Cheapskate System

by tubiwan on Budget Minded

Description

A "value-for-money"System. Borderline vintage(!)Class B IMO. A Music rather than Hi-Fi system. Bottom Line: I listen to the Music far more than the System. clincher: I get compliments from non-audio people who are(almost!)convinced! No longer play Audio Reviewer either!
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Components Toggle details

    • Dunlop Systemdek IIX
    Manual 33/45rpm, Belt driven, Top suspended sprung turntable. Glass Platter w/felt mat. Rega/Profile Armboard. Bought 24 years ago used-didn't know the shop had swapped the original RB300 for a profile Arm until I decided to upgrade. Still, got what I paid for it on ebay! The original giant killer IMO, having owned an LP12 for 6 years and no longer have an urge to go back: in fact I enjoy the 'dek more than I did the Sondek. Less pretentious and more honest and perfect for upgrading. The dealer who sold me the HEED TPS reckoned at today's prices we're looking at a $2000 'table, never mind the arm, cartridge....
    • Rega RB-300
    Std Arm has a wiring upgrade(Unknown) and arm tube damping; standard weight plus dual pillar nuts for VTA adjustment. Now CARDAS re-wired by the good folks @ Brit Audio and I've fitted a Pete Riggle Brass counterweight. At least as good as my old ITTOK now IMHO. Update: unfortunately dismounting the arm to change cartridges and my cack-handedness has loosened a wire so one channel only unless my soldering can fix it..otherwise...
    • Rega Super Elys
    Bargain on ebay. Slightly better inner-detail wise than the Elys2 but otherwise very similar.
    • B&K Components CS-115
    Line Preamp, w/optional passive output,Headphone jack Balance but no tone controls. RCA Inputs(5)/outputs(2). Very good little preamp on std inputs; FABULOUS on the Passive/
    • B&K Components ST-140
    The 1st 105w version. Love this Amp.
    • Magnepan Magneplanar MG 1.4
    Bottom level full range Maggie: superseded by the 1.5 & 1.6 QR with extended FR. which in turn have now been superseded by the 1.7! I'm now a registered Maggie addict! Eyes Open!
    • knukonceptz mKs & Krystal RCA cables
    Bought their silver plater speaker cables(CHEAP too!)as a hedge against rising Monster Cable prices-turned out better performing. These new mKs silver-plated copper(silver soldered too!) are magic and isolate excellently. The Krystals are very good too-Monster Cable 400 inferior...but the mKs(BOTC#2!)...KK's relegated to
    • knukonceptz Kasa Kable
    12g silver-plated 99.9999% copper. Blows Monster Cable out of the water!
    • Extreme Phono none-felt mat
    neoprene like material - placed between Glass Platter & the Supermat. Improves noise floor. Kill's glass/acrylic brightness. Slight loss of Dynamics on it's own: but noticeable.
    • SOTA Supermat
    drop-on Acrylic mat, sits above Extreme Phono mat. Looking at the price for replacement Acrylic platters this price NOW seems reasonable, but back in '87, over half the price of my 'dek (had money back then!)
    • HEED Orbit TT PSU
    T/T power supply: "Valhallas" my 'DEK! Prise it from my cold-dead hands why doncha!
    • ART DJ Pre II
    Picked this up as a spare after a nasty with my Bellari VP129 which I loved. This floored me. It was a LOT quieter (-90dB spec) is cart' loadable, AND you can adjust the level. ran the DL-160 with no difficulty. I ran a faves check and while the Tube warmth wasn't there,in terms of detail this was was actually better, as was the frequency balance. After a month of careful listening I decided to sell the Bellari and keep this: at the $35 I paid for it...WOW. If Mikey gave a VP129 a B rating,then this...
    • Denon DVD-1930CI
    Picked this up on ebay for $60odd bucks. Up and running in 2 minutes: manual not needed! I'm impressed so far. The difference between PCM conversion and direct SACD into stereo outputs VERY marked! Bye Bye, faithful little OPPO: off to ebay!
    • K.A.B The Pig
    how I lost my Reflex clamp I'll never know, but this modest little tweak does the job on good to fair records, but unlike the reflex won't flatten warped ones.that's okay, the RB300 doesn't "fly" like an Ittok for example!
    • Spin-clean Record Washer System
    fancy forgetting this! Had it for 18 months from Garage-a-Records and while my older records haven't QUITE lost their

Comments 13

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You have some nice stuff there, I own that Rega arm and I love it, it bested an older $1000 arm from Grado and it has no fuss once set-up. I have the Dyna 20 cart so I dont know how the 10 compares but I bet it is not bad. NAD makes really good products across the board so I bet the tuner is good, I have the Samsung HD841 in a spare room and I thought it sounded fine when it was in my main system. The SOTA clamp works great on my SOTA table and your Bellari got alot of good press so I can only imagine it works well. If you system can pull you into the music wich it looks like it does, that is all that matters man!
Chase the music, not your Sonic tail.....thats what I have been doing!!!!!!!!!!!

chadnliz

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