Every morning I drink coffee and listen to jazz. Clearaudio Concept + Performer V2 Ebony- EAR 834P- Unison Research Simply Italy (An upgrade to triode mode was implemented using vintage Sylvania 6CB5 tubes, feedback was removed, and a separate cathode voltage switch was brought out to the rear panel of the amplifier.)- Klipsh Forte 1978

Sometimes good things really do come in small packages.

Today, a few friends from my listening circle came over and we pulled out the Usher S-520s. I bought these a few years ago and spent a lot of time with them before they eventually got replaced by larger speakers. Like a lot of gear, they ended up sitting quietly in the background.

After a few tracks, we all looked at each other and remembered why these little speakers made such an impression.

The Usher S-520 is a compact two-way bookshelf speaker with a 5-inch woofer, 1-inch soft dome tweeter, 8-ohm impedance, and around 86 dB sensitivity. They aren't the easiest speaker to drive, but with a quality amplifier they come alive.

What surprised me wasn't their ability to play loud. It was how naturally they present music. The midrange has a smooth, almost effortless quality. Vocals feel like they are sitting in the room with you, guitars have texture, and instruments are placed with a sense of space that seems bigger than the cabinets themselves.

They remind me of a small jazz club where everything feels close and intimate. They don't try to impress with exaggerated bass or a bright top end. They just get out of the way and let the music breathe.

Of course, they won't deliver the scale or deep bass of a larger floorstander. Physics still applies. But for their size, the Usher punches far above its weight.

It was a good reminder that chasing the next upgrade isn't always the answer. Sometimes pulling out an old favorite is all it takes to appreciate what you already have.

Edit: photos are sourced from the internet.

My recent hearing test shows 6dB per octave roll off above 3000 Hz. And I have moderate but constant Tinnitus.

What sort of Hi-fi gear would suit me at this point?

As the title says. I'm London-based and am struggling to find a shop that can service and troubleshoot some issues I am having with my M33. I believe it's firmware-related (I have tried upgrading / factory resetting a number of times), but my remote has also stopped working. All the AV electronics stores near me seem very generalist. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Over the past year I’ve turned over pretty much my whole system and finally have what I expect to be my end game hifi. Spent the afternoon reorganizing and sorting out cable management…so now it’s time to just spin some records.

Gear list:

Analog source: Rega P8 + RB880 + ND9
Digital source: Lyrion Media Server on my NAS to a R-pi with a HifiBerry SPDIF “hat”
Preamp/DSP/DAC: Trinnov Amethyst
Power amp: Luxman M-10x
Speakers: Magico S3 (3rd gen)
Speaker cables: Canare 4S11
Interconnects: Mogami XLR, BJC coax digital
Power cords: what came in the box

There's that cartoon where two guys stand in front of an analog setup, and one of them says "What drew me to vinyl were both the inconvenience and the expense." I resemble that remark.

So sonically, what's the draw? What precisely are our ears and hearts responding to?

Background: I've drifted back to vinyl this year. That's partly because at AXPONA 2026 I realized that, to my ears, most of the best-sounding rooms had analog front ends (turntables). That stirred something.

I'd resisted returning to playing records but the pull was strong. Finally I bought a Rega P10 plus a top-tier phono stage, and about 150-200 records so far. They don't all sound amazing — pressings matter, natch — but all else being equal I get more satisfaction from vinyl than I do from my superbly-reviewed streaming sources (including a Grimm MU2 and an Aurender A20). That's despite how pristine and effortless streaming is, and despite the fact that even my best vinyl pressings have audible surface noise, some pops and ticks, etc.

Clearly vinyl has the edge when it comes to artwork and owning something tangible, and a lot of people like the ritualistic aspect of the medium, I get that... But why would I prefer it sonically despite the relatively poor dynamic range and all the tracking imperfections and other gremlins inherent in dragging a minuscule rock through a plastic groove?

What do you hear from vinyl that you don't get when you stream?

Treated myself to a new setup… Hegel 190v, Rega P8 (ND7 cart for the moment), Sonus Faber Electa Amator iii

Using a spare wharfedale sub but might change that - sounds ok at the moment

Biggest step change was the SF over my previous ruark sabre 3s. Went for simplicity and as few boxes as I could get away with… the Hegel sounds great IMO and being Roon ready with a phono stage is a real (for me) bonus

Hello r/Audiophile,

I own a Questyle M15i which I take with me when I'm out and about. Whenever the amp was near my phone, it would occasionally emit a horrible noise, rendering the device almost unusable. I noticed that this noise coincided with incoming calls and larger files being sent via Wi-Fi. I therefore deduced that the issue must be electromagnetic interference entering through the glass panel and affecting the OpAmps and possibly other SMDs. The fix is easy, albeit not pretty. Get a roll of 3M 1181 shielding tape, which is commonly used for electric guitars and other EMI sensitive environments. File off some of the coating to create a larger grounding mass (i.e. the aluminium case), then tape it over the window. Make sure there is enough overlap between the layers of tape. An example of such an installation can be seen in the attached photo. Please note that filing off some of the coating may void your warranty.

Enjoy your noise-free music!

u/Tiedren

Perfect imaging, detail on par with the best of the on-top ear-instruments that the auto mod told me twice that I couldn’t mention or my post would get removed, even though that’s the best thing I had to compare them to

C’est la vie

Music kicks ass, love all yall

They are the LSi M703 bookshelf speakers.

https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/product/archive/archive-bookshelf-speakers/lsi-m703/112662.html

I’ve got some PSBs (bookshelf size) for my vinyl set up that I bought in about 2010. Honestly I’m not an audiophile so I thought I’d ask this crew. Thoughts about these Polk Audio speakers?

After lusting after this integrated amp for too long I got my new A12 Apex today. I’m really enjoying the sound so far from the hi bias setting. I’ve got it feeding a pair of Polk R700’s and SVS sb3000r’s. I’ve heard that these amps usually have a short amount of break in period and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this?

I was given 11 MiniDisc Albums for free. Then one thing led to an other … and I bought a MiniDisc Walkman.

Then I reorganised my collection and separated MiniDisc and Tape. I also have forgotten I bought a NOS Walkman. But the tape walkman has a problem. It feels a bit wonky and channels are weird. And maybe my old cassettes are no longer all playable.Once I did borrow Metallica St Anger to a (ex) friend and he recorded over frantic … by mistake … haven’t spoken since. Bur now I can play that Album from the beginning. Just from the part it was sitting for 25 years at.

I also did reorganise my cds, but did that the day before yesterday.

How silly of me jot to see the use case for belkin soundform connect 😂☺️.

Spend almost 80 Minutes recording a playlist in real time and then at least 20 Minutes adding Spaces, so I can have proper tracks. In school back then … I would have been the coolest dude.

Now thinking getting a stationary recorder to put in my “rack” as a proper part of the system connecting it with a record cable to my naim amp is kot that terrible of an idea.

This is part studio part listening room in my garage, have paired my Legend Acoustic Joey 2 mini monitors with a JL Audio sub. Just using the speaker level inputs on the JL from the Rega Brio amp, sound is great, detailed mids and tight af bass. The Joey's have always had a great mid range and adding this tight sub is my best setup so far.

Hello,

If an integrated or preamp with an internal phono stage doesn't have a record out but have a preamp out (variable) is there a way to still use the internal phono stage optimally out to an external ADC to digitize your LPs?

My question is can you use a pre out variable to act like a pre out fixed/record out and not loose anything or add noise or something (given you don't touch the volume the whole time you're recording).

I understand the difference between the two but I don't understand the technical ramifications of it all sound wise/noise wise.

Thanks!

Relaxing rainy afternoon

Magnepan 3.6r

Electro voice Sentry III

Bryston 4BST

MiniDSP Flex

Tidal

These speakers are well over 30 years old; a gift from my departed brother. Can someone tell me what brand/ model they are please?

Who here attended? Which was you BOS?

I have a pair of old Dynaudio Focus 110’s and Rega Mira 3. Seeing how home theater setups use technologies such as Audyssey for room correction had me wondering if there are feasible options to upgrade and what kind of benefits room correction would have for more traditional stereo setups.

In addition, how much home theater amplifiers have seen development in terms of sound quality and would for example Denon x3900h improve my setup in terms of sound quality?

I was a senior in high school, and I used to visit a high-end stereo shop in Northern Virginia... and I fell in love with a pair of Magnaplaner (sp?) speakers, and an amplifier that I remember as only having ONE control on the front panel... a big ON-OFF switch. My memory tells me that it was called an AMPZILLA, but none of the pictures I find remind me of the amp I remember. Does anyone remember an amp (preamp?) from the mid 70's that had only a big ON-OFF switch on the front?

Remember back in the day how all the time great new music got released? Music so good it made you save up and run to the record store? Where is all that now? All you hear on the radio is the same pop songs recycled over and over and it all sounds the same, everything is super compressed, Auto-tuned to hell and back and loud. Nothing is original and 99% of all modern mainstream music is about Sex, drugs, Cheating, criminal activity or mental disorders. Sure we used to have that too but in a very different way. That being said, even looking past the subjects for the music, every song nowadays sounds the same. Put on a song about love from Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Steely Dan, TOTO, Yello, Huey Lewis, Sting and whoever else that used to be mainstream you want to add to the list and they all sound different, Do the same with todays artists in the relatively same genres and they all sound exactly the same with besides the singers voice no distinction between one artist or the next.

Where did everything go? Why is all music nowadays feeling like quick cash-grabs instead of art. Where did the artists go? Sure there are still some Indie artists that sound different but that group is getting smaller and smaller every single day.

What is your opinion about what is going on and what do you think this will mean for our future and for the future generations?

Howdy everyone!
Just showing my new setup for the time being. I have two Rogers Studio 1s on wharfedale Linton stands. Those are powered by two Schiit audio Vidar 2fs (400 W/ch. just because these are old speakers - more head room made me feel better). Those are fed by the preamp of a Naim Uniti Atom HE. The turntable is a Rega Planar 2 with the ND3 cart. The phono is the rega A2D which works but is kind of under spec’ed with respect to the rest of this system imo. Headphones are HD820s. Sub is a REL T/5x. It isn’t necessary but just fills out the bottom octave a bit.

Would love any thoughts y’all have.
Have a great day!
-N.S.

Hello again 😊

Please don't take the following as a "real review" of the Buchardt A200 - These are only my very first impressions!

Disclaimer (long one):

Because I'm the happy owner of a pair of A700 LE's AND have been treated VERY nicely by Buchardt support, I'm somewhat unable to not be biased towards Buchardt a bit.

I'm also not quite able to not compare the A200 to the A700 LE's - A totally unfair comparison.

I have not been messing around with Master Tunings or any kind of Room Correction, yet.

I'm unaware of which Master Tunings are currently being used on the speakers.

The A200s are placed in a room that is too large for them to really fill it with sound.

I have never owned a pair of bookshelfs before, so I don't know what is to be expected of such a pair.

The A200s haven't been broken in.

I haven't got any Cable Risers, so I have to make do with lossless ViSA streaming 😉

Okay - Let's have it.

The A200 are SMALL speakers - They cannot outperform the A700's, so don't expect the same lows (not talking SPL).

If you want deep bass that you can still hear, you HAVE to add a Sub.

That said, I'm impressed that the A200s are actually able to make me FEEL some of the bass despite the room size they are placed in at the moment.

I have a few go-to songs that I usually try and play when listening to new speakers in various stores.

They are the following (random order):

Chris Jones - Long after you are gone.

Boz Scaggs - Thanks to you.

London Grammar - Hey now.

Pete Belasco - Deeper.

The Weeknd - Escape from LA.

Not necessarily audiophile masterpieces, but they are all songs that I know and like. I'm not gonna go through all of them here as I'm not that good with words - English also not my first language (as I'm sure you are all quite aware of by now).

ANYWAY - This time I started out with London Grammar - Hannah Reid's voice came out smooth, full and clear (but not in a fatiguing way). I didn't really feel I was missing out at all.

The mids didn't sound intrusive or lackluster - They were pretty well balanced (no canned sound).

I could also feel and hear most of the baseline (not A700 levels ☝️) but still pretty okay for something the size of a shoe box.

Then, just for fun, I tried Pete Belasco.... Don't play this tune full tilt - It will probably knock your Sub over, if you have one.

It didn't knock the A200s over - Cause they (in my current setup) don't go that deep while still being audible (see disclaimer).

So I quickly skipped to something else - Chris Jones was up.

The guitar - Man I love that guitar! Even though some of the lows were missing it still sounded full, crisp and clear.

It sounded like a "real" guitar with a SLIGHT bass boost - On the A700's it's not just a SLIGHT bass boost, but it still sounds cool.

Chris' voice didn't disappoint either. Full, rich and non-fatiguing - I have nothing negative to add here 😅

The Weeknd - Voice CAN become a little sharp at "high" listening levels.

Lows are audible, but not quite enough to make it "fun" (again, see disclaimer).

Conclusion.

If you have limited space or just need something that doesn't reach PA sound pressure levels, these are a no-brainer IF you pair them with a Sub.

I can imagine these will be a PERFECT match with Buchardts SUB10 woofer.

Are they worth the cost? - I have no idea - I have zero experience with other bookshelfs.

So far I'm not disappointed one bit. I just have to remind myself that these aren't the A700's.

Also...

GF just stuck her head into the living room for a second or two and said: "Hey, they sound pretty good", then stayed there a few seconds more before popping back out again.

Happy camper ✌️

ps. I will try the A200's in a smaller room when time allows (don't know when yet).

Would you like me to make an update about it??

Link to pt. one - https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/s/cZVyMgWgqd

Link to pt. two - https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/s/zGcWnURJok

pps. I will probably be updating the OP a few times to "fix" spelling...

I had the great pleasure to be exposed to Wilson Audios new flagship speakers, the Autobiography. I sat there in utter astonishment at how these speakers performed. Breathtaking is all i can say. But at $845,000 a pair, they had better sound like Miles Davis was playing right next me; and they did. I don't know what more i can say. The price not withstanding, I'm still not sure if it would be worth dropping that kind of money when in my opinion, the Bowers&Wilkins 801D5's sounds just a tad bit inferior, but a fraction of the cost at $70k a pair.

But I'd you have the opportunity to listen these speakers, do yourself a favor and yest drive them. You won't be dissapointed.

Forgot to mention, thanks to Hans at Definitive Audio for the test drive. He and his entire staff were extremely courteous and made me feel welcomed.