I spoke too soon earlier...….I just got in:
Akiko Audio (2) Triple AC Enhancers and a Phono Enhancer
Akiko Audio (2) Triple AC Enhancers and a Phono Enhancer
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(some of these entries give me heart failure!) I bought a lot of headphone audio stuff in 2018 & thought I was done. But noooooo. The opportunity arose to purchase (gently used) -- Woo WA22 headphone amp/preamp + entire NOS tube-set -- Meze Empyrean headphone These weren't even fully burned in, so I set them up to complete burnin. Then starting ~3 months ago, a disastrous brush w/medicaion side effects pretty skied my tiinnitus, making headphone listing impossible (it's slowly recovering). So I barely heard these new toys. Hopefully that will change in next couple weeks. |
I live 10 months of the year in Ecuador, and had to leave all of my LPs, CDs, and HiFi in SC. When I returned to Ecuador in Feb. I carried back a Klipsch The Three. I play FLAC off of a hard drive or stream Tidal both through a Dragonfly Red. No where close to my big rig but better than headphones all the time. |
We moved and remodeled, so lots of changes and moving from three systems to 2-ish (home theater, 2 channel & office). Bought: Arcam AVR550 YBA WA202 Integrated Amp Sold: Denon AVR E400 Emotiva PT-100 Emotiva SA-250 Still looking to sell a set of bookshelf speakers and using another set in the office. Kind of torn which ones to keep. I know which ones are nicer, but seem like overkill for office use. I put our floor standing speakers from the 2-channel in to the home theater as the L&R. It’s been interesting and fun mashing together the systems and trying some new gear. |
Rogue Audio RP-1 - excellent piece Zu audio Mission interconnects and phono cables - also excellent Straight Wire Pro Thunder power cord - nice upgrade over stock A year of college for one son, a year of grad school for the other Priorities, I guess, but I'd love to be able to get some of the gear others have listed here... |
Got a pair of JBL 4429’s on a lark from MD (60 day trial). Completely made me wonder why I wasted so much time and money on all the uber expensive transducers and gear I’ve owned in the past. They just sound so much more like actual music than most speakers I’ve owned. Nothing perfect, but they unleash the dynamics and contrast of live music that I love! Also got some Transparent Plus cabling that really allowed my system to open up and breathe with even more dynamic headroom and unforced detail...very organic sounding. |
@phomchick, we’re of the same generation. While scraping the money together to upgrade from my first loudspeakers, the AR 4x, I set my sights on the Rectilinear III, which I preferred to the AR 3a (too veiled and soft), the JBL L-100 (too colored, forward, and brash), and the Bose 901 (terrible!). For some reason I never saw or heard the Dynaco A-25. Before I was in a position to buy, I stumbled into Sound Systems in Palo Alto, and heard the Servo-Static I (at $2000, WAY above my 1971 pay grade. I was in a hippy band, barely able to pay rent and eat ;-). I heard the 2000A and 1001 (both of which I found more transparent than the Rectilinear) and though I wanted the former, I decided to get a pair of the 1001 and a new set of Ludwig drums. Gotta prioritize! The ESS TranStatic also has a KEF midrange driver, the B110 you mention. ESS briefly offered a model named the Super Quad, which used the RTR ESL tweeter and KEF B139 woofer in the same transmissionline enclosure as the TranStatic, with the Quad ESL in place of the KEF B110. It was their competition to the Servo-Static, but I never saw or heard a pair. I finally found "my" speaker when I heard the Magneplanar Tympani T-I. I bought my first pair in ’73, and now own the last version of the Tympani, the T-IVa. The new Magnepan MG30.7 is an updated version of the T-IVa. I heard the 30.7 on the tour last year, but in a terrible room, at Echo Audio in Portland. One of the worst sounding rooms I’ve ever been in! Wendell Diller knew it, but what could he do? |
@bdp24 your post brings back a lot of memories. It looks like you were a Northern California audiophile; I was a Southern California audiophile. I was in college, and instead of chasing women and drinking beer, I hung out at Woodland Stereo. My first system was a Hadley 621 preamp, a Sony TA-3120 amp, probably a Dual record player, and a pair of Rectilinear III speakers. Just about the same time, this dude Arnie Nudell was also hanging out at Woodland Stereo. He had just started Infinity, and Woodland Stereo was the first Infinity dealer, selling the first Infinity product, the Servo Statik I to doctors, lawyers, and movie producers. The SS1 at the time was far and away the best speaker in the world. The KLH 9 was the only thing close. I became friends with Arnie (and John Ulrich), and started hanging out at the factory where I learned a lot in the design/listening room. I saw enough of the Servo Statik production and tweaking that I have considered buying an old set and restoring them (but I’ve always come to my senses). The second Infinity product was the 2000 (no ’A’) which was the same as the 2000A, but with two RTR tweeters instead of four. Infinity made me a deal on a set of these, and I sold my Rectilinears, replacing them with the 2000s (which I still had until last summer). I remember the development of the early Infinity speakers, the 1001, the POS, and the WTLC, and the Servo Statik 1A. About then I graduated from college and gradually lost touch. I remember Arnie prototyping a speaker with the AMT, but nothing ever came of it. Last summer, I bought a pair of 2000As with non-working tweeters. Using parts from my 2000s (which is why I don’t have them any longer) some spares I had, and some eBay purchases, I pretty much restored the 2000As to better than new (better capacitors). And about 18 months ago, I found a local pair of RS1b speakers which I didn’t have the room or money for when they were new. I’m now restoring and playing with those. P.S. Other old stuff - I have a pair of Chartwell LS3/5As and I built a pair of transmission line cabinets based on the Bailey Wireless World article with KEF B200 woofers to use in a bi-amped configuration to get more bass and power-handling capability. I also bought some KEF T21, B110, and B139 drivers. I recently sold the pair of B110s, and have one T21 and one B139 left, the others having disappeared over the last 50 years. |
Pair of Audio Mirror Reflection 45 watt SET monoblocks - new, and NOS input tubes, Shuguang CV181, and Slyvania VT 229. Rolled tubes for several years and got over it, now trying to simplify while improving sound. Never had monoblocks or an SET amp. Love these amps and sound! Oh, upgraded 3 sets of interconnects to Cardas (various line of Clear). And way too many LPs! |
SR PowerCell 12 UEF SE SR Active Ground Block + HR grounding cables SR SRX power cable x 1 (for PowerCell)* SR Galileo SX AC cables x 12 SR Galileo SX IC cables x 2 pairs SR Galileo SX SC speaker cables SR ECT x 25 Lyra Etna SL stereo and Lyra Etna mono cartridges Kuzma Stabi M turntable Kuzma 4-point 9 tonearm (for Etna mono) Thales Statement tonearm (for Etna SL stereo) Moon 810LP phono preamp Prima Luna Evo 400 preamp Prima Luna Evo 400 power amps x 2 Full suite of Perfect Path products Last listed made everything else perform x 2 * not delivered yet. |
Wow @phomchick, I haven’t seen a pair of Infinity 2000A since 1971! I lusted for them, but had only the $ for the half-as-much 1001. The 2000A was at that time one of only two loudspeakers using the great RTR ESL tweeters, the other being the ESS TranStatic I (a pair of which I now own). The TranStatic employed another great driver, the KEF B139 woofer (later used by David Wilson in his WAMM), and it was that fact that led to ESS producing the Heil AMT loudspeaker. TV-Audio Center (how’s THAT for an old-school hi-fi shop name?!) in San Jose was the first true hi-fi shop I discovered in my audiophile journey (component "stereo’s" were sold mostly at electronics stores back then), and they sold all the big 50’s/60’s/early-70’s brands: McIntosh, Dynaco, Acoustic Research, Thorens, Decca, Shure, Bozak, Wharfedale, Quad, Sony, JBL, Altec-Lansing, Crown, Phase Linear, etc., all sold by WWII generation hi-fi guys. The shop also had a hip young salesman named Bryan "something" (I bought all my gear from him, but have forgotten his last name), who brought in two new brands from the about-to-explode emerging high-end scene, ARC (I saw my first ARC pieces---an SP-2C and D50---in the shop in 1971), and ESS. Oscar Heil had a working prototype of his AMT driver, and had been looking for a great woofer to mate with it in the loudspeaker he was working toward producing. He chose the KEF B139, one of the best woofer drivers at that time. Oscar was pointed towards ESS by KEF (distribution of UK products in the U.S.A. was very limited at the time), so he visited the TV-Audio Center shop to check out the transmissionline-loaded B139 in the TranStatic. He liked the bass he heard coming out of the speaker, so Bryan put him in touch with ESS, who of course ended up manufacturing the ESS Heil loudspeakers. Bryan was rewarded for his efforts by being given a nice position at ESS, director of sales, I believe. Ancient history! |
@mickeyb, I lost my riding buddies once they started having kids. I can understand that. And there's no way to go all-in on both hobbies at the same time. There's the time factor, do you ride or do you listen on your day off? And then there's the expense. In my heyday I had $50K invested in my bikes. There was no time or money for audio. Now that I'm older, I'd rather listen to music and tweak my system rather than a carburetor. |
You really had to ask this question?? So approximately since 1/1/19 give or take: Bryston BP173 Preamp Bryston BDA-3 DAC Bryston 4B3 (2) run as monoblocks Musical Fidelity Nu Vista Vinyl Phono Preamp VPI Prime Signature turntable VPI ADS Ortofon 2M Black cart Magico A3 pair then sold off one of the Bryston 4B3 amps and acquired Bryston 28B3 monoblocks (2) AQ Niagara 5000 AQ Tornado Power cables and some other things... and sold a bunch of things in my system turnover... and working to pay for my “hobby”! |
Wow, I'm gettin spending envy. I added to my rotation of receiver/amps (Peachtree Audio Nova, Outlaw Audio RR2160, Sansui G-3500, Yamaha CR-600) a completely rebuilt Pioneer SA-9100. So far I have kept it front and center while the others were put into service elsewhere in the house or boxed for (possible) resale. Also bought a NAD C658 which I mostly loved but it lacked some of the updates that were critical to me keeping it. As soon as BluOS and NAD finish the updates (mainly Dirac) I will reorder it to get the full 30 day tryout. |
