What are the Strengths and Weaknesses of your 2 Channel Rig

candyliquor35m

List every piece of your rig and then share your rigs overall strengths and weaknesses based on your hours of listening enjoyment.

Amp:
Pre-amp:
Receiver/Int. amp:
CDP:
DAC:
Speakers:
Turntable:
Cartridge:
Clamp:
Tuner:
List brand and type of tubes used in each component where applicable:
Interconnects:
Speaker wire:
Misc:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

schwarcw

Probably speakers. I love my many Polks, the aren't the best available. But the cost to performance ratio is very high. Next would be my pre/pro. I have a very nice Halo C2 pre/pro. I suspect I could do better for music.

My Modwright N999 with Platinum level mods and my big Halo amps are probably my best component.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the sound.

treitz3

Man, do you know how long that would take? I'm not getting paid, so I will give what I give when I give it.

Weaknesses, many. No matter what kind of gear rolls in or out, a lot has to do with the recordings.

SolidSqual

I know its not much to look at but its all I got and I love it.

I upgraded the internal wiring with strands of wire shaved from an Acoustic Zen Satori Speaker cable. It has never sounded so good. The bass rattle is also gone now that I've injected the plastic body with sonic foam. Boy does this thing go loud and dig deep. I see no reason to upgrade.

VR3

List every piece of your rig and then share it's strengths and weaknesses based on your hours of listening enjoyment.

Amp: Odyssey Audio Stratos Extreme Mono Blocks
Pre-amp: Odyssey Audio Candela (Not sure what tubes, Stock tubes)
Receiver/Int. amp:
CDP: Shanling CDT100
DAC:
Speakers: Tyler Acoustics Taylo 7u
Subwoofers: Stereo VMPS Larger Subs
Subwoofer Crossover: Paradigm X30
Subwoofer Amp: Crown XTi1000
Turntable:
Cartridge:
Clamp:
Tuner:
List brand and type of tubes used in each component where applicable:
Interconnects:
- CDP to Preamp - Signal Cable Analog II
- Preamp to Amp - B&W Silver ICs
- Preamp to X30 - Signal Cable Analog II
- X30 to Crown XTi1000 - Signal Cable Analog II, RCA to XLR, from there Monster SP1000
Speaker wire:
- Mains - Signal Cable Double Run Bi-Wire
- Subwoofer - Dayton Speaker Cables, 25' terminated
Power Cables:
- Mono Blocks - Monster Powerline 300
- CDP - Stock Shanling PC
- Preamp - Zebra Cables Power Cable
- Crown - Stock 1.5' Power Cable (Extra thick)
Misc:
- Conditioner - Monster Pro3500
- MP3 Dock - Zune 80 gig

Strengths: Fast bass, precision imaging, very wide staging, tall staging -- life like height of vocalist, very deep staging...
Very low distortion, extremely clear... I would say theres alot of strengths

Weaknesses:
Sometimes the highs can be a -tad- revealing, but only about 1% of the time... and without the subs, while the Taylos bass response is great, it misses the lowest of octaves...

Other than that, Im happy as a clam

I-SIG

Amp: Parasound HCA-2200 & 1000
Pre-amp: Audio Alchemy DLC (Digital Line Controller)
Receiver/Int. amp: n/a
CDP: Kavent CD-731
DAC: Bel Canto DAC2
Speakers: Polk Audio SDA-SRS
Turntable: n/a
Cartridge: n/a
Clamp: n/a
Tuner: Pioneer TX-8500 II
List brand and type of tubes used in each component where applicable: JJ 12AU7 & 6DJ8 in CDP
Interconnects: AQ Diamondbacks, Vampire CCC, Kimber (iPod)
Speaker wire: AQ Granite on the tweeters & Bedrock on the mids
Misc: SVS 25-31 PC+, iPod

Strengths: Incredible dynamics, bass, scale, & soundstage. Good SS warmth without being bloated or lacking in detail attributable to this characteristic.

Weaknesses: The highs are a little harsh I believe and the mids aren't quite as detailed and smooth as I would like. Theres not as much soundstage depth as I think I should have.

(my own idea)
Solutions: Room treatments are coming within the next month. I think that will help my highs a bit, at least to smooth them out as well as the mids and help kill my lively room. I'm also going up the CDP food chain very soon. Either a Cambridge 840 or (gulp) a Cary CD306 SACD. Finally, I think I need some more refinement in my amps so I'm going for the warmth and dynamics of the Parasounds but with more detail. I'm convinced the all-world Cary Cinema 5 to bi-wire is the way to go.

Wes

F1nut

I think I'll sit back with some popcorn while you boys whip'em out.

dorokusai

No weaknesses that I'm aware of, the rest speaks for itself.

TroyD

What is this, a math exam?

BDT

Early B.

I agree with treiz3. My system doesn't have any weaknesses unless music is being played.

A good rig reveals the weaknesses of the recordings, but we often blame our systems.

Ricardo

Strengths: gear and speakers.
Weakness: room and ears

wingnut4772

Strength: I still own it
Weakness: It's all in storage:eek::p

Early B.

Strength: I stopped upgrading.
Weakness: Polk Forum (those **** keep encouraging me to upgrade.)


Strength: I don't listen as critically as I used to.
Weakness: I don't listen as critically as I should.


Strength: I have a system that I enjoy.
Weakness: I'll eventually find an excuse to upgrade.


Strength: I've been focusing on buying music lately.
Weakness: The recordings have faults, no matter what I buy.

ben62670

wingnut4772 wrote: »

Strength: I still own it
Weakness: It's all in storage:eek::p

This sounds like me. I have my nice setup in my office not hooked up. Its just way too big for a 10x12 room. For now I am using my little tube amp thingie with some custom monitors (Morel tweeters, and MW6502's in a ported cabinet). They sound good, but not quite fulfilling. Also I just re did my RTA15TL's, and converted them to RDO's, and upgraded the caps, and resistors. It is being driven by what I used to think was HiFi JVC receiver 130wpc clean, but not smooth at all. It was the 2nd from the top of the line back in 1988, and I can barely listen to it now:mad: I am going to try hooking up my tuby to my RTA's

I-SIG

I-SIG wrote: »

Amp: Parasound HCA-2200 & 1000
Pre-amp: Audio Alchemy DLC (Digital Line Controller)
Receiver/Int. amp: n/a
CDP: Kavent CD-731
DAC: Bel Canto DAC2
Speakers: Polk Audio SDA-SRS
Turntable: n/a
Cartridge: n/a
Clamp: n/a
Tuner: Pioneer TX-8500 II
List brand and type of tubes used in each component where applicable: JJ 12AU7 & 6DJ8 in CDP
Interconnects: AQ Diamondbacks, Vampire CCC, Kimber (iPod)
Speaker wire: AQ Granite on the tweeters & Bedrock on the mids
Misc: SVS 25-31 PC+, iPod

Strengths: Incredible dynamics, bass, scale, & soundstage. Good SS warmth without being bloated or lacking in detail attributable to this characteristic.

Weaknesses: The highs are a little harsh I believe and the mids aren't quite as detailed and smooth as I would like. Theres not as much soundstage depth as I think I should have.

(my own idea)
Solutions: Room treatments are coming within the next month. I think that will help my highs a bit, at least to smooth them out as well as the mids and help kill my lively room. I'm also going up the CDP food chain very soon. Either a Cambridge 840 or (gulp) a Cary CD306 SACD. Finally, I think I need some more refinement in my amps so I'm going for the warmth and dynamics of the Parasounds but with more detail. I'm convinced the all-world Cary Cinema 5 to bi-wire is the way to go.

Wes

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I thought it appropriate since I addressed one of my areas of concern. Painting and room treatments are next unless a pre I'm in (for now temporary possession of) does more than expected.

I have replaced the Parasounds with a Cary CAD-200. I'm, planning a review soon, but I'll say this much, the single Cary has 90% of the dynamics of the two Parasounds, but is so much cleaner and natural that it's dangerous. Dangerous as in I thought I gave myself tinnitus after a particularly long (and louder than I thought) listening session.

Wes

madmax

My system plays older, better recordings very well. Old dixieland stuff rocks! By that I mean that you are actually there listening to a "real" performance. Even more modern simple stuff is real. The down side is that it doesn't have a ton of width if the music doesn't call for it. For example, I can listen to some stuff and it is perfect but with a lot of more modern recordings there is almost zero width and depth. If it was recorded without the right queues it just doesn't sound good. I've had other systems that made some of these lesser recordings sound great.
madmax

Whats with all the questions Dr Watson???

organ

CDP's- Rega Apollo, Original CD-A8T
Pre's- ASL passive, ASL AQ2004DT, Golden Tube Audio, Soundstage 2, NAD C160
Int's- ASL 300B and a custom using 6V6/6F6 tubes
Amps- ASL KMP22-FOX, ASL Tulip, NAD C270
Speakers- Polk RT15i, Polk RT5, Polk LSi9, Klipsch RF-35, Klipsch Cornwall, Klipsch La Scala, Omega TS-1R

It's going to take me forever to list the strength and weaknesses for each set up, so I'll just post my favorites....

Omega TS-1R/ASL Tulip combo. This is probably my favorite. It has one strength in the mids which are resolution, speed, dynamis and presence. The sheer musicality of this system makes it my favorite. The single driver driven by 3watts from the 2A3 brings out pure joy and emotion.
Weakness... Not much bass, no extension in the high frequencies, no slam but its strengths outweighs all the weaknesses.

Klipsch La Scala/ASL Tulip combo. Very detailed, huge sound and dynamic swings, effortless sound, everything is just 'live'.
Weakness... No deep bass. PSW650 is barely keeping up to the two 15" bass horns.

Klipsch RF-35/NAD C270 combo. Very poweful sound and bass with good high freq detail. Same goes for the Klipsch Cornwall with tubes or SS. But both set ups don't sound as authoritive and big as the La Scala.

cstpeter

TroyD wrote: »

What is this, a math exam?

BDT

I was my understanding that there would be no math.

steveinaz

I think my biggest frustration is with source material. With good recordings I love the way my system sounds. I would like a little more grunt in the bass region.

- Benchmark DAC1 pre/DAC
- Parasound HCA1500A amp
- CEC CD-3300 transport
- Energy C-9 speakers
- Kimber Hero/8TC, and Belden coaxial digital