This is my family room / sun room, which I have taken over as my man-cave. 6k discs ripped to NAS in AIFF and streaming music too. 800 albums and counting. Lots of late night sessions involving single malts.
lapierre, thanks much. Currently using Genelex Gold Lion KT66, but I have rolled NOS 6n3ce, Gold Lion KT77, and NOS Mullard EL34. All sound great but have their own unique characteristics. The best I have heard for bass slam with the O96 are the Line Magnetic 845 tube monoblocks. The 6CS7 tubes are NOS Sylvania. For the phono stage after one of the stock JAN 12AT7 tubes failed I replaced the stock tubes with CV4024 Mullard NOS tube and 1950's GE NOS 6X5GT, both to great affect. Best - Eric.
Thanks honeyooi. I am sure the system will ebb and flow with complexity as time marches on. I have been rolling different tubes and cables, system and speaker placement (different rooms and room setups) and like many "audiophiles" am rarely at rest. Audiogon, the Internet and the ease of obtaining a variety of equipment helps to feed that. My next purchase - in 2017 perhaps - will likely be a MC cartridge and SUT.
Thank you Audiofreak. I liked the Leben combination as much as the lower end Shindo separates, with the Devore, and also listened to the Parteges, Pass Labs Integrated, and Line Magnetic but had to set a budget somewhere... The Parteges was special and perhaps down the road I will try a different route.
Thank you sebrof and devilboy. I am sure this next discussion will get me into hot water with a cohort of speaker cable advocates but I find it entirely challenging finding differences in speaker cable. I also have Transparent Musicwave Plus cables and Belden cable from Blue Jeans and by the time the cables get swapped and I settle in to listen for a session I can't really tell much difference, if any, between these three (and also cheaper 16 gauge Radio Shack stuff). In the past couple years I have shed almost all of my more expensive cables and likely will continue to do so as I learn not to get attached to the gear while I streamline my system.
Thank you Jeff. I am in a good place, but of course it's all relative. It sounds explosive, dynamic, nuanced and natural. I am enjoying it every day. I should have gone to tubes and higher sensitivity speakers years ago but resisted. The Leben and Devore combination are the sweetest match I have had to date, and less expensive than some other kit I have had, and looks better in my home (WAF). My journey has evolved over the past 30 years in equipment and room placement in a number of homes, starting with my Yamaha CR 1020 (still own this and use almost daily as a tuner), KEF Model 101 and 103/3 (still have these too and use daily with the Yamaha) NAD / Carver, Yamaha turntable, Polk SDA CRS+ (still have these fronting one of my home entertainment systems) in 89 - 2003, Naim 200/202, 250/252 and Ayre CD Player, Dynaudio and Denon Turntable from 2004 - 2009, Ayre KX-5, VX-5 (Twenty), QB 9 and Dynaudio Confidence until 2015, and a have had a Pass Labs INT-30, INT-60, Klipsch Cornwalls and Harbeth 30.1, along the way. I started ripping all my CDs to a NAS about 10 years ago and was using a MAC mini and then a CAPS windows based server until last year. I picked up the Bryston 2 years ago, and this has turned out to be a terrific addition.
The current room has its challenges, but this is the only room where I can kind of call my own. Every room in my house has large windows except for the basement, and my kids have taken that room over for sleepovers...
