Not really furniture

**derekcohen** · 6th July 2021, 06:41 PM

10 years ago I completed a set of Campaign Chests for our living room. These were styled to remain simple and minimalistic, and built in Jarrah. Storage was one reason (12 deep drawers), but a big motive was something upon which to place the TV.

This photo was taken at the time ...

Originally, however, the design was this ... with the empty sections designed to hold the hifi ..

My dear wife "convinced" me that it would be better like this ...

And so it was. The hifi was not a big factor anyway. Big dogs (Golden Retrievers with wooshing large tails that took out all it their path) did not inspire the confidence to leave out a turntable within reach. So the turntable and all the vinyl was relegated to the family room, where it was not used. Most of my listening took place in the workshop.

This past weekend saw a re-kindling of interest in hifi and listening to music. I discovered that 10 years had seen the emergence of new equipment and more modern ways of getting to listen to everyone one could ever wish to listen to. The younger guys here will smile when I say that I had no idea about streaming and its potential. And for you reading on who are as unknowing as I was, this is a splendid opportunity to start a new obsession!

After some research, I purchased a Cambridge Audio CXN (2) streamer/DAC. This streams high resolution music - some 7 million songs ... any album I could wish to listen to!!! - from Tidal to the hifi. This is better-than CD quality. I never knew this existed!

To get the hifi into the living room, it was necessary to add on to the campaign chests. A small cabinet in Jarrah was built to match. This is it now ....

The eagle eyes will note that the large Bowers and Wilking DM7 mk2 speakers have been replaced by small KEFs. My wife again "convinced" me to get rid of the eyesore coffins, as she called them. That's okay. There is a matching subwoofer on its way!!

The addition is this cabinet ...

This has become a modern music centre, with an old MacBook Pro put into service as a music source for Flac files. These are streamed through the Cambridge to the amp (by-passing the internal DAC in the laptop). A sliding shelf houses the MBP ...

(And, yes, the computer continues to play with the lid down. It uses a simple app to permit this).

The sound is excellent.

At present I have completely stripped the turntable (a 45 year-old Thorens TD150 with Rega arm), and am rebuilding both the plinth and upgrading the arm. Such fun!

Regards from Perth

Derek

**Lappa** · 6th July 2021, 07:46 PM

Very nice addition.
I’m also finding another level of joy with my new audio system and the ability to stream music from just about any source at better than CD quality.

**verawood** · 7th July 2021, 10:39 AM

Derek,
10/10 for your woodwork, and your wife's advice.

Cheers
Keith

**double.d** · 8th July 2021, 08:18 AM

Very nice indeed, i love simple functional designs. I'm also very impressed with your floors.

**Greg Q** · 8th July 2021, 03:17 PM

Beautifully done, Derek. I haven’t unpacked the Linn LP12 in years, but lately have been negotiating with my wife about that and may have to compromise on that Cambridge unit. Thanks!

**derekcohen** · 8th July 2021, 03:25 PM

Greg, I so wanted a Linn 35 years ago, but could not afford it, and found a like-new Thorens TD150 (which the Linn copied). There was a SME II arm on it and, following advice 30-odd years ago, it was replaced by a firm in Sydney (when I lived there) with a Rega RB300.

Now the TD150 has obtained cult status, and it seems I did the right thing all those years back. I am in the process of taking it out of mothballs. I am building a new wooden plinth, arm board in perspex, and adding the Origin Live mods for the Rega. These promise to take it past Ittok performance. I have a choice of Supex or Dynavector Ruby Karat MC cartridges.

I think that have the fun is the DIY

Regards from Perth

Derek

**Greg Q** · 8th July 2021, 03:42 PM

I bought my LP12 when I was living in Dublin in ‘89. I think that they were about $8000 new in Canada at the time, but I got mine from a guy in Manchester for £400 from an add in Exchange and Mart”*

* I think that was the name of the local want ad paper back then. it was a steal, and I flew over there on a free ticket to collect it.

I simply don’t make the time anymore to sit and really listen to an album from back in the day. Most of my listening is now conducted in the car with everything set to eleven. How else are you going to educate pedestrians on the wonders of Chet Baker or Steely Dan? Or Edith Piaf or Earl Klugh?

On edit: I just remembered that on the same trip I also collected a Buffet alto saxophone since at the time I had some illusions about musical prowess. I don’t even know what happened to the sax-certainly nothing good,

**GraemeCook** · 8th July 2021, 05:21 PM

Good Morning Derek

I believe that the Linkwitz Orions sound especially good in jarrah !

Linkwitz Orion.jpg

I heard an early version of them at an audio show in the old Exhibition Building in Melbourne about 20 years ago and they were special. Linkwitz is worth googling.

**derekcohen** · 9th July 2021, 01:42 AM

Interesting Graeme .... but are you trying to get me killed!? I have just replaced similar speakers - Bowers and Wilkins DM7's. These are floor standing studio monitors (picture early on, above). I purchased them new in 1983. They replaced Celestion Ditton 66's - which were truly the size of a coffin! Lynndy was very tolerant in those years.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**GraemeCook** · 9th July 2021, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Interesting Graeme .... but are you trying to get me killed!? ...

Absolutely not, Derek. I just assumed that Lynndy would be swayed by your craftsmanship and ....

The Orions are an open baffle design, and do not have the visual bulk of coffin like speaker enclosures such as your Celestion Ditton 66's. Here are a few more photos to inspire (or annoy) you:

Linkwitz Orion 2.jpg Linkwitz Orion 3.jpg Celestion Ditton.jpg

The first pair of Orions are in sapele, don't know the lighter timber in the second Orions, and the Celestion Ditton 66's give an idea of scale.

**derekcohen** · 24th August 2021, 04:43 AM

The Thoren TD150 modification is complete.

The MDF stand used to set up the springs ...

Finally together. The mat is a Herbie's Way Excellent ll Turntable Mat.

One of my concerns was that the turntable was to sit on a chest of drawers, and this may act as a sound board. The floors are Jarrah-over-concrete, which helps. An isolation platform was in order. More acrylic as it seems to soak up vibrations ...

The top is loose and there are thin sorbothane feet underneath ...

Here is the final affair. The custom perspect lid comes from Decibel HiFi.

Close-up of the isolation platform ...

Cartridge? Supex 900 Mk IV.

I have Linn hinges for the top, but am still sitting on the fence whether to use them ....

Regards from Perth

Derek

**Alkahestic** · 24th August 2021, 11:00 AM

As always, lovely builds Derek. I'm a digital barbarian so the nuances of analog hifi setups are a bit lost on me, but one can always appreciate fine craftsmanship. I love the way your dovetails on the side cabinet line up with the main cabinet.

**derekcohen** · 25th August 2021, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by Alkahestic

As always, lovely builds Derek. I'm a digital barbarian so the nuances of analog hifi setups are a bit lost on me, but one can always appreciate fine craftsmanship. I love the way your dovetails on the side cabinet line up with the main cabinet.

Thanks. But no need to apologise for being digitally-orientated. I enjoy both digital and analogue. Tidal is a terrific digital source. And the Cambridge Audio CXN (2) is an amazing piece of kit. Via Tidal, it streams master tape level recordings. The quality is superb! Good enough to enable my wife and I to agree that a recording from an original release of Santana's Abraxys was significantly better than a re-release from 2012. I also stream Tidal to the workshop via an old iPhone connected to a system comprising Cambridge Audio amp and Mordant Short speakers.

Regards from Perth

Derek

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