You might say this is in my blood... I started as a kid with a MAC-1700 and the Stereotech 3 speakers. By college, I'd added a Toshiba TT and a Nakamichi cassette deck. After a lot of miles, a move or two, marriage and college, the 1700 has been retired in favor of a 4100, and the Toshiba has morphed into Mr. Mc's old Thorens. Those clunker old Stereotechs kept going and going, but it was time for a change. Hence the XR-250s - the first two examples off the production line, in fact.
I finally finished the cabinet that holds it all, including a slideout for the turntable.
The shiny silver box is a dual core Athlon64X2 running Xubuntu linux. The computer primarily provides web access in the living room for watching online videos and playing games.
[edit]I'd resisted for the longest time getting a BluRay player, since the upconverting Oppo 981 was brilliant, but its power supply ate itself. So I took the plunge and snagged an Oppo 103 BluRay player.
The BluRay player has finally come into its own since the Sony bit the dust and was replaced with an absolutely stellar Vizio 65" 4k LCD TV. Couldn't be happier with the new video setup.
Heavy chassis, solid mechanism, very nice analog output
Thorens TD-125
So one day my uncle shows up on my doorstep out of a clear blue sky and hands me my granddad's TD-125. Unfortunately the dust cover is badly damaged.
SME 3009
Audio-Technica USA Signet TK-9e
Fast-talked it out of my brother; he just moved to a Shelter MC and wasn't using the Signet any more.
Vizio M65-C1
M-series 65" 4k LCD TV
Oppo 103
BluRay player
Homebrew Dual core PC running MythTV
Athlon64 X2 running Xubuntu for web, gaming and music library service. Machine has a dual digital TV tuner and a fairly high-end sound card. Needs to move from dual-core to quad-core at some point.
System edited: The DVD player gave up the ghost, so I broke down and bought an Oppo 103 BluRay player. I also took the opportunity to vacuum out a bunch of cat hair and floobydust and to rearrange things slightly.
System edited: Minor adjustments to the description text, and a new title to reflect the notion that I'm probably through throwing components at it. Time to sit back, listen to some CDs and records, and watch a movie or three!
I think I need to move this from ever-evolving to done-for-now. Other than some repairs to the 4100 and *maybe* putting the cassette deck back in, I don't forsee any changes for quite a while (he says, famous last words). Looks nice, and sounds VERY VERY nice.
Actually, there is one upgrade we're talking about making - tearing off the back porch and extending the family room back another 10 feet and moving the system to the resulting end of the room. :)
System edited: System update: Replaced the Stereotech3s with McIntosh XR-250s, purchased from the one and only Roger Russell. Those LD/HP woofers of Carl VanGelder's really do work wonders, both with the bass and with the lower midrange - FAR fewer IM products to interfere up higher. Even the wife agrees that the improvement in sound was worth the price of admission.
Finally happened - I got the cabinet shelves built and everything rearranged. Even managed to recable everything, mostly with shorter cables. Hopefully it'll collect less dust and cathair now. Need to replace the pic at top.
I've got to get the shelves built and the turntable moved up to the top of the cabinet. We've recently added a couple of self-propelled chaos generators to the household, and one of the kittens likes to sit on the turntable. No no! Bad kitty! Don't sit on Mr. Mc's Thorens! :-)
The other short-term change is to put the TK9 I fast-talked my brother into giving me onto the 'table in place of the TK3e. I expect slightly better tracking and MUCH better transient response.
The 4100 is 75wpc into 8ohms, 2 phono and 2 aux inputs, first-rate AM and FM tuners, 2 (or is it 3? can't recall) tape in/out sets, dancing-LED power meters, and Mc's PowerGuard output monitor circuitry. I paid $900 for mine years ago; in the condition mine's in now, I'd guess it'd go for a grand to 1100.
The only real differences I've observed between, say, my 1700 and my 4100 are that the 4100's got more dynamic headroom - it'll cope with much louder transients without distorting, and that the phono section is considerably cleaner, but that's probably due to the 1700's advanced age. Ask me again after I've run the 1700 past Terry DeWick in Knoxville.
I'd expect that, if they've all been suitably updated (caps replaced,contacts cleaned, out-of-tolerance resistors replaced - sort of stuff Audio Classics or Terry DeWick do to elderly Mc stuff) that any of the Mc receivers from the 4200 backwards would sound equally good. Stay newer if you have less efficient speakers.
My eventual arrangement is to have the Thorens top-center on a full-extension shelf with some kind of damping between the 'table and the shelf. The DVD player (which is small and light and generates no heat) will sit on top of the mythtv box where it is bottom center. The 4100 will go top right and the CD player will go top left with the Cable box atop it. That'll leave sufficient room for two more amps against the future day I go 5.1. :-) The tape deck and VHS player are both slated to go byebye, but I'll keep the VHS long enough to transcribe some videos like the kids' sonograms to DVD via the myth box.
