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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 13, 2016 19:45:30 GMT
I sell loads of valves, kits and stuff but have noticed that enquiries are pretty much dead at the moment..... I've spoken to quite a few people and they all report much the same thing, ie: a very marked decline in sales. I have also spoken to a few guys who were very active in Hi-Fi and were always buying new gear / tweaking existing gear but the general consensus from them is that they have put all things audio related on the back burner and are generally spending their money on more essential items such as food, electricity, petrol etc. so it would appear there "is" uncertainty in the economy at the moment and not looking to get better anytime soon unless Theresa May can pull a miracle off, which I very much doubt. Economics and "fear" are pretty crazy things if you think about it. The fear part is "If I spend my money it's gone, I better hang onto it until the crisis has past". The economic side requires you to spend money in order for the economy to grow..... things will only get worse if the government doesn't get 20% of our spending money in revenue. I'm no economist or politician but can now see that leaving the EU (which I agreed to) is going to have serious consequences for small / medium business..... the big companies will simply relocate. Dire times ahead and today's Cameron out, May in, audience with the Queen thang hasn't done anything to inspire me with confidence. The Royal timing was, as usual, absolutely spot on...... good god, do they know how to organise a swiss watch precision timed event! The Royal team are world leaders at that, always have been, the handover was timed with only seconds to spare in places...... I sometimes wonder why they aren't in charge of the nations affairs
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Post by mrpharmacist on Jul 13, 2016 20:11:05 GMT
The last good outlay I made for gear was a pair of Audeze LCD-2s off ebay....but then also Forza Audio copper and silver headphone cables from Poland and a 2nd hand Merlin Scorpion interconnect the other week. All made big jumps despite my dim awareness I'm in ever diminishing return territory. Next things I'd change would be my Rotel cd player but it would have to crap out first, likewise the M1 DAC. Your Pinkie X-Can V3 is ticking over, no probs. I don't really intend buying anything for a while, knowing I'd have to put too much down for too small a relative ruturn. However, I am buying LOTS more CD's and booze so am enjoying that
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Nigel
Been here a while!
Watching over Gotham City keeping us safe
Posts: 2,064
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Post by Nigel on Jul 13, 2016 22:14:57 GMT
I bought a phono stage two weeks back. Second hand of course. I'm a man of limited means.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 13, 2016 22:24:03 GMT
I bought a phono stage two weeks back. Second hand of course. I'm a man of limited means. Rich bastard!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2016 22:48:36 GMT
I'd still be buying hi-fi gear if I hadn't seque'd into cameras and photo. Unfortunately, that seque has caused both my photos to collect unprocessed, and my analysis and use of the hi-fi gear to be put aside too. I'm almost ashamed to admit, that most times now I'm listening with the iPhone and the Bose QC35 headphone, and since I don't watch TV, if I rent a movie (on download), it's going to be something with no redeeming value, like The Expendables, or a vampire film.
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chris1967
Been here a while!
Double dip recession, Humous and taramosalata are off the menu!
Posts: 185
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Post by chris1967 on Jul 14, 2016 19:28:34 GMT
Well, things are extremely bad in Greece.
Taxes are extremely high, they have cut ALL pensions to HALF (except the ones that are less than 1000euros which have been slashed less), property TAX annually indefinitely (which means that if you have more than one properties you are in serious shit), everything is more expensive.
Depression is VERY serious we have more than 25% unemployment and about a 10nth of the active population has already emigrated. Big problem is that UK is out, and it has been traditionally (besides Germany) a place for Greeks to emigrate and work.
My business (i am a dentist) is slow and prices have undergone cuts in order to accommodate the people (bare in mind Greece has no NHS type dental coverage).
Despite all that i still buy hifi and headfi.
In the last 12 months i bought a second hand Mark Levinson 380S pre amplifier, a Chord Mojo, RHA T20, Sennheiser IE800 imitations and TFZ Series 3 inears.
Feeling a little guilty, but also felt that these will make me survive the psychological pressure of living in this country that is impossible to recuperate in my lifetime...
My estimated pension will be 690 euros...
PS. I also need a new car, sob...
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 14, 2016 20:38:47 GMT
Well, things are extremely bad in Greece. Taxes are extremely high, they have cut ALL pensions to HALF (except the ones that are less than 1000euros which have been slashed less), property TAX annually indefinitely (which means that if you have more than one properties you are in serious shit), everything is more expensive. Depression is VERY serious we have more than 25% unemployment and about a 10nth of the active population has already emigrated. Big problem is that UK is out, and it has been traditionally (besides Germany) a place for Greeks to emigrate and work. My business (i am a dentist) is slow and prices have undergone cuts in order to accommodate the people (bare in mind Greece has no NHS type dental coverage). Despite all that i still buy hifi and headfi. In the last 12 months i bought a second hand Mark Levinson 380S pre amplifier, a Chord Mojo, RHA T20, Sennheiser IE800 imitations and TFZ Series 3 inears. Feeling a little guilty, but also felt that these will make me survive the psychological pressure of living in this country that is impossible to recuperate in my lifetime... My estimated pension will be 690 euros... PS. I also need a new car, sob... Hi Chris, Good to hear from you mate. I'm sorry about the current state of play in Greece but I am sure it will get better, the Greek people are hard working and things will pick up. My own dentist is Greek ( Nikolaos Theodosiou ) he came over to Scotland to work pretty much as soon as the shit hit the fan in Greece..... he likes it here but misses his family and friends over in Greece and also misses the weather. He's a really nice guy and we have struck up a good rapport after the time he asked me if my tooth was numb..... I started singing "I have become comfortably numb!" and the rest is history, turn out he is a huge Pink Floyd fan too. Don't worry about the UK being "out" Chris, I believe that good people like the Greeks will always be free to migrate to the UK..... my BEST friend Antonious / Tony (when I was in London) was Greek and we grew up together, went to the same school etc. his family and relatives all fitted in and were damned good people.... in fact, the entire Greek community in London were the same, absolutely superb people who integrated into society. I think the type of people the UK don't want are the ones that have no intention of contributing / only here to claim benefits and I think that is absolutely correct. Let's stick with Greece as an example.... if a Greek dentist wants to work in the UK then he should be given an absolute right to do so. If a Greek drug dealer wants to live in the UK he should be refused entry. If a Greek person without any qualifications or skills wants to enter the country looking for work then he / she should be allowed to do so but with the proviso that if they haven't managed to find work within six months they should be deported from the country. The current "anybody from the EU can enter the UK and claim benefits / housing" is just ridiculous and is only encouraging people to be lazy (even more lazy than our indigenous breed of slobs who think the world owes them a living and blame their misfortune on "immigrants") British people, too lazy to work, claiming all the benefits and blaming hard working immigrants for their laziness! The UK is totally messed up and I totally blame it on EU "free movement". Anybody who has a desire to work / has a skill should be welcomed with open arms BUT letting any old Tom, Dick or Harry in because it's EU law is just a recipe for disaster. This country needs dentists, it needs doctors, it needs qualified professionals.... what it doesn't need are a bunch of benefit seekers who have no intention of working. The EU has certainly NOT done Greece any favours, it has not done the UK any favours..... the only EU member state that seems to be benefiting is GERMANY and they lost the bloody war FFS! Politics is not my game but I do know that change from the status Quo will means things will get worse but, with a bit of gumption and drive, will slowly but surely become better. What they are doing at the moment is allowing the epidemic from places like Syria to spread across Europe and that's wrong. If you were a Doctor your advice would be "contain the epidemic / quarantine", seems that's some politicians welcome the epidemic and want to see it spread! You have to be cruel to be kind Chris and non acceptance of masses of people escaping from a war zone may seem cruel but it's the right thing to do. I may be corrected on this, and excuse my ignorance if I am, but when (in history) were the British taken in by another nation when they were fleeing from persecution? Never, as far as I am aware. Leave each country to deal with things in their own way..... Saddam was a tad heavy BUT he knew his territory / knew what he was dealing with..... we (the "west") went in with guns blazing, just look at the place now..... all the people Saddam had under control now fighting with each other..... that would NEVER have happened under Saddam's watch! What worries me about this mass "let them all in" / "let them do what the hell they like" (into the UK) is the fact that they are not of the same mind set as your typical indigenous UK dweller and are potential "nightmares" to deal with when they start chopping off heads in the street and raping anything that doesn't wear a black tent. I'll shut up now, you can be arrested for speaking your mind these days, and won't go into it further, but (having thought about it a lot) the UK, in my opinion, will be a lot better out of the EU......... the sad part is, it will never happen.... we are all destined to bow East
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Post by mrpharmacist on Jul 15, 2016 17:05:40 GMT
From new gear to Immigration... What annoyed me about about the open border thing was how difficult it made it for anyone outside the EU because the tightening of numbers was wrought there. It duly gave rise to arbitrariness by UKBA (of which, May was boss so that's my misgiving) and in front of a judge arbitrary equals unlawful but for all means a waste of money and stress. There are so many things that need changing and nothings changed yet Aussie has the right idea I feel and most importantly they're prepared to give someone a 'fair go'. That's fair, isn't it? To get around to saying something more on topic perhaps something from Greek Audiophile , quite idiosyncratic www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0Lrs
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 15, 2016 20:16:45 GMT
From new gear to Immigration... What annoyed me about about the open border thing was how difficult it made it for anyone outside the EU because the tightening of numbers was wrought there. It duly gave rise to arbitrariness by UKBA (of which, May was boss so that's my misgiving) and in front of a judge arbitrary equals unlawful but for all means a waste of money and stress. There are so many things that need changing and nothings changed yet Aussie has the right idea I feel and most importantly they're prepared to give someone a 'fair go'. That's fair, isn't it? To get around to saying something more on topic perhaps something from Greek Audiophile , quite idiosyncratic www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0LrsThat's some decent gear on display there! I always wanted a pair of Tannoy Westminster speakers after getting a tour around the Coatbridge (Scotland) Tannoy production plant and the craftsmanship that goes into building them is second to none, I got to see a pair that were in the process of being built, absolute quality inside and out. The tour was fantastic and I saw every single Tannoy speaker being built, from the cheapies up to the Westminster. Mostly Women putting the drivers together and men working on the cabinets. The 611 MKll speakers were basically a flat sheet of vinyl wrap with MDF glued on...... a bloke applied glue with a brush and rolled the flat sheet until it formed the hexagonal cabinet, the process took about 2 minutes per cabinet, absolutely fascinating to watch. The further along the line you went, things became a little bit more labour intensive culminating with for guys working on a pair of Westminsters. I don't know if the Coatbridge plant still makes the Tannoy speakers these days or if production has been sourced out to that cheap Chinese place but that tour of the factory in Coatbridge is one I will never forget. The Tannoy Kingdom Royal Carbon is £52,000 and it says it is still made in the UK plant but I wonder if it's simply "assembled" in Coatbridge.... must do a bit of research on what's happening at the Coatbridge plant these days. www.stereophile.com/content/tannoy-kingdom-royal-carbon-black-edition#2Q4DO3jvKLoWOwkd.97I still, to this day, lust after a pair of Tannoy Westminsters but, unless somebody leaves me a pair in their will, I'll never be able to afford a pair
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 15, 2016 20:23:33 GMT
It appears they are made in China these days......... so sad www.6moons.com/audioreviews/tannoy5/1.htmlI believe the high end Tannoy speakers are still made in Scotland, at the Coatbridge plant, but the rest are being churned out in a Chinese sweat shop. Just look at KEF (the Kent Engineering Foundry)...... it used to employ over 3,000 people back in the day and I believe there are TWO UK based representatives running the "China fest" these days..... the KENT ENGINEERING FOUNDRY (KEF) built everything, in house, from the ground up.... all materials were sourced from the UK and all components were made "in house"...... they are no longer an engineering foundry employing over 3,000 staff, they are a couple of twits sitting at a computer taking advantage of cheap Chinese labour..... so sad www.kef.com/thefifty/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEFmrpharmacist, I don't think that discussing the EU and "profiteers" is going off topic...... it's all related. Mike.
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chris1967
Been here a while!
Double dip recession, Humous and taramosalata are off the menu!
Posts: 185
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Post by chris1967 on Jul 16, 2016 10:11:46 GMT
Well, things are extremely bad in Greece. Taxes are extremely high, they have cut ALL pensions to HALF (except the ones that are less than 1000euros which have been slashed less), property TAX annually indefinitely (which means that if you have more than one properties you are in serious shit), everything is more expensive. Depression is VERY serious we have more than 25% unemployment and about a 10nth of the active population has already emigrated. Big problem is that UK is out, and it has been traditionally (besides Germany) a place for Greeks to emigrate and work. My business (i am a dentist) is slow and prices have undergone cuts in order to accommodate the people (bare in mind Greece has no NHS type dental coverage). Despite all that i still buy hifi and headfi. In the last 12 months i bought a second hand Mark Levinson 380S pre amplifier, a Chord Mojo, RHA T20, Sennheiser IE800 imitations and TFZ Series 3 inears. Feeling a little guilty, but also felt that these will make me survive the psychological pressure of living in this country that is impossible to recuperate in my lifetime... My estimated pension will be 690 euros... PS. I also need a new car, sob... Hi Chris, Good to hear from you mate. I'm sorry about the current state of play in Greece but I am sure it will get better, the Greek people are hard working and things will pick up. My own dentist is Greek ( Nikolaos Theodosiou ) he came over to Scotland to work pretty much as soon as the shit hit the fan in Greece..... he likes it here but misses his family and friends over in Greece and also misses the weather. He's a really nice guy and we have struck up a good rapport after the time he asked me if my tooth was numb..... I started singing "I have become comfortably numb!" and the rest is history, turn out he is a huge Pink Floyd fan too. Don't worry about the UK being "out" Chris, I believe that good people like the Greeks will always be free to migrate to the UK..... my BEST friend Antonious / Tony (when I was in London) was Greek and we grew up together, went to the same school etc. his family and relatives all fitted in and were damned good people.... in fact, the entire Greek community in London were the same, absolutely superb people who integrated into society. I think the type of people the UK don't want are the ones that have no intention of contributing / only here to claim benefits and I think that is absolutely correct. Let's stick with Greece as an example.... if a Greek dentist wants to work in the UK then he should be given an absolute right to do so. If a Greek drug dealer wants to live in the UK he should be refused entry. If a Greek person without any qualifications or skills wants to enter the country looking for work then he / she should be allowed to do so but with the proviso that if they haven't managed to find work within six months they should be deported from the country. The current "anybody from the EU can enter the UK and claim benefits / housing" is just ridiculous and is only encouraging people to be lazy (even more lazy than our indigenous breed of slobs who think the world owes them a living and blame their misfortune on "immigrants") British people, too lazy to work, claiming all the benefits and blaming hard working immigrants for their laziness! The UK is totally messed up and I totally blame it on EU "free movement". Anybody who has a desire to work / has a skill should be welcomed with open arms BUT letting any old Tom, Dick or Harry in because it's EU law is just a recipe for disaster. This country needs dentists, it needs doctors, it needs qualified professionals.... what it doesn't need are a bunch of benefit seekers who have no intention of working. The EU has certainly NOT done Greece any favours, it has not done the UK any favours..... the only EU member state that seems to be benefiting is GERMANY and they lost the bloody war FFS! Politics is not my game but I do know that change from the status Quo will means things will get worse but, with a bit of gumption and drive, will slowly but surely become better. What they are doing at the moment is allowing the epidemic from places like Syria to spread across Europe and that's wrong. If you were a Doctor your advice would be "contain the epidemic / quarantine", seems that's some politicians welcome the epidemic and want to see it spread! You have to be cruel to be kind Chris and non acceptance of masses of people escaping from a war zone may seem cruel but it's the right thing to do. I may be corrected on this, and excuse my ignorance if I am, but when (in history) were the British taken in by another nation when they were fleeing from persecution? Never, as far as I am aware. Leave each country to deal with things in their own way..... Saddam was a tad heavy BUT he knew his territory / knew what he was dealing with..... we (the "west") went in with guns blazing, just look at the place now..... all the people Saddam had under control now fighting with each other..... that would NEVER have happened under Saddam's watch! What worries me about this mass "let them all in" / "let them do what the hell they like" (into the UK) is the fact that they are not of the same mind set as your typical indigenous UK dweller and are potential "nightmares" to deal with when they start chopping off heads in the street and raping anything that doesn't wear a black tent. I'll shut up now, you can be arrested for speaking your mind these days, and won't go into it further, but (having thought about it a lot) the UK, in my opinion, will be a lot better out of the EU......... the sad part is, it will never happen.... we are all destined to bow East Mike it so cool you have a Greek dentist, and especially one that loves Pink Floyd!! I am not worried about myself when i say that it will be difficult for Greeks to come to the UK (i have first registration with the General Dental Council in 1996, and my brother is a consultant in the NHS) i am feeling bad about the lesser qualified honest people that are without work and the future for them is very grim. I have opted to remain in Greece and work here, after all this is my country and i want to support it, but it is becoming increasingly difficult. Who knows if things get impossible here i might come over time will tell. But things are not that great in the UK at the moment and it seems that they wont be for at least a short term. I feel that this globalization business is creating a world of poor workers (and the end of small businesses) and very rich bankers/monopoly industrialists without borders. The British had always a sense o democracy and logic that i always admired, although this has dwindled in the last 30-40 years or so. I hope you see matters straight again and the referendum was a step in the right direction according to my honest opinion. I cant help being a nationalist but i am, although great thought should go into avoiding domination or suppression of people or ideas. This is difficult but necessary. I am very sorry for all these immigrants that have flooded Greece, they have no place to go, their homes in ruins their families dead. It is not in my heart to turn them back. All these wars where started clearly for imperialistic reasons and the USA played a great part in creating them and the propaganda and the lies (starting from the aid to the Taliban against the Soviet Union and continuing until present). It has backfired awfully that these people are better than the western world at being focused on three things namely reading their holly book, making lots of children and being prepared to die in conflict because this takes them directly to heaven. No one can stop this by war NO ONE. We should concentrate on peace and how to flourish our (local) communities and not fall victims of the super propaganda served to us by the media. Humanity should prevale. Nothing else will save us. To change the subject i am currently involved in a new forum in Greece www.audiohub.grIt is about two channel stereo sound and music (recorded and performed) and nothing else with a tendency toward hiend. I am a moderator there and contributor. We have tried to get in sponsors from the Greek (but not only) dealers and manufacturers and it seems to be going quite well. You are welcome to view and join, unfortunately it is in Greek but a good browser translator will help a lot. Mike have a look at the structure and see if you like anything that might bring new life here.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2016 11:42:48 GMT
I think we need to face reality. The U.S. neocons and their completely phony 9/11 have been the major cause of destroyed lives and mass immigration, but even that is just a beginning for what will happen in a relatively short time when sea levels take a sharp uptick. We're setting records for heat every year, and the critical ice masses in Greenland and Antarctica are set to move. The irony is that the biggest future migrations may be the Europeans moving suddenly South, which could be massively bloody.
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