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Post by pinkie on Feb 17, 2018 18:38:48 GMT
Thank you for introducing me to a genuinely novel expeariance dsjr, a post where you have managed not to avail yourself of the opportunity to spin for your employer, my congratulations. Please, don't do this!
I am totally freelance and do my assembly work on a cash-basis only. It's but one of the things I do although why I should need to justify what I do here is beyond me....
I 'spin' for nobody - ffs, I have been associated with things audio for fifty odd years now ever since I bought my first copy of Hi Fi Sound magazine and literally mopped up the info between it's covers as Aspie-tendency people can do and I took this mag monthly until its eventual demise. Later I began work as a Saturday boy in 1973 and full time in 1975 and although my sales and admin performance could have been better, I was always praised for my then product knowledge! Some of this has stayed with me and I thought I was possibly helping by sharing some of it.
Since it seems my posts are now being all but 'marked' for effort (thanks Martin), the spontaneity seems to have evaporated now. Time to regroup and withdraw again for a while methinks - again
I would be a bit careful what you post on a public forum Dave. How many other hifi manufacturers do you offer your freelance services to? If the answer is "none" not only does it call into question the independence od your opinions when you diligently plug NVA, but it calls into question your self employed status and whether Mr Dunn should be operating an rti paye payroll for you. Whether you are employed or self employed is a question of facts in each circumstance and not something you can elect. And when you say "cash basis" I'm sure you don't mean to imply deliberate tax evasion but it would be easy for a passing tax inspector to interpret otherwise.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 17, 2018 17:01:22 GMT
What made me laugh today then I wonder . . . . . I lasted 36 seconds, a faster walk out than a Fifty Shades film I didn't time it but I don't think I made 30 seconds. The rest of their website is a treat. Take a look at their atmosphere product. Solar flares in your living room to make it sound like night time. They have bloody great carpet rolls of invisible cloth for the emperor's new clothes. An open mind does not have to be an unquestioning one Martin
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Post by pinkie on Feb 17, 2018 9:50:16 GMT
I've heard mentions of just going big on your first purchase to avoid losing thousands in a slow meandering crawl up the chain of audio gear. While it's not the real thing, and it isn't even entering good speaker system territory, I will hold out for a Jotunheim headphone amp from Schiit then begin renting headphones from American company The Cable Company from their lending library, they have all high end brands, for 5% of the retail cost of the headphone for two weeks at a time. I'll do that for a while until I can decide which headphone is most exciting to me then I'll buy it. Still wish I could hear it like you guys on your speaker systems. I'm listening to Spotify on an 80$ Bluetooth soundbar and like it because I don't know what I'm missing but I need to be able enjoy what I do have, truly, because Im lucky to have it. I agree with OP btw and it makes sense to me his reasoning because he worked in marketing and R&D understands the science of separating people from their money for products. I might hang on a month or two if I were you before buying a headphone amp. I am hoping to pick up one this year too, and expecting a new one to be launched in the first half of the year. Also, be aware that if you are looking at headphones as the ultimate solution I would want to include Stax (and other) electrostatics in that, and then a headphone amp would be redundant. As for foo, I share the OP's views broadly. I think he helpfully pointed out the 2 aspects of this 1) many items are "unlikely" - require that "It's crazy but its true" response, and may depend on the auditioners appreciation (ie not just soundwaves) for the effect to be experienced. Indeed - are NEVER reliably demonstrated by advocates, although theoretically capable of being demonstrated. 2) It is a separate hobby always trying to wring something extra out of the system, rather than just enjoying it as it is. I know those who add a new gizmo every quarter will say they are very happy with their systems, but not so much so that they aren't always keen to sit down and do some HIFI, adding a gizmo, digging out their audition records, and listening to the system not the music, trying to wring an extra dimension from it. So even if the miracle gizmo is for real, tiny tiny real, it becomes more about listening to the kit than the music. It isn't that my system is perfect, but I am perfectly happy to listen to it like this forever.*** I still haven't got round to taking the lid off the box on a U205 cartridge I picked up nearly a year ago (to be fair this is also partly due to the old PT being a PITA to set up at the moment, and being busy with "stuff"). But I come in, put a record on, and enjoy the music. I don't sit there wondering if it would sound different if I turned the fuses round. *** I am also very fortunate in that after more than 20 years wanting ESL63's and having living rooms that were just not really right for them, I now have a room of the right dimensions and general acoustics to be near perfect for a domestic situation. So much of this business is getting the room / speaker match right. Which brings us neatly back to the start of this post, since headphones are of course room independent.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 12, 2018 11:13:37 GMT
Yup I agree. But we know they don't comply because one of the requirements for compliance is that you write it on the tin!
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Post by pinkie on Feb 12, 2018 10:13:02 GMT
Are you confusing CE and BS?
CE is in effect a self certification exercise - in that it is perfectly acceptable to do that. There are certification centres who will carry out the task for a fee (and bear the responsibility in the event of any claim)
BS is different and subject to testing and approval by BSI - a government body.
In the case of fuses in plugs it is a requirement of the regulations that they meet BS1362, and if they do, and have been tested, they would carry the kite mark and BS1362 on the fuse casing as a requirement of the standard.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 12, 2018 7:23:19 GMT
Did anybody get a response about the British Standard question from SR? They seem to have ignored my question, which is a bit odd. As I noted Kevin, given that one of the requirements of the standard is that the fuse bear the kite mark and "BS1362" the question seems somewhat redundant
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Post by pinkie on Feb 12, 2018 7:22:21 GMT
Thanks for your responses chaps, how about this one when Regs are applied. Full Schuko loom running into UN- Fused wall Receptical via dedicated mains spur into RCBO consumer unit ? I would guess Nein. It would be a radial circuit not a spur. A spur is a wire taken off a ring main. As far as I can see a radial with Schuko sockets is perfectly legal (as used all over the EU). plugs and sockets regulations 1994 What has the EU got to do with anything? Where do the plug and socket regulations distinguish radials from rings, or total circuit protection values?
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Post by pinkie on Feb 11, 2018 6:08:39 GMT
Thanks for your responses chaps, how about this one when Regs are applied. Full Schuko loom running into UN- Fused wall Receptical via dedicated mains spur into RCBO consumer unit ? I would guess Nein. Yup. Effectively what we have here in France, so perfectly safe, but doesn't comply with the plugs and sockets regs. I don't suppose this will help you, but the arrangement has no audible benefit I can detect.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 10, 2018 17:43:28 GMT
I wonder whether any qualified professional or knowledgable fellow might comment upon the following questions. Is the following mains topology Stricktly *Legal* within the current UK regulations ? A full Schuko plug and receptical equipment loom fed by a mains lead to fused UK plug into mains wall receptical into standard UK ring mains, I would think so however ? on my phone in the pub watching the rugby so allow for Cox ups. Not an expert but if you read the tags such arrangements are permitted. There are ruled for adaptors. Broadly as long as the connection at the wall is bs1364 you can have other connectors downstream.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 10, 2018 12:15:10 GMT
The Office of Tax simplification has proposed a lowering of the threshold. £32000 and £26000 have both been mentioned. There is a concern that businesses artificially restrict growth to stay below the threshold. Again, before Brexit wiped out the governments ability to deal with anything else, it was expected in the budget, but it was considered too controversial with so much on their plate. I think the writing is on the wall though once the Brexit fiasco is behind us (which could be years yet)
VAT is massively the most complex of the taxes. It is completely unreasonable to expect the average punter to cope with its complexities. It may not be too tricky working out the basics and filling in the form, but
Jaffa cakes are but one example of the arcane nonsense that HMRC expects ordinary citizens to have mastered -utterly unreasonably.
If you are below £85000 turnover Stu then you are fine as you are, for now. If you are above £85,000 (and given your views on lowering the VAT threshold, I take it you are not) then you will have to use software. HMRC have allowed spreadsheets, but they will require special modifications that in practice make cloud based dedicated software a much better solution. Probably. So much is still not finalised, or even considered, that it is hard to make definitive statements about how it will work.
The issue is that the computer recording method that makes the quarterly submission to HMRC has to have the transactional details underlying the return. You can't record the details on a spreadsheet and post the totals to the HMRC site (which is effectively what you do now)
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Post by pinkie on Feb 10, 2018 12:01:48 GMT
Andrew
I haven't said BS546 was unsafe. I suggested to Martin that a copper bar in his BS1363 plug (another unfused arrangement) wasn't any less safe on a dedicated radial with 16A or less breaker protection than my own legitimate arrangements in France. But neither a copper bar, nor a BS546 plug , nor a plug with an SR fuse in it comply with the UK regulations. Nor would the Shucko plug and socket I have here.
My point to Martin, was that there appeared to be a twist in his logic, a sort of composite mix of wanting to follow some of the regulations but not others and adding a safety factor which I still can't understand. But don't wish to pursue.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 10, 2018 10:11:28 GMT
Martin
I agree completely that there is no need for antagonism between those who enjoy hearing a difference in their music when they know they have fitted an audiophile fuse in the mains supply and those who hear no such difference. I would not wish to spoil anybodys enjoyment from what they hear when they know they have changed a mains fuse for another mains fuse (or know they have turned it round the other way). Fill yer boots. Equally, those of us who hear no such differences are entirely comfortable that our enjoyment of listening to music is in no way impaired by the fact. There is no need to surmise hearing impairment or equipment defects.
Safety and regulations are another matter. I am concerned about safety , and disappointed that you still haven't explained to me why my shucko connections to the mains (which comply with all local regulations) are less safe than your fused connections (which since they use fuses which are not BS1362 approved, do not comply with the regulations)
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Post by pinkie on Feb 10, 2018 10:03:56 GMT
Andrew Requirements relating to plugs are dealt with by The Plugs and Sockets etc (Safety Regulations) 1994See also the Plugs and Sockets regs guidanceIn essence if you want to plug something using mains power into the mains in your home you have to use a BS1363 plug fitted with a BS1362 fuse. There are exceptions, like specific low voltage devices (wallwarts etc) and razors and electric toothbrushes into razor sockets, and ovens, dishwashers etc into fixed plate switched connections (still fused), luminaires on lighting circuits (you could probably use BS546 here But the punchline is equipment which has a cable carrying 240v plugged into a wall in a domestic installation has to do so using a BS1363 plug fitted with a BS1362 fuse (paragraphs 11 and 12)
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Post by pinkie on Feb 10, 2018 9:53:42 GMT
How exciting! away for a couple of days skiing and lots happened Andrew - the front line staff are probably aware of the intention, but nobody has properly sorted the detail yet. The bloody IT systems aren't yet developed Stu - If you have turnover under £85000pa, for the moment, thanks to Brexit, you have dodged a bullet - cos it isn't happening (yet) It is worth registering for your personal tax account which is part of this plan - and which your agent cannot currently access HMRC personal tax accountIf your turnover exceeds £85,000 then MTD starts in April 2019 for VAT and April 2020 for Self Assessment (or Corporation Tax if you are trading as a limited company). If you already use bookkeeping software like Quickbooks or Sage or FreeAgent then they will doubtless revise their software to enable the filing. Bear in mind that you probably don't want to change software part way through an accounting year, and so you may need to implement appropriate software ahead of April 2019. Your accountant will be tearing his hair out wondering how he is going to schedule any sort of review or check of your bookkeeping ahead of submission of numbers with a one month deadline 4 times a year. For my clients, I am encouraging them to use cloud based software. Among the issues will be special VAT schemes like flat rate and cash accounting - although, again good bookkeeping software should help there. What do I think of cash accounting? For self assessment? Frankly many small businesses nominally using accruals accounting don't do it properly and effectively use cash accounting anyway. The biggest issue I have is limited companies wanting to use cash basis for VAT to defer paying the VAT until their customer has paid them, and not appreciating that for Corporation Tax purposes (well FRS105 or FRS102 S1A accounts) they have to use Accruals accounting, and therefore needing effectively to keep 2 sets of books on 2 different bases. Again , the mainstream software packages should enable that, but amateur bookkeepers frequently create a complete birds nest of a buggers muddle. There is clearly an intention to lower the VAT registration threshold significantly, and the MTD threshold will probably stay pegged to it - so chances are its coming even for much smaller businesses.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 8, 2018 17:55:39 GMT
Yes Andrew
Audiophool is bound to provoke a reaction, although sometimes terms can be short-hand and not specifically derogatory.
DSJR's basic point was sound though. These phenomena of audio appear only to apply to reproducing the stuff from the recording medium, and not getting it onto the medium in the first place.
You can be sure about one thing - you were right that a thread like this must be good for business. I bet the snakes are running for cover!
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Post by pinkie on Feb 8, 2018 16:17:46 GMT
So - if you are not bothered about complying with the regs, and happy to use SR fuses in spite of their lack of kite mark, and you are protected by a 16A breaker on a radial - you might just as well use a copper bar. I'm not bothered about whether the fuse has BS compliance but it's still a fuse and offers a second level of protection. Putting a copper bar in there does not offer the same level of protection, so that's out for me. So you would fit a fused plug in France instead of Shucko's to afford you that required level of protection?
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Post by pinkie on Feb 8, 2018 14:25:47 GMT
I'm very happy with my decision making, thank you all. There is plenty of protection and my setup complies with what my sparky has told me is required. The fuses are CE rated which is good enough to ensure that they act as fuses. I also have a fast breaker to back them up. nrg I cannot use round pins since the P10 has 13A sockets on the back. More importantly, these fuses help my system to sound better. Last night I have never heard the system sound so good. Playing a mixture of live and studio recordings, everything gave me a little more. The burn-in process continues. I shall be buying two more Blues at least, for my preamp and power amp. There appears to be some slightly confused thinking going on. First - forget round pin BS546 plugs - they are not authorised for domestic use - although they are used in theatres and the like. If your fuses are CE rated (sic) then by definition they are not BS 1362 approved. If your concern is safety, then using a copper bar is as safe (or dangerous) as Wonky and I using Shucko's provided they are used on a radial circuit protected by a 16A breaker. Unlike Wonky and my situation, that does not comply with local regulations, but its every bit as safe or as dangerous (depending on your perspective). The regulations require all electrical devices connecting to the domestic mains (except some shavers etc) to do so with a BS1363 plug. That plug must be fitted with a fuse conforming to BS1362. The purpose of the fuse is to protect the cable from the BS1363 plug to the device, since it is permissible to plug that into a ring circuit protected by a 32A breaker, and that is not sufficient current protection to prevent the cable being damaged dangerously. The fact that you happen to be plugged into a circuit protected by a 16A (or less) breaker, doesn't mean that the requirement to use a BS1363 plug fitted with a BS1362 fuse goes away (There are provisions for equivalent standards, from other than BS authorising bodies, but lets not confuse things) So, if your concern is to comply with the regs, and not mere safety, for an electrical appliance connected to mains in a domestic situation, you need a BS1363 plug and BS1362 fuse fitted in it. So copper bars are out. And SR fuses are out. Why? The bloody great giveaway is that one of the requirements of the BS 1362 standard is that the fuse in question should bear the BSI kitemark and BS1362 written on it. So - if you are not bothered about complying with the regs, and happy to use SR fuses in spite of their lack of kite mark, and you are protected by a 16A breaker on a radial - you might just as well use a copper bar. I would also be cautious about using SR fuses from your plugs in your appliance fusing. Appliance fuses do not have to conform to BS1362, and often will have different characteristics from regular plug fuses (like slow-blow). Moreover, they are usually significantly lower value - their purpose being to protect the equipment, not the cable from the wall. That appliance protection function will be part of the CE certification in many cases, and modifying the device by using the wrong fuse (or supplying live power to the unfused blue wire) may affect that CE conformity. My Pip has a 250ma fuse and fitting a 13amp item would be equivalent to a copper bar. SR provide a wide range of fuse values for this purpose, but you can't just go reusing an SR 13amp fuse you have spare in any appliance.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 7, 2018 17:23:15 GMT
I’ve now had time to listen to the copper replacement ‘fuses’. Im pretty well tuned into my setup as I’m sure you all are with yours, mine hasn’t change for about three years except for the odd turntable or three. I can detect differences in interconnects, cartridge VTF/VTA, valves etc. some changes are subtle some not so so I’m confident in my ability in detecting differences. I tried them in both my phono/preamp and power amp. And combinations of the two with a wide variety of music. I can honestly say I cannot hear any differences at all between the standard 13amp fuse and the copper rod. If there is a difference it’s well below my threshold of hearing or my gear is not resolving it or maybe the stars aren’t aligned for me. I’ll go for the latter. Anyhow, bottom line, I’m not investing, I’m out! Have fun! My experiences too. It appears I need to repeat this - although I have posted it once already in this thread When Wonky came round we substituted the following power leads on the AHB2 power amp (Martins suggestion of the component most likely to show up fuse effects) 20180207_181010 So, to labour the point, we changed this fuse 20180207_181027 For this fuse 20180207_181034And experienced exactly the same effect on the music as you have just reported. To be fair, on that occasion, we only had a quick listen - maybe played for half an hour, since it was a family day. Subsequently I have had a much more extensive listen, and changed all UK leads on the HiFi to Shucko's (for domestic rather than Foo reasons, but I took the opportunity to audition carefully) Exactly the same result as yours. Likewise I am not minded to invest in a superior fuse, when the great fuse advocates tell me that any fuse is a bottleneck, and therefore my Shuckos represent the ultimate fuse arrangement. Clearly I am deaf, and my equipment incapable of resolving fine detail. I remember reading countless reviews of it saying just that I'll leave it to Wonky to tease me about my ability to hear the difference speaker cables make.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 7, 2018 10:16:53 GMT
Hi Stu and welcome to TAS! NVA make good kit and you have an interesting system there. If I may, once you've heard a good DD turntable going back to belt drive is not easy! I have never heard a DD in my system and so am bracing myself for the result. The PL-71 is quite well respected and so should be in the "good" category. We are all different though and I am just hoping I don't prefer the Linn. I could live with the PT1 winning. Stu Let me know if you need any help with the PT1. The alphason should be a good arm on it. Make sure the bearing has a bit of lubricant, and that the correct weight is fitted to the arm board. A common mistake is to change arms to a similar mount but incorrect weight, or the weight falls off after being moved around a few times, and then spend hours fruitlessly fannying around with the springs to get the deck set up. Then maybe try running it with a PP3 battery instead of the wall-wart. And ignore the Direct Drive fantasists.
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Post by pinkie on Feb 6, 2018 18:34:10 GMT
Waltzing mathilda.
No. Honest guv. Its on an album my dad wanted me to have when I asked for jazz lps for Christmas
The world of Josh white. Apparently my dad's world before I was a twinkle...
Maybe a bit Val doonican but I feel close to my dad.
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