MC, 0.2 mV. Design by Ikeda-san. A MC Decca. Needs heavy tonearm/special counterweight in Linn.
Ortofon Kontrapunkt B
Wonderful cartridge much better than Mikey describes it. 150 hr. break in.
Pass Labs Aleph ONO
Musical, detailed, quiet and focused. Has latest P/s upgrades. Sounds good S/e and balanced.
Adcom GFP-750
with remote, 25 lbs. Undergoing Black Gate mod.
Wolcott Audio P-220m
220w, mono pair, absolutely fantastic sound and user friendly
Sound Lab A-3
pair, 290 lbs. Will output 20HZ cleanly with correct amps in the right room.
HardBar.net Tripods
Composite mounting system designed by aerospace materials engineer increases coupling of A and M series Sound Labs by 5 x stock. Soler Points optional.
Cardas Golden Reference
Balanced 0.5 M rewired to correct SA-14 polarity. Needs 100 hours to break in.
Innersound Balanced
8M run from preamp to amps. Electrically sound - low capacitance - for this application.
FMS Blue
special cable from Ittok to Pass Ono.
Magnan Signature
Flat and wide. Sonically detailed and neutral. Synergistic with electrostats.
Accuphase T-100
am-fm, 31 lbs net. Mods by Don Scott.
McIntosh MR-7083
30 lbs. Under-rated sonically compared to earlier tuners.
I ended up preferring the AZ Satori probably because they seemed more transparent and detailed but just as neutral. The caveat is that the AZs were 4' long and the Magnans 10', so there is a bit of apples oranges here.
Ivanj, I was curious how you compared the speaker cables Magnan Sig. and AZ Satori.I knew you had alternated them for a while. Which did you prefer and why? Thanks
The Rowland Complement was just rebuilt to Ikeda Rex (top of the line) specs by Mr. Ikeda. I highly recommend Ikeda cartridges - they sound like music. The high impedence mods by Soundlab are excellent and reduce the noise floor of the speaker. The Empirical cables are just outstanding.
Thanks. What I foound was replacing the input (Mullard E88CC or Amperex 7308) and driver tubes (Telefunken and Philips/Mullard) on the Wolcotts adds a bit of frequency extension and clarity, and yes, tube warmth. With the X-1 the system is absolutely quiet, no tube rush such as I heard I heard no matter what tube preamp I tried. Remeber this is a very transparent system - you may not hear these artifacts n your system and I don't mean to offend. I recommend this type of combo to everyone who shall we say, abit iconoclastic.
I live in a rural area with iffy power BUT I am very lucky as far as house power goes. The house was built by an electrician, everything is overbuilt; the music room was originally used as a photographer's studio. All the flood lights, which I hardly ever use, are on their own circuit. There are oodles of clean power (when the power company cooperates) and dedicated circuits. I use a garden variety conditioner for my preamp and sources, mostly for the health of the digital components, and conditioners for the Sound Labs to protect them from any PSNH surges. The room itself is assymetrical, especially the ceiling, and I am able to have the speakers over 6' from the wall behind them. I have some heavy Berber carpeting throughout, and put some fabric covered foam on the wall behind the couch that is the main listening spot. I have some room tunes in various corners that I bought cheap. I've put outdoor cushions from the deck on the wall when we are not using them, behind the speaker. There are two book cases that are behind the speakers permanently. I guess I should look more into room treatments but we'll see. At some point I'll post pictures. Oh, the other thing is I have the Linn in another room with the Aleph Ono running a XLR out to the preamp. Any suggestions are more than welcome!
Update: Add Empirical Audio Holophonic PC RCA/bullets for Accuphase Replace Adcom 750 with Pass Labs X-1. Replace Cardas Golden Reference with Empirical Holophonic PC XLR Update A3 Backplanes w/ high impedence mod Alternate Magnan Signature with Acoustic Zen Satori 4' Delete MR 7083
Actually the Adcom XLR to XLR is truly balanced. See the Stereophile review. Thansk for the feedback. When the exchequer improves I will check out the Atmasphere - it intruiges me.
Well, passive is the way I heard the active Atma-Sphere beat the passive Adcom and the passive Sonic Frontiers SL-2. I went ahead and got the phono stage as well. Don't know if it's better than your Pass but it sounds pretty damn good. But please try to remember the price difference. It's quite large, you know. BTW, the Adcom is not truly balanced like the Atma-Shere and probably the BAT, SF, Pass, ARC.
If I use the passive balanced mode only, can I do better than the Adcom 750? IS there an active passive preamp that is better? I am thing of SF, BAT, Pass, ARC, and Atma-Sphere.....
Having owned CLSIIz, various Quads, and other M-Ls, heard several Sound-Labs extensively and now own Magnepan 3.6 (how long, who knows?), AND owned the Adcom 750, I can say that my Atma-Sphere MP-3 wipes the floor with it. The only actual head-to-head comparison of the Atma-Sphere was with a Sonic Frontiers SL-2 (model # correct?) and there was no contest. Having never heard any BAT gear, with all the mostly good reports, it must be some real nice sounding stuff.
But wait, you can buy a used Adcom for about $700. I got to believe the BATs are way more, even used. But, given the pedigree of the rest of your system, maybe an upgrade should be considered, on trial, of course.
I will second the recommendation of the BAT VK3Si preamp as a possible replacement for your Adcom. I have heard the BAT at length in a well set-up system with Martin-Logan CLS IIz speakers, and it really shines. You can substantially improve the sound of the preamp by replacing a few of the stock tubes with NOS tubes, and the combination of ESLs with tubes is as good as it gets.
Agreed. Tube preamp with tube phono section. System is very nice, with good balance of quality vinyl and digital sources. Wolcott is great with SoundLabs. A good used MFA Magus preamp or Counterpoint 5000 preamp would be good replacements for the Adcom at reasonable prices. They both have great tube phono sections.
Having had the Adcom GFP-750, it's good in passive mode but as an active preamp it leaves much to be desired. I bettered it in one of my systems with a BAT VK3i.
You've got a very, very nice system going and a tube preamp would take it to yet another level. I'm a BAT fan, so I am biased, but even the 3i would be better than the Adcom, and cost very little more to get to.
Very nice stuff. I agree with the previous comments about the pre-amp being the obvious area to play with. Definitely try a tube pre-amp. So many good ones to choose from. I have had good results with the Joule and Audible Illusions with my esls (and tube power amp). Currently quite happy with a Mod3A. For more money, you could try the Hovland which was phenominal in my system when I had it on loan.
Nice system. Every one will have their own opinion, but I agree on the preamp and also think better interconnects (the Innersound and Cardas can be bettered IMHO) and possibly speaker cables will help. I have electrostats and found it made a big difference in opening up what they could do. How is your power?
ivanj on Opinions Please