montesquieu
13-04-2012, 06:52
Been off grid for three weeks holidaying in Asia .. while there the wife and I decided that after three years of renting in the south-east ,we would finally put in an offer on a place we fancy. This is a cool place but there will be less room for hifi.
So, literally, i need to down-size (as in reduce physical size and box count of my system). This will bring to an end my rather enjoyable experiment with active Tannoys (indeed, the Tannoys themselves are at risk of replacement with something smaller such as AN-Es, though not quite yet).
Current list (I may add to this):
Tannoy active crossover unit - built by Nick Gorham from the very highly regarded circuit on the Tannoyista site (http://www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy86.htm) - this requires a single preamp connection in, and has two outputs one for HF, one for LF, to the two power amps. This has cost me well over £500 when component upgrades were taken into account (most recently a pair of new class D regulators which pretty much banished noise altogether from then circuit). I"m looking for £350 for it.
Pair of Tannoy Lockwood Universal cabinets - picked up recently off PFM with a view to trying them out. Marco on AOS has a pair of the near-identical Lockwood Majors and they have (by all accounts) a marvellous sound when used with 15in Monitor Golds or HPDs. Looking for the £350 back that I paid for them. Pics by email on request just PM.
Chinese 2A3 SET Integrated I was using to drive the 2in compression drivers on the Tannoys. This is a lovely bit of kit, identical to this one (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170792287249?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) only black. I has a really charming sound. The transformers seem pretty decent, it's valve rectified and seems to put out a fair bit of current - you'd want to use speakers better than 91-92db with it (Snells, Wharfedale E Series, Fostex/Lowther type etc) but with the right speakers it can produce real magic. I bought it from GJM at the start of theyear for £300, looking for that back or nearest offer.
Audion Silver Night 300b Push-Pull monoblocks. These are in silver cases but are identical to my existing gold ones (big Audion custom wound OPTs, amp section point to point silver wired), come with a decent set of EH Gold Grid 300bs. Looking for £950 but might also swap/Px for something interesting in terms of solid state, Class D, or even SET - what's out there?
Other bits not related to Tannoy:
Ringmat 330 MkII XLR- - worked fantastic with my LP12 and later with my Garrard 401, but does nothing for the Voyd. Well worth a shot to fine-tune your TT, whether suspended, idler or high mass. £35 posted (currently £59).
Fully built-up UTC A12 step-up transformer with switchable earth and switchable gain (1:20/1:40) and a range of loading plugs to suit cartridges from 3 ohm to 40 ohm loading and gain from as low as 0.2mv on the high gain setting. Assembled for me by Nick Gorham, the UTCs are like gold dust these days, i brought them in from the US, overall this cost me the best part of £400, looking for £200 which is less than I paid to bring in just the UTCs. I had been hanging onto it in case I ever changed cartridge again but I can't see me switching from the Io now, for which I need a Kondo SUT.
Pics to follow.
So, literally, i need to down-size (as in reduce physical size and box count of my system). This will bring to an end my rather enjoyable experiment with active Tannoys (indeed, the Tannoys themselves are at risk of replacement with something smaller such as AN-Es, though not quite yet).
Current list (I may add to this):
Tannoy active crossover unit - built by Nick Gorham from the very highly regarded circuit on the Tannoyista site (http://www.hilberink.nl/codehans/tannoy86.htm) - this requires a single preamp connection in, and has two outputs one for HF, one for LF, to the two power amps. This has cost me well over £500 when component upgrades were taken into account (most recently a pair of new class D regulators which pretty much banished noise altogether from then circuit). I"m looking for £350 for it.
Pair of Tannoy Lockwood Universal cabinets - picked up recently off PFM with a view to trying them out. Marco on AOS has a pair of the near-identical Lockwood Majors and they have (by all accounts) a marvellous sound when used with 15in Monitor Golds or HPDs. Looking for the £350 back that I paid for them. Pics by email on request just PM.
Chinese 2A3 SET Integrated I was using to drive the 2in compression drivers on the Tannoys. This is a lovely bit of kit, identical to this one (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170792287249?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT) only black. I has a really charming sound. The transformers seem pretty decent, it's valve rectified and seems to put out a fair bit of current - you'd want to use speakers better than 91-92db with it (Snells, Wharfedale E Series, Fostex/Lowther type etc) but with the right speakers it can produce real magic. I bought it from GJM at the start of theyear for £300, looking for that back or nearest offer.
Audion Silver Night 300b Push-Pull monoblocks. These are in silver cases but are identical to my existing gold ones (big Audion custom wound OPTs, amp section point to point silver wired), come with a decent set of EH Gold Grid 300bs. Looking for £950 but might also swap/Px for something interesting in terms of solid state, Class D, or even SET - what's out there?
Other bits not related to Tannoy:
Ringmat 330 MkII XLR- - worked fantastic with my LP12 and later with my Garrard 401, but does nothing for the Voyd. Well worth a shot to fine-tune your TT, whether suspended, idler or high mass. £35 posted (currently £59).
Fully built-up UTC A12 step-up transformer with switchable earth and switchable gain (1:20/1:40) and a range of loading plugs to suit cartridges from 3 ohm to 40 ohm loading and gain from as low as 0.2mv on the high gain setting. Assembled for me by Nick Gorham, the UTCs are like gold dust these days, i brought them in from the US, overall this cost me the best part of £400, looking for £200 which is less than I paid to bring in just the UTCs. I had been hanging onto it in case I ever changed cartridge again but I can't see me switching from the Io now, for which I need a Kondo SUT.
Pics to follow.