fit and forget versus fiddling around
Posted by: JeremyB on 19 July 2002
A lot of recent posts have been about fiddling, disatisfaction and upgrading.
So the question is, a) which hifi purchases gave you least bother and b) which had you fart-arsing around for months and years.
To kick off, P3/62/140/MS10 was great. The next no-bother purchase was my XX-2. Nearly everything else involved endless fiddling and upgrading to get it to work.
Jeremy
Posted on: 19 July 2002 by JeremyD
The component that gave me least bother was my Ekos. It improved on my Ittok in every way, and brought back and improved on the vivid tonal colour that had diminished on upgrading from Basik Plus to Ittok.
The only other non-bothersome upgrades I can think of were generic cable to NACA4 and NACA4 to NACA5.
Of those that were bothersome in some way, I am excluding those that turned out to be mistakes.
Top spot in my "bothersome" list is taken by my Ittok, because I had to spend ages working on system set-up before the emotional effect was better than with my previous Basik Plus. It was a question of trading one set of strengths and weaknesses with another: the fact that in most identifiable respects the Ittok was far better was only partial compensation for the fact that the Basik Plus was better in one important (to me) respect.
Second place goes to my Linn LP12 - because of the way the suspension used to go off-tune so depressingly quickly. I'd fiddle around with the support tables and the rest of the system to try to compensate for it but the only real solution at the time was to get it reset annually, which I never did.
Third place? There are too many to choose from!
JD
Posted on: 22 July 2002 by Linds
Years ago I had Kef K120 loudspeakers which were the brightest sounding things ever, especially through a £200 Denon integrated.
In a search for stands, dealer demmed Royd Minstrels vs. Kef Q10s on stands. Home dem of Royds had me sold. Awesome performance for £240. Lifelike vocals and rhythmic as hell.
Unfortunately Joe Akroyd of Royd realised they were awesome, redesigned them, launched as RR1 and now £700. Ok a different speaker, but not at 3 times the price. Damn I wish I knew how to "mod" the Minstrels I've got. Especially the slightly "splashy" treble. I've got Credos now which don't splash, but still have the Minstrels in another room.
Anyone know what the Minstrel SE mod was?
Posted on: 22 July 2002 by J.N.
Good description of FRAIM.
Lots of time and t.l.c. re-choired to level the bases and get it loaded. (Particularly when it takes hours to find the supplied spike tweaking bar). (It has a tendency to roll into hidden places!)
BUT; it is a thing of musical beauty when complete. The sound seems to be correctly layered and presented.
It's dynamic and easy to listen to at the same time. None of that 'Get you by the throat' M**A nonsense.
Yours with head well below the parapet!
