Post Your Home Stereo Rig Here

Thats my plan too. Hopefully my last turntable purchase. I'm still waiting for it to arrive. My dealer just ordered it last monday. Did you get the periphery ring clamp for it?

 

Gorgeous setup man! I have that same Steve Hillage album!

 

Thanks, I need to give Space Shanty a spin again soon, great album!

 

I've heard that one. Thought I had it but just checked and unless it's out of place, looks like the only other Hillage disc I have is "L".
Great stuff, produced and engineered by Todd himself!

 

I have "L" also and didn't know Todd produced it. I have a few Gong albums which are great also.

 

The only Gong albums I have are Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1 and YOU.
Also a Gentle Giant fan. Do you remember Odyssey Records? I used to go to the one in Temps across from ASU.
Went in there every week and bought two or three obscure albums but mostly guitar related stuff.
The guy working there finally asked me if I was guitar player. After that I'd walk in the door and he'd take me around and tell me, "man, you gotta hear this!" LOL!
I'd buy it and take it home and listen. Good times!

 

That's a good way to collect albums!! I'm not familiar with Odyssey Records I moved here from Chicago in 2000 maybe they here prior to that? Yes Gentle Giant is another great band. Camel, Soft Machine, Hawkwind and of course Crimson. Then we have our Krautrock with Guru Guru, Amon Duul, Jane and others. I need more time to revisit these great albums!

 

This would have been in the mid to late 70's and 80's.
King Crimson is one of my all time favorite bands! Most of the others you mentioned I'm familiar with except for the last line, starting with Krautrock on. All import stuff I'm assuming and something for me to look into.
Thanks for the education!

 

Make sure you check out Amon Duul II (Tanz der Lemminge, Phallus Dei and Yeti...maybe Carnival In Babylon)) not Amon Duul and with Jane, the first LP is one to find.

 

I remember a while ago it was decided to NOT have a stereo/audio forum. I'm really glad there is.

Secondly- I'm seeing a lot of people posting, and most everyone posting is a forum "veteran." You know the rule of the internet... "Pix or it didn't happen."

As far as my stereo... Like most guys, the wife controls the living room. WAF is the prime consideration. So, consequently we have the TV and a sound bar with a sub.

But in the basement... I use my stereo for listening and for learning songs. I like to play along with stuff. I believe listening is a whole aesthetic thing- the sound, the music, the look, the way it all makes you feel. To that end- I love 1970s stereo. They look so cool- they sound warmer than the "modern" stuff that replaced my 80s system.

What I've got going on here:

Sansui 9090DB
Pioneer SX-838
Marantz 2325
Technics SL-M2 Turntable
Soundcraftsmen RP2215-R EQ
Yamaha KX-W602 Cassette Deck
Sony CDP-XE400 CD player.

Speakers are Rectilinear III Tall Boys
Marantz Imperial 6

in the back of the room (not shown)
Bose 501
Advent Loudspeaker (OLA)
Rectilinear III Mini





I've got a few other sets of speakers, although I don't swap them out often- I could...


The CD player is really the weak link here- but then again, I don't listen to a lot of CDs like I used to. I still have my old Yamaha 5 disc changer- it's a really good machine- but the "stop" button broke.

Right after I say the CD player is the weak link- I now say- the majority of what I listen to is my iPod Classic or the laptop plugged into the Aux of the Sansui.

 

For my digital Jones, I just run an Apple Express into the Aux on my afore-pix'd Marantz 2230 and stream from my server in the basement. I usually use an old iPad as a remote. Works well as I have a far more vast digital library than a vinyl one and there's a lot of things that I just throw on repeat or run a playlist of.

 

Here's a crummy pic of the living room.

The main speakers are Tyler Acoustic Halo 1. The power amp is a VTA ST 70 with XF2 Mullards in the power slots and an RCA 12AU7 clear top for the driver. The line pre is the VTA SP 14 running mainly early '50's GE 6SN7's and the phono pre is a VTA PH 14 with 1964 USA Amperex 7308's in the money slots. There is an ancient Audio Control EQ unit in the SP 14 loop for those rare occasions where I might need to reduce the bass or something.

The turntable is a Music Hall 5.1 with an upgraded acrylic platter and an Ortofon 2M Black cartridge. I have a Music Hall speed control hooked up so I don't have to swap the belt on the pulley to play 45's.

I use a Yaqin tube buffer so I can run my CD player (Onkyo) and CD recorder (Tascam). The Yaqin uses little 5654's. The Onkyo plays (coax out) through a Moon DAC into the SP 14. I have this stuff hooked up this way so I can burn CD's of these overpriced LPs for listening in the car. I get a pretty nice sounding CD running through the Ortofon and the tube preamps. Good enough for auto listening, anyway. (My car stereo sucks.)

Streaming sound from the TV (Roku or BluRay) goes into a Music Fidelity DAC into an early '60's Harmon Kardon A 300. The power slots in this run four WWII KenRad 6V6's. This runs into some low end Bose speakers (which are below ear lever but I haven't figure out where to put them instead).
I use another old Audio Control EQ on this to punch up the mid-range voices on TV shows or movies. I could have just ran the sound through the Moon and the main system but I felt creepy burning 47 year old Mullard EL34's just to listen to The Trailer Park Boys asking for another drink.

I'm really happy with the sound of my LP's now. I recently added the Tylers and the Ortofon cartridge and the sound of the system improved dramatically. I think the only thing left to upgrade might be the Music Hall 5.1 but I feel like an upgrade to this might be out of my price range.

It took me about four years to put this together.

 

Sorry for the late response but thanks for this!

 

VPI Scout w/Soundsmith Otello cart
Bottlehead BeePre 300B preamp
Sansui TU-9900 tuner
McCormack DNA-125 power amp

Here's a close-up of the BeePre I built


Not shown:
iFi iPhone phono preamp
Marantz SA8004 CD player
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-2 speakers

Most recent addition...homebrew subwoofer. I made the cab, driver is a ScanSpeak Revelator 23W/4557T-02 with a SpeakerPower SP1-300 amp.

 

If you're referring to the clamp at the center, yes. It's optional in the sense that you don't NEED to use it but it can be useful to minimize some noise. Also handy if you have off-center albums you've enlarged the hole to fix so the clamp prevents the LP from moving while spinning.

 

Here's a very simple small system I just put together . Nola Contenders, iFi Retro 50 EL84 tube integrated amp with Wifi, DAC, phono preamp.
I don't usually have it in this room but I thought I'd see how it sounded in different areas.

 

Source: Symphonic Line Bel Canto CD Player
Preamps: Concert Fidelity 080A, or Don Sachs SP-14 (fully upgraded)
Amps: Odyssey Audio Stratus Mono Extremes w/full Kismet Boards , Symphonic Line caps, wire upgrade
Speakers: Odyssey Audio Liquid Deluxe Version w/Alphacore, WBT & Full Foam
Cables: Groneberg

 

VPI HW 19 jr with AQ arm and Benz cartridge
Lector .5 CD player
ASR mini basis phono stage
Odyssey Cyclops Integrated amp
Usher Be-718 speakers
Nordost Frey 2 and Heimdahl 2 cables
big-ass room over the garage

 

Sources: 1) FLAC (PC) and MP3 (Google Play and Spotify) via Chromecast Audio, and 2) Samsung Bluray player. Both Chromecast and Bluray optically connected to the DAC.
DAC: Cambridge Audio DacMagic (first version)
Amp: Luxman A-384 hybrid amp (installed a NOS RFT 12AU7 today; probably a recap is in order)
Speakers: Elac BS123

I am so happy with this setup (except for the Bluray, which has noisy transport - but it has optical outputs, and I use it only for playing CDs, which is rare). Everything just sounds right to my ears - airy and detailed highs, not harsh at all; "dry" and detailed midrange; clear, punchy bass, which goes very deep - 42Hz according to specs - no need for a subwoofer). To get a significantly better-sounding system, I'd have to drop a lot more coin. Before I even consider upgrading, I'd invest in acoustic treatment. This system will last me a looong time.

 

Simple, clean look. Hope your Leica is not just for display. You need to load it up and shoot with it. The MR meter is a crap shoot though................
No turntable?