Macca's Lash Up

[Macca]

Well folks I got fed up of looking at peoples wonderful pictures of their fabulous systems, usually taken in what looks like an Ideal Home exhibit. Well, compared to my room, anyway.

I used to be pretty house proud up until my father died back in 2009, since then I can't be bothered. No excuse I know, but there is only so long you can let these things slide.

So four days off my mission: to clean house and tidy up the system and the man cave. This was like one of those Chinese puzzles - no-where to put all of the kit accumulated downstairs as upstairs was already full. Oh dear. My plan was to rationalise the storeroom - aka the guest bedroom - which in theory would give plenty of space. Problem: I could not access the spare room. I could not even get to the landing that accesses the spare room. So, with a massive effort of willpower I started hacking away at it like a miner at the coalface. I am out of shape, but frequent tea and fag breaks helped

Long story short 4 days later not everything is done but I now have a viable store room with bags of space for more pishanto - ahem I mean vintage kit. I should really have taken before and after pictures but really the 'before' pictures would probably get me sectioned under the Mental Health Act so to compromise here are some pictures of my all new, revamped, everything on one rack lash up:





I'm currently awaiting arrival of a new stylus for my Nag MP50, expensive, but I will get more than my moneys worth out of it so who cares? When that gets here I will be testing the all-new Firebottle valve MM stage, so don't forget to tune in next week folks!

[Barry]

Well done Martin!

At least you made the effort. All of the rooms in my house need re-decorating. So why haven't I made a start? For the simple reason that there is no room to store furniture, books, records and equipment of one room whilst it is being decorated! It's a bit like those 'tile puzzles'.

[The Black Adder]

Do you still have the Croft pre in there somewhere, Martin?

[Macca]

Do you still have the Croft pre in there somewhere, Martin?

I still have it but it's not in use at the moment. The MM stage is pure brilliance but I cannot get on with the line stage, there is too much gain with the XTZ plus it adds a bit of 'colour' to the sound which some people love but which I don't want with CD, I want the master tape sound. It might be up for sale if anyone is interested.

[Macca]

Well done Martin!

At least you made the effort. All of the rooms in my house need re-decorating. So why haven't I made a start? For the simple reason that there is no room to store furniture, books, records and equipment of one room whilst it is being decorated! It's a bit like those 'tile puzzles'.

Thanks Barry. I had to decorate this place when I bought it as it was truly horrendous but as my method is 'everything white' it didn't take too long. Managed to get paint on the carpets and curtains, of course.

[Thing Fish]

A Gibbo and a Tele. Nice...

[Audio Al]

I used to be pretty house proud up until my father died back in 2009, since then I can't be bothered.

So I am not alone , My dad passed away in 2008 25 / 6 , started a kitchen re furb , I have not touched it since , no tiles on the wall , still cant face it now

[The Black Adder]

I still have it but it's not in use at the moment. The MM stage is pure brilliance but I cannot get on with the line stage, there is too much gain with the XTZ plus it adds a bit of 'colour' to the sound which some people love but which I don't want with CD, I want the master tape sound. It might be up for sale if anyone is interested.

Ah... same with my 25. Had too much gain. A lot of people have this problem but for £25 it's changed by Glenn..

[pjdowns]

It has to be said that whilst I sometimes look at the rooms, my main interest is the Hifi system so I rarely notice whether a room is nice or not

Anyhow, Martin, your system is looking pretty neat there... what does it sound like?

[Macca]

It has to be said that whilst I sometimes look at the rooms, my main interest is the Hifi system so I rarely notice whether a room is nice or not

Anyhow, Martin, your system is looking pretty neat there... what does it sound like?

Good, but not great. I want that super-open mid and top back I had with the Tisbury passive pre, along with the bass drive that I wasn't getting with the Tisbury. if I could put those two things together that would be it - killer system! - but I suspect I am going to have to buy a very expensive pre-amp in order to get what I want. Bollocks, isn't it?