Harman Kardon HK990 Question

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I just looked up kaizen. Gold star. You nailed it.

kota1, thanks and that is a good question. If I knew back then... Well I wouldn't have wasted a year on HT, wouldn't have given away almost all my records, wouldn't have wasted even more years on CD. Would have run a dedicated line to the front of the room instead of normal outlets daisy chained all around.

But then all these things assume a knowledge base that was mostly acquired by hard won experience. Otherwise known as screwing up first to do better later.

So the number one thing I guess would be, if I knew then what I know now, I would have started screwing up a lot earlier.

Didn't take it that way. It is just this seems to be a rather unusual path I am on. I guess I could have just said yes and been done with it. But that kind of leads people to all kinds of natural yet false assumptions. 

Although when I look around, there are quite a few boutique audio salons scattered here and there around the land. Could be maybe some of them are like me, and I just don't know about it. Haven't seen any indications, but they could be there.

Anyway, no worries, we all fine here.

@millercarbon That was not a rub on my part.

BTW there are a ton of great tube integrated amplifiers that kill the Raven line. I own several myself.  New class D hybrid integrated are also making waves, Rouge, Canor just to name a couple.

The landscape is changing.

Canor AI 2.10 - Integrated Hybrid Amplifier of class-D - CANOR (canor-audio.com)

Amplifiers, CD players, Phono preamplifiers - High end tube audio - CANOR (canor-audio.com)

@millercarbon , obviously you are on the path of audio  system "kaizen". If you knew back then what you know now, how would you go about putting together a system? Would you do anything different? Thanks

kota1, thanks. If you like the way it was then, wait till you see the way it is now!

I think Don Sachs used to refurb/rebuild HK amps so you might reach out to him for ideas.  He obviously knows what he’s doing. 

@millercarbon , really like the system on your profile, meticulous cable management is inspiring.

I must say, feedback so far has been fantastic. Thanks!

@millercarbon   Wishing you the best, and success, in your endeavors.

The dream from here is add Origin Live, Tetrault Audio, maybe make enough to cover travel expenses and shipping costs to shows. Maybe even make enough to pay for ads here.

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Honestly, that’s a good question. Townshend doesn’t really have dealers. At one point they called me their US distributor, but that’s not right either they never have had a distributor they ship direct. 
But Max was a huge fan of my writing, we talked and I have gotten to know the family. It really is a family business, you have no idea, like some time from out of the past that frankly is missing today. No way to know how much we are missing until you experience it for yourself. So after Max passed I found myself rewriting the website to say what they already were saying only better in my inimitable style. Well sort of. Business version anyway. 
 

Helped them out with a few other things and to repay me even though I never asked for that but like I said family, I am a dealer but an odd one, because I still routinely refer people to John Hannant. 
 

What’s really going on here is very much clear and out in the open, it’s there’s so many in high end out for the money it’s hard to believe. Read through my posting history, it’s been covered many times. 

Back in the 90’s I was mentored by a great audiophile Stewart Marcantoni. He was really just a very advanced audiophile enthusiast who had so much experience that when he retired his wife said you love it, do it as a dealer. He ran a boutique audio salon out of his home in Bremerton. He only sold what he personally liked and made little but didn’t care he was set it was something fun to do in retirement. 
 

So now here I am following in his footsteps. There’s differences, but things are progressing along to where maybe next year I do a few shows and open my room, which to be honest I sort of already have. Several have auditioned Moab here, and I hosted Chuxpona21. The dream from here is add Origin Live, Tetrault Audio, maybe make enough to cover travel expenses and shipping costs to shows. Maybe even make enough to pay for ads here. The minute you go into business everyone  wants a piece of you. 

Sorry for the long answer. Aw heck who’m I kidding I always go for the long answer.  
 

Enjoy it @millercarbon btw you are a dealer for Townshend no? 

It was everything I said it was. Every night after about 90 minutes something would happen and it would just be magical. Pretty good until then too. And for years I have been a huge proponent of integrated amps. But there came a chance to try a really good preamp, and once I heard the Allegri Reference (or rather didn’t hear, it is so transparent) I decided it was time to make the move to separates. Wanted to hear Decware ZMA for some time, and they are 16 months out. So meantime found a Pass XA25 and it is so good the Decware really has its work cut out. 

@millercarbon so what ever happened to the Raven Blackhawk you endorsed and well obsessed over? 

Yes, thank you. Been busy, a spring cleaning with comprehensive system update is long overdue. An unexpected and very pleasant benefit of taking pictures and documenting the system is being able to view and study. One might think that with the system being right there in the room this couldn't really happen. But what I found is the angles needed to show what is going on are quite a bit different than one normally views things from. One reason I hate taking pictures is the odd angles are hard to get right, get lit, and so on.

But then once this is done the pictures are a lot easier to study than the real thing. I notice details that I never did before. It is a lot easier to plan changes studying pictures this way.

So over time a lot of changes have been made. Everything still pretty much where it was, but those few details that have changed are a world of difference. 

Mainly though, in terms of components, it is now Soundsmith Straing Gauge, Rens Heijnis 24V DC modified gain stage, Soundsmith Allegri Reference, Pass XA25, Tekton Moab with Millercarbon crossover upgrades. Wires are Townshend F1 interconnects and speaker cables, M101 Supernova power cord, and a couple Synergistic power cords, all spring isolated on Cable Cradles, Pods, and Podiums.

At this point, if I may channel Ron Swanson, then I would say, "I worry that you think I said "a lot". lol.    

MC I see your system hasn’t been updated. What speakers are you using now? Still the Tektons? 

Thanks guys. 
This one comes up a lot. When I bought a Melody tube amp with no pre or sub out I knew there had to be a simple solution. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel I decided to consult the brain trust here. Even put it in tech talk where it belongs. Stated very clearly that I was not going to change amps, just want to connect a sub. 
The only responses I got were buy another amp (!), don’t try (?), you’ll kill yourself(!!) and even if you unplug and turn off you will still kill your self because it’s lethal voltage. Even turned off. And unplugged. 
Somewhere on one of my system pages is a picture of the extremely simple and effective mod. Two resistors. 
Seriously, this is a truly cheap easy and simple mod. Search my system pages there should be pictures. I even made one with the resistors crammed inside the end of a RCA bulllet connection. That one is slick, bare wires at one end for speaker terminals, RCA at the other for the sub. 

yay

MC is back baby! 

Follow this guide to build a line out converter. The 2 resistors will cost like $2 if that. Or you can buy an LOC built. Quality doesn’t matter. I’ve done this for years, it works great. The parts are so small if you are careful it can be built into the bullet case at the end of the RCA you use to connect the sub.

https://www.epanorama.net/circuits/speaker_to_line.html