Recently changed over from a Monolithic phono preamp to the Quicksilver MC step up transformer plus the Hagerman Trumpet tube phono preamp. This was a significant improvement. The analogue side is now spectacularly good. The music seems to just appear effortlessly from thin air, with tremendous detail and dynamics. The stock Hagerman sounded great, but I recently rolled the tubes to used Telefunkens and NOS RCA clear tops, for additional improvement. The Berning is the heart of this system, and with the addition of NOS cryo input and output tubes, the Berning gets the Avanti speakers to make beautiful music. No preamp, but will be trying a Bent Audio Silver Passive transformer volume control with remote. CD is adequate, but comprises less than 10% of my listening time because the vinyl is sooooo good. 45's are unbelievable on this system.
System edited: All of my changes have had a month or so to settle in, and things are sounding pretty good about now. The addition of the Bent Audio passive transformer volume control (tvc) and the Balanced Power Tech AC filter made a slight improvement in the analogue side, but a huge improvement in the digital side. The modified Pioneer 343, while decent as is, made an immense leap in quality when I added the tvc and the AC filter. The lower the source impedence, the better the tvc likes it, and cdp's typically are at about 100 ohm. When tried out the tvc mated with a Lamm LP2 phono stage, which is at 3k, it was not a good match. (My Hagerman Trumpet, at 750 ohms, sounds fine.) The cdp loves the tvc. But an even bigger improvement to the cdp came from the BPT 2.5 filter. Noise just disappeared. The resulting combination was like buying a really expensive cdp. An astounding difference, enough that my cd listening percentage has gone up quite a lot. The tx103 step up transformer is a great match with the Hagerman. Together they produce plenty of dead quiet gain. The analogue side is really something special.
System edited: Settled on Audio Magic Sorcerer silver speaker cables for now- very smooth and not bright or thin. Balanced Power unit really improved the digital side and lowered the noise floor everywhere. tx103 step up very quiet and a great match with the Hagerman. Analog side is sounding very very good right now.
System edited: Just added the Bent Audio Passive Transformer Volume Control, with remote. Uses silver wound Stevens & Billington tx102 transformers and other high quality parts. Really seems to get out of the way of the music, almost like opening a floodgate of detail and dynamics. Just got it, but so far very impressed with the improvement in the sound of the CD side of things. Better so far than the passive Adcon GFP 750 I had and better than going directly to the Berning pot. At least those are my initial impressions.
System edited: The combination of a step up transformer into a tube preamp really lets the low output Cardas sing. Hagerman's phono amp is excellent and should be on anyone's short list who is looking for a tube phono stage.
I tried the Brimar black plates. They were very good, but I wound up getting Telefunken--they were really amazing. I got them from Brian at Tubeworld as well (as soon as you said Brimar's I knew--he got a boat load of those in and had them all cryo'd)
Del: What tubes are you using and where were they cryo'd? I've used cryo tubes and was amazed (I really didn't believe there would be that big of a difference).
