Recently upgraded out of our 15 year old wedding present mid-fi system. Working on a tight budget, have never heard my vinyl and CD's sound like this. I'm especially grateful for all the analog advice I've received from the Audiogon forums.
Any and all comments or suggestions welcome, especially regarding individual components, synergy, little changes that may yield big payoff, etc.
Pro CD Recorder, stellar playback quality due to Hi-bit Legato Link Conversion technology.
It has every digital input/output you could want (AES/EBU, S/PDIF, coax, lightpipe, etc.) which is useful in my home studio for recording.
Plinius 8200 integrated
350 into 4 ohms with high output MC phono section & remote. A good, high current complement to my Maggies.
Magnepan MG-3.5r
I fell in love with planars a while ago, and now I don't know if I could ever go back to box speakers.
Radio Shack OFC Interconnects
Stranded with 18 AWG solid core. Haven't gotten to cables yet...
Hand built 12 AWG OFC biwire
I'm running 12AWG biwires, but have been told the Maggies can benefit from 10AWG on the bass side, so I may be running another run of 12AWG to the bass panel soon.
V P I Industries HW-19 mkII
Purchased this as a ten-year old, immaculate unit. Very heavy and sturdy.
Rega RB-600
Purchased with VPI 'table
Lovan Classic 1
Four shelf, black with gold accents, spikes between shelves for isolation
I agree that the IC's and power cords will make a huge difference in your system.I can't comment on the power conditioner as I don't have one in my system.I have a Plinius 8200 and you won't believe what a good 10 guage cord will do for you.I have liked the Shunyata and Virtual Dynamics cables.You can get a used Shunyata Sidewinder for @$150.00 or less here on Audiogon and there are other good power cords that can be had for the same.I went through about a 6 month frenzy of power cord experimenting and was amazed at the improvement each had on my Plinius. The key is to find one that synergistically merges with your whole system and sounds best to your ears. I would recommend you search through all the hundreds of threads on power cords to get a feel for other's opinions,then try one out. Good power cords, especially new ones, take a few days to weeks to break in to your system,so be patient.A pre-owned, already broken-in cord usually only needs a few hours to a few days to adjust to the system.But in my opinion, a good power cord on your Plinius will be like when you upgraded to your Plinius from your previous amp.Best of luck and have fun experimenting with a power cord.You will be pleased at what you hear.
Good to run into you here on the big board (that 'other' big board...LOL).
Tony and I just had an 'all-analog' night - CD's were banned, and things never sounded better. Thanks for your kind offer to lend me the Ultras; right now I'm running everything single-ended, as the only piece that supports XLR's is my CD unit (as a pro recorder).
I haven't seen you the last couple of weeks, thanks for the advice. We gotta have you over to hear the ever evolving system. Hopefully see you tomorrow!
Tim, I have two recommendations for cleaner sound. First is to improve cabling with higher quality, insulated type cables and interconncts built specifically for home audio. Secondly, play only "praise" music as this will render the purest and most heavenly sound possible. And if you can figure out who this is, I will lend you a 1.5m Transparent Ultra interconnect with XLR's to see if it makes a difference.
Tim: For power conditioning a tried and true Monster HTS-2000 would be a good/inexpensive choice for the TT and and CD player/burner, or use two of them (as I do) and plug the amp (only) into one of the untis. They are often available for $100 (used) and/or $125-$135 (new), think list price is around $200. One unit on the source gear is where I would start though.
Whatjd @ this site once mentioned some inexpensive but very good cables (speaker and IC's) designed/produced by a planer speaker manufacturer, but I cannot recall the name. Maybe look him up in the "members" secion and send him an email? I do remember that the IC's were around $50 and the speaker cable was also reasonably priced. Whatjd, by the way, is a Maggie fan and has owned very high end (well respected)cables in the past (his comments looked promising to me).
Thanks, guys. I've been wondering for a while about power, that's good advice.
Regarding cables, I wanted to get all the 'heavy' components in place before I started thinking about that. I sometimes browse the used cable ads and lose my appetite..too many choices, too high prices ;)
Is there an order or hierarchy recommended when thinking about cable upgrades?
In addition to a power conditioner, like Damon said, you may want to try upgrading your interconnects/speaker cable. Like you, I'm using all Rat Shack interconnects, but recently replaced the pair between my amp and preamp with some high end Tara Labs, and (to my surprise) there was a noticeable difference.
If I may suggest you might try adding a power conditioner. Monster Cable makes several to choose from, and even a cheap conditioner will make a substantial difference. You may also discover that cabling will make a more profound difference than you think. Personally, I'm not familiar with Maggies but if you present fellow Gonners' with a target price point, I'm sure there are several who can offer thier experience.
