Apart from going to Argos and buying the one with the most buttons....

[Stunsworth]

If you want decent sound then don't buy anything British. (The exception is one or two fine small companies that build equipment in their back rooms).

Really? I'd better send my Audiolab, Musical Fidelity, EAR, Quad kit to the landfill then.

Reading your posts you do come across as a very angry person, time to relax perhaps.

[Ariosto]

Really? I'd better send my Audiolab, Musical Fidelity, EAR, Quad kit to the landfill then.

Reading your posts you do come across as a very angry person, time to relax perhaps.

What a strange post! Yes, if it's British (and made in the last 15 years) you should send it to the landfill. Or have your ears checked. Or both.

I only get slightly angry when I read posts written by people who suggest that strong opinions are something that needs to be addressed. Maybe YOU need the tranquilisers and the services of a shrink?

[MrGongGong]

Phew I've just avoided financial ruin as I was about to buy a pair of B&W speakers
ATC are rubbish as well as they are British

so lets stick with "medium" quality headphones .............

[Stunsworth]

I only get slightly angry when I read posts written by people who suggest that strong opinions are something that needs to be addressed. Maybe YOU need the tranquilisers and the services of a shrink?

I've nothing against strong opinions, but worry sometimes about the way those opinions are expressed - especially when they are obviously incorrect to someone with a pair of (unbiased) ears.

[Ariosto]

Phew I've just avoided financial ruin as I was about to buy a pair of B&W speakers
ATC are rubbish as well as they are British

so lets stick with "medium" quality headphones .............

I'm pleased you mentioned the B&W speakers Mr Two Gongs. What are they, £8-10K? So I've saved you some real lolly.

Yes, I've been in studios where they have used them (I think Decca did once upon a time). They sound like £500 speakers and I could never see where all that money went. Must have been the trendy plush cabinets they were in.

Headphones are best even if inconvenient sometimes, but with old recording they are not so good as you get all the surface noise close up, and the boxy reflections and resonances. But for CD and modern 16/24 bit recordings with modern mics they are the best. Of course some people can't hear the difference.

[amateur51]

Phew I've just avoided financial ruin as I was about to buy a pair of B&W speakers
ATC are rubbish as well as they are British

so lets stick with "medium" quality headphones .............

Mmmm stylishly medium!

[MrGongGong]

Of course some people can't hear the difference.

and I guess YOU can ?
I said YOU CAN ?

[amateur51]

Of course some people can't hear the difference.

There's only ONE difference?!

Scarcely worth bothering about then

[Ariosto]

With CANS of course I CAN!

[cloughie]

With CANS of course I CAN!

with TWO CANS of course YOU CAN and with a COUPLE OF MORE CANS will sound even better!

[Dave2002]

If you want decent sound then don't buy anything British. (The exception is one or two fine small companies that build equipment in their back rooms).

Miss out anything that says it's from Cambridge, as most of this Hi Fi equipment is rubbish. (Cyrus, Arcam and all that lot of overpriced junk).

Some American and Japanese equipment can be excellent, but get rid of most of the speakers you see around, and use medium quality headphones. Then you will hopefully get the real sound. The rest is cotton wool.

I don't know if you're right now, but there certainly was a time when I really fancied an Arcam CD player. The one I heard was clearly much better than any of the others I heard at the same time. However that was more than a decade ago, and perhaps they've gone down since then.

I tend to listen quite a lot on headphones, which I find makes a lot of speakers sound very disappointing, even though my headphones are fairly modest.

[Ariosto]

I don't know if you're right now, but there certainly was a time when I really fancied an Arcam CD player. The one I heard was clearly much better than any of the others I heard at the same time. However that was more than a decade ago, and perhaps they've gone down since then.

I tend to listen quite a lot on headphones, which I find makes a lot of speakers sound very disappointing, even though my headphones are fairly modest.

You had a near miss! I had an Arcam CD player new about 5 years ago. It was an expensive one. It had a two year guarantee. About the time or just before the guarantee ran out it started giving trouble, and I contacted Arcam a week or so after this. They mentioned it could be dirt on the lens so I bought a CD lens cleaner and used it. (It's a CD with some sort of brush mechanism).

No change so I contacted Arcam who said it must be the Laser which would need replacing. When I asked they said as it was out of guarantee (even though by only a week or two) it would cost about £150!!

So I told them to **** off and I bought a £39 CD player from Richer Sounds that sounded just as good and has lasted ever since. (It is a Scandinavian thing).

So Arcam are rubbish. I have a Cyrus amp which is also crap. My 32 year old Japanese amp is 100% reliable and sounds great, and has an input for vinyl records (phono input) which the rubbish from Cyrus does not have, and the Cyrus is the most awkward thing to change any inputs on or use headphones with, and the sound is very second rate.

Don't buy British unless it's hand made by someone who knows about sound and electronics. And there are only about two people left who do.

[Beef Oven]

There's only ONE difference?!

Scarcely worth bothering about then

On form tonight aren't we Tiddles?!

[amateur51]

On form tonight aren't we Tiddles?!

We aim to please

You aim too, please

Recipe for a happy domestic life

[MrGongGong]

And there are only about two people left who do.

and let me guess, Steve and Geoff your mates from down the Dog and Duck
You seem to be cross because you have bought some things that later you regretted ............. so enlighten us WHO does make things worth listening to ?