Forums The Vibe Chat Rig hardware Vs Hi-fi

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  • #1049836
    1984
    Participant

      loosely speaking, what’s the difference between the stuff you find in a good quality commercial hi-fi shop and the kind of stuff people put together themselves (rig style)?

      Does that make sense? for example, say someone has a grand to spend, what would the difference be between buying something off ebay that someone from speakerplans has put together and going and buying something from a good hifi shop.

      #1230184
      1984
      Participant

        ps no definitions of hifi please, I know the question doesn’t quite make sense but I can think of no other way to put it.

        #1230179
        Tek Offensive
        Participant

          well hifi systems are made for quality (compared to pa which is for volume and other factors as well as quality) over volume as such, altho theyll still go loud for indoors, they also dont need to cater for 100+ people, so they dont have to use materials that can handle as much and instead go for softer more responsive ones such as woven kevlar woofers or silk dome tweeters

          with hifi you only go for what you need, ie not a massive bass bin and tops that shakes you house,

          you can spend loads on ‘hifi’ , you could easily spend much more than a grand on cables if you go to some places, and some people will spend huge amounts on theyre seperate hifi system because its meant to sound better ( and then put it in an acousticaly shit living room!) because someone in a shop says its better, things like ‘directional’ cable are meant to improve quality in theory but really cant make much difference at all, my mates dad for example has spent about 7000 on his system and it sounds brilliant, but no better than a pair of 600 pound genelic monitors.

          monitors all the way imo, simple and very clear, hifi’s a waste of time and money and if its not going to be used outdoors or for small events then so is shoving a load of pa gear into a bedroom.

          #1230185
          1984
          Participant

            @Tek Offensive 402585 wrote:

            well hifi systems are made for quality (compared to pa which is for volume and other factors as well as quality) over volume as such, altho theyll still go loud for indoors, they also dont need to cater for 100+ people, so they dont have to use materials that can handle as much and instead go for softer more responsive ones such as woven kevlar woofers or silk dome tweeters

            with hifi you only go for what you need, ie not a massive bass bin and tops that shakes you house,

            you can spend loads on ‘hifi’ , you could easily spend much more than a grand on cables if you go to some places, and some people will spend huge amounts on theyre seperate hifi system because its meant to sound better ( and then put it in an acousticaly shit living room!) because someone in a shop says its better, things like ‘directional’ cable are meant to improve quality in theory but really cant make much difference at all, my mates dad for example has spent about 7000 on his system and it sounds brilliant, but no better than a pair of 600 pound genelic monitors.

            monitors all the way imo, simple and very clear, hifi’s a waste of time and money and if its not going to be used outdoors or for small events then so is shoving a load of pa gear into a bedroom.

            cheers matey a most comprehensive answer. Do monitors come with a built in amp then? would they sound good for non dance type music?

            #1230177
            General Lighting
            Moderator

              90% of the expensive cables are overpriced rubbish. My day job involves making sure signals peoples lives depend on gets down cables reliably and we just use normal copper cable. Of course for a big loudspeaker you use thicker cable but 79 strand or even mains electric cable (should you have a quantity of this already lying around from DIY) is perfectly good.

              active or powered monitors come with a built in amp (thats what the “active” means). there are (or were) speakers sold as monitor speakers which are meant to be used with a separate monitor amplifier – although it now appears that in just 15 years (!) this term is old-fashioned and nearly all speakers sold as “monitor speakers” are active.

              #1230180
              Tek Offensive
              Participant

                even the cheaper active monitors (not too cheap mind you) from about 200 for the pair will sound very nice with all types of music, sometimes a bit too clear and clinical with the higher end (600+) ones ive heard for just listening as theyre made to play the music as accurately and as close to the original source as possible, ie for in music production.

                why are you looking to buy a new hifi or whatever??

                i was more than happy with my alesis mk2’s and have recommended them on here alot before, once id got a new soundcard and found a good posistion in my room for them, you got that ‘headphone’ effect if you know what i mean where you can hear everything perfectly execpt with more bass

                #1230181
                Tek Offensive
                Participant

                  i remember someone saying that they always make sure theyre speaker cable ran downwards from amp to speakers as gravity made the electron flow more efficient!

                  #1230186
                  1984
                  Participant

                    @Tek Offensive 402947 wrote:

                    why are you looking to buy a new hifi or whatever??

                    na but its good to know for the future

                    #1230182
                    Tek Offensive
                    Participant

                      im gonna find an audiophile forum and have some fun! bet some of them are well anal

                      #1230178
                      General Lighting
                      Moderator

                        @Tek Offensive 402948 wrote:

                        i remember someone saying that they always make sure theyre speaker cable ran downwards from amp to speakers as gravity made the electron flow more efficient!

                        christ on a mountain bike! I’ve heard some rubbish in the last 25 years but that has to be one of the best (or worst) :you_crazy

                        #1230183
                        cheeseweasel
                        Participant

                          @General Lighting 402656 wrote:

                          90% of the expensive cables are overpriced rubbish. My day job involves making sure signals peoples lives depend on gets down cables reliably and we just use normal copper cable. Of course for a big loudspeaker you use thicker cable but 79 strand or even mains electric cable (should you have a quantity of this already lying around from DIY) is perfectly good.

                          active or powered monitors come with a built in amp (thats what the “active” means). there are (or were) speakers sold as monitor speakers which are meant to be used with a separate monitor amplifier – although it now appears that in just 15 years (!) this term is old-fashioned and nearly all speakers sold as “monitor speakers” are active.

                          Makes me laugh, some of the crap that people will buy, though when you consider that the target market for most of this stuff is half-deaf 40+ year old car salesmen who like to sit around pretending to hear the differences in each-others’ stupidly OTT hi-fi systems it’s not so surprising that it exists.

                          No commercial studio or broadcaster uses exotic cables. As GL says, professional speaker cables are just thick copper (thick to minimise resistive loss in the cable). What does make me laugh is the fact that consumer equipment uses unbalanced connections – something that even the cheapest Behringer desk has on its inputs and outputs (it can be achieved with a very simple circuit or a transformer). OK, tbf unless you put your hifi on top of a dimmer rack you’re not going to need them on 50cm interconnects, but if you were going to design a wanky hi-fi cable, it would be the obvious place to start.

                          Here are a few of my favourite hi-fi “mods”.

                          The “Clever Little Clock”

                          Cable Elevators

                          Wooden Volume Knob

                          $21000 Speaker Cable

                          I’ve sometimes thought that if I get strapped for cash, I’ll have a root around in my loft, varnish some random crap and sell it as a hi-fi mod (make sure to allow at least 30 days “break-in” period).

                          #1230187
                          jono28
                          Participant

                            That is a belter about gravity making electrons flow more efficent. Are your downstairs lights brighter than upstairs? As correctly pointed out, it’s down to cable size mainly. Compound makes a difference, but look at it like a motorway, but for electrons. The more lanes, the better. The better quality lanes, the better. More down to the amount of lanes really though. The more strands of copper (or whatever) the better. Some sales tactics are superb.

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                          Forums The Vibe Chat Rig hardware Vs Hi-fi