System Pics 2018

They look very nice in that room.

Dougie Danger posted:

The chore of upgrading my speakers is thankfully over . I have settled on these and they sound sublime.

Very cool. What finish are the 606s in, Walnut?

nigelb posted:

Dougie Danger posted:

The chore of upgrading my speakers is thankfully over . I have settled on these and they sound sublime.

Very cool. What finish are the 606s in, Walnut?

Indeed they are.

Gazza posted:

They look very nice in that room.

Thank you.

Leonard "Live in London" has never sounded so good. 

Lovely, Dougie, lovely.  Elegant, simple system that plays music wonderfully.

Foot tapper posted:

Lovely, Dougie, lovely.  Elegant, simple system that plays music wonderfully.

Thanks Foot tapper.

Dougie Danger posted:

The chore of upgrading my speakers is thankfully over . I have settled on these and they sound sublime.

Congratulations Dougie apart from the fact that they sound great, they look absolutely wonderful and sit nicely in your room. Enjoy! 

Dougie the room and setup look spot on!

Stevee_S posted:

Dougie Danger posted:

The chore of upgrading my speakers is thankfully over . I have settled on these and they sound sublime.

Congratulations Dougie apart from the fact that they sound great, they look absolutely wonderful and sit nicely in your room. Enjoy! 

Thanks Stevee.

The looks certainly helped to justify the cost to my wife. Funnily enough she didn't like the bright orange Sopra 2's that I had on demo .

Trying imgur for my updated system / room pic: new (almost) everything chez nous. Heart of system is now Nova, still with Kudos Super 10’s; really very appealing. Decor is the bigger upgrade and I’m happy having “our” furnishings as my partner and I settle into new life together. With tunes...

Regards alan

alan33 posted:

 

Trying imgur for my updated system / room pic: new (almost) everything chez nous. Heart of system is now Nova, still with Kudos Super 10’s; really very appealing. Decor is the bigger upgrade and I’m happy having “our” furnishings as my partner and I settle into new life together. With tunes...

Regards alan

Good job we all have remote controls.

I would definitely be tripping over something getting up to change the telly channel, and probably bringing something back with me.

Awesome looking room. That wall should just have a massive modern art painting on it, and put the hifi and telly somewhere else.

Very nice gents, some great looking house interiors too (just wearing my Lawrence Lowellen Bowen shirt here)!

Just switching off the lights in the office for the evening and looking back, I noticed I'd left the Rega Fono and TT Power supplies on - kind of like the Rega Demon eyes glowing on the wooden floor - all ready for Halloween!

TOBYJUG posted:

Awesome looking room. That wall should just have a massive modern art painting on it, and put the hifi and telly somewhere else.

Thanks for kind words Tobyjug. I agree about the “art gallery wall”! In fact the tv is the “frame” from Samsung and it has “art mode” to show high res photos and paintings... in real life it mostly does look like a painting not a telly, but the photo doesn’t really capture it. This is one end of the main floor great room, where kitchen and dining room are as well... so we really spend a majority of time here, so that’s where the good audio must be! I’m hoping it will look even more like art when we put a lower sideboard underneath... 

Regards alan

Cold night in Nova Scotia .. Malbec, Muso and Mozart ...

Yetizone posted:

james n posted:

Yetizone posted:

 

Love that system especially the CB Nait 2. The R252's (albeit on Linn Index stands) were my first proper speakers and were lots of fun.

Thanks for sharing 

The 252's are still pretty effective all these years on. At the time of purchase I preferred them to Heybrook HB1s, which were excellent, but preferred the presentation of the MA. I've compared them against a few modern designs, and almost bought Russell K Red to replace them, but they just needed more space around them than I could (then) allocate. Now I have a little most space to play with so I may explore alternatives again, but would prefer to make changes upstream first I think. They are ridiculously good value on the 2nd hand market for putting together a budget second system, plus being infinite baffle they are pretty versatile about where they are sited.

James, you have now got me thinking - I wonder how the Linn Index or Helix Kustone stands would work with these 252s, as the bigger 352 had a similar chunky pedestal stand to the Linn. 

I have a similar pair of  early-type MA R252s and although it has been some years since I used them, IIRC they do tend to work best fairly close to the wall on good open stands - just as you have them in the picture. 

Like you, when I bought them I was demoing against the Heybrook HB1 and the B&W DM110.  It came down to a straight fight against the HB1 and the MA R252.  Ultimately, while there was something about the HB1s that i really liked, they could easily be made to sound a bit harsh on the CD source with certain music, whereas the R252s were the best all-rounders.  With my Manticore Mantra though, the HB1s were my favourites, but at the time (1985), I was thinking "CD is the future". so... Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I realise that the HB1s were likely the superior speaker and, with better source (particularly CD) they would have been fine, but I still really enjoyed the R252s, and even kept them when a pair of R352s replaced them in the main system.

Just stumbled accross this thread and have enjoyed the pictures of the setups.

Would it kindly be possible to not include the pictures in the quotes though please? It is a nightmare scrolling down a thread and seeing the same picture again and again and again.

Pcd posted:

MDS posted

The width of Fraim would also be a problem for me and I too prefer the looks of the SVT.  Another factor in SVT's favour is that it is low maintenance: no worrying about whether the balls supporting the glass are still sitting perfect aligned etc.  

 

I dont understand, How can the balls be misaligned? (no pun intended)

iliria posted:

Just stumbled accross this thread and have enjoyed the pictures of the setups.

Would it kindly be possible to not include the pictures in the quotes though please? It is a nightmare scrolling down a thread and seeing the same picture again and again and again.

Yes, it’s a pita when a long page is loading, especially on an iPhone. As the images slowly load, the page bounces up and down for ages. Sometimes I give up. 

It's the ball seats that can be misaligned so they touch the side of the cutout in the shelf that they sit in, lore has it that they should be central but I've never bothered to find out if I can hear a difference. I could hear one when the cones on the supports touch the side of the cup.

Richard Dane posted:

Yetizone posted:

james n posted:

Yetizone posted:

 

Love that system especially the CB Nait 2. The R252's (albeit on Linn Index stands) were my first proper speakers and were lots of fun.

Thanks for sharing 

The 252's are still pretty effective all these years on. At the time of purchase I preferred them to Heybrook HB1s, which were excellent, but preferred the presentation of the MA. I've compared them against a few modern designs, and almost bought Russell K Red to replace them, but they just needed more space around them than I could (then) allocate. Now I have a little most space to play with so I may explore alternatives again, but would prefer to make changes upstream first I think. They are ridiculously good value on the 2nd hand market for putting together a budget second system, plus being infinite baffle they are pretty versatile about where they are sited.

James, you have now got me thinking - I wonder how the Linn Index or Helix Kustone stands would work with these 252s, as the bigger 352 had a similar chunky pedestal stand to the Linn. 

I have a similar pair of  early-type MA R252s and although it has been some years since I used them, IIRC they do tend to work best fairly close to the wall on good open stands - just as you have them in the picture. 

Like you, when I bought them I was demoing against the Heybrook HB1 and the B&W DM110.  It came down to a straight fight against the HB1 and the MA R252.  Ultimately, while there was something about the HB1s that i really liked, they could easily be made to sound a bit harsh on the CD source with certain music, whereas the R252s were the best all-rounders.  With my Manticore Mantra though, the HB1s were my favourites, but at the time (1985), I was thinking "CD is the future". so... Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I realise that the HB1s were likely the superior speaker and, with better source (particularly CD) they would have been fine, but I still really enjoyed the R252s, and even kept them when a pair of R352s replaced them in the main system.

Richard, 

Interesting. Never heard the B&W DM110 (dealer didn’t stock them). The choice ended up between HB1, 252 and Mordaunt Short MS20 (also very good).

The MA252s don’t seem to get much love compared to the HB1, which surprises me. They were in essence forerunners (experiments?) for Robin Marshall’s work at Epos. I wonder if the MA adoption of metal dome tweeters (they could strip paint!) for their next gen damaged their rep. Much more balanced these days and Naim match rather well.

Being so versatile the 252s have been in and out of my set up for twenty five years or so, and are a superb match for the more rounded sound of the UQ2. Modern speakers are demonstrably better I suppose, but most are ported and there’s just something appealing about a large, efficient, sealed box loudspeaker - although must check out the new ProAc Tablette 10 Signature! 

If a pair of the 352s come up locally then I may take a punt and try them once again. Also have an (illogical) desire to try a set of Linn Kabers too - just out of curiosity, although may wait till the upstream kit is upgraded.

The R352s were rather different - much more bass energy, perhaps too much for some, but great liveliness, which is probably a by-product of basic drivers, large reflex box, and relatively high efficiency.  They were never anything less than enjoyable to listen to, but did need some space around them if they weren't to sound overly "plummy". They really needed the optional canted stands though, mainly to better time align the drivers. I still have a pair of R352s as well, although the stands appear to have gone AWOL at some point, maybe when I moved to the States. 

I've just realised that I have three pairs of Robin Marshall designed speakers in the house - the R252s, R352s, and my Epos ES-14s. I guess I must like his designs...

IIRC, David Price did an Olde Worlde classic hifi review of the R352s some years ago, which is worth a read.

Ah, thanks for that extra info - the 352 may well be challenging for the intended space, and perhaps boom a little. Esp since the RHS 252 is only 30cm from the corner wall. The room is pretty ‘lean’ save for a fold out futon (for proper listening as opposed to when at the desk) so it could be ok. Certainly no boom from the 252 in that location. I'll google the David Price review, so thanks for the tip.

Somehow, I never got to own ES14’s, as I had ‘BRIKS during their all conquering heyday. I’m little hesitant to buy now as I believe maintenance can be tricky due to lack of spares. But, never say never - if some come up locally, I may take the risk to help with the addiction! Still fancy Kabers though, as I’ve always liked their elegantly proportioned monolith styling. Again, never got to play with them at the time.