Audiophiles, school me...

[Emre]

I have a Jolida 302B tube amp (EL34s) that gets fed by a Numark Turntabe (sucks) into a NAD Phono Pre-amp. The Jolida can be seen at the top of my rack. This setup gets fed into either 3 sets of spakers, JBL L26 (fantastic), JBL L99, or Polk Audio Monitor 10s (epic).

Pfft. Amateur :roll:

[j/k! :p]

I also love tube amps. But for me, there's no point unless they're a S.E.T. (single-ended triode) design. You just don't get the imaging and mid-range detail with push-pull designs. And I strongly prefer point-to-point wiring (not a fan of IC's in tube amps). The downside is you need highly efficient speakers to get any kind of serious volume. Running a pair as monoblocks helps a lot. But speaker selection is still critical.

I run a pair of S.E.T. Decware SE34C monoblocks into vintage ADS L710 acoustic suspension speakers with Braun drivers. The source is currently a Pro-Ject RPM-4 with 1-piece carbon fiber tonearm and Sumiko cartridge. Phono preamps are either an Antique Sound Labs Mini Phono or a Rega Phono MM (which one I use depends on the source material).

Interconnects and speaker cables are my own design (twisted pairs of CAT-5 cable with tinned ends and silver coax connectors). When I'm in the mood for CDs, I use an old NAD C520 wired directly to the Deware monoblocks (no need for a pre-amp).

[Emre]

The setup I was discussing in the OP is at my parent's home, I'm hoping to acquire some vintage McIntosh/B&W/Bang & Olufson equipment here and there for my apartment next year. It might take a while but it's much better than compromising on a sub-par audio setup.

Honestly, with the number of companies making top-quality gear these days, it really doesn't make sense to spend tons of money on vintage Hi-Fi equipment. Unless you're into the collector market, you can get better stuff for less money. And if you insist on vintage tube gear, there are many, many brands besides McIntosh that can be had for reasonable prices.

Don't get me started on Bang & Olufsen! I won't even go there. All I'm going to say about them is that they're a design company...not an audio company. Nothing they offer interests me in the least (and I've used tons of it over the years). Hi-Fi equipment is supposed to sound phenomenal, full stop. B&O stuff looks great but sounds average at best.

As for B&W, their stuff works great, provided that you have the power to drive them. For the most part, that means they don't work all that well with tube equipment. When it comes to tubes, high power generally goes hand-in-hand with high noise and distortion. The best tube gear--the stuff with the phenomenal imaging, detail, and no noise--is generally very low powered. The reason McIntosh sells a pair of monoblock amps for the price of a new Porsche is because they offer tube amps that are clean and detailed but push out massive wattage into very low loads (like 1ohm). The run-of-the-mill McIntosh amps are no better than a dozen other tube amps on the market.

[z31maniac]

I live in a dorm, so for me headphones > home system. What set of these 'grados' do you have, and comparably are they better then a sennheiser hd280 pros? So I now realize that its more the amp used than the headphones used.. :shifty

Whats a good headphone amp that isnt millions of dollars, and fits in a pocket?

www.headphone.com

The Headroom amp, about $150, Creek Audio also makes some good headphone amps.

I've listened to those Sennheiser's, they sound good, but there is no "air" to them. They don't create a very realistic soundstage being an enclosed model.

Buy some Grado 225i, plug into a good amp, be prepared to hear things in the music you never knew were there.

[BillBrasky]

Buy some Grado 225i, plug into a good amp, be prepared to hear things in the music you never knew were there.

I'm looking at upgrading to these. I have a pair of Grado SR 80 right now.


My current set-up,

Bang & Olufsen 3404 turntable - can't knock their old turntables
NAD T533 CD/SACD/DVD/DVD audio player
Crown IC-150a preamp
Crown OC-150 output control
Crown DC-300a amp
4 McIntosh XR-16 speakers

I also have a Crown EQ-2 equalizer and a Crown RTA-2 spectrum analyzer that I recently bought on ebay, but have yet to set them up.

[Jean]

"one thing to note is that a 5.1 setup is not ideal for music. any "audiophile" will tell you to have a dedicated 2.1 setup for music, and save the 5.1 for movies"

[StereoInstaller1]

Lets make 1 thing clear right fucking now: Tubes+Vinyl=Music.

Damn.

I hate being poor.

One day soon I will find a Pro-Jekt RM9 and SOMETHING that glows in the dark, made by Nelson Pass. Or, made by me, designed by Mr. Pass, or something like that.

I know I will also finally build the speakers of my dreams: I already have the woofers (Morel KAR1 12") and midranges (KEF 6.5"), now I need the tweeters: Raven R1. Simple 12db/oct crossovers, active between the woofer and midrange, thus 4 channels of Pass Labs power will be required.

FUCK! I hate being poor. One of these days, dammit!

I already have the POS H/K 7.1 (gonna do a Crown amp for bass) for the setup in the living room for the smash bang movies...but for me it will be 2 channel heaven.

In the other room, all by myself.

Heaven.

[Jean]

Luke, I was looking at some Raven's too along with Revelator mids for my next diy build. Something like WWMTMWW, time aligned. Shit get's expensive fast with quality components though :(

Until then my trusted old scanspeaks will do

[BillBrasky]

Lets make 1 thing clear right fucking now: Tubes+Vinyl=Music.

100% truth

I am hoping to purchase my friend's McIntosh tube system that he bought in '71 in the near future. I'm running solid state right now just because it's what I can afford and I don't have all of the downtime and maintenance that comes with a tube setup.

but for me it will be 2 channel heaven.

In the other room, all by myself.

Heaven.

I know exactly what you mean. I have a huge cloth bean bag that I set right down in front of my stereo with an ice cold Great Lakes Brewing Co. Dortmunder Gold and get lost in the music for hours and hours.

[Emre]

I'm running solid state right now just because it's what I can afford...

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool tube amp junkie, but I'd be the first to admit that you don't need a tube amp to get a phenomenal sound. Lots of tube amps on the market are junk. And there are some very nice solid-state amps on the market.

As for vinyl, I also prefer it. But unless you already have a huge collection of LP's sitting around, there's not much point in investing thousands on a good turntable, tonearm, cartridge, and phono stage. OK, now you have a great analog setup...but nothing to play!

If you've already got a nice CD collection, might as well stick with a good CD transport and D/A converter.

...and I don't have all of the downtime and maintenance that comes with a tube setup.

That's another fallacy. The best tube amp designs are some of the simplest ones IMNSHO. With a good S.E.T. amp, you'll be changing tubes once every few years. Maintenance isn't really a big issue.

[TDE30]

Lots of good information, thanks again.

Pardon my audio newbness, but what is the thing atop the speaker in Jean's picture? I have seen it before, but what is it's significance (in layman's terms?)

[Jean]

I've designed and build those speakers a few years back, but never got around to mounting the crossovers inside the speaker or their own box. One of these days..

[TDE30]

Ah, so, what purpose do the crossovers serve? I have heard the word dropped a few times in the Car Audio section, but I'm still not exactly sure.

[Emre]

Ah, so, what purpose do the crossovers serve?

Splits the signal going into the speaker. You want the highs going to the tweeter and the mids & lows going to the woofer. The signal going from your amp to the speaker is full-range. Somewhere along the way, you need something to split the signal and send it to each driver separately. That something is the crossover. Any speaker with multiple drivers of different sizes will have a crossover inside it (you just can't see it because it's hidden inside the cabinet).

[Jean]

+1. Unless it's an active system with crossover work done before the amplifiers

[Emre]

+1. Unless it's an active system with crossover work done before the amplifiers

But then the speakers don't have separate drivers.