What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

Started by Bonehelm, May 24, 2007, 08:52:55 AM

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Bogey

Quote from: Daverz on December 24, 2008, 06:17:44 PM
I don't see a DSD logo.  Odd, since Sony were the ones pushing SACD and DSD originally.

The UPS guy brought 4 of these today:



RCA 6SN7 GT tubes for my pre-amp.

Also recently I've been thinking about getting more into do-it-yourself projects, so I ordered the PCB and parts for this little guy:



The Hagermann Bugle phono pre-amp (it uses op amps).  This is just warm up for the Piccolo head amp kit.  He has kits for a line stage, a tube phono pre-amp, a tube headphone amp, and several other things.



I cannot follow all of this, but my gut is good at telling me when something is stinkin' cool and this is one of those times.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Daverz

Quote from: Bogey on December 24, 2008, 06:56:52 PM
I cannot follow all of this, but my gut is good at telling me when something is stinkin' cool and this is one of those times.

If you're talking about tubes, yeah I know next to nothing about them, either.  It is a little intimidating.  I got these from my pre-amp maker, Rogue Audio (I called and talked to one of the owners.)  They selected the tubes and tested them for me.

For the do-it-yourself stuff, even though I have a degree in Physics, I've forgotten much of the electronics I learned, and I never really developed a feel for circuits.  I'd like to get more hands on with it.  I'm really impressed with what some of the DIY guys are doing.  One of the projects that intrigues me is hooking up an SACD player directly to a high-end DAC like this one.

drogulus

#302
Quote from: Daverz on December 24, 2008, 06:17:44 PM
I don't see a DSD logo.  Odd, since Sony were the ones pushing SACD and DSD originally.




     I don't think anyone makes an inexpensive receiver with DSD decoding. Since any player I get would resample to PCM for bass managment (or the receiver would if it had that ability) I don't see a problem.

Quote from: Daverz on December 24, 2008, 08:42:35 PM
If you're talking about tubes, yeah I know next to nothing about them, either.  It is a little intimidating.  I got these from my pre-amp maker, Rogue Audio (I called and talked to one of the owners.)  They selected the tubes and tested them for me.

For the do-it-yourself stuff, even though I have a degree in Physics, I've forgotten much of the electronics I learned, and I never really developed a feel for circuits.  I'd like to get more hands on with it.  I'm really impressed with what some of the DIY guys are doing.  One of the projects that intrigues me is hooking up an SACD player directly to a high-end DAC like this one.


     There's a boutique guitar/bass amp that uses these octals instead of 12ax7's.

     Alessandro Amp

     

     These amps are supposed to be good, and the basic models without the frills are not that much more than vintage reissues from Marshall/Fender etc. You can see a 6SL7 peeking out from between the power tubes (6550's).
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Shrunk

Quote from: drogulus on December 25, 2008, 12:38:58 PM
   

     There's a boutique guitar/bass amp that uses these octals instead of 12ax7's.

     Alessandro Amp

     

Certainly a thing of beauty.  However, I recall having an internet exchange with a well-known jazz guitarist who used to endorse these amps, and he said he gave them up because of their unreliability.  (Admittedly, it doesn't look like the kind of thing that was meant to be taken out on the road.)

Quote from: Daverz on December 24, 2008, 06:17:44 PM
The Hagermann Bugle phono pre-amp (it uses op amps).  This is just warm up for the Piccolo head amp kit.  He has kits for a line stage, a tube phono pre-amp, a tube headphone amp, and several other things.

I've built his Cornet phono pre kit, and highly recommend it.  Unbeatable performance/dollar ratio (once you omit the "sweat equity" factor of building it yourself) and pretty much idiot-proof in construction (has to be, since this idiot managed to build it!).  Some acquaintances of mine have the Bugle and praise it highly.  Good choice!

drogulus


      There's this guy in Sturbridge, MA who works on old tube equipment, and he'll also assemble an amp kit for you. Here's one:

     

      It's a Dynaco ST-70 power amp (2x35 wpc). The kit plus assembly is $845. The kit alone is $695 so the guy is not making a fortune for his work. With a couple of high sensitivity speakers you could get a huge sound out of this.

     He also works on these old radios, some of which are really beautiful.

     


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Daverz

Quote from: Shrunk on December 27, 2008, 04:11:47 AM
Certainly a thing of beauty.  However, I recall having an internet exchange with a well-known jazz guitarist who used to endorse these amps, and he said he gave them up because of their unreliability.  (Admittedly, it doesn't look like the kind of thing that was meant to be taken out on the road.)

Yeah, I'm already having a problem with these RCAs.  After about a minute after turning the pre-amp on for the first time, i get a loud pop through the speakers.  I haven't tried putting back my Sylvania "chrome domes".  I'll have to call Rogue on Monday.  So, yeah, definitely less reliable than solid state.

These RCA tubes are pretty fantastic in the "presence" region, but don't have the silkiness and midrange purity of the Sylvanias.

Quote
I've built his Cornet phono pre kit, and highly recommend it.  Unbeatable performance/dollar ratio (once you omit the "sweat equity" factor of building it yourself) and pretty much idiot-proof in construction (has to be, since this idiot managed to build it!).  Some acquaintances of mine have the Bugle and praise it highly.  Good choice!

I tried out a pre-built Cornet2 for about a month and did some tube rolling.  I never got it to where I was all that happy with the sound, particularly the soundstage,  and ended up with a Rogue Stealth (which uses opamps).  I didn't try any NOS 12ax7s, though.  The Rogue 99 pre-amp's phono stage has 4 Mullard 12ax7s and sounds great.

Bogey

Quote from: drogulus on December 27, 2008, 04:11:39 PM
      There's this guy in Sturbridge, MA who works on old tube equipment, and he'll also assemble an amp kit for you. Here's one:

     

      It's a Dynaco ST-70 power amp (2x35 wpc). The kit plus assembly is $845. The kit alone is $695 so the guy is not making a fortune for his work. With a couple of high sensitivity speakers you could get a huge sound out of this.

     He also works on these old radios, some of which are really beautiful.

     




My dad restores old radios as well.  I will have to post a photo of the one he did for me.  Neat stuff for sure.  I believe he gets all his replacement parts from here:

http://www.tubesandmore.com/
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Daverz

Unfortunately, when you turn those old radios on you get Rush Limbaugh and not Fibber McGee and Molley.

Bogey

Quote from: Daverz on December 27, 2008, 10:33:30 PM
Unfortunately, when you turn those old radios on you get Rush Limbaugh and not Fibber McGee and Molley.

Still great for baseball games though.... ;D
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

Well, finally got my dad's old floor speakers up and running in my workroom.  They sound tremendous and weigh more than me after a Christmas meal.  Here is the system I am running.

Realistic STA-2100 amp/receiver
Sansui 3000 Floor Speakers
Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 Bookshelf Speakers
Pro-Ject III Turntable
Optimus 1760 CD Player-needs to be upgraded


His Pioneer Amp/Receiver 9000 seems to not be working, so stuck with the Realistic.  However, he and I are going to keep an eye out for them and see if we can piece a decent one together.

I have all four speakers ready to run.  Anything wrong with running all four at once?  The Wharfields are about 8 feet off the ground with the Sansui's obviously on the floor.

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

drogulus

Quote from: Bogey on December 31, 2008, 11:36:07 AM

I have all four speakers ready to run.  Anything wrong with running all four at once?  The Wharfields are about 8 feet off the ground with the Sansui's obviously on the floor.


     Is it running yet? What are you trying to do with the extra pair? If what you want is the best sound you could run the Diamonds with a sub connected to the receiver's speaker terminals. Or if you like the sound of the Sansui's just run them alone.
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Bogey

Quote from: drogulus on December 31, 2008, 02:12:08 PM
     Is it running yet? What are you trying to do with the extra pair? If what you want is the best sound you could run the Diamonds with a sub connected to the receiver's speaker terminals. Or if you like the sound of the Sansui's just run them alone.

I have the Sansuis on the B and the Diamonds on the A channel.  They sound the best when both are going.  However, what is a sub connection? 
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

Is it possible that I am getting such good sound with all 4 because the 2 Diamonds are taking care of some of the higher range sound that the Sansui's might not be able to deliver as well?
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz


Daverz


drogulus



   
Quote from: Bogey on December 31, 2008, 03:02:15 PM
Is it possible that I am getting such good sound with all 4 because the 2 Diamonds are taking care of some of the higher range sound that the Sansui's might not be able to deliver as well?

    Yes, they could be canceling each other weaknesses. It doesn't sound like a very transparent system, though.

Quote from: Bogey on December 31, 2008, 02:20:49 PM
However, what is a sub connection? 

    A sub connected to the speaker terminals. These old receivers don't have sub outs because subs didn't exist in home stereos back then. These days subs can be connected in different ways so you can use them with older amps. This one has

     
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Bogey

Quote from: drogulus on December 31, 2008, 05:08:18 PM

   
    Yes, they could be canceling each other weaknesses. It doesn't sound like a very transparent system, though.

    A sub connected to the speaker terminals. These old receivers don't have sub outs because subs didn't exist in home stereos back then. These days subs can be connected in different ways so you can use them with older amps. This one has

     

Explain transparency a bit if you do not mind.  Is it just being able to hear the music "how it is"?  My Brubeck album sounded better than anything I have ever played on a system.  However, some of the vinyl I put on was not that good.  Depended on the label/recording.  I guess vinyl does not differ from cds in this category....some great, others not.  However, my Diamonds were negligible when playing symphonic music.  That is, you were hard pressed to tell the difference if they were on or not.  Interesting.  As stated, for most of the jazz, all four speakers really took it to a nice level of sound.  It would seem that one could play around a bit with the tuning knobs on each recording to achieve maximum quality as well.  In any case, fun stuff to mess with. 

Also, what do these sub connectors actually do?
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

DavidW

Quote from: Bogey on December 31, 2008, 11:36:07 AM
Optimus 1760 CD Player-needs to be upgraded

Optimus cd players are not bad.  I used to have one.  Radioshack sold them, but they are identical to pricier Pioneer models in every way.  It's as if they simply chiseled the Pioneer name out and put Optimus in it's place! ;D

Bogey

Quote from: DavidW on January 01, 2009, 08:02:00 AM
Optimus cd players are not bad.  I used to have one.  Radioshack sold them, but they are identical to pricier Pioneer models in every way.  It's as if they simply chiseled the Pioneer name out and put Optimus in it's place! ;D

Very good to know David, and Happy New Year.  Mine just acts up from time to time and will not read the disc I loaded and gives me a "NO DISC" message.  Working fine right now, but cannot use with confidence ......and it takes 20-30 loadings before it catches the disc properly. 

Now I wonder if it has something to do with the cheapo cables I have hitched to the back of it.












There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

drogulus

Quote from: Bogey on December 31, 2008, 11:18:10 PM
Explain transparency a bit if you do not mind.  Is it just being able to hear the music "how it is"?  My Brubeck album sounded better than anything I have ever played on a system.  However, some of the vinyl I put on was not that good.  Depended on the label/recording.  I guess vinyl does not differ from cds in this category....some great, others not.  However, my Diamonds were negligible when playing symphonic music.  That is, you were hard pressed to tell the difference if they were on or not.  Interesting.  As stated, for most of the jazz, all four speakers really took it to a nice level of sound.  It would seem that one could play around a bit with the tuning knobs on each recording to achieve maximum quality as well.  In any case, fun stuff to mess with. 

Also, what do these sub connectors actually do?

    Transparency just means the speaker doesn't color the sound to a noticeable extent. This way your recordings will all sound like they were intended to. Some colorations may make certain recordings sound better and others worse. The ideal is a flat midrange. Depending on your room and speaker placement you might want to move the treble and bass up or down a bit to a point where all your music sounds good. Modern digital receivers have automated room correction systems that do this for you. I don't use them, and I run the system flat.

    The sub connects to modern receivers through a dedicated sub output that sends all the bass to the sub while rolling of the lowest frequencies to the main speakers.

     

     You can select the crossover frequency on the receiver (usually 80 hz is best). If you don't have a receiver like this you can use the speaker terminals or the monitor out. I would use the speaker terminals. If you have a separate preamp you can split the signal between the sub and the power amp. With some subs you have both speaker ins and outs so you connect the main speakers (R+L) to the sub instead of the amp and the sub does the crossover. In the picture below the sub has these connections.

     

QuoteNow I wonder if it has something to do with the cheapo cables I have hitched to the back of it.

      >:D
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