Show us Your Kit!

Hello all

Here's my current kit as at 12/10/05 (not showing off - this is the result of 25 years of hard labour!!) with comments, hopefully to make the list less of a bore to read! And it shows that I should get out more....

Vinyl

Turntables

Acoustic Solid Royal, three tonearm version, I spend more time keeping it polished than listening to music
Notts Analogue Mentor - still Tom Fletchers best, the iron platter is getting a bit rusty tho'

Tonearms

Mission Mechanic - I have several of this underrated piece of perfection
Gray Mechanic Special Edition - one of 3 , not gloss black - hurrah
Gray Dark Energy prototype - new mega arm from designer of MM and Zeta, weighs 20lbs, not for LP12 owners
Zeta - still lovely despite nice dust coverage on the gloss finish
Breuer Type 8 - just acquired another one - a fine piece of engineering,
Triplanar III - a right royal pain to set up right
and occasionally for a laugh a decca international unipivot - big fat floaty wibbly wobbly soundstage.


Cartridges

MM

Four Decca Super golds in rotation - always seem to have one out for repair - always worth it The greatest cartridge ever - except maybe the garrott bros decca or an Ikeda Supremo if you can afford it or get hold of one
All the deccas in are specially built pods
London reference - just running in, quite good results expected for the high cost

MC
Ikeda 9 - needs hours of painful set-up to sound fantastic - recommended if you value realism, dynamics and live 'punch' above all else
Denon DL 103 - massively good for the price I paid
Shinon Red - typical 80's MC, fair detail, a bit lifeless overall
Koetsu Red signature - waiting for re tip then back in the box for 'investment'
WIN FET-10 (broken sadly, never to be repaired -when it worked - quite stunning,)

Pre-amps

ARC SP- 8 still going strong after 20 years - never gone wrong ever
ARC SP-10 very heavily fiddled about with as it chews tubes regularly and hums a bit when people are in the room! and it's started to crackle and pop and hiss and drone
Music First passive - this may replace the ARCS....

Step - ups
Ikeda - the 9 has such a low output it might as well not exist at all
EAR MC3 - very quiet, controls the denons occasional fatness in the bass
World Audio Design - I hand built it in the shed, looks like it too

Power Amps

Mission 777 - this is a great piece of 80's tranny gear - very good for rocking out to
MF XA-200s - these are MFs best - they don't have that transistor shine that sits over the music
Audio Innovations S1000 monos completely modified to stop them exploding as they did twice before the essential mods - why they didn't sort out the problems in the first place....
Just acquired a set of EAR 509's, once I work out where to put 'em I'll plug 'em in

Shortly to start a final search to upgrade all the pre-power part of the system

Speakers

Gallo Ref 3's - at long last for me, no more upgrading speakers


Cables - yes I use them

Stands

The usual suspects and custom built big mutha for the record players

Digital

Rega Planet - the original version with the dust collecting grooved top plate - sounds flat earthy
Naim CD5i - never thought I'd use Naim gear but this is mighty fine indeed - sounds not flat earthy

Apple ipod and ipod shuffle - I actually listen to music more on these than the big gear......!

Headphones

AKG 1000s
Jecklin Floats
Old set of Stax

big bag of cotton wool and a syringe


Vinyl

3,870 at last count

CD

891 at last count

Questions

Do I actually listen to all this stuff? Yep, around 18-20 hours a week - I m a music fan for sure.....!

Do I have an understanding partner? Yep to that, she regularly goes shopping for shoes/jewellery

Analogue or Digital? you need to ask?

Home Theatre? what's that?

Favorite piece of kit? My Dynavector DV507 because it just looks so cool

Do I listen to a record all the way through? you bet!! unless I need to tweak the arm/cartridge.....

Favorite LP? too many but today's is Crosby, Stills and Nash,

First proper HIFi? Rega turntable, Rega arm, AT95e, Arcam Alpha, Arcam Deltas - I still have it all, gonna give it to my nephew when he needs to upgrade from his MP3.


DECCAMAN

 

if you love the breuer 8 then try the breuer derived brinkmann 10.5 - outperforms both the B7 and B8 by a very wide margin.

 

Yes, I have seen and heard this at my local dealer - Walrus in London. I just love the quality of the engineering, the brinkman turntable is marvellous

deccaman

 

Right well, the new kit is....

CDP - still the pink triangle cordinal

Preamp - shiny new (second hand) Sugden masterclass pre

Power amp - shiny new (and bloody huge!) Sugden masterclass stereo power

Speakers - Cura CA30s

Subwoofer - Velodyne CHT-8

Cables - VdH bay and d352; JPS Labs Superconductor FX

...and (I'd say) it's starting to sound good...

 

As mentioned in other thread, copy of my music system:


DETAILS (@ October 2005)

VINYL "ARISTON AUDIO RD80SL mk2" TURNTABLE + solid silicone mat + "ALPHASON H100S" ARM with ceramic bearings + "AUDIO TECHNICA AT150MLX" CARTRIDGE (2005 model) + "MICHELL" clamp (all seated on neoprene-damped spikes, onto "TARGET" wall shelf). Mains-supplied via "Paravicini/Hi-Fi News" electronic mains stabiliser & speed control. Linked (by "Cambridge Scientific Supplies" (0.25mm) solid silver leads + "WBT" locking plugs) to amp via "GRAHAM SLEE GRAMAMP 2" (2002 model) PHONO PREAMPLIFIER.

SHELLACS "LENCO G99" VARIABLE-SPEED TURNTABLE + "LUSTRE" ARM + "SHURE M75-78", modified "HODGSON/EXPERT PICKUPS", CARTRIDGE.

CD "MARANTZ CD 6000SE", modified by Ken Ishiwata (2002 model) (top weighted with bags of fine sand) + Sorbothane support feet + "Homegrown Audio Super Silver" 3-ply plaited solid silver leads + locking plugs to amp.

RADIO "TECHNICS G70L" STEREO TUNER.

CASSETTE TAPE "NAKAMICHI CASSETTE DECK ONE" 3-HEAD TAPE RECORDER.

CASSETTE TWO "MARANTZ-SUPERSCOPE CD330" PORTABLE 3-HEAD TAPE RECORDER.

CASSETTE THREE "YAMAHA KX-393" 2-HEAD TAPE RECORDER (link for computer work).

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER "AVI LABORATORY SERIES" 175 wpc (2004 model). Mains lead made from plaited 3 x solid-core copper (1.5 sq mm) cable allowing <50 amps; "Marinco" hospital-grade IEC plugs used. Connected to speakers (by single-wiring as "AVI" requests) via 6 sq mm twisted copper mains cable, coated in exposed parts with silver solder.

SPEAKERS "TDL STUDIO 3" TRANSMISSION-LINE: each comprises (in D'Appolito configuration): 2 x "TDL/Elac" 200 mm bass-mid units, + 1 x "ScanSpeak 9500" 28 mm textile tweeter (replacing the original "TDL/Elac" 25 mm metal-dome tweeter). Seated, via 'Bluetac', on "TDL" metal stands, spiked to floor.

VIDEO (VHS) "TOSHIBA 858" NICAM.

VIDEO (DVD) "TOSHIBA" 330 (2003 multiregion model).

COMPUTER - AUDIO SECTION "CREATIVE AUDIGY 2" 32-bit SOUNDCARD + "TOSHIBA" DVD READER + "PLEXTOR 52/24/52" CDR WRITER; configured by "SCAN ELECTRONICS".


Hope this is of some interest.

keep the phase
keith

 

Except for some cabling and the speaker stands, all equipment was bought brand new this year resulting in :student: for the moment.

CDP - MF X-Ray V3

Preamp - MF A5cr

Power amp - MF A308cr

Speakers - Dynaudio Contour 1.3SE (on Stand2)

Tuner: Marantz ST-17

Cables - IC: VdH MC Gold (2x), VdH First Ultimate. PC: VdH Mainsstream, VdH Mainsserver (2x),

 

my stuff

Was not going to post picture but seeing some as crap as mine will post one

 

More new toys today




All from Rochester hi fi even gave me a lift home and stayed to play

http://www.rochesterhi-fi.co.uk/

 

hI pEEPS i'M NEW YESTERDAY!

gONA KEEP IT SIMPLE

Not going into the accessories for obvious reasons heres my system

Moon nova Cdplayer

Gryphon Callisto 2100 intergrated amp

JM Focal labs Electra be 907 standmount speakers

Plus a ton of other bits and pieces I including TT and tuners etc.

Currently enjoying the simple systems in life though!

 

Hi People ,

First post .......might aswell start here


Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck
SpaceArm
Reson Reca Cartridge
Amazon Record Puck
Michell Unicover
Revox B77 MkII (high speed)
World Audio Design Pre-II
Psu-II
Phono-II
kAT-6550
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
Custom made Speaker stands
Sound Organisation Equipment stand
Ixos I/C 's
Chord co Speaker cable

Will post some pics when I get a chance

 

Some nice kit there slammed56

No CD player?

 

My kit (as of Nov 2005, and hopefully no major changes ahead for a *good* long time!):

Resolution Audio Opus 21 cd player + external PSU, using DIN output
Nottinghman Analogue Spacedeck with Heavy platter, Spacearm, Lyra Helikon
Dynavector P75 phono stage in 'Dr T.' mode
Eastern Electric Minimax preamp with Radiotechnique 6X4, Valvo gold-pin E80CC and Mullard yellow label ECC82 (all NOS)
Eastern Electric Minimax poweramp with stock ECL82s and a Mullard NOS GZ34
Audiophysic Avanti III loudspeakers in cherry

Cables are a mix of Mogami and Naim NAC-A5, with a DIN-RCA Nordost Solar Wind i/c on the CDP (which I oughta change!)
Dedicated spurs (4x) with own Mem 2000AD6 consumer unit, Roy Riches enhanced.

 

Actually been looking for one on ebay ....something a little older , not sure what to go for though

Any Recommendations ??

£300 max

 

I was going to say Meridian 507 but not for £300. An Arcam Alpha 9 perhaps? Best start a new thread. You'll get plenty of ideas then.

 

my recently put together other system:-

 

Linn LP12/Lingo/Akito/K9
Marantz DV4300
Marantz PM17
Castle Conway3

 

Poor photos that are out of date(taken on my mobile phone)....

Two Channel








dCS p8i Cd Player - MusicWorks ReCoil mains lead
Accuphase E-307 Amplifier - MusicWorks ReCoil mains lead
MusicWorks Reflex mains block
Focal JMLab Electra 1007Be Speakers

CDP --> Amp - Siltech SQ28 G5
Amp --> Speakers - Townshend Isolda DCT

Stands
All Quadraspire Acrylic


Upstairs
LP12/Ittock LVII/Ortofon 520
Linn Unidisk 1.1
Linn Klimax Kontrol
Linn Klimax Chakra Twin
Focal JMLab Electra 907Be Speakers
Quadraspire Acrylic speaker stands (little'uns)
Quadraspire Q4 rack


Understanding wife, child and neighbours.

Sorry for going on, but it is useful to me as a reference.

 

That's quite a bedroom system! Though I'd be tempted to upgrade the amp...

Dunc

 

Cheers! Had to sell the Cyrus 8VS and PSX-R to buy the Accuphase amp for the lounge. I'll look in to it though...

 

Paul, I like the look of those castles, absolutely lovely.

You really should get your LP12 on a decent support!