Moving from cone speakers to a set of Apogee Duetta Signature speakers has shown me that there is value to be found in old equipment, for sure. There is certainly more than one way to skin this cat ... I went for the high power SS route with lots of tubes in front of it.
System strengths: natural timbre, musical, transparent with amazing soundstaging, dynamic, good PRAT, no fatigue from CD or vinyl. This is as good as I've heard in many rooms.
System edited: Replaced my Transfiguration Temper cartridge with a Lyra Kleos. I still need to tweak the setup a bit, but first impressions are more detail, more bass, more dynamic but perhaps missing a bit of that midrange magic and beautiful soundstage that the Temper brought to the table.
The big room was indeed large, with the speakers well into the room and away from the walls. 4 rows of chairs, the first row being at least 10 feet from the speakers.
The Stella/Naim room was also large. I am not a Naim lover, but these did have lots of slam and nuance. But the bigger speakers did what bigger speakers do, and that was obvious. Still, both were pretty darn great.
And I got to play my music in the big room when it was almost empty, where the Naim room played the moderators music for a larger audience. And there was other noise from the system set up in the hallway right outside the door.
Still, both were some of the best sound at the show. Others I really liked were the Volti room, the Muraudio omni's, MBL (of course), Soundsmith (always good), Wes Bender's room got better as the weekend progressed, and a few others.
Decided to try repositioning the speakers this weekend. Moved them 6" closer to me and they were indeed too forward sounding and unnatural. Pushed them back 2" (so they are now 4" forward of where they were) and whallah! They now sit about 8'6" from me.
Next I moved them as close to the side boundaries as I could manage, so they are now 6' apart. Of course I checked the lean, and readjusted it, and the precise toe in and distance from the sweet spot using my new Christmas present - a Bosch digital measuring laser accurate to 1/16" (I got them within 1/4").
Holy cow, the space and depth and overall sense of openness and room is huge. Damn, I knew setup was finicky but they are surely locked in now. They just needed that wee bit more room to breathe.
System edited: Added a picture of my quartz crystal tweak to the phono cartridge. Yes, it really does work to add a bit of dimentionality, space, presence to your vinyl playback.
System edited: I was one of the "beta testers" for the Triode Wire Labs "American Speaker Cable", using a 6' bi-wire. A very nice improvement over my Jon Risch 89259 cross connect bi-wire that I have been using for the last 5+ years. More dynamic, smoother and less grainy top end, but equally as transparent and dimentional and extended both top and bottom. Over all a very nice improvement.
System edited: Just picked up the new VPI ceramic platter and bearing. it's basically a smooth sided VPI aluminum Classic platter with a ceramic coating on it. Nice improvement in pace and dynamics.
System edited: Upgraded my Apogee Caliper speakers for a mint pair of Duetta Signatures. They are pretty much the same look, but stand about a foot taller than the Calipers.
That extra length of ribbon in the bass panel gives the Duetta's a much bigger and punchier sound overall. The image height is a bit taller too.
Overall, they sound beautiful and detailed and punchy - everything you would expect from a world class speaker. I'm a very happy boy.
Anti-skate on the DP6 is progressive, the way it should be set up. Meaning it changes as the arm moves over the record to compensate for the varying degree of pull on the arm for the different radius being traversed. That's why it is spring loaded.
Anti skate can/should be set by ear. Find a recore with some vocals and some decent dynamics. Then set the force to zero or very low. This works best with someone helping you, but you can do it yourself if you're patient.
Listen to the right channel and you should hear it almost lower in dynamic volume than the left (a bit recessed). Slowly turn the tracking force up, I mean very slowly a wee bit at a time. Eventually you should start to hear the right channel coming up and getting closer to what the left channel is producing dynamically. Then as you get higher you should hear both channels sounding more dynamic and just better and better. Move the anti-skate up very slowly now.
At last you will hear a fairly dramatic drop off in the quality of both channels. You have now gone a wee bit too far. Back it off a notch and you have optomized your anti-skate.
System edited: Picked up a beat up pair of Apogee Calipers a few weeks ago. The panels were in good shape so it was worth the effort to restore them. So I revamped the crossover with new boutique parts and refinished the scratchy and banged up cabinets with some wood filler, a lot of sanding and some nice metallic grey paint (ala Wilsons). They are singing pretty nicely now, but it will take a little while to get used to the change and get the true measure of their sound. But I am liking what I'm hearing - quite a bit.
The .1uF Teflons are bypasses run parallel to the main output coupling caps. They significantly opened up the sound, making the soundstage wider and deeper and more transparent.
By doind this I realized that the Multicaps were the run of the mill ones, so on my next parts order I picked up some RTX's and replaced them with the best Multicap made. Some additional smoothness was gained.
The power cord did make a difference. Probably as much as tube rolling did.
I also had a lead footer that fit between the power transformer and the case bottom. I wedget that in there and it all but removed any transformer hum.
I also highly recommend rubbing the wood front and sides with some lemon oil once or twice a year to keep them from cracking.
Hope you enjoy your Trumpet. It's definitely an overlooked gem of a phono stage.
Nope (you had to ask, right). I have put Russian teflon .1uF caps as bypasses or the outpout coupling caps. I've also replaced those coupling caps with Multicap RTX's, and also replaced the coupling caps between stages with RTX's. There's an upmarket power cord on it as well and some NOS tubes.
System edited: Just got a McCormack DNA 500 amp to replace my DNA .5 Rev A. Still has the McCormack house sound but with much better soundstaging. The speakers disappear alltogether. Tons of slam and hreadroom for those dynamic passages, but still with finesse and analogue smoothness. Just an amazing amp that takes things to another level. However, I still need a bunch more time to get th full measure of this upgrade. I got the amp on friday and was listening all afternoon and night. But the storm that ransacked the east coast dropped a tree down the block from us and took out the power lines. So I've been powerless for 3 days now with 2-3 more to go beore they can get to us, I'm told. Can you imagine just getting this kind of an upgrade to your system and not being able to listen to it? It's killing me, but at least there was no damage done to my home or family. It is cold in the house though without heat. Warm weather needs to be here NOW!
System edited: Added a few new pictures: - Transfiguration Temper cartridge - Ayre CX7e-MP CD player (just back from the MP upgrade) - Peter Millet Mini Max headphone amp - Hagerman Piccolo MC step up - new overall system picture
Dave - You know I'll never leave anything alone. It will at least get some vibration dampening and maybe some EMI/RFI shielding on the inside. I will definitely have an upgraded power cord on it and am going to experiment with different footer materials (rollerblocks, myrtle wood, etc.).
Maybe those are really just "tweaks" but at this price point I am not tempted to play with the soldering iron at all. If it were $300 that would be a different story.
System edited: Just purchased an Ayre CX7e to replace my transport and DAC setup. Still evaluating, but so far this seems like a nice step upward in performance from the DIY modded inexpensive Chinese DAC's (even though they do sond very good after the mods).
Just obtained a little used new old stock Dynavector XX1 high output MC cartridge to replace my 20X-H. Heavy sucker at 12g with a funny switch on the front to turn on/off the flux damper (sounds like a "Back to the Future" trick).
Apparently nobody liked it turned off so they have incorporated it permanently in all of their XX series carts going forward (and reduced the weight thereby).
It's got a very nice liquid sound to it with much improved subtlety over the 20X-H. There may be a little less dynamic punch, but that could be a break in or setup thing that I haven't quite conquored yet.
Yes, I built the Mark Kelly speed controller. It wasn't too bad putting it together, but with so many parts and a layout and directions that were not disaster proofed there was bound to be a mistake or two (or 3 in my case). So troubleshooting it was a bit of a pain and took quite a bit of time. i think that's why Mark gave up on it, everyone had one problem or another and his time was being sought after far too much.
The arm on the TT mounts through the plinth. I actually routed out the top of the plinth where it mounts so it sits down a bit, giving me needed VTA adjustability.
Don't give up on your own DIY. I started small and learned as I went. I'm no engineer but I do have a bit of practical experience now and a lot of curiosity. Nothing like real world experience building your own and playing with different things. you just have to be honest with yourself if something is not working. Sometiumes backing out a mod shows you more than putting it in.
System edited: Just finished building Mark Kelly's speed controller for the turntable. A very challenging project but a good end result. Thanks for designing this kit Mark, and for your patience walking me through the debugging.
System edited: Just updated pictures of the new room and my new DIY seismic sink audio racks. 50 lbs of sand used in each shelf/box. I also found the addition of room treatments (GIK Panels) to bring a major improvement to the sound. There was a big bass hump in this new basement room. But I have it mostly tamed right now. However I have little need for the Rel sub anymore - my speakers seem to go down to the low 20's without it in this room. Enjoy, Bob
System edited: Just upgraded the turntable with a Moerch DP6 tonearm (but didn't change the picture yet). I know things would improve over the old Audioquest PT6 arm, but I never thought that a tonearm would make such a big difference. I might have to start rethinking all of the claims about speed controls, like the VPI SRS. Enjoy, Bob
System edited: Tried out the EA modded Sony DVP-S7700 player as a transport with my ART DI/O DAC. Got it on loan from a friend and wound up buying it. Wow! Transports definitely make a difference. The modded Toshiba 4960 is now relegated to SACD and DVD-A playback only. Actually, the 7700 & DI/O combo on the Redbook CD layer of hybrid SACD disks usually beats out the SACD layer on the modded Toshiba. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, after all. Enjoy, Bob
System edited: Recent additions/changes: Modded Toshiba SD4960 universal player to replace the Cal Labs DX2 (as transport) and ART DI/O DAC. Yes, it's that good, and I get to play SACD and DVD-A's now too. Recently purcheased a John Wiesner built Hagerman Coronet (ver 2). Nice and clear, with great soundstaging, and so quiet I can't tell that it's on unless I drop the needle. Not even a hint of tube rush. But I still couldn't help upgrading the coupling caps in the circuit to Sonicaps. OK, but the listening (living) room is screwed until after the holidays with the tree and furniture rearrangement. Time to break out the Sennheiser 600's! Enjoy, Bob
The 89259/89248 twisted pair is used most everywhere, between components.
I've "enhanced" this interconnect from the DAC to the preamp by adding a 30 guage silver wire for each leg (+ and -). This is wrapped around the twist in the same diirection, creating a copper/silver hybrid - it lets the best of both through. Unfortunately I found this works really well for the DAC but nowhere else; the copper alone is better.
The 1506A is the digital cable from the DX2 transport to the DI/O DAC.
The 89259 cross connect is the speaker wire. This was the best I've found for the length I need (25 feet for each speaker). The design minimizes inductance, which is critical for long runs and not easily found in any speaker cable. Anyway, it works best for me.
Thanks for the interest and if you're ever on Long Island, NY you are definitely welcome to stop by for a listen.
