Well, it s been an eventful year for me.

1) Got “evicted” out of my mom’s house since she sold her house during the summer where I was living rent free

2) Got hitched early Fall

3) Got a house early winter (Thanks First Time Home Buyer Program! Not that it helps much here in California) and almost done with grad school (1 semester to go).

Through all these ordeals, I’ve been counting down the days until when I can finally get my stereo out of storage, so I can set it up properly.

Anyhow, that’s enough about my ordeals. Yes, my wife will be pleased that I am calling our wedding an ordeal. But, we did put a lot of time, effort and cash into it.

About my stereo

My main source is the Sony RC210G Pentium D PC. I bought this hoping to use it as my music server many years ago. But, since I didn’t have a stereo room for quite some time, it hasn’t really been used. Now that I finally got it set up as a music server, it is now out dated! Even my MOM is using QUAD CORE. There’s like 10 different iterations of i7 processors available now!

The main reason why I got the Sony is because it looks cool. But, it also uses heat pipe instead of a fan to cool the PC’s innards. This means no noise! It has 320GB HDD (2 x 160GB in RAID 0 config.).

Currently, using Foobar with ASIO4ALL as player. All CDs are ripped using EAC to FLAC. From here, a 15’ USB I purchased from Monoprice.com is used to connect the PC to an Audio Sector USB DAC.

A review by Pardales on Audio Circle got me interested in this Peter Daniel’s custom made USB DAC although he has since moved onto a different DAC. It has 3 things I was looking for in a DAC. 1) USB input 2) Non-Oversampling and 3) Direct I2S input into processing chip. If I were to buy an USB DAC today, I would add a fourth requirement which is Asynch USB input. Of course, the most important requirement is how it sounds. The Audio Sector strikes a good balance between smoothness and detail. I surmise the DAC can benefit from a larger PSU.

My turntable is a bit of a rarity I suppose. I’ve not seen another like it. I’ve always been fond of Amazon turntables. However, I really wanted a table with a detached motor. But, the more affordable Amazon tables have integrated motors. And, there’s no way in hell I can afford a Model 1 or Reference. Then, I found the Model 12 here on Agon. It’s an answer to my prayers! (not that I pray).

The table was exported from Germany by the person I purchased it from. So, it still uses a German PSU. Unfortunately, it’s just a HP printer wall wart with 230w 50hz input, so I have to use a step up converter. Good thing the Amazon motor is DC, so I can get away with a step up converter and not need a frequency converter. I surmise having to use the wall wart and step up converter is the table’s performance bottleneck.

I am in the process of getting the wall wart replaced. I’ve ordered a DC-115 which is a “wall wart killer” made by Keces. This will allow me to power the turntable motor with a better regulated PSU while getting rid of the step up converter. I am still in discussion with Keces at the moment about getting this done.

Stay tuned!

I’ve learned that upgrading the turntable motor’s PSU results in a big improvement as I’ve done this previously when I had my Origin Live Aurora Gold. I upgraded from the Origin Live wall wart to their massive “transformer”, and the sound emanating from the table was instantly transformed. The highs became more detailed, the lows became expansive, the soundstage became so enveloping that made it felt like the walls around me melted. Basically, the music took shape within my listening area.

I don’t understand how a PSU/transformer upgrade can make such a huge improvement. In any case, I am looking forwards to getting rid of my current bottle-neck.

I’ve been playing with records since I was a kid on a Luxman automatic turntable with a P-mount cart up until I was forced to switch to CDs when Tower Records stopped selling vinyl, and I couldn’t get recordings of my favorite bands on vinyl anymore. I didn’t want to switch because CDs cost more than LPs. And, I dubbed everything onto tape and listened thru a Walkman 90% of the itme, so it didn’t matter to me that CDs were more convenient than LPs. So, vinyl was out of my life for almost 20 years.

After so many years being away from vinyl, I don’t understand my current fascination with it is all about. I have a stack of records, 40 or 50 LPs, that I purchased when I was mainly in middle school. I’ve traded in about 20 of these to Amoeba records for 5 new ones. So, my record collection is very limited as you can see in my photos. Still, I am very fascinated by vinyl. Maybe it’s the industrial design. Maybe it’s a physical involvement in the music making process.

I’ve had Amazon table for about a year. The table has an armboard pre-drilled for a Moerch tonearm, so I purchased a Moerch. Not that I am complaining. I am too much of a vinyl newb to be nit picky. I mean the tonearm is gorgeous. It’s relatively easy to use except for the VTA adjustment. I have to use a very miniature sized Allen wrench to loosen and tighten the arm’s collar each time I want to adjust the height. And, if I misplace the Allen wrench, then I am SOL.

Initially, I purchased a ZYX R50 lower output (.24mv) Bloom cartridge. I didn’t get to use it for very long as my wife picked up my table and dropped it causing the needle to smash against the platter. The needle’s tip fell off. So, for the majority of my turntable ownership, I was without a cartridge. I anticipate that I will send the Bloom to Sound Smith to get it re-tipped whenever they decide to reply my email.

In the mean time, in a moment of weakness as I really wanted to listen to my turntable over the xmas-new years holidays, I purchased a 2nd hand ZYX R100H here on Agon. I didn’t want to purchase another ZYX as I wanted something else to compare with. I wanted to purchase a Shelter 301. I had this cart with my previous table which I had a chance to compare extensively against a Shelter 501. I don’t understand what the fan fare about the 501 is about. 301 is all over the 501 “in my system”. The Shelter 301 had to be shipped from HK, and I didn’t want to wait

After I purchased the table, I wanted to minimize my expense in regards to phono pre as I didn’t even have a stereo room to play my records in at the time. So, I purchased a second hand Lehmann Black Cube SE. I didn’t have too much of a chance to use it since my cartridge was damaged. Before even getting settled into my new place, I saw a Bluenote De Medici for sale on Agon. I always wanted to try a Bluenote phono pre specifically a lower end Phono 1. And, the higher end De Medici was priced even below the Phono 1’s price. So, of course, I HAD to go for it. I mean, it looks cool!

And, it turns out that I like it better than the Lehmann. I didn’t do too much A-B comparison as I am too lazy to switch cables around. It’s a lot more work than switching DACs and only a bit less work than switching amps. Plus, aesthetically, it matches the rest of my system better. It has black acrylic and a sexy blue light! I really like the way it looks when sitting next to the Kora pre amp.

Speaking of the preamp, I didn’t really need one until I got the Amazon turntable when I used my Thinkpad as my system’s sole source. Hence, I didn’t need source switching capabilities nor an attenuator since my amp has a volume control. However, I like using interconnects with Eichmann Bulletplugs which are rather fragile, so I didn’t want to plug and unplug my cables each time I wanted to switch source. I wanted the option of changing volume remotely, and, I also wanted to add a bit more tube warmth, so I started looking for a remote tube pre.

I don't hear too much of a difference with the preamp in the system compared to when I have source directly connected to the amp. I guess this is a good thing as the best preamp is, figuratively, having no preamp at all? The Kora uses a pair of 12BH7 which I never heard of until I got this amp. The pair in the pre are Daystroms which I never heard of either. I don't think they are very good tubes. I will play with different tubes when I feel richer.

Long story short, Kora fit the bill. And, as of yesterday, I am not using any interconnects with Eichmann Bullet Plugs anymore. Those just got replaced by 2 pairs of JVC interconnects. The synergize really well with the pair of Morrows.

Speaking of cables, at first I was using a pair of OTA wires as speaker cables with a set of jumpers on the Evolutions. I was curious about bi-wiring as the guy who sold me the Evo3 told me these speaker HAS to be bi-wired, so I bought a pair of Kimber 4TC bi-wired. The system immediately improved with the bi-wires in the system. However, after setting up the system at the new place, it didn't sound right. I was missing the highs, lows, and the mids were stale. I then switched back to the OTAs, and, poof, my system is brought back to life. Weird.

I think I first learned of my amp, the Greatech muVac, from a review on Enjoy the Music. I find the review enlightening as it described many attributes about the amp that I found in my previous favorite amp, the 47 Labs Gaincard. They look sort of similar too except the muVac has sexy blue lights and black acrylic with tubes to boot.

Lastly, I wasn't looking to upgrade speakers as I was perfectly happy with my Reynaud Twin MK2. However, I found a pair of Evolution 3s on the Gon for a VERY good price. The seller was semi local and was willing to haul it over for me to listen. So, why not. It turns out the speaker improved in every manner over the Twins. The seller was a great guy too. Sometimes you meet people who are so nice that you're an asshole when compared to them. He's one of them.

Well, that's a mouthful. My wife is impatient waiting for me to finish chronicling my latest stereo iteration. I am very happy to FINALLY have a stereo room where I can have the space to swap cables and A/B components *ahem* I mean listen to music.

I still need to clean the room up a bit. So, pardon the mess.

Notes on the photos:

Camera: Nikon D90

Lens: 50mm f1.8, 17-55mm f2.5

Sexy blue lights - shot in the dark with 50mm lens, 25 sec shutter speed, 800ISO, f1.8.