PetRat HiFi

[Marco]

No, can't do this week at all, I've just been dragged into managing another house build (which I've been trying really hard to avoid) so I'm all over the place at the moment. Should really be onsite today but you've got to get your priorities right! I'll drop you a PM save drifting this thread any further (sorry Peter).

p.s. you were right about moving the room around, lots of changes since you were last here!

No worries, dudekins, just let me know when you're ready - and in the meantime, enjoy!

Marco.

[petrat]

there's something seductive how tannoys can sound on the end of a big japanese solid state amps. i've heard a few of these combinations either in japanese bars or record shops and i was always mesmerised, especially for vintage jazz (what you anyway hear all the time at these places). i was inspired to recommend to a friend to match his berkeleys with marantz 80s A-class esotec PM-5 and given the price (slightly over a grand total) it's hard to be beaten.

The dealer who sold me the Canterburys claimed he'd installed many pairs over the years, and he reckoned the best he'd ever heard were driven by a big Luxman integrated transistor amp. In fact, he was quite insistent that solid state was the way to go with all big Tannoys, especially Westminsters.

[anubisgrau]

funny you mentioned that, yesterday i had a very surprising encounter with a vintage 100w luxman L-100. what a terrific amp if matched with the right speakers!

[Halfway Tree]

Peter - great to hear you're enjoying the Nakamichi.

Your description is exactly as I found - no lack of detail, but no edge either and real grip and control in the bass. And I'm impressed that you were able to hoik it up to the top of your equipment rack!

Regarding the transformer noise - they all seem to have a very low level hum, although it's not obtrusive. I have several other amps with large toroids and they all hum to a lesser or greater or degree - there's lots of nasties on the mains these days and toroids, especially large ones are the most susceptible. Out of curiosity I priced up a bog standard replacement 40v secondary toroid - it cost as much as the entire amp!

Many of these multichannel AV amps seem to have increased crosstalk simply because there are so many channels close together in one chassis. It's one of the reasons I use two amps as it keeps left and right amplification completely separate. These are about the only two negatives about the amp that I can find and they are not major from my experience.

To my ears they just sound so natural and "right."

Gordon

[petrat]

Sorted out the rack




And set up the Platine ...

[petrat]

Thanks for the interesting comments, Gordan and Gordon ...

How are you getting on with the new amplifier, Darren? Any hernias, yet?

[DarrenHW]

How are you getting on with the new amplifier, Darren? Any hernias, yet?

I'm loving it Peter! As a AV amp I think it's excellent. Still early days yet (maybe 30 hours on it) but may end up replacing my 405's? It is a heavy and bulky beast though, my rack's only just deep enough to accommodate it.

[petrat]

Just got around to trying out the Lounge Audio phono-stage, seen alongside the Edwards MC3 on the second shelf in the photos above (post 135). It's quite a bargain, bought direct from the manufacturer.

http://www.loungeaudio.com/#!lcr-mr-iii/c1vla

Early days, as it's not really run in yet, but sounding quite promising so far.

[lewis]

Has the Nak. replaced your Ear 534, or is it just a summer amp?

[petrat]

Hi Andrew.

I am off work & at home next week, so will be putting the EAR back in the system at the weekend, which will no doubt rekindle my love of the old girl. But, yes I have been enjoying a cooler listening room recently

I also have a lovely pair of Harbeth HL-P3ESR mini-monitors, which are sublime with the 534, so may end up with two systems