What stereo(s) do you listen to? What do you want?

[Nader393]

Looks good! I, too, started with just the monster receiver. Part of me wishes I stopped there, but like with most of my hobbies, I took it too far. Within just a few months, I went from this:

To this:

If I were honest with myself, I'd admit that all I really need is the receiver and the speakers. That's all I really need. The receiver, the speakers and the 10" RTR deck. That's it. That's all I need. The receiver, the speakers the 10" RTR deck, and the clock, that's all I need...

 

[cb200]

@Nader393 Am I imagining things... or did you make a little wood case for what I'm guessing is the little DAC there hiding among the vintage beasts?

 

[Nader393]

@Nader393 Am I imagining things... or did you make a little wood case for what I'm guessing is the little DAC there hiding among the vintage beasts?

Yes, I made a walnut wood case for the DAC (first attempt at woodwork, and it shows), then had better results with the clock/timer. Still need to make one for the switcher. The EQ was professionally custom made by a woodworker in Michigan. Looks factory.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Now I think I want an x-wing

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

If I were honest with myself, I'd admit that all I really need is the receiver and the speakers. That's all I really need. The receiver, the speakers and the 10" RTR deck. That's it. That's all I need. The receiver, the speakers the 10" RTR deck, and the clock, that's all I need...

All I really need is my receiver and a big azz Luxman turntable. That's it. That's all I need. On my main system that is...

 

[chobochobo]

That's the PD555? I was looking that for a long time, choosing between that and a Garrard 301.

 

[chobochobo]

My latest (crazy) acquisition. It doesn't sound that bad for something from 1957 and cheap-ass stylus/ cart.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I just received a surprise package in the mail from my uncle: my grandparents' old reel to reel, a 1966 Sony TC-350 sheathed in a walnut case in excellent condition. It turns out my uncle brought it back from Vietnam as a gift for them during the war

It powers on but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used in about 40 years and I'm reasonably certain that Florida summers have turned the belts to primordial goo. I've already downloaded the service manual


The camera on my phone has seen better days so the colours of my new accent wall as well as the console are waaaay off. Better pictures are coming...eventually

And yes that's a 3d blue ray player amidst a sea of vintage equipment. I needed a cd player that is small and unobtrusive and this slot loader fit the bill

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

That's the PD555? I was looking that for a long time, choosing between that and a Garrard 301.

It's a direct drive PD 444

 

[Girardian]

After many decades of doing it wrong I realized that no one should ever run INTEGRATED amps if they want decent sound. I don't know why such advise was never available to me, despite years spent reading the audio forums.
Ideally two amps and preamp. Two amps if you have bi-wiring on the speaker terminals available. That way you have perfect tone controls , especially for bass. If vintage speakers and double amp is impossible, use dedicated pre amp so that you can take advantage of full current of the amplifier. What I am talking about is to open amplifier volume pot to a maximum and then regulate its volume via pre-amp. It is night and day what 80W amp can do when aided by preamp pot.
Solves famous problem with inefficient speakers coming alive at medium to high volume ONLY. With preamp even ATC sings at low volume.

While I have never had a serious set up with an integrated amp, I ran monoblocks for years, then transitioned to a stereo amp (dual mono design), but recently returned to monoblocks, picking up a pair of my 'grail' monoblock amps. My speakers are bi-wired. Only issue is that I'm now thinking of my 'grail' preamp. More stuff to sell, more stuff to buy. Sometimes it's more fun to focus on the music than the pursuit of perfection -- plus these days I'm listening more to headphones than speakers.

Will post pictures later, but I want to do some meaningful listening first to provide impressions.

 

[Girardian]

Although Snell no longer exists, an almost exact clone of these speakers with updated wiring, woofers and fancier veneer lives on today: Audio Note AN-E. They start around $6k and top out at over $200k!!!

The AN-Es are magical. The most true to life classical music I've ever heard on a stereo set up was an Audio Note system with the AN-Es (higher end). If you need your speakers to look expensive, these are not for you, but if you want the speaker to disappear and the sound to emerge, take a listen. Glad you are enjoying the Snells.

 

[cb200]

Most of my listening has been with headphones for the last decade as not much room for full speaker set up in my apartment. I moved from a house into the city years ago and had to get rid of my large horn seekers and when to find something cheep and cheerful for speakers. At the time the B&W302 was their lowest in the line speaker and on audition I, for the most part, liked what I heard. I purposely avoided metal tweeters at the time. I added a small, but musical sub and those have been through 6 or 7 different incarnations of set ups one the last 20+ years.

Now they are hooked straight out of the audio jack of an apple airport to a trends tripath amp. Used for streaming. It's enough. However, I just retrieved a bunch of vinyl and my old Thorens TD125 from storage. I think all my needles and stylus are toast except for one.

Finding a replacement stylus for my favourite vintage Shure V15iii looks like theirs a pretty small range of mystery parts. I did have an audio technica 440mla that I liked as well. But replacement stylus for that are silly prices. Probably pick up a Jico stylus for the V15iii. And was looking at a second back up cart - anyone have thoughts on the lower end audio-technica carts?

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

While I have never had a serious set up with an integrated amp, I ran monoblocks for years, then transitioned to a stereo amp (dual mono design), but recently returned to monoblocks, picking up a pair of my 'grail' monoblock amps. My speakers are bi-wired. Only issue is that I'm now thinking of my 'grail' preamp. More stuff to sell, more stuff to buy. Sometimes it's more fun to focus on the music than the pursuit of perfection -- plus these days I'm listening more to headphones than speakers.

Will post pictures later, but I want to do some meaningful listening first to provide impressions.

Funny thing is that I've been toying with the idea of putting together a 3.1 or maybe even a 5.2 monoblock setup pushing wall mounted Maggies w/custom painted/silkscreened socks just for ***** & grins. I don't watch that much television so it will probably be years before I finally do it

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Looks good! I, too, started with just the monster receiver. Part of me wishes I stopped there, but like with most of my hobbies, I took it too far. Within just a few months, I went from this:

View attachment 1646081

To this:

View attachment 1646082

View attachment 1646083


If I were honest with myself, I'd admit that all I really need is the receiver and the speakers. That's all I really need. The receiver, the speakers and the 10" RTR deck. That's it. That's all I need. The receiver, the speakers the 10" RTR deck, and the clock, that's all I need...

@Nader393 - I just realized that I have 3 cassette decks (the most recent acquisition weighs 20 lbs ) and a 7" reel to reel. How did this happen?

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Most of my listening has been with headphones for the last decade as not much room for full speaker set up in my apartment. I moved from a house into the city years ago and had to get rid of my large horn seekers and when to find something cheep and cheerful for speakers. At the time the B&W302 was their lowest in the line speaker and on audition I, for the most part, liked what I heard. I purposely avoided metal tweeters at the time. I added a small, but musical sub and those have been through 6 or 7 different incarnations of set ups one the last 20+ years.

Now they are hooked straight out of the audio jack of an apple airport to a trends tripath amp. Used for streaming. It's enough. However, I just retrieved a bunch of vinyl and my old Thorens TD125 from storage. I think all my needles and stylus are toast except for one.

Finding a replacement stylus for my favourite vintage Shure V15iii looks like theirs a pretty small range of mystery parts. I did have an audio technica 440mla that I liked as well. But replacement stylus for that are silly prices. Probably pick up a Jico stylus for the V15iii. And was looking at a second back up cart - anyone have thoughts on the lower end audio-technica carts?

Conversations about choices in tone arms, cartridges, stylus...styluses,,,styli? Whatever! It's all Latin to me so I sit back and await the responses