Your audio equipment?

[neveronfriday]

Hi everyone,

I'd be interested in finding out what equipment y'all use. Here's mine:

- Marantz PM 78 Class-A amp

- Marantz CD 67 MKII SE (OSE)

- Marantz SE 46 Tuner

- Dynaudio Contour 1.8 mkII speakers

- Kimber 4PR speaker cables

- Cardas Crosslink cables

- Sennheiser HD 590 headphones

[in the works: Project Debut turntable]

Besides for the Cardas cables, I got a positively huge discount on the whole setup (the shop owner wanted to make space for new stuff) and I am quite satisfied. Especially the Cardas cables were a huge (!) improvement in terms of sound.

I also have an NAD C521 CD player and several pairs of Sennheiser 545, all of which are currently connected to my electronic drum kit. I do hook up the NAD player to my stereo once in a while ... it does seem to provide a more analytical reproduction of my CDs.

Cheers.

Edited November 18, 2003 by deus62

[Peter Johnson]

I'll bite, with the proviso that hopefully someone can help me take the next step (Lon, I like the look of the Tube amp manufacturer you posted a link to earlier).

Marantz 1060 SS amp (ca. 1971)

Thorens TD-160 (ca. 1975) with Ortofon cartridge/OM-5E styli (replaced once every 20 days or so)

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

And for those digital needs:

Dell Inspiron 3200 (ca. 1995) for MP3's!

Sony DVD/CD

I really want to rocket my LP sound to the next level. I'm thinking Rega!

[neveronfriday]

Thorens TD-160 (ca. 1975) with Ortofon cartridge/OM-5E styli (replaced once every 20 days or so)

One damn fine turntable. I had one of those before the moving people trashed it.

Why do you want to replace it? You'd have to invest quite a bit to improve on it, imho.

Edited November 18, 2003 by deus62

[Peter Johnson]

Bummer...

I still get a thrill when I watch the stylus sloooooooooooooowly drop to the platter.

How did they do that?

[Claude]

Is this a TD160 thread?

- Thorens TD160MkII with an Ortofon Vinyl Master Red cartridge

- Musical Fidelity X-LPS phono preamp

But I mainly listen to digital:

- Sony SCD-XA777ES SACD/CD Player

- Philips DVD-963SA DVD/MP3/SACD Player

- iRiver IHP-120 portable MP3 player (on the road)

Amp:

- Electrocompaniet EC 4.7 + AW120

Speakers:

- Dynaudio Contour s3.4

Headphones:

- Sennheiser HD580

- Musical Fidelty X-Cans amp

Other sources:

- Kenwood L-1000T Tuner (analog radio rules, still no DAB available here)

- Sony TCK-808ES cassette deck

I use my PC (Terratec 6fire 24/96 sound card) to record from radio or LP.

Edited November 18, 2003 by Claude

[neveronfriday]

I thought I'd opt for the Project debut. I just can't afford the Thorens 160 at the moment. Good second-hand ones go for an arm and a leg, it seems.

Anyone have the Project one? Comments?

[jazzbo]

Main listening system:

Dynaco CD 2 cd player (with tubed preamped output, two 6922 tubes and volume control)

Decware Select amp (2 watts per channel babycakes!) soon to be replaced with two Decware EL34 Monoblock amps (an incredible 5 watts per channel!)

PS Audio Power Plant P300

Decware Radial RL-2 speakers

Also a Harmon Kardon casette deck, Philips and Alera Technologies cd burners, Decware "Revision A" amp, Proton 50 watt power amp, Toshiba dvd player, Samsung dvd/vhs player in living room system

No turntable at the moment

[Claude]

Deus, don't buy a new Pro-ject Debut. You can get a used Thorens (TD16x/14x) for the same price on Ebay (if one adds the price of a new cartridge), which is a better sounding and more solid player.

Check the german Analog Forum board for more info.

Edited November 18, 2003 by Claude

[neveronfriday]

Deus, don't buy a new Pro-ject Debut. You can get a used Thorens (TD16x/14x) for the same price on Ebay (if one adds the price of a new cartridge), which is a better sounding and more solid player.

Check the german Analog Forum board for more info.

Thanx for the link. Have started reading.

[JohnS]

Rega P3/Elys turntable/cartridge, Technics amp with Musical Fidelity phono pre-amp, Technics cd player, Sony minidisc, Yamaha cassette deck, a very old Fisher tuner and Acoustic Energy speakers. Nothing high end or esoteric.

The best buy was the phono pre-amp, it really makes up for the shortcomings of the Technics phono input.

[David Williams]

Garrard 401/Origin Live RB250/Ortofon MC Super II, EAR 834P, Decware SE84B, Beauhorn (Lowther) horns, Micromega Stage 4 CD.

Unfortunately, I have to do most listening on Panasonic personal (with Koss Porta-Pro h'phones) or Panasonic portable.

Edited November 18, 2003 by David Williams

[neveronfriday]

My Marantz Amp I'm really satisfied with, but I remember that when I bought it 2 or 3 years ago, the reviews stated that the phono input sucked. So, does the purchase of a phono preamp remedy that situation? Any decent ones at a decent price? Does anyone actually have the PM 78 and has attached a preamp?

[wolff]

Turntable: Linn LP12

Arm: Ittok LVII

Cartridges: Garrott P77, Grado Reference Reference, Grado Reference Platinum and a few others.

Tonearm cable: Van den Hul

CD player/recorder: Denon DR W1500

Pre-amp with phono: Conrad-Johnson PV2AR(valve)

Amps: Aronov LS-960(stereo, valve), Heathkit UA 1(mono blocks, valve) made in 1959 from kit and still going strong

Speakers: Bottlehead Straight Eights (96 db efficiency, made from kit)

Speaker cable: Tara labs

Interconnects: Cardas

Headphone amp: Headroom Little

Headphones: Grado 60 and 90

Sound Organisation wall shelf and Neuance shelf for LP12

Edited November 19, 2003 by wolff

[neveronfriday]

Turntable: Linn LP12

Arm: Ittok LVII

Cartridges: Garrott P77, Grado Reference Reference, Grado Reference Platinum and a few others.

Tonearm cable: Van den Hul

CD player/recorder: Denon DR W1500

Pre-amp with phono: Conrad-Johnson PV2AR(valve)

Amps: Aronov LS-960(valve), Heathkit UA 1(valve) made in 1959 from kit and still going strong

Speakers: Bottlehead Straight Eights (96 db efficiency, made from kit)

Speaker cable: Tara labs

Interconnects: Cardas

Headphone amp: Headroom Little

Headphones: Grado 60 and 90

"Honda Gives More Head"

[David Williams]

does the purchase of a phono preamp remedy that situation? Any decent ones at a decent price?

Probably. Just in case you don't know - you connect a phono amp to one of the other (line level) inputs, though, not the phono input.

There's a cheapish Creek phono amp that seems well-regarded, but even the cheapest stand-alone unit (QED perhaps?) will do a better job than an integral one that's been put there at minimum cost.

[catesta]

Getting me by for the time being.

Amp = Yamaha AX-596

CD = Yamaha CDC 901

CD Recorder = Philips CDR 795

Speakers = Yamaha NS-A 100XT & Bose 301's

[mikeweil]

Strange mixture I have, as I replaced single components whenever I had the money (but never too much to spend) to upgrade or one broke down:

Turntable: Thorens TD 160 (here's another one ) with a Grado Black cartridge (I intend to upgrade with another Grado soon, although this Black sounds better than any other more expensive model I had before. I had the connection cables replaced with thick copper cable many years ago - recommend this as the original Thorens connector cables are thin and not up to par with the quality of the turntable - I have this since the early 1970's.)

CD player: Pioneer PD-S501 - I love those turntables style CD players. Disc rotation is more even, so less electronics to re-calculate reading errors is needed. Connected with Oehlbach cable to the:

AMP: SONY TA-420 - not my first choice but affordable when the old one gave up. I miss a mono switch. Maybe I should use a separate preamp for the turntable as recommended above.

Cassette-Tapedeck: Technics RS-AZ7 - but I rarely use it.

Speakers: Some rare two-way with Styropor bass by Phonak in Stuttgart originally designed for audiological tests. They sound drier than most others, reveal the recording characteristics better than others I could compare with. Connected with thick copper cables, don't know the brand.

I use a CD spray which improves imaging of the CDs in particular.

Headphones: Koss UR-30.

Edited October 7, 2023 by mikeweil

[Leeway]

Hey Catesta, what's with the cannolis? That's a great pic for your avatar. It makes me a hungry. I was just up in NYC and went on a cannoli crawl through Little Italy. Delicious!

[jacknife]

My main system - mostly for movies

Rotel 1066 preamp

Parasound HCA855A 5ch amp

Parasound HCA750A 2ch amp

Sony CE775 SACD player

Paradigm Studio 40's with ADPs-rear, CC center and Mini-monitors-side

dual SVS25-31CS+ Subwoofers with Sampson S1000 amp

Behringer Feedback Destroyer parametric sub equalizer

Vansevers line conditioner

2nd system where most of my music gets played

Sunfire Classic Vacuum Tube Control Center with (3) EH 6922 gold pin tubes

Cayin TA-30 Tube Amp with (4) Valve Art KT88, (2) EH 12ax7 gold and (2) EH 12au7 gold pin.

Sony C555ES SACD player

Soliloquy 6.2 Speakers

Bolder Cables interconects and speaker cables

Edited February 7, 2004 by jacknife

[Guest Chaney]

My system as it stands: Krell KAV-300i integrated amp; Meridian 588 24-bit CD player (now gone: California Audio Labs CL-10 CD changer); (now removed from system: Taddeo Digital Antidote Two); Shunyata Hydra; Thiel 3.6 speakers; REL Storm III sub; Analysis Plus Copper Oval-In Interconnects (now removed from system: Madrigal interconnects); JPS Labs Super Conductor+ speaker cable; The Essence and JPS power cords; PolyCrystal rack; Argent room lens (3) and various other tweeks.

Edited February 28, 2006 by Chaney

[Jazzmoose]

I have three "set ups". Two are pretty new cheap pieces of shit for playing CDs. The other is an old piece of shit for playing LPs. Believe me, at this level, the brand names and model numbers don't matter one bit...

[Chuck Nessa]

Sears "Silver-Tone" portable. My only problem is the cover is to small to close while the record is on the turntable. I wish it had a "pop-up" for 45s. I listen to cds in the car.

This is a "trick question". Nomatter the answer, someone will "up you" and point out what a fool you are.

I'll never tell.

Everything is crap, real live music is the answer.

Since there is no right answer, anything "reasonable" by your taste, is just dandy.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

c'mon you all know would happen if you had a rigg this cool! B)

[Chuck Nessa]

Yes, we all know. Thanks for the memory.

[AmirBagachelles]

I'm down with Chuck, but I have to say I can't believe he doesn't use a moonrock needle. Makes everything else sound like $h!t!!