Gear
Listening is a dangerous place to be on the internet. Everybody has an opinion on what you use and what sounds better. (much like I do with vinyl).
This site is designed to simply give my opinion on a. record. I am using this page to simply provide details on the equipment I use. I don’t need help here as I know what I am doing with the technology and am providing the detail purely so readers know how I am listening tot eh vinyl to review it.
I started the site at inception point with a lot of Fosi audio kit but things have started to take on a life of their own.
“Audiophiles don’t use their equipment to listen to music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment”
The HiFi Rack
back when I was a child, the HiFi rack was a thing of amazement. it was large, often with a. large cabinet, featuring a glass door, sat in the corner of the room.
These days class D equipment has changed the game for home audio enthusiasts. One brand in particular is making a lot of waves and that is Fosi Audio. This Chi-Fi brand is bringing out great kit, and low (ish) prices, that allow anybody prepaid to save a little the chance to build a HiFi rack that can fit on a desk.
Rediscovering music but with limited funds meant that I went down this route. I cannot express how happy I have been to find them (Thanks to CheapAudioMan on YouTube). The items they make (mostly) give great performance at a budget price.
Starting with Fosi equipment I quickly outgrew it. Maybe not outgrew but it felt more suitable to a linux user or someone that enjoys fettling (which I do), but I wanted a system that felt more grown up. I also have a large media collection of FLAC files that I stream with Plexamp. As such Wiim came to the answer with their system. At least for now. Opting for the Stream Ultra and the latest power amp that runs at 100w with my 8 ohm speakers.
The Record Deck
This is where things get out of hand. I started with a Victrola bluetooth model that cost me about £200 from John Lewis. I really wanted a Rega P3 but did not have the budget for an all out payment on that. Then I found an old Planar 3 on eBay for a bargain, local and “fully working”
I collected my new Rega, played it and it sounded off. I adjusted the phone connections and it promptly blew my Wharfedale Diamond 9,1 speakers.. I was gutted, it was the Friday before RSD 2026 and I “needed new speakers”. I bought a set of KEF floor standing speakers from a shop floor but one turned out to have e a blown tweeter. I eventually ended up at Richer Sounds and walked away with a. set of Triangle Comete EZ speakers that I really like. I was back tot eh Victrola though and I wanted my Rega working.
After a bit of research I found a company making new bases from acrylic so I ordered the kit, along with a new 24vc motor, acrylic platter, isolation platform, tonearm rewiring kit, Ortofon 2M cartridge and the Rega NEO Mii power supply. If I was going to do this it was being done right.
The isolation platform is from Fluance, with three adjustable feet. The second base came from the same place as the kit. With isolation feet and additional isolation feet under the pads for the main deck spikes. The lower platform houses all the electronics and the upper platform is isolated again, and hold the mechanical bits. The subplatjer is stainless steel and the acrylic platter came from the states, being a few mm deeper than the ones in the UK, adding more weight. The tonearm was rewired and I put two earths on it, one for the internals and one for the tonearm shell. Adding an Ortofon 2mr blue cartridge to finish to off.
This is my pride an joy. ~ good vinyl sounds next level and better than a couple of other (much more expensive) systems I have listened to. It costs ten times what the Victrola does but, at the same time, sounds far superior to other decks that cost more than twice as much as this has cost me to construct. Only a 10K Thorens sounds better and I certainly cannot afford that unless my lucky numbers come in.
Wiim have com from nowhere and are now making equipment that is far better than its price would suggest
Speakers are run from a Wiim amp but with ferrite cores attached to remove high RF interference
Triangle speakers are a new brand to me but, OMG, they sound awesome.
How Else Do I Listen?
While physical media was absent from my life for a long time, music has featured for a long time. I have been down the whole car audio route in my late teens and very early twenties.
I ventured into home cinema in a. hard way in my mid twenties, just after I moved to Dorset and got a job working at Comet. Listening to music videos.
Streaming has featured in my life with Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music all featuring. Thee formats also seemed hollow though. I would sit and find tracks I like and add them to my playlists. Then I would just listen to the same playlist over and over again. never discovering new offerings.
This is why vinyl has me hooked. Since starting on this journey I have found myself buying records that look cool. I listen to an entire album without skipping (a reason why I have avoided getting a CD transport). I just pop it on, sit down and listen to what I have sent to my ears.
Vinyl is not cheap so I also have a home NAS with Plex installed. I use this with Plexamp on my iPhone to listen to other music while I walk the dogs or am in the car. The thing is, whilst being like a normal streaming service, since getting into vinyl, I have tarted listening to Plexamp more how I listen to a new record. I still have a playlist but rarely touch it.
I think the main reason I use it a lot is that I cannot afford the 1983 albums on vinyl. I will be doing my best to get them but, for now, this has helped plug some gaps.
