AudioNervosa
Systemic Development => Bipolar System Disorders => Member's Systems => Topic started by: ejk on February 19, 2022, 08:32:50 AM
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I haven't sat down and listened to music in my system in about 5 years. I recently sold off my whole system down to the cables. I have gone through plenty of gear over the years. I held on to my Marantz receiver, Bluesound Node, Schitt Modi DAC and picked up a pair of Def Tech BP9020's just in case I ever wanted to listen again. I thought this move through for a while. I was tired of the tweaking and constant changes being made in search of the holy grail. I hooked it all up and I am impressed with my budget system and actually have been listening every day and not fussing around with everything. I'm actually enjoying it again. the Def Tech even though marketed as a HT speaker is pretty impressive. Who knows maybe its old age. I posted some before and after pics.
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Glad you're enjoying your music again. Expensive, budget system... just isn't that important.
It took me a while to figure it out, but the most important piece of equipment you own is your mind.
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I haven't sat down and listened to music in my system in about 5 years. I recently sold off my whole system down to the cables. I have gone through plenty of gear over the years. I held on to my Marantz receiver, Bluesound Node, Schitt Modi DAC and picked up a pair of Def Tech BP9020's just in case I ever wanted to listen again. I thought this move through for a while. I was tired of the tweaking :thumb:and constant changes being made in search of the holy grail. I hooked it all up and I am impressed with my budget system and actually have been listening every day and not fussing around with everything. I'm actually enjoying it again. the Def Tech even though marketed as a HT speaker is pretty impressive. Who knows maybe its old age. I posted some before and after pics.
That’s great that you got back into listening and you downgrading is a good solution. There was a guy here maybe 10 years ago… and I forgot his user name… who decided to quit audio because it was becoming such an obsession for him. He wrote me a nice note telling me so. Glad you are enjoying music once again :thumb:
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Good luck.
The temptation to upgrade will always be there. It's a disease. :lol:
Stay strong
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/65419033.jpg)
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Yeah… I stopped listening ‘critically’ a while back and it’s delightful. I figured out what I wanted, got close enough, and relaxed quite a bit.
Having said that, if I won lotto, oh boy. But I don’t play, so…
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So good to hear Evan. Enjoy !!
charles
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Evan, your realization of simply enjoying the music is something that comes with experience, age (in my instance the diminishing ability to hear the things that fed my obsession) and simply going back to our roots that started us in the quest - the love of music. Tom is right. This is all about the music.
Enjoy :thumb:
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Good luck.
The temptation to upgrade will always be there. It's a disease. :lol:
Stay strong
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/65419033.jpg)
Damn you Emil... I got sucked backed in. I just picked up a Project Carbon Evo. keeping it simple Now I'm buying TT accessories I tossed out all over again :duh
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I haven't sat down and listened to music in my system in about 5 years. I recently sold off my whole system down to the cables. I have gone through plenty of gear over the years. I held on to my Marantz receiver, Bluesound Node, Schitt Modi DAC and picked up a pair of Def Tech BP9020's just in case I ever wanted to listen again. I thought this move through for a while. I was tired of the tweaking and constant changes being made in search of the holy grail. I hooked it all up and I am impressed with my budget system and actually have been listening every day and not fussing around with everything. I'm actually enjoying it again. the Def Tech even though marketed as a HT speaker is pretty impressive. Who knows maybe its old age. I posted some before and after pics.
Keeping it simple & reasonable is the way to go... if you can, but if you got Audio Nervosa, fuhgettaboutit!
I remember my second hi-fi system in my first apartment in Glen Cove, LI... Picked up all used for $920 total... McIntosh 2100 amp, Klipsch Cornwalls, Yamaha C2 preamp, Kyocera turntable with a McIntosh cartridge, Onkyo Tuner with all interconnects & speaker cables included! Man that system would rock out. My apartment mate had a first generation CD player (Sony) that we wedged telephone books around it to keep from skipping when we rocked out... Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" CD would skip all the time without the telephone book wedge!
We had such great parties and just enjoyed the music! In those days, we had two refrigerators in the kitchen... with an old GE one (late 1950's) with a beer tap coming out of it and frosted mugs in the upper freezer section. It was easier to get a mug of beer than a glass of water or milk!
Also, I remember at one party, a guy asked why I had copper tubing coming out of the McIntosh amp! (It was the Monster Cable interconnects!).
Sorry to ramble, but Evan's post brought back some memories!
Cheers,
Pete
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$920????? That blows my mind. Today a used Mac 2100 alone would cost you in the area of $1600, and that for an amp that had a list price of $599 when it was new.
It is amazing how happy we were back in the day listening to equipment that we would now characterize as mediocre at best. probably because we were more concerned with the software then the hardware. Somewhere along the line we went from buying equipment to help us enjoy the music more to buying records and CDs to help us evaluate the performance of our equipment.
My big epiphany came when Meredith ad I got married and moved into a new house. We felt that getting my sons out of the house that they grew up in would help them deal with their mother's passing and it actually did. But the downside of moving was finding a house then met all of the space needs for our blended family resulted in me loosing my dedicated listening room and having to deal with a space much smaller than what I previously had. With the downsized room I had to downsize my gear and this brought me to the realization that with the new space limitations I would most likely never be able to get the same level of SQ that I had gotten in the other house after 25 years of tweaking that room. But what did pleasantly surprise me is that although it was not as good as the old system, the new set-up was still quite good indeed and more than good enough to sit back and really enjoy the music. Knowing that my room became the limiting factor and I would in all likelihood not be able to achieve that last 1/2 percent of SQ allowed me to get off of that hamster wheel mentality of constant equipment upgrades and get back to why I started in this hobby in the first place, to enjoy the music.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that spending time and money upgrading your system is a fools errand, all of that work got me to the point where my system is today and provided me with the ability to sit back and enjoy it. But there comes a point for many of us where for any of a number of reasons a change in available space, a decrease in disposable income from retirement or a career change , the inability to physically move around heavy gear, etc, that it is time to stop building and harvest the fruits of your labors. (I think we had a thread going a few years back on when does good become good enough.) And like most everything else in this hobby, that point is different for each of us and there are no wrong or right answers.
But I do have to say, that at least from my perspective getting to the point where you are content with your system and can put your focus on just sitting back and enjoying it without stressing out about whether or not you can hear the flea fart in the third row is a good place to be. :D
Of course I do have to admit that one of the things that also got me to this point was the introduction of high quality streaming services like Qobuz and Tidal. This allowed me to transfer my Nervosa from finding better gear to finding new music. I am having a blast exploring all kinds of vintage jazz and classical recordings that I never would have access to without these services. It is real easy to click on an old Blue Note recording that I never would have explored without streaming since most of those recordings are only available as vintage LPs that get very high prices on the collectors market. I would never pay $50 for a jazz LP that I never hear or know nothing about, but on Qobuz I can try it at no additional cost so I am finding all kinds of stuff I never would have experienced otherwise.
So Evan, I don't think that your current take on stereo equipment and music is due to old age, it is due to wisdom. 8)
And Pete, it seems like more and more of us are starting to increase our focus on music over equipment. Kinda sounds like Earl, doesn't it?
I'm beginning to wonder if that is because we are all approaching the age that Earl was when we first met him. :rofl:
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Good luck.
The temptation to upgrade will always be there. It's a disease. :lol:
Stay strong
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/65419033.jpg)
Damn you again Emil.
Was picking up a lot of resonance through my turntable. Cabinet isn't the greatest Had some isolation footers and tried them under the TT. Still heard some ringing in the sound. Ran to Homegoods and found a nice cutting board to separate the cabinet and TT. Tap test still heard through speakers but no ringing
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Good luck.
The temptation to upgrade will always be there. It's a disease. :lol:
Stay strong
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/65419033.jpg)
Damn you again Emil.
Was picking up a lot of resonance through my turntable. Cabinet isn't the greatest Had some isolation footers and tried them under the TT. Still heard some ringing in the sound. Ran to Homegoods and found a nice cutting board to separate the cabinet and TT. Tap test still heard through speakers but no ringing
Unless you stop visiting AN and other sites, you were bound to relapse :lol:
It like attending an AA meeting in a bar
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@emil perfect so true!!
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Well I guess I went to an AA meeting vinyl sucks. Too much work up down flip the side. I'm sticking to my streaming and that's that turntable returned I knew I got out of it for a reason
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I like streaming but IMHO does not equal the shiny disc. If one is content look no further. Enjoy
charles
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Well I guess I went to an AA meeting vinyl sucks. Too much work up down flip the side. I'm sticking to my streaming and that's that turntable returned I knew I got out of it for a reason
Sorry to hear that- I have a Carbon table too and was hoping to hear about your upgrades. I left mine stock, and though I don’t listen to it all that often, I do hear what vinyl brings to the table. A new cartridge is soon to be, and I am looking forward to the results.
As far as Rollo’s statement about cd’s, I tend to agree. I use the same DAC- internal in my CD player, as I do for streaming(input from my Bluesound streamer), yet the cd sounds a hair better. But streaming wins out 95% of the time. It’s the equivalent of grilling- we know charcoal is better, but the convenience of gas wins out. I add wood chips to the gas grill for some smoke, but it’s still not the same.
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Good luck.
The temptation to upgrade will always be there. It's a disease. :lol:
Stay strong
(https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/65419033.jpg)
Stay tuned
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I got sucked back in. Got a good deal on a pair of Audio Physic Classic 20's and ordered a Rogue Sphynx V3 based on Guttenberg's review. Well not just his.
Sounds sweet but needs more time.
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Congrats :thumb: There are some great products available for a reasonable price. Keep us posted
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So Evan
When do you plan on upgrading your amp and speakers? :rofl:
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So Evan
When do you plan on upgrading your amp and speakers? :rofl:
Soon I saw a pair of Audio Physic tempo 25 on sale in Long Island. Maybe you know the seller
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So Evan
When do you plan on upgrading your amp and speakers? :rofl:
Soon I saw a pair of Audio Physic tempo 25 on sale in Long Island. Maybe you know the seller
Love it one cannot escape the wonder of this hobby, ENJOY
charles
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So Evan
When do you plan on upgrading your amp and speakers? :rofl:
Soon I saw a pair of Audio Physic tempo 25 on sale in Long Island. Maybe you know the seller
Yes!
use paypal family and friends. I'll vouch for him :lol:
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So Evan
When do you plan on upgrading your amp and speakers? :rofl:
Hah I got bored. Put together a nice little system for under 1600.00 not including existing BS Node.
There has been a lot of buzz about this Willsenton R8 integrated tube amp around the web and it got my interest. Made in China but supposedly built in the same factory as Prima Luna. I ordered directly from https://www.china-hifi-audio.com. It was less expensive to order direct than through Amazon. Even though they charge you for international shipping via DHL it actually came from California via Fed Ex like it would from Amazon in 4 days. So, they are being stocked here but hitting you for the overseas shipping I still saved around 400.00 dollars. It's well made and weighs 65 pounds. Can switch between Kt 88, EL 34, and 6550 tubes. Point to point wiring, triode and ultra linear switching also from the remote, 25 watts triode 45 watt ultra linear mode, and built-in bias meter. It came with their brand Kt 88 tubes, but I was never a fan if thKT88 so i purchased a quad of EH EL34s. The pre section consists of three 6sn7 and two 6sl7. I swapped out the 6sl7 for a pair of Sylvania's. From what I have read switching out those tubes makes the most impact in tube rolling on this unit. It didn't mate well with the Audio physics speakers though sounded OK. I decide to look for something more suitable and of course CHEAP and settled on the Triangle Borea 3 which also has a lot of attention around the web 409.00. The Bro3 as it is nicknamed is kick ass for its size. Bass in my room is good especially since its only rated down to 46 hertz. Midrange is great I really like listening to piano, horn music as well as female vocals with this speaker. Top end to me is smooth and not harsh. Cymbals are crisp. I would say these are a neutral sounding speaker, they do not emphasize anything. Imaging is deep. I keep a narrow sound stage due to my toe in and room boundaries and because it sounds good to me, but they can go wide if that's what you like. This is a great speaker if you listen to jazz. It has exceeded my expectations. Nice having 2 systems to play around with.
Well since it's been dead around this forum lately maybe I can spark some discussions with this.
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Update on the bass. These speakers go really deep. I wouldn't think the 46hz is correct.
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Nice. Is that the bottom part of a Monolith rack that I see?
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So Evan
When do you plan on upgrading your amp and speakers? :rofl:
Hah I got bored. Put together a nice little system for under 1600.00 not including existing BS Node.
There has been a lot of buzz about this Willsenton R8 integrated tube amp around the web and it got my interest. Made in China but supposedly built in the same factory as Prima Luna. I ordered directly from https://www.china-hifi-audio.com. It was less expensive to order direct than through Amazon. Even though they charge you for international shipping via DHL it actually came from California via Fed Ex like it would from Amazon in 4 days. So, they are being stocked here but hitting you for the overseas shipping I still saved around 400.00 dollars. It's well made and weighs 65 pounds. Can switch between Kt 88, EL 34, and 6550 tubes. Point to point wiring, triode and ultra linear switching also from the remote, 25 watts triode 45 watt ultra linear mode, and built-in bias meter. It came with their brand Kt 88 tubes, but I was never a fan if thKT88 so i purchased a quad of EH EL34s. The pre section consists of three 6sn7 and two 6sl7. I swapped out the 6sl7 for a pair of Sylvania's. From what I have read switching out those tubes makes the most impact in tube rolling on this unit. It didn't mate well with the Audio physics speakers though sounded OK. I decide to look for something more suitable and of course CHEAP and settled on the Triangle Borea 3 which also has a lot of attention around the web 409.00. The Bro3 as it is nicknamed is kick ass for its size. Bass in my room is good especially since its only rated down to 46 hertz. Midrange is great I really like listening to piano, horn music as well as female vocals with this speaker. Top end to me is smooth and not harsh. Cymbals are crisp. I would say these are a neutral sounding speaker, they do not emphasize anything. Imaging is deep. I keep a narrow sound stage due to my toe in and room boundaries and because it sounds good to me, but they can go wide if that's what you like. This is a great speaker if you listen to jazz. It has exceeded my expectations. Nice having 2 systems to play around with.
Well since it's been dead around this forum lately maybe I can spark some discussions with this.
Dead here?? Nah, maybe just taking longer naps :lol: Glad you’re getting good sound on the cheap :thumb: I have read many comments on the Willsenton and a utube video or two as well. After 30 years years of not having tubes, I’m sure enjoying my Supratek preamp. I’m using Raytheon 6NS7s courtesy of a gift of a generous member here. Added a Mullard rectifier tube and oh so nice 🎶
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Nice. Is that the bottom part of a Monolith rack that I see?
It's their amplifier stand as well as their speaker stands Great price great value
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Nice. Is that the bottom part of a Monolith rack that I see?
It's their amplifier stand as well as their speaker stands Great price great value
Wow. Did not know you could swap out tubes on this. Almost went for this model before I got a good deal on another amp. Any plans on modding this with better caps? 8)
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Nice. Is that the bottom part of a Monolith rack that I see?
It's their amplifier stand as well as their speaker stands Great price great value
Wow. Did not know you could swap out tubes on this. Almost went for this model before I got a good deal on another amp. Any plans on modding this with better caps? 8)
I thought about it. One of the reasons I bought it. I first have to settle on the right tubes. I bought a quad of EH El34 and really don't care for them, so I put the stock KT88 back in. I know the 88's are more dynamic but they also have more detail to them compared to the EH el34's. Waiting on purchasing some driver tubes until the prices come down.
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Hmmm... Sounds like you went from keeping it simple to getting pulled in big pretty quickly 😂
Do enjoy!