What did you do to your stereo rig today?
Comments
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Tonight, I've been cleaning, and thoroughly enjoying, this Harman Kardon 430 from my dad's collection. Not everything he 'collected' was gold, but this HK 430 sure was.
different lighting
It has cleaned up very well, and I got lucky that the scratchiness in the volume pot was remedied with a quick spray of DeOxit. I removed the knobs and faceplate for proper cleaning/scrubbing; results were great. The sheet-metal chassis cover has an outer vinyl coating, which makes it very durable; a quick scrub-and-rinse of the cover got things sorted, although there are still a few tiny gouged scrapes in the vinyl coating. On the clear acrylic faceplate, before cleaning, I noticed the below numbers written in crayon/wax/pencil. I'm assuming $4.84 was the price my dad paid for this receiver at a thrift store
"This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon -
Or when it was donated?Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Belles 21A Pre Upgraded with Mundorf Supremes
B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)
There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus -
Listened to the rig this morning for a couple of hours before bed. I mostly ran through some of my favorite tracks of various sample rates including standard CDs and flac files from 44.1- 96khz (and 192k detuned to 96k). I did this for two reasons, one because I wanted to start a list of reference tracks to compare the pre's dac and the new K13's and just because I wanted to listen to some jams lol.
The Fiio K13 dac arrived today while I was in bed. I should have everything to integrate it into the system by this weekend! This will allow me to spend plenty of time to listen to the stock pre's dac for a couple more days. Not like I'm not familiar with how it already sounds. I mean I've had this pre in this config. for ten years now. I can't wait to start comparing the two units.2ch rig: Speakers: Magnepan LRS w/Magna Riser stands Preamplifier: Parasound P5 Amplifier: Parasound A23 CDP: Pioneer DV-563A Cables: Wireworld Equinox 7 XLR ICs, Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 USB, AudioQuest Q2s, AudioQuest NRG X(preamp)
Standby: LSi9s with VR3's Fortress mods -
Very nice. Will you have any DAC's for sale when you are finished?
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Conradicles wrote: »Very nice. Will you have any DAC's for sale when you are finished?
Only if the K13 doesn't beat the Burr-Brown PCM1798 in the preamp.2ch rig: Speakers: Magnepan LRS w/Magna Riser stands Preamplifier: Parasound P5 Amplifier: Parasound A23 CDP: Pioneer DV-563A Cables: Wireworld Equinox 7 XLR ICs, Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 USB, AudioQuest Q2s, AudioQuest NRG X(preamp)
Standby: LSi9s with VR3's Fortress mods -
Today, I busted out some old gear to test a pair of SDA-2B that fell into my lap thanks to a very generous friend. Unfortunately my 2ch amp is not common ground, so I have to use a lowly Yamaha RX-595 receiver.
This is the first time I've listened to a pair of SDA since I sold my pair of modded 1C back on 2010. I'm enjoying them! They put out better bass than I was expecting for this big room.
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Conradicles wrote: »Got the harbeths into the man cave for a few days...
That's not nearly grubby enough looking to be a man cave... -
Had a couple of Wild Turkey's and turn her on for a listen.
That was it, carry on... -
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Nah man. I re-worked this one with the White Oak Audio upgrade kit here:https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/193610/phase-linear-400-re-work It still amazes how good this amp sounds. The EE MiniMax BBA adds a nice tube component to the front-end.That amp might void your home owners insurance.
Yes..... WOPL! -
That amp might void your home owners insurance.
There are still "non believers in our midst." Those who do not believe have not accepted the White Oak Spirit. Those who have such as I have went through enough amplifiers and built enough themselves to know for a fact. When they hear, with their own two ears they will bow to Joe, the White Oak God. Period. You would not believe the amps I went through getting here. Crown(s), Conrad Johnson, MV-75A, Dynaco ST 70, Carver(s) out the yang,
Fisher 500C (and others), Mcintosh MC -2205, Krell, KSA-150, B&K (just about all of them) 4420, 442, 202, M 200's, Kenwood Basic M2(s, multiple), Jolida JD 502, Adcom (multiples, just about all of them) with Brain Hoppes boards, GFA-565 Mono blocks. That only mentions a few. Does not mention even one of the receivers or integrated amplifiers. Only thing that gave the WOPL a bit of a run was an SAE 2300. Yeah, its that much better.... One White Oak Series II Phase Linear 700 complete with Dons DCP, Joes backplane and outputs, new meter LED boards, Power supply and class A mainboard and I sit around scratching my @ss now wondering why did I not just listen. All that money spent and all the time to restore all those amps. For no reason at all. Never could find the sound I actually wanted till now. Collected and restored equipment since 1980... Crazy.
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Preach on brother...
The 500 per is just a sweet asss bonus.
Really wanting to try the Model One.
Hard to believe a WOPL can be improved upon, it's that good, but the gurus @ Phoenix say it's so.
Those in the know know.
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More of that sweetness...
With these going back into rotation very soon...
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Arranged the DAC directly to the shelf. A nice symmetrical flow now.Set up: 11.2 HT + 2ch
AVP: Marantz AV8802A - Sources: BRP Panasonic UB9000/CDP Emotiva ERC 3 - DAC: Denafrips Venus - Display: LG OLED EVO 83 C3 - Amplification: Emotiva XPA-DR3, XPA-6, XPA-2 x 2 - Speakers: Focal/PolkAudio, Mains/2ch - Kanta No2, C - Sopra, SS - LSiM702, WS - RTiA9, RS - RTiA9, FH - RTiA3 - Subs: Epik Empires x 2
Cables: Mogami AES from CDP to DAC - AQ McKenzie XLR from DAC to AVP to amp for 2ch, Emotiva XLR's for the rest - Douglasconnection: Furutech Alpha 36 12g speaker wire for 2ch, Furez 10g speaker wire for the rest - AQ Forest48 HDMI for the display, AQ Carbon48 HDMI from BRP to AVP - VR3 filtered power cables for CDP, BRP and AVP, Emotiva power cables for the amps - AudioQuest 707 power conditioner.
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman -
This never made it to the SDA rig.... it's a nice match to my tuna:
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Got the Krell in rotation replacing the Phase Linear 4000 II preamp.
Huge difference, first thing is the noise coming from the speakers between songs, dead silent.
Also, the Krell has a crazy beefy power supply, turning up the volume to 1/4 is a whole nother level than the PL 4000 at 1/4 volume.
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Not entirely certain if this counts, but I just had AT&T Fiber installed in the house at 2gig speed, and I swear the music from streaming sources sounds just a touch cleaner than it did previously. I think it comes back to reducing noise in the system. Has anyone else experienced this?The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2800 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon MiND2 Shunyata Triton
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
How many flies need to be buzzing a dead horse before you guys stop beating it? -
Kt 170's in my hybrid amplifier -
nooshinjohn wrote: »Not entirely certain if this counts, but I just had AT&T Fiber installed in the house at 2gig speed, and I swear the music from streaming sources sounds just a touch cleaner than it did previously. I think it comes back to reducing noise in the system. Has anyone else experienced this?
Nope... it's no fluke. My streamed music from Qobuz definitely sounds better than it did on Spectrum cable. Where I thought there was one or two background singers, I now hear two or three. The fading inflections in a vocal is just a pinch clearer. Cymbal and piano decay lingers a touch longer. It's crazy how much can be gained
by taking steps to eliminate noise in the chain. I challenge anyone looking to upgrade from already superb gear to first look at the power side of things and take steps to clean it up. You might not want to spend the money afterwards, and if you still do, the new gear will reap the benefits and reward your ears.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2800 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon MiND2 Shunyata Triton
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
How many flies need to be buzzing a dead horse before you guys stop beating it? -
nooshinjohn wrote: »It's crazy how much can be gained by taking steps to eliminate noise in the chain.
Hmmm, where have I heard that before? Enjoy brother!
Tom
~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
You are either delusional, or under the influence of something that affects your judgement. Are you trying to convince anyone that fiber will give a better "streaming experience" than any other Home Internet service? Just stop. That's complete BS. Do you think that those packets of data are getting injected with noise along the way? Nope. That's not how digital data works. If there is any random noise in the cabling for the home internet connection, that will be all filtered exactly the same way by all the other noise reduction hardware in the chain, regardless if you have cable, DSL, fiber, Starlink, or 5G Wireless. None of that noise makes it to the end processing. If your Internet speed is fast enough to sustain a data rate better than the data rate or the audio feed, you are good. FYI, high res 24/192 feed is less than 9Mbps. Faster than dialup, but slower than anything that is considered broadband Internet.
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Bill, chill...
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
<snip>. None of that noise makes it to the end processing. <snip>
Uh-huh. I don't mean to be rude, but this statement is incorrect. There is SO much more to this...
Tom
~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
@billbillw
The one thing I have learned in this hobby and here at the forum is that we all experience sound differently. The last thing you will see me doing today is casting aspersions on the experiences of others and would never call them "delusional". You don't believe it's possible, but who are you to tell me I can't be hearing what I do?The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2800 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon MiND2 Shunyata Triton
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
How many flies need to be buzzing a dead horse before you guys stop beating it? -
Playing around with a pair of Minimus Realistic 7W (Walnut cabs) along with an SVS sub.
Powered by a lowly PS Audio Sprout, with a Logitech SqueezeBox Touch as a streamer source.
The resulting sound might make an audiophile reconsider what is important, and/or sufficient."This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon -
I like it! But any time those Focals become a burden, let me know!
The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2800 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon MiND2 Shunyata Triton
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
How many flies need to be buzzing a dead horse before you guys stop beating it? -
It's not whether it does or doesn't on paper.
It's what the end user enjoys is the goal. -
Set up: 11.2 HT + 2ch
AVP: Marantz AV8802A - Sources: BRP Panasonic UB9000/CDP Emotiva ERC 3 - DAC: Denafrips Venus - Display: LG OLED EVO 83 C3 - Amplification: Emotiva XPA-DR3, XPA-6, XPA-2 x 2 - Speakers: Focal/PolkAudio, Mains/2ch - Kanta No2, C - Sopra, SS - LSiM702, WS - RTiA9, RS - RTiA9, FH - RTiA3 - Subs: Epik Empires x 2
Cables: Mogami AES from CDP to DAC - AQ McKenzie XLR from DAC to AVP to amp for 2ch, Emotiva XLR's for the rest - Douglasconnection: Furutech Alpha 36 12g speaker wire for 2ch, Furez 10g speaker wire for the rest - AQ Forest48 HDMI for the display, AQ Carbon48 HDMI from BRP to AVP - VR3 filtered power cables for CDP, BRP and AVP, Emotiva power cables for the amps - AudioQuest 707 power conditioner.
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman -
Either works….The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2800 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon MiND2 Shunyata Triton
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
How many flies need to be buzzing a dead horse before you guys stop beating it? -
nooshinjohn wrote: »Not entirely certain if this counts, but I just had AT&T Fiber installed in the house at 2gig speed, and I swear the music from streaming sources sounds just a touch cleaner than it did previously. I think it comes back to reducing noise in the system. Has anyone else experienced this?
Fwiw most streamers govern at 100 mbps
All in your head most likely- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
