A fantastic setup you have here sir. I have my (massive) hifi setup in the lounge too. It's not anywhere near as upmarket as yours but it occupies two 5-shelf racks! I have a Thorens TD-280 mkIV (T/T) , Sony MDS-JB930 (MD) , Denon DMD-1000 (MD), Marantz CD-67 mkII (CDP), Yamaha DSP-AX640ES (AMP), Tibo TI410 (TUN), Apart PC1000R (MED), Tascam CD-RW700 (CDR), Pioneer PDR-W839 (CDR), Aiwa AD-S950 (CASS) & a Teac V-1050 (CASS). All of this is connected to a pair of Mission 753 speakers. Much of this equipment has had repairs/surgery performed on it by myself.
My Dad has a TD125 Mk2 ,he's had it for over 30 years now it even survived a house fire just under 30 years ago which melted the corners of the cover.The insurance wrote it off but my Dad kept it and just got it all cleaned up and replaced the stylus and a few other bits and to this day he still uses it.A cracking bit of kit and like you said under rated.
Impressed by that Conrad Johnson Amp. Very cool! I love tubes and want to go that way someday. I am intrigued by the Schiit passive pre-amp but was detracted when you said it was noisy though. I wish they would design a phono stage with tubes. Great tour Mark!
Hi Paul. The CJ is lovely (to look at and to listen to!), though I do get a bit fed up with tubes now & again. Gone are the days of sensibly-priced NOS tubes, and there are very few new production tubes that are worth the time. Tubes do of course provide a flavour that is all but impossible to find in solid state gear. Having said that, the First Watt F7 comes very very close...enough that I could live with it as my main amp I think. The Freya is indeed quite noisy in the tube stage, JFET is ok, but I don't think it's worth buying Freya unless you like it's particular tube flavour as via JFET and passive it's merely "ok". It's tube stage injects an artificial bloom that is quite pleasing though...despite my inner audiophile telling me it's distortion and shouldn't be tolerated :-). If you don't need balanced IO or any gain, you may want to consider their Saga pre-amp instead. It is reputedly better sounding and more neutral than the Freya (I can totally believe this), despite being cheaper. One thing's for sure, Schiit are doing a great job of making this kind of gear affordable. I also demo'd their Vidar power amp at home and it was quite good, with especially impressive bass control and depth. Just don't mono-block it into 4ohms...it really doesn't like it! I agree, it would be great to see a tubed version of the Mani from them. I'm surprised they haven't done one yet actually. Cheers! Mark.
Hello Mark. I liked your stereo systems; they are so beautiful and your THORENS turntable is gorgeous very clean look and that teak color wooden frame is great. Those small marks on the frame is very easy to repair use a furniture stain with the same colour and that's it. Congratulations.
Love the setup here Mark, absolutely been drooling over your TD-125 since you've been showing videos. Now those valves I know little about, only that one day I'd like to try them. One day. Can tell you're pretty proud of a lot of your kit, and yes, pretty geeky but there's nothing wrong with seeing a bit of passion on display!! Cheers- Dean
Hi Dean mate. Glad you weren't put off by the geekiness! Just wait for my headphone rig video, haha that'll have you rolling your eyes at me :-). Tubes are great and a pain in the arse at the same time. They do often have that special something that you just can't find in solid state gear (although for me the First Watt F7 gets very close!). Take care mate. Cheers. Mark.
Well presented. It's not geeky to give accurate descriptions of your components. You clearly love your listening room and all your stuff. I am impressed that your wife tolerates the 'mess'. I get complaints about my rig, which, these days is a lot simpler than it was in the 70's when we both enjoyed our Linn Sondek LP12 with Grace tone arm and Dynavector MC cartridge,, Luxman pre/power amps, JBL 4311a monitors, Nakamichi cassette deck and a large collection of vinyl that we enjoyed listening to, usually with friends who also shared our passion. BTW I still have my Nakamichi Dragon which still sounds beautiful. Subbed.
"and a large collection of vinyl that we enjoyed listening to, usually with friends who also shared our passion". That's precisely what I miss today, because unlike Headphone lovers, a Music System put together with lots of love, effort and dedication can Only be really truly enjoyed with friendly souls sharing our passion.
I Totally Agree. For reasons stated by you, I do have quite a few decent Headphones, OPPO PM-1, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro, AKG K712 Pro, Grado ... But nothing is quite as thrilling as listening to Music with friendly souls with a decent Music System, day or night. Your Take ?
@@bighands69 Yes, I agree. I actually listen to my choice of music on my noise cancelling headphones (Sony WH-1000XM3) while my wife watches her television programs. However, just two nights ago we enjoyed a dinner with old friends (since the early 70's). We managed to listen to plenty of great music as well as enjoying the dinner and the good company.
Nice video, and your gear selection is very good, Tubes are my favorite choice as well. I grew up in Binghamton, NY down the road from McIntosh Labs. My Mother worked at McIntosh in the 1960, and that planted the seed in me for my future Audiophile adventure. Now I'm in my 60's and still loving it.
HaHa, no she was a production line worker, I believe she was handling some of the point to point wiring. It took a few decades to really assemble my McIntosh system. I like the way you blended the best from the past, with the new gear that is now on the market. You have a serious system, here and you should be proud of your design and your selection. My fellow Audiophile buddies love seeing the next generation coming up with their approach to high end audio. Conrad Johnson is great gear, and your vinyl setup is perfect. Great job on the video production and your approach to showing the VC your system. I have a few photos on Instagram, my handle is Alpinenordicsurfer.
@@rwoodford9812 Thanks for the kind words! Your McIntosh system must be wonderful...I do have a soft spot for their gear. I checked out your Instagram. It seems we also have something else in common...we're both into endurance cycling :-)
Thats pretty common with some of the Audiophiles that I am connected with. I raced bikes for 38 years and retired from racing when I was 60. I still ride a lot, but now just for the fun aspect of biking. I like the fact that you are aware of the musicality of tubes. They really give music a warm and airy sound.
I understood most of what you said about your gear, Mark, although my system is much less than yours. I think it's really cool. Never really got into tube setups, except for my Telefunken, which someday will work again. I know that tubes give out a very warm, classic sound. I loved it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Yay, someone is as nerdy as me! :-) Thanks Jeff...your recent video prompted me to get on and sort this one. Tubes can be a pain in the backside tbh, but when they work they really have a quality that I've never found in solid state gear....although, the F7 amp I also show in this video is the closest I've heard to a tube power amp. Cheers mate. Mark.
Just subbed, don't know how I missed your vids but I'm on board now :) Really enjoyed that, nice to see some good gear. I recently just took my tube pre out of my chain and am now just using a NAD 3020 integrated, just to clean up the whole setup. Also took my phono pre out and just using the one built-in to the NAD. Less clutter, less cables a little less quality sound but I can live with the trade off.
Hi Richard, good to hear from you. I also really enjoy room tours, and watching Jeff Kempin post his recently reminded me to do one of my own. Tubes can be a lot of bother to be honest, but they also have that unique flavour (aka distortion!) that is hard to get with solid state...although, I must say that the F7 amp I also show here gets very close to the sound of a really good tube amp to my ears. Great to hear you're using Roon...I'm a huge fan & became a lifetime subscriber a few months after they launched. I just hope they're able to get another (bigger) streaming service on board before Tidal kick the bucket. Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but I can't see Tidal lasting for too much longer. All the best Richard. Cheers. Mark.
One thing I like about side mounted woofers, is that this by there very nature fires bass down (in your case) the ''longer'' dimension of the room. Bass frequencies being longer, this helps them gain definition. As you mention, domestic constraints can prevent the kind of free placement we prefer. You may wish to try furniture sliders to enable you to move the speakers out when listening, and return them easily in between. On another note, have you experimented with placing the woofers on the 'inside' (effectively reversing your stereo pair). The nice thing of course about such changes is that they are cheap, if not free. All the best, Chris.
@Iris Zizka Hi Brother 🤗 enjoy your Harbeths!!! Thank you for your feedback. Hope you guys have a lovely Sunday. My wife and I are travelling to Japan this evening for a week with my kids. Let me know if there are any small hifi things you have in mind (my email is hivinyws@gmail.com)... cartridges/ mats/ jap cables/ jap tonearms...that are worth getting there. I can post them to you guys✌😄👍. You can look at my previous video of "prices revealed" on equipment (I filmed at Yodobashi Camera last year June 2017). Warmest Regards, to you Mark, Michael and Harbeth user Iris.
Never be ashamed of the stereophile geek in you! It's a wonderful thing to be :-) Absolute phenomenal showing, Mark. I was BLOWN AWAY to see the CI Audio components in your set up. I am a huge CI audio fan. I use a CI Audio phono stage and upgraded power supply component, and dedicated headphone amplifier. When we talk (if you already don't know) I'll explain to you why the company called itself Channel Islands Audio. The CI Audio lab is a 5 minute drive from my home. I think the TD125 is a brilliant vintage table and I might be going with that table over a late 70's model LINN LP 12 for a vintage system I'm planning to put together. The Conrad Johnson, and the Schitt are wonderful pieces. Nice showing!!
Hey matey, thanks :-) Very cool that you're a CI Audio fan!! I bought the CI Audio gear (I also have another of their DACs upstairs) from Dusty way back in the late 00's I'd say. Lovely little DAC this one, a little brighter than my absolute favourite DAC (that'll come in my headphone rig video), but a total "bargain" in audiophile terms imho. I've never met another CI Audio owner in the UK, they're an import-only thing, or certainly were back in the day. I don't know the history behind the name, so it'll be cool to hear about it. Obviously, I would highly recommend the TD125 over the LP12 :-) . Actually, they are compared a lot, with the general consensus I think being there's not a lot between them if the TD125 is set up right. In fairness, I've not personally played with the LP12, but I do know it's rather fussy and requires a lot of fiddling to keep it running well. These old Thorens tables just sit there and keep on trucking. I've also been into vintage amps in the past, so I'll be very interested to hear more about your system plans! Cheers mate. Mark.
Wow! Amazing system! Mine's nowhere near as nice, but I've started using a wall shelf type thing from Pro-Ject, which completely isolates my turntable, enabling me to jump up and down excitedly, immediately adjacent to my record player without making my records skip! I also used to use Kallax, but I had something very similar made out of solid two inch thick oak, which massively cuts down on the ol' resonance. Just a couple of thoughts for you. Thanks for the tour!
beautifully balanced , rather envious in all honesty,your opinion and observations in relation to the Conrad Johnson amplification are 100% correct the soundstaging and separation qualities are excellent The At33 is an excellent choice forgotten by the trendiesin their rush to the Denons ,a superb choice and beautifully made.Serious listening has clearly played its part in your selections,well don a lovely video
A little geeky, you say? 😂 😂 Couldn't understand a word, but all of your thingamadoos look very nice... 😂 I have a record player, a receiver and a pre-amp and some cheap speakers, and that's it... 😂 😂
Beautiful system Mark. I too use valves in my system, an Icon Audio Stereo 40i which currently uses 6CA7(4x EH), QA2406 (Haltron) x2 12AT7 by any other name and a recent substitution 5751(x2 GE). Now these have temporarily replaced 12AX7LPS (Sovtek) and have really lowered the noise floor .Look forward to hearing some more videos.
Lovely system. I was chatting to Nelson by e-mail this week about his SIT3 amp. Nice to see a FW amp in the UK! I also have a Thorens TD135 I am going to have restored this year; inherited from my Father-in-Law. I have never owned a TT, so there's a whole heap I need to learn :)
I bet the SIT3 is wonderful. I listened to a SIT2 at a mini-meet here a few months ago and it really impressed me. A very different flavour to the F7. Good luck with the TD135, I'm sure you'll love it!
The arm is right of center in the gimbal? You did align the cartridge, right? Lofgren or Baerwald, right? Do you know if 120's are drop in replacements for your 6550? If so the Tung Sol's are nice though perhaps, and so are the Treasure KT120's. The Treasures are way warmer though. The RCA 5751's blackplates are a bit more neutral.
Mark, very nice. I will be interested in your headphone set-up, also. I shot a quick room tour video recently, but have just been sitting on it. - Thanks, Chris
Thanks Chris! Headphone setup will be coming sometime in the next few weeks... I need to tidy my study a bit first :-). I for one would be interested in your room tour! Do you think you'll upload it? Cheers. Mark.
Mark, I will probably redo it. I tried watching it just now, and it was pretty bad. The video was very choppy and I sounded drunk, so I need to re-shoot it. There might be two parts, because I have one room with vinyl and its stereo and a separate listening area for CDs with another system. Sounds like a good project. - Chris
hey Bro Gratz!! very nice rig. I used a signet oc9 now called Audio-Technica oc9ml for years its a super tracker and quiet in the groove, really nice I would think very similar to yours. I really liked the cartridge when folks would listen to it they would always comment sounds very clear
Thanks Ron! The oc9ml is curious as it's a similar price point to my cart (and MC), yet presumably they are different enough to both be produced by AT. I do indeed find my AT cart tracks very well, and with a good pressing is super quiet. It's sounds very balanced to me, with no obvious issues across the frequency range. It's nice not to have cartridge upgraditis!
Love the towers! Plan on upgrading to something like those after almost a decade with a pair of 2-way bookshelf passives. They really add decor to the decor.
Thanks! My wife doesn't like the finish on them so much, though I reckon they look yummy. As I mentioned in the video, they could use a bit more space to breathe but nevertheless I love them to bits (and was lucky enough to get them at a bargain price) :-)
@@BacktotheVinyl Hi, a very nice system indeed. Thank you for this tour. Can I ask you please, are the 6550c for the Conrad Johnson original or the new reissued one. I have the same amplifier and in need of new valves. thank you. Oren
@@orenben-dor4085 Hi, thanks! The 6550c are Tung Sols from the 1960s. The originals were Sventlana Winged C. I don't own this system any more, but if I still had it, I'd have gone for the new issue KT120 that I hear are a great match with this amp. Cheers!
Hey mark, u living on the edge going tripodless with feet/groin shots, really impressive setup mate, u know u gear inside and out......thanks for showing🍄⚡️
hi mark , nice set up with your environment limitation , love the conrad johnson , which speaker cable are using ? thank you for sharing and cheers from arthur australia .
Very good job mate, that is a very good kit you've assembled. The stars of the show is Conrad-Johnson, Audio-physic, and Rega Research phonstage. Bravo well done. Blackburn Mullards 12ax7 are rather warm, try Telefunken 12ax7 very hyper detailed, but liquid.
Hi Gary. Thanks :-). Good to hear you're into Duga 3 too! I got in touch with Gianmarco at Sarang Bang Records and fortunately he had a few left at the time. He was even kind enough to screen print a new cover for me. This was quite a while ago though, but perhaps still worth getting in touch with him to see if any are still available. It's a wonderful album. Cheers. Mark.
Really nice gear for a very liveable space. I think dedicated listening rooms are a bit pretentious. Our rig is the focal point of our living room and the wife strongly approves.
@@BacktotheVinyl Very nice. This Thorens is better than cheap turntable like Victrola. I found Marantz 2220 stereo for $15 and Marantz 6300 turntable for $500. I have fixed them up and it sound really great. I had like to have really nice turntable too, but it is out of my budget and dislike cheap turntable, so Marantz 6300 is great alternate way.
@@Michael-w8v Wow you got some Marantz bargains there! I definitely agree, for small budget, a carefully chosen vintage table is a great option. Cheers!
..............................and now, most people are happy listening to music with their phone connected to ONE little speaker! How far we have fallen! :-(
let me get this sraight ,if i have a turntable, i need a preamp and amp, or an amp with phono stage built in and speaker in order for it to work? right?
Hi Matt. Thanks for dropping by. Cool to hear your Uncle had one of these. I agree the Nottingham Analogue decks are excellent. I considered a Spacedeck and would again in the future. Cheers. Mark.
I have a TD-125 that I bought in 1972 or 1973. I used a Rabco SL-8E arm and Shure V15 type III cartridge. I just recently replaced the drive belt. I had a custom dust cover made for it as well.
Always enjoy these music room videos. Hahah, I got one similar piece...you guessed it the Duga3 album :) Fantastic setup, tubes forever! My listening is also in the living room, always a compromise. Ever tried bookshelf speakers? Cheers. /Paul
Oh, and bookshelf speakers... yes I have in the past. I'd probably look seriously at stand mount speakers if/when I replace these. The Audio Physics are probably a bit too much for this room to be honest, but they are very lovely :-). Have you done a tour of your system? I'd love to see it!
I've only had floor standers for trial, with the book shelfs it was easier to get a soundstage where they disappeared. Not yet done a tour. At the moment probably a bit boring, as a lot of the separate boxes and cables have left and got myself an all in one box :)
great video and very interesting , i love a hifi seperates system i have naim nait 5i amp ,onkyo cd player, project xpression turntable, cambridge audio MM phono stage, B&W DM602s2 with cambridge audio dab300 dab radio all connected up with chord company and QED cables
Thanks for the tour. Nice system. Question: I have an SME-arm myself - the M2-9R. - and lately I have been trying out different tone-arm cables for it. Many people seem to be less than thrilled with the VdH cable these arms come with from factory, so are you using your stock cable (different than mine, I know) and if not: what have you tried out that would garner your recommendation? Thanks. Jan.
Hi Jan. I won't be much help I'm afraid, as I've only used the stock cable that came with the arm, which seems pretty well constructed. Honestly, whilst I do have some fancy cables knocking around, I'm not much into cable-fu. I'll generally just look at the construction, measure the capacitance and if all is ok then the cable is fine by me :-). Cheers. Mark.
Yeah, you got geeky lol!! Loved it though. Awesome detailed tour and great, cozy room my friend. I was curious, if you mixed your wife's books up with different sizes and so forth...would that work as small kind of dampener lol?
haha great idea...will she notice if I move a few books forward from the wall?? Instant, free diffuser! lol :-) Thanks for checking out my video, Brandon, much appreciated. Sorry about the geeky!
Normally I would say from the measurements done by Sound Stage the Audio Physic 25 do not appear to be a good speaker for a tube amplifier, but I would have to eat my own words because while the impedance varies from 3 to 20 ohms the iregular drop in frequency response around 2khz corresponds with a rise in the impedance to nearly 20 ohm around the same frequency and the likely balances the speaker to somewhat neutral when driven by a tube amplifier due to it's high output impedance. however I don't think the bass will be very tight with a tube amp looking at the impedance plot, possibly it would be a bit boomy.
Nice tour Mark! ;) I have to say I am not so knowledgeable on systems in general.. but those tubes and the speakers look awesome! As you know, I am also aThorens owner and I love this machine! Sweet! PS: I feel bad for the acoustic guitar that was not introduced ;) lol what's her name? Cheers!
Hi David! haha, I'm afraid my guitar "skills" are very very limited, especially compared to you! I've had this guitar for 20 years, it's a cheapie Tanglewood thing. I never really got along with it, perhaps because the action is really high and the neck is quite thin. For many years I've been intending to take some lessons, although I have 20 years of bad habits just playing a few main chords, so maybe I'm beyond hope! :-). Thorens forever mate!
Mark! it is never too late to learn ;) ( specially nowadays, where you can find on TH-cam some good tutorials..etc .. Tanglewood is cheap but they do decent stuff for the buck ;) maybe you could lower the action by changing the neck and bottom nuts.. ( if you ever want to use it more off course ;) ) otherwise go for a Martin , Taylor, Maton or Guild... could be a nice challenge for you ;) AND a new HUNT ! LOL :) cheers!
Thanks! Funnily enough, even though I'm useless at it, I do find it very relaxing to even just play a few chords. I was eyeing up a Taylor a while back...I probably need to sell some audio gear first though :-).
This is CUTE system for a den ! And I would not mind that system in my den ......... would be a cool good system ... in the 70's ! Not knocking really .... but really that not good ............ but would sound probably good at low levels ! Carry On ! Show us what you got upstairs !
i have the same loudspeakers though a much older incarnation - the tempo 2 ... cheers. but my system is fronted by a well-tempered/dynavector XV1 front end which i adore
I use roon for digital playback and it has a convolution engine that works rather well. I spent a lot of time doing room sweeps with REW and an umik mic, had to move the sub 20 times at least :-)
Nice setup. That's a powerful tube amp there. Do you need that much power to driver those speakers? It keeps getting harder to find modern, innovative designs that are efficient enough to drive with a few watts. You pretty much have to go with Klipsch or some other horn-loaded thing. I have the Schiit Saga in my main system at the moment and I like it a lot. It has no gain in either mode and is very quiet. I wish it had a tape/fx loop, though. I was really bummed when the original Svetlana plant shutdown years ago. Their KT88s and EL34s are amazing and were probably the last factory making really quality tubes (or valves ;). New Sensor has been stepping up their game somewhat, but they just flood the market with all of these pretend "reissue" tubes made at Reflektor. Some of the Chinese stuff isn't bad as long as you buy them through another brand that has done some QC. NOS has really dried up in the last 10-20 years. I don't even play that game anymore, at least not for the common types.
Indeed, I remember buying really nice NOS tubes even just ten years ago for a fraction of what they'd go for now. It's just a shame there aren't a lot of new production tubes out there that make the grade, though I agree some of the Chinese tubes aren't so bad...some of the PSVANE stuff for example. I also have a matched quad of EAT KT88s that I didn't mention in the video, which are incredible tubes in the right amp, but not best suited to the CJ for me. The speakers are 4ohm 89dB, so not too hard to drive, but more than a low wattage SET is going to manage. I do have a 5wpc push/pull Cary amp that actually drives them ok at reasonable volume with the KT88s, but doesn't have a ton of headroom beyond that. I've not heard the Saga, but a lot of people reckon it sounds better than the Freya. I wouldn't be surprised, as the Freya definitely adds some kind of distortion that's actually quite pleasant, but clearly not completely accurate. In passive and JFET mode it's simply ok. If I didn't need more inputs (and balanced) then I'd probably go with a Saga instead. Thanks mate, interesting stuff!
Back to the Vinyl ah ok. You are going balanced. That makes sense, then. I would say that Saga is neutral. If you are looking to add some warmth via a pre, you won't get it with Saga. Perhaps if you run some odd tube that gives the right amount of distortion. I do have their multibit Gungnir, which sounds fantastic. I have not tried EAT, but I have enough tubes on hand now that I think I will be ok for the remainder of my years. :)
Nice DAC. I'm a big fan of the Gumby. I had an Yggy here to play with for a month...very nice indeed, strangely enough particularly with speakers, where it had a really nice 3D image. I'm not accustomed to DACs having that much effect on the soundstage. Good to hear you have a nice stock of tubes. I'm dreading the day one of my lovely Tung-Sol 6550s die. Even though I have other brands of 6550, none sound like these!
Back to the Vinyl yes I know what you mean. Especially that slight sense of panic when you realize you've left your equipment on for hours with no music playing. ;) I do see some getter wear on your Tung-Sols but it looks like they have a ways to go. Old tubes don't die. They just fade away....
Yeah they measure ok (at least on my basic Orange tube tester) so hopefully they'll give me a while yet. The Tung-Sols don't come up often so it'll probably be back to the Svets afterwards. Not the end of the world :-)
Thanks! Yes I agree, ours is definitely an ageing hobby. High-end price inflation doesn't help though, imho. Sensible pricing like that of Schiit is definitely helping though, particularly in the headphone market.
@@joebloggs8636 Aye, how many young 'uns spent £300 on beats headphones in the last five years. People still care about music but if the average age of a first time buyer is in there mid 30's in the UK, whose going to spend a grand on a Hi-Fi rig for there poky bedroom instead of a mortgage deposit.
@@megasoctopuslegionofcake6248what I'm saying is ...young kids have been buying "albums"......the next step for them is buying the equipment as they ...ahem..age. I know lots of people in the buisness and thats the prevailing thought ...ad they start making money many will upgrade the "hobby"anyway its been proven that these same "kids" are not into Home owning....
I really enjoyed your nice presentation of your stereo. Thank you for sharing.
A fantastic setup you have here sir. I have my (massive) hifi setup in the lounge too. It's not anywhere near as upmarket as yours but it occupies two 5-shelf racks! I have a Thorens TD-280 mkIV (T/T) , Sony MDS-JB930 (MD) , Denon DMD-1000 (MD), Marantz CD-67 mkII (CDP), Yamaha DSP-AX640ES (AMP), Tibo TI410 (TUN), Apart PC1000R (MED), Tascam CD-RW700 (CDR), Pioneer PDR-W839 (CDR), Aiwa AD-S950 (CASS) & a Teac V-1050 (CASS). All of this is connected to a pair of Mission 753 speakers. Much of this equipment has had repairs/surgery performed on it by myself.
My Dad has a TD125 Mk2 ,he's had it for over 30 years now it even survived a house fire just under 30 years ago which melted the corners of the cover.The insurance wrote it off but my Dad kept it and just got it all cleaned up and replaced the stylus and a few other bits and to this day he still uses it.A cracking bit of kit and like you said under rated.
Excellent system Mark. Thanks for showing.
Cheers Steve :-)
Very nice! Looking forward to the headphone rig tour as well. Never apologize for groin shots - it’s why I'm in the VC at all.
Haha! Hi Kris, thanks for dropping by. Glad to hear you're interested in the headphone system. It's a bit of a niche thing! :-) Cheers. Mark.
Impressed by that Conrad Johnson Amp. Very cool! I love tubes and want to go that way someday. I am intrigued by the Schiit passive pre-amp but was detracted when you said it was noisy though. I wish they would design a phono stage with tubes. Great tour Mark!
Hi Paul. The CJ is lovely (to look at and to listen to!), though I do get a bit fed up with tubes now & again. Gone are the days of sensibly-priced NOS tubes, and there are very few new production tubes that are worth the time. Tubes do of course provide a flavour that is all but impossible to find in solid state gear. Having said that, the First Watt F7 comes very very close...enough that I could live with it as my main amp I think.
The Freya is indeed quite noisy in the tube stage, JFET is ok, but I don't think it's worth buying Freya unless you like it's particular tube flavour as via JFET and passive it's merely "ok". It's tube stage injects an artificial bloom that is quite pleasing though...despite my inner audiophile telling me it's distortion and shouldn't be tolerated :-). If you don't need balanced IO or any gain, you may want to consider their Saga pre-amp instead. It is reputedly better sounding and more neutral than the Freya (I can totally believe this), despite being cheaper. One thing's for sure, Schiit are doing a great job of making this kind of gear affordable. I also demo'd their Vidar power amp at home and it was quite good, with especially impressive bass control and depth. Just don't mono-block it into 4ohms...it really doesn't like it!
I agree, it would be great to see a tubed version of the Mani from them. I'm surprised they haven't done one yet actually. Cheers! Mark.
Very nice Equipment, love Room Tours. Just subscribed
Love your enthusiasm bro :) Very nice set up
Beautiful setup! There are so many different components involved. Well done.
Thank you! :-)
Hello Mark. I liked your stereo systems; they are so beautiful and your THORENS turntable is gorgeous very clean look and that teak color wooden frame is great. Those small marks on the frame is very easy to repair use a furniture stain with the same colour and that's it. Congratulations.
Love the setup here Mark, absolutely been drooling over your TD-125 since you've been showing videos. Now those valves I know little about, only that one day I'd like to try them. One day. Can tell you're pretty proud of a lot of your kit, and yes, pretty geeky but there's nothing wrong with seeing a bit of passion on display!! Cheers- Dean
Hi Dean mate. Glad you weren't put off by the geekiness! Just wait for my headphone rig video, haha that'll have you rolling your eyes at me :-). Tubes are great and a pain in the arse at the same time. They do often have that special something that you just can't find in solid state gear (although for me the First Watt F7 gets very close!). Take care mate. Cheers. Mark.
Well presented. It's not geeky to give accurate descriptions of your components. You clearly love your listening room and all your stuff. I am impressed that your wife tolerates the 'mess'. I get complaints about my rig, which, these days is a lot simpler than it was in the 70's when we both enjoyed our Linn Sondek LP12 with Grace tone arm and Dynavector MC cartridge,, Luxman pre/power amps, JBL 4311a monitors, Nakamichi cassette deck and a large collection of vinyl that we enjoyed listening to, usually with friends who also shared our passion. BTW I still have my Nakamichi Dragon which still sounds beautiful. Subbed.
"and a large collection of vinyl that we enjoyed listening to, usually with friends who also shared our passion". That's precisely what I miss today, because unlike Headphone lovers, a Music System put together with lots of love, effort and dedication can Only be really truly enjoyed with friendly souls sharing our passion.
@@athathsonty2925
Headphones are fantastic when you are in bed at night or just want a bit of solidary music.
I Totally Agree. For reasons stated by you, I do have quite a few decent Headphones, OPPO PM-1, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro, AKG K712 Pro, Grado ... But nothing is quite as thrilling as listening to Music with friendly souls with a decent Music System, day or night. Your Take ?
@@bighands69 Yes, I agree. I actually listen to my choice of music on my noise cancelling headphones (Sony WH-1000XM3) while my wife watches her television programs. However, just two nights ago we enjoyed a dinner with old friends (since the early 70's). We managed to listen to plenty of great music as well as enjoying the dinner and the good company.
Nice video, and your gear selection is very good, Tubes are my favorite choice as well. I grew up in Binghamton, NY down the road from McIntosh Labs. My Mother worked at McIntosh in the 1960, and that planted the seed in me for my future Audiophile adventure. Now I'm in my 60's and still loving it.
That's great! Did your Mum ever bring her work home? :-)
HaHa, no she was a production line worker, I believe she was handling some of the point to point wiring. It took a few decades to really assemble my McIntosh system. I like the way you blended the best from the past, with the new gear that is now on the market. You have a serious system, here and you should be proud of your design and your selection. My fellow Audiophile buddies love seeing the next generation coming up with their approach to high end audio. Conrad Johnson is great gear, and your vinyl setup is perfect. Great job on the video production and your approach to showing the VC your system. I have a few photos on Instagram, my handle is Alpinenordicsurfer.
@@rwoodford9812 Thanks for the kind words! Your McIntosh system must be wonderful...I do have a soft spot for their gear. I checked out your Instagram. It seems we also have something else in common...we're both into endurance cycling :-)
Thats pretty common with some of the Audiophiles that I am connected with. I raced bikes for 38 years and retired from racing when I was 60. I still ride a lot, but now just for the fun aspect of biking. I like the fact that you are aware of the musicality of tubes. They really give music a warm and airy sound.
@@rwoodford9812 38 years wow. I only started racing in my 40's...I wish I'd done so a lot earlier. Cheers!
I understood most of what you said about your gear, Mark, although my system is much less than yours. I think it's really cool. Never really got into tube setups, except for my Telefunken, which someday will work again. I know that tubes give out a very warm, classic sound. I loved it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Yay, someone is as nerdy as me! :-) Thanks Jeff...your recent video prompted me to get on and sort this one. Tubes can be a pain in the backside tbh, but when they work they really have a quality that I've never found in solid state gear....although, the F7 amp I also show in this video is the closest I've heard to a tube power amp. Cheers mate. Mark.
nice system you have there, isn´t it a thorens turntable it seems the TD125 ,good equipment
Interesting stuff Mark! Keep up the great work.
Thanks Alex! :-)
Just subbed, don't know how I missed your vids but I'm on board now :)
Really enjoyed that, nice to see some good gear.
I recently just took my tube pre out of my chain and am now just using a NAD 3020 integrated, just to clean up the whole setup. Also took my phono pre out and just using the one built-in to the NAD.
Less clutter, less cables a little less quality sound but I can live with the trade off.
You can do so much better than a 3020...
I much prefer the hardware geek-out videos over the vinyl tours :)
A really nice setup. I love these room tours. I've been thinking about going tube. My only tubes are in the phono-pre. I recently switched to Roon.
Hi Richard, good to hear from you. I also really enjoy room tours, and watching Jeff Kempin post his recently reminded me to do one of my own. Tubes can be a lot of bother to be honest, but they also have that unique flavour (aka distortion!) that is hard to get with solid state...although, I must say that the F7 amp I also show here gets very close to the sound of a really good tube amp to my ears. Great to hear you're using Roon...I'm a huge fan & became a lifetime subscriber a few months after they launched. I just hope they're able to get another (bigger) streaming service on board before Tidal kick the bucket. Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but I can't see Tidal lasting for too much longer. All the best Richard. Cheers. Mark.
Nice I hope you still having fun with it.
One thing I like about side mounted woofers, is that this by there very nature fires bass down (in your case) the ''longer'' dimension of the room. Bass frequencies being longer, this helps them gain definition. As you mention, domestic constraints can prevent the kind of free placement we prefer. You may wish to try furniture sliders to enable you to move the speakers out when listening, and return them easily in between. On another note, have you experimented with placing the woofers on the 'inside' (effectively reversing your stereo pair). The nice thing of course about such changes is that they are cheap, if not free. All the best, Chris.
Hey man. Killer set up. I’m new to your channel. Looking forward to digging in more! Cheers
great video...! and a very well surprising groin area shot wahahahaha....
Thanks, and yeah oops haha :-) Merry Christmas!
That is a beautiful system dude, you got a sub out of me.
Thanks! Lovely bloomin' system yourself too! Subbed right back :-)
Extremely delicious system he had put together :-D indeed !! Hope you are doing well in Canada too Buddy :-D!!! with your McIntoshes too!!
@Iris Zizka Hi Brother 🤗 enjoy your Harbeths!!! Thank you for your feedback. Hope you guys have a lovely Sunday. My wife and I are travelling to Japan this evening for a week with my kids. Let me know if there are any small hifi things you have in mind (my email is hivinyws@gmail.com)... cartridges/ mats/ jap cables/ jap tonearms...that are worth getting there. I can post them to you guys✌😄👍. You can look at my previous video of "prices revealed" on equipment (I filmed at Yodobashi Camera last year June 2017). Warmest Regards, to you Mark, Michael and Harbeth user Iris.
@direstraitsfan98 sorry Buddy I saw your previous cover photo of a Harbeth speaker😄
poetryonplastic 7
Never be ashamed of the stereophile geek in you! It's a wonderful thing to be :-)
Absolute phenomenal showing, Mark. I was BLOWN AWAY to see the CI Audio components in your set up. I am a huge CI audio fan. I use a CI Audio phono stage and upgraded power supply component, and dedicated headphone amplifier. When we talk (if you already don't know) I'll explain to you why the company called itself Channel Islands Audio. The CI Audio lab is a 5 minute drive from my home. I think the TD125 is a brilliant vintage table and I might be going with that table over a late 70's model LINN LP 12 for a vintage system I'm planning to put together. The Conrad Johnson, and the Schitt are wonderful pieces. Nice showing!!
Hey matey, thanks :-) Very cool that you're a CI Audio fan!! I bought the CI Audio gear (I also have another of their DACs upstairs) from Dusty way back in the late 00's I'd say. Lovely little DAC this one, a little brighter than my absolute favourite DAC (that'll come in my headphone rig video), but a total "bargain" in audiophile terms imho. I've never met another CI Audio owner in the UK, they're an import-only thing, or certainly were back in the day. I don't know the history behind the name, so it'll be cool to hear about it. Obviously, I would highly recommend the TD125 over the LP12 :-) . Actually, they are compared a lot, with the general consensus I think being there's not a lot between them if the TD125 is set up right. In fairness, I've not personally played with the LP12, but I do know it's rather fussy and requires a lot of fiddling to keep it running well. These old Thorens tables just sit there and keep on trucking. I've also been into vintage amps in the past, so I'll be very interested to hear more about your system plans! Cheers mate. Mark.
Wow! Amazing system! Mine's nowhere near as nice, but I've started using a wall shelf type thing from Pro-Ject, which completely isolates my turntable, enabling me to jump up and down excitedly, immediately adjacent to my record player without making my records skip! I also used to use Kallax, but I had something very similar made out of solid two inch thick oak, which massively cuts down on the ol' resonance. Just a couple of thoughts for you. Thanks for the tour!
Very nice system love the Conrad Johnson, amp.
Who makes the bookshelf with the rods?
beautifully balanced , rather envious in all honesty,your opinion and observations in relation to the Conrad Johnson amplification are 100% correct the soundstaging and separation qualities are excellent The At33 is an excellent choice forgotten by the trendiesin their rush to the Denons ,a superb choice and beautifully made.Serious listening has clearly played its part in your selections,well don a lovely video
Thanks Edward, very kind words :-)
Curious.... From the 100s of hi performance speakers, how did you get to choose those???
Nice gear you got there. Agreed on Rega Aria. It's excellent. I have it too.
You got a badass system, man! I'm jealous! I love hi-fi talk!
Thanks mate! Happy new year :-)
I just listen to music on stream on my phone. This kind of setup is really expensive. It’s great btw 👍
A little geeky, you say? 😂 😂 Couldn't understand a word, but all of your thingamadoos look very nice... 😂 I have a record player, a receiver and a pre-amp and some cheap speakers, and that's it... 😂 😂
haha sorry yes I get a bit nerdy with this stuff. Of course, it's still the MUSIC that matters! Honest :-)
How did you collect your vinyls? Buy the older or the brand new re-issued one?
Nice set-up Mark. You'll probably get something like ten thousand hits on this video eventually.
Haha I'll admit I have watched crusty old nerdy shaky-cam hifi videos that were uploaded ten years ago and have thousands of views :-)
most any kind a good tour video gets lot of hits
Beautiful system Mark. I too use valves in my system, an Icon Audio Stereo 40i which currently uses 6CA7(4x EH), QA2406 (Haltron) x2 12AT7 by any other name and a recent substitution 5751(x2 GE). Now these have temporarily replaced 12AX7LPS (Sovtek) and have really lowered the noise floor .Look forward to hearing some more videos.
How often do you recommend replacing the cartridge on the turntable? How many cartridges have you worn out? (maybe I should say needles)
Lovely system. I was chatting to Nelson by e-mail this week about his SIT3 amp. Nice to see a FW amp in the UK! I also have a Thorens TD135 I am going to have restored this year; inherited from my Father-in-Law. I have never owned a TT, so there's a whole heap I need to learn :)
I bet the SIT3 is wonderful. I listened to a SIT2 at a mini-meet here a few months ago and it really impressed me. A very different flavour to the F7. Good luck with the TD135, I'm sure you'll love it!
I love your whole setup its gorgeous and love the whole room great taste:)
Thanks Carlos, very kind of you to say so :-)
Back to the Vinyl you're very welcome:)
Very nice!
The arm is right of center in the gimbal? You did align the cartridge, right? Lofgren or Baerwald, right? Do you know if 120's are drop in replacements for your 6550? If so the Tung Sol's are nice though perhaps, and so are the Treasure KT120's. The Treasures are way warmer though. The RCA 5751's blackplates are a bit more neutral.
@bcdhifi Not every amplifier will allow KT 120's to be drop in replacements for their 6550's, as the 88's are.
Hi great video, nice to see a valve amp . Regards mark
What are your speaker cables?
Thank four the great sound system tour. 👍👍👍👍👍😀
Thanks for watching :-)
how good is the at33ptg/ii best purchase i've made for my system
Really nice HiFi set-up!!
How does the guitar add to the overall mix ?
Mark, very nice. I will be interested in your headphone set-up, also. I shot a quick room tour video recently, but have just been sitting on it. - Thanks, Chris
Thanks Chris! Headphone setup will be coming sometime in the next few weeks... I need to tidy my study a bit first :-). I for one would be interested in your room tour! Do you think you'll upload it? Cheers. Mark.
Mark, I will probably redo it. I tried watching it just now, and it was pretty bad. The video was very choppy and I sounded drunk, so I need to re-shoot it. There might be two parts, because I have one room with vinyl and its stereo and a separate listening area for CDs with another system. Sounds like a good project. - Chris
Wow sounds like you have a cool setup, Chris. Looking forward to seeing it!
How much are the Mullard valves I have some original late 40's ones boxed
hey Bro Gratz!! very nice rig. I used a signet oc9 now called Audio-Technica oc9ml for years its a super tracker and quiet in the groove, really nice I would think very similar to yours.
I really liked the cartridge when folks would listen to it they would always comment sounds very clear
Thanks Ron! The oc9ml is curious as it's a similar price point to my cart (and MC), yet presumably they are different enough to both be produced by AT. I do indeed find my AT cart tracks very well, and with a good pressing is super quiet. It's sounds very balanced to me, with no obvious issues across the frequency range. It's nice not to have cartridge upgraditis!
Love the towers! Plan on upgrading to something like those after almost a decade with a pair of 2-way bookshelf passives. They really add decor to the decor.
Thanks! My wife doesn't like the finish on them so much, though I reckon they look yummy. As I mentioned in the video, they could use a bit more space to breathe but nevertheless I love them to bits (and was lucky enough to get them at a bargain price) :-)
@@BacktotheVinyl Hi, a very nice system indeed. Thank you for this tour. Can I ask you please, are the 6550c for the Conrad Johnson original or the new reissued one. I have the same amplifier and in need of new valves. thank you. Oren
@@orenben-dor4085 Hi, thanks! The 6550c are Tung Sols from the 1960s. The originals were Sventlana Winged C. I don't own this system any more, but if I still had it, I'd have gone for the new issue KT120 that I hear are a great match with this amp. Cheers!
Hey mark, u living on the edge going tripodless with feet/groin shots, really impressive setup mate, u know u gear inside and out......thanks for showing🍄⚡️
Haha hi matey, thanks! Who knows, maybe I'll be doing a video in my swim jammies next ;-). Hope all is good with you. Still freakin raining here!
No budgie smugglers please🤓
*shudder*!
What headphones and amp do you use?
Beautiful turntable!!!
hi mark , nice set up with your environment limitation , love the conrad johnson , which speaker cable are using ?
thank you for sharing and cheers from arthur australia .
Thanks! I'm not really into cable-fu, so I'm just using some Talk Cable 3 these days IIRC.
Very good job mate, that is a very good kit you've assembled. The stars of the show is Conrad-Johnson, Audio-physic, and Rega Research phonstage. Bravo well done. Blackburn Mullards 12ax7 are rather warm, try Telefunken 12ax7 very hyper detailed, but liquid.
Thanks for the kind words, and the Telefunken tip :-)
Wonderful system. Have to ask - where did you manage to find a copy of Duga 3 on vinyl?! Can find it anywhere :(
Hi Gary. Thanks :-). Good to hear you're into Duga 3 too! I got in touch with Gianmarco at Sarang Bang Records and fortunately he had a few left at the time. He was even kind enough to screen print a new cover for me. This was quite a while ago though, but perhaps still worth getting in touch with him to see if any are still available. It's a wonderful album. Cheers. Mark.
Nice setup man 👍🏻
Really nice gear for a very liveable space. I think dedicated listening rooms are a bit pretentious. Our rig is the focal point of our living room and the wife strongly approves.
You have very nice music collection! I'm just curious, how come you does not get really nice vinyl player like VPI while you have vintage turntable?
Hi Michael. Thanks for watching! Honestly, I'd love a nice VPI table, but they're out of my budget. This Thorens cost me around £300 :-)
@@BacktotheVinyl Very nice. This Thorens is better than cheap turntable like Victrola. I found Marantz 2220 stereo for $15 and Marantz 6300 turntable for $500. I have fixed them up and it sound really great. I had like to have really nice turntable too, but it is out of my budget and dislike cheap turntable, so Marantz 6300 is great alternate way.
@@Michael-w8v Wow you got some Marantz bargains there! I definitely agree, for small budget, a carefully chosen vintage table is a great option. Cheers!
@@BacktotheVinyl Thank you and cheers!
very nice!!
Even though I didn't understand every geek stuff, I can say wow.
Lovely Thorens! The rest... looks great but iam an ignoramus. Still, i listen and learn. Thanks for the tour!
.........and besides all the great kit, I spot some Windham Hill AND a Hot August Night !
Your stereo image is off centre. Am I right?
..............................and now, most people are happy listening to music with their phone connected to ONE little speaker! How far we have fallen! :-(
Lmao it's really not serious dude. Listen to your music how you want to.
All that stuff due of course also to money to pay would be not my choice. When I listen I close up my eyes :).
Because they listen music, not a sound
how do you like those speakers?
let me get this sraight ,if i have a turntable, i need a preamp and amp, or an amp with phono stage built in and speaker in order for it to work? right?
cj18 yes, but Generally you are always better off with an external phono pre
Good Stuff. I use the Virgo 25 and never looked at any other brand speaker.
LOVELY RIG!
Handsome set up.......handsome man :-)
:-D
Nice system!
Nice video, my late uncle had the same turntable. For what it's worth I would recommend considering checking out the Nottingham Analogue turntables.
Hi Matt. Thanks for dropping by. Cool to hear your Uncle had one of these. I agree the Nottingham Analogue decks are excellent. I considered a Spacedeck and would again in the future. Cheers. Mark.
Wheres the emoji for out of my depth?
Either you or your wife keeps everything really clean.
I have a TD-125 that I bought in 1972 or 1973. I used a Rabco SL-8E arm and Shure V15 type III cartridge. I just recently replaced the drive belt. I had a custom dust cover made for it as well.
I have a First Watt F6! Lovin' it!
Always enjoy these music room videos. Hahah, I got one similar piece...you guessed it the Duga3 album :) Fantastic setup, tubes forever! My listening is also in the living room, always a compromise. Ever tried bookshelf speakers? Cheers. /Paul
Hi Paul, thanks for stopping by. Love your channel! Duga-3 is superb, good choice :-). Cheers! Mark.
Oh, and bookshelf speakers... yes I have in the past. I'd probably look seriously at stand mount speakers if/when I replace these. The Audio Physics are probably a bit too much for this room to be honest, but they are very lovely :-). Have you done a tour of your system? I'd love to see it!
I've only had floor standers for trial, with the book shelfs it was easier to get a soundstage where they disappeared. Not yet done a tour. At the moment probably a bit boring, as a lot of the separate boxes and cables have left and got myself an all in one box :)
great video and very interesting , i love a hifi seperates system i have naim nait 5i amp ,onkyo cd player, project xpression turntable, cambridge audio MM phono stage, B&W DM602s2 with cambridge audio dab300 dab radio all connected up with chord company and QED cables
Great system, Chris! Happy holidays :-)
It would be handy if you had a complete component listing in your video description. Make, model number, etc...
Good idea. I'll get that sorted.
No idea what you just said but it looks great! Haha 👍
Haha that's all that really matters :-D
Thanks for the tour. Nice system.
Question: I have an SME-arm myself - the M2-9R. - and lately I have been trying out different tone-arm cables for it. Many people seem to be less than thrilled with the VdH cable these arms come with from factory, so are you using your stock cable (different than mine, I know) and if not: what have you tried out that would garner your recommendation?
Thanks. Jan.
Hi Jan. I won't be much help I'm afraid, as I've only used the stock cable that came with the arm, which seems pretty well constructed. Honestly, whilst I do have some fancy cables knocking around, I'm not much into cable-fu. I'll generally just look at the construction, measure the capacitance and if all is ok then the cable is fine by me :-). Cheers. Mark.
@@BacktotheVinyl Thanks for quick reply. Enjoy your music, your enthusiasm for it shines through on this video. B.R. Jan.
Thanks mate, all the best :-)
The RCA 5751's aren't as tubey as the Mullard's. They have more sparkle up top and are a bit tighter on the bottom.
Yeah, you got geeky lol!! Loved it though. Awesome detailed tour and great, cozy room my friend. I was curious, if you mixed your wife's books up with different sizes and so forth...would that work as small kind of dampener lol?
haha great idea...will she notice if I move a few books forward from the wall?? Instant, free diffuser! lol :-) Thanks for checking out my video, Brandon, much appreciated. Sorry about the geeky!
I love it!
Normally I would say from the measurements done by Sound Stage the Audio Physic 25 do not appear to be a good speaker for a tube amplifier, but I would have to eat my own words because while the impedance varies from 3 to 20 ohms the iregular drop in frequency response around 2khz corresponds with a rise in the impedance to nearly 20 ohm around the same frequency and the likely balances the speaker to somewhat neutral when driven by a tube amplifier due to it's high output impedance.
however I don't think the bass will be very tight with a tube amp looking at the impedance plot, possibly it would be a bit boomy.
Nice tour Mark! ;) I have to say I am not so knowledgeable on systems in general.. but those tubes and the speakers look awesome! As you know, I am also aThorens owner and I love this machine! Sweet!
PS: I feel bad for the acoustic guitar that was not introduced ;) lol what's her name?
Cheers!
Hi David! haha, I'm afraid my guitar "skills" are very very limited, especially compared to you! I've had this guitar for 20 years, it's a cheapie Tanglewood thing. I never really got along with it, perhaps because the action is really high and the neck is quite thin. For many years I've been intending to take some lessons, although I have 20 years of bad habits just playing a few main chords, so maybe I'm beyond hope! :-). Thorens forever mate!
Mark! it is never too late to learn ;) ( specially nowadays, where you can find on TH-cam some good tutorials..etc .. Tanglewood is cheap but they do decent stuff for the buck ;) maybe you could lower the action by changing the neck and bottom nuts.. ( if you ever want to use it more off course ;) ) otherwise go for a Martin , Taylor, Maton or Guild... could be a nice challenge for you ;) AND a new HUNT ! LOL :) cheers!
Thanks! Funnily enough, even though I'm useless at it, I do find it very relaxing to even just play a few chords. I was eyeing up a Taylor a while back...I probably need to sell some audio gear first though :-).
This is CUTE system for a den ! And I would not mind that system in my den ......... would be a cool good system ... in the 70's ! Not knocking really .... but really that not good ............ but would sound probably good at low levels ! Carry On ! Show us what you got upstairs !
Very nice.
The room gets some nice natural light!
The rare time that it's sunny here in the UK :-)
i have the same loudspeakers though a much older incarnation - the tempo 2 ... cheers. but my system is fronted by a well-tempered/dynavector XV1 front end which i adore
What do you use for EQ?
I use roon for digital playback and it has a convolution engine that works rather well. I spent a lot of time doing room sweeps with REW and an umik mic, had to move the sub 20 times at least :-)
BTW, beautiful turntable.
👍🏽
love it,thx dude!!!
What DAC do you use ? :)
DiDiT DAC212SE
I love it when people reckon.
Love the Conrad-Johnson amp. Nothing above the musicality a tube amp delivers, running myself a Unison Research tube amp.
Nice setup. That's a powerful tube amp there. Do you need that much power to driver those speakers? It keeps getting harder to find modern, innovative designs that are efficient enough to drive with a few watts. You pretty much have to go with Klipsch or some other horn-loaded thing.
I have the Schiit Saga in my main system at the moment and I like it a lot. It has no gain in either mode and is very quiet. I wish it had a tape/fx loop, though.
I was really bummed when the original Svetlana plant shutdown years ago. Their KT88s and EL34s are amazing and were probably the last factory making really quality tubes (or valves ;). New Sensor has been stepping up their game somewhat, but they just flood the market with all of these pretend "reissue" tubes made at Reflektor. Some of the Chinese stuff isn't bad as long as you buy them through another brand that has done some QC. NOS has really dried up in the last 10-20 years. I don't even play that game anymore, at least not for the common types.
Indeed, I remember buying really nice NOS tubes even just ten years ago for a fraction of what they'd go for now. It's just a shame there aren't a lot of new production tubes out there that make the grade, though I agree some of the Chinese tubes aren't so bad...some of the PSVANE stuff for example. I also have a matched quad of EAT KT88s that I didn't mention in the video, which are incredible tubes in the right amp, but not best suited to the CJ for me.
The speakers are 4ohm 89dB, so not too hard to drive, but more than a low wattage SET is going to manage. I do have a 5wpc push/pull Cary amp that actually drives them ok at reasonable volume with the KT88s, but doesn't have a ton of headroom beyond that.
I've not heard the Saga, but a lot of people reckon it sounds better than the Freya. I wouldn't be surprised, as the Freya definitely adds some kind of distortion that's actually quite pleasant, but clearly not completely accurate. In passive and JFET mode it's simply ok. If I didn't need more inputs (and balanced) then I'd probably go with a Saga instead.
Thanks mate, interesting stuff!
Back to the Vinyl ah ok. You are going balanced. That makes sense, then. I would say that Saga is neutral. If you are looking to add some warmth via a pre, you won't get it with Saga. Perhaps if you run some odd tube that gives the right amount of distortion. I do have their multibit Gungnir, which sounds fantastic.
I have not tried EAT, but I have enough tubes on hand now that I think I will be ok for the remainder of my years. :)
Nice DAC. I'm a big fan of the Gumby. I had an Yggy here to play with for a month...very nice indeed, strangely enough particularly with speakers, where it had a really nice 3D image. I'm not accustomed to DACs having that much effect on the soundstage.
Good to hear you have a nice stock of tubes. I'm dreading the day one of my lovely Tung-Sol 6550s die. Even though I have other brands of 6550, none sound like these!
Back to the Vinyl yes I know what you mean. Especially that slight sense of panic when you realize you've left your equipment on for hours with no music playing. ;)
I do see some getter wear on your Tung-Sols but it looks like they have a ways to go. Old tubes don't die. They just fade away....
Yeah they measure ok (at least on my basic Orange tube tester) so hopefully they'll give me a while yet. The Tung-Sols don't come up often so it'll probably be back to the Svets afterwards. Not the end of the world :-)
Nice to see that sort of passion for hifi, sadly it doesn’t seem to be filtering down to the younger generation so much.
Thanks! Yes I agree, ours is definitely an ageing hobby. High-end price inflation doesn't help though, imho. Sensible pricing like that of Schiit is definitely helping though, particularly in the headphone market.
Are you high?...young people buy more albums than ahem...us
@@joebloggs8636 Aye, how many young 'uns spent £300 on beats headphones in the last five years. People still care about music but if the average age of a first time buyer is in there mid 30's in the UK, whose going to spend a grand on a Hi-Fi rig for there poky bedroom instead of a mortgage deposit.
@@megasoctopuslegionofcake6248what I'm saying is ...young kids have been buying "albums"......the next step for them is buying the equipment as they ...ahem..age. I know lots of people in the buisness and thats the prevailing thought ...ad they start making money many will upgrade the "hobby"anyway its been proven that these same "kids" are not into Home owning....
@@joebloggs8636 I'm in agreement with you.