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Post by zippy on Nov 26, 2018 13:39:45 GMT
For me it was Reading HiFi when it was still independent. It is now the branch of Audio-T referred to above and when I called them once the chap I spoke with also extolled the virtues of Naim. I never went to them after that as he failed to listen to what I was after. I then stumbled upon Phonography, which has since become Winchester HiFi. I like Andy who runs it very much and have bought a few things from him, mainly associated with my vinyl setup, but also a Nam NDX and Unity Atom + Neat Iota Alphas for Germany and a NDX2 for the UK. Other than that I have bought things online / over the phone. Recent experiences have been very positive. Reading hifi - that's the one, but as you say only when it was still independent..
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Post by zippy on Nov 25, 2018 14:13:58 GMT
My first real hifi items (Quad 33/303) were from a shop in Colwyn Bay, who also demo'd a surround sound system using massive Gryphon speakers which, needless to say, were way way out of my price league.
Most other hifi was from Reading (yes we moved around a bit) and that continued as my main dealer until 1. The shop closed or got taken over, and 2. we moved 'up north'. The Reading dealer was excellent, always willing to let me try things, and doing good PX deals. Never had such good service since.
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Post by zippy on Nov 22, 2018 17:35:49 GMT
I presume the clock is an optional extra ?!
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Post by zippy on Nov 21, 2018 13:29:32 GMT
Best deal I got isn't really Black Friday exactly:
Brother HLL8260CDW colour laser printer - Currys price £209.99 reduced from £279.99, with £75 cashback received from Brother - total actual price £134.99 so less than half price.
OK so it's not hifi, but worth mentioning if anyone wants a good quality printer.
(and their cashback system is as easy as filling in an online form and uploading the receipt, no problems like the HP cashback which I've heard doesn't always work).
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Post by zippy on Nov 12, 2018 10:04:55 GMT
Has anyone else noticed how many strings he has on that blinged-out bastardised excuse for a violin? From what he's playing, and I use that word in its loosest sense, I have no idea why he'd need a 5th string. I quite like David Garrett, though. I own a couple of his albums. fyi (quote from Forsyths Music) "A five string violin adds a low C, so you have the range of violin and viola in one instrument. They’re fairly rare as acoustic instruments as the violin is a little too small to produce a strong tone on the C string, but with electrics there’s no such problem so five strings are a little more common. They take a little adjusting to but it’s an interesting feature for a more advanced player. I wouldn’t recommend one to a beginner however."
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Post by zippy on Nov 11, 2018 12:58:56 GMT
If you like fast violin played properly, try some Bazzini.. (La Ronde des Lutins)
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Post by zippy on Nov 1, 2018 8:12:44 GMT
I believe it all. Convoluted. Designed by a bloke who stopped half way through No manual necessary as it is all "obvious", in the way that word is so very overused The 'user guides' that get me are the cryptic picture based instructions, e.g. where you have to guess what an arrow pointing to a round object is supposed to mean.
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Post by zippy on Oct 26, 2018 10:51:17 GMT
Unless I'm mistaken all the above relates to audio usage. I think what's really missing in the market now is a dead simple means to make video calls. This for a 90-year-old lady (my Mother) who currently has no laptop/PC or smart phone and not in the least bit tec-savvy. It would have to be as simple to use as a household phone - i.e. no need to log in, select names from a menu, recharge handsets, etc. I believe the French nearly got there a few years back by rolling out videophones (Minitel?), but that all got abandoned.
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Post by zippy on Oct 25, 2018 8:24:34 GMT
You can't beat a good quality cable from a well-known company, e.g. Belkin
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Post by zippy on Oct 20, 2018 10:51:00 GMT
Is there any reason why I would want to listen to P4 Östergötland or is it just fun finding things that Alexa can't do ??!!
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Post by zippy on Oct 14, 2018 10:42:29 GMT
I assume you mean remastered, and not remixed ? I have the Wall and other Floyds 'remixed' and none of them are as good as the original. The best Wall recording to my ears is the Waters/Berlin live version - excellent performance and top quality recording.
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Post by zippy on Oct 14, 2018 10:35:33 GMT
The Dot is set up, I have sound, and I have a floor lamp switching on and off via voice commands. The other two lamps can wait until tomorrow. Obviously, setup is only as good as the manufacturer's app and associated instructions but this is not something I'd like to have attempted were I not technically inclined. I even had to manually connect the Dot to the net rather than the automatic setup working for me. Getting part-way through the socket setup and finding out that it can only be set up via the 2.4GHz band, and responds to bugger-all if you've got 5GHz switched on was a bit of a downer, and that's even with "Separate Bands" activated on the hub. Of course, the PC and the tablet I was using for setup were both connected over the 5GHz band so switching the 5Ghz band off meant I had to start from scratch, and then re-enable the 5GHz band after setup was complete. As I say, not something I'd have fancied without being a bit tech savvy, but all's well that ends well, and at least I can sort the other two sockets out tomorrow forewarned. "Alexa, play Creedence Clearwater Revival" and despite my moaning, it turns out I'm a "Fortunate Son and am now having a quick "Run Through The Jungle." If only it understood "Alexa, cook my dinner." though. Given that we're all reasonably tech-fluent, and the majority of the public aren't, I do wonder how many of these gadgets are purchased, then given up on, and now lie unused in a cupboard, because it's too complicated to set them up. Even my reasonably technical wife cannot cope with my programmable remote control...
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Post by zippy on Oct 13, 2018 8:26:57 GMT
I'd say it depends how you use Amazon Music. I find A.M. perfectly adequate for casual listening (which is the market I believe it's aimed at). What I tend to do is listen to an album on A.M. and if I like it, buy the CD. However, to me this only makes sense because I already have a Prime subscription, so A.M. costs me nothing.
I agree that if I wanted to actually pay money, I would not go for Music Unlimited but something like Qobuz which undoubtedly has better quality.
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Post by zippy on Oct 12, 2018 9:51:05 GMT
I remember many years ago a hifi show - near Heathrow I think, which had a big 'LP-versus-CD' demo. I was immediately struck by the lack of noise with the CD. Bought a CD player immediately, sold all my LP's and my LP12. Never regretted it.
Then turn of the century(ish) along came streaming - to me sounded as good as a CD and a lot more convenience so ripped my whole CD collection immediately and CD discs confined to storage. Again never regretted.
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Post by zippy on Oct 12, 2018 8:32:44 GMT
If everyone updated their lights to led there would surely be a major drop in the UK power usage ?
I have about 30 lights in my house - a few years back, they would have been 60 watt each = 1800 watt. first replacing a few years back with mini-fluorescents reduced that to about 600 watts. This year I've replaced with led, total power use now about 360 watts.
Only problem has been that my old dimmer switches don't work anymore so I removed them !
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Post by zippy on Oct 9, 2018 10:34:27 GMT
A meridian I think - basically just a square box with an input and output socket. Fed from a Marantz CD player. 203 DAC to go with the 200 Transport? That was the one - DAC only though as I felt nothing was wrong with the Marantz transport.
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Post by zippy on Oct 8, 2018 16:20:06 GMT
A meridian I think - basically just a square box with an input and output socket. Fed from a Marantz CD player.
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Post by zippy on Oct 8, 2018 7:33:59 GMT
A basic Philips, followed quickly by a Marantz (which by all accounts was a souped-up Philips anyway, but it did sound better). All this in early 80's so very little choice.
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Post by zippy on Oct 7, 2018 13:17:57 GMT
..The planets would rapidly cool after being ejected from their star, the only sustained heat source would be from the natural radioactivity from radioactive elements in their interiors. In some cases that would be enough to keep the planet up to a 'liveable' temperature (it's been suggested a 10Km layer of ice would do that) I'm not sure what would be the effect of having virtually no light though.
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Post by zippy on Oct 5, 2018 16:22:15 GMT
Just went to order some more Nespresso capsules to find they've drastically reduced the range (the ones I usually like are gone of course). This appears to be because they've introduced a new machine called a Vertuo which takes entirely different capsules.
If I were cynical, I'd say this is:
a. to make us all buy new machines b. to get back at the new 'nespresso-clone' capsules which must be taking a lot of their profit away.
..wait, I AM cynical...
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