What sound system do you have on boat?

[magpie patrick]

1 hour ago, Rambling Boater said:

 

How do you know? Most probably are paying via Spotify/iTunes etc. Whether these streaming services pay the artists a fair return for their efforts is another subject.

Because to broadcast in that way technically requires a PRS license, even if all you're doing is playing Magpie's Folk Cafe from Mixcloud or the live broadcast slot on Frome FM

 

In most instances the enforcement isn't worth it,

[GRLMK38]

7 minutes ago, Loddon said:

The Quad service is good and cheap for what it is, only downside is that my 405 developed a low mains hum about six months after the service. It now has a toroidal transformer and is all the better for it?

 

They must have known this when the 405 was still on the market because the 306 is toroidal.

[magpie patrick]

To add @IanD has a point about poor sound systems - Play a CD through a boom box is okay, vinyl on dad's 1960's Sharp Hi-Fi is way better, put the CD thugh the Hi-Fi and heavenly levels of quality are achieved

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

To add @IanD has a point about poor sound systems - Play a CD through a boom box is okay, vinyl on dad's 1960's Sharp Hi-Fi is way better, put the CD thugh the Hi-Fi and heavenly levels of quality are achieved

I used to be a bit of a hi-fi nut many years ago, including building my own gear. Now I take the attitude that so long as the equipment quality is good enough that it doesn't get in the way of the music -- which the Roberts radios succeed in doing surprisingly well -- it's the music itself that matters. I'd much rather listen to great music by great performers on a reasonable sound system than rubbish music on the best hi-fi in the world -- but of course, both is that bit better still ?

[GUMPY]

14 minutes ago, GRLMK38 said:

 

They must have known this when the 405 was still on the market because the 306 is toroidal.

It was actually the transformer failing not a design fault. I fitted the toroidal because I could and it was cheaper.

The 405 is still an exceptional amplifier and it's revolutionary design still causes me to wonder 45 years later.

[IanD]

Just now, Loddon said:

It was actually the transformer failing not a design fault. I fitted the toroidal because I could and it was cheaper.

The 405 is still an exceptional amplifier and it's revolutionary design still causes me to wonder 45 years later.

It was very hard at the time to convince a lot of people that current dumping actually worked as opposed to being magic, in spite of the evidence...

[GUMPY]

7 minutes ago, IanD said:

It was very hard at the time to convince a lot of people that current dumping actually worked as opposed to being magic, in spite of the evidence...

Not us, we had mono versions of the 303, one of which turned up on eBay the other day and I did resist buying it, driving the high end we swapped over to 405 in 77 so were relatively early adopters.

I like the thought of it being magic ?

[GRLMK38]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

It was actually the transformer failing not a design fault. I fitted the toroidal because I could and it was cheaper.

The 405 is still an exceptional amplifier and it's revolutionary design still causes me to wonder 45 years later.

 

I mentioned it because the toroidal transformer is a common aftermarket upgrade for 405's.

[GUMPY]

15 minutes ago, GRLMK38 said:

 

I mentioned it because the toroidal transformer is a common aftermarket upgrade for 405's.

Yes it is, unfortunately there is no bracket available for it in the UK I had to import one from Holland.

I have to resist tinkering otherwise things soon get out of hand,  I do fancy a valve based CD player

https://maoaudiolab.blogspot.com/2017/08/marantz-cd-5000-tube-cd-player-real.html

 

?

Edited March 11, 2021 by Loddon

[GRLMK38]

7 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Yes it is, unfortunately there is no bracket available for it in the UK I had to import one from Holland.

I have to resist tinkering otherwise things soon get out of hand,  I do fancy a valve based CD player ?

 

I didn't know there was such a thing.  Seems there are plenty of options if you have £1K+ to spend.  It's the reel to reel tape machine used in the Mind Hunter titles that I like, a work of art. Sony TC-510-2.

 

We need to get this back to Roberts v Bose somehow ?

Edited March 11, 2021 by GRLMK38

[IanD]

Bose (Buy Other Stereo Equipment)? Blechhh... ? ? ?

Edited March 11, 2021 by IanD

[GUMPY]

For those with an enquiring mind might I recommend

http://www.keith-snook.info/index.html

Hours of good stuff on there including many old articles, one about current dumping from 1978 is particularly good.

 

http://www.keith-snook.info/wireless-world-magazine/Wireless-World-1978/Current dumping - does it really work DCD.pdf

[Hudds Lad]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

And if that doesn't work, hang mushrooms from the ceiling.

 

in my youth i may or may not have launched a tangerine off that top balcony and hit the kettle drum of a practising orchestra ?

[GUMPY]

Oh and as for tape decks I have always fancied a Nagra ?

There is within the family an EMS Synthi A with external keyboard (only keyboard geeks will understand this)

 

[Machpoint005]

4 hours ago, Rambling Boater said:

>>Most probably are paying via Spotify/iTunes etc<<

 

By the same token, how do you know that?

 

44 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Oh and as for tape decks I have always fancied a Nagra ?

 

 

We used to swear by those way back in my professional career, but only until the 1980s. Then DAT and fully digital recording came along...

[Machpoint005]

3 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

Because to broadcast in that way technically requires a PRS license, even if all you're doing is playing Magpie's Folk Cafe from Mixcloud or the live broadcast slot on Frome FM

 

In most instances the enforcement isn't worth it,

 

Thank you - my point exactly - virtual greenie. Musicians have quite enough to put up with at present without being done out of their fees.

[cass1]

Roland cakewalk studio monitors  However probably wasted on my old ears!

[Jess--]

17 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

Quote

>>Most probably are paying via Spotify/iTunes etc<<

By the same token, how do you know that?

 

Spotify's terms used to specifically exclude public or commercial use (and probably still does), I know this because we wanted to use spotify when they first launched and found that we couldn't.

it would have made for a simple upgrade for the music source we were using at the time.

 

we were using a laptop loaded with mp3's backed up by a cardboard box full of the original cd's the mp3's were copied from, we had to run licenses from PRS (Performing Rights) for the honour of having music that could be heard by the public and another license from MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) to cover our copying from CD to MP3.

If we had been able to use spotify it would have eliminated the MCPS bill for us and saved a few thousand each year.

 

We ended up dropping music altogether when PRS insisted on trying to charge us based on annual footfall of our location, since we were on skegness beach at the time they worked this out to be be around 3 million people (based on tourism figures) and presented us with a bill for the year ahead that cost more than a 4 bedroomed house with a couple of acres of land.

[Machpoint005]

10 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

Spotify's terms used to specifically exclude public or commercial use (and probably still does)

 

There you are, then. Music blasting out over your (and somebody else's) garden is definitely public. Spotify isn't noted for its fair treatment of performers and composers, though.

12 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

If we had been able to use spotify it would have eliminated the MCPS bill for us and saved a few thousand each year.

 

And exploited the musicians at the same time.

[Athy]

On 11/03/2021 at 06:58, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I rejoice that I have a complete tin ear. Can't tell the difference between MP3, CD, vinyl, or wax cylinders. Can't tell oxygen free copper wires from normal, or a good set of speakers from bad. I can just listen too and enjoy music from any old bit of equipment. Must have saved me a fortune over the years!

Jen

Perhaps you are of the generation that grew up listening to Radio 1 on a tinny tranny, after which anything else sounded good by comparison?

[Athy]

22 hours ago, bizzard said:

During the 1980's I maintained a smal fleet of courier vans,which company was next door to my workshop.  If during a quiet spell the controller would come and ask me if I wanted to do a van job for them. One of the jobs was to Polygram, Polydor records factory in Walthamstow. I had a walk around there and was shown the listening room where the Polygram big knobs went to listen to a new recording on test pressing records. I was surprised, the room was quite ordinary with an ordinary Garrard record player deck and amplifier and a pair of Cellestian speakers. I was told that this ordinary set up was similar to what most folk had at home, so why play-listen to the record on fantastically expensive high quality equipment.

Gosh, an outbreak of common sense!

I have three working Garrard SP25s in the house, and a belt-driven one somewhere in the back of the garage. I'd call the SP25s ordinary, yes, but Celestion speakers? I think they were brand I couldn't afford back then. I did acquire a pair of Goodmans and a pair of Wharfedales, but three out of the four were second-hand. I think Celestions were another step, up the quality ladder.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

21 minutes ago, Athy said:

Perhaps you are of the generation that grew up listening to Radio 1 on a tinny tranny, after which anything else sounded good by comparison?

There may be something in this. We could never afford anything half way decent for music, either radio, or record playing, so we just got used to it. Not just radio 1, but classical music too. The difference between recorded music and being at a live performance is so huge that I've never felt compelled to spend the thousands needed to approach the sound.

COVID has put an almost complete stop to live music. I've been to one concert since Lockdown 1, which was a very socially distanced choral one during the summer. At least nobody dared to cough in the quiet bits!

Jen

[ditchcrawler]

Is anyone really saying they are listening to Hifi in to confines of a Narrowboat. I will say I am with Jen and I cant sing or whistle in tune ether.

[big d]

I pulled out the car stereo and put a blue tooth receiver amp in 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WALL-AMPLIFIER-Wall-Plate-amplifier-Bluetooth-Transrceiver-NIF-BINAMP-/253476576266?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

 

Then then I can play from my phone or stream from tv and I have a vinyl deck with Bluetooth so looks and sounds great 

[Athy]

17 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Is anyone really saying they are listening to Hifi in to confines of a Narrowboat. I will say I am with Jen and I cant sing or whistle in tune ether.

This reminds me of a heckle called out (not by me) at my college's folk club when a performer was making a right old hash of Wild Rover or some such song.

"Can you whistle?"

"Yes, why?"

"Cos you can't bloody sing!"