 33% of a lot is a lot.
 
Joe Mac said:
So everything is a mess. Sending it there isn’t an issue I just get a courier company to deliver it.

Getting it back is a nightmare. Everything from the uk is an utter mess. No one from any postal or courier provider seems to have any idea about how the paperwork should work and things that you’ve paid duty on in and advance or that aren’t due duty on are caught up in the net. Once the courier companies/postal providers has declared it due to customs it’s impossible to get it overturned even if it’s not due, no proof is proof enough. I think I’d get myself off a murder charge easier.

It’s sad but I kinda don’t buy anything from the uk unless it is something urgent and there is absolutely no alternative available.

Which is all a long way of saying no duty is due on an item returned for repair. Maybe as it’s out of warranty it’s due on the new parts and labour, at a stretch. But even if properly declared I don’t trust that this would happen and 33% of a lot is a lot.
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Yeah I figured it was something like that. IF ONLY THERE WAS SOME VERY CLEAR PRIOR INDICATIONS THAT BREXIT WAS A VERY VERY BAD IDEA...
 
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