Sarin?
Location: Huntingdonshire
Posts: 1,413
I'm Andrew.
Sarin?
I bet that building has won some architectural awards. Jesus, what a mess! Was the planning officer on drugs the day he agreed to that?
Current Lash Up:
TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.
It was a half decent little pub twenty years ago, now gone the way of many in the area.
It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!
So how are things sounding now, Martin? Have you still got the back-up amp in, or have you reverted to the Krell?
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Back in the day there weren't a lot of passive's kicking around, so an active pre would be a more intended match than a passive. I have heard a fair number of folks comment that a KSA50 and Audio Research SP9 was a great match. These were just slightly before my time so I never heard that pairing or similar but some of what you are describing sounds like a miss match with the pre. My own experience based bias would be to be less inclined towards passives than actives.
Only way to know will be to try stuff and see whats what.
Regards Neil
Ah, out boozing again! Quite right
So, Sony back in and retain the same amplification? Sounds like a plan
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Not challenging what you're saying here, but Macca's Krell is a mid 90's 50 'S' and not the fan cooled original which I remember having a different set of virtues. The 50 S here, had a lean and precise sound to me, rather than the slightly diffuse original KSA50 which has a different circuit I think. No original Krell owner would ever think of using a passive pre with one as they'd have automatically bought an active pre, usually a KRC2 at the time, or an ARC model, the latter warming things up while retaining some clarity despite the sonic processing most of them did (the SP9 was actually more neutral as the circuit was simpler - really nice valve preamp I remember with an excellent 3-D presentation which led me to the unrelated FET based SP14 I had for a couple of years until replacing it with a Croft - cough). I had to use what I had here and found the passive fine with the digital sources I usually use - and of course I have a phono stage with a similarly high output and never played the tuner loudly (at the time, an old but serviced Quad FM3).
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me