Hello everyone, I'm a 22 year old professional in Toronto, Canada and here is my beginner Audiophile system that I have started to compile over the last few months in my tiny downtown apartment.
Not pictured is a Passion Audio Kit i11 tube amp and the turntable.
Immediate upgrades will continue with Speaker/Interconnect cables, power cable for the CD player, Stands. I need a proper Audio stand, instead of the awful cabinet everything is sitting on.
Future upgrades will happen with a new amplifier, hopefully seperates, but possibly integrated. Just have to spend some time listening to what I like!
This is system really speaks to me. I can imagine some stormy weather, a bottle of cab, Sufjan Stevens "Illinois" in the spinner, a Glade “Angel Whispers” candle flickering on the window seal and all your inhibitions left at the door. Great stuff, indeed.
Hey Taylor, concerning the speaker cable, I would HIGHLY recommend Speltz anti cable. I believe new it runs $70 for 7 feet or so. To my hear its the best I have heard under $500 retail!! I do believe they have the transparency of alot of 1000+ cable. What I mean be transparency is the fact they they will have no sound characteristics. I have resently down graded (money wise) all my cables to anti cable, and in doing so increased my clarity, focus, and bass response. Here is the web site http://www.anticables.com/
Well the only reason I got the 740a was because I got a good deal on the pair with the cd player. I ended up selling the 740a and went back to the tube amp. I posted a new video on YouTube, with the new cd player and tube amp playing some Duffy.
Sonically the 740a and the tube were both good. The tube is slightly warmer in the lower mid. Lost a tiny tiny bit of detail. But the added warmth in the vocals was well worth it. I'll have a few more upgrdes in the next couple weeks. Getting some biwire cable, and some nice 4 pillar target stands. Hopefully it'll make a difference!
Taylor, I believe we talked on youtube for abit about your system. Its lookin like you have done some up grading in the past couple of months. What are the sonic differences between your tube amp and your Cambridge with your totems? Although I personally tend to slightly lean towards tube amplification, after owning the model ones I realized that they work the best with high current SS. Anyways nice system man and enjoy the listening!!
i also have owned totem speaker, mine with tubes,ilove totem and the cambridge stuff sounds to me like tubes ,yet has musical detail,nice system ,take a look at my totem arro tube system...dwhitt
I've heard those Totems and I think they're great! Nice start. Where's your turntable? I've had great success with a DIY solid copper power cable for my CD player. I don't know why, but solid copper--Romex, I think--makes my CD player sound great. Good luck and happy listening to you!!
very nice system. the only thing i could think of that will radically change things would be to add a sub, but the totems are damn good on their own, so it may be a case of leaving well enough alone and spending your upgrade budget on media and booze.
