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My Hifi set up.....May be useful to others!!


frangar

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Hi

 

Just thought this may help others.....

 

Now have upgraded "HiFi" (as a sound engineer I use this term loosely for this!!) on the good ship Doris....we now have a Sony CMT-CX5 BIP

 

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hfs-cd-music-system/cmt-cx5bip

 

I paid £129.00 from Laskys.co.uk but it seems to be going up and down in price like a rollerblind! (was £159.00 in Currys just before Xmas...its now £189.00!! mad!)

 

It has a separate power supply and runs on 19.5v DC and uses a standard Sony laptop power connector which means I could use one of these so it would run from the 12v on the boat:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laptop-12V-DC-Car-Charger-Adapter-Sony-Vaio-VGN-FW-/350269040771?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopAccessories_PowerSupplies&hash=item518da96883#ht_1902wt_1341

 

The main idea of not using a unit that was 240v AC direct in was that the above supply should be more efficient than running the Inverter when we just wanted the radio....It appears that the DC-DC power supply alone uses 0.2A and when the hifi is on standby its drawing an extra 0.2A....when the unit is playing a CD or iPod at a reasonable volume its drawing about 0.8A in total which I dont think is too bad at all.

 

The only slight snag is a lack of dedicated external aerial sockets for a DAB and FM aerial...instead it has a length of wire which connects to a small plastic plug which acts as a DAB/FM aerial...after trawling round the web I have done as others and soldered a plug to this lead and connected it to my Status aerial which works just fine for FM but due to the limits of the aerial it doesn't pick up DAB (See my other thread!!) Once I have sorted this with the correct aerial Im hoping all will be well!

 

One other point to note is this hifi along with some other new ones doesn't seem to work with my iPod Video from 2006...this isn't too much of an issue as I was going to get a new 160gb iPod so I could put all the CDs we own on it.

 

I know a car unit would have worked as well but I wanted a sleep and alarm which they dont have or it seems a remote control which can operate all functions (one review said of a JVC unit that a chap had fitted into his motorhome that he found the remote didnt have the facility to turn the unit on and off...)

 

If anyone wants further info or comments please feel free!!

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

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Nice to know there is other boaty sound engineers out there!! Howdy!. Ive always found it interesting what technology goes into narrowboats. Being a computer enthusiast / general geek myself, the ability to have all the mod cons of tech (not neccessarily living accom) is a major bonus!. Where abouts are you moored?

 

Dunc

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Hi

 

Moored in the Midlands but we do travel about as work permits. I do have a rule that nothing goes on the boat that cant be operated when we are away from a landline. We pretty much have everything we need to run our business from the boat...internet/Sky tv etc etc.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

 

PS you dont really need Sky TV to run a business but you need to rest sometimes!!

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Slightly related, when we were having our caravan built the standard fit was a JVC DAB car radio unit with some lithle speakers. I went for a £500 Alpine set up and then added a sub when we got the caravan.

 

We have a new-build slot for next year and am pondering on audio-visual setup. At the moment I fancy a Teac unit that does FM, CDs, DVDs, has a iPod dock. Teac do

A 2.1 speaker system to go with this. Hook it up to a 22" flat screen TV and job done!!

 

Not a DAB fan or Sat TV fan and have included a Status 540 aerial. FM aerial is a bit of a worry but am thinking of an amplified extending rod aerial like the caravan has.

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I looked at that Teac unit....it looked good but needs 240v and the PSU is built onto the board in the Sub....I have a circuit diagram if you need it! lol!...The Status 540 is tested for DAB according to Status so I would go for that for radio....it does FM too according to specs.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

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TBH Id just be tempted to run a CarPC. Any old computer will run off a 12v ATX supply, and you can have all of your media on the hard disk. run a TV tuner off that, and thats your radio and TV sorted, and then for internet then a 3G USB stick, or tether your phone in. Use a monitor screen that has a 12v wall wart (many of the more slimline screens do) and just adapt the power cable. From there you can use whatever sound system you fancy. theres lots of info on 12v speaker systems available at another forum I frequent. http://forum.speakerplans.com/12v-powered-systems_forum5.html.

 

I know that this may be too advanced for many people but for the more tech savvy, it may just be the ideal solution.

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I was thinking of running a similar system using an old 12v Ext PSU mac mini but you have to realise a couple things:

 

1 Even tho it says 12v on the PSU you dont often get 12v exact on a boat,.....it can go to about 14.8v with the engine/batt charger on so you need to use some form of voltage stabiliser.

 

2) It makes listening to the radio/music quite power hungry if you are not on a mains hookup

 

It does have a lot going for it but you do have to realise there are a few drawbacks...plus if it dies you lose the lot and I do like having backup systems!

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

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Interesting post, i am struggling to find speakers (small bose cube size) that have any bass ability - any advice / recommendations gratefully accepted.

 

Think you will be hard pressed to be honest.....decent bass needs to move a lot of air....hence sub bass boxes...I would have a look at a fairly high end PC speaker system...the advantage of using a separate sub bass box is that as low frequencies travel well you can tuck the box out of the way somewhere....One boat I had a hand in building we tucked it into a cupboard with a grille on the front.

 

HTH

 

Gareth

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Ive got one of the Cambridge Audio rigs, exactly as Westyman describes, and they are a great unit, and surprisingly powerful. the cube speakers are approx 3" and can be wall mounted or stand mounted, not sure on the transformer voltage though. Can take a look if needed.

 

Dunc

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Interesting post, i am struggling to find speakers (small bose cube size) that have any bass ability - any advice / recommendations gratefully accepted.

My (limited) experience suggests that you will not find a small speaker with a really decent Bass response.

 

I was recently forced persuaded to get rid of my forty year old Goodmans Twin Axiom 10's in their huge wooden boxes, and replace them with something that met SWMBO's size specification!! I bought a pair of Tannoy Shelf speakers which were given good reviews for bass response, and they are OK, but they can't make your trousers flap like the old Twin Axioms.

 

Oh, just in case anyone is mortified at the thought of me disposing of my Classic Goodman's speakers down the dump, I sold them to a guy from Russia on eBay for more than the Tannoys cost. The home made boxes did end up down the dump though.

Edited by David Schweizer
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