Hi all, and I must say it's magic, absolutely magic, to be able to join in the discussions again after all this time of watching from the sidelines and being frustrated.
Anyway, to the point. As I think you'll know by now, Lynne just bought me a Yamaha TSX-140 which was supposed to be for Christmas but she's told me I can have that now and she'll put something else under the tree for me but she won't say what. Anyway, this morning I got my first real chance to play with the new machine. My initial impressions are very positive. The audio which comes from it is absolutely astonishing given that it's a micro system and the speakers are so close together. The speakers are actually 2-way speakers with a tweeter and a woofer in each. The dual-15 Watt RMS digital amplifier is very noticeable as the sound rises in volume, it does so smoothly and there is no distortion or harsh effects which you often get with micro systems like this. I've tried this with an iPod Touch in the dock. I've also tried the analogue (FM) radio and the digital (DAB) audio. Unfortunately, I don't think the UK has yet adopted the DAB+ standard so we don't benefit from the much more efficient codec which DAB+ employs. Hopefully they'll adopt that standard and run it alongside the DAB codecs. If you don't know about the way DAB and DAB+ signals work, briefly: DAB signals are transmitted in groups, known as "Ensembles" Each "Ensemble" can house up to 6 radio stations with each station having the ability to have a "secondary" service tagged to it. That is how, for instance, BBC Radio Five Live runs their Five Live Sports Extra service, it's a secondary service on their "ensemble" allocation. It's worth noting if you're ever in a position to look around the technical details of signals on your local transmitter, that not all "Ensembles" house the same organisation on its services. For instance, on my own local transmitter, BBC Radio Five Live shares an "Ensemble" with Smooth Radio, Virgin FM and a couple of other organisations, whilst BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 are on different "ensembles' again. Anyway, back to the Yamaha. One thing I haven't yet managed to figure out is a way to know which preset you're putting a station into. For instance, you need to scroll through the presets once you press the "Memory" button in order to find the number of the preset you want to populate. On that subject, my most fierce criticism of this model is that there are only 5 presets for the DAB and DAB+ receiver, and 5 for the analogue FM. That's just a little bit ridiculous and very restrictive. The construction of the machine is very nice, although it would have been even better had they used proper teak. Lynne actually thought it was Teak at first. But it isn't, it's just plastic with a wood-like finish to make it look like Teak. The joint antenna system is quite interesting. In the UK, DAB signals are broadcast with vertical polarisation, in order to accommodate mobile applications. The old FM transmitters actually use slant polarisation these days, but they used to be horizontal. This antenna is just a very basic dipole, so there's absolutely no gain whatsoever. We are in a reasonable reception area, but I have found stations on both FM and DAB where the signal has been weak. The other thing I've noticed about the Yamaha is that the receivers don't seem particularly sensitive. For instance, my old Pure Logic DX1 tuner, on the same antenna and with the same conditions, receives signals which the Yamaha cannot even detect. My old JVC analogue tuner, on the same dipole in the same place, receives FM signals which the Yamaha doesn't even managed to pull out of the noise. I personally don't plan to use FM at all. It's very very dull in comparison to DAB, and I am sure that if and when we implement DAB+ codec over here, we'd get some pretty amazing sound on our digital networks. Overall though, I'm very impressed with most of what the TSX-140 offers. I have seen more feature-packed micro systems but the problem with those is that they're cheap and nasty and the sound that you get from them is tinny and weak. For the purpose that Lynne bought this, the TSX-140 will more than suffice. We now have the option of either using the Squeezebox Boom and Internet radio, or else we can play a range of content on the Yamaha. Both machines have pride of place now beside our bed and it's going to be an interesting experience when I get some digital data sorted out. I need to read up a bit on how the TSX-140 handles multi-folder disks. I know it can handle them, but I'm going to have to swallow my pride and create some MP3 just for that specific purpose. Usually we use AAC+ for our music listening. Good to be back. Gordon ======================================= The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
