Hello from North London

[Edward]

Hi there

Long time music listener - tastes range from 70s rock, to classical music to female vocals. Last few years I have been sharing music ideas around with my 22y daughter - she loves what I like and I like what she likes. Keep me relatively up to date. Laura Marling Semper Femina for example playing in the background right now for example.

Over the years my HiFi setup has seen many iterations (some distinctly LoFi it has to be said). Current setup is all digital with DIY NAS feeding (via ethernet) a DIY renderer based on a fanless Mini-ITX board with SSD, Sotm and Paul Pang parts. The renderer uses JRiver and Win10 (with non essential services turned off).

That feeds a Chevron non oversampling DAC and from there to a Tisbury passive pre-amp and then to two power amps. One power amp is a Radford Revival STA25 (thanks Will Moores) and the other a Baldwin 405 clone (DIY guy from Sussex). Speakers are (in main living room) a pair of PMC LB1 Signatures and the other (in back room) a very old pair of Accoustic Research bookshelves. Previous speakers in main room were a pair of Harbeth of HL5ES (recently sold). Switching is via a 4 way DIY switching box made by Paul Baldwin.

My aim is to obtain a transparent 'organic' non fatiguing sound which the current setup I think achieves. Immediate plans are to go for an active preamp and maybe upgrade to the latest Chevron DAC (if I can get Colin to give me a nice price. :) ).

In a few months time I hope to open up a completely new room (where WAF will not be such an issue) and have my eyes on some Celestion a3s. :eyebrows:

cheers

[jollyfix]

Hi Edward, welcome to AOS. Some nice gear you have there. Enjoy the forum

[Audio Al]

Hello

From me in East London ish :)

[jollyfix]

Forgot to say 'South London ish'
Just need Geoff now for West and we are there.

[walpurgis]

Hello Edward. Welcome to AOS.

Looks as though you are having fun with a mix of old and new Hi-Fi. Many of us do the same.

A change of pre-amp can be good, but the Tisbury is a decent device and should give nice enough results with the 405 clone and the Radford.

Feel free to join in the chat and ask any questions.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[tapid]

Welcome Edward, enjoy the forum. Another north Londoner btw so its come round in a full circle.

[HackneyRF]

And a warm welcome from a north east Londoner. Enjoy the forum.

[Edward]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Seems we are still missing a West Londoner from this thread! :)

E

[walpurgis]

Seems we are still missing a West Londoner from this thread! :)

Wrong! :D

[RobbieGong]

South East London :wave:

[Spectral Morn]

Welcome to AoS

[Edward]

Wrong! :D

Oh I'm glad I'm wrong. Nice to have all parts of the lovely London covered now. Best city in the world. ;)

I was reading the kit in your signature - my head is spinning now.

Where do you keep all that audio porn? You must have a massive mansion in West London to house it. :stalks:

I'm just a poor North London boy. :violin:

E

[struth]

South East London :wave:

Nowhere near London ;)

Welcome

[walpurgis]

Where do you keep all that audio porn? You must have a massive mansion in West London to house it. :stalks:

No. It's all in my little 11 foot by 12 foot 'den'. :)

[spendorman]

Hi Edward

My amplifiers include a 405-2 and a Radford STA25 III, had the Radford more than 40 years, the 405-2 was a 405 that I bought around 1976 when they first came out. About 1987 I converted it to a -2 with the Quad conversion kit.

Any pics of your Radford?

[Edward]

Hi Edward

My amplifiers include a 405-2 and a Radford STA25 III, had the Radford more than 40 years, the 405-2 was a 405 that I bought around 1976 when they first came out. About 1987 I converted it to a -2 with the Quad conversion kit.

Any pics of your Radford?

Oh my. 40 years. Really glad to hear that. Testament to Arthur's solid construction. Have you ever had it serviced?

Will upload pictures of my bits and pieces later on (and probably in the correct sub-forum) but essentially what mine looks like is the following.

http://www.radfordrevival.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/02-New-STA25.jpg

Mine is Radford Revival reissue which has proved to be awesome. I previously had an original STA25 but it was knackered (abused by a Hawkwind member) so the kind Will Moores at RR did me a new one a couple of years ago.

What speakers are you driving? spendors?

E

[spendorman]

Oh my. 40 years. Really glad to hear that. Testament to Arthur's solid construction. Have you ever had it serviced?

Will upload pictures of my bits and pieces later on (and probably in the correct sub-forum) but essentially what mine looks like is the following.

http://www.radfordrevival.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/02-New-STA25.jpg

Mine is Radford Revival reissue which has proved to be awesome. I previously had an original STA25 but it was knackered (abused by a Hawkwind member) so the kind Will Moores at RR did me a new one a couple of years ago.

What speakers are you driving? spendors?

E

My STA25 was not new when I bought it, but was in very good condition. It still is, in fact does not look much different to the one that you linked to. It has never been serviced whilst I have had it, all components seem to be in good condition.

Hawkwind eh! There was one on ebay not so long ago that was owned by Eric Clapton.

Speakers in use at the moment are not far from Spendors, Rogers Monitor LS3/6, although of course I have Spendors (BC1, BC2 and Preludes), and many other speakers including JR 149's, Quad ESL57's 63's, Tannoy HPD315's, Chartwell LS3/5a, B&W DM1, DM2, DM3, DM5, Tangent RS2, RS4, KEF Corelli, KEF Coda (original) Videton Minimax, homemade LS3/5a clones, JPW AP2, AP3's, Gold Monitors, and a few other too.

My Radford, photos about 5 years ago:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2076/32734114701_d442db1162_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/RSATRX)DSCF1241 (https://flic.kr/p/RSATRX) by A60man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41679262@N02/), on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/614/32857794805_c7abae4fb5_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/S4wMDx)DSCF1239 (https://flic.kr/p/S4wMDx) by A60man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/41679262@N02/), on Flickr

[Radford Revival]

Hi Edward,

Nice to see you on the forum!

Rest assured I have not forgotten the odds and ends I need to do for you ;)

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Edward,

Yes, some nice gear you have there.

Enjoy the Forum
Barry (who also has a Radford valve amp, and an embarassing amount of Quad gear)

[spendorman]

Eric Clapton's Radford STA25 III, shame the pics are no longer there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280866120877

[Edward]

Hi Edward,

Nice to see you on the forum!

Rest assured I have not forgotten the odds and ends I need to do for you ;)

Thanks Will. We should catch up generally soon.

Hope you are enjoying the reference speakers?

Please pass on my regards to your parents.

Edward

[Edward]

Welcome to AoS Edward,

Yes, some nice gear you have there.

Enjoy the Forum
Barry (who also has a Radford valve amp, and an embarassing amount of Quad gear)

Thanks Barry

It is really amazing how many people are still running with old Radfords. Of course much easier now that Will can bring old units into the 21c whilst still sticking with the ethos of Arthur's design ideas.

One idea Will and I have been tossing around is for me to get another STA25 and mono block them.

For now I'm about to jump on a new DAC and/or new preamp. May get a new Chevron DAC from Colin. An alternative I'm mulling over is a RME ADI-2 Pro. Not many reviews so far but looks awesome.

Edward