Lyra Delos Cartridge pic
Well Tempered Labs Amadeus GTA.a Turntable
Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4 Transport
TEAC Esoteric P-10 pic
Atlas Opus
Stellavox ST2
Apogee Digital Mini-DAC FireWire DA converter
Ensemble Masterflux
Klyne Audio Arts SK-5A pic
Audio Space Nova-M34 pic
Atlas Ichor
Meadowlark Audio Shearwater hotrod
TEAC V-8030s
JAS Audio Cu/Ag9 AC cord
Acoustic Zen El Nino AC cord
Target TT1
Target T-5
Black Diamond Racing Cones
Isoclean 106 Tweak
Herbie's Audio Labs Grounding Bases
Herbie's IsoCup Ball & cup footers
Herbie's Audio Labs Tube Dampers Tweak
Toby's System
This was an experiment that got slightly out of hand. I had given myself a limit of $1500 per section--source, amplification, speakers. You can do pretty well for that, right? At the time, it seemed like a heck of a lot.
I had a simple system I loved when I was a young guy, built around vinyl and tubes. Then a big life change made the hobby impossible for almost 20 years. I started to ease back in around 1990. Having worked in audio I knew how dear it could get, so I made the $1.5K rule.
Two things happened: I made a little money, and I found some audio buddies who knew more than I did. The $1.5K-per-section rule turned into a $1.5K-per-upgrade rule. I've gone over that once or twice in the ten years this system has been in the making.
I think I did really well thanks to good advice, the Internet and plain luck. Like everyone else, I believe all my gear is great value. I still marvel when I listen. I say to myself, "How come I get to have sound this good?" Sweet, detailed, liquid, lively, dimensional, real-sounding.
No, it doesn't really give me a window on the original performance. That's for the true high end. But it does communicate the energy of the musicians, the sound quality of their instruments and the inspiration of the composers, in spades, with all kinds of music.
And there is a bonus. There are a lot of people around who love music, and believe the hype about CDs because they don't know the truth. They think digital blows away everything that came before it. They love CDs on my system... and then I put on an LP.
That's the cherry. |
