I'm downgrading. (My house that is!)

Posted by: trickytree on 28 December 2003

Due to financial reasons, wife and I are going to start looking for cheaper, and therefor smaller, accomodation. At the moment we live in a huge farmhouse that belongs to some freinds of ours, and although we dont pay the full market value in terms of rent, the heating bills and council tax are a bit of a burden.
At the moment the HIFI is in a room of its own and I can play it at any volume I wish and dont have any WAF to worry about. This of course is going to change. We are probably going to end up in a semi-detached at the least, so am looking to upgrade the system so as it is more acceptable at lower volume levels.
Amplifiers will be my 62/90 and will have to remain as they are for the time being. Front end is LP12 fitted with a Ittok 3. The cartridge is to be upgraded first, either to a Dynavector 20XL or 17D2 or a Orfoton Kontrapunkt or Rohhman (available on ebay at unbeleivable prices).
Its the speakers that im not to sure about. I have lived quite happily in the past with smaller speakers and I dont consider myself a bass freak, but on the other hand have had a pair of Yamaha NS1000m's in the past!
At the moment i'm using modified Kef Coda's, and while a huge improvement over standard I dont realy want to modify them further as I dont think they are cappable of providing the sound that I would be happy with, (a bit to round earth for my liking).
I would prefer to build my own speakers, but would not object to buying ready built. Second hand would be preferable both for cost reasons and due to the fact that many modern affordable designs seem to be to harsh for my liking.
My initial thoughts are to take advantage of a MC cartridge's midband insight with a smallish monitor type speaker or go for a largr floorstanding design that will move pleanty of air and probably give a larger warmer type of sound.
Any thought out there would be greatly appreciated.

Paul.
Posted on: 28 December 2003 by prowla
The volume levels depend upon your neighbours and the layout of the house (both living rooms side by side at the centre of the house means more noise - both stairways at the centre gives more separation)...
I wouldn't think you'd need to downsize from Kef Codas. IMHO they're quite good speakers but not up to the standard of the rest of your system. Interesting your note about wanting a warmer sound - I seem to recollect that the Coda IIs I had were warm sounding.
I would think that a larger floorstanding speaker might give too much bass and intrude on the neighbours.
It also depends upon your room size. I'd suggest that you'll be wanting things that go as flat against the wall as possible.

Paul Rowlands
Posted on: 28 December 2003 by mykel
Paul

I would wait until you are in your new digs before looking for speakers. As you know they are so room dependant that what you like in your present situation may to horrible in your next. What you have is a known quantity, and will provide a good point of reference in the new place. Experiment with what you have first, then change based upon the new room, not what may be....

Good luck

regards,

michael