Kelvin, I've nearly completed my hifi set up, amp NAD 3225PE, turntable Dual cs505, cd player Marantz cd65II. And a Dual cassette deck. Also got a pair of SMC speakers, picked these up in the same village I live in and they were made about two miles from my house, get this the showroom was 2 miles in the other direction! Back in the 70s! One owner from new. I intend to get it all set up in the new year and will do a video for CZcams. Every time I think about how local these speakers are I have a chuckle every time.
Yamaha Wxad-10 for £99 has a bloody fantastic sounding Burr Brown DAC....superb for adding in wireless streaming... especially Tidal Masters and Quboz Studio
I’m a great fan of the Yamaha wxad-10 too. I use it as the basis for my office set up and when I’m banished out of the living room for “call the midwife” and such. Combined with a Cambridge topaz sr10 receiver and revolver avf floorstander speakers, the whole lot cost less than £250 on eBay and sounds amazing for the money. The Yamaha really is a bargain.
@@richardmanning4090 I wish it had an optical input or two and I wish it supported AmazonHD....instead of Deezer and Napster, but, at £99 it seems churlish to complain.
Excellent video. Great points. I love cruising the local pawn shops for good deals. Most pawn shops will also agree to give you a warranty. And don't forget, everything is negotiable. I just picked up an old Yamaha receiver for about $130, and they gave me a month warranty. I hooked it up to some Polk speakers I had sitting around, and the thing sounds great in my garage with a subwoofer.
It’s Christmas 2020 and I just found your channel. I have a classic system, a modern system and a mixed one. I have that Node 2i connected to a Cambridge Topaz SR20 driving ESS AMT-1C’s from about 1978. I really enjoy the kit
My office set up was a Kenwood KR-7050, JBL 4313b's and an Auris Blume bluetooth dac ($120 US). Really satisfying. Thank you for bringing up this topic, so many awesome vintage speakers that still stack up well against new mass market kits. Also would say I agree with the modern(ish) amp with big speakers. One of my favorite combos was Acoustic Research AR9 LS with Mark Levinson ML331 - choice.
Hi Kelvin, I totally agree with you that adding a streamer to vintage stereo is the most cost effective way to enjoy music. A few years ago I could only listen to internet radio via a Yamaha AV amp until I bought a used Oppo BDP-105D player. Now I can play my CDs and SACDs as well as streaming TIDAL via the 105D and control it through my smartphone. Certain technology enable us to access to music easier and cheaper but good vintage stereo gears make the 1 & 0 sound more musical. Thank you again for the video. Merry Christmas.
Older speakers often mean having to replace the foam. This is an easy task but could result in a poor outcome if you get an uneven attachment. I have had to change the foam on speakers from the early 80s to early 00s. The last attempt just failed in the speakers for a 2003 car and I ended up replacing the whole speaker. Even firms with a good track record of repairing older equipment will eventually make a cut off point. Electronics over 10 years old can be difficult to get fixed and the fix not last for long and the repair costs add up rapidly. Other than the inconvenience of sending them off to some tech guru who will still fix them a top model of 20 years ago may still save for years to come over a lesser performing and more expensive recent model.
Yes I’ve done a fair bit of re-foaming maybe 10 drivers in all the first one I sweated a lot. And one just didn’t work because it had a fault with the coil not because I misaligned it
Nice tip! got me an ifi Zen Blue for my workshop system seasoned with some hi-res tidal plan on a smartphone , it nailed me for hours just getting through all that music I played 10-15 years ago on mp3 . Cheers from Kyiv!))
Picked up a beautiful pair of J M Reynaud Cantibile floor stand loudspeakers for a cool £600 from 2008. They're now my main system. Sublime mid-range. What to do with my Klipsch RP-600M? OFFICE SYSTEM: I found a technics SU-z400 amplifier almost free and Bluetooth to Aux. This amp has loudness and incredible bass! Blown away!!!!!!! The phono works well too. Klipsch speakers work very well with Vintage amplifiers...
Wow that looks like the Marantz 2265B that l use to own. Before a got my Audiolab 6000n streamer l used the Audioengine B1 Bluetooth streamer and hooked up to my old school ARC LS 15 tube pre amp via RCA It was great as everything was controlled through my smart phone
I did this using the Arylic S50pro, this is a great streamer at an unbeatable price (around £140, beats others costing 3 times more). Paired it with a pair of B&W DM10's around £30 from eBay, and a 1978 Mitsubishi system (£45 eBay) that has 75wpc......sounds awesome. You would have to spend a hell of a lot on modern stuff to beat it!👍
Very clear and correct explanation. Completely agree do not need to spend thousands and thousands to have good hi-fi. Finally got my one Hitachi Hma 8500 and Celestion Dittons 442 and will connect them together. Any recomendation about the streamer ? Thanks and enjoy the sound…
Classic yeah “have got cables” lol. Can’t wait to check out the streamer you got.. the chromecast audio I got for £30 was nobrainer but just as I bought it they were discontinued...
New subscriber here. I just wanted to say hello to you and everyone, from Fall River, Massachusetts in the USA. I look forward to seeing more of your videos!
HI Kelvin, I've got one as well, love the interface. I'm using mine with an external DAC (Khadas Tone Board) which I feel improves the quality with Qobuz,
Hi Kelvin great advice as usual but just like when lps became popular again and everyone thought their 20 years in the loft albums are worth a fortune I'm seeing the price of older Hifi going up as well. Have a good Christmas buddy and looking forward to your next video.
@David Mander I have it inside and outside...all different models and it has been flawless...always updating in the background...stays connected...and sounds great for the convenience of it all...I also have 5 2 Channel systems with turntables in my home for the 80 sanalog/vinyl sound which I also adore...what sucked was the wireless Bose...they Never stayed connected....that was overpriced junk...Happy Holidays! Cheers! - I just Love Music! We all have our preferences...:
I bought a second hand Sonos Connect a couple of years ago. It packed up recently (just after Sonos stopped supporting it...) so I am looking for an alternative cheap way to stream from my NAS. I don’t want to spend £500 on the bluesound note 2i Kelvin has in this video. Any cheaper alternatives?
@David Mander it’s not the best audio quality (not hifi), but it’s not junk. You pay for the consumer convenience. The advantage of Sonos is the ease of setup, decent app and integrability of the different units.
@@richardsinger01 I have a Sonos Connect that is still working...They are still supporting it here in the us....have you tried it recently? They pulled back from that decision...still supported! If not, I'll have to buy the Port @ 449$ here...Cheers...Happy Holidays!!! from across the Pond!
Kelvin, I’ve had that BlueSound streamer for several months. It’s the real deal. It connects through WiFi and I use my iPad to control it through its app. It is solid on the network and never drops off. It’s only slight drawback to me is the app. The interface to the streaming services aren’t great to create playlists. I found I have to use the Amazon Hi-Res app for playlist creation then I go back to BlueOS to play the music. Also, no info on sample rate. It just tells you HR or CD. Small nits really.
Hi Steve. That is the most annoying thing about the Bluesound app. As you say though it’s a very minor gripe. Some streaming services circumnavigate that now though. If you use Spotify (I know not hi res) or Tidal, you can now stream directly to the Node 2i from their apps. It’s called Connect. I’m sure Amazon HD will follow suit eventually.
@@jim586 Hi Jim, Amazon has the function through Airplay. Except, it has a limitation of 24/48 sample rate. Not terrible but certainly not 24/192 or even 96. I’m old so I don’t I if I can hear it but I want to 😂. Plus AirPlay makes you reconnect on every pause. That’s really annoying! So that’s why I use the BluOS. Curious do you know a better method? Love to know...
@@stevezeidman7224 Hello Steve. Yes, if you play either Spotify or Tidal using their Connect functionality in their own apps the music/signal comes from the Node 2i and NOT the iPhone/iPad. The benefits are that you can play hi res but most importantly the standard sound is better and if the phone rings the music continues to play. Cheers
I have a great device to add to an older reciever, the Ifi Zen Blue Dac for $129, give you quality bluetooth and decent DAC and streaming from your Phone
I have been using a Marantz 2285 and the Bluesound Node2i for a couple of years along with Roon and Tidal. I just love using the old and the new and I think it sounds awesome.
You’re right Richard I think I underplayed it I should’ve said this is a fucking brilliant idea If you can do you have a favourite between room and tidal sound wise Or is there nothing in it K
@@stereoreviewx I use Roon for the music I ripped from my CD’s to my Mac based Roon Server along with Tidal. We don’t have QoBus in Canada yet. Now that Bluos has released Tidal Connect I am using Tidal more that way. I do like the way Roon catalogues music its very good for that.
I'm using a Bluesound node 2i connected to Sansui au 317 or Sansui 661, listening music through Canton CT 2000 speakers. The music soundstage, the drums, bass, vocals.. seems like as the performer is in my listening room.
I see that Arcam over there so you got my attention. I only recently put my 8P in a box after installing a D-Sonic amp in it's place. I had forgotten how g'damn musical that 8P was until I put it back in the rig a few months ago. Left that in for quite a bit. I also can't believe it's still working perfectly after all these years, as it's at least 20 years old. Vintage McIntosh is still "good" if the caps haven't taken a sh!t on ya.
You can get a cheap mobile headphone amp that is a DAC for your smartphone. Plugs in to your smartphone USB then use a headphone Jack to 2 RCA converter plug and attach to your amp. I found it as good as my old Cyrus dADQ CD player.
I'm running a big juju c class 88 amp and some nice seal 6.5 9 watt speakers double teamed with TAK umbert under streamer from KOK audio round the back by the bins
Rarity could also be a sign of poor quality resulting in few survivors. Talking about old speakers I remember my Celestion Ditton 15's,2 way, with an auxiliary bass radiator. I couldn't stand how dull and recessed they were and replaced them with the B&W DM 110's which I liked.
Just found your channel recently and enjoying it but I might have to stop watching your videos as I fear you might start costing me money 😂😂 Best wishes from Glasgow
I used to have a Linn Classik with some B&W bookshelf speakers. I loved it and now wonder if I could buy one (they are around £250 on eBay) and hook it up to a streamer as I am now a Spotify customer. What do you think? It will be for my garden room/office which is 5x3.5m. I long for the days of HiFi as I am now slumming it with a Bose BT speaker
The large Japanese companies imported a lot of equipment to the UK during the 70s. Products from other nations including USA, Germany, Italy and France largely unheard off even if your map was dotted with every good hi-fi shop in the south of England. There was also the claim that British hi-fi sounded different and to British tastes. Certainly there was a huge difference in sound between the British products and those from Japan and Germany with the likes of Naim, Linn, Meridian, Rega, A&R (Arcam), Mission and Quad having more in common across price points than their overseas competitions. Maybe it was a media (hi-fi press) thing and not so real. It changed in the 80s and in the 90s a very different range and most British firms being bought out by their more successful competitors. The music has changed. Modern popular music is more the same where ever it is produced, less experimental and has less wide ranging dynamics than we had in the 70s. We have people who happily listen on tinny earphones and highly compressed audio from pocket devices and not through quality headphones or hi-fi systems. Tiny pods and mono speakers to stream radio at 64Kbps. Convenience rules over quality.
Hi Kelvin, please do thevideo about the streamer, also do you ever listen to the NAD 90? Looks similar to that Marantz! would you pair it with Infinitysm 152 speakers?
The speaker tip is spot on, I bought my Jamo floor standers from the countryside because I knew I Stood my chance getting them cheap. Also check out the other shopping sites sphock, gumtree solely due to lack of traffic (ebay is full of too many people and all now bidding in the last seconds using sniper tools) I enjoyed ebay with last second bids for years but its harder and harder now. Don't forget your cables LOL
I call this the year of "Back to the Future"...I got this 1Mii BT 5.0 transmitter receiver $65 to stream from my BT 5.0 phone to a few vintage Pioneer SX and Kenwood receivers! I waited for aptX HD so FLAC is POSSIBLE now! No more mp3's streaming for me...I don't need som ugly new $1500 receiver to sound gud. I'm picking up a pair of Pioneer CS-53 and SX-424. I'm still looking for a Marantz but they are too overpriced. I don't believe you need to spend $$$ like som retired audiophile t oget gud sound!
man spotify is poor quality, is like mp3. use better streem service which will gives you at least cd quality 44.1khz 16 bits. all spotify, amazon, youtube etc are crap. dont destroy your ear for s....t.
Hi Kelvin, another very enjoyable video, great subject matter and well delivered. I too bought a streamer quite recently, the Cambridge cxn v2 rather than the blue sound. Due to COVID ending up buying on spec, couldn’t compare the two but happy with purchase nevertheless. It is up there with (good) cd. What I didn’t got on with was Spotify. Both Tidal and Qobuz were way better. I took out introductory trials on all three. Spotify was binned very quickly on the basis of pure sound quality. Would be very interested to hear your verdict on the three, maybe Amazon HD as well. Shouldn’t cost anything as all are available on a months free trial. Another video?
Yeah I Gotta say the new sound streamer sounds Really good better than my arcam CD player I don’t have a great CD player basically. I tried Spotify compare to TIDAL TIDAL is clearly more detailed better mid range sharper. Thanks for the feedback Merry Christmas Kelvin
I bought some 12 gauge OFC speaker cable at 2quid a metre, absolutely the best sounding speaker cable I've ever bought at any price (admittedly I've never paid £100per m). Why? It's the thickest. Plain and simple. Shops will sell you a load of snake oil at £10+ a metre
Hi Kelv. Or just use a raspberry pi with a justboom dac running volumio, £60 total and a bit of computer work with instructions all over youtube, cheers.
Hey Chris what castle speakers did you get please I’m on the lookout for some myself you see let me know if they sound good and what they are many thanks Kelvin
@@stereoreviewx Hi Kelvin. They are the Harlechs. They can usually be picked up quite cheaply on Ebay and imo represent very good value. I have only listened to them for a short time but sound good, quite open sounding. I think I may be able to get more out of them though through biwiring or in particular biamping. Ideally I would like to put them further from the wall as being a floorstander they can be quite powerful sounding and could annoy the neighbours !
No but new camera app believe it or not filmic pro makes a big difference I would’ve thought an iPhone 11 was good but no you need an app as well at least someone noticed cheers mate
A contemporary streamer connected to a well sorted vintage speaker and amp - might make any prospective audiophile under 25 utter the phrase "...imaging like a bastard..." again?🤔
I'm appreciating these bids man, I'm relatively new to all this and it's kinda odd to be able to take advantage of ppls experience in this way. CZcams is a game changer. Im putting a vote in for a vid about ohms and matching amps up to speakers that have different ohm specifications (I don't really understand what ohms are tbh). I'm looking at the 15ohm ls3/5a's and I'm trying to figure out if the ohm rating is a critical factor when considering amps. Are there any Information sources you could point me towards to find out more about that? Thanks.
nice one, just a opinion about speakers, im currently changing my speakers from floorstanding into bookshelf. i sold my Gale 3040 and i bought Warfedale Diamond 10.1 as it has good reviews and award winning as well. the issue is that they sound strange. i never used bookshelf speakers so is it normal? i talking about £150 budget (im poor). is there any better in this price range? used one are concidered. im asking as i have 14 days to return as i bought them new one. thanks for help in advice.
Yes I don’t know lots about cheap modern speakers I quite liked the Q acoustics 3020 which are £150 quite lively the mid range was decent Hard to tell what will sound good with all the possible variables amplifiers room sizes placement K
I thought it was just old American hippies that liked Poco, Neil Young, Caravan and the Eagles who used Lava Lamps. You don't mention that with old speakers you would probably need to clean the old baked ferro fluid from the tweeters and replace it with fresh stuff.
Old tweeters like the T27 in the LS3/5a didn't use ferro fluid and some (including Andy Whittle, former chief designer at Rogers) thinks that tweeters sound better without it.
@@1jhnpennington I'm not sure I agree with him as I've not long changed the ferro fluid on an old pair of Mission 770s "I bought because the treble sounded Grey, and cymbals and hi hats sounded like a rolling pin hitting tinfoil. The sparkle is now back after I replaced the fluid.
@@fuckinellitsraymo I don't think we disagree. If the old tweeters originally used ferro fluid then I agree that it needs to be refreshed, but some tweeters such as the T27 never used it in the first place.
Why spend £500 on a streamer, get a £30 android box, most people will already have one,and a Topping DAC with one of the new chip's set £100,will probably sound better than a £500 streamer,some of these £1000 streamer's are still in production with Chip's from 3 year's ago
Why? Because it’s available for £400 new now. It’s a one box solution, no interconnects etc, you can stream at CD quality and higher and THE most important thing is that the software and interface works which many other systems don’t. Is that enough? Ha
That reminded me of the old way... sort of. Many years ago we used to stream from a portable CD player to the car radio. It used a little transmitter. It worked, but the sound wasn’t very good.
You don't need one. Basically a streamer covers the link to streaming services like Tidal and Spotify. They stream music and you can make up your own play list and select level of quality (bit rates) with even some hi-res audio available. They need broadband Ethernet or wi-fi to a network provider. They usually can stream (select) a play list from your computer, network server, tablet, laptop or mobile phone. Some play internet radio. A remote or mobile phone controls selection and set up. Output to RCA analogue and either Toslink or Coxial to a DAC or digital/active speaker.
there seems to a lot of cambridge audio amps, cd players for sale , are they any good? fed up with with modern all in one's or soundbar, want to get back into separates, last amp i had was a nad 3020 but that was sold probably 20 years ago! i also had tannoy floorstanders, and a technics turntable.
Well I reviewed the Cambridge CD player recently I really didn’t like it but I did quite like the a 340 amp quite good not really Good Generally speaking I’m not impressed with that make the NAD3020 would just have more life more dynamism
I have a Cambridge Audio entry level A1 amp which I would highly recommend. I did not expect such good performance from an amp based around a TDA 1514 chip.
@@stereoreviewx When the NAD3020 was new it was liked for not colouring the sound. It was neutral and for a low powered low cost amp seriously out performed well beyond the asking price. The low cost might also have been down to less reliable - long term - electronics. 40 plus years on and I suspect it would need some serious over hauling to be up to the original sound. Better built electronics from the hi-end companies have needed their capacitors to be changed so not unexpected.
Dear audiophiles and music lovers. The 2020 has been a tough year but we somehow made it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you have some time for music enjoyment take a look of my humble suggestions. For the audiophiles. 1 Cassandra Williams Strange Fruits 2 Yosi Horikawa Babbles 3 Jack Marshall, Shelly Manne S'posin' 4 Christian McBride Night Train 5 Hok-man Yim Poem of Chinese Drums. 6 AR Rahman Dacoit Duel 7 Brian Bromberg My Bass 8 Arca Mutant 9 Malia, Boris Blank Magnetic Lies 10 Nenad Vasilic Bass Drops And for those in search of pure musical bliss with style follows 1 KC and the Sunshine Band Get Down Tonight 2004 remaster 2 Herbie Hancock Cantaloupe Island 3 T he Manhattan Transfer The Cantaloupe 4 Dina Blade Quando quando quando 5 Bing Crosby Louis Armstrong Bye bye blues 6 The King's Singers Good Vibration 7 Laid Back Bakerman 8 Yello Starlight Scene 9 Tony Esposito Kalimba De Luna 10 Black Wonderful Life HAVE A GREAT TIME AND DON'T PISS OFF YOUR WIVES AND NEIGHBORS WITH TOO MUCH LOUD MUSIC. Drink responsibly and stay safe.
It is a blue sound node 2i it cost £500 it’s really good I’ve got to say and I will review it soon. Maybe I spoke too soon it might just be the use of Hi-Rez title or Hi-Rez Spotify if I plug my iPad straight in to the the differences are questionable but I’m working on this now so maybe I should hold fire on my opinion. The advantage of the streamer if you get to sit on the settee and pick songs on your iPhone . This is what it seems to me right now
@@stereoreviewx what would be interesting is also the ability to play from multiple sources including a usb hard drive with flac formatted files. Lol perhaps not interesting for everyone
buy a $75.00 refurbished Dell notebook and get a library card and rip library cd's into the notebook and buy a Schiit DAC for $100 to get that analogue sound going into the vintage amp
The streamers not going to be problematic really? Have you never had router, WiFi, and sundry other Internet problems. I like watching your videos but you do make some stupid statements. And the Arcam amps are prone to the selector switch crackling.
I have 6 docked iPhones / iPads connected to my 6 systems around the house (all different rooms). I am very happy with the 320K sound quality I get from my paid CZcams Music subscription service. No need for a DAC here. Just different strokes I guess.....Happy Holidays with lots of listening forthcoming!!
Yes my old iPad sounds better than my iPhone 11 for sure which surprised me The stream it does sound better though quite clearly for £500 I expect it to cheers K
@@stereoreviewx It is a great device some might say “a game changer “. This mainly down to that the software and interface actually work! There are components that have been thousands and just don’t work! Ha The other thing that’s happened is that you can upgrade it. You can buy an interface to remove the switch mode power supply and add a linear power supply. This costs from around £300, depending on the Power supply you use. This then elevates the performance to something that genuinely competes with CD players that cost thousands a few years ago - especially if you add a decent dac. Kelvin, survive the lockdown and have a Merry Christmas. I really enjoy your channel. Cheers
Kelvin, I've nearly completed my hifi set up, amp NAD 3225PE, turntable Dual cs505, cd player Marantz cd65II. And a Dual cassette deck. Also got a pair of SMC speakers, picked these up in the same village I live in and they were made about two miles from my house, get this the showroom was 2 miles in the other direction! Back in the 70s! One owner from new. I intend to get it all set up in the new year and will do a video for CZcams. Every time I think about how local these speakers are I have a chuckle every time.
Yamaha Wxad-10 for £99 has a bloody fantastic sounding Burr Brown DAC....superb for adding in wireless streaming... especially Tidal Masters and Quboz Studio
I’m a great fan of the Yamaha wxad-10 too. I use it as the basis for my office set up and when I’m banished out of the living room for “call the midwife” and such. Combined with a Cambridge topaz sr10 receiver and revolver avf floorstander speakers, the whole lot cost less than £250 on eBay and sounds amazing for the money. The Yamaha really is a bargain.
@@richardmanning4090 I wish it had an optical input or two and I wish it supported AmazonHD....instead of Deezer and Napster, but, at £99 it seems churlish to complain.
As always kelvin you tell it as it is brilliantly. Love the point if it’s rare and old it could be rubbish 🤣
flixportal xD
Excellent video. Great points. I love cruising the local pawn shops for good deals. Most pawn shops will also agree to give you a warranty. And don't forget, everything is negotiable. I just picked up an old Yamaha receiver for about $130, and they gave me a month warranty. I hooked it up to some Polk speakers I had sitting around, and the thing sounds great in my garage with a subwoofer.
It’s Christmas 2020 and I just found your channel. I have a classic system, a modern system and a mixed one. I have that Node 2i connected to a Cambridge Topaz SR20 driving ESS AMT-1C’s from about 1978. I really enjoy the kit
Shops? Oh yes, I remember those.
Awful places where other humans would bustle around before heading for a coffee in a similar ‘social setting’. Horrifying how primitive we used to be!
My office set up was a Kenwood KR-7050, JBL 4313b's and an Auris Blume bluetooth dac ($120 US). Really satisfying. Thank you for bringing up this topic, so many awesome vintage speakers that still stack up well against new mass market kits.
Also would say I agree with the modern(ish) amp with big speakers. One of my favorite combos was Acoustic Research AR9 LS with Mark Levinson ML331 - choice.
Hi Kelvin, I totally agree with you that adding a streamer to vintage stereo is the most cost effective way to enjoy music. A few years ago I could only listen to internet radio via a Yamaha AV amp until I bought a used Oppo BDP-105D player. Now I can play my CDs and SACDs as well as streaming TIDAL via the 105D and control it through my smartphone. Certain technology enable us to access to music easier and cheaper but good vintage stereo gears make the 1 & 0 sound more musical. Thank you again for the video. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas my friend
Older speakers often mean having to replace the foam. This is an easy task but could result in a poor outcome if you get an uneven attachment. I have had to change the foam on speakers from the early 80s to early 00s. The last attempt just failed in the speakers for a 2003 car and I ended up replacing the whole speaker.
Even firms with a good track record of repairing older equipment will eventually make a cut off point. Electronics over 10 years old can be difficult to get fixed and the fix not last for long and the repair costs add up rapidly. Other than the inconvenience of sending them off to some tech guru who will still fix them a top model of 20 years ago may still save for years to come over a lesser performing and more expensive recent model.
Yes I’ve done a fair bit of re-foaming maybe 10 drivers in all the first one I sweated a lot.
And one just didn’t work because it had a fault with the coil not because I misaligned it
Nice tip!
got me an ifi Zen Blue for my workshop system seasoned with some hi-res tidal plan on a smartphone , it nailed me for hours just getting through all that music I played 10-15 years ago on mp3 . Cheers from Kyiv!))
Picked up a beautiful pair of J M Reynaud Cantibile floor stand loudspeakers for a cool £600 from 2008. They're now my main system. Sublime mid-range. What to do with my Klipsch RP-600M? OFFICE SYSTEM: I found a technics SU-z400 amplifier almost free and Bluetooth to Aux. This amp has loudness and incredible bass! Blown away!!!!!!! The phono works well too. Klipsch speakers work very well with Vintage amplifiers...
Interesting sounds good
I am happy to have gotten my hands on a chromecast audio before it was discontinued. Now it is going for double the price on eBay.
Wow that looks like the Marantz 2265B that l use to own. Before a got my Audiolab 6000n streamer l used the Audioengine B1 Bluetooth streamer and hooked up to my old school ARC LS 15 tube pre amp via RCA It was great as everything was controlled through my smart phone
I did this using the Arylic S50pro, this is a great streamer at an unbeatable price (around £140, beats others costing 3 times more). Paired it with a pair of B&W DM10's around £30 from eBay, and a 1978 Mitsubishi system (£45 eBay) that has 75wpc......sounds awesome. You would have to spend a hell of a lot on modern stuff to beat it!👍
Very clear and correct explanation. Completely agree do not need to spend thousands and thousands to have good hi-fi.
Finally got my one Hitachi Hma 8500 and Celestion Dittons 442 and will connect them together. Any recomendation about the streamer ? Thanks and enjoy the sound…
Classic yeah “have got cables” lol. Can’t wait to check out the streamer you got.. the chromecast audio I got for £30 was nobrainer but just as I bought it they were discontinued...
New subscriber here. I just wanted to say hello to you and everyone, from Fall River, Massachusetts in the USA. I look forward to seeing more of your videos!
Cheers Leo hello from London
Rocking Roon equipment and fancy Dac's. But still use my Denon 1315R from the 90`s. Mixing old and new is part of the fun. :) And i do love my Denon.
HI Kelvin, I've got one as well, love the interface. I'm using mine with an external DAC (Khadas Tone Board) which I feel improves the quality with Qobuz,
Running a iFi Zen Blue into a Yamaha CR600 out of KLH Model 32's here!
Hi Kelvin great advice as usual but just like when lps became popular again and everyone thought their 20 years in the loft albums are worth a fortune I'm seeing the price of older Hifi going up as well. Have a good Christmas buddy and looking forward to your next video.
I use the sonos port with my vintage technics...love it!!! 80s receivers
@David Mander I have it inside and outside...all different models and it has been flawless...always updating in the background...stays connected...and sounds great for the convenience of it all...I also have 5 2 Channel systems with turntables in my home for the 80 sanalog/vinyl sound which I also adore...what sucked was the wireless Bose...they Never stayed connected....that was overpriced junk...Happy Holidays! Cheers! - I just Love Music! We all have our preferences...:
fyi: Sometimes I just want to run music from my phone...and also listen to an album before I purchase the Vinyl...
I bought a second hand Sonos Connect a couple of years ago. It packed up recently (just after Sonos stopped supporting it...) so I am looking for an alternative cheap way to stream from my NAS. I don’t want to spend £500 on the bluesound note 2i Kelvin has in this video. Any cheaper alternatives?
@David Mander it’s not the best audio quality (not hifi), but it’s not junk. You pay for the consumer convenience. The advantage of Sonos is the ease of setup, decent app and integrability of the different units.
@@richardsinger01 I have a Sonos Connect that is still working...They are still supporting it here in the us....have you tried it recently? They pulled back from that decision...still supported! If not, I'll have to buy the Port @ 449$ here...Cheers...Happy Holidays!!! from across the Pond!
I stream music from my Apple TV 4K through a Schiit Modi 3 DAC , a 70s Pioneer SA-7500 integrated and a pair JBL Studio 530s and it sounds glorious.
Great video. Always love hearing your thoughts. Hope lockdown it treating you well. 👍
Kelvin, I’ve had that BlueSound streamer for several months. It’s the real deal. It connects through WiFi and I use my iPad to control it through its app. It is solid on the network and never drops off. It’s only slight drawback to me is the app. The interface to the streaming services aren’t great to create playlists. I found I have to use the Amazon Hi-Res app for playlist creation then I go back to BlueOS to play the music. Also, no info on sample rate. It just tells you HR or CD. Small nits really.
Hi Steve. That is the most annoying thing about the Bluesound app. As you say though it’s a very minor gripe. Some streaming services circumnavigate that now though. If you use Spotify (I know not hi res) or Tidal, you can now stream directly to the Node 2i from their apps. It’s called Connect. I’m sure Amazon HD will follow suit eventually.
@@jim586 Hi Jim, Amazon has the function through Airplay. Except, it has a limitation of 24/48 sample rate. Not terrible but certainly not 24/192 or even 96. I’m old so I don’t I if I can hear it but I want to 😂. Plus AirPlay makes you reconnect on every pause. That’s really annoying! So that’s why I use the BluOS. Curious do you know a better method? Love to know...
@@stevezeidman7224 Hello Steve. Yes, if you play either Spotify or Tidal using their Connect functionality in their own apps the music/signal comes from the Node 2i and NOT the iPhone/iPad. The benefits are that you can play hi res but most importantly the standard sound is better and if the phone rings the music continues to play. Cheers
I have a great device to add to an older reciever, the Ifi Zen Blue Dac for $129, give you quality bluetooth and decent DAC and streaming from your Phone
I have been using a Marantz 2285 and the Bluesound Node2i for a couple of years along with Roon and Tidal. I just love using the old and the new and I think it sounds awesome.
You’re right Richard I think I underplayed it I should’ve said this is a fucking brilliant idea
If you can do you have a favourite between room and tidal sound wise
Or is there nothing in it
K
@@stereoreviewx I use Roon for the music I ripped from my CD’s to my Mac based Roon Server along with Tidal. We don’t have QoBus in Canada yet. Now that Bluos has released Tidal Connect I am using Tidal more that way. I do like the way Roon catalogues music its very good for that.
I'm using a Bluesound node 2i connected to Sansui au 317 or Sansui 661, listening music through Canton CT 2000 speakers. The music soundstage, the drums, bass, vocals.. seems like as the performer is in my listening room.
Sounds good I’m a massive Sansui fan if you don’t know.
K
@@stereoreviewx Me too! I like your reviews K. Best regards!
Be careful lad, ye head's a tad too close to blue balls! Always enjoy your content!
I see that Arcam over there so you got my attention. I only recently put my 8P in a box after installing a D-Sonic amp in it's place. I had forgotten how g'damn musical that 8P was until I put it back in the rig a few months ago. Left that in for quite a bit. I also can't believe it's still working perfectly after all these years, as it's at least 20 years old. Vintage McIntosh is still "good" if the caps haven't taken a sh!t on ya.
You can get a cheap mobile headphone amp that is a DAC for your smartphone. Plugs in to your smartphone USB then use a headphone Jack to 2 RCA converter plug and attach to your amp. I found it as good as my old Cyrus dADQ CD player.
I'm running a big juju c class 88 amp and some nice seal 6.5 9 watt speakers double teamed with TAK umbert under streamer from KOK audio round the back by the bins
Rarity could also be a sign of poor quality resulting in few survivors.
Talking about old speakers I remember my Celestion Ditton 15's,2 way, with an auxiliary bass radiator.
I couldn't stand how dull and recessed they were and replaced them with the B&W DM 110's which I liked.
Kel- love your vids. Would love go to Pub with you someday and pick your brain. Keep up the great work
Cheers Richard
Just found your channel recently and enjoying it but I might have to stop watching your videos as I fear you might start costing me money 😂😂 Best wishes from Glasgow
I used to have a Linn Classik with some B&W bookshelf speakers. I loved it and now wonder if I could buy one (they are around £250 on eBay) and hook it up to a streamer as I am now a Spotify customer. What do you think? It will be for my garden room/office which is 5x3.5m. I long for the days of HiFi as I am now slumming it with a Bose BT speaker
You always review vintage english speakers. Can you review vintage altec's, acoustic research, klipsch or jbl's (you know the americans!)?
I certainly will if I get my hands on them they are here in Britain just not so many
The large Japanese companies imported a lot of equipment to the UK during the 70s. Products from other nations including USA, Germany, Italy and France largely unheard off even if your map was dotted with every good hi-fi shop in the south of England.
There was also the claim that British hi-fi sounded different and to British tastes. Certainly there was a huge difference in sound between the British products and those from Japan and Germany with the likes of Naim, Linn, Meridian, Rega, A&R (Arcam), Mission and Quad having more in common across price points than their overseas competitions.
Maybe it was a media (hi-fi press) thing and not so real. It changed in the 80s and in the 90s a very different range and most British firms being bought out by their more successful competitors.
The music has changed. Modern popular music is more the same where ever it is produced, less experimental and has less wide ranging dynamics than we had in the 70s.
We have people who happily listen on tinny earphones and highly compressed audio from pocket devices and not through quality headphones or hi-fi systems. Tiny pods and mono speakers to stream radio at 64Kbps. Convenience rules over quality.
I only have vintage save money that way
Did you connect the streamer to amplifier using rca cables ? Would it be possible to maybe do a video of you using the streamer with vintage audio?
Hi Kelvin, please do thevideo about the streamer, also do you ever listen to the NAD 90? Looks similar to that Marantz! would you pair it with Infinitysm 152 speakers?
The speaker tip is spot on, I bought my Jamo floor standers from the countryside because I knew I Stood my chance getting them cheap.
Also check out the other shopping sites sphock, gumtree solely due to lack of traffic (ebay is full of too many people and all now bidding in the last seconds using sniper tools)
I enjoyed ebay with last second bids for years but its harder and harder now.
Don't forget your cables LOL
Could you up the soundoutput a bit, its low on the iPad.
I nearly forgot, I had a question. Is there anything I should add to my setup that I haven't mentioned? Apart from the obvious cabling. Cheers
I call this the year of "Back to the Future"...I got this 1Mii BT 5.0 transmitter receiver $65 to stream from my BT 5.0 phone to a few vintage Pioneer SX and Kenwood receivers! I waited for aptX HD so FLAC is POSSIBLE now! No more mp3's streaming for me...I don't need som ugly new $1500 receiver to sound gud. I'm picking up a pair of Pioneer CS-53 and SX-424. I'm still looking for a Marantz but they are too overpriced. I don't believe you need to spend $$$ like som retired audiophile t oget gud sound!
How about Spotify music streaming via my laptop into a Dragonfly DAC into my NAD 3020 Aux in???
Thats the route I'm taking,Dragonfly Red ,except its going in to a factory refurbished Bryston .5B pre amp.
man spotify is poor quality, is like mp3. use better streem service which will gives you at least cd quality 44.1khz 16 bits. all spotify, amazon, youtube etc are crap. dont destroy your ear for s....t.
Hi Kelvin, another very enjoyable video, great subject matter and well delivered. I too bought a streamer quite recently, the Cambridge cxn v2 rather than the blue sound. Due to COVID ending up buying on spec, couldn’t compare the two but happy with purchase nevertheless. It is up there with (good) cd. What I didn’t got on with was Spotify. Both Tidal and Qobuz were way better. I took out introductory trials on all three. Spotify was binned very quickly on the basis of pure sound quality. Would be very interested to hear your verdict on the three, maybe Amazon HD as well. Shouldn’t cost anything as all are available on a months free trial. Another video?
Yeah I Gotta say the new sound streamer sounds Really good better than my arcam CD player
I don’t have a great CD player basically.
I tried Spotify compare to TIDAL TIDAL is clearly more detailed better mid range sharper.
Thanks for the feedback
Merry Christmas Kelvin
I suppose i'm the first one to view? liked? and comment?.. Hello from America...
@@toxtethogrady6334 Yes, I did.
Cables are for a high end shop what extended warranty is for Currys / Media Mart / Best buy
I bought some 12 gauge OFC speaker cable at 2quid a metre, absolutely the best sounding speaker cable I've ever bought at any price (admittedly I've never paid £100per m).
Why? It's the thickest. Plain and simple.
Shops will sell you a load of snake oil at £10+ a metre
love the mathmos lava lamp
Hi Kelv. Or just use a raspberry pi with a justboom dac running volumio, £60 total and a bit of computer work with instructions all over youtube, cheers.
Kelvin. I just purchased some used castle speakers for less than £300 in excellent condition. Today they would probably cost around £1200
Hey Chris what castle speakers did you get please I’m on the lookout for some myself you see let me know if they sound good and what they are many thanks Kelvin
@@stereoreviewx Hi Kelvin. They are the Harlechs. They can usually be picked up quite cheaply on Ebay and imo represent very good value. I have only listened to them for a short time but sound good, quite open sounding. I think I may be able to get more out of them though through biwiring or in particular biamping. Ideally I would like to put them further from the wall as being a floorstander they can be quite powerful sounding and could annoy the neighbours !
Video looks good. New camera?
No but new camera app believe it or not filmic pro makes a big difference I would’ve thought an iPhone 11 was good but no you need an app as well at least someone noticed cheers mate
My question is, should I replace that caps/etc in a vintage speaker to make sure the sound is as gud as it can be?
I wouldn’t change them unless things have gone wrong
A contemporary streamer connected to a well sorted vintage speaker and amp - might make any prospective audiophile under 25 utter the phrase "...imaging like a bastard..." again?🤔
I'm appreciating these bids man, I'm relatively new to all this and it's kinda odd to be able to take advantage of ppls experience in this way. CZcams is a game changer.
Im putting a vote in for a vid about ohms and matching amps up to speakers that have different ohm specifications (I don't really understand what ohms are tbh).
I'm looking at the 15ohm ls3/5a's and I'm trying to figure out if the ohm rating is a critical factor when considering amps.
Are there any Information sources you could point me towards to find out more about that?
Thanks.
You are the best.
Hi Kelvin if you get hold of Technics SB-G 500 speakers, can you review those please.
I certainly will
nice one, just a opinion about speakers, im currently changing my speakers from floorstanding into bookshelf. i sold my Gale 3040 and i bought Warfedale Diamond 10.1 as it has good reviews and award winning as well. the issue is that they sound strange. i never used bookshelf speakers so is it normal? i talking about £150 budget (im poor). is there any better in this price range? used one are concidered. im asking as i have 14 days to return as i bought them new one. thanks for help in advice.
Yes I don’t know lots about cheap modern speakers I quite liked the Q acoustics 3020 which are £150 quite lively the mid range was decent
Hard to tell what will sound good with all the possible variables amplifiers room sizes placement
K
Stream from your phone, get a Bluetooth device to plug into your amp/receiver. Cheap.
True
I thought it was just old American hippies that liked Poco, Neil Young, Caravan and the Eagles who used Lava Lamps.
You don't mention that with old speakers you would probably need to clean the old baked ferro fluid from the tweeters and replace it with fresh stuff.
Old tweeters like the T27 in the LS3/5a didn't use ferro fluid and some (including Andy Whittle, former chief designer at Rogers) thinks that tweeters sound better without it.
@@1jhnpennington I'm not sure I agree with him as I've not long changed the ferro fluid on an old pair of Mission 770s "I bought because the treble sounded Grey, and cymbals and hi hats sounded like a rolling pin hitting tinfoil. The sparkle is now back after I replaced the fluid.
@@fuckinellitsraymo I don't think we disagree. If the old tweeters originally used ferro fluid then I agree that it needs to be refreshed, but some tweeters such as the T27 never used it in the first place.
Why spend £500 on a streamer, get a £30 android box, most people will already have one,and a Topping DAC with one of the new chip's set £100,will probably sound better than a £500 streamer,some of these £1000 streamer's are still in production with Chip's from 3 year's ago
Why? Because it’s available for £400 new now. It’s a one box solution, no interconnects etc, you can stream at CD quality and higher and THE most important thing is that the software and interface works which many other systems don’t. Is that enough? Ha
What’s an android box? What do you mean?
I was LITERALLY talking to a friend today about "how the hell" do you stream to a vintage receiver? :) TYVM
I just connect aux from my smart tv to my receiver to play youtube and spotify
Yes you can plug into aux or tuner or cd
That reminded me of the old way... sort of. Many years ago we used to stream from a portable CD player to the car radio. It used a little transmitter. It worked, but the sound wasn’t very good.
Any thoughts on sansui au 7700?
Kind of pointless to put hours on your Vintage receiver listening to compressed streaming content. I run the cheapie Chinese amp for that.
What is a streamer, what does it do?
You don't need one.
Basically a streamer covers the link to streaming services like Tidal and Spotify. They stream music and you can make up your own play list and select level of quality (bit rates) with even some hi-res audio available. They need broadband Ethernet or wi-fi to a network provider. They usually can stream (select) a play list from your computer, network server, tablet, laptop or mobile phone. Some play internet radio. A remote or mobile phone controls selection and set up. Output to RCA analogue and either Toslink or Coxial to a DAC or digital/active speaker.
@@geraldmcmullon2465 thanks for the reply,and yes your right I don't need one.
there seems to a lot of cambridge audio amps, cd players for sale , are they any good? fed up with with modern all in one's or soundbar, want to get back into separates, last amp i had was a nad 3020 but that was sold probably 20 years ago! i also had tannoy floorstanders, and a technics turntable.
Well I reviewed the Cambridge CD player recently I really didn’t like it but I did quite like the a 340 amp quite good not really
Good
Generally speaking I’m not impressed with that make the NAD3020 would just have more life more dynamism
I have a Cambridge Audio entry level A1 amp which I would highly recommend.
I did not expect such good performance from an amp based around a TDA 1514 chip.
@@stereoreviewx When the NAD3020 was new it was liked for not colouring the sound. It was neutral and for a low powered low cost amp seriously out performed well beyond the asking price. The low cost might also have been down to less reliable - long term - electronics. 40 plus years on and I suspect it would need some serious over hauling to be up to the original sound. Better built electronics from the hi-end companies have needed their capacitors to be changed so not unexpected.
Yes I would say you are right there
Dear audiophiles and music lovers. The 2020 has been a tough year but we somehow made it. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you have some time for music enjoyment take a look of my humble suggestions. For the audiophiles. 1 Cassandra Williams Strange Fruits 2 Yosi Horikawa Babbles 3 Jack Marshall, Shelly Manne S'posin' 4 Christian McBride Night Train 5 Hok-man Yim Poem of Chinese Drums. 6 AR Rahman Dacoit Duel 7 Brian Bromberg My Bass 8 Arca Mutant 9 Malia, Boris Blank Magnetic Lies 10 Nenad Vasilic Bass Drops And for those in search of pure musical bliss with style follows 1 KC and the Sunshine Band Get Down Tonight 2004 remaster 2 Herbie Hancock Cantaloupe Island 3 T he Manhattan Transfer The Cantaloupe 4 Dina Blade Quando quando quando 5 Bing Crosby Louis Armstrong Bye bye blues 6 The King's Singers Good Vibration 7 Laid Back Bakerman 8 Yello Starlight Scene 9 Tony Esposito Kalimba De Luna 10 Black Wonderful Life HAVE A GREAT TIME AND DON'T PISS OFF YOUR WIVES AND NEIGHBORS WITH TOO MUCH LOUD MUSIC. Drink responsibly and stay safe.
Thanks Benjamin I’m going to check some of those tracks out for sure Merry Christmas to my friend
What streamer is that looking for one myself. Great vids btw
It is a blue sound node 2i it cost £500 it’s really good I’ve got to say and I will review it soon.
Maybe I spoke too soon it might just be the use of Hi-Rez title or Hi-Rez Spotify if I plug my iPad straight in to the the differences are questionable but I’m working on this now so maybe I should hold fire on my opinion.
The advantage of the streamer if you get to sit on the settee and pick songs on your iPhone .
This is what it seems to me right now
@@stereoreviewx but I can also sit and operate my iPad or MacBook with my phone whilst sat on settee
I have been considering whether to get a Bluesound.
@@stereoreviewx what would be interesting is also the ability to play from multiple sources including a usb hard drive with flac formatted files. Lol perhaps not interesting for everyone
Please stop waving your hand around.
buy a $75.00 refurbished Dell notebook and get a library card and rip library cd's into the notebook and buy a Schiit DAC for $100 to get that analogue sound going into the vintage amp
Yeah, great idea... 50 million albums later. Drink up.
@@jim586 not to mention illegal.
The streamers not going to be problematic really? Have you never had router, WiFi, and sundry other Internet problems. I like watching your videos but you do make some stupid statements. And the Arcam amps are prone to the selector switch crackling.
With todays measurements people hate vintage speakers dont even listen just lookin at measurements bs
no argument from me on that
Far far too too many commercials- -can’t take it!
Just plug in your iPhone / iPad...even cheaper and stream away with many more options.......
OK if you have a spare iPhone knocking around, but if you want decent hi fi sound an iPhone is not going to be good enough.
I have 6 docked iPhones / iPads connected to my 6 systems around the house (all different rooms). I am very happy with the 320K sound quality I get from my paid CZcams Music subscription service. No need for a DAC here. Just different strokes I guess.....Happy Holidays with lots of listening forthcoming!!
Yes my old iPad sounds better than my iPhone 11 for sure which surprised me The stream it does sound better though quite clearly for £500 I expect it to cheers K
@@stereoreviewx
It is a great device some might say “a game changer “.
This mainly down to that the software and interface actually work! There are components that have been thousands and just don’t work! Ha
The other thing that’s happened is that you can upgrade it. You can buy an interface to remove the switch mode power supply and add a linear power supply. This costs from around £300, depending on the Power supply you use. This then elevates the performance to something that genuinely competes with CD players that cost thousands a few years ago - especially if you add a decent dac.
Kelvin, survive the lockdown and have a Merry Christmas. I really enjoy your channel. Cheers