MeBob's System - for upgrade.

[Idlewithnodrive]

I wouldn't bother messing with the mains mebob as it will make no difference whatsoever. Many others will tell you differently though....

Absolutely same as this. Same with cables tbh. A lot more gain to be made elsewhere.

[Idlewithnodrive]

I personally am not a cable believer but many are. It is the last place I would spend my money as it will make a smaller difference than the components in the chain.

Step 1 is the speakers and their interaction with the room.
Step 2 is an ampifier capable of driving the speakers properly.
Step 3 are source components to your taste.

Agree 100% with young Geoff.

[Idlewithnodrive]

Hi meBob,

First, welcome aboard Sir

Second, take advantage of all the guys kind invites to listen to different kit, it'll give you a good idea of different flavours of presentation.

Thirdly, rather than burning around the country, how about inviting some of the old lags to a bake off (where people visit your house, eat your pork, cakes and pies and drink your beer, all in exchange for a bit od advice and bringing their kit to your house to listen to) ?

Great fun, you'll get to put faces to names and listen to loads of kit in your environment. Loads of birds killed with one stone

[alphaGT]

Don't forget your local Brick and mortar audio salons, another resource to listen and compare. Many sell used gear these days, trade ins on their new gear. No matter your field of interest, personal experience is the way to go. Listen to friend's systems, have them bring gear to your house, and stop by the salon, all very educational and much better than just reading about it. But reading doesn't hurt either. It sounds like you've got many resources available to you! That's very lucky!


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[Zoidburg]

I've a young dac and dedicated power supply I'd be happy to bring round to plug into your system to see what you think if that's of interest? It's fairly well regarded unit and would have set you back about a grand new (though obviously a lot less now on the used market) but would give you a very good idea of what could be achieved over and above your pc sound card.

[meBob]

Hello Idlewithnodrive,

I Apologise for the lateness of this reply, I've been run ragged the last 3 days.

I will leave any potential cable changes until last of all.

Bake offs, at the moment there's some very time/resource consuming children/babies in the house, I'm tripping over nappies and toys everywhere and I'm having to listen to my system at lower watts most of the time. The logistics of moving them out of the house, while we have what would be viewed as a "music party" by the females in my life, might create a resentment that I'd have to do some work to overcome.

A few years back when I had the place to myself I'd have had you all here with beer in hand in the living room for a hifi fest. It makes absolute sense to kill many birds with one stone. By the looks of things I'd have had the entire range from SS to tubes, speaker, preamps and dacs. Circumstances have conspired against me.

Thanks for your warm welcome.

[meBob]

Hello alphaGT

I Apologise for the lateness of this reply, I've been run ragged the last 3 days.

Strangely, we only have one where I live (that I know of), it's called Richersound. It's probably the equivalent to Hifi as what McDonanlds is to dining out!

We have a one or two other more "upmarket" (I believe you say "upscale" in the States?) on the edges of the city. I had a look at their websites and they seem very niche, what the offer they offer (just a few brands). What I was interested in they didn't have and would have to order in.

Manchester has a few more I might have a day out there and try them.

I think the salon experience is more of London thing, I might be wrong though?

[meBob]

Hello ZoidBurg

I Apologise for the lateness of this reply, I've been run ragged the last 3 days.

Things are up in the air at the moment with my kit, the zensor speakers I have are at the end of their run in period and are re-boxed and going onto fleabay. Over the 3 weeks I've been listening to them, I've grown used to them, but there was always something not right about them.

I took my old Mission 751f's down from the loft and reconnected them, instantly I could hear what was wrong, the Zensors have a hole where the mids should be and the treble seems almost forced. Listening to Sinatra - My Way, his voice stands out/shines and is emotional with Missions, whereas with the Zensors it's recessed and and treble heavy.

The missions are not without their problems, they lack bass (the reason I bought the Zensors) and maybe just bright sometimes.

oldius said:
"Step 1 is the speakers and their interaction with the room.
Step 2 is an amplifier capable of driving the speakers properly.
Step 3 are source components to your taste. "

Jandl100 kindly loaned his Amptastic mini-t amp and the results when paired with my Zensors were the same as with the marantz amp, no mids and forced treble. When paired with the Missions, there was an improvement, just like with the Marantz.

This to me indicates oldius was correct in his steps stated above (although I couldn't see it at the time), It's the speaker where I need to improve first, then the source and amp can shine through.

If we do an audition/demo with the young dac now, it will probably sound completely different to a system with new speakers and maybe amp, when I get them in place, it's probably best to test the dac when my system is settled?

[meBob]

Hello Jandl100,

I've had a decent listen to the Amptastic mini-t.

I connected it up to the Mission 751f's and put the volume at the 9.30 position, looking at the size of the thing I thought that's about right, rapidly it was dialed down to 8 o'clock. It sounds similarly powerful to my Marantz PM6003 (45w p/ch). It had no issues driving both my sets of speakers and retained composure at higher volumes.

Sound wise it's hard to believe the noise that comes out of it, is what it is? A smooth sound, detailed with a good stereo image and a nice tempo to it. It's not too far in sound away from the Marantz I have, but with slightly more detail and tempo/timing, but less bass than the Marantz. Overall I'd have to say it betters Marantz, the difference isn't massive, but it's there.

I did some (sad) calculations and the amptastic is 28 times smaller than the Marantz it's now sitting on top of??

[jandl100]

Hi Rob

So the Mini-T beat the Marantz amp by a worthwhile but not huge margin?
Well, tbh I'm quite surprised that the Marantz is that good!

I wouldn't get too hung up on the Mini-T being a lot smaller than the Marantz - class D amplification is a lot more efficient than class AB so there is a lot less heat to dissipate, and you'll probably find that the Marantz chassis is mostly empty space anyway!

The new version of the Mini-T is called the Mini-1 and the only difference that I can hear is that the bass end is freer and more extended dynamically, but not really more in quantity most of the time.

If you want a less bright amp then I can recommend you try class D amps similar in principle to the Mini-T but using the TA2021 and TA2022 chipsets.