My Classé CDP10 from 2004 just died last week 🥲 Was a remarkable CD/DAC back then for the price. Sold a Heybrook TT2 last year which I had since 1985. It was quite a piece of gear, particularly with a Alphason HRS-100 reference tonearm. It topped many newer turntable and I had to invest quite a bit of money to make a significant difference in sound. When one buys quality, it can provide satisfaction for a long time.
Your oldest gear?
What’s the oldest piece of equipment in your system?
What piece of equipment have you owned the longest?
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@thecarpathian - sure, let’s try to do this concisely. The vintage system replicates what I was using in 1975- centered on a pair of Quad ’57s with tubes- amp and preamp, turntable. Peerless midrange, limited given the nature of the Quad in dynamics, bass and dispersion. Within its limits, sounds like there is nothing between you and the music. I lived with variations of this system (adding Ribbon tweets and various subwoofers), now back to the basic Quads, for decades. The main system is Avantgarde Duos with Lamm ML2 SETs. The horns have no Xover on the midhorn. What I hear is less filtered (the Quads are more forgiving although they seem very transparent, I think they actually dampen some of the noise and errant signals), the main system relies not just on the integrated woofers of the Avantgarde, but also on a pair of 15 inch subs, that are DSP’d and roll off at 55hz on a steep(24 db/octave) slope-- much bigger presentation, effortless and can have that "jump factor"; though the vintage system is very sweet, the Lamms are just so damn musical- they get you closer to the instruments in a way that defies description. The turntable on the main system is fairly elaborate, and uses a Minus K platform along with an HRS plinth. The biggest change, aside from adding the big subs, was the switch to Koetsu stones-- those have real gravitas in the bass, which was always missing with the Duos. I now have a full range system that presents without any rough edges; it is tuned and voiced very much on a knife-edge- from the rectifier in the phono stage-- an early GEC u52-- to the tubes in the line stage- old stock DR 6h30s from the late ’70s. It’s juicy and very linear at the same time, if that makes any sense. It just sounds like music- depending on the program material. I’m mainly vinyl on both systems. The main system is "better" but there is magic to those old Quads, which is why they are still regarded as a reference more than 60 years after their introduction. I can wax exuberant, but that would detract from the actual experience. To me, listening to small combo post-bop jazz, it is like instruments in the room on the main system. Cranked up, I can play King Crimson Live in Toronto and get a good approximation of what that band sounded like live (I played the record after hearing them in Austin at Bass Hall-- I think 2,900 seats)-big, deep, powerfully loud without nasties, I cannot duplicate scale, but it is very close in sonics to what I heard live with three drummers, and Tony Levin on the stick bass.
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@whart , I bet they sound wonderful each in its own way. Always heard the Quads were something special. Quite the vinyl rig you have! Thank you for sharing your enjoyment. |
- 148 posts total