Val's System

[Val33]

Evening All,

I thought it was about time I posted some pics of my system. It's changed a lot over the last year, and I am still working on it. I do not have golden ears, but each upgrade I have made can be clearly heard, even over the tinnitus that has afflicted me for the past ten years.

Sony PS6750 (about to be re-capped and have the power supply 'externalised').

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020902_zpsb5f6f470.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020902_zpsb5f6f470.jpg.html)


Decca London Super Gold.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020887_zpsda2c8362.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020887_zpsda2c8362.jpg.html)


Nagaoka MP-200 ready to swop in.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020905_zps5ee852eb.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020905_zps5ee852eb.jpg.html)


Vinylsong LCR Phono.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020901_zps8eeae43e.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020901_zps8eeae43e.jpg.html)


Self built Nick Gorham designed el84 loaded 6080 valve line stage feeding Silk TVC's.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020896_zps26e20a32.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020896_zps26e20a32.jpg.html)


Self built 5687/itx/300b PP Mono Block amps based on SP Wound iron.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020897_zps0b72edaa.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020897_zps0b72edaa.jpg.html)


Heavily modded Airport Express feeding Modded Bushmaster DAC.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020895_zpsc8f06f7b.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020895_zpsc8f06f7b.jpg.html)


Celestion Ditton 66's (Re-capped and re-located crossovers).

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020907_zpsd871504c.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020907_zpsd871504c.jpg.html)

The rack is made from cut down Lak tables from Ikea! Very much a work in progress, but until I stop changing/building things, it'll do!

The listening room is very compromised, both by it's shape and construction and consideration for my other half who simply does not 'get' my passion for HiFi. The room is 'L' shaped, very large, has a high ceiling, lots of large windows on two walls, and a cellar below! The hifi is where it has to be, and has to work around the furniture! Never mind, it actually works rather well :)

Thanks for looking

Val

[Ali Tait]

Very nice. Nick's pre is rather good isn't it?

[Val33]

A couple of extra pics of the amps:


http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020899_zps73509b25.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020899_zps73509b25.jpg.html)


http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020900_zpsedf87c1e.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020900_zpsedf87c1e.jpg.html)

Turntable


http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020906_zpsf245c510.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020906_zpsf245c510.jpg.html)


and room


http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020910_zps40594442.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020910_zps40594442.jpg.html)


My listening chair.


http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/P1020912_zpsa39bd8b5.jpg (http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/Val3310/media/AOS/P1020912_zpsa39bd8b5.jpg.html)


Val

[Wakefield Turntables]

Val,

That has to be one of the nicest looking systems I have seen in a while, I love your mix of kit. ;)

Well done.

Andy

[realysm42]

"Nice"

[synsei]

Lovely stuff. Cringing a little at the ornament and lamp sitting atop the 66's though. My lot know not to put stuff on top of my speakers under pain of me finding all sorts of boring odd jobs for them to do :lol:

[Val33]

Very nice. Nick's pre is rather good isn't it?

Yes it is. Nick had a hand in the design of the 300b's as well, providing the design for the input stage, not to mention his incredible patience helping me to troubleshoot the build. The man is a star.

Val

[Val33]

Lovely stuff. Cringing a little at the ornament and lamp sitting atop the 66's though. My lot know not to put stuff on top of my speakers under pain of me finding all sorts of boring odd jobs for them to do :lol:

I know what you mean, but the cabinets are not pristine and if the lamps did not go on them, I would have to make room for tables to put them on!

Val

[Ali Tait]

Yes it is. Nick had a hand in the design of the 300b's as well, providing the design for the input stage, not to mention his incredible patience helping me to troubleshoot the build. The man is a star.

Val

Aye, Nick's a top bloke.

[RobbieGong]

Lovely set up !!

[costerdock]

Looks very nice - I bet it sounds wonderful.

[Tarzan]

Val, would just like to echo everybody else's thoughts very nice looking system and l reckon it must sound it too:)

[littlest hobo]

Lovely room too, very mid century

[RichB]

lovely system and a nice room too...

like your choice of furniture, retro but not in the least bit contrived as it can sometimes appear.

all in all a nice place to enjoy some tunes, and i now find myself wanting a pair of 66s.

[petrat]

That looks like a really well thought-through system.
I'm intrigued by the LCR phono stage. Any thoughts on it would be most welcome, Val.

[cpjvej2012]

Very Nice looking system!

[Idlewithnodrive]

Top top system and love the room as well.

[hoopsontoast]

Beautiful! Love the Sony Deck!

[Val33]

Thanks for all the nice comments :)

I do prefer an eclectic mix of components, preferably ones I can either build myself or modify to improve.

We live in a Grade II Listed Building, It was a pub and we converted it to our house last year, we love it! We have had to replace just about every piece of furniture plus buy loads more as our old house was much smaller and modern. Our Daughters have strongly influenced the 'mid century' look, we think it works rather well with the old building.

The Dittons were a recent purchase as my existing speakers clashed badly with the room. I was rather concerned when I first connected them up, the mids were far too forward and the top quite lacking, but after re-capping the crossovers and moving them into the base of the cabinet, re-wiring and generally fettling the sound is now rather wonderful. I can see why Marco likes them.

The Vinylsong LCR was purchased as a 'customer return' for a very good price from the manufacturer. I'm not convinced by the design of the tube stage, I especially do not like the power supply, rectification and smoothing all being done directly on the main circuit boards. It does suffer from a bit of hum and is also very sensitive to electrical fields from near by equipment (hence why its sitting on the floor!) but I am sure I'll cure this, probably by moving all the power supply section to a separate case and wrapping the LCR units in plenty of mu-metal. On the plus side, it sounds fabulous. I'm not good at describing sound, but my overriding impression is of a very wide and deep soundstage with sharp crisp bass, haunting mids and top notes that I have never heard before. I have to say, I have never had vinyl replay this good before, the only down sides are that it really does show up poor quality recordings and I've had to buy an RCM because otherwise 90% of my vinyl was unlistenable :doh:

Val

[stupinder]

Lovely room and a really nice bunch of kit.




Once again i realise I live in a skip

[bigmarty]

Heavily modded Airport Express feeding Modded Bushmaster DAC.

Val

Hi Val,
As every body else has said great looking system, but how did you modify the Airport Express?

Marty

[Val33]

Hi Val,
As every body else has said great looking system, but how did you modify the Airport Express?

Marty

Hi

I ripped it out of its original case, dumped the power supply and disabled the wireless board. I then built a linear power supply with a small torroid transformer, schotty diodes and smoothing caps feeding two separate super teddy regulators to feed the express nice clean supply. I also added a lead connected directly to the i2s to input to any suitable DAC. I intend to mod the the Bushmaster to take the i2s instead of the current optical feed.

I know the express is limited to 16/44.1k, but it sounds pretty damn good to me :)

My information came from here: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homecinema-fr.com%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D1057%26t%3D29 924157%26start%3D315

Val

[bigmarty]

Hi Val,

Thanks for the info, very interesting..........

Cheers

Marty

[Mika K]

Indeed :)

[petrat]

Thanks for the info on the phono-stage, Val.
My kind of system!

[loo]

that's not a stereo its an ART instillation :stalks:

[User211]

6080.

I have a load - GEC, Mullard, Centron 7236 (actually Tung-Sol as they bought them out) etc. Must get round to selling them but if you are interested PM me. I was rolling them in a Woo Audio headphone amp I no longer have. Really need to put them on the 'bay.

Nice system anyway. BTW GEC seemed the "bestest" of the lot FWIW.

BTW if I wasn't running Duettas I'd probably be running Celestion 66s. Love 'em to bits. Proper sound:)

[johnB]

The Dittons were a recent purchase as my existing speakers clashed badly with the room. I was rather concerned when I first connected them up, the mids were far too forward and the top quite lacking, but after re-capping the crossovers and moving them into the base of the cabinet, re-wiring and generally fettling the sound is now rather wonderful. I can see why Marco likes

Val

Val, can you give more detail on your mods to your 66s please?
Cheers
John

[Val33]

Val, can you give more detail on your mods to your 66s please?
Cheers
John

Hi John

There is a thread over on diyaudio that has all the details. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/93055-celestion-66-needs-mid-range-96.html#post3504554 Start from post 957.

I am also waiting for some new inductors for the bass with lower DCR that should help the Dittons control the ABR units better and therefore sharpen up the bass.

Hope that helps

Val

[johnB]

Thanks Val...looks pretty comprehensive.
Cheers
John

[The Black Adder]

Very nice system.. all you need now is some better interconnects... lol.. :eyebrows:

Superb drum though, a man after me own retro heart. Well groovy! - Even a pedestal ash tray, get in! I don't smoke but I'd still have one.

[The Outcast]

Quirky, interesting and bllody lovely.

[Val33]

About time I updated this thread!

Just had a rather pleasant afternoon having a first listen to my new cartridge. A Benz Micro LP-s. I'm very happy with the noise it makes :)

Anyway, here's some updated pics.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/IMG_1448_zpsqmsvtrem.jpg

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/IMG_1450_zpsm31virsw.jpg

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/IMG_1429_zps8a2yexpv.jpg

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/IMG_1444_zpsw07xltce.jpg

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/Val3310/AOS/IMG_1432_zpsajwisblo.jpg

Val

[Marco]

The stuff of dreams, Val! :drool: :drool:

Would love to come and hear it sometime :)

Marco.

[The Black Adder]

Vveeery sexy! - Love the JBL's - Are those the same as Mika's?... Bet it sounds proper monster!