All change chez moi

[Lawrence001]

Well half change anyway, new power amp and speakers. Saw some classic 80s gear for sale and couldn't resist it.

The TDL Studios are very early, they don't have the usual biwire terminals. I was pleasantly surprised when I measured them and looked them up to find they were Studio 2s not the 1s I first thought. They needed a bit of oiling on the cabinet but otherwise in very good condition.

The MF Pre doesn't work, I need to see what's going on. The P170 had a broken speaker socket, I dug around and found a set of 4 half decent ones and just replaced the lot. It's sounding very nice indeed with my Xiang Sheng valve pre. I think it's one of Tim de P's designs and operates in class A for the first few watts (20 claimed but I always take Anthony Michaelson's claims of this period with a pinch of salt - the A1 was sold as a Class A amp after all!!).

All in all I'm very happy tonight [emoji16]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190927/215cf7f44c9bda172e9a4541ea45971a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190927/64d5e747749aea95279a5753c3766a97.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190927/fed9cbe72e881ad6c7592a4c1eff8430.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190927/ed801a93a42a96b5da2382f829d9c448.jpg

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190927/172fd20c63a4acee1f31ab5d6d69040c.jpg

[walpurgis]

Nice. Good score there.

I like the 'unusual' cable layout. :)

[Bigman80]

Nice score indeed!

Lovely stuff.

[Lawrence001]

Couldn't see anything wrong inside the pre so plugged it in and it works fine, it's just the LED that doesn't work [emoji16]. It has two output options, the second is buffered, nice touch [emoji1]

Bit late for critical listening tonight. I have a feeling from a brief listen that it's one of those components that sounds perfectly fine until you start A-B-ing it and then you realise it's not as transparent or revealing as some others.

But if it sounds musical hey who cares. I'm trying to get off that train.

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[Lawrence001]

Nice. Good score there.

I like the 'unusual' cable layout. :)Do you mean the coiled up snake on the left? That's the problem with having 2 5m runs and one speaker only 1m from the amp [emoji38]

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[southall-1998_mk2]

Good to see some classic TDL's still being used.

S.

[Lawrence001]

Next step is to look at the XOs and maybe replace the caps. Might look into refreshing the ferrofluid in the tweeters too.

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[Jimbo]

I like MF amps. Had the Synthesis in the 80s 70 watt integrated. Absolute beast, think it ran in Class A?

[Macca]

Real old school MF, like it.

[Lawrence001]

I like MF amps. Had the Synthesis in the 80s 70 watt integrated. Absolute beast, think it ran in Class A?Might be class a for a few watts I think it only had a small heatsink on the back. Looked nice in black perspex though, especially if the red writing lit up like my old "The Preamp". [emoji1]

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[Jimbo]

Might be class a for a few watts I think it only had a small heatsink on the back. Looked nice in black perspex though, especially if the red writing lit up like my old "The Preamp". [emoji1]

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Yes black perspex and lit up in red writing. Looked the biz!:)

[jandl100]

Next step is to look at the XOs and maybe replace the caps. Might look into refreshing the ferrofluid in the tweeters too.

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I've heard a pair of re-capped / refurbed TDLs from that era. Prepare to be stunned. You know that transparency that you suspect you is missing? You'll be hearing it by the bucketful. :wow:

[Lawrence001]

I've heard a pair of re-capped / refurbed TDLs from that era. Prepare to be stunned. You know that transparency that you suspect you are missing? You'll be hearing it by the bucketful. :wow:Thanks Jerry good to know. Better get inside to check out the crossovers then [emoji16]

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[Lawrence001]

Just an update. Got the multimeter out to see why the led in the pre wasn't working. Turned out the fuse in the back wasn't in properly and the voltage on the amp was low. Strange it worked before but it sounds a lot better now [emoji38]

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[Lawrence001]

It's been a while and, perhaps not surprisingly, a few things have changed [emoji1]

I went through some Celestion A2s and Kef Reference Model 2s and 3s before ending up with these ones I bought a few months ago that I thought were my keepers until a couple of weeks ago.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200322/86e741df1c5af6e4907418dfbef5fc49.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200322/e44c8e3660cdc574e41abf14525ed124.jpg

[Lawrence001]

Haven't updated here for a while. Just got myself some little Rega Juras. They are just a little dominated by my Amphions!

Sound wise I'm very impressed, musical is the word. No hint of brightness or edge to the treble as some have said online. I guess that's just down to the rest of the system and mine suits them just fine.

They sound particularity nice at low levels, I often struggle to find a speaker I can play quietly at night.

I can tell that the port contributes quite a lot to the bass, but then I've been rather spoiled for a while now by the Amphion's sealed cabinet 12" bass units [emoji16]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210307/3f95f79b8119bccb7990fa89adcd1330.jpg

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[Lawrence001]

Just stuffed the ports with flannels (they're too big for socks, nearly lost one!) and I'm rather surprised that the balance wasn't tipped too far to the HF. In fact they sound very good this way, I'm really surprised they don't get more mention online, they really are very nice speakers.

Also got me thinking I've got my system sounding pretty good now, if it can make these sound as nice as they do [emoji16]

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[rigger67]

I had a pair of Juras in the pale wood finish about three years ago.
Sometimes I wish I'd never let them go and they're the only speakers I can say that about.

You're right about the musicality, but more than that they're the only speakers I've had that made bass sound like music rather than just a noise, if that makes sense.
I use bookshelf speakers with a sub these days - it's quite a small room - and it's a great set-up which I'm very pleased with (and I should also update my system thread) but the Regas were the only things that filled the entire spectrum of sound properly on their own.

I'm really glad a mate of mine was so impressed he bought a pair too, so I can still get a fix if I need it.

Good luck finding a wood pair :)

[Lawrence001]

Thanks Paul they are very nice but I've put them to one side as I prefer my Amphions overall. But there's still something addictive about them...

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