System edited: sold the Harbeth's and AR amp, moving back to Maggies. I got a Super MMG system for the smaller room, just not enough space for even the 1.7's to breath. I'm hopeful, I'll post pictures when all in.

macdadtexas June 27, 2014 17:36

System edited: Well for now, I'm settled. I'm still thinking of changing out the speakers and amp combo. I miss the sound of Maggies tremendously, but the room is too small for them to breath. I'm thinking maybe the Super MMG system would work, but I need to move the turntable since the Maggies are still 48" high. Pretty happy right now though.

macdadtexas February 27, 2014 23:39

System edited: Pictures when I choose a new rack

macdadtexas December 20, 2013 02:34

System edited: I'm almost done. Still adding more sound/bass mitigation, and I need a new rack system. But I am actually loving the new gear, so much fun to change it all out. I miss my Maggies though.

macdadtexas December 20, 2013 02:13

System edited: More to folllow

macdadtexas December 05, 2013 02:57

System edited: Evolving, more next week.

macdadtexas December 05, 2013 02:53

System edited: It's been a long time since any changes. I don't currently have a DAC, since I listen to 99% vinyl, but I'm intrigued by the new Oppo 105 and I may replace my Oppo 83 with that, and use it as an external DAC as well. The Sanders Amp is fantastic, very happy with it. I also did some tube rolling with great success, and started using the phono stage from my preamp again. I do like the sound, but I miss the modded PS Audio, it was better. New tubes for the phono section have closed the gap though.

macdadtexas February 09, 2013 20:05

System edited: I've moved houses, and cities, and have a new room. I need to work on the acoustics of the room, they suck, but I have made some other changes, and have a projector now, so that's cool.

macdadtexas March 25, 2012 06:17

they sound nice, but they are not in the same league. The K-Horns would be a better comparison, not really fair. I do really like the modded Heresey II's though. I true bargain of the century

macdadtexas September 23, 2011 17:48

System edited: edited the system, new sub and cartridge. Don't miss the DAC, never listen to digital.

macdadtexas November 16, 2010 16:27

System edited: I am DAC-less. Never used it, so I guess I didn't need it, but is was the best of all the DAC's I tried. Thank you to Bryston.

macdadtexas September 19, 2010 04:45

Thanks, I do like the Reserva De La Familia!!

macdadtexas September 17, 2010 01:44

I think I am going to move to a SoundSmith "The Voice" in ebony. I have tried some others, I do love the sound of my Grado, it's very warm, dynamic, but highly detailed.

macdadtexas July 26, 2010 20:40

T-Z glad to hear it. I think they help the most with sibalence at the end of a record. The guy who makes them couldn't be any nicer too, great guy.

macdadtexas July 10, 2010 19:22

I never had any type of tracking problem with the Scout, they seem about the same as far as that piece of the analog pie.

I had trouble with my Scout sounding bright, especially compared to the Clearaudio table that came before it. I had it on a Gingko platform, tried some different cartridges, and used both the SDS and the periphery ring, but my scout always was brighter than I wanted it to be.

When I got the Classic, it was a whole different ball of wax right out of the box. Warmer, smoother, faster right from the start. In fact, I didn't use the periphery ring most of the time (I do now, it's just stupid not to), and I found that I didn't need the SDS with this table. Also, an isolation platform made no difference. I think it's the "whole system" approach that VPI took on this table that made the difference. You know they didn't expect this type of response, I heard it was supposed to be a niche product for the 30 year anniversary, that just took off.

The only problem I have had, and talked with VPI about, is that the new Grado Statement The Reference 1 cartridge I have has caused hum. That bothers me, but the guys at VPI told me that with the unshielded low output MI cartridge, and the location of the motor in the plinth that was just a byproduct. No real fix. That said, they told me they use the same Grado cartridges in their test gear, and live with the hum because the cartridge has such a great sound to it.

I have been given a few cartridge choices, Soundsmith Voice from several, of similar cartridges that are really well shielded, or some fixes to the motor shielding problem, but I have not acted on any of them yet. It's really a pretty small problem.

As an aside, when I bought a MintLP tractor for this table, I was suprised/disappointed/happy to find that with the VPI gig I had gotten the cartridge setup dead on first time. How often does that happen?

Good luck, if you get one you won't be sorry. I think it's a huge upgrade over the other VPI tables, including the Aries, that I have had.

macdadtexas July 03, 2010 16:13

System edited: OK, thinking about changing out my Rel sub for 2 Definitive Technology Supercube 1's? Any comments? I thought I would hook them both up via the high level inputs, and just plug them in via LFE when I watch a movie I want to listen to the crazy loud stuff??

macdadtexas May 11, 2010 03:36

System edited: Another unexpected great upgrade in the form of the Parts Connexion modded PS Audio GHPC phono stage. I bought as a stop gap while I looked for a newer tube phono stage, but after listening to this, I'm keeping it for good!!

macdadtexas March 15, 2010 15:30

Are you saying Benchmark vs. Bryston? The Bryston is much better, it is also much more, not less expensive, about twice the price. But I thought it was about 10 times the DAC.

macdadtexas March 10, 2010 05:26

No no laptop, I have my AppleTV hooked up to an iTunes account with all of the music stored on a Droboshare. I don't use it much though, since I got addicted to vinyl last year, I can't really listen to anything else.

macdadtexas December 13, 2009 05:08

System edited: OK, I have the new Grado cartridge and Graham Slee Elevator broken in and I couldn't be happier. This combo is a BASS monster, the low end is much extended. The whole soundstage is deeper, and the high's have continued to smooth out. Much more extended than my wonderful Sumiko Blackbird, or the other cartridges that I auditioned. I'm extremele pleased with the combo. I have had some big feedback issues since putting in the Graham Slee, they were mostly fixed by using a Granite Audio Ground Zero, but not completely.

macdadtexas December 04, 2009 19:02

System edited: OK, I got the Grado Reference 1 (low output Statement edition) integrated into the system and even without it being broken it, I love it. Detail I didn't know I was missing, a tad warmer, and bass to die for. I have a Graham Slee Elevator feeding the phono stage of my Cary preamp, and I don't seem to notice it at all. Which is super high praise. I am having feedback issues between the turntable and my Rel B1 high level connections again, I need to vet that out. What is really weird is the the feedback goes WAY down when I put the turntable arm over the record. That's just weird. Lovin it so far.

macdadtexas November 16, 2009 03:09

The Reference 1 comes in 2 configurations High Output and Low Output, if it's the "Statement" Ref 1 it has 0.5 Mv output. It's a bit confusing, but after a listen to both, I thought the Low Output version had more depth and clarity. Of course that could have the difference from the phono stages, and I may end up being disappointed. It's all so freakin' complicated!!

macdadtexas November 03, 2009 14:57

System edited: I am in process of changing out cartridges after doing some trials with different ones and I am happy to have ordered a Grado The Reference 1 after borrowing one to try. Fantastic. I bought a Graham Slee Elevator as well, I haven't gotten it yet, but man, could Graham be any easier to work with? Great guy. My tube rolling kind of sucked. I ended up back with the orginal tubes after trying several kinds. I am not real happy with who I bought the first set from either. He never answered a few questions after I told him they were not a good match for my system. Last time I buy from him.

macdadtexas November 03, 2009 01:02

System edited: rolled some tubes. Bought some Zalytron NOS from Upscale and when I added them to the system it warmed up, but the highs got a little bright and almost distored. So then I took 2 of them out and replaced them with the stock tubes and.....AWESOME!!! A bit warmer, highs are back to their clear, smooth selves. Nice improvement, and now I have a full set of back up tubes!! I also added a Signal Cable Speakeron cable for my Rel sub, and I hate to admit it, but a nice upgrade. Sub seems even faster if that's possible, and my intermittent and annoying feedback problem is gone.

macdadtexas October 06, 2009 23:56

I love it. I had the Aries I with the 10.5 arm, for a short time I had the Scoutmaster Signature. The Aries had the original platter, and I don't know that I ever had it set up right (I did use a MintLP protractor and a Gingko 9a platform), but I never got great results. Regardless of VTA or other set up parameters it always sounded rather bright, with a restricted low end.

I like the Scoutmaster a lot, but I had to adjust it constantly, and the bottom seemed a little bloated and slow. It was still very nice.

The Clearaudio Performace I had before those, I thought was a full step ahead of both of them in sound. It was fast, coherent, smooth top end, and went very, very deep on the low end. I wish I had kept it instead of trying the first 2 VPI's to be honest.

I don't know what made me try the Classic. Maybe because I had been trying out, or listening to I should say, some "classic" Technics, Denon, and AR turntable lately, and I really liked the fullness of the sound. Maybe not the most natural or transparent sound, but very full and a ton of slam on rock music. I was listening to a buddies AR ES-1 with Klipschorns and a Mac 225 amp through an C22 preamp, and it was just fantastic. I think that got me on the path to a classic table, and then reading about the VPI, I thought it could be the best of the new and the old new, and I think it is.

This new table is very very fast, has a ton of upper extension, very smooth, and is a bass monster. I guess that's the 10.5i arm with the copper wiring. It just sounds great, great, great.

I love it.

macdadtexas August 13, 2009 19:06

I'm not a big "Cable" guy, let me start with that. After trying many different interconnects and power cables I settled on Kimber Heros and Signal Cable Power Cables, because they sounded the best, and as good as those I got that cost 5x as much. I never heard much improvement from power cables (certainly conditioning the power makes a difference) so I settled on the nice and not too expensive Signals.

Anyway, on digital it just never made sense that the "0"'s and "1"'s from the binary code would sound much different through different cables so I never gave it much thought. Finally though, since AppleTV only takes Toslink I did quite a bit of research and decided to try the Audioquest Optilink 5, and definitively I can say that "YES" it is a sizeable improvment as far as sound quality. I still think the DAC is 95% of the sound, but any hint of upper end harshness or brightness went away, and bottom end got tighter.

V nice improvement.

macdadtexas August 13, 2009 02:21

System edited: New Turntable ROCKS!! Way to go VPI for thinking outside the box by going back to the classics.

macdadtexas August 11, 2009 04:05

I use the AppleTV for digital exclusively, through an Audioquest Optilink 5 Toslink cable. I don't ever toss on a CD, every once in a while I will listen to an SACD or DVD-Audio. Also, the AppleTV usb is not enabled, so I have never used it.

The Bryston is by far the best of the DAC's I have tried, but honestly, I really listen to vinyl about 90% of the time.

macdadtexas August 07, 2009 20:53

I thought the Havana was much warmer and had a great easy listening quality. The BelCanto had a much bigger soundstage and tighter, faster bass, more extended highs, but sounded just slightly bright to me, well compared to the Havana. The Bryston has the best of both of these. I can't believe how well it performs, I'm completely sold.

My speaker/amp combo would tend towards brightness so I am always conscience of that, so take that into consideration. If you have a warmer speaker/amp combo the BelCanto could be the Be-All-End-All. It is very good.

macdadtexas July 28, 2009 14:08

OK, the Bryston DAC is in and WOW!! Without much breakin (or any to be honest) it's amazing. I also added an Audioquest Optilink 5 (which I am sure didn't hurt), but MAN IT's ROCKING. Highs are much smoother and not nearly as harsh, massive bass, and coherence. Just a great sounding system right now, I am happy for now, until I screw it up again trying something new just to try it.

macdadtexas July 21, 2009 01:12

I bought a Bryston BDA-1, it should be here any day now. I am really looking forward to it. At this point the best one that I have tried was the MHDT Labs Havana, I should have just kept that one.

macdadtexas July 20, 2009 18:26

System edited: Just waiting for my new DAC and Turntable

macdadtexas July 19, 2009 14:49

System edited: going to try the new VPI Classic, waiting on it's arrival

macdadtexas June 29, 2009 19:34

System edited: I am finally talking to metal fabricators about having a "real" rack made. I just want a metal framework that holds granite shelves, and is on wheels. I will update when the DAC and sub are integrated into the system.

macdadtexas June 03, 2009 21:49

well, I really wasn't using the Bel Canto Dac very much, mostly playing vinyl, so I decided to sell it. Then I saw that Paul G was coming out with a new DAC and I had always wanted to try the TADAC, so I thought I would give the a try before I give up on digital for anything else but the car.

For the turntable, I just want to try something new. I have seen so many stellar reviews on the original Aries with it's very heavy platter, it is heavy btw, and the 10.5 arm that I decided to try it. The set up jig that came with it didn't fit, so I had to fudge the initial set up, and I am still playing with the azimuth setting and VTA, so I'm not sure of the sound yet. I am waiting on a MintLP tractor and a Gingko isolation platform for the Aries, so I'm not going to make any judgements until I get the set up correct. But so far, the Clearaudio, as it was set up, was .....

macdadtexas May 09, 2009 17:22

System edited: first new pics

macdadtexas May 08, 2009 02:38

System edited: Getting new turntable, disc player and DAC. Let's see how it works out.

macdadtexas May 04, 2009 00:32

I will let you know, I am so vinyl focused I don't expect to listen to much besides Xmas music for a while. The Dac3 has a USB port, so what would the new do-hicky ad?

macdadtexas December 17, 2008 16:36

System edited: New DAC

macdadtexas December 16, 2008 17:27

Nothing, I love the sound. I was wondering if that would make it even better? Maybe a sound from the tweeter I have never heard before. I love to mess with the equipment, I have had many, many amps and cables over the years. Always the same speakers, and now the same preamp, love the SLP98p.

macdadtexas December 02, 2008 21:32

System edited: I started with a tube preamp, now I am contemplating bi-amping with a tube crossover and tube amp for the mid/high input, could that be too much of a good thing?

macdadtexas December 02, 2008 02:34

The Gingko helped me quite a bit. My rack is adjustable, but not super stable, adding the vibration platform has helped tremendously. I agree with you, love the turntable. I love just looking at it (LOL). Oh yeah, it sounds great too.

macdadtexas November 30, 2008 15:39

System edited: All vinyl, all the time.

macdadtexas November 23, 2008 23:00

Thanks, and the wife thanks you. I don't think I will change anything out for quite a while. Kind of disappointing. Maybe I will buy a new subwoofer, just to do it. LOL.

macdadtexas November 16, 2008 22:39

System edited: All vinyl all the time right now. I am personally trying to jumpstart the economy by buying new LP's.

macdadtexas November 15, 2008 03:15

My Cary SLP-98P has a phone stage.

macdadtexas November 02, 2008 02:01

System edited: Just updated the pictures, turntable not set up yet.

macdadtexas November 01, 2008 03:26

System edited: When I get the turntable set up I will take new pictures. I need to have a new rack made that fits the space. I was going to have a metal frame made and put granite pieces on each level. Anyone had that done???

macdadtexas October 16, 2008 23:07

System edited: just bought a new turntable, can't wait to get it set up!!

macdadtexas October 16, 2008 00:46

System edited: new amps, DAC, and a throw down player since I like the Apple TV/DAC combo so much

macdadtexas August 23, 2008 01:00

Thanks for the kind words. If I was single I would probably have one old chair in a carpeted room, so I can't really comment. My wife thanks you.

As all this new stuff breaks in, new speakers (rebuilt at Magnepan, love those guys up north), new preamp, new DAC (bought used but I don't think it was broken in) it is really opening up. I couldn't be happier. Strangely, I have the Cary playing music from the DAC, but leave the reciever on and it recieves another signal from the Apple TV or the DVD changer from HDMI and I use the sub run through that to great effect when I want to add more low end. Unexpected, but very effective.

macdadtexas July 08, 2008 04:02

System edited: Done for now, added some pictures!!!

macdadtexas July 03, 2008 23:43

System edited: Last piece is a turntable, leaning heavily towards the VPI Scoutmaster with Sig tonearm and a Sumiko Blackbird.

macdadtexas June 19, 2008 16:53

System edited: I am going to add the Cary Cinema 11v for the video switching/processing....if it ever comes out.

macdadtexas March 26, 2008 02:39

System edited: still evolving equipment, and room under construction......

macdadtexas March 26, 2008 02:32

System edited: getting all of the pieces together

macdadtexas March 05, 2008 01:08

System edited: Getting all of this stuff to install, sitting in my living room right now.

macdadtexas March 01, 2008 16:16

I have a whole new system, but it's temporary, so I won't post until I re-assemble. I am building a media room, so when that's done we'll look at it again!!!

macdadtexas July 21, 2007 00:12

System edited: After buying all of the analog equipment to set up a turntable, I watched my 3 small children run around the house and decided it could wait for a dedicated media room.

macdadtexas July 24, 2005 22:28

Thanks, I am really long pre-amps right now. I need to get rid of a couple, and find a phono stage. Probably going to get a plasma TV too. But really only so that I can get my turntable onto the rack.

macdadtexas July 01, 2005 02:38

System edited: Please, someone stop me. I can't stop playing with this stuff. Will it ever end??

macdadtexas June 13, 2005 18:32

System edited: Well, it's like a getting ready for a new baby. In anticipation of getting a turntable just got a nice tube pre-amp. Now I need to get a new TV (plasma) and get the LCD projection one off of the cart. Having granite fabricated for the cart, more stable, like the wood look better, but have a friend in the stone business. Now I just need a turntable. Oh yeah, and to replace my 500+ CD's with the vinyl I got rid of 20 years ago!!

macdadtexas June 08, 2005 05:13

System edited: OK, I have changed a lot lately, but now more. Going back to Maggies. No changes for a while now.

macdadtexas April 01, 2005 22:14

I love them, but I am a Magnepan guy. My wife wanted to make our speakers "Less Obvious" even though we have our AV stuff set up so that it can be hidden. I had upgraded to Maggie 3.6Rs and they were so large my wife freaked. So with all of the press about the Gallo's I sold the sub and speakers and went smaller. I have just broken mine in, and they really are fantastic, but the wife listens to a TON of music all day, including opera and Jazz. Nothing reproduces the voice like Magnepan's, so she asked for them back!!!! How often does that happen? She want's Tierny Sutton and Maria Callas back through Maggies. "Whatever the Queen desires."

PS - The Gallo's go VERY, VERY low. It's not just press about the second voice coil. If your PrePro has the ability go indivually set crossovers, and High/Low pass filters, just add another amp for the second coil and you don't need a sub. Also, it works MUCH faster than any sub I have ever had including Vandersteen's, or the Velodyne DD series. A great feature.

macdadtexas March 31, 2005 15:01

System edited: just need some new pitures.

macdadtexas March 22, 2005 16:57

System edited: OK, I need to take a new picture and add it. I love the new Maggies, and Velodyne sub, but I think I am going to try the Gallo Reference3's now. With no sub. Big change, but with all of the hype.......

macdadtexas February 14, 2005 23:34

Doug, could you give me a configuration recommendation? I had not thought of that. Would I keep my Parasound, and add amps? What amps would you recommend? Right now I was leaning towards the Bel Canto eVo 4 gen II. Could I bi-amp from that instead of bridging the channels and running in stereo?

macdadtexas November 08, 2004 00:44

System edited: Still going to change to the 3.6R's, soon. Need advice on the amp. Was leaning toward the Bel Canto eVo 4 Gen II. Also getting a reference multi Disc player. Looking at the McCormack or Marantz, any suggestions??

macdadtexas October 30, 2004 19:11