Welcome to my lounge! This room had been almost entirely unused since we moved into our house 12 years ago. It was the Christmas tree room for several years, but as I started getting more and more into audio - especially vinyl - my wife and I had the great idea to turn it into a lounge for listening to music, drinking, hanging out, etc. What you see in the pictures is it's current state.
I enjoy tweaking and modifying components, and prefer buying older, used models that were great (or at least really good) some time in the past. I feel much more connected to my gear when I've opened it up, examined it, learned about it, modified it, hopefully improved it, and so on. I suppose it's like how "car guys" feel about the automobiles that they work on.
Anyways, back to the system. The centerpiece is the Fisher 500C that I refurbished. It's my first exposure to tube-based audio, and I love how it sounds - and looks! The TT is a Dual 1010S that was in my parent's Grundig console system, and after a good cleaning and some other work, it also works pretty well (though, I know as turntables go, this is nothing to write home about). Digital audio is sourced from a Denon DVD-2900 (also modified), mostly listening to CDs, but also some 2-channel SACD and DVDA. Also have a Sonos ZP-80 in there for convenient access to file-based media (mostly FLAC), though it's limited to 16/44.1. Finally, speakers are Dynaco A-25s, with their fantastic imaging and great bass response in my relatively small room.
The most immediate upgrade will be replacing the Sonos with something that can handle high-resolution audio (PCM 24/192, maybe DSD). I also have plans to build a pair of open baffle speakers using the mids and tweeters from the aforementioned Grundig console.
My biggest problem is that the room sits under my 6-year old daughter's bedroom, which really limits when I can take advantage of it!
Personally modified with upgraded power supply components and bypassed output stage through NOS PIO capacitors to gold RCAs.
Fisher 500c
Personally refurbished; notable changes replaced all electrolytic capacitors, replaced volume/power with stepped attenuator, added separate power switch, new solid wood chassis
Dual 1010S
From parents console system bought in Germany in late 60's, so of personal value. Refurbished/cleaned, new idler wheel, replacement platter, added heavy duty power cable and RCA output cable, vintage Dual base.
Dynaco A-25
Great sounding speakers especially matched with the Fisher 500c and in a small room.
DIY MINI2496
DIY DAC kit with AK4393 (24/96)
Nuforce U192S
USB > SPDIF
Sony VGN-NR430E
Old laptop running MediaMonkey. Signal chain: ASIO > ASIO4All > U192S > MINI2496 > Fisher 500C.
Shure M70EJ
Seems to work better on this table than the M91ED.
I really dig your system! I auditioned a 500C one night and nearly flipped, it was the best sounding receiver ever! Also, like how you put the wheels on the lp rack. Is that an expedit from Ikea? Please elaborate on the IKEA hack,
The lounge looks great, and I can attest to the excellent match of tubes and Dynacos. Have you replaced the A-25 capacitors or made any other changes to them?
System edited: Couple of changes recently: 1) replace M91ED cartridge with M70EJ. The M70 seems to work and sound better on this table. 2) Replaced the Sonos with a PC-based system. Using my wife's old laptop running MediaMonkey (ASIO > ASIO4ALL). That goes through a Nuforce U192S USB/SPDIF converter to a DIY DAC kit that I built last year, but never found a use for. It has the solid AK4393 DAC, and currently everything is stock in the kit.
