The best $400 integrated I've heard! SED EL-34's Tung-Sol 12AX7's or Sovtek 12AX7LPS's Electroharmonix 12AU7's
Von Schweikert Audio VR-1
These make some pretty good music. Upgraded the crossovers with Sonicaps, plus bypasses, OCC-OFC internal wire, and a smattering of No-Rez
Hsu Research VTF-2 MKIII
It'll move some air!
Speltz Anti-Cable
Good sound, even better price!
Cardas Golden Cross
Not much to say, I love 'em!
DIY Oyaide PA-02
W/ Eichmann copper bullets
DIY VHAudio, Cryo-Parts
VHAudio Flavor 2, Cryo-Max III, Furutech & Oyaide 079 connectors, and a Furu outlet
Panamax 5100EX
Keeps things safe and doesn't seem to impart much sound of it's own
DIY Roller Balls
Had some fun in the metal shop with some 4340 steel... Basically made 6 simple pucks with a spherical bearing surface, and dropped some tungsten carbide bearings into them.
They come in packs of 12 for $30, and I'm using 32 panels (8 rows of 4 columns)... so the price is pretty nice, $90 plus s&h for the front wall plus some extras. I'm still considering some Cathedral Sound panels for the corners of the room, front and rear, but we'll see. I might like better to get my headphone rig back together - used to have a WooAudio3 with VHAudio cap upgrades powering a pair of HD650's that I miss dearly...
System edited: Updated - I think I've settled on a pair of Cardas Golden Cross IC's, after a few different DIY recipes and numerous auditions thanks to The Cable Co.
"The Hsu test disc is great. Do you use the maximum extension or maximum output? I am use the maximum extension with great results. I have mine crossover at 40 hz."
Yes, max extension mode seems to work the best for me crossed over right around 40hz.
I'm getting some approval for more room treatments, so I picked up some 2" thick rockwool panels... wish I could've kept my previous treatments, but we'll see how well these do
Prior to owning the VR-1's I had a pair of B&W DM601 S3's. I think the B&W's liked a few more watts, but the VR-1's are pretty happy with *only* 35 tube-watts.
Highend64:
I've had the sub in a downfiring orientation, but prefer it firing forward. since it's crossed over at about 35Hz, I don't get any localization issues. Good, solid (and i mean SOLID) 20Hz performance shakes the shite out of the dishes in the kitchen! Gotta love the 16Hz fundamentals from Hsu's test disc...
I appreciate the kind words! I've recently taken to playing with some DIY IC's between the CDP and amp. I figured I'd audition some heavy hitters from The Cable Co's library, and then see how close I could get, unless some nice .5M IC's pop up used on usedcable.com.
Right now I've added some carbon fiber insulation/shielding to a set of VHAudio Pulsars and tried a few different connectors... I'm shooting for a similar sound to the famous (or infamous) cardas house sound. The last setup (or experiment) was some Oyaide PA-02 w/ furu rhodium plated RCA's. after breaking in, these had a fair amount of upper midrange hash... not to my liking, I'd say they sound "partly cloudy". After auditioning (among others) the cardas golden cross and a pair of purist audio designs aqueous 20th anniversary, I feel these both represent the kind of synergy I'm shooting for. Next up is a DIY highly shielded pure silver IC. Then a OCC-OFC highly shielded IC with similar design (non-coaxial). Then next may be very minimally shielded silvers and coppers (both OCC/high purity).
I tried it back in the corner where the Bellini chair is, but found it too boomy. I run the sub crossed over pretty low, around 35Hz, which gets me away from the 70-90hz bump caused by the 9' room height. The VR-1's have usable bass in room down to about 45Hz, so running the sub lower than normal isn't too bad.
