Hi
Hi, tried to post the message below on Saturday but it doesn't seem to have appeared so perhaps second time lucky, here goes:
Hello, just joined today after being pointed in this direction over on Pink Fish in a thread I'd started covering my refoaming a pair of Royd Sevens. I was told there are a few Royd fans over here, which sounds good to me
Anyway, I've really only recently got back into decent hi-fi but dipped my toes in the water back in the 90s and took far too much notice of magazine reviews and 5 star awards. That coupled with a dealer who didn't guide me in the right directions meant I ended up with a system I was never that happy with, then along came kids and other distractions and I kinda lost my way.
Since getting back into it I've managed to pick up a few items I really like second hand and now have the following modest but dare I say decent sounding systems:
Main:
Rega Planar 3 Turntable
Marantz CD52 MkII SE CD Player (had it for years and now only used as a transport, I recently replaced the drawer mechanism after it disintegrated which is a common problem with these)
Pure i20 Dock (taking lossless digital from my 160GB iPod Classic)
TEAC UD-H01 DAC (being fed the digital stream from the Marantz via coax and the Pure via optical)
Denon TU-260L Tuner
TEAC V-510 Cassette Deck (very old this one and I've had it for ages but despite having few tapes I just can't bring myself to tuck it away in a dusty cupboard and resale value is probably about nil)
Creek 4040S2 Amp
Rega Ela Mk 1.25 Speakers (these are the ones with the half fluted cabinet and Royd drivers)
Second system (office)
Onkyo ND-S1 Dock (used with the same iPod as above)
Rotel RA-930AX Amp (another item I've had for years)
Royd Seven Speakers (the ones I've just fixed up )
As I say it's modest but the sound is vastly better now than it has ever been and no offence to fans of Mission but I think in my system the major blockage was my use of the 760i and then the 780 for many years. With the Rega Elas and Royd Sevens there's been a quite staggering transformation to my ears!
Anyway, I plan to play around with things more because I guess that's what happens when the bug hits you! I'd love to try some Royd Minstrels in my main system and am toying with the idea of getting a Nait 3 for that too. I'd then move the Creek, which is lovely, into the office system and the Rotel, which now is actually not bad with the Royds (it was awful with the Missions), out. After that I think I might be looking at some Planar 3 upgrades but that's a whole other can of worms eh! I also want to get my head round computer streaming as I'm slowly but surely ripping my CDs to hard drive and it seems like the way of the future. I have an old Macbook I can use for starters and plan to do a clean install of Snow Leopard and upgrade the RAM at the same time with as much as it'll take.
With the second system I'd like to swap the Onkyo out and get another Pure i20 which will allow me to pull a digital stream form the iPod and let me give give give something like the FiiO D3 DAC which seems like a potentially massive bargain at under £30 and is getting some very positive comments around the forums.
On the way I may well pick up the odd lost and broken Royd I think and try some first aid on them, doing the Sevens has given me rather a taste for it!
Music tastes are pretty wide, I love Jazz, Rock, Indie and electronic stuff and occasionally listen to a bit of classical and folk (I'm originally form Scotland so like all that stuff) - to be honest it's difficult to say much more than that but I don't like badly recorded stuff (recently just about barfed when I tried to listen to a couple of Killers albums I got in a charity shop!). I have a big soft spot for Pink Floyd I guess but there's so much more as well and far too much to list. Today I've been listening to Badly Drawn Boy, Alela Diane, Ray LaMontagne , Anima, FSOL and Biosphere and later I might do some Bjork and Nickelback - hows that for eclectic!
So there you go
BTW, if you want to have a read/look that thread I mentioned on my Royd Sevens (complete with lots of photos) [url=http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125690]is here[/url]
Hello, just joined today after being pointed in this direction over on Pink Fish in a thread I'd started covering my refoaming a pair of Royd Sevens. I was told there are a few Royd fans over here, which sounds good to me
Anyway, I've really only recently got back into decent hi-fi but dipped my toes in the water back in the 90s and took far too much notice of magazine reviews and 5 star awards. That coupled with a dealer who didn't guide me in the right directions meant I ended up with a system I was never that happy with, then along came kids and other distractions and I kinda lost my way.
Since getting back into it I've managed to pick up a few items I really like second hand and now have the following modest but dare I say decent sounding systems:
Main:
Rega Planar 3 Turntable
Marantz CD52 MkII SE CD Player (had it for years and now only used as a transport, I recently replaced the drawer mechanism after it disintegrated which is a common problem with these)
Pure i20 Dock (taking lossless digital from my 160GB iPod Classic)
TEAC UD-H01 DAC (being fed the digital stream from the Marantz via coax and the Pure via optical)
Denon TU-260L Tuner
TEAC V-510 Cassette Deck (very old this one and I've had it for ages but despite having few tapes I just can't bring myself to tuck it away in a dusty cupboard and resale value is probably about nil)
Creek 4040S2 Amp
Rega Ela Mk 1.25 Speakers (these are the ones with the half fluted cabinet and Royd drivers)
Second system (office)
Onkyo ND-S1 Dock (used with the same iPod as above)
Rotel RA-930AX Amp (another item I've had for years)
Royd Seven Speakers (the ones I've just fixed up
)As I say it's modest but the sound is vastly better now than it has ever been and no offence to fans of Mission but I think in my system the major blockage was my use of the 760i and then the 780 for many years. With the Rega Elas and Royd Sevens there's been a quite staggering transformation to my ears!
Anyway, I plan to play around with things more because I guess that's what happens when the bug hits you! I'd love to try some Royd Minstrels in my main system and am toying with the idea of getting a Nait 3 for that too. I'd then move the Creek, which is lovely, into the office system and the Rotel, which now is actually not bad with the Royds (it was awful with the Missions), out. After that I think I might be looking at some Planar 3 upgrades but that's a whole other can of worms eh! I also want to get my head round computer streaming as I'm slowly but surely ripping my CDs to hard drive and it seems like the way of the future. I have an old Macbook I can use for starters and plan to do a clean install of Snow Leopard and upgrade the RAM at the same time with as much as it'll take.
With the second system I'd like to swap the Onkyo out and get another Pure i20 which will allow me to pull a digital stream form the iPod and let me give give give something like the FiiO D3 DAC which seems like a potentially massive bargain at under £30 and is getting some very positive comments around the forums.
On the way I may well pick up the odd lost and broken Royd I think and try some first aid on them, doing the Sevens has given me rather a taste for it!
Music tastes are pretty wide, I love Jazz, Rock, Indie and electronic stuff and occasionally listen to a bit of classical and folk (I'm originally form Scotland so like all that stuff) - to be honest it's difficult to say much more than that but I don't like badly recorded stuff (recently just about barfed when I tried to listen to a couple of Killers albums I got in a charity shop!). I have a big soft spot for Pink Floyd I guess but there's so much more as well and far too much to list. Today I've been listening to Badly Drawn Boy, Alela Diane, Ray LaMontagne , Anima, FSOL and Biosphere and later I might do some Bjork and Nickelback - hows that for eclectic!
So there you go
BTW, if you want to have a read/look that thread I mentioned on my Royd Sevens (complete with lots of photos) [url=http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125690]is here[/url]
Comments
Welcome to Chews, and an apology. One of our anti-spam measures caught your posts and I didn't notice it had done so. All should be well now that I've identified you as a friend :-)
It's always good to find another Royd fan. There are some of us here if you look under the right stones :-)
I had a pair of Minstrels for yonks and then bought a pair or RR3s, which are boggling - quite the best small speakers I've heard at any price. I seem to remember Mr Brown had something to do with my acquisition ;-)
Funnily enough, I also have a pair of Missions on my desk in my office system, where they sound pretty good.
That's quite an introduction there, thanks for taking the time to share all that. I'm glad you are enjoying the hobby so much now, it amazes me how good music can sound with such 'modest' equipment (it's not modest at all, just undervalued). So much expensive gear seems to fail at actually playing music properly, it just seems to get in the way.
Anyway, enjoy your Royd odyssey (I see Minstrels in your future!) and your choons. BTW, did you know Joe Ackroyd used Nytech amps (as well as a Nait) to develop and then demo his speakers? I've always fancied hearing those.
Strange, isn't it, that the Cult of Royd just keeps on growing?
Don't get sucked in Rog'...!
@-)
Chris
Yeah I can definitely see Minstrels on the horizon but Royds seem to be suddenly fetching silly prices right now so I'll bide my time until it calms down.
Interesting what you say there Alan about Nytech amps, will have a think about those too - any idea what model/models would be good?
The cult of Royd eh ... the mind boggles, especially given I've seen the film those photos are from lol!
The next question is should I upgrade from the S2 in the main system and if so any suggestions?
How about the FiiO and a HiFace 2? That ought to be pretty blameless.
Kan stands with Royd standmounts - that's long been said to be a great combination.
HiFace 2 I'll research that one, at the moment I know noootheeng about it
I've had Nait 3s recommended and also the Exposure X and XV which I believe is warmer, have also been told the Nait can be quite harsh with digital sources which I guess is about 90-95% of what I listen to!
I'm actually starting to think the FiiO might be a bit basic (output wise) for what I'm after, so might go for a discounted DacMagic 100 instead, jury is still out on that but I think it might be about to come in!
Yeah, the Kan stands are pretty superb for sure ... although I know a man who said that proper Royd stands are better but they're almost as rare as hens teeth!
Hey uglymusic, any NVAs you'd recommend in particular?
At the moment I'm basically really on a voyage of discovery with the kit and making up for lots of lost time. I've been playing around with the 'second' system, or to be more accurate I should just call it my upstairs/office system since I'm listening to it far more than the other one at the moment, and to my inexperienced ears it's sounding pretty sweet. I've got a Pure i-20 feeding it now which even on it's own internal DAC sounds much better than the Onkyo (now packaged up to sell) and have a Dacmagic 100 arriving tomorrow. Have added some upgraded cabling and some sorbothane isolation too and today I've been playing with my TEAC UD H-01 in this system and it's damned good IMHO. I just hope the Dacmagic is as good when I swap it in and the TEAC goes back downstairs! I'm also adding in some Rega Quattro speaker wire which I hear is good stuff and I'm hoping will work well with the Royds and Creek. Found it for a more than reasonable price on eBay and am adding termination myself so very much a bargain in comparison to buying pre terminated lengths.
So I guess I'm coming to a point with that system where I'll stop faffing about and let it be for a while and maybe have a proper think about upgrading the downstairs system. As I've said the amp is something I'm thinking about there and, as I don't think I've said, the vinyl source is something else I need to consider. Have to admit that apart from old mono stuff which should be kinda crackly (at least in my mind) the extent of the crackles and pops on playback really annoy me far too often and takes me away from the music. Maybe I'm more suited to digital and there is no vinyl nirvana (at least not without spending thousands) or maybe I just need to do more washing (I've done quite a bit though), upgrade my cartridge and fettle the turntable, time will tell I guess!
Apologies for the rambling post ...