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Butuz
04-05-2010, 21:08
Here is my current set up.

This system has been assembled on a tight budget - all components have been purchased second hand apart from the cables which were new.

Right now it's sounding fantastic as the latest addition, the Tannoy DC3000's, have totally transfarmed the sound in a night and day style. I now think I am getting a little glimpse of real Hi-Fi for the first time ever. I am hearing detail on my CD's that I have never heared before, I now appear to have a sound stage for the first time, and I have an ever increasing pile of CD's that are in the listened to pile

The DC3000's are without a doubt one of my best purchases.

I can't help but feel it's probably being let down by the amp. Plans are afoot to replace the Arcam P75 with something that really shines, or should I say glows :D

http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1784&stc=1&d=1273007234
http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1785&stc=1&d=1273007234
http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1786&stc=1&d=1273007234

Butuz

MartinT
06-05-2010, 07:43
Nice system, Butuz. I guess you're using the TC-7520 as a control unit direct into the power amp? Those Tannoys are going to need a good power amp to control them but at least you don't need a preamp, giving you more flexibility of choice. eBay (can be) your friend :)

Butuz
12-05-2010, 17:20
Hi Martin. Cheers for taking the time to reply! I was beginning to think no one was interested in little me with 150 views and only 1 reply! :(

Yes - using the 7520 as a pre-amp. I was running a passive pre which my dad made for me which did a stirling job and saved me buying a pre for a couple of years so can't ask for more than that!!! But now I have digital outs on everything I play (CDP, XBOX, PC) so figured that I would simplify the system by using the 7520 for everything.

I am really happy with how the system sounds now - it's leaps and bounds ahead of how it used to sound. I am aware though that the limiting factor is now my power amp so will have to save up some money and so domething about that in the near future. Will be nice to really unleash the quality of the DAC and Tannoys :D

Cheers

Butuz

Themis
12-05-2010, 19:54
Very nice system Butuz. I hope all "budget systems" were like yours. ;)

chris@panteg
12-05-2010, 23:38
Hi Butuz

A nice system, i do like Cambridge stuff, good value! i should imagine those Tannoy's giving quite a meaty sound .

MartinT
13-05-2010, 05:57
What do you fancy as a power amp?

DSJR
13-05-2010, 07:15
Those DC3000's are an incredible bargain right now and soooooo funky.. :guitar:

That Arcam power amp isn't bad at all. Only the maker's name will put people off tbh!

Butuz
13-05-2010, 08:38
Yes the DC3000's are mint!!!! It also helps I had theeee most rediculous bargain on these ones. Really has turned me on to Tannoys as to be honest before this I wouldn't have really looked at a pair. Now I would love to hear what some of the bigger DC tannoys can do!!!

The sound is meaty - BUT well controlled and can be delicate too - and this is the thing that amazes me - the DC3000s do not sound bass boomy in my bedroom. I don't know how they pull it of as they are only about 10cm from the back walls - but the bass is nice tight and controlled. This is in total contrast to my Heybrooks which sounded hideous in my bedroom. The DC3000s seem to be miracle speakers!

As for the amp the Arcam is a great amp and even at only 50wpc it ends up kicking out just over 90db at 1m at just 1/4 volume. I really have no idea at the moment. I probably won't be buying anything until nearer Xmas time. Problem is I have literally no idea what difference the amp would make as I don't have any others - I really need to try out/borrow some higher end amps to see what difference they actually make. If anyone has any power amps lying around spare give m a shout!!!!

For now I am content with fiddling with my 7520 as playing with that seems to make big differences to the sound!

One interesting thing is that my dad has made me a small single ended valve amp to play with. It's only going to be about 8 or 9 watts/chanel running KT66s. Will be interesting to see how that copes with the DC3000s!!!!

Cheers all for the comments!!

Butuz

Marco
16-05-2010, 14:31
Hi Butuz,


Yes the DC3000's are mint!!!! It also helps I had theeee most rediculous bargain on these ones. Really has turned me on to Tannoys as to be honest before this I wouldn't have really looked at a pair. Now I would love to hear what some of the bigger DC tannoys can do!!!

The sound is meaty - BUT well controlled and can be delicate too - and this is the thing that amazes me - the DC3000s do not sound bass boomy in my bedroom. I don't know how they pull it of as they are only about 10cm from the back walls - but the bass is nice tight and controlled. This is in total contrast to my Heybrooks which sounded hideous in my bedroom. The DC3000s seem to be miracle speakers!


Well done on becoming another delighted resident Tannoyista! :)

Tannoy DCs are designed not to 'excite' rooms in the way of, say, many ported floor-standing designs, so even though your DC3000s are quite big, you're getting away with it in your bedroom.

They're also designed to work best very close to back walls (they can sound boomy when moved into open space). Close to corners doesn't seem to be a problem either, as you'll see from this picture of my set-up, with my Lockwood Majors, using 15" Tannoy Monitor Golds!

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/5181/lockwoodmajors027.jpg (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/lockwoodmajors027.jpg/)

Here are the babies inside them:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/3483/monitorgold2800.jpg (http://img37.imageshack.us/i/monitorgold2800.jpg/)

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9611/monitorgold6800.jpg (http://img96.imageshack.us/i/monitorgold6800.jpg/)

....So, yes, when you get a chance, you should definitely hear what some of the bigger Tannoys can do! :fingers:

Marco.

The Grand Wazoo
16-05-2010, 14:51
The DC3000's can be a real roller coaster ride - they kind of chuck it at you a little. Great at first, but long term, I think the excitement needs to be reined in a bit with a little valve based goodness. I've heard them work well with EL34 and 2A3's.

Hypnotoad
17-05-2010, 02:41
Hi Butuz,



Well done on becoming another delighted resident Tannoyista! :)

Tannoy DCs are designed not to 'excite' rooms in the way of, say, many ported floor-standing designs, so even though your DC3000s are quite big, you're getting away with it in your bedroom.

They're also designed to work best very close to back walls (they can sound boomy when moved into open space). Close to corners doesn't seem to be a problem either, as you'll see from this picture of my set-up, with my Lockwood Majors, using 15" Tannoy Monitor Golds!

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/5181/lockwoodmajors027.jpg (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/lockwoodmajors027.jpg/)

Here are the babies inside them:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/3483/monitorgold2800.jpg (http://img37.imageshack.us/i/monitorgold2800.jpg/)

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9611/monitorgold6800.jpg (http://img96.imageshack.us/i/monitorgold6800.jpg/)

....So, yes, when you get a chance, you should definitely hear what some of the bigger Tannoys can do! :fingers:

Marco.

Marco those are some big ass speakers, I bet they sound magnificent, how did you convince your wife to let you bring them into the house?

I wish I lived closer to you guys so I could visit for an audition and vice verse.

Marco
17-05-2010, 09:07
Hi Phillip,

Cheers - yes as well as being big ass, they're rather 'bad ass', too! :eyebrows:

Fortunately I have a dedicated listening room, so they don't intrude in our lounge. In any case, my wife likes big speakers to listen to her Rammstein CDs!! :fingers:

If you ever find yourself over this side of the pond, give us a shout :cool:

Meanwhile, for your amusement - a proper-sized drive unit parking its ass on some toytown ones:


http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/8472/tannoymonitorgoldsj.jpg (http://img691.imageshack.us/i/tannoymonitorgoldsj.jpg/)

:lol:


And the Lockwoods in situ at a recent show members of AOS attended in the UK, where they were very well received - this was part of our demo system:


http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/2563/scalfordhall2010.jpg (http://img693.imageshack.us/i/scalfordhall2010.jpg/)


Marco.

P.S Better not hi-jack Butuz's thread anymore!

Butuz
17-05-2010, 10:27
Hijackers!!!!!!!

http://media.skateboard.com.au/forum/images/hijack4.gif

hehehe.

I dont mind pictures like the above posted on my thread!! Wowee @ those gold speakers. Must sound amazing! I like a lot of valve goodness there too!!! If I am ever up north i'll be sure to give you a shout Marco!!!

So tell me Marco - do Tannoy do 8" versions of those gold speakers??? :D

Butuz

Marco
17-05-2010, 10:43
Lol - you'd be very welcome, matey. Anthony TD comes up now and then from near Swansea, so you could hitch a lift with him :eyebrows:

I'm not sure if the Gold's were made in 8", but there are definitely 10" ones!

If the Tannoy bug has really bit, then at some time you should buy some 10" Monitor Golds on Ebay and get Speedy Steve on the forum to build you some custom-made cabinets for them.

Have you seen his Tannoy GRF thread in the D.I.Y room? His cabinets are awesome!

10" Monitor Golds in custom-made cabs would be quite 'naughty' in your room, I suspect :rave:

;)

Marco.

Butuz
17-05-2010, 16:00
Marco my bank manager asks you politeley not to post any more in this thread ;)

That's great - I'll send Anthony a PM and see if he won't mind giving me a lift next time he's going on a Tannoy trip to yours!

I'll look in the DIY room but I don't really think I need to mess with speakers just yet. I've only just got these!!!! :D

Cheers

Butuz

Butuz
13-03-2011, 23:00
Hey guys and gals. Been a while since my last update. I've moved house since then and made some component changes so I thought bout time I took a couple of photos and put pen to paper!

Change 1. Moved house. This is a great change as I now have been able to set up an a/v room. Ok it's not the ideal room as it's not very big, roughly twice as long as it is wide, and it's very sparsely decorated. But it's waaay better (and much more comfortable) than my bedroom in my old (tiny) flat!!

http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3950&stc=1&d=1300055880
http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3951&stc=1&d=1300055880

Change 2. 7520 Passive Mod. I loved what the 7520 has done to my sound so I decided to bite the bullet and do a couple of mods. Fist mod was the now famous passive mod. I'd already done a fair bit of op amp swapping and had already settled on removing both op amps!! When I saw people raving about the proper passive mod (I.e removing the op am board completely) I purchased a pair of reccomended caps off Stan and got to it. Must admit I crapped myself when I saw the caps as I did not think they would fit, but managed to squeeze them in :D. Passive mod with these caps = BIG improvement. Tighter bass, crisper treble, better instrument separation and wider soundstage. Basically everything the 7520 originally gave me but another 10% more of it!
http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3955&stc=1&d=1300056033

Change 3. 7520 Battery Power. I had read a lot about people upgrading the 7520 and Caiman power supply to regulated PSUs (either cheap bench type or expensive homemade type). I decided to go a different way as I already had a house full of batteries and chargers. Enter a perfectly sized Lithyium Polymer pack that could supply 80amps continuous and 120amps burst (should be just about enough for the 7520) and could be charged to anywhere between 14v and 16.8v. I charge them to 16v and run them down to 15v. This gives about 12 hours of runtime per pack. Results? WOW. Make no mistake people this is a BIG upgrade. Like the passive mod, just more of everything good and nothing bad. Love it. Passive mod and Battery power has changed the 7520 into some kind beast!!!
http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3956&stc=1&d=1300056033

More to come!!!

Butuz

MartinT
13-03-2011, 23:22
Nice battery mod, there, Butuz. I may just try that myself, compare it with the SuperTeddy PSU.

Alex_UK
13-03-2011, 23:26
Looking good, Butuz - and the battery power mod is very interesting - well done for trying something different. :)

Butuz
13-03-2011, 23:26
Change 4. XTZ Divine AP-100 Power Amp. Well this was an interesting one. You read in my posts above that I always had a sneaking suspicion that my Arcam P75 Power Amp was somewhat letting the side down. It was given to me many years ago and always served its purpose very very well, but with the recent big upgrades to front end and speakers I was left wondering about amps. Enter XTZ. I chatted to Shaun @ Audiosanctum and he told me if I was not impressed I could send it back within 30 days and receive a full refund (minus postage). Fair enough I thought, cant argue with that can you!! Went to the Bristol show to see the XTZ room and was very impressed with the sound, infact one of the better sounding rooms at the show fill stop which when you consider the low cost of the room made the XTZ kit even more impressive. Pretty sure some rooms had spend more on cables than the entire XTZ room cost?? Bought one there and then. A couple of days later it popped off the van, into my car, into my house upstairs (much to the disappointment of my back). Yes thing weighs a tonne. Well 26kg anyway. I aint no hulk put it that way ;)

Anyway – after unpacking it, being gobsmacked at the sheer quality feel of it I plugged it in and proceeded to spend the next 2 days in silence just rediscovering my CD collection. Suffice to say Shaun’s confidence in the product was well founded as I had NO intention of using my 30 day money back garuntee!! It’s staying right here and I’ll fight anyone who tries to move it from my rack :D It seems 50w of Class A power suits the Tannoys quite nicely!!

http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3957&stc=1&d=1300058663

Change 5. Apple Macbook Pro front end. Well I had some of these to set up in work and as I had literally never used a Mac before in my life I thought I’d better take one home and actually figure out how to turn it on and off! :D. Having read several threads on here and on wigwam about hard drive audio I thought while I was at it I’d fire up iTunes and do some ripping. How simple can it be? Turn it on, fire up iTunes, insert CD and rip. Plug in USB cable to DAC = Job Done.

What’s ironic is that having always been an MS/PC person I am actually quite enjoying using a Mac! Its just so simple and plug and play really. Bill Gates will be scowling in his dreams tonight – this boy actually wants to keep this Mac!

As for sound quality, well I dont think I really have a good enough system to tell the difference between transports or wav or AIFF or whatever – but to my ears it sounds easily AS good as my CDP. Maybe a bit better?

http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3958&stc=1&d=1300058725

Basically really happy with my system now. Only problem is with all the recent changes I find myself battling with upgradeitis. I keep wanting to buy the matching XTZ CD Spinner, a Caiman, oh and a Mac. Arrghgghh!!!!

But for now, resisting the urge, just. Concentrating on listening to music and making sure I have enough charged batteries to keep listening through the night! :D

http://theartofsound.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3959&stc=1&d=1300058725

Butuz

Effem
01-04-2011, 11:16
Change 4. XTZ Divine AP-100 Power Amp. Well this was an interesting one. You read in my posts above that I always had a sneaking suspicion that my Arcam P75 Power Amp was somewhat letting the side down. It was given to me many years ago and always served its purpose very very well, but with the recent big upgrades to front end and speakers I was left wondering about amps. Enter XTZ. I chatted to Shaun @ Audiosanctum and he told me if I was not impressed I could send it back within 30 days and receive a full refund (minus postage). Fair enough I thought, cant argue with that can you!! Went to the Bristol show to see the XTZ room and was very impressed with the sound, infact one of the better sounding rooms at the show fill stop which when you consider the low cost of the room made the XTZ kit even more impressive. Pretty sure some rooms had spend more on cables than the entire XTZ room cost?? Bought one there and then. A couple of days later it popped off the van, into my car, into my house upstairs (much to the disappointment of my back). Yes thing weighs a tonne. Well 26kg anyway. I aint no hulk put it that way ;)

Anyway – after unpacking it, being gobsmacked at the sheer quality feel of it I plugged it in and proceeded to spend the next 2 days in silence just rediscovering my CD collection. Suffice to say Shaun’s confidence in the product was well founded as I had NO intention of using my 30 day money back garuntee!! It’s staying right here and I’ll fight anyone who tries to move it from my rack :D It seems 50w of Class A power suits the Tannoys quite nicely!!


Butuz

I think I used the words "You won't be disappointed" when you were mulling over the idea of buying an XTZ ;)

Butuz
01-04-2011, 17:00
I think I used the words "You won't be disappointed" when you were mulling over the idea of buying an XTZ ;)

Yes I think you did!!!! ;)

Butuz

Reid Malenfant
01-04-2011, 17:33
Very nice indeed, i bet that XTZ & the Tannoys make some glorious sounds & go to quite ridiculous volume levels to :eyebrows:

I don't think you'd get any advantage going to a bigger driver tbh as effectively you have the radiating area of a 12" driver there with twin 8" per enclosure :cool: Of course they are lighter so can respond faster to transients which is a good thing :)

Superb idea with the rechargeables as well, you aren't going to get a lower noise floor from any mains PSU..

Butuz
21-04-2011, 22:19
Thanks for the kind words Reid.

I have to admit I have been a naughty boy. A box appeared in my hands today. I just had to open it and plug it in.

http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Butuz/Hi%20Fi/P4214587.jpg?t=1303424283
http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Butuz/Hi%20Fi/P4214588.jpg?t=1303424284

So much for "resisting the urge to upgrade" :(

Butuz

alfie2902
22-04-2011, 12:45
Thanks for the kind words Reid.

I have to admit I have been a naughty boy. A box appeared in my hands today. I just had to open it and plug it in.

http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Butuz/Hi%20Fi/P4214587.jpg?t=1303424283
http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x412/Butuz/Hi%20Fi/P4214588.jpg?t=1303424284

So much for "resisting the urge to upgrade" :(

Butuz

:eyebrows: Nice one!! I've had one of these in the system for 2 weeks now & it's very very good indeed & I've not upgraded the PSU yet & that makes quite a big difference too! enjoy!! :)


EDIT: P.S. have you seen Simon SQ's new Young PSU? It looks stunning!

Reid Malenfant
23-04-2011, 18:05
Thanks for the kind words Reid.

I have to admit I have been a naughty boy. A box appeared in my hands today. I just had to open it and plug it in.


So much for "resisting the urge to upgrade" :(

Butuz
If facts are kind then fairy snuff :eyebrows:

Ah well we are all guilty of upgrading every now & again, i had my major planned upgrade earlier this year & had the MP1 pre amp sitting around here for the best part of a year doing nothing :doh: That changed when my new DAC etc arrived though, talk about spur me on to get the new kit in :lol:

Something tells me you need to alter your signature ;)

All the best :cool: