All things Hi-Fi and Audio - show and tell and discussion

MountainMan79

😎💩➡️📸
Location
Minnesota
Name
Chris
Let’s use this space to show off our audio gear and all things Hi-Fi (or low-fi), and discuss all the good stuff that comes along with a hobby just as expensive or even more so than photography!

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Currently I’m running a McIntosh c2200 preamp and McIntosh mc275 mark vi off a Panamax mr5100 power conditioner. I’ve upgraded the c2200 to use all Genalex Gold Lion tubes, with dampers. I’m also using a Pioneer Elite DV-79avi CD player with a Cambridge Audio DACmagic 100 for both CD and high definition 24bit audio from my laptop. I have a Fluance RT85 turntable with an Ortofon OM2 Blue cartridge atop an ISOAcoustics platter. All this is running into my Bowers and Wilkins 705s2 speakers atop their appropriate stands filled with sand, and through either handmade power and speaker cables or Audioquest Sydney or Big Sur RCA cables with the occasional evergreen or Monster THX 1000 cable.
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Chris, maybe get a moderator to move this thread to the Watering Hole, here:

It’s as equal “show” as it is “discussion” hopefully, but moderators can feel free to stick it wherever they’d like.
 
I'm using a Thorens TD126 Mk.III with an Ortofon Super OM40 cartridge, McIntosh MCD205 CD changer, C45 preamp, MDA700 DAC, MC252 amplifier, Olive Symphony music server, custom PPA headphone amp, Carver H9-AV sonic holography processor, Sangean HDT-20 tuner and Joseph Audio RM33si speakers. I use Bluejean digital cables, Harmonic Tech interconnects and home brew OCC interconnects with Eichmann Bullet Plug terminations. It all sounds pretty good.
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Sound's Up! by Graham Moore, on Flickr
 
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I'm using a Thorens TD126 Mk.III with an Ortofon Super MO40 cartridge, McIntosh MCD205 CD changer, C45 preamp, MDA700 DAC, MC252 amplifier, Olive Symphony umsic server, custom PPA headphone amp, Carver H9-AV sonic holography processor, Sangean HDT-20 tuner and Joseph Audio RM33si speakers. I use Bluejean digital cables, Harmonic Tech interconnects and home brew OCC interconnects with Eichmann Bullet Plug terminations. It all sounds pretty good.
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Sound's Up! by Graham Moore, on Flickr
Great set up. The Carver piece is kind of extra cool.
 
Nice setups you guys have. I can't post a picture of my setups right now, too messy. But here a couple of amps:

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Both are part of a series I designed around leftovers I had laying about from previous projects. The goal was to use as much leftover iron as possible. The first one, SE/64 Melody, is named after the singer Melody Gardot. It's a single ended amplifier with 4W output using the 6B4G directly heated triode, that's basically a 2A3 with a different base and 6V heaters. Tubes shown are NOS Westinghouse stuff from the fifties, or thereabouts. I used an E83F pentode as input with relatively high quiescent current so that it could work as a two stage amp without the risk of the driver stage becoming slew rate limited at high frequencies and powers. Some classic SE amps do run this risk.

The second one, PP/84 Iiro, is a class AB1 push-pull amp using the well-known and loved EL84 output pentode in ultralinear mode. Named after the finnish jazz pianist Iiro Rantala it pushes out 12W of power. The circuit is basically similar to a dynaco ST-35, though in a little more posh form without all the cost cutting the original dynaco had.
 
Nice setups you guys have. I can't post a picture of my setups right now, too messy. But here a couple of amps:

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Both are part of a series I designed around leftovers I had laying about from previous projects. The goal was to use as much leftover iron as possible. The first one, SE/64 Melody, is named after the singer Melody Gardot. It's a single ended amplifier with 4W output using the 6B4G directly heated triode, that's basically a 2A3 with a different base and 6V heaters. Tubes shown are NOS Westinghouse stuff from the fifties, or thereabouts. I used an E83F pentode as input with relatively high quiescent current so that it could work as a two stage amp without the risk of the driver stage becoming slew rate limited at high frequencies and powers. Some classic SE amps do run this risk.

The second one, PP/84 Iiro, is a class AB1 push-pull amp using the well-known and loved EL84 output pentode in ultralinear mode. Named after the finnish jazz pianist Iiro Rantala it pushes out 12W of power. The circuit is basically similar to a dynaco ST-35, though in a little more posh form without all the cost cutting the original dynaco had.
I’m in love with Melody Gardot. Great choice of naming! “My one and only thrill” is a masterpiece of an album!
 
I don't have anything too out there...nothing as expensive or extravagant as my camera gear.

At home, I run the following:
From my PC, I run a FiiO E10 DAC into a Little Dot Mark II.

It drives:
Beyerdynamic DT880 Chromes, HiFiMan HE-400, Grado S225R mainly. I ahve a few other cans that I experimented with. Usually use the Audio Technica M50x for mastering audio on my video/podcasting projects. I like them better than the Sony.
 
Just now I'm rocking this mini-stereo, Yamaha CD-NT670 D with A-U670 and Monitor Audio Bronze 1 speakers. Have it above my computer monitor in the office :)
My real stuff are packed in boxes right now so this will do in the meantime, actually I spend alot of time in the office so it is good to have good sound.

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Office Stereo by Daniel Cederberg, on Flickr

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This here, gentlemen, is a loudspeaker crossover in the making. Now, I usually try to steer clear of any exotica in components, as my years designing and building audio - both loudspeakers and electronics - has taught me that the payoff is usually either very thin or not there at all. I've had expensive boutique parts fail on me very early on, whereas known high quality general electronics parts last for decades or more. But here I have something a little bit special, though still not anything specifically made for audio use. Those yellow buggers there are new old stock Philips polycarbonate capacitors I've used as the series capacitor for the tweeter. And I do find they give a very "analogue" rendering in conjuction with compression driver tweets, ie. good resolution but avoiding the harshness of some high end audio caps.
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This here, gentlemen, is a loudspeaker crossover in the making. Now, I usually try to steer clear of any exotica in components, as my years designing and building audio - both loudspeakers and electronics - has taught me that the payoff is usually either very thin or not there at all. I've had expensive boutique parts fail on me very early on, whereas known high quality general electronics parts last for decades or more. But here I have something a little bit special, though still not anything specifically made for audio use. Those yellow buggers there are new old stock Philips polycarbonate capacitors I've used as the series capacitor for the tweeter. And I do find they give a very "analogue" rendering in conjuction with compression driver tweets, ie. good resolution but avoiding the harshness of some high end audio caps.View attachment 337554
My crossover philosophy has always been simplicity. The less amount of things between my music and my speakers (and my ears) the better, and anything that must sit in between it (at least in series, less so in parallel), must be of the highest quality. I purposely select my drivers to allow for an easy 6db p/octave 1st order slope at the frequencies I desire, and call it a day. Sure, gets a little funky with phase in 3-way systems, and a second order easily fixes that, but there’s a purity to the simplicity. Phase is controlled and most speakers don’t run too capacitive or too inductive across the spectrum in a first order as well.
 
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I have a Naim Uniti Atom core unit along with a Rega deck and a Marantz CD6007 CD player. The Naim is a high quality streamer as well. The speakers are QA Acoustics 3050. I have to say that the best sound comes from the vinyl. Try Lang Lang playing Rachmaninov - incredible.View attachment 337560View attachment 337561
Looks nice! I’ve had the cd player- it’s quite good.
 
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Ok I built all of mine from scratch, speakers are active with a passive first order between pre and power amps, the crossover is about 200hz well bellow the telephone band. DA based off a PCM1798 chip (similar to the 93). Phono stage has alterable capcitance and loadin also gain can be altered. The arm is a unipivot, right pain to bore out. Turntable bearing and hub custom machined but same size as a rega hub but solid alloy custom made platters, motor was removed from a rega. All the analogue stages are dual mono, seperate PSU for each channel though the earths do meet at the mains. The large banks of caps in the PSU parts are RC filters cascaded to reduce noise pre regs.
 

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My crossover philosophy has always been simplicity. The less amount of things between my music and my speakers (and my ears) the better, and anything that must sit in between it (at least in series, less so in parallel), must be of the highest quality. I purposely select my drivers to allow for an easy 6db p/octave 1st order slope at the frequencies I desire, and call it a day. Sure, gets a little funky with phase in 3-way systems, and a second order easily fixes that, but there’s a purity to the simplicity. Phase is controlled and most speakers don’t run too capacitive or too inductive across the spectrum in a first order as well.
Simplicity is nice to a point. But it shouldn't be taken so far as to hamper functionality. I have a pair of these in our guest room:

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A pair of Cain & Cain Abby loudspeakers. Remember the mid to late naughties when fullrange speakers were all the rage among the aficionados? Well, at least here in Finland they were. The crossover is simple; there is none. And these speakers can sound quite magical with some female voices accompanied by an acoustic guitar. That, and - well - not much more. Try and push them, and strained is a word that comes to mind quite fast trying to describe the sound. To be polite... Trying to listen to some complex metal music with these could be considered an exercise in advanced masochism. But the woodwork is pretty, I give them that.
 
Simplicity is nice to a point. But it shouldn't be taken so far as to hamper functionality.
Totally agree. Thats why I chose drivers that will play nice together in a first order setup…something I suppose I wouldn’t need to give any thought about if I was only using 1 speaker. The only time I’ve ever bothered with a second order is if I’m using a more exotic tweeter like a ribbon that just needs a bit more protection at the lower xover frequencies I prefer, or building the occasional 3-way system.

Single source was all the rage over here too for a little…I never jumped on board that one. I like my 2-way systems too much. Those are certainly good looking speakers though. Hopefully you aren’t a masochist too often!
 
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