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What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 2:19 pm
by tallchris
Current setup (updated during the pandemic):

TT: Rega P3-24 with Hana EHMC cartridge
Phono preamp: Parks Puffin
Stereo: Rega Brio
Streaming stuff: Sonos Connect
Radio: Pro-Ject Tuner Box
Speakers: B&W 602s1

Got the Brio last winter to reduce the space taken up by my old Adcom preamp/poweramp setup. The Puffin preamp is split between going into one of the Brio inputs and in the line-in on the Sonos so we can listen on the kitchen speakers.

Went through a whole ordeal before getting the Brio with a mid-80s Mcintosh integrated amp that a local store said they'd gone through and tested, but had a problem on one of the channels that they couldn't fix after I brought it back to them twice. The Brio is great, and more than enough power for my setup and living room.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 5:02 pm
by sparky
I've a Teenage Engineering OD-11. For the amount of space we have in the flat, it is near perfect. The one imperfection for me is a strange swishing sound I've caught on a handful of songs, all primitive recordings, most annoyingly Sonic's Rendezvous Band demo of "Sweet Nothin'", which is a mainstay. It is as if the stereo is lisping slightly. I am sonic-ignorant, suspect probably wrongly that it might be an interaction with the cymbals smashing. Bah. I like this cube regardless.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 6:04 pm
by Owen
I got a Harmon / Kardon 730 last summer and dig it a lot.
Still using an upgraded Project Debut with a grado blue cart.
Klipsch Forte II
A shitty technics 5 disc CD player I have had since high school that should get upgraded one day with a Marantz CD5005. I just dont listen to CDs a ton so I find it hard to find the motivation to upgrade.

We have a few Sonos speakers in the house, one in the kitchen and one in my wife's office. I should get the component that I can plug into the HK so I can stream stuff through it.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 7:22 am
by motorbike guy
I have doubled down on the hifi over the last year.

Bought another power amp, another Linn Klout, so now I am running two amps in a horizontal passive bi-amp set up. One amp does the woofers, one amp does the highs and mids. Passive crossover in the speakers.

I bought a Naim NAXO 3 way active crossover that was made for my speakers.

I still need a power supply for the NAXO, and another Klout to go fully active. A mess of cables are on the way from England.

Also, I bought a Bluesound Node 2i streamer. Ii love it. I stream Tidal Hifi, college radio, and tracks on my NAS Drive. Not sure about MQA yet.

the Hifi is sounding awesome these days, and soon it will be even better.

After I finish the back end, I will begin working on the sources.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 11:24 am
by Tom Wanderer
A few years ago a dude that I know pretty much insisted that I take his old Oracle audiophile TT. He's an older guy and was getting rid of his LP collection and hi-fi gear, With specific ideas of who he wanted to have what. He gave me an incredible stack of Leonard Cohen records and, a year or so later, the Oracle. It was intimidating to say the least. It's an 81 Oracle Delphi MKI with a Magnepan Unitrac arm. It needed a new cartridge, which he supplied, an NOS Sumiko Talisman B. It also needed a new belt and associated fine tuning and balancing of the new cart. I will be the first to say that I didn't deserve this stuff at all, but the guy was insistent and I couldn't say no. Over the past year I finally got the determination to set it up and get it calibrated to the best of my ability.

This wasn't going to be my daily driver. I didn't want to be rocking out to records on a Saturday night and..."oops...just wrecked a $500 cartridge" that would have ended things right there. Around the time I was sprucing up the Oracle, I also uncovered and refinished the wood floors in a few rooms in my house, one of them being the record room, so I made a nice little listening area in there. I couldn't afford to build the system around the Oracle that it deserved, but here's what I ended up doing;

Oracle Delphi TT
Pro-Ject Phono Box DC (can be used with MC or MM cartridges)
Sony STRDH 190
Klipsch Reference Series bookshelf speakers

I'm aware that I've got a fancy TT hooked up to consumer grade equipment, but it works and it sounds awesome. At first I was getting an annoying hum, but after some trial and error it turned out that the Pro-Ject preamp was picking up interference from the power switch on the receiver. I moved the preamp and the hum went away. It's a great sounding system and the Oracle is a joy.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 2:05 pm
by motorbike guy
Tom Wanderer wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 11:24 am

I'm aware that I've got a fancy TT hooked up to consumer grade equipment, but it works and it sounds awesome.
and people laugh at us Linn fanatics who believe that the source matters more than the downstream components. Trust me, my friend, it actually makes sense.

they laughed when I had a system that consisted of a Linn LP-12, Linn electronics and Boston Acoustics A-40s. Fools! it was awesome.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 2:14 pm
by Tom Wanderer
motorbike guy wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 2:05 pm
Tom Wanderer wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 11:24 am

I'm aware that I've got a fancy TT hooked up to consumer grade equipment, but it works and it sounds awesome.
and people laugh at us Linn fanatics who believe that the source matters more than the downstream components. Trust me, my friend, it actually makes sense.

they laughed when I had a system that consisted of a Linn LP-12, Linn electronics and Boston Acoustics A-40s. Fools! it was awesome.
Thanks!! The LP-12 is a beautiful deck.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 2:52 pm
by kokorodoko
My hifi is an 8 year old laptop computer and a pair of very badly maintained M-Audio M50 headphones.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 7:09 pm
by joelb
Systemdek IIX
Musical Fidelity phono pre
Cambridge CD player
AMC tube preamp
Roksan Caspian power
ProAc Studio 125 speakers
Sennheiser HD1 wireless headphones, can run wired with electronics off and actually sound OK to me.

I'd like to dump the AMC and Roksan for an integrated, I guess, all these pieces seem fiddly. Will likely stick with the turntable and speakers.

Re: What's now in your hi-fi?

Posted: Wed May 19, 2021 7:42 pm
by WeStartToDrift
Linn LP12 w/ Garrott Bros P88
Krell KSA Preamp
Levinson 431 Stereo Amp
Rockport Mira

Lots of fun with this rig!