My objective for this system was high quality sound in my comfortable environment without breaking the bank. Secondly, the turning on & off of the system had to be wife-friendly. Thirdly, the components were to be inexpensive enough where I wouldn't faint :-) if a component was broken by the children (unlike my reference system)!
Most of the components are old but they are very good sounding despite their age.
Any more money spent would be a waste as the room acoustics & speaker placement do not allow any further extraction of music subtlties.
Thinking seriously of modifying the 502A if I can do it for a reasonable cost.
2 discrete laser pick-up DVD player. 1st generation product but still considered by many to be an excellent transport. OK sound from analog outputs
Onkyo ND-S1
iPod dock for 5th gen 160GB iPod. Has only digital output (as it's output was meant to plug into an Onkyo A/V receiver). Superb sonics for fraction of the cost. Compact size, good looking & decent remote.
Monarchy Audio DIP 24/96
24/96 jitter reduction model. Does *NOT* re-sample incoming digital data. Can accept digital data upto 24 bits & upto 96KHz. Improves bass definition, decongests sound-stage/better voice, instrument definition & provides smooth highs
1st introduced in 1979. Slim-line FM/AM tuner with 4 gangs and 3 filters, an Active Servo Lock circuit, two FM muting thresholds plus a defeat position, and a recording level check switch. Really cool looking tuning mechanizm: 2 green arrow LEDs beside the red station LED. The green LEDs guide the user in which direction to tune & disappear when center tuned.
Yamaha CA-2010
1977 vintage integrated amplifier from Yamaha. Found this beautiful looking, well-cared for piece on Ebay. 120W/ch in class-AB & 30W/ch in pure class-A. Sounds divine with the Tannoy DMT10s. :-)
Tannoy System 10DMT Mk II
System 10 DMT Mk II Dual concentric monitors. Impact resistant gray painted front baffle & ribbed edges. Excellent sonics despite being a studio monitor - one of the best! Drivers seem to have a 90 degree vertical & horizontal dispersion hence it matters little where you sit in the room.
Lovan Jazz 1800
18
Mil Spec 16 AWG silver-coated copper multi-strand
Mil Spec multi-stranded silver-coated copper wire with Tefzel insulation. Tefzel is very close to Teflon w.r.t. dielectric loss. Sonically very good sounding wire for the little money paid.
Just saw your post Mapman!! ;-o yes, the older Yamaha gear is really nice sounding & very appealing to the eyes. No wonder their latest A-2000 amplifier mimics their vintage brethen. Something to be said for that.....
About 6 months ago, I added a Logitech Bluetooth receiver so that I could stream from my portable device. Reasonable SQ for a $40 device but a large convenience factor when listening while doing house-work.
System edited: Just added the Onkyo ND-S1 iPod dock, which seems to have overtaken the CDP as my main music source (keeping up with the latest trends! ;-) ). Modified the description of the Monarchy DIP - I had erroneously written that this unit upsampled the data. It does *NOT*; it's main function is simply jitter reduction.
Hi Mapman, Thanks! yes, I see the pix of your Yamaha CR-420. I personally think that these vintage Yamaha amps look way better than many of today's amps. And, you got your receiver for a steal! You can see that Luxman is back & what is their modern day look????? It's the vintage look! what a surprise! Enjoy!
I have a cr420 receiver (see my second A/V system posting). Picked it up in ebay for $60, cleaned it up, and love it. I had hopes when I bought it having heard these back in teh day, but I've gotten way more mileage than I really expected out of it these days.
The phono section is awesome. Have you tried yours?
A few more watts than what I have wouldn't hurt so I often look for these old yamaha amps. If I changed, I would either go for a more powerful model like yours or test the mdoern tube integrated waters perhaps, but then I get the hassle of tubes + plus need a separate phono section, etc.
Recently added the Onkyo ND-S1 iPod dock. Much improvement in the sonics as the iPod dock uses the digital stream from the iPod. Previously I was driving the amp using the headphone jack which sucked sonically as the iPod did not have the power to drive the amp input correctly + I had to crank the volume knob to 11 or 12 o'clock to get any dynamics. Using this iPod dock has resolved those issues.
Skljesus, I was using the TARA Labs Master Gen II interconnect. No, it's no longer current i.e. no longer manuf. TARA Labs seems to have moved on quite a bit from that generation of interconnects. Also, I do not have it in my system anymore - it's been gone 3+ years ago.
hi, I am referring to your reference system, what is the TARA interconnect you are using i cant seem to find it in your system, is it still current (in manufacture) thanks skljesus
Recently I added an Apple 160GB iPod as another source. At this time I'm using the headphone output jack into the Yamaha CA-2010 using a splitter. The iPod jack output has piss-poor drive capability. I was holding out for a Wadia i170 but these days it seems that I should buy the Onkyo NS-D1 instead. Otherwise, the iPod 160GB has proven to be a nice source for holding a vast reserve of my music that I can quickly tap to play while winding down for the day. All files on the iPod 160GB are in .WAV format.
System edited: Recently changed the speaker wire from Romex in-wall electrical wiring to Mil spec 16AWG multi-strand silver-coated copper wire w/ Tefzel insulation. A marked improvement in sound - the Romex wire sounded very veiled. This Mil spec wire is much more transparent.
Also am using a vintage (1977) integrated amp from Yamaha. Beautiful looking piece that sounds just as beautiful. They do not make integrated amps like this anymore! 120W/ch in class-AB & 30W/ch in pure class-A. There is front-panel switch to select class-A mode. Serviced by "Merrylander" - the well reknowned Yamaha vintage amp repair master - and brought back to spec.
Hi Cdc, the Tannoy studio monitors sound simply superb. They sound cohesive like the sound is cut from a single piece of cloth. The concentric horn-loaded tweeter is superbly integrated with regular cone woofer. The sound is very real. I've paired it with a tube amp & this combination seems to be a winner to my ears. The dispersion pattern of the speaker is 90 degrees the way the woofer is made & because of the horn loaded tweeter. Hence these speaker care much less whether they are mounted high up or sitting on the floor. I've actually tested this when they sat on the floor - the images were all up at my seated ear level! I've tried these speakers with my s.s amp as well & they sound very good there as well. Realistic sound, excellent imaging, extended highs. Too much ported bass for my bedroom & listening room. I fix this by closing 1 port on each speaker (they are dual front ported).
The Precision 6D & Sensys are TOTALLY different speakers compared to this world acclaimed studio monitor. I (seriously) doubt that these would sound anything like the DMT10 speakers. Hope that this helps.
I actually have member "Analogbass" to thank for recommeding these speakers to me. They are every bit as good as he said they would be.
Any comments on how the Tannoy's sound and why you like them? I've been looking to get some Precision 6D active monitors or Sensys with a Creek A50i. most reviews say the smaller tannoys can be bright and some F-R anomalies because of the dual concentric design
Hi Kehut, >> I love all your cool systems! Thanks very much! appreciate the credits.
I've my 502A hot-rodded by a friend. I used Kimber Kaps as I felt that this was best for this amp from a price:performance perspective. I did not want to spend more money as it belongs in a 2nd-ary system. I'm enjoying it in its present rendition. :-)
Bombaywalla...I have the 502A and bought it with the Hot Rod mods. VeraStarr here in Atlanta handled the mods , but I dont know if they still do them, but the link above was obtained via their web site. Mine has the HRAM Street( I think) I know it has the Audio Theta Caps and an ALPS Blue Velvet Volume Pot. Sound is glorious for a minimalist tube amp. I am uncertain of the prices..You may have to call for info. Hope this was a help. I love all your cool systems!
