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musical fidelity nu-vista 3d cd player

this isn`t a question, more like an up to date review of my system.

i`ve not owned any hifi for over 10 years and decided i`d like to try out a tube amp so i started looking around at reviews of different seperates. i wittled it down to this system......

musical fidelity nu-vista 3d cd player, yaqin mc100b tube amplifier, quad 12L2 speakers on target R5 speaker stands using chord company chorus 2 interconnects and 4 seperate lengths of chord company oddessey speaker wires to bi-wire the speakers.

the sound is incredible. this system works in synergy. my speakers are about 9ft apart, 19inches from the back wall and about 25inches from the side walls. beautifully clear, solid,deep soundstage. imaging is pinpoint and very believable. voices are eerily displayed right in front of you between the speakers that beggers belief! every voice and every instrument has a reality and clarity and seperation and weight. high frequencies are the best i`ve ever heard with awesome extention! the midband is solid all the way through. the low frequencies are deep and impactful in my room. definately no need for a subwoofer here. the low frequencies are perfect as a foundation for all kinds of music to build upon and offers fantastic ambience. this system offers superb detail retreival too, hearing things in your recordings that you may not have known were there.

i`ve thrown all kinds of music at this system, zubin mehta`s decca recording of holst planets, xrcd copy of eva cassidy`s songbird cd, shm copy of sheryl crows tuesday night music club, acdc, pink floyd, queen, various chillout cd`s, electronic music and much much more and the system laps it all up.

in my system, the music is dynamic, entertaining, gripping, impactful and amazingly holographic. music doesn`t sound like it`s coming from the speakers and everyone stands in there own space in time right in front of you.

in my system these speakers are just perfect and offer the most mindblowing musical experience every single time. these speakers and this system are keepers for life and make it a sheer treat everytime a cd is played.

each upgrade i make, i hear the difference every time i use and try different tubes in my amp and the speakers also responded extremely well to adding an extra set of oddessey speaker wires to bi-wire them properly adding soundstage width and depth and extra depth and impact in the bass region and ambience and detail.

tube rolling on the yaqin amplifier has been a total joy. the standard chinese tubes sounded good but needed replacing. they`d become microphonic through age so it was the perfect chance to change things. so far i`m using..... 2 x psvane 12ax7-t, 2 x early 50`s green label sylvania chrome dome 6sn7gtb`s, 2 x rca 6sn7gt`s, 4 x electro-harmonix kt88eh`s. these all seem to work so well together. next year maybe i might replace the sylvania`s for 2 x rca black glass vt-231 tubes. heard some very good things about these tubes. very expensive though!

i may also upgrade the interconnects to the chord company anthems.

this has been my very first tube amplifier and in combination with the tube cd player too proves to be a very good synergy complimented by the little quad stand mount speakers. i wont be changing any of the seperates ever but will have a lot of fun with things like cable changes and tube rolling.

i based and built everything around the nu-vista cd player. i was first taken in by it`s looks but more importantly the write ups from other owners. i`ve read lots and lots of reviews on this cd player and have yet to come across a negative review.

anyone else own this wonderful cd player? feel free to let us all know what system you have yours in and how it sounds and what tweaks and upgrades you have made in your system.

up until buying this system has given me a new re-found passion for enjoying music of all genre`s.

i`m glad to share my experiences with this cd player. lets hear yours :)
grayf
8 responses Add your response
grayf OP
61 posts
 
hi again jimf, i changed the 12ax7`s for the grant fidelity matched tubes and there`s actually a world of difference! the grant fidelity are way better. much clearer and the bass is more solid and i notice acoustic guitars have more of a ring to them. the soundstage seems more focused too. the chinese matched psvanes are still very good but the grant fidelity psvanes are just much better.

i have a matched pair of brimar 6sn7gty/cv1988 black bottle tubes on their way to me and a matched pair of rca vt231 grey glass tubes too. can`t wait to try them out. cost me an arm and a leg but hey you only live once! i bought a pair of matched shuguang 6n8p`s that i had delivered a couple of days ago. i`ll do some tube rolling and take some notes and update this thread. in january sometime.
jimf
28 posts
 
Hi Grayf,

I got the PSVANES from Grant Fidelity awhile ago. They were the only source I knew at the time. Also they did offer selecting and matching which I wanted as the 12AX7 tubes in the Calypso are the ones that make the most difference in the sound versus the 6922 tubes which I believe just drive the current?

The only changes I heard was that the tubes when new were somewhat polite overall. Maybe a little restricted sounding up top. Good sound but not overly involving in any special way. I guess nothing special at first. After some good hours of daily (1-2 weeks?) use they broke wide open in sound. Nothing is lacking and they have excellant realistic tone on instruments. They are rock solid and very quiet too. They really make music in my system. Not sure how their other tubes are. only use 12AX7's and 6922 at this time.

Thank you
grayf OP
61 posts
 
by the way i got the psvanes off ebay factory matched. after doing some research i found grant fidelity`s site that does a more in depth matching. i`m using the ebay tubes at the moment. once i`ve found the right combination of tubes for my amp and system i will use the grant fidelity matched psvanes. it`ll be interesting to see if there`s any difference.
grayf OP
61 posts
 
jimf when you were breaking in the psvane tubes, did you get all the changes in sound earlier on? between 5 and 10 hours of using mine the sound kept changing, sometimes quite dramatically! none of it bad at all and a couple of times it was just sheer magic! at one point the sound seemed to come from a dark background which blew me away. that only lasted pretty much the length of one cd. it was a strange effect but completely amazing! wish i could get that sound back! but i`m not complaining at the sound i get now.

i think i`m on about 65 to 70 hours on the psvanes now. not sure if the sound will change further. i can`t say i`ve noticed much change in the last 20 hours or so. if it stays as it is now soundwise i`ll be a very happy man! if the sound enhances any further there`s a real chance i`ll become housebound!!! i know a good pizza delivery service if it comes to it!
jimf
28 posts
 
I was also interested in sending off my 3DCD player to Musical Fidelity for the tuneup/refresh that they offer, but it appears at the time I checked that it is only performed at their facility in England. With the VAT tax plus the service and shipping it appeared that it would approach around $1800.00? If offered in the United States where I live at a reasonable price I would probably go for it. Why not? I want to keep this piece running as long as I own CD's.

Currently running PSVANE 12AX7's in my Calypso linestage. Needed about 100 plus hrs. to sound their very best. Find they are fantastic in my system. Not pulling them out. I have NOS Telefunken, Amperex and lts of others that I have rolled. Prefer the PVSANES by a large margin in my system. This is all system dependant. Have some Raytheon Long Blacplate 12AX7's coming so I will try them but the PVSANES are in first place.

Great job in picking the right equiptment for your enjoyment! The 3DCD is not a weak link in my system. Love listening to CD's on it and I have over 800 cd's and will buy more.

Thank you
grayf OP
61 posts
 
hiya jimf,

last sunday i fancied just listening to a cd. that was about midday. i was still listening at 8 in the evening! talk about addictive sounds!!!

i didn`t realise that wen i bought the speakers they were actually unused. they were ex-display. i thought they were ex-demo`s. they`re still breaking in as are the psvane pre-amp tubes. the sound just seems to keep getting better! i keep thinking the sound can`t get any better but it does! i think the break in time on the tubes and speakers are pretty much done now as i no longer hear any improvements.

i have 2 rca vt231 grey glass tubes on their way to me as well as 2 rca 6sn7gt`s. i`ll post how they sound wen they arrive. i did have a pair of rca 6sn7gt`s mixed wiv sylvania chrome domes. fantastic sound but the one of the rca`s has a loose base and is very microphonic so i changed them and at the moment have 4 sylvania chrome domes. i lost a little bass using all sylvania`s but the sound is still very nice.

i really am rediscovering my music collection with this system.

i don`t think i`ll ever part wiv any of my system now especially the 3d cd player. it just plays music so beautifully. i`m thinking of sending it off to musical fidelity for one of their tune ups and also give it a service.

i did think of sacd but at the end of the day there is very little material out there to justify getting one. this 3d cd player plays all cd`s beautifully. i`ve found that even poor recordings get a little helping hand and don`t sound too bad at all.

i think i`ve been very lucky in choosing all the right components of this system as one seems to compliment the other. even down to the tubes in the amp. i really had no idea music could sound this good!
jimf
28 posts
 
Hi GrayF,

Thought I would chime in. I own the musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D cd player and it just always sounds so good in my system. I was just listening to it and am always still impressed with its sonics as when I first bought it new around 2003 or so.

It kind of gave my vinyl rig a run for the money for many years until my vinyl was improved to where I have it now. Vinyl pulls ahead, however both are still roughly on par just in different ways. Some of the vinyl gear I have is pretty good so that says a lot about the sound of the Musical Fidelity.

I will be adding a music server to the system coming up and ripping CD's to it as well as doing Hi-Rez but I am still keeping the CD player because I enjoy listening to music through it a lot and think it is one of those special pieces. It is definitely not going anywheres.

Initially, around 2002 or so I bought a Sony DVP-9000ES and sent it off to Modwright for their top mods thinking I would have a player that would be able to do killer CD, SACD and hey play some movies. All in one.

It played movies great, the SACD was and is killer but the CD was just not so special to my surprise. Never really did it for me no matter how much I listened to it. Started borrowing CD players from my dealer to try. Nothing really stuck out as being much better. Brought home the 3DCD and I immediately took to it. It sounded really musical, smooth, detailed,dynamic and perfect on any type of music. No digititis. Can and do listen for hours with no fatigue to this day. So I will agree that it is great machine to listen to CD's with, and I prefer to keep it in my system due to its sonics.

Thank you
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,771 posts
 
I own a Musical Fidelity CD PRE 24 preamp/ cd player combo. The DAC and cd player are from the nu-vista product line, there are just no tubes. It is an outstanding sounding CD player. I use it with a Prima Luna Prologue 5 tube amp and Opera Platea floorstanders. For what I paid for the entire system new (roughly $3500/ list $6000), it is a very enjoyable system to live with.

Rich
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