Thought it best to start with a set of useful links for people to use, with sites for retailers, reviewers and manufacturers and so on. I'll keep updating this when i have time! Please post any of your own useful links, if theres a good response then I will probably make this a 'sticky' thread..... Retailers - UK Superfi Hyperfi Richer Sounds TNT Audio Wilmslow Audio Affordable Audio (Second hand) Hifi for sale (Second hand) Sound Academy Empire Direct Reviews & Magazines Hifi Choice What Hifi? Audioreview Stereophile Enjoy The Music Soundstage More to come! Please post your own useful links!
Digital Terrestrial reception guide. A useful site: http://www.wolfbane.com/articles/tvr.htm Enter your postcode and estimated aerial height above sea-level (use an OS map with contour lines); it will show the local transmitters, their distance and compass direction, and what band aerial you need for best results. (The correct band aerial gives much better results than the wide-band ones sold by Maplin, B&Q, etc.) For reviews and articles: Home Cinema Choice Online HomeEntertainment UK Online shopping: Buy Electrical Direct Online : Free delivery and good prices.
www.russandrews.com Russ Andrews is a bit of a Hi Fi maverick, but everything I have bought from him has made a good improvement. My system now has a much more natural and easy sound. He has a 30 day try out scheme if your not sure of something. Now repeat the mantra after me, Start upgrading at the mains, start upgrading at the mains....
www.analoguesat.co.uk all about free analogue sat tv www.geocities.com/digitalsatuk all about free digital sat tv
more satellite links www.wizardsatellite.co.uk sell decoders & cams & stuff liek that (plus a rather interesting flat dish that does not need a lnb, but like an squarial [remember them] but more up to date) www.satdirect.co.uk seems to focous on sky digital but does sell Cams & cards www.hisat.com from the feedback a very very well run business that seems to stock quite a lot from the look i had www.myersat.com seem to be a pretty good site 7 have a regulair bricks & morter as they put it shop i havent delt with any of then but i came across them & though they would be of interest to the usful links as they deal with sat equiptment
Just a few more to add to the list. If you are after a CRT TV then RGB Direct have a pretty huge selection, with a few plasmas thrown in too. I havent ordered from them yet, but their pricing on most TVs (especially Toshibas) is competitive to say the least. One decent review site that seems to have been missed is Secrets of Home Theater - I havent found a more technical site when it comes to dvd reviews. Only problem is that since its a US site (I think), all the reviews are region 1 so the disc may be a little different in Europe. One last site is AV Forums which is fairly self explanatory. Shambla
Here is a brand new link for the UK, Adireaudio across the pond in the USA have some of the nicest speaker and subwoofer drivers available for DIY projects. The Shiva and Tempest are amazingly good drivers these coupled with a plate amplifier and a proper enclosure snd you are looking at subwoofer that compete in the above £1000 range. Adire Tumult is pritty much the best subwoofer driver in the world. These units have been up to now quite hard to source in the UK but not anymore. Design3dw3 are now exclusive UK Adireaudio and Hypex Electronics dealers. www.design3dw3.co.uk/audio.htm For more information on some of the kit check out the USA site www.adireaudio.com
Head-Fi - Headphones forum HeadWize - Another headphones forum AudiologicaA great site with tips for electronics work and several DIY headphone amplifiers. Headphones and me, obsessed? No...
Hi-Fi Online Retailers: http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/index.asp http://www.hifi4less.com/ http://www.hifistore.co.uk/
http://www.diyaudio.com and for aussies http://www.jaycar.com.au http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/ for americans and canadians http://www.canadiancaraudio.com
iriver alternate and cheap music downloads if you have questions about iriver producte then i suggest you go to misticriver if you want cheap legal music (US$0.01 / mb) then have a look at allofmp3.com i have paid US$30 for 2.2 gb of music. they will encode it in mp3, ogg, flac at many different bitrates or wav.
Just to point out, allofmp3 is in the grey area at best when it comes to legality. It is not paying RIAA royalties and the RIAA is trying to sue the hell out of them, but they're in Russia and the RIAA can't do anything over there. While it isn't illegal per se, it is definetly not the perfect legality of things like iTunes.