Sold my Dynaudio Focus 140 and downsized to KEF LS50 Meta. Super stoked.




My Christmas present to my wife was getting rid of the speaker stands, which she has always hated and suffered for 16 years. These fit on that shelf. I know, Speedie, it's sacrilege to put the speaker on the same furniture as the turntable.

Is $1300 local a good deal for a pair of B&W 801 Matrix S2 speakers? They’re so damn big and heavy it’s hard to compare on online listings.

tallchris wrote: Sun Mar 16, 2025 7:39 pm Is $1300 local a good deal for a pair of B&W 801 Matrix S2 speakers? They’re so damn big and heavy it’s hard to compare on online listings.

Pretty good, yes. If they're a fancy finish (not black), it is a really good deal. If they happen to have stands, buy 'em.

I think I paid $1000 for mine with Sound Anchor stands, but that seemed really cheap.

I'll never need other speakers, until I end up in a home someplace.
One thing to note: they take a lot of current. I think my amp is a couple hundred watts a side. You can do less but they respond well to headroom.

I am sorry in advance for mentioning the rest of this.

If you get these, and you ever see any North Creek crossovers made for the B&W 801 for sale, for less than the price of a well-kept 1990s Toyota, buy them.
I didn't get the outboard one$$$.
I got the Juniors (a mere $900!), which you wire in on the bottom of the speaker as a replacement for the existing crossover.
They look like someone made them at Home Depot, but wow. Not a subtle difference.
George Short is the guy--here's a thread on the crossovers on Audiogon, and here's George's LinkedIn. He's at Harman now. I'd drop him a line there if you get these things--maybe he can point you in the right direction. Super nice dude.

A few changes recently:

Bought a 1200 which was in not great condition (but cosmetically fine) for £280, fixed what needed fixing (arm adjustment grease had seized, spindle needed oiled, pop up light wasn’t working), sold my 1210 for £550.

Added a REL Q200e sub.

Changed cartridge to a VM740ML

Changed amp to a Roksan Kandy mk3

Got a Denon DCD850 cd player and a SMSL SU-1 dac.

Got an old Rotel tuner that looks cool and works. I have it on all the time, the glow from the fascia definitely adds to the experience.

In summary:

Technics 1200 w/AT VM740ML
Denon DCD850 into SMSL SU-1
Rotel RT-620 tuner
Roksan Kandy mk3
ATC SCM7s w/REL Q200e sub

Gramsci wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2024 10:03 am A Rega Planar One Plus
Sonos across the apartment with a Port streaming the turntable.
A Schitt Audio Headphone amp plugged into the Port Out for some EQing. I’m considering a Schitt EQ in front to better control the Sonos output which is limited.
Sony MX blah blah headphones but considering some Monolith M1060 as an upgrade. I was pretty surprised Sonos’ big headphones release wasn’t able to receive streamed audio from the Port. I would have brought if they had.

Anyone upgraded a Planar One to a Three? A quality increase?

the P3 is a significantly better turntable than the P1. The motor is better, the platter is heavier, the base is thicker for better isolation, but the biggest difference is the tonearm. the RB300 found on the P3 is the absolute standard bearer for a good less expensive tonearm. It is a pity you cannot easily adjust the tonearm height. Rega say that is not important, but we know that is bullshit. You can change the arm angle by putting shims under the giant 50MM nut, but not by much.

You are going to quickly outgrow the sonos as the heart of your system.

motorbike guy wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 10:49 am You are going to quickly outgrow the sonos as the heart of your system.

I've been testing the WiiM line of products for easy streaming around the house of hi-def digital music I have stored on the network. (They also work with airplay 2/ chromecast audio.) They've been pretty good so far. The app you can use to control them is significantly less shitty than Sonos' version, and the hardware itself seems nicer, though admittedly they don't do speakers (yet), just preamps and amps. I happened to have a few speakers and amps around already, so they worked well for me. YMMV.

Wood Goblin wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 11:17 am So after our recent upgrades, here’s what the hi-fi looks like:

Rega RP-1 turntable with an Ortofon Om 5e cartridge
Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 phono pre-amp
NAD C 541i CD player
Marantz PM7000N integrated amp
KEF LS 50 speakers

The TV runs through the amp with an optical line.

Updates:

The ProJect pre-amp stopped working after a couple years. Took it to a repair shop that couldn’t fix it and who said that ProJect’s support, when they tried to contact them, was worse than useless. A total ripoff, even though I bought it with points at B&H.

Our TV and stereo are now in different rooms, so we just use a soundbar. And you know what? It’s fine.

New additions since 2022:
A Victor VV-VI (from 1917)
A Victrola 4-3 (aka, a “consolette”; from 1927)

The 4-3 I just brought home today, and it kills.

motorbike guy wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 10:49 am

Gramsci wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2024 10:03 am A Rega Planar One Plus
Sonos across the apartment with a Port streaming the turntable.
A Schitt Audio Headphone amp plugged into the Port Out for some EQing. I’m considering a Schitt EQ in front to better control the Sonos output which is limited.
Sony MX blah blah headphones but considering some Monolith M1060 as an upgrade. I was pretty surprised Sonos’ big headphones release wasn’t able to receive streamed audio from the Port. I would have brought if they had.

Anyone upgraded a Planar One to a Three? A quality increase?

the P3 is a significantly better turntable than the P1. The motor is better, the platter is heavier, the base is thicker for better isolation, but the biggest difference is the tonearm. the RB300 found on the P3 is the absolute standard bearer for a good less expensive tonearm. It is a pity you cannot easily adjust the tonearm height. Rega say that is not important, but we know that is bullshit. You can change the arm angle by putting shims under the giant 50MM nut, but not by much.

You are going to quickly outgrow the sonos as the heart of your system.

I think I will. I’m about move to a bigger duplex apartment and thinking about the living room AV setup. Once we’re settled I need to think if I go deeper into Sonos or pivot. I actually really like their products but the app still sucks. Even with good WiFi it’s unstable and drops out when streaming. I wonder if hard wiring one speaker would fix…

Looks like I've never actually posted here to say what's now in my hi-fi.

My main setup in my home office is very, very simple:

- U-Turn Orbit Basic turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge
- U-Turn Pluto pre-amp
- U-Turn Ethos powered speakers

I have a second setup in my basement that I use infrequently:

- Audio-Technica AT-LP120 turntable w/ Ortofon OM20 cartridge
- ART DJ PRE II pre-amp
- An old Sony integrated amplifier that I inherited from my Dad
- An old set of Bose speakers, also inherited

In other words, nothing really to see here.

Has anyone with a Rega moved to using either version of the Neo PSU with adjustable speed control? I've got a P3-24 that came with the first version of the TT-PSU so you can select between 33/45 but can't finetune the speed. Lots of verbiage about how the newer PSU "sounds" better etc which seems a little NICE CABLES to me.