The music comes first to me, I just want it to sound as good as possible. I listen to mostly to rock, blues. Allman Brothers Band & jazz, but like just about anything as long as it s good! I prefer a system that is neutral somewhat to the warm side (tubes), this is especially true with classic blues music to me.
Huge fan of Thiel Audio, not only do they produce a product that is outstanding for its value, but there customer service and staff are excellent. I currently own 3 pairs of Thiels and looking to add an SS1 sub in the near future. Conrad Johnson & VTL gear seems to match extremely well with Thiels.
Even for its age, I love this cart. I am always looking on ebay or Agon for them.
Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 1000
Just purchased off Ebay in great condition. .2mv 10-75khz. Sweet little cart so far.
Conrad Johnson PV-5
Craigslist $100 purchase, just had Mundorf Evo Silver-Gold caps put in throughout, IEC socket & silver wiring on the RCAs. Paired with a Shunyata Venom 3, sweet CJ mids...
VTL ST-150
Agon purchase, drives the CS 1.6s with ease, great bottom end
Counterpoint SA-5.1
Just purchased 2/25/13 from a nice fellow in Washington, who bought it from his friend (the original owner) this preamp is unmolested and pristine. Came with original box and literature, which made it a must for me to buy! Not much else for me to say other than I have always wanted a 5.1, now I have one! Phono stage kicks butt!
I had been battling nasty resonances coming from the tin snake pit, otherwise known as my fireplace. I love my fireplace and use it often during the winter, but spring, summer and fall it gets on my nerves. So this is what I did 2 sheets of ¼ inch oak ply 24X 48 cut to fit fireplace opening of 22.5 X 46. I used two sheets instead of one to save space and make installation/removal much easier. Purchased 2 acoustical foam off eBay for $25 and a can of 3M spray adhesive, along with weather stripping around the edges to further eliminate noise from the wood to wood contact. 2 hours of work for a wonderful improvement of tinny hallow sound from fireplace and in the process brought out better bass response from my Thiels. Great DIY for less than $60! Also looks pretty cool if I say so myself!
System looks great- especially like the room treatment in the fireplace! Who did the mods on your PV-5? I'm currently waiting for a cj- premier 18 to arrive. Hopefully it is better than my pv-5 (which I can not say enough good things about! Great 35 year preamp- liked it as good if not better than vtl 5.5).
Seems to be a very enjoyable system you've put together. Some nice vintage gear, too.
I have a Fosgate Audionics pre-pro for the rare occaision when I watch a movie or listen to multi-channel music. I almost bought the matching amps back then, but didn't get around to it. Don't see much Fosgate stuff very often.
A friend of mine worked for Thiel during there early days, so as for pairing the speakers with the right gear, I definitely had some help there! The CJ & VTL gear mates very well with Thiel loudspeakers. I have been playing with it for a while still a learning process for sure! Its a lot of fun; the fireplace project was my first attempt at making any acoustical treatments to the room, which at first my fiancé wasnt exactly thrilled about, until she was listening to her music unprompted and recognized the audible improvement! Coming from an untrained ear, really made me smile!
It could be the fireplace damper that's rattling. I had an old one that never open/closed securely. It looked like this... http://www.aaa-inspect.com/M%20Fireplace%20Damper.JPG
I'm going to mod my CJ PV12 with Teflon caps soon. That preamp clicks so nicely with my Thiel CS3.6. CJ charges $800 for the upgrade and http://www.soniccraft.com/ said they'd do it for $560. I always regretted having my subaru worked on by non-subi techs, so I'll probably regret this as well.
Thank you for your comments. This is a new room for me, so I am still working on the setup. I have the CS 1.6s placed right at 20" from the front of my fireplace with about 1/3 of the speaker overlapping the outside of that wall. I have played with this setup for some time and found this ideal for imaging and bass response from the 1.6s. I still can't believe the performance I am getting with my Dynaco MKIVs out of these speakers. I have not hooked up the CJs or VTLs yet, but I'm sure they will blow me away as usual.
However, I have developed one small problem and that is the fireplace itself. After a few months of this setup, the fireplace has developed a rattle, I guess due in part to resonances from play. The shrouding around the fascia sounds almost like a snare drum at low frequencies. I have not figured out how to fix this yet because its a functional fireplace, that we enjoy using.
Jaxwired, CJ makes a great product and yes you are correct, Thiels (I think all of them) love CJ gear. Before I purchased the 1.6s I drove CS3s with my MV-75A1s, sweet combo, with a great bottom end. Would love to hear CJs new reference gear! Thanks for your comments
I'm a big CJ fan myself (especially the preamps). Very nice system. I suspect that the tube electronics have great synergy with the revealing Thiel speakers. Well done!
Thank you. I am really happy with everything right now. I have to add a bunch of other gear, cables, etc, since I am always changing it up. It's alot of fun. Hopefully will take some pictures sometime this week.
