The single biggest upgrade to the musicality and quality of my system has been the result of the addition of the Audio Note Kit 1 300B Single-Ended amplifier. I am absolutely thrilled!
A spectacular-sounding 300B, single-ended integrated amp. I loved the experience of building this baby from a kit and the sound is sublime. A huge upgrade over the Manley Mahi/Manley Shrimp combo I had previously.
SOTA Sapphire
Recently upgraded this 'table with new titanium bearing, new, series V springs, new belt and dust cover.
Linn Basik-LVX
It's what I've got. :-)
Ortofon 2M blue
Not much to compare it to but well reviewed at the price.
Bottlehead Seduction
2-tube phono preamp
Music Hall CD 25.2
Beautiful build quality, great sound at the price.
Supra Classic 6.0
Bobby Palkovic of Merlin told me to look for a 9 gauge, stranded copper wire, and this is what I found. It's unique in that each copper strand is plated with tin, to insulate the strand and reduce "skin effect." The result is a cable that is, in Bobby's words, "stupid good," especially at the price. A 3 meter pair with spade connectors cost me $103 with shipping, direct from the distributor, Sjofn HiFi.
Musical Fidelity M1 DAC
Perhaps the single best upgrade I've made to my system, other than my speakers and new Audio Note Kits Kit 1 amp. A steal at the sale price from Needle Doctor, it has lifted the Musical Hall CD player to new heights.
Reference 3A MM De Capo iA
Latest version of this classic monitor. The white Surreal Acoustic Lens in the middle of the main driver is said to improve dispersion and clarity. They sound wonderful. Update, March, 2013: I have upgraded the tweeters to the latest, beryllium tweeters from Reference 3A.
I read a thread that you were helping write when you were purchasing the ohm speakers back in 2008. What are your thoughts on them now? I ordered some last week, but am having my doubts. I have never heard them.
A couple of years ago based on a review you wrote I bought the 3a decapo's . I have really liked them but recently you have moved on to the Spatial Holograms. I would appreciate it if we could talk with each other about the difference between the two speakers. Yes, I have heard the spatial holograms in Utah but they did not seem to be set up properly. Thanks for your help and guidance.
Timrhu, Thanks for the nice thoughts. You know, I wonder how the Kit one stacks up against, say, a pair of Bottlehead Paramount 300B mono blocks and a Bee Pre preamp, I really do. I almost went that route rather than the ANK Kit 1, but I was ready to have a simpler set up and the integrated approach appealed to me. Additionally, even with Bottlehead's Black Friday sale last year, the combo of the two BH kits cost slightly more than the ANK Kit 1, so it was an easier choice for me. Still, I'd like to hear them head to head!
Nice update Rebbi. I have a Bottlehead Crack with speedball upgrade sitting on the dining room table now waiting for me to put it together. That AN kit is in another league. Kudos!!
Jetrexpro: Thanks for the good wishes! And thanks for being in the DIY cheerleading squad. I want to build another AN kit one day... maybe one of their DAC's... :-D
Great to see that new picture. Also fun to read your reactions on your other thread to the new sounds you are hearing and the fun you are having with 8 watts! -regards Jet.
System edited: I've updated my system to reflect the selling of my Tuner (hardly ever used it) and the replacement of my Manley Mahi mono- blocks and Manley Shrimp pre-amp with the glorious sounding Audio Note Kits Kit 1, Single Ended Triode amp. Now I need to update my system photo!
AT Capital Audio fest a few years back, the DIY'ers room blew me away and put all the high priced gear there to shame in terms of price/performance.
They took inexpensive smaller full range drivers, mounted them in a small enclosure on the floor with upward tilt, powered them with a flea powered CLass A SS amp, and the results were phenomenal with ALL kinds of music thrown at it, in a modest sized room. After the usuall audiophile source fair, I recall them playing some Green Day and it sounded fantastic, a sound I could easily live with.
Another "trick" with "smaller" monitors for more balanced low end response I have seen expert DIYs use and I now use to excellent effect in my wife's vaulted cieling acoustic nightmare 12X12 sunroom with the little Triangle monitors there is to lower the speakers to just a few inches off the floor with a slight upward tilt. I struggled for years to get the right sound in that room and that finally did it, finally delivering "top notch" sound of a little box in that acoustically challenged room with little wiggle room for tweaks.
I picked up a pair of These Isoacoustic stands and have them set up at higher level with the slight tilt. The combo of ISOLATING rather than coupling the speakers to the room combined with the added reinforcement from the floor has delivered one of the most effective tweaks ever for me there.
Just another trick to keep up one's sleeve if ever needed....
I've used a diagonal type setup to good effect in my dedicated room/office in particular with all my speakers in there at one time or another (12X12, standard ceiling height, thin dense carpet/padding on concrete foundation, typical office decor including various decorative objects on most of the wall space to help break things up acoustically. Pretty standard non -audiophile stuff really. No need for acoustic wall panels there, though might still be useful. I use 3 2X2 acoustic wall panels at prime side wall reflection points in my bigger room with the big OHM speakers though. Have considering adding two more at ceiling prime reflection points as well, just to see....
Timrhu, Thanks a lot for posting. Yes, I have heard of the diagonal room placement situation. Right now, with the room serving more than one purpose, there's no way I can get away with that. However, I am working toward a situation over the next six months where I get to move my rig into what used to be my daughters play room when she was little. That would then be MY ROOM and I could do with it as I pleased. :-) room treatments, even! :-)
Just read your entire system thread, yes entire. You've been on a wonderful journey it seems and have landed in a good place. I bookmarked your blog for future reading as I have built Bottlehead products and am considering their new Smash pre. My system has taken me down a similar path as it has been relegated to a spare room for the past ten tears or so. Another similarity is a fondness for time aligned speakers and while I haven't tried any crossover less speakers, I do prefer simple 1st order crossovers. What I recently discovered in my small, almost perfectly square room was how much less room interaction there is when the speakers are set up in a diagonal configuration. The idea came from the Decware web site where you can find an excellent explanation as to why it can work. For me, this was a revelation when I was using a pair of Magnepan 12QRs. It also translated exceptionally (even better) with my Thiel CS 1.6s. Would it work for you? I can't say as the results with my Soliloquy 5.0 standmounts was less dramatic. If you have the time and space, it's an experiment worth investigating.
"The electronics are here to stay. Those Manley's sound awesome. At this point, any changes have to around my amps and preamp. "
Famous last words.... :^)
Time to photoshop the AN SET into your system pics!! Then replace it with the real thing once done.
My system has changed a bit of late as well, mostly tweaks, and adding a dedicated setup for my STAX phones. I have a lot of time off coming up for the holidays and hope to get my system pics and such up to date as well.
Thank you, Dan, for the good wishes. I'm excited about the end result and, at this point, possibly even more about the process of building the kit. Last time I put a kit together my Bottlehead Seduction phono preamplifier I had a ball doing it. I am actually going to blog the assembly process here.
Rebbi, I'll look forward to reading your observations of how your AN SET 300B amps sound with your De Capos.
I'm thinking you will be more than thrilled. I've myself wanted to build a pair of their 300B mono's, but they are a bit out of my price range, unfortunately.
Frozentundra, Hi. Sorry for the delay.... didn't see your post until now. I lived with Ohm's for about 18 months. During that time I determined that I didn't really enjoy their pseudo-omni presentation. I'd say that it either floats your boat or it doesn't. Some (including me, initially) like that room-filling presentation. I found the imaging vague in a way I didn't enjoy... it's all a matter of taste. (I also suspect my room was way too lively at the time.) Once I determined that stand-mounted monitors worked well in my room with my gear, I'd say eight or ten different speakers moved through my system, including some very highly thought of stuff. But when I heard the 3A's I knew I was on to something I really liked. If you take a look at the Reference 3A, web site you'll find a link to my Audio Asylum review of the Dulcet, which is the "baby brother" of the De Capo, which will tell you a lot about what I prize in the De Capo, too.
Zenblaster, I have thought about subs in the past but have never taken the plunge. My room is multi-purpose and I don't think I can fit any more stereo gear into it! I also have a hunch that the room (which is far from acoustically ideal) would be overloaded by a sub. Besides the De Capo's go low enough to make most of what I listen to sound pretty well fleshed out.
My little Manley set up is kind of a tribute to Audiogon... all of it was acquired used in the classifieds here. The Mahi's are great little amps, and Manley's customer service is stellar. They've even been nothing but helpful to a guy like me who bought their gear second hand, such as transferring the remaining warranty on the units to me with no questions asked. What I'd love to do, although it'll set me back $800 which I don't have right now, is to factory upgrade the Shrimp preamp to a Jumbo Shrimp, which would add a much-desired remote volume control. :-)
The 2m Blue... sounds good to me. It's only the 2nd cart I've ever had on the turntable. I had SOTA install it when I sent my 'table back to them a few years ago for refurbishing and upgrades. The reviews were good and at $199, if I remember correctly, it was within budget.
