oldclothears
22-05-2016, 12:14
My HiFi has been dormant for some time. My first system was bought from Lintone Audio in Gateshead; it was a typical system of the time, a NAD 3021 (first generation), Dual CS505 turntable with a Grado FTE+1 and a pair of Kef CodaIIs.
Later came the Rega3, Philips 473 and Audiolab 8000C. I did have a lovely Nagaoka MP-50, but I broke the boron cantilever when a bit drunk. So along came an Audio Technical AT-F5/OCC which has remained there ever since.
The Kefs had to go, I got a pair of Celef minipro-sm, great sound but the cone surrounds had had it, and I had misgivings about the tweeters when I realised that a nasty peak had been tamed by an LC in the crossover. I saw a pair of Musical Fidelity MC something's and mused, same size enclosure, easily available Elac ti treewters and Audax TPR woofers (both very recognisable, so in they went. Excellent.
Also a pair of black ash Rogers LS3/5as made their way in.
Amplification was letting me down and I wanted to do this myself. After much consideration, Rauch was selected, it had to go monoblocks, massive toroidal transformers and vast amounts of capacitance (800VA, 60,000uF and 100v rails). These babies were rated for 300w into 8ohm and 600w into 4 ohm, ridiculously fast slew rate and low output impedance.
The best arrangement I had was in a detached house on the northwest of Scotland with my nearest neighbours at least 600m away. The modified Celefs each driven by a Rauch underneath, cable under the floor to the Audiolab (low output impedance an easily able to drive a cable). I could play my music at a comfortable volume with no compression at all, you only knew that it was loud when you spoke and realised.
Kids came along and the turntable had to go up to the loft, Rauch and Celefs put away (too dangerous for toddlers). LS3/5as on wall brackets using the NAD's power amp driven by the Audiolab, didn't sound too bad, but not good enough.
The old stuff is slowly coming back.
I also have a pair of BBC LS-1s with the Parmeko coaxial driver and Lorenz tweeter that were saved from the dump. Stupid me didn't keep the cabinets, just the front baffles and mega crossovers. I tried them for the first time recently and it is surprising how good a 1950 speaker can be. I can't really keep them (I'm their curator) and they are going to have to be sold to someone who can make proper use of them. There's not much info that I can find, but they do seem to be very rare and sought after.
Later came the Rega3, Philips 473 and Audiolab 8000C. I did have a lovely Nagaoka MP-50, but I broke the boron cantilever when a bit drunk. So along came an Audio Technical AT-F5/OCC which has remained there ever since.
The Kefs had to go, I got a pair of Celef minipro-sm, great sound but the cone surrounds had had it, and I had misgivings about the tweeters when I realised that a nasty peak had been tamed by an LC in the crossover. I saw a pair of Musical Fidelity MC something's and mused, same size enclosure, easily available Elac ti treewters and Audax TPR woofers (both very recognisable, so in they went. Excellent.
Also a pair of black ash Rogers LS3/5as made their way in.
Amplification was letting me down and I wanted to do this myself. After much consideration, Rauch was selected, it had to go monoblocks, massive toroidal transformers and vast amounts of capacitance (800VA, 60,000uF and 100v rails). These babies were rated for 300w into 8ohm and 600w into 4 ohm, ridiculously fast slew rate and low output impedance.
The best arrangement I had was in a detached house on the northwest of Scotland with my nearest neighbours at least 600m away. The modified Celefs each driven by a Rauch underneath, cable under the floor to the Audiolab (low output impedance an easily able to drive a cable). I could play my music at a comfortable volume with no compression at all, you only knew that it was loud when you spoke and realised.
Kids came along and the turntable had to go up to the loft, Rauch and Celefs put away (too dangerous for toddlers). LS3/5as on wall brackets using the NAD's power amp driven by the Audiolab, didn't sound too bad, but not good enough.
The old stuff is slowly coming back.
I also have a pair of BBC LS-1s with the Parmeko coaxial driver and Lorenz tweeter that were saved from the dump. Stupid me didn't keep the cabinets, just the front baffles and mega crossovers. I tried them for the first time recently and it is surprising how good a 1950 speaker can be. I can't really keep them (I'm their curator) and they are going to have to be sold to someone who can make proper use of them. There's not much info that I can find, but they do seem to be very rare and sought after.