Hi Fi system

beed84

What, so all the CDs I've bought and ripped to iTunes means its illegal for me to listen to them on iTunes? I feel as though I've misunderstood something.

Rocker

Never heard a NAD powered system but the consensus is that they are good amps.  Arcam and Musical Fidelity are amps to consider too.  Beware of a sound that 'impresses'  This is likely to irritate after a few months.  Better for an amp to sound a bit 'dull' for the opposite reason of avoiding buying a 'bright' sounding amp.

Speakers are the area that the greatest differences will be heard.  I lifted this quote from another website as it says it all better than I could:

"Reproducing instruments recognizably is not difficult, most speakers can do that. Getting the actual timbre, scale and space information is a different thing altogether. Keeping the different instruments separate and being able to hear each one as a unit as one can do in a live setting, is the mark of a great speaker."

It is best to try the chosen speakers in your room as part of your system before purchasing them.  Electrically almost any speaker will work with almost any amp.  Working is one thing, sounding great is another.  You are best advised to consult a hi-fi dealer about speakers.  He will know what will work best for you.  Hi-fi dealers are not stuck way up in the clouds, they are in business to make money.  Your money is as good to them as anyone elses, make them work for it.

Rocker

I have always felt that the "law" usually manages to get it wrong @ICBM.  How on earth is such a law to be enforced?  Makes me wonder what planet the court judges inhabit.

ICBM

beed84 said:

What, so all the CDs I've bought and ripped to iTunes means its illegal for me to listen to them on iTunes? I feel as though I've misunderstood something.

No, you haven't. In order to stay legal you must now delete all your ripped files and re-purchase them as downloads from iTunes if you want to listen to them without actually playing the CD.

Rocker said:

I have always felt that the "law" usually manages to get it wrong @ICBM.  How on earth is such a law to be enforced?  Makes me wonder what planet the court judges inhabit.

Exactly. They have just turned the law into an ass, particularly as for some time it *has* been legal.

Do they really expect millions of people to now delete most of their music libraries?

The irony is that for once it was the UK government that got it right by legalising ripping for personal use, and the court which has now got it wrong - usually it's the other way round. Hopefully the government will either appeal or re-legislate.

Toon

I've bought a few things from these guys over the years. Great prices and, as has been said, second hand is good. Most of the stuff they have has been well looked after by hi-fi nuts who have upgraded to the latest stuff and sold their previous perfectly good stuff to these folks.

boogieman

Gassage has a s/h NAD amp for sale in the classifieds. That would make a good starting point for a system. I agree on the Rega Planar deck suggestion, they're very good bang for the buck.

I would honestly go for a new CD player. Maybe I've had bad luck but I've had two go bad on me in the past, so I think it's worth the extra cost of buying new. Try to audition them if you can: despite being a digital source, they do sound very different from make to make. Phil mentioned Marantz, which usually get good reviews everywhere and are supposedly an easy listen. Personally I found them a bit sterile sounding and slightly too trebly. I went for Denon (originally, now have a Cambridge Audio). Goes to show everyone's ears differ. The same goes for speakers.

As ICBM says, don't get hooked into the hype and go mad on interconnects, especially speaker cables. There's an awful lot of snake oil around speaker cable but you can get decent results with just bell wire. My stuff is a heavier gauge but still only cost a quid a metre. It sounds perfectly good to me.

Phil_aka_Pip

Rocker said:

I have always felt that the "law" usually manages to get it wrong @ICBM.  How on earth is such a law to be enforced?  Makes me wonder what planet the court judges inhabit.

or what they're on

ICBM

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Rocker said:

Makes me wonder what planet the court judges inhabit.

or what they're on

Presumably the same things that are banned despite millions of people using them and ample evidence that the law is not only an ass there too, but counterproductive.

Although to be fair that's the politicians rather than the judges. It really does make you wonder which are more divorced from reality though.

digitalscream

ICBM said:

beed84 said:

What, so all the CDs I've bought and ripped to iTunes means its illegal for me to listen to them on iTunes? I feel as though I've misunderstood something.

No, you haven't. In order to stay legal you must now delete all your ripped files and re-purchase them as downloads from iTunes if you want to listen to them without actually playing the CD.

Are you sure about that? Everything I've read makes it illegal to rip CDs, but not to own ripped copies (although it's obviously illegal to share those copies).

ICBM

digitalscream said:

ICBM said:

beed84 said:

What, so all the CDs I've bought and ripped to iTunes means its illegal for me to listen to them on iTunes? I feel as though I've misunderstood something.

No, you haven't. In order to stay legal you must now delete all your ripped files and re-purchase them as downloads from iTunes if you want to listen to them without actually playing the CD.

Are you sure about that? Everything I've read makes it illegal to rip CDs, but not to own ripped copies (although it's obviously illegal to share those copies).

Ah, so you mean it would still be legal to keep ripped copies that were done while it was legal for a while? That's good to know, that means I can probably keep about 5% of my music library. Or that it would be legal to own ripped copies that you didn't do yourself, even if someone else broke the law by doing it? That's probably another 10%. Or is it OK to have ones you did even when it was illegal, given that they legalised it and then re-illegalised it?

If so that's a relief. As long as I never buy another CD and rip it I'm in the clear.

Just in case it isn't obvious, I have no intention whatever of stopping buying CDs and ripping them. The whole thing is a total farce and the only possible practical outcome it could have is to further reduce CD sales, if anyone is foolish enough to take it seriously.

crunchman

I think the government will legislate on this.  I think they did it before by amending some regulations attached to the legislation.  If they actually passed primary legislation then I imagine that the courts might look at it rather differently.

Sometimes I think we would be better off if we shipped all the lawyers to North Korea. 

Phil_aka_Pip

crunchman said:

Sometimes I think we would be better off if we shipped all the lawyers politicians hairdressers and telephone sanitisers to North Korea. 

fixed

Rocker

Law or no law, I am sticking with my FLAC or WAV ripped Cds, I still have the Cds but some are stored in the attic. It is much easier to select songs on my iPad.

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

beed84 said:

In terms of 'classic' hifi then I'd argue that a NAD 3020e amp and a Rega Planar 3 turntable running through a decent set of speakers will give a lot of new stuff of similar ilk a run for their money.  I know because that's what I own. Very happy I am too.

I have an NAD 3020 and a Rega Planar 3 (and a Rega Planar 2) and I would agree. I have a small room in which I have a Regar Planar 2, NAD 3020, Denon CD player and cassette deck, Yamaha graphic equaliser and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond speakers .. it actually sounds warm and focused. Not loud but a great sound.

I've had my NAD3130 for a decade now hooked up to some Silver 5L monitors and it's done a great job. Everything goes through an external DAC (SPL Crimson) which is excellent. 

beed84

Good to see a lot of NAD 3020/3130 love here. It really is a cracking amp. When and if mine goes pop, I'll probably replace it with another. Proof is in the pudding @koneguitarist.

octatonic

I am building a system as well- we are moving house and I will have a dedicated room just for music listening (the luxury).

I was thinking of this: http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/roksan/kandy-k2/roks-k2-amp-blk

paired with these:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/focal/chorus-716/foca-chor-716-blk

Rocker

@Octatonic, you really have to hear the combination yourself. It is your ears that decide. What does it matter if the whole world disagrees with your choice? If you like it, buy it.

duotone

octatonic said:

I am building a system as well- we are moving house and I will have a dedicated room just for music listening (the luxury).

I was thinking of this: http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/roksan/kandy-k2/roks-k2-amp-blk

paired with these:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/focal/chorus-716/foca-chor-716-blk

If your spending that kind of money, then definitely audition it at a shop. The thing I have found with richer sounds in the past is that they won't have it in store to try out and has to be ordered online.

jamiexsilver

You can't go wrong with Cambridge Audio systems,
I picked up a a1 mk3 amp the 551p phono preamp the s30 speakers for under £200 all 2nd hand. I have plans to upgrade the amp, not because there's anything wrong with it but I'm lazy and want to control the volume with a remote.
Turntable wise the project debut range are the best bang for the buck. They're quite fiddly to set up though but there's video how too's on YouTube.

Then join discogs and watch your bank balance rapidly decrease!