Hi Bob, actually, my system is a mish-mash of mostly vintage components as, like Jloveys, I tend to spend my money on the source: record players (Lencos, Garrards, Technics SP10, SP25, Sony 2250, etc.), tonearms (JMW 10.5i, RS Labs RS-A1, Rega RB-300, various vintage tonearms) and cartridges (Oracle Thalia/Benz Ebony H; Dynavector Karat Ruby, Decca Super Gold, Grado Statement Master, AKG P8ES, Empire P10E, etc.).
So, first of all, I get to hear my Lencos in various state-of-the-art systems quite often, and so rely on my "true" findings on these demonstrations.
As well, I tend to change components in and out quite a lot, in search of special synergies which lead to astounding PRaT and gestalt (nothing less will do) and also to hear various aspects of the experiments with record players I am conducting. But, I'll list my current reference components. For preamplifiers I currently favour a variety of vintage CJ preamps, which I found, after comparisons, to be sonically superior (especially the phono stages) to many current favourite phono stages (including the EAR 834P, sorry chaps). These include the CJ PV-1 (dead quiet with a stunningly accurate phono stage, and line stage), the CJ PV-7 (gorgeous romantic BIG and intimate sound I never tire of), and the CJ PV-8, which has monstrous gain (and so can take low-output MCs straight in), terrific musical excitement and superb bass. For pure pleasure, however, I prefer the ASL AQ 2006 DT, which faithfully communicates the incredible Lenco/Idler way with both gestalt and timing/PRaT better than anything I've ever heard (and so which is, for this specific application, my test equipment). But it's shortfalls in both bass and some detail prompt me to test with the others. Or the vintage Sony stuff, being the superb 2000F, which has been declared by some superior to the latest run of ARC equipment. But, if I say this out loud, then there are those who will use this to discredit my record player findings, so please, hush ;-).
For amps, I truly have two reference pieces: one rebuilt-to-modern Leak Stereo 20, with all modern top-of-the-line resistors and so forth, a wonder; and a 100-watt SS push-pull Class AB amp a country gentleman built just for me, which so far has wiped the floor with every bit of kit to come my way. I don't know how he did it, but it sounds much like an SET - with an SET's crystal clear delivery, utter lack of grain and purity of tone - but with limitless dynamics. Another wonder. And, again, I love the sound of various vintage Sony amps, being two mostly, the 3130F, and the 3140. They both beat the crap out of most modern amps in the areas of dynamics and rhythm/timing/PRaT. Seems timing is fast becoming a fogotten art. Which is one reason I push the Lenco/Idlers so much.
For speakers, if I want full-range, then I hook up my big Klipsch Cornwalls, which are superb in every aspect, but they scare even me (especially with an idler behind them), so for the moment they are downstairs. My current reference are the Technics SB-4s, which are three-way flat-diaphragm metal honeycomb driver speakers, high sensitivity, and utterly transparent. No audiophile cred, but Hi Fi Answers, back in the day, declared this Technics technology revolutionary and the wave of the future, they are incredible, that rare beast often discussed but never found: a dynamic speaker which sounds like an electrostatic. A few well-heeled audiophiles have recently come into my listening room and been stunned, and gotten up to examine what appears to be an ordinary, unremarkable speaker...until you hear them. I also use Klipsch Heresy 1s, AR 2ax's (nothing does percussion instruments, including piano, like an older AR) and the favourite of many who have auditioned my systems over the years, the ESS AMT4's, which many consider the best woofer-to-tweeter match of the entire ESS Heil Air-Motion Transformer lineup. But, recently they were finally beaten in every way by the unassuming Technics SB-4s. All of the above I found to be quite the superior of such darlings as Proacs, which I have tried in my system (but apparently Proacs need tubes to truly sing). I am currently considering either Magneplanar 1.6s (to hear my Lencos in my listening room via a planar), or Vandersteen 2CEs (great with percussion, dynamics and rhythm). And a few others.
Finally, cabling. Excuse me, but cabling is a swamp I don't want to get into. I do believe and concur that they indeed make a sonic difference, but what exactly is happening? No one truly knows. So, I trust my ears and close my wallet: I use solid core for speaker cable (single-strand 24 ga.) and Petra for interconnect. Before you laugh at the last, often available for less than $10 for a six-foot pair, I have very often brought them with me into cost-no-object systems, accepted challenges against favoured $1K interconnects, and left with $10 in my pocket, minus the cable. I am quite satisfied with these, and I no longer search.
My experience with audiophiles who promise to try 24-ga. solid core in their system goes like this: they insert the cable into their system, listen for precisely 5 minutes, declare them horribly thin-sounding (interestingly exactly as they look) and without bass (in spite of my warning they take 7 hours to burn in, and again as they look). They then buy cables at $1K to $2K, burn them in for six months/1000 hours, then declare them incredible, with the caveat they require 6 months to burn in before they can be fairly judged. Which explains why they are still considered bad-to-middling.
So, there you go, my system is extremely changeable/fluid, and in addition and sadly, if I listed my various systems, many would take this as an excuse to throw away my findings. So I leave them guessing.
I do have a single semi-constant system out of all these options however I am very familiar with, in order to hear what is going on in my various experiments: either the PV-7 or PV-8 (most often the PV-8 for its superb bass, precisely where Idlers and DDs outperform belt-drives most audibly), the 100-watt SS amp (ditto bass), and the Technics SB-4s (surprising bass from these 3-way stand-mounters). Using the RS-A1/Denon DL-103E combo, I test each record player with the identical set-up to be fair and minimize variables. And then, of course, once I am certain and infused by the fire of discovery, it goes out to some state-of-the-art system to be tested full-range/current (someone always curious).
