Budget Entry Level Audiophile Hifi

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by Astrophe

Carlton, I lived up in Cairns in the late 1970s. I bought quite a bit of gear through Targa Hi Fi. I guess they're not around anymore. Back then, they used to stock some really good gear. I recall buying a Fons turntable with an SME arm and Shure V15 type 1V cartridge from them. Fons was a Scottish brand and no longer in existence. A shame really, because they made excellent TTs. I must have spent quite a bit of money at Targa Hi Fi....Fons/SME/Shure were all fairly expensive back then. Cheers.

We moved to Cairns 15yrs ago, Navy posting... family never left although I had to a few times..

I remember Targa Hifi; there was also Cairns Hifi in Manunda & Stereo World on McLeod St near town... briefly, there was another high end HIFI shop opened in Cairns Central but, it didn't last long.

Sadly, they are all gone now.. The likes of JB Hifi & Harvey Norman pretty much took them out at the knees when they began stocking reasonable quality gear at prices the specialist stores just could not match...

Those hifi stores have probably been gone about 10 years now.. &, the chains responsible for their demise, don't even stock decent gear anymore unless you're in the market for a sound bar & not much else...

[glend (Glen)]

I saw a Utube video today which asked if 'Vintage' hifi gear superior to the modern stuff. It was mostly dealing with FM receivers, in this case it was the Pioneer SX-450 Stereo Receiver.
It seems that vintage hifi is a pretty serious thing for some folks, I saw a very nice reel to reel setup on another video. I did not think you could even buy quality tape anymore.

[rrussell1962]

Originally Posted by glend

I saw a Utube video today which asked if 'Vintage' hifi gear superior to the modern stuff. It was mostly dealing with FM receivers, in this case it was the Pioneer SX-450 Stereo Receiver.
It seems that vintage hifi is a pretty serious thing for some folks, I saw a very nice reel to reel setup on another video. I did not think you could even buy quality tape anymore.

My parents had a Pioneer Music Centre from the late 1970's, remember the flat slab with a tape deck, tuner, turntable and amplifier. Out of curiosity I hooked it up to the Kef Coda 2 speakers I had at the time. Holy Crap - it sounded really good! There is a lot of unloved vintage gear out there which sounds really good.

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by Astrophe

[I][B]Be interested in your impressions of the phono stage when it arrives.

The Mofi Studiophono phono stage finally arrived on Friday; hooked up to the TT & amplifier now so, Vinyl is back on the menu....

Relatively simple to setup, plug in the TT cables & ground wire, pair of semi decent interconnects from the PS to the Amp. Haven't played with any of the dip switches as (A) I have no idea what I'm doing & (B) it's a pretty bog standard MM cartridge/stylus so, pretty much leave it set out of the factory I figured.

Vinyl plus PS then on to tubes... hmmmm, sweet sounds (not withstanding dirty records)...

The mofi doesn't seem to add any colour although, I can't really say this definitively as my tube amp doesn't have a Phono stage inbuilt.

Couple of useful things on the Mofi; it has a 'Mono' switch which cancels out one of the channels if playing a recording that is mono. This removes the noise from the stylus reading in the vertical plain & now, having tried this feature on some older recordings, I have to say they sounded much warmer & all in all, more pleasing to the ear. So, this 'Mono' feature definitely seems like something useful rather than a techno gizmo with no meaningful use.

It also has a 'Subsonic' Switch, this removes inaudible sound signals.. it works... but, obviously you can't hear that it works. With the switch disengaged, you could at times see somewhat radical pulsing of the woofer drivers, with it engaged, this disappeared completely.... I'm guessing it will help the drivers not to stress or overwork too much.. I'm not really that sure.

Dip switches to adjust impedance & gain settings, they don't look overly user friendly, dip switches rarely are however, seems pretty standard on most of the Phono Stages I looked at. I don't necessarily see myself moving away from recognised MM carts/stylus to MC so, not sure if I will fiddle with these in the future or not... I understand that a tweak here or there can sometimes provide improvement to signal quality/frequency response.. I've never had this type of option before so, will take some reading before diving in...

Now looking at options for a new TT... can't afford a fortune. but, have found a few options that I think are worth more consideration:

Pro-ject Debut Carbon Evo, Music Hall MMF5.1 & Audio Technika LP7; they're in the money range I can afford so, if anyone out there has any experience with them, please let me know your thoughts...

Cheers

[Astrophe (John)]

Hi Carlton. Is this the phono stage you are talking about? https://www.mofielectronics.com/studiophono-phonostage

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by Astrophe

Hi Carlton. Is this the phono stage you are talking about? https://www.mofielectronics.com/studiophono-phonostage

That's the one John...

I now have an Acoustic Signature Primus TT with TA500 tonearm enroute... I've discovered HIFI's equivalent of IIS... Stereonet... some tasty gear going for generally good prices on there...

Found someone semi local who, is apparently considered a bit of a TT guru.. he's offered to help me set it up as well as put through some carts (he has 80 or so apparently)... to figure out a good, affordable match for my new acquisition...

[Astrophe (John)]

Great Carlton, sounds like you've fallen on your feet there. I was going to suggest a new TT, but you beat me to it. Yes, Stereonet has some wonderful members who will go out of their way to help you. Just be aware that Stereonet is not the same as IIS, because it is a commercial venture, somewhat masquerading as a community based forum. Alas, many things (in life) are not always what they appear to be. Don't be taken in. Good luck with your quest. John.

[JA]

Originally Posted by Astrophe

Great Carlton, sounds like you've fallen on your feet there. I was going to suggest a new TT, but you beat me to it. Yes, Stereonet has some wonderful members who will go out of their way to help you. Just be aware that Stereonet is not the same as IIS, because it is a commercial venture, somewhat masquerading as a community based forum. Alas, many things (in life) are not always what they appear to be. Don't be taken in. Good luck with your quest. John.

There is no masquerade John. I was a moderator there for ten years and can tell you that it started and remains a community based forum to serve the passion of its members, many of whom are hardcore audiophiles (the odd vidoephile too). Sure it looks professional and has advertising content, like many community based forums, but that is to support the running expenses of providing server hardware, good bandwidth, licensing, software and IT services to keep the forum running and looking fresh.

Additionally there are detailed policies that cover Commercial/Sponsor Members as well as general members. Beyond that there are quite obviously separate classified sections for Commercial/Sponsor Members and general members.

There's no masquerade. It's a wonderful community of like minded audiophiles that love to discuss their passion, sometimes passionately, but always respectfully. The friendships made just in the comradery of on-line discussions there, sees many members hosting get-togethers for their forum friends in their own homes. Now that .... is a community based forum !

Best
JA

[Astrophe (John)]

JA, I have no wish to turn Carlton's thread into a debate on the bona fides of Stereonet, but it is fairly common knowledge that Stereonet is a business, owned by one individual.

[DarkArts]

It's not unusual for a forum to be privately owned. I was a moderator for several years on one such forum. Someone has to pay for the hosting, and the costs are usually recouped through advertising. Frankly, our forum ran at a loss, but the owner was generous enough (still is) to carry the cost from his other real world business.

[Astrophe (John)]

DarkArts, quite right, but that is not exactly what I was getting at. Sure, many forums are owned by one or two people, but the forum in question is an adjunct (an add-on) of a commercial business called Stereonet. https://www.stereo.net.au/ which is owned by one individual. Members are invited to make donations to that forum, perhaps being unaware that it is a commercial business. I wouldn't mind a business where people made donations, willy-nilly. There is perhaps a lack of transparency there.