Although the system changes with time, the room remains the same.
I like building or rebuilding components and speakers.
To explain what went on with the rear loaded horn speakers shown here, I will say that I have tried 3 different drivers with these cabinets. The first was an Audio Nirvana 8" driver that uses an ALNICO magnet. Good driver to be sure, but the bass wasn't right and it was immediately out of the race. Next up was the Mark Audio P12. Better fit for the bass section but a little light. Everything else was impressive and I used them for about 2 years. Recently, I saw a pair of Audio Nirvana drivers that use neodymium magnets and thought that I might try them out. Haven't done a full listen, but you know that immediate pleasure that you can get from your system? These drivers are doing a much better job in the midrange and treble than the Mark Audio drivers. Frankly, that is very surprising to me given the fact that I enjoyed the P!2 drivers so much. I will have to do some minor work on the baffle to make the new drivers look right, but they are worth the effort.
A longtime project to rebuild and upgrade this amp. Turns out that a change in circuit design and amp biasing set themselves up for change as well. Probably should be renamed the model 3X.
Schiit SOL TT
I have owned a few TT in my time, none of them over $2K. All of them more than I expected for performance. This TT is unique in that it carries a way to adjust anything in the geometry of Turntable design. Some of it is delicate, such as the uni-pivot arm design. Bobbly at times when set down on a record by hand, the better choice is to always use the cueing lever. If simplicity is the ask, then SOL is the answer.
Bottlehead Quickie
The Bottlehead Quickie is a directly heated triode tube preamp. The key to making these preamps attractive is to choose a 'box' that has some class already. In this case, a handcrafted Lee&Nelson Voltage Box was the ticket. I wasn't crazy on one hand taking out the beautiful workmanship inside of this old component, but in doing so it was chance to keep the standard of build in step with the quality of this piece.
Glassware Audio Aikido phono preamp
I will have more photos when this is complete. Sort of a long and winding road, the build/repair of this unit took about a year from start to finish. Poor instructions didn't help, along with two missing jumpers that were never mentioned in the instructions, nor were made before shipping of the unit/kit. This added much unnecessary time and cost to the project by months and hundreds of dollars. Past that, the build turned out beautiful, and the faceplate states the reason for the project in the first place. As a tribute to my father, analog was again to be in my audio system. A schiit SOL TT , which also needed some work and adjustment, has proved to be a contender among the TT that I have ever owned.
The 'battery box' is for a power supply to the BottleHead Quickie preamp. Even though this little amp has modest DH triode design, it sounds way better than anyone should expect. Recently though, I have not used it, as I am always building other equipment for my setup.
