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To up the nerd ante even further, I will list the cables also:

Project II turntable with Goldring 1042 cart.
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Chord Cobra II interconnects
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Arcam a65 intergrated amp + arcam p75 power amp (new toy, been after one for years, puts the sound into a different stratosphere, if your amp allows for bi-amping do it!!!!!) . Pre & power linked via short interconnect that I got custom made for peanuts by a guy on Ebay, Van Damme cable, Neutrik phonos, sounds as good as 'hi-fi' interconnects costing five times as much. All future interconnects will be of this sort.
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DNM Reson speaker cables. Beautifully open and airy sounding, with the bonus of a design philosophy that actually makes sense. Solid cores separated by a rigid 1" dielectric to ensure minimal and even interaction between the cores' magnetic fields along the cables length.
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B&W 601 S2 speakers. Always liked them, though toying with the idea of saving up for something with bigger bass now that my amp's up to it.

also, Sony CDP-XB930E cd player, alledgedly 'tuned for the UK ear' whatever one of them is, switchable digital filter which can be handy on occasion. To amp via Van den Hull M.C. D103 MkIII hybrid cable, only bought because it was half price, good sound though.

Toying with the idea of switching to a mc cartridge and separate phono stage when funds allow, though unsure if my present turntable would justify it.

I'll save the tales of my DIY power leads and system supports for another day........................

Linn LP12 with Ittok tonearm
Ortofon Kontrapunkt A cartridge
Hagerman Cornet phono stage with Lundahl step-ups
Conrad Johnson PF-R pre-amp
Dynaco stereo 80 amp (was using an older Conrad Johnson MV-50 but the bloody thing is down right now, don't know what's wrong)
AMC cd player
Locally made 3 way loudspeakers with Isobarik style subs and built-in 100watt amp.
Cables have just been what I can get my hands on, braided my speaker wire from teflon Cat 5, works like a hot damn. Everything has been purchased used, with the exception of the speakers, cd player, and phono-stage. I can't say enough either about the Hagerman products, very well thought out, and very well priced.

steve wrote:I will biuld a small power amp. I have a design

I'd be interested in hearing about it, if you have two minutes to type out the particulars (Single-ended? Push-pull? Which tubes, et cet?)

(FYI, Hagerman just came out with a new version of the Bugle kit, with variable EQ and a mono switch. A pdf of the new product manual is here:

http://www.vacutrace.com/pdf/bugpro.pdf)

I used to have a full blown NAIM system, before I realised the amount of money I had spent didn't equate with the amount of enjoyment I was experiencing. (Diminishing returns and all that.)

Now I have a modest Pioneer Stable Platter CD, a Rotel integrated amp and some old B&W speakers wired together with AudioQuest and MIT.

I love my music just the same and no longe get into fruitless discussions with audiophiles.... ecchh

Brendon

P.S. I worked in an independent CD store for four years so excuse my lack of a vinyl playing thingy. Oh, and there are hardly ANY new classical or jazz releases available on vinyl.

it all starts with the Audiomeca Romance turntable (with Romeo tone arm)



through a Krell KPE Reference Phono Preamp



into a Levinson 380S preamp (i know, i know, i need to upgrade to the 320S! as soon as i can sell my damn boat, this puppy's first on my list.)



for power, a pair of Mark Levinson 33H monoblocks.



driving a pair of MBL 101d speakers. this is a photo of the 101e, but the D is very similar in most aspects including appearance.



and for interconnects, i use shoestrings with foil from Big Red gum wound around them, really, really tightly, with the chewed-up Big Red gum fashioned into an insulator. for speaker cables, i use gold-plated mouse tails, hand-woven together by the children of indonesian witches.

needless to say, it sounds absolutely aMAZing

toomanyhelicopters wrote:needless to say, it sounds absolutely aMAZing

you must drink too much yak, man
this all looks terrible
except the monoblocks, what are they for ?

I just bought a pair of wharfedale speakers, it took me a whole week to get over the difference in sound with my totally shit bose system but now I'm fine and I know that I need to change all the rest, alas it will take me another 2 years to overcome the dreadful experience of the hi-fi shop I had forgotten and it's pretty tough

then again I wonder if I need really accurate gear to listen to ariel pink's hum drenched, er, experiments

oh and yes, pardon the ignorance, but do the cables make such a big difference ?

Cables make a significant difference, but it's easy to get carried away. Manufacturers realise this and it's where a lot of the 'snake oil' of the hi-fi industry comes into play. If you read though the advertising bumf they churn out, you'll see what I mean.
The cables that come with the components are shit, full stop ('period' if you're a colonial type) . The consensus rule of thumb is to spend about 10% of the total cost of your system on cabling. You can either flick through a few mags to see what the current flavour of your price range is, or, as i've taken to doing, get a set of studio grade plugs (neutrik or such) and some studio grade unbalanced cable and make your own (I figure if it's good enough quaility for the signal at source, it's good enough for the signal in your living room). Sounds better than entry-level cables for less cost. I suppose if you're spending 1000s per component it would be worth auditioning a stack of super-duper cables, just to get the ultimate synergy or whatever.

(cue a bunch of cloth-eared bastards with another bout of inverted snobbery- )

Rega p25 - Super Elys cartrige
Some middle of the road Harmon / Kardon integrated amp.
Creek phono pre-amp
Klipsch Heresy II loudspeakers (on 18" stands)
gotta upgrade that amp to something tube.
-n

Guy wrote:this all looks terrible
except the monoblocks, what are they for ?

---------------------------------------

No. 33H Monaural Power Amplifier Product Specifications

Frequency Response : Within 0.1dB from 20Hz to 20kHz

Input Connectors : one 3-pin XLR balanced input connector per channel
one RCA input connector per channel
two 1/8" mini-jacks for remote turn-on
two Mark Levinson communications ports (RJ-11)
one captive high current AC mains cord

Input Impedence : 100 kohms (balanced), 50 kohms (single-ended)

Input Sensitivity - Full Output : 1.59V

Mains Voltage : Determined by the needs of country for which the unit was manufactured; cannot be reset by dealer or user

Output Connectors : four custom binding posts per channel

Power Consumption : Typically 540 W (±5%) at idle
Typically 210 W (±5%) in standby

Power Output : 34.6 V rms (150 w/ch) at 8 ohms
34.6 V rms (300 w/ch) at 4 ohms
34.6 V rms (600 w/ch) at 2 ohms
34.6 V rms (1200 w/ch) at 1 ohms

All of the above power ratings measured from 20 Hz–20 kHz with no more than 0.3% THD

Signal to Noise Ratio : -75 dB CCIR

Voltage Gain : 26.8dB

Weight : 220lbs. (100kg) each

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if you have $20,000 i highly recommend you pick up a pair.

and as far as the cables go, i have to say that i've tried interconnects made from Wrigley's Spearmint, Juicy Fruit, you name it. the Big Red provides an unparalled transparency. and the Mouse-Tail speaker cables cannot be beat. it's really the magic spell incorporated by the witch children. but DO NOT let them use rat tails or weasel tails or anything else. it HAS to be mouse tails, in accordance with The Prophecy. otherwise you lose all kinda detail in the 38-45KHz range.

This is fun. I love seeing how folks balance out their systems with what seems to be an unlimited combination of components. I'm totally not into cabling snake-oil though, in fact it pisses me off. The engineer in me will not allow me to be overcome by audio evangelism. High-priced interconnects = an act of faith.

Turntable - HarmanKardon T55-c, ITO arm

Cartridge - Grado Gold, beautiful cart, super tracking, super extended top

Amp - 1960-61 Fisher X-101-B, Amperex bugle-boy 12AX7's pre's, GE 12AX7's drivers, new Electro-Harmonix 7591A's. Gorgeous, if rather low power. To eventually be replaced with Harman-Kardon Citation II, Hotcha!

Speakers - B&W 603 s3, just broken in! Damn fine, but in my large space could use a sub to add some Ooomph.

CD - Denon DCM460, discrete output stages, BB DAC's, that's about all that matters...

The next step is really to get into a Citation II or pair of Heathkit W5M monoblocks, headroom should not be an issue at that point.

BTW - can anyone recommend a preamp that would pair well with a Citation II or V?

Thanks....