Hola

[Spev]

I've been a member on pfm and wigwam for years now and figured it was about time I broadened my horizons and signed up to yet another forum to scare the wife and bank manager. I'm a bit of a serial box swapper/sidegrader/diyer but am trying to kick the habit, settle down, and stop burning holes in things. I do most of my listening in my home office in a single bedroom sized room. This is currently:

Laptop+waveio usb>i2s (mostly foobar, some fidelify)
Ipod touch 4th gen on a pure i20 dock (radio and spotify)
Diy ES9023 dac using a mambo dac board off ebay
Inca Tech Oberon amp
Orelle Orator mk2 speakers

Lounge (mainly tv) system is:

Project debut 3 with acrylic platter, speedbox S, phono box SE2, Ortofon 2M blue
Rega Brio R
Orelle Orator mk1 speakers
Tivo box
Sony Bluray jobbie

Hoping to get a sonos connect in the lounge in the not too distant.

In terms of music, I'm a miserable git at heart so mostly anything that way inclined. Teen years were spent as a goth in Leeds in the late 80s, then indie/grunge, and then I discovered detroit techno at Uni in London. The next few years were spent djing and ignoring the rest of the music scene. Since opened my mind a bit and will basically listen to anything that touches a nerve. Recent highlight being John Grant. Off to see warpaint, goldrfrapp and the nme tour in the next month or so.

James

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi and welcome to AoS

[Floyddroid]

A big welcome to AOS. Interesting little set up you have there. The Oberon amp in particular. Rare as rocking horse s..t.

[Reffc]

Welcome James. Nice set up and some pretty rarely seen speakers there too.

[walpurgis]

In terms of music, I'm a miserable git at heart so mostly anything that way inclined. James

Hi James, welcome.

I take it from the above you must have a Leonard Cohen collection then?

[Spev]

Thanks for the welcome folks.

I don't actually have a huge amount of Cohen - someone I need to explore more.

The Oberon is a fairly recent purchase and one I'm enjoying a lot. Bit quirky, but running a single input through the cd direct input it bypasses the somewhat noisy pre section and helps with an unbalanced vol pot at low vol. I actually prefer it to the Brio R.

The Orelle speakers have a bit of history - I bought the mk1s as a random cheap battered and bruised purchase off ebay as they looked interesting. They absolutely panned the Royds I had in place at the time so stayed. Then a diy power amp blew up and took out the unobtanium bass drivers in them. I spent several years looking out for replacements and in the meantime located a pair of mk2s. I was in touch with the owner of those for about 3 years and eventually got hold of them. Turns out they were a prototype active pair, with incorrect tweeters, no crossovers and on closer inspection only one working bass driver. I'd amassed a few spares along the way so cobbled together a working pair and with help from Martin Colloms (the designer) built the crossovers to spec. They're by no means perfect but do a lot right for me in my room. They could do with a bit of assistance with rocking, so I'm considering trying dropping a sub in the mix.

James