this is my first decent stereo ,i listen to all kinds of music,chamber,jazz(old&new),rock,electonica,bluegrass,acoustic.I love the sound of a tube preamp with a SS poweramp ,.my system is sounding much better with the upgrades ive made,,!!i would apprieciate any sugg.,comments ,thanks for all the help so far guys!!!
Thank you Joe,,,I will post some info as soon as I get those babys !!!With pics to follow,,as im pretty bad about the photo thing!I will be getting a new cartridge next week since I managed to break the cantilever! I will be replacing my ZYX R20 with a R100H which is a move up ! Cant wait ,,since I really enjoyed my R20,should be a real treat.Mehran at ZYX is a great guy,,a truly beautiful human being!!I cant say enough good about him!Ray
Hi Ray, Great to hear your going to be one of the first!!!! Slowhands long running post no dought will spike as the first reports of how the Malbecs sound start to trickle in. Im sure Mick put some extra care and attention into the first units. First impressions will go along,long way. Ray,your a lucky guy. Mark
Hi Ray, Slowhand posted a heads up on the Malbecs... Mick told him 4 of them will be ready to ship in the next week or so...Maybe yours is one of them!
Hi Ray,If it was'nt for my cousin,I would have had little chance getting tickets let alone decent seats. They sold out in a blink. Yes ,the interconnects ,I sure gushed about them.I didn't expect such a HUGE change in performance. Looking back from two years ago ,my system now is so much more alive and more realistic.It really is uncanny. All from a $700 tonearm and a $550 used pair of Nordost Frey interconnects.... An all tube driven system is going to be a big change for you.The Dynaudio speakers I have ,sound so much better driven with tube amps then s.s...Its really going to be interesting to read yours and others first impressions on the Malbecs. The match to your preamps are the very best you can get.This should be noticeable the moment you hear them.... Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere has a pair of special 25s. His amps are an excellent match for these speakers....As Micks amps reach the market,hopefully someone close by me will buy a pair that I could borrow to check out.I'll be keeping an eye on the posts. Talk to ya soon .Regards Mark
Mark,Man ,,you guys have been seeing some really good shows!Im glad everything is working out so well!It is a good feeling when you finally find a cable that works so well!I feel lucky that I did not have to try too many before I found a brand that I dont feel the need to look any further,Purist Audio did it for me.Im really looking forward to the Malbecs,,ill be all tubes then!My system sounds great now,,if the Malbecs sound better,,I may have to switch to "Done for now" Im hoping I will be able to do the sig. arm and Scoutmaster next year,,,,hmm,i said that last year too!Im truly enjoying music so much now,,its hard to imagine it getting much better,!Thanks,Ray
Hi Ray,Glad to hear things are going well for you. Yes the Sig arm has turned out to be a very good upgrade to my Scout Master, far more resolving then the standard 9.The wire in the arm takes a long ,lonngg,time to burn in. A marked change started around 100 plus hours. I now have abit over 220 hours logged on it. Most of it was just spinning a record without listening to it while I farted around the house....Trying out Nordost cables in my system was a logical step. The Valhalla wire is a profound cable in any system,but too much $$$ for me.I was going to borrow a set of Nordost new line of interconnects from a dealer to try. F--k it,I bought a used pair of the Frey here on the Gon. Ray the change in the sound of my system was the best thing I have done in a long while .Im hearing my system for the first time.It really is stunning what this cable did for the performance of my system, its unbelieveable.Now heres the shitty thing.To do the rest of my system including speaker cable is equal to the cost of apair of Malbecs....I would get the Malbecs first....Last night we saw Rodger Waters in concert.He thrilled and stunned us playing mostly vintage Floyd,he had everyones undivided attention,if he comes your way ,you have to see his show.... David Gilmore could of played in a large stadium like Waters did and sold it out to. Instead he picked an old concert hall in Toronto well known for its great acoustics.It seats about 2500. It was perfect for the mix of his solo music and vintage Floyd.....Gilmore WAS ABSOLUTLY SHOCKING GOOD,he really did a number on us all....Im so glad I saw him.....Man I bet your chompin at the bit waiting for the Malbecs!I hope you get them soon. Can't wait to read what you think of them....Regards Mark
LOL,,Mark ,Great to hear from you!I remember our conversations a while back about these amps,,I was not sure when it was going to happen,or how i was going to make it happen,,things just fell into place almost like it was meant to!I think Kgturner will recieve his before i see mine,,it will be fun to compare notes with Kevin,,and i will certainly keep you posted!Peace,Ray
System edited: Should have Supratek Malbec monoblocks in a couple months!!!!!!!!Cant Wait! The CJMF2500A is a great sounding amp and ive been very happy with it,a bit more power than i need with the Caravelles,and i cant help but wonder how a Supratek poweramp is going to sound with my Chardonnay!
Nrchy,Congrats! Hope the Caravelles work out well for you!Im very pleased with mine!It did take a while to get them setup just right,,seem to work best in my room with very little toe in,,and a few feet into the room ,The M1 stands sound very good ,,but are not the most stable of stands,,,,they did take a while to settle in ,even though they were used.My CJ MF2500A at 240 wpc is a bit more than i need as the woofers bottom out at a lower volume than my previous speakers,so i may get a lower powered amp sooner or later.I found that all the Caravelle owners here are very helpful,they kept me calm during the first week or so when the Caravelles did not sound so good!They sound very good and im happy with them,ive spent more money on music in the last couple months than i have on equiptment,,,for the first time since ive started putting this system together a few years ago,,i wish i could offer more info!I am looking forward to how you like them,,just give them a few weeks to settle in,,did you buy them new? Im using Sonoran speaker cables now,,i was using a pr of Museaus ,but they were a few inches to short,,,i may get a pr of Venustus at some point ,the Sonoran and Museaus sounded very good ,,the Purist had a touch more of a relaxed and liquid sound,slightly more texture that i slightly prefered,but the Sonoran had a bit better detail and tighter bass,,hey ,,if you ever care to trade speaker cables for a few weeks let me know!!Lookin forward to your thoughts on the Caravelles!Ray
Dean,Def,Caribbean and Spanish influence thruout Florida,,very colorful,great music too! Ive always wanted to see California,,,Hey ,,if you ever want to trade spaces for a week,,let me know!!Peace,Ray
We have all kinds and I especially enjoy the European type they sell at the Japanese markets and all the great Mexican sweet bread out here! Must have some muy sabroso pastries wiith the Caribbean influence there.
Albert,,Yes,cigarettes,,the last of my bad habits,,,,,unless a love affair with refined sugar can be considered a bad habit,,,Ahhh,,the pastries were delicious!!!HEHE ,,Thanks for the encouraging words!
Well,,,I havent smoked in 3 weeks!!!!What an emotional rollercoaster its been! More money for software!Still playing with settings on my ACI Force sub,,pretty close,but i think i can get it a little better,,i should get a Radioshack meter and check setup!
Hello Spencer,I dont have exp. with any of the DACs or similar ones,i did have a Soundstream DAC a while back which was a good intro to what a stand alone DAC can do,but the AM sounds better,Clio09 has a very good review ,where he compares a stock and TRL modded Audiomirror and i agree with him on the strong and weak points of the stock unit,,i will say that i truly enjoy CDs since adding the AM ,the Monarchy DIP helps too! nice analog sound,works well for me ,not so good CDs sound good,and very well done CDs sound great,im going to get the TRL mod done when funds allow ,as this is supposed to correct the few minor weak points in the stock unit!Ray
Hey Ray, Just noticed you had the AudioMirror DAC. Did you compare to Scott Nixon, Ack or other similar dacs? Thinking about trying something like this myself. Any suggestions? Thanks, Spencer
Ray, I'm glad to hear you moved away from the dark side ;) Video and HQ 2 channel audio don't live together well in the same room. Same house maybe... I was at Lloyd Walker's place today. Watching the build process on my Proscenium Gold Signature turntable. Lloyd is not only an engineering genius, he is one hell of a craftsman as well. Thanks for the invite. a buddy of mine has been bugging me to go down there with him for a little salt water fly fishing. If that happens and I find myself looking for an audio fix, maybe we can hook up...
