Arj, I don't think you can go wrong with the Garrard 401, whatever approach you decide to take on the plinth construction. As with the rest of your system, you will no doubt do the required research to arrive at what is best for you.
arj no worries as i missed your reply to me by over a year :p Audiogon has made it hard to communicate on the systems page sadly. Anyway thanks for the reply since leaving it I sold the Yammie DAC and picked up an Audio Note DAC-3 Signature. Loving my system more than ever as I am sure you are love the Tannoy/Leben combo! Cheers!
Jond, Sorry missed this one. the reimyo is fantastic when it comes to Tonal accuracy and ability to bring out the texture of music. even at 16/44.1 it sounds fantastic. since most of my digital music is not High rez i am pretty much ok with this and not comfortable with taking a risk and changing this. Give it a good power supply ( i use a regenerator) and it shines
Arj any comments on the reimyo dac? I've lusted after one for years and though happy with my Yamamoto YDA-1 I'm still curious and they do pop up here from time to time. Awesome looking system btw!
System edited: Rolled the Tung Sol KT120s as a substitute to the Reflector 6n3cse..and once the 2 hours needed to breakin is done, the music feels lke having more presence. The bass is more fleshed out and the high freq extension seems to have improved and all this with no impact on the midrange Recommended !
Thanks, Arj. I have a friend in Portland (Ore.) that just got a VAC Renaissance 70/70 for his Turnberrys, it seems his amp shopping is over. Before that, I heard them with Joule Electra Starlight (300B) monos, which I thought was great.
I haven't had the pleasure of hearing the Kensington's, hopefully someday. I've never had the opportunity to hear any of the 15" iteration of Tannoys either. When it came time to build mine, I opted to stay with 12" DC drivers, as I was familiar with them, even in a large room, they can do very well.
Thank you Dan. It was great reading your post. I heard of the Tannoy prestige many years back but it was only a a couple of years back i actually heard the turnberrys. It was at a friends place with entry level Naim amplification and was proverbially blown away. the only other time i had heard richness of this nature was with Avan Garde horns with an SET i dont remember. since then i considered various options including HPD drivers with a customer horn loaded cabinet or even a RHR. but then very unlike my grain, did an impulse buy as something came up suddenly and am happy I did so
Just glanced through your system and it looks like a well harmonised setup built up over the years ! Congrats on that.
I have enjoyed reading about your system for a while now, and have finally decided to comment, as there are some similarities between your fine system, and my own.
I too, use Tannoys, but mine are more of a DIY nature, but have been optomized for best possible performance. (At least to my own limitations of knowledge).
I too, have a Denon 103R, mine being a Zu edition, and will be shipped back to me from ESCCO on Monday, where it had a cantilever-stylus upgrade. I'm hoping for much better performance from it, that is the reported result.
Also in common is an idler-drive turntable, your Goldring Lenco is very nice, mine being a DIY Garrard 401 restoration.
I too, have found Tannoy and tubes to be a great combination, A VAC PA 35.35 push-pull EL 34 power amp, along with a newly-acquired SET 300B amp, has proved itself to also work well with my vintage 12" Dual-Concentric HPD drivers.
My love of Tannoys goes back some forty years, and while I strayed from the fold for a few years, I am very glad to have rejoined the world-wide group of Tannoy enthusiasts.
So, I don't need to tell you to do as I do, and "enjoy the music" as I know you are doing just that.
notec, first of all, you have a great system and IMHO the Tannoys would shine on it. i feel my bottleneck is the Phono (which in an absolute sense is really good) and at some point would love to have one by leben.
My K's are a bit lighter than the pic in reality but it is more "Ebony ish" than Mahogany. another pic (not of mine) Here
Its funny you mention about the KT120s as i had been thinking of them for a long time and a matched Quad is on its way a we speak !
regarding compression, i have never felt compression with dynamic content and do play rock a lot..although i dont play at loud volumes i just cranked it up and cannot fault it there (although most rock recording are not great recordings) , In fact one of the facts which hits you about these is the sense of scale with weight and "presence" of music OTOH these speakers, are not the most neutral, they are warm sounding and have a tendency to flesh out and present a richness which is perhaps more than what is present in the content...so will not float the boat for those who like a neutral presentation..and my guess is with amps which are overly warm/dark these can present a wooly bass and maybe some congestion. But not with the lebens with good tubes and cables
Arj - Drop in a matched quad of KT120's into your CS-600 you wont be disappointed. BTW - looking at getting the Kensington SE's myself! Thought they only came in mahogany? Your's look to be ebony if that is not a trick of the light.
Do you experience congestion at high volume with the Tannoys playing complicated pieces rock or otherwise?
Arj The E's do a great job of connecting me to the wide variety of music I listen to, but I have never heard anything like the coherency of the Kensingtons. Will never forget my time with them.
Rockadanny, Thanks..it has a good synergy. am hoping to put in the new Tung Sol KT120s.There is another member here with the same config and that gave me the confidence. it is supposed to take it up a notch. I am based in bangalore India and in case you visit feel free to drop in ;) The place i live in has horrible power with high deviation in the freq and i knew my only option was a regenerator. The monarchy was the most affordable and has been great and as long as the required power < 100W . It has completely cleaned up the background noise due to which the clarity has gone up in leaps and bounds. if you have any doubts just need to write to C.C.Poon of Monarchy..i found him extremely responsive and helpful.
Jmohd, I would believe it would drive it as I only get to the 10 o clock for it to be very loud. but again my room i only 14 x 11. for a larger room , to get the fullest of the bass it may need more. If i were to start afresh my target would be a macintosh 275 as I have been told the more the power the more it fleshes our in the lower frequencies . But again i have heard folks saying what even a 300B SET with 9 Watt can drive it loud..so unless I hear it i would not know how it lies. BTW i have another friend who drives a Turnberry with 9W Wavacs and with a good pre that also does its magic.
Awesome set up Arj. Would love to hear those K's with the Leben. Question about Monarchy Regen: Did you know that your power was an issue before you acquired? Do you live in a country or city which has power issues?
Thanks Sid..i think your comment and mine on your system just crossed :) they have just come in that means many days of position tweaking..Have to get the Soundstage right...but the music is great
