Ch ch ch changes
bikerboy
Posts: 1,211
Hi
I have been negligent in posting all the changes that have gone on in the mancave. I am very happy with the new definition on both sources.
First the TT.
I have owned the Denon DP-72 since 1986? and now it has bass like it never had before. I decided to drill out the old arm mount and glued in a diy fiberglass arm and rewired it with Cardas tonearm wire and jacks. Then I got rid of the same vintage denon head amp and increased the gain on the Hagerman Bugle phono amp to 55 db and made a better box for it. Then I got Hearingimpaired's The Clamp. Now I play a Pink Floyd lp and compare it to the cd and the difference is very small. The noise level is very low and clicks and pops are not as loud as they were before. Every lp is better. Some are still a bit bright or muddy bass but thats the way it was recorded. But play Neal Young and Craze Horse- Live Rust-Corteze the Killer and I am blown away. Vinyl is something I look forward to listening to, not wishing it wasnt so noisy and inferior in fidelity when compared to the cdp.
Now the Cdp.
Its really a dvd player but I did the Vinnie mods on the power supply side and the Swenson mods on the audio output side. Used 0.47 auricaps w/300pf silver mica caps straight from the da chip, VH Audio wire and Marinco ends for a power cord. Lined the top and bottom with stick-on tile and put a brick on top. Burned in the new caps for a week straight. Listening to it for about a month now and man does it sound good. I didnt like it at all stock and thought since I paid $60 shipped it was worth trying. So I have about $100 into it so far. I may try one more set of mods later but it sounds very nice now. The depth of the imaging is the biggest change. That and the ease or lack of fatigue that it has compared to the old sony. I saw that many forum members tried the toshiba and moved on. I may do that also but for now I am impressed with what it can do.
I also got a Signal Cable Magic Power power cord for the amp. It and the VH Audio cord are still settling in. I know some people dont think/hear that wires make a difference. I didnt before and now I know that I can hear the difference. The bass is more solid and lower. The highs were too edgy and harsh but are smoothing out nicely. I had read that some found the VH Audio wire for the cdp to be too reveiling. NIN-The Fragile has been a standard to listen to see if the top is too harsh. It has the right amount of bite to bring out the details but not too fatigueing.
When I made the order for the VH audio cable I got a set of Eichmann copper rca jacks. I used the wire from a set of Straightwire IC and the combo is very nice. The jacks that are stock on the SW are ok but the Eichmann make it a very nice sounding IC. I may have to get more of the Eichmann for the other IC.
I also had a tweeter quit and got a replacement and so many things needed burning in. So I put the toshiba on repeat and it has been playing for the last 3 days. The cords were installed last friday and the tweeter on tuesday.
I almost forgot to include I built a wall that made the room smaller. It blocks off a storage area. That improved the bass a bunch. The bass is tighter and the top end images better. I moved furniture around last night and put down a sisal? (like rope)carpet. Had the speakers on the carpet and the bass went away. So I moved the carpet so the speakers can sit on the concrete floor. Much better. Now I need a quiet chair to sit in. I am always tapping my foot the the beat and the chair is squeaking.
So for now I am enjoying the system. Theres a pic of the new mahagany cover on the Hagerman Bugle phono amp. Thanks for all the great stimulus to better the system and bring it to the next level. I think it will take big wads of cash to get any real improvements in the system now. Maybe a better power amp.
Welcome to the machine. Take me where all the happy people are.
I have been negligent in posting all the changes that have gone on in the mancave. I am very happy with the new definition on both sources.
First the TT.
I have owned the Denon DP-72 since 1986? and now it has bass like it never had before. I decided to drill out the old arm mount and glued in a diy fiberglass arm and rewired it with Cardas tonearm wire and jacks. Then I got rid of the same vintage denon head amp and increased the gain on the Hagerman Bugle phono amp to 55 db and made a better box for it. Then I got Hearingimpaired's The Clamp. Now I play a Pink Floyd lp and compare it to the cd and the difference is very small. The noise level is very low and clicks and pops are not as loud as they were before. Every lp is better. Some are still a bit bright or muddy bass but thats the way it was recorded. But play Neal Young and Craze Horse- Live Rust-Corteze the Killer and I am blown away. Vinyl is something I look forward to listening to, not wishing it wasnt so noisy and inferior in fidelity when compared to the cdp.
Now the Cdp.
Its really a dvd player but I did the Vinnie mods on the power supply side and the Swenson mods on the audio output side. Used 0.47 auricaps w/300pf silver mica caps straight from the da chip, VH Audio wire and Marinco ends for a power cord. Lined the top and bottom with stick-on tile and put a brick on top. Burned in the new caps for a week straight. Listening to it for about a month now and man does it sound good. I didnt like it at all stock and thought since I paid $60 shipped it was worth trying. So I have about $100 into it so far. I may try one more set of mods later but it sounds very nice now. The depth of the imaging is the biggest change. That and the ease or lack of fatigue that it has compared to the old sony. I saw that many forum members tried the toshiba and moved on. I may do that also but for now I am impressed with what it can do.
I also got a Signal Cable Magic Power power cord for the amp. It and the VH Audio cord are still settling in. I know some people dont think/hear that wires make a difference. I didnt before and now I know that I can hear the difference. The bass is more solid and lower. The highs were too edgy and harsh but are smoothing out nicely. I had read that some found the VH Audio wire for the cdp to be too reveiling. NIN-The Fragile has been a standard to listen to see if the top is too harsh. It has the right amount of bite to bring out the details but not too fatigueing.
When I made the order for the VH audio cable I got a set of Eichmann copper rca jacks. I used the wire from a set of Straightwire IC and the combo is very nice. The jacks that are stock on the SW are ok but the Eichmann make it a very nice sounding IC. I may have to get more of the Eichmann for the other IC.
I also had a tweeter quit and got a replacement and so many things needed burning in. So I put the toshiba on repeat and it has been playing for the last 3 days. The cords were installed last friday and the tweeter on tuesday.
I almost forgot to include I built a wall that made the room smaller. It blocks off a storage area. That improved the bass a bunch. The bass is tighter and the top end images better. I moved furniture around last night and put down a sisal? (like rope)carpet. Had the speakers on the carpet and the bass went away. So I moved the carpet so the speakers can sit on the concrete floor. Much better. Now I need a quiet chair to sit in. I am always tapping my foot the the beat and the chair is squeaking.
So for now I am enjoying the system. Theres a pic of the new mahagany cover on the Hagerman Bugle phono amp. Thanks for all the great stimulus to better the system and bring it to the next level. I think it will take big wads of cash to get any real improvements in the system now. Maybe a better power amp.
Welcome to the machine. Take me where all the happy people are.
Main system: Lyngdorf TDAI 2170 w/ Pioneer 42" plazma-> Polk LSiM 703 w/Tivo, Marantz tuner, BRPTT: Nothingham Spacedeck-> Pioneer PL L1000 linear arm-> Soundsmith DL 103R-> SUT->Bottlehead ErosDigital: I3 PC w/ Jriver playing flac -> Sonore Ultrarendu -> Twisted Pair Audio ESS 9028 w/ Mercury IVY Vinyl rips: ESI Juli@24/192-> i3 PC server