PaulStewart
19-02-2012, 13:06
Hi all,
A beated hello as I thoght that I posted this before but apparently had not. At this point, I should probably put something like, "my name is Paul and I am a music addict!". **I used to be in the HiFi business working for a major Japanese Hi End company in the late 70s. *I have also designed and developed equipment for a number of UK companies over the years. *Also, in the 70s, I wrote for Sound International and Beat Instrumental magazines, amongst others. *In the 70s and 80s, I was also a recording engineer and record producer and session musician - all this while maintaining my main profession, which is photojournalism. *Although I am out of the HiFi business now, I am just dipping my toes in the water of designing some new kit, plus I am trading a bit of vinyl, just 'cos I like my hobbies to pay for themselves. *
My system has multiple sources. *Turntable is a Michell Orbe SE with a QC power supply. *This is coupled with a SME IV holding a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum. *This sits on a Sound Stage Developments isolation platform, which I developed for Loricraft/Garrard for the Garrard 501. *This feeds into a Moon LP3 phono stage, which is powered by a custom 12V 2 box power supply, from David Brooks at Mains Cables R Us. *Overall, this has the detailed top, firm grippy bass and sweet mid band that you want, while still being accurate and not "a beautiful lie". *
Other sources are an Orrelle CD 10 T Transport, which feeds a Wolfson Chip Set Upsampling DAC, which I had custom made by a company in Hong Kong to my spec. *This is also fed from an Apple Mac Mini, which is used as a music server and for streaming.
The final source at the moment is an old Pioneer CT-610 3 head cassette deck, because, as you can imagine, I have literally hundreds of demo and copy master cassettes that I still like to play. *
This all feeds a passive pre amp, which uses a Dale Vishay stepped attenuator. *Again, something I had made to my spec in Hong Kong. *All this feeds an Art Audio Concerto, which uses 4 EL 34s in triode mode to produce a glorious 7 watts per channel. *I have done some modifications to the Concerto on the mains supply side. *The Concerto drives some 1969 12 inch Tannoy Monitor Golds in Lockwood Academy Cases, which are basically, I suppose, like Tannoy Yorks, but made to a hugely higher quality than Tannoy used in those days, with an incredible ply/chipboard/felt 3 layer construction. *These are coupled with Tannoy ST200 Super Tweeters. *The whole system is fed from 2 monster mains conditioners, the analogue and digital equipment being plugged into separate conditioners, which are powered from different mains spurs. *Cables are all American Silversound quasi balanced cables, except for the turntable to phono stage, which is Van den Hul, as are the Tannoy Superlinks which feed the SD200s. *Speaker Cables are again, Silversound. *All mains cabling is by Black Rhodium. *
I love the sound it gives. *To me it helps fulfil the whole incredible paradox of Hifi, which is, the more you pay for it, the better it gets and the less you can hear the equipment and the more you can hear the music and the performance - less is more....
A beated hello as I thoght that I posted this before but apparently had not. At this point, I should probably put something like, "my name is Paul and I am a music addict!". **I used to be in the HiFi business working for a major Japanese Hi End company in the late 70s. *I have also designed and developed equipment for a number of UK companies over the years. *Also, in the 70s, I wrote for Sound International and Beat Instrumental magazines, amongst others. *In the 70s and 80s, I was also a recording engineer and record producer and session musician - all this while maintaining my main profession, which is photojournalism. *Although I am out of the HiFi business now, I am just dipping my toes in the water of designing some new kit, plus I am trading a bit of vinyl, just 'cos I like my hobbies to pay for themselves. *
My system has multiple sources. *Turntable is a Michell Orbe SE with a QC power supply. *This is coupled with a SME IV holding a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum. *This sits on a Sound Stage Developments isolation platform, which I developed for Loricraft/Garrard for the Garrard 501. *This feeds into a Moon LP3 phono stage, which is powered by a custom 12V 2 box power supply, from David Brooks at Mains Cables R Us. *Overall, this has the detailed top, firm grippy bass and sweet mid band that you want, while still being accurate and not "a beautiful lie". *
Other sources are an Orrelle CD 10 T Transport, which feeds a Wolfson Chip Set Upsampling DAC, which I had custom made by a company in Hong Kong to my spec. *This is also fed from an Apple Mac Mini, which is used as a music server and for streaming.
The final source at the moment is an old Pioneer CT-610 3 head cassette deck, because, as you can imagine, I have literally hundreds of demo and copy master cassettes that I still like to play. *
This all feeds a passive pre amp, which uses a Dale Vishay stepped attenuator. *Again, something I had made to my spec in Hong Kong. *All this feeds an Art Audio Concerto, which uses 4 EL 34s in triode mode to produce a glorious 7 watts per channel. *I have done some modifications to the Concerto on the mains supply side. *The Concerto drives some 1969 12 inch Tannoy Monitor Golds in Lockwood Academy Cases, which are basically, I suppose, like Tannoy Yorks, but made to a hugely higher quality than Tannoy used in those days, with an incredible ply/chipboard/felt 3 layer construction. *These are coupled with Tannoy ST200 Super Tweeters. *The whole system is fed from 2 monster mains conditioners, the analogue and digital equipment being plugged into separate conditioners, which are powered from different mains spurs. *Cables are all American Silversound quasi balanced cables, except for the turntable to phono stage, which is Van den Hul, as are the Tannoy Superlinks which feed the SD200s. *Speaker Cables are again, Silversound. *All mains cabling is by Black Rhodium. *
I love the sound it gives. *To me it helps fulfil the whole incredible paradox of Hifi, which is, the more you pay for it, the better it gets and the less you can hear the equipment and the more you can hear the music and the performance - less is more....