h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think the bass response issue might be your set-up in some way 2-legs. Vinyl is often renowned for its deep, deep bass, certainly in my set-up and of course this has always made it popular with club DJ's. Have you tried checking that your anti-skate and down-force control thingies on your arm are set OK and also that the deck is completely level? (yes I have been known to spend hours on my backside with a spirit level and screw-driver...)

I know that if I adjust my anti-skate control whilst a record is playing, the bass response changes in 'real-time'. That said, don't just go for the heaviest sound, as an incorrectly adjusted arm can damage the record and cartridge over time.

"tried checking that your anti-skate and down-force control thingies on your arm are set
OK and also that the deck is completely level? "
ahh... yeh, my turntable at the moment, isn't really high end enough to have such features (though I'm pretty sure it is level, as I did check that on putting it in its current location) - partly, of course, most modern, bass heavy stuff I have is just* on CD, its my older stuff, that I've got on vinyl (and often also on CD too) Mind, it depends which speakers I've got up... the MS at the moment arn't as bass heavy as the KLH, Celestions or quadrils, although they've got a wider stereoscape and better sound placement, and certainly work better on orchestral, Jazz, and choral stuff, than the other speakers, which are probably best off for pop, blues, rock, electronica etc...
Of course, if one really doesn't want to worry about sound quality, you can just become a fan of dubstep....

I've ended up with a pretty good set-up through chance really despite breaking the no.1 rule of buying hi-fi; that one should alway listen before buying because what sounds good in one room/ with certain components, wont with others. That's all well and good if you always buy new, as once I did. But years of being a mature student with cra**y jobs and only just earning a decent wage again recently, means I've had to take the word of on-line reviews.

On the whole it's worked out well As often stated, shockingly poor hi-fi doesn't really exist anymore as long as you're buying separates and not supermarket brand all-in-ones.

I've also been a good boy and followed the mantra of spending the most on source components on the basis that no matter how good your amp and speakers, it can't put back what's missing from the source. However i'm very tempted to, sometime soon, buy a *really* good pair of speakers. Till now I've only ever had 'budget' ones originally costing £1-150...

Most of my speakers are second-hand, old 70s ones... (true I've repaired and made em better myself, with rewiring, strengthening cabinates where required, putting on new binding posts etc, but heck, if I can do that, I'm certianly no DIY expert )
Best value ones were the Celestions, found by a friend, in a skip.... cost me a cheap bottle of cider (bartering is not dead) I had some decent cable lurking, which I rewired them with, bought a pair of binding posts for about £10 or £15, and, in the end, reused the origional crossovers in those... Mind, I still need to build 'new fronts' for them; I've got the grill fabric (£5 off EBay, and I'll only use about half), just need to steal beg or borrow some suitable wood and make some 'clips' to attach fronts to the cabinats Quadrils (circa 1990s ) cost me £80 off a friend, and the KLH (circa 1972), I bought for £560 along with a arcam amp thrown in for free I kinda wish I'd never bought the brand new set, the MS, as there is something I really like about taking an ancient old set, and 'making em good' as it were May need to spend some on the KLH ones soon though, the drive units are getting a bit ropy but I'll leave em in until they utterly die before replacing Everything cept the CD player, turntable and phono preamp was second hand... though quite why I need as many amplifiers as I seem to have is a bit of a mystory
MoMore expensive ain't always better; the cheap £20 set of interconnects I use between CD and amp, actually produce a more transparent sound, than using the pair of interconnects I spent twice that on (hmm, actually I think I didn't pay anything for the more expensive interconnects, I got them thrown in for free when I bought the MS speakers, new, from Richer sounds (they seemed a bit put out when I started bartering/haggling for the price of the speakers, but ultimately caved in with giving me the set of interconnects)

What I find interesting about the world of hifi separates is that we long ago reached the point in our house where I really can't hear much difference between the set ups my other half plays around with. They are all good. That one's tune is pretty catchy but oh dear god somebody needs to teach the bass guitarist how to play something a bit more twiddly whereas... damn, mind off the music Sol, what am I listening for again? Does the trumpet sound more brassy or sassy you say? Well, I dunno, but he didn;t hit that high note quite square.

B, however, is tone deaf and can't follow rhythm. It's always puzzled me why he is so into the whole technics scene, but I have come to understand that he focuses on what I suppose must be the *technical quality* of the sound. So the small differences make all the difference to him. We currently have three different sets of speakers downstairs and two more upstairs. With corresponding amps and such. I frequently am not sure how to actually play a cd, because he's rewired the system again.

It occurred that I may have given the impression that I consider everybody who is into their technics to have a tin ear, but this is not true. It is certainly true that this set up or that makes a considerable difference, but in our case we are talking about the difference excellent amp a and superb amp b make and that sort of thing, and trust me, it really is minimal. To my ears.

It all comes down to taste too, really... What sounds muddy to one person, is another's 'warm', And, at the end of the day, its meant to be about the music, and not which particular brand of gramaphone or wax cilender player one happens to chose to play it on OO... talking of wax cilenders... yes... I may be getting one, though BoB knows waht I'll find to play on it (more a curiosity item to own, than actually use)

Oh. BoB.

Right. anyone want to buy all my CDs? (about 5 or 6 hundred I think). Thanks to this thread, if nothing else... I actually cleared all the junk that was being 'stored' on top of my turntable, off... so I could get to it... and delved into the impossible to get in cupboard, where, naturally all the vinyl is impossibly tightly packed together... and dug out some LPs

ahh.
This may be why I've hardly listened to much music the past ocuple years, that just* sounds right.

I stuck on Chungar's revenge (Frank Zappa), and 'blew me away' isn't strong enough... so natural sounding, and, as someone I think said above, atually the bass through on it, was more than I get on my system than from a CD (I've got the same album on CD) and the mids just work together with the high frequcncys and bass as they should, and it just sounded 'natural' ... The spacial 'stereoness' of the instruments is more noticible too... not so 'muddied up' all in the middle of the sound stage So I've spent the past few days rediscovering albums that I've not heard in years (though many I have heard in that time, from CD, they're just that* differnt when off of the vinyl) A few more weeks working through all the Zappa LPs, and I can even try listening to some other groups