Pretty easy listening system using mostly valve equipment most of it DIY.
The Tannoy dual concentric drivers and there crossovers allow a broad range of sources to sound pleasing to the ear. They have a slightly old fashioned sound which you typically hear with a large bass driver. As they say about Tannoy DC's "Once heard hard to forget"
I listen to vinyl these days and the Nottingham Analog Dais TT blends perfectly with this system - It has a slightly warm tone, typically use a Denon 103D & Decca Blue cartridge. The Decca loves old school rock & grungy blues. The Denon loves classical and Jazz.
I've finished fiddling with this system, one day I'll get around to mounting the pre-amp in a suitable box and make the amps look slightly less frankenstein.
More than happy to sit back and listen to music these days.
If I had one suggestion
Enjoy what you have and stop lusting over equipment which in most cases is stupidly unattainable & ultimately fails to satisfy
Actually, Johno, I have three subs. One is a 15" passive Tannoy sub, with a Crown amp powering it. Another one was a Velodyne 12" sub that had a 15" passive radiator. I took it all apart (it was not a very musical sounding sub, but it was loud), so I removed the passive radiator, amp, put insulation in it, two three inch vent tubes, an amplifier from Dayton Audio, and a 12" Emenince bass woofer.
Sounds better than it did before. I also bought a 12" powered subwoofer from Ron Roesnick. I have a large room, and my Tannoys are only 12," so I decided to use some subwoofers. I don't like over-produced bass, so for the most part you wouldn't know there were three subs in this room. The bass sounds wonderful the way I have the subs set. I was a musician before I became an audiophile, so I want my music to sound real, not hyper real.
Hi Jay, great to hear from a fellow DIY enthusiast.
I have had the DDDAC for 5 years and it still remains on a block of timber operational & used daily but unfinished (lol)
I mainly listen to vinyl and have a Nottingham Analog TT & various carts and would rate the DDDAC very close in SQ to that vinyl setup.
Any I use the latest boards Doede sells 3 x DAC in // with the 12V PSU they sell. Have not got around to streaming so Redbook only.
I tried cap coupling then bought Cinemag CMLI-15/15B transformer which I bought direct from Cinemag which were $120US a pair inclusive of postage to Aus back in 2018. Big improvement in SQ, would not go back.
For a 3 board arrangement the Cinemag 15/15B is the preferred option till you go to 4 boards and they recommend 600/600 transformers as the output z is <50ohm.
You could go to 4 DAC boards with there supplied 12V PSU but you are getting real close to there mains transformer rating. So as a turnkey solution 3 DAC boards and there PSU sounds great to me.
I have no problems with unwanted noise as I say all my comments are in regard to Redbook hooked onto a Philips CD Pro2 transport. I've found the DAC in general to be pretty idiot proof had no problems with assembly and found it not to be sensitive to ESD.
I took no ESD precautions during assembly. The only issue I had post build it didn't work lol anyway I sent it back to Doede and they admitted to cocking up the installation of one of the SMA's which are pre soldered, Doede sorted that and sent it back at no charge as the problem was at there end.
I've tried upgrading some of the reg chipsets on the mainboard with higher spec equivalents but put the originals back in.
Oh, I also use a tube amp, an 812 output tube amp designed and built for me by Paul Birkeland of Bottlehead. Best tube amp I've ever owned, and supremely quiet in operation.
Nice choice in loudspeakers, I sure love my custom designed and built 150 liter bass-reflex HPD 315's. Custom designed crossovers designed for me by Dr. Arthur Loesch, (and built by myself).
It is a soul-satisfying system on a daily basis, and at my age, it is a godsend.
Nice DIY work. I've become a real fan of DIY over the past few years and have built a number of speakers, amps, and preamps. I've also been interested in the DDDAC. What do you think of it? How many DAC boards did you use in parallel? Are you using a transformer output, and if so which one?
