Seperating My System

madmax

I was playing records last night and got an idea after tweaking everything to work best with the TT. I am going to set up a completely different rig for CD's.

The vinyl system will have my Orbe turntable mated to the phono pre, which has volume control, then directly to the mono blocks and horns. This is a nice clean setup and does not unnecessarily make me run through the preamp.

The CD system will have my Theta transport going to the Audio Note dac, then through the Manley pre, an old really great sounding Soundcraftsmen amp and finally out to either the SDA 1.2's or the Carver Amazings, whichever sound the best with the setup.

My only concern is not being able to play CD's through the horns any more. Who knows, maybe I will not be satisfied because of this. Its worth a try since everything always needs to be tweaked to work best with the two sources.

madmax

vc69

Max, I'm curious. What sort of tweaking do you do between the two sources? Cables? Preamp? Inquiring minds want to know...

steveinaz

I prefer simplicity too. That's why I made the move to the DAC/PRE and ditched my analog preamp altogether. That was about 18lbs less electronics between me and my music. My system has 1 set of analog IC's, .5mtr---that's it. Less is more, right?

Phil Dawson

Chuck, if you are doing this in your living room (both systems) you could interconnect the 2 systems using a combination of Ys and A/B switches and have the best of both worlds. Just a thought. By the way the big boys are still sounding great.
Thanks, Phl

madmax

Hey Phil, glad you are digging them! My other pair has been sitting in an extra room which I never seem to wander into.

OK, so the changes I have to make between CD and vinyl is a level change to the horn bass system (turn a knob on each speaker) and subwoofer frequency/level adjustment (never seem to get them back to the right spot and have to play with it for an hour). I've also found that other upgrades with tubes and cables often help one source but hurt the other one.

The main advantage for the TT setup is I won't have to go through the preamp. Last night I proved to myself it sounds better without the extra unneeded stage. My preamp is VERY good but nothing is better than anything.

Polkersince85

Glad to see there are still a few Soundcraftsmen amps being used. I have a MA5002 feeding my SRS 2s. You should have no problem with the 1.2.

jm1

Hi Chuck,

I am curious why are you adjusting the self powered sub levels for different sources. The level adjustments should remain the same according to your preference for all sources, but I have only heard the Duo's once so am not familiar with their day to day performance characteristics. Adjusting the level for each source suggests to me maybe there is a different issue afoot.

Is your Steelhead the pre 11/2002 version without the line level in as you are not using this as the preamp for both sources?

Regards.

madmax

My Steelhead is prior to the line level model. I remember it coming out a few months after I got mine. It sure would have been nice to have it but then again I'm pretty happy with their 300B preamp when playing CD's.

My CD setup is very dynamic and ballsy whereas the TT sound is full sounding, crisp and tight. I end up wanting more very low frequency boost and slightly less of the higher bass with the TT. Minor really but to tweak to the Nth degree for both is not possible and it bugs me.