This is the system I have worked for 25 years to build. It is still going through changes although I'm finished for now. My room is 20x22ft and the roof slants up from 9ft to 12ft. There have been some challenges due to the fireplace and the windows but have been worked out. The real challenge has been compromises that my spouse can live with. That and the fact that stereo geeks like to change things. Am I right? My wife hates that!
unique solid state amp that sounds like tubes but none of the drawbacks and all of the benefits of solid state and tubes. S - mod and reground scheme and shielding. This without a doubt is the best sounding amp I have ever heard by a long shot. I've heard most of them.
Jolida Fusion preamp
Highly modified preamp with bybee power rails, time line, cryo'd transformer, furutech IEC, and GEC 12at7's, and bugle boy 12ax7's. Balanced input and output. Dueland caps swapped to take the place of clarity esa caps
Tannoy TS-10
A pair of fully balanced 10" 300 watts/ch subwoofers with fully adjustable settings for phase, crossover point, gain, and high and low pass filters. Fast and dynamic. the foundation that good bass gives cannot be overstated.
VPI Industries TNT HR-X
State of the art turntable with the 12.6 inch arm and the SDS speed control. Adjust on-the-fly VTA. New airless suspension. New main bearing and warp ring. I have modified this table and has resulted in a much better sound. I insulated the warp ring from the platter I also put an insulator on the bottom of the record weight. The result has been DRAMATIC!!!
VPI Industries JMW Memorial 12.7
Two arms, 12.6 and 12.7 one with original wire and 12.7 with Valhalla wire
Benz Micro MC Reference
Benz Micro Ref S giant midrange Holographic Smooooth
Tom Evans Audio Design Microgroove plus - X
solid state phono stage that is absolutely silent. with loading adjustment.fantastic performance
Bybee integrated power charger power cord
You won't believe the increase in resolution on front end components and amplification.
JPS Labs Superconductor 3 - 7 meter
Excellent interconnect. XLR or RCA The best I've heard.
UltraSonic Amp stand
Acrylic amp stand beautifully made with awesome brass and stainless steel spikes.
Ultrasonic Acrylic 28 X 21 X 1 platform
Acrylic platform made for my HRX wide enough for my mono arm on the back of the table.
JPS Labs Superconductor 3
The best I have used. They get out of the way of the music.
harmonic technology AC-11
great sounding cord. reasonable price.
Black Diamond Racing cones
Goes under source components and preamps to calm the vibrations.
stillpoints risers
isolation cones
JPS labs superconductor Q
I could not believe the quality of the sound. From this unassuming speaker cable.
audioquest power cord
The synergy thing just makes a huge difference. How much it costs, sometimes, doesn't make a difference. This thing made a huge difference on my CDP. All my other power cords cost over $1000.00. It didn't have that effect on anything else.
apple Ipod classic 160gig
fourth generation
Wadia I-transport
ipod transport- enables me to play hours of any music I want, uninterrupted. This music is competetive to anything out there.
Wells Audio Milo
Best headphone amp I've had and heard.
Arion Audio Pon-tuns
Isolation devices that had an instant benefit increasing resolution and slam to my amps. A+++
Advanced Cable Tech ACT
Very Good power cable at a reasonable price.sourced from wells audio
Electric Bamboo power conditioner
passive device that made a HUGE difference in my system. It solved so many problems that I can't explain it here.
High End sourced from wells audio power strip
a reasonably priced extremely well made power strip with filtering and phase protection . 6 filtered plugs and 4 direct plugs.
music hall 25.3
beat out my cary 306 D/A capabilities. highly modified with jps wire hard soldered connections, bybee devices and power rails, nos sylvania gold pin 6922 tube
Mr Speakers Ether C headphones
planar magnetic , closed back FANTASTIC sounding. the best I have ever owned!
System edited: I've gone through pretty significant changes. Thankfully all for the best. I now have the best speakers I have ever heard for speed and transparency. Almost no coloration due to the fact that there are no speaker cabinets to color the sound. Once you get the position in your room right its Jazz heaven. I never thought I'd be so happy with solid state amplification. And I'm still married. phew !!!
AS70 I am going to buy a set of new 845m's. They are supposed to be the next best option to buying the nos rca's or united's. That is just too much to pay when you can get so much more for just $470 a quad. cheers!
Jsquattrin - try it! Cadenza was lacking of musical texture for me and was slightly bright. So in this area is big improvement - and sound is more natural.
I thinking of upgrading other caps (there are 3x 0.47 caps) but they are not in signal path (probably) so I don't know if its worth.
BTW. What 845 tubes do You have? I still have stock 845 valve Art which are bright and edgy (and low bass should be better). I was supposed to buy KR 845 - but I'm tired of their bad customer contact (I waited for month for 845 to be produced - and today they told me tubes are sold). So I consider to look for something else - so I wonder what is Your experience.
AS70- I thought the paper caps were supposed to be better for this amp? I will have to look into this. To be truthful, I love the way this amp sounds now.
Zephyr24069- Thank you for the compliment on my room. I have thought about other power systems but the exactpower was the first one that I heard an immediate improvement without having to play my reference recordings to tell the difference. Eventually I am going to get a balanced power system. Maybe a greys pole pig.
System edited: Sold my P-75 and purchased the Audible arts SE Modded Jolida JD-9 phono stage that has tons of gain that is whisper quiet. Wayne Donnely is working on a review for this piece on Enjoythemusic.com. I also purchased a North Star Sapphire CD player and traded in my old North Star M192 dac and transport. The new one box player takes the trophy hands down.
I do not have biasing problems at all and Cadenza is working faultless for more than year now. But stock Valve Art 845 are bright and edgy - I waiting for KR845 (900 EUROS for all 4). I order also 12AU7 Mullard (Great Britain)- 260$ for all 4 and lets see. I do not know what EL34 ..will try ...
I used to have the 1009's which are the same as the Cadenza, but with the large tubes reversed in position. I sold it because I didn't like to bias(which on one amp, it wouldn't stay put). Another reason was that I'm a tweaky person and I was thinking of having it modded($1800)and purchasing NOS tubes at a cost of $2k-a-pair(per amp)for the power versions. When I aquire the Filarmonia, it won't be as fancy as seperates, but it won't be the hassle either(and might be better to boot).
What tubes for Cadenza do You found best eventually? I do own Cadenza and thinking of tube rolling and other tuning. BTW. Do You have schema for Your Cadenza, my Cadenza is 3 years old and wonder if there are any changes in circuit.
Hey Dgad. I really don't miss the colibri and the problems of keeping it in one piece. The more I get familiar with the XV1S, the more I feel that the dynavector was meant to go with the VPI 12.6 arm. I have it set to 2.4 grams and it has a synergy unmatched by my colibri xgw.
System edited: The Dynavector DRT-XV1S should be my final solution to my analog dreams. It was a snap to setup and sounds good right from the start. I am looking forward to it being broken in but it seems like it will be easy getting there.
I picked up a new-in-the-box Dynavector XV1S cartridge. I believe I finally have the cartridge that perfectly matches the VPI HRX table and VPI 12.6 arm combo.
System edited: changed out the telefunken 12au7's and put in mullard nos 12au7's. They have a midrange richness that adds a new dimension to the sound.
System edited: A great attribute of the Cadenza's is the ability to customize the sound by rolling the 12AU7 input tubes. The amps sound can be subtley changed to suit your tastes.
Trying some tube rolling in the Cadenza Mono blocks. Broke the amp and tubes in with RCA clear tops, took those out and put in some slightly used telefunken 12AU7 ribbed plates. The difference was dramatic. Even better than the clear tops for the midrange and just as extended in the top and bottom. Kt 77 drivers much better than the el34's. Dropped in some national union grey glass 6sn7's from the 1940's into the ASL Flora preamp and the entire spectrum took a big step forward.
I continue to be captivated by the compelling beauty of the ZYX Universe silver presentation. Since adding the antique sound labs pre and mono blocks amps, The absolute transparency of the those components have magnified just how good the ZYX is at bringing through the original performance.
They are very good units, but are not worth the $5000 price tag. If you are getting a deal on one great but I know of several other units in the $4000 price range that I would prefer. The revelation audio I2S cable is a must upgrade and is a major improvement.
I have a question for you. How do you like your North Star Designs gear? What do you like most? What do you dislike about them? I am thinking about purchasing both the DAC and Transport. Any advice, help would be fantastic. Thanks in advance
Hello Bob I really like the jd-9. It is definetely a best buy. I can't even think of another high priced phono stage that is capable of 95 db of gain at any price. I use only 85 db of gain for my ZYX. Along with the fully adjustable impedence and capacitive loading, you can't go wrong. If you want you can always go to one of the companies offering mods to take the performance up a notch.
Hey Jeff1225 The super tweeters retail at 1500.00. I found a deal at 900.00. The amps and preamp make my Tylers sing in a way that I always hoped they could. It is not hard to connect the super tweeters. they come with their own crossover and sensitivity adjustment. the cables they come with allow you to stack bananas terminals.
