I have wanted a tube pre for so long and finally it is here!
Sota Star
Beautiful table in medium finish with vac pump and clamp. Grado Refrence arm rewired with Monster Cable
Rega RB300
Stock wire with Technoweight
Audio Technica ML150
MM
Musical Surroundings Phonomena
MM MC Phono pre, Soild State and very adjustable.
VMPS FF3 SRE
4 Way 7 driver speaker with 2 10 in woofers, 10 in passive, 53in planar push pull ribbon mid, 2 tweeters, 1 super tweeter. Very large speaker at over 300lb each with wqually big sound. Also comes with outboard active crossover rewired with MIT Zcable power.
Classe (2in use biamp) CA 150
Great amps, lots of power and smooth wide soundstage.
Lexicon RT-10
Very nice one box solution for CD SACD DVD-A and movies.
cardas Hexlink
Digital cable from Dac
Kimber Cable Hero
Great cable!
Rotel RSP 1068
7.1 output... HDCD, DVD-A SACD this is a really good HT Processor with alot of functions and features I happen to like.
these are dipoles, on wall speakers used for all surrounds
Audiovox Sirius Satelite radio home unit
Sirius satelite radio tuner
Luxman T117
great tuner
TEKline Power cable
4 of these pwer cables in my system, very nice results and excellent quality at a fair cost
Audio Research Flatline4X16
Similar to FLATLINE used for surrounds bi-wire
Panasonic model 200 720P HD projector
Great Hi def picture, great for DVD too! 90 manual screen
Monster 3500
Nice effective budget power
Monster 2500
Power conditioner economical this one handles overflow from the 3500
Sony AV3500 SYSTEM REMOTE
Touch screen, time delay MACRO
DIY ACOUSTIC PANELS Owens Corning
I made 4 30x30' panels and 1 24x36 panel for ceiling. I used perforated styrofoam for backing there is fiberglass, 2 layers of low profile batting wrapped in Needled Cotton Natural colored shells.(very breathable) 2 were for side reflections, 2 for back wall, and 1 large for ceiling reflections
Walker SST
IC, Power Cord treatment...thanks a bunch raytheprinter! Applied to all IC and power cords, The sound smoothed out, subtle but for the better!
target amp stand ?
low profile amp stand
DIY Rack SUPERCHAD MDF
8 section .5in MDF with Oak legs
Terk FM PRO
Amplified outdoor unit, pulls in about 47 stations from rural area. Thanks Steve!
VPI 16.5
Looks like a winner, thanks a bunch John for your kindness!
Hubbel Hubbel
AC outlets made a surprising change for the better, more detail and depth. Thanks Steve for another kind offer!
Mullard, Sovteck, Valvo ect, NOS 12AX7
New tubes, have the Mullard in now and I like its results, thanks Bob once again!
so your getting warm bass / what are some of the tubes your using/i hook up my dynaco pas with cal lab outputs and rca victor inputs and i am diggin the sound from my i-pod shuffle its crazy the dynaco is like an oldskool dac.
I am not suprised you heard a benefit even with a improvised clamp, the Sonic Frontiers is great, with 1 tube it is a "rollers" dream and its hybrid design seems to give the warmth I like but gives good bass. They can be had for around $600 and I think they are well worth it.
i was using an old clamp from a reel to reel off my old tandberg lol.i was getting better soundstage and bass was improved. chad how do you like the sonic frontiers pre amp?
Well the clamp is on SOTA like the VPI, my dad has the Scoutmaster, those clamps screw on, SOTA clamps actually have a locking lever. The SOTA comes with a vac pump and there are a couple holes on the outer edge of the platter and suction pulls the record towards the platter to take out minor warps, when you tap the record under suction it feels as if the album has become one with the platter. Again I dont know why this isnt used on most hi-fi tables.
The vacuum platter hold down, is it similar to the record clamp on a VPI Scout?
Yeah, I understand how friendships can get strained... but, the furman Elite-15PF costs just about the same as the monster 3500 and it is in an entirely different league (believe me I own both). I've seen it for $398 through a regular dealer.
Thanks for the idea. but money isnt a friend of mine haha
The Sota/Star is a fantastic table, no other table that I know of within reason is so quiet, I mean if you tap the table while playing it will not transfer to the cart. The spring suspension is a solid performer, this table is really cheap used but is so good I dont even worry about other tables, plus they look great! Its hard for me to understand why more tables dont employ vac platter hold-down, along with the clamp it is really amazing.
Great system... not so budget minded after all. Very smart choices. If you get a chance let me know about your Sota Star. I'm thinking of buying one for my father-in-law as a birthday present...
I do have one small suggestion, hopefully you don't mind, sell your Monster 3500 and buy a Furman Elite-15... watch your noise floor go down to Hades, that's what happened to me.
System edited: Added a Musical Surroundings Phonomena Phono pre, really nice sound for not a ton of cash using a Audio Tech MM150OCC cart hope to add my Dyna 20L sometime to check Coil performance....would like to see what the DC power supply option sounds like.
Yes I do use treatments thst I made myself from Owens Corning Fiberglass sheets 2ft by 2ft with a perforated styrofoam insolation board to mount it too, wraped in Needled Cotton to match room...cheap and fun to make. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, it's a very fine system, I don't know some components (I've onli read on them) but I can imagine that it play very well. Do you use acoustic treatment in your room? I'm looking for a treatment system in my little room (12 mq).
When you next have a chance to upgrade, no trouble hearing the benefit of installing this on your Rega RB-300: Kerry Audio Design F2 Titanium H/W Counterweight. Audiogon member Gregory_kerry sells this at a price which is very reasonable considering the greatly enhanced listening pleasure provided.
System edited: Got the table back up thanks to a Christmas gift (thanks Karl) Rega 300 arm is now on with a nice Audio Technica MM cart AT-ML150...sound pretty good!
Thanks Shadrone, I dont get many hits on my garage sale system haha, I use the panels I made for the wall behind me as my room is harder to place them in than my previous room I made them for, a friend gave me 5 Michael Green Room Tunes and five of his corner pillows so I am just starting to try to place them in the room, I had a talk with a guy who has the ATC active speakers today about Room Tune placement and he cant say enough about how great those speakers are, even his dealer who also sells the Wilson line has them in his own house.
Awesome - lots of work and very tastefully done - I can't see the DIY panels from the pics but I assume they are placed strategically. Can you describe the benefit ...was it worthwhile compared to the other adjustments you have made (time/effort/cost)?