petea
26-07-2010, 20:36
Hi Everyone,
I have been lurking around for the last few weeks reading bits and pieces on the forum and thought it was about time I revealed myself! First up, my main interest is in the music but, like the rest of you, I guess, I have always wanted it to sound 'right'. Over the last 35 years I have have seen remarkable few changes to my system. Started in my teens with a Fidelity record player (saved up and bought from Woolies!). Added a Sony direct drive deck to that with battery powered 'phono-stage' about 9 months later to stop my few precious albums getting trashed. A year later saw the purchase of a JVC amplifier (can't remember the model but a friend of mine is still using it with the deck and the speakers I added later). but the plastic speakers that used to form the lid of the Fidelity unit were to stay for another 2 years (it's amazing what you can get used to!!). At last I had enough spare cash to buy some S/H speakers from a friend - Goodman Magnums (handy as corner tables too!!). At last though I got a decent job and once the mortgage rate had dropped from about 15% I decided it was time to change a few things.
Enter Reading Hi-Fi (then independent, now part of the Audio-T group - but the guy I bought my stuff off 20 odd years ago is still there), where I bought my first real deck, a Rega Planar 3 with RB250 / Corus Blue. I still have this fitted with a Rega Elys. A year later I went back and auditioned amplifiers and came away with an Onix OA21S and fell in love with the Rega Ela speakers. Well, I still have the OA21S and after finding that I could no longer get the latest releases I wanted I was forced to purchase one of those new fangled CD player things. So, back to Reading Hi-Fi and after finding that I needed to stretch my budget somewhat to achieve the sound of the Rega Planar 3 I ended up buying a Meridian 206B (and the long lusted after Rega Ela's). This with Exposure speaker leads and Audioquest interconnects has served me well for the last 20 years (along with a wall mount for the deck and a self-made stand and the odd spot of Sorbothane)!!
As you will have guessed, I live near Reading - well, at least half of the time. The other half, I live in Postdam, Germany and that's where the trouble started!! My system in the UK was stored away for about 6 years while the house was being re-sculpted, shall we say (one day it might even look like a house again). After an operation this spring when I was trapped in the UK I dug the system out, set it up and started to play music on it. (rather than the computer at work) Then I realised that I needed to do something about the Sony system we had as a temporary measure in Potsdam. No problem, I thought. I'll just buy the same again second hand and then I'll have two identical systems! Well, I guess you all know how hard it is to find a secondhand Onix amp (I understand most of them are now in France ;-) ) and the Meridian seemed somewhat elusive and I didn't fancy shipping Ela's. So I decided that a pair of Rega Kytes would do nicely for Potsdam (where the living room is smaller) and I could take the 206B and the OA21S over and replace these. So a 200/263 was acquired for the UK along with an Exposure XI/XII Super VIII combo. But then an Onix OA24/401 combo came up on eBay and I just couldn't resist (I guess I don't need to explain). And then there was a need for more cables (Siltech Stockholm for transport to DAC and New York for DAC to amp - I had a spare set of Exposure speaker cables from a house move 17 years ago)) and a few mains cables (Isomain Silver from Isokinetik but I think I might need something a bit more dynamic for the power amplifiers). Oh, I forgot to mention those! The problem with the Exposure amps compared with the Onix was that the base lacked extension so bought a pair of Meridian 205's to warm the sound up. But then of course the OA31/401 came along but, as I'd got them I thought,well, let's see. And you know, they are almost identical in sound quality but have a bit more oomph to the 401. So that now acts as the power supply to the OA31 only.
So now all was rosy - except that I was planning to tweak the Rega Planar but the other guy at Reading Hi-Fi said it would be a good idea to review my CD system as well - I'd be blown away by the new stuff - have a look at Naim. So I did, but was underwhelmed but then I saw a Lector. And even worse, I borrowed one. Well I wasn't blown away (it's amazing how well the Meridian stands up against modern digital), but it just did more of what the Meridian / Onix combo did best. So now I have a Lector Digidrive and Digicode and am checking out an Isotek Sigmas and, you know, I wouldn't mind hearing a set of Leema Xones and I'm looking at a Rega P9. Maybe I should add a few more valves stages in as well. Arghhh......
Oh well never mind, not being able to afford food for a few weeks wouldn't hurt the old waistline. So it seems I'm hooked.
OK, I said it was all about the music. My tastes are pretty eclectic. I don't listen to a lot of classical but it depends on the mood. As an example I have near me the pile of CD's I have played in the last couple of days (the deck isn't running at the moment); Polar Bear, Eric Clapton Unplugged, Pink Floyd Pulse, Troyka, Joni Mitchell - Don Juans Reckless Daughter, Mumford and Sons, REM Live, Elvis Costello, 10,000 Maniacs, King Creosote, Paul Simon, Yann Tiersen, Juanna Molina, Pamelia Kurstin, 17 Hippies, Anna Ternheim, Michael Nyman and Cat Stevens (at the moment).
I'm afraid I will end up dipping in and out as I run a small company and often my time evaporates, and I travel fair bit. But I will try my hardest to contribute. I'm really interested in cables and mains at the moment, but I have a general interest in most things. I am a scientist by profession and take a fairly scientific approach to making changes but use my ears to measure the effects and kind of have an idea of where I'm trying to get. So I'm looking forward to talking things through with you all.
I'll try to put some pictures into the gallery in the next few days.
So, after a novella length intro, "Hi again", to all at Art of Sound.
Kind Regards,
I have been lurking around for the last few weeks reading bits and pieces on the forum and thought it was about time I revealed myself! First up, my main interest is in the music but, like the rest of you, I guess, I have always wanted it to sound 'right'. Over the last 35 years I have have seen remarkable few changes to my system. Started in my teens with a Fidelity record player (saved up and bought from Woolies!). Added a Sony direct drive deck to that with battery powered 'phono-stage' about 9 months later to stop my few precious albums getting trashed. A year later saw the purchase of a JVC amplifier (can't remember the model but a friend of mine is still using it with the deck and the speakers I added later). but the plastic speakers that used to form the lid of the Fidelity unit were to stay for another 2 years (it's amazing what you can get used to!!). At last I had enough spare cash to buy some S/H speakers from a friend - Goodman Magnums (handy as corner tables too!!). At last though I got a decent job and once the mortgage rate had dropped from about 15% I decided it was time to change a few things.
Enter Reading Hi-Fi (then independent, now part of the Audio-T group - but the guy I bought my stuff off 20 odd years ago is still there), where I bought my first real deck, a Rega Planar 3 with RB250 / Corus Blue. I still have this fitted with a Rega Elys. A year later I went back and auditioned amplifiers and came away with an Onix OA21S and fell in love with the Rega Ela speakers. Well, I still have the OA21S and after finding that I could no longer get the latest releases I wanted I was forced to purchase one of those new fangled CD player things. So, back to Reading Hi-Fi and after finding that I needed to stretch my budget somewhat to achieve the sound of the Rega Planar 3 I ended up buying a Meridian 206B (and the long lusted after Rega Ela's). This with Exposure speaker leads and Audioquest interconnects has served me well for the last 20 years (along with a wall mount for the deck and a self-made stand and the odd spot of Sorbothane)!!
As you will have guessed, I live near Reading - well, at least half of the time. The other half, I live in Postdam, Germany and that's where the trouble started!! My system in the UK was stored away for about 6 years while the house was being re-sculpted, shall we say (one day it might even look like a house again). After an operation this spring when I was trapped in the UK I dug the system out, set it up and started to play music on it. (rather than the computer at work) Then I realised that I needed to do something about the Sony system we had as a temporary measure in Potsdam. No problem, I thought. I'll just buy the same again second hand and then I'll have two identical systems! Well, I guess you all know how hard it is to find a secondhand Onix amp (I understand most of them are now in France ;-) ) and the Meridian seemed somewhat elusive and I didn't fancy shipping Ela's. So I decided that a pair of Rega Kytes would do nicely for Potsdam (where the living room is smaller) and I could take the 206B and the OA21S over and replace these. So a 200/263 was acquired for the UK along with an Exposure XI/XII Super VIII combo. But then an Onix OA24/401 combo came up on eBay and I just couldn't resist (I guess I don't need to explain). And then there was a need for more cables (Siltech Stockholm for transport to DAC and New York for DAC to amp - I had a spare set of Exposure speaker cables from a house move 17 years ago)) and a few mains cables (Isomain Silver from Isokinetik but I think I might need something a bit more dynamic for the power amplifiers). Oh, I forgot to mention those! The problem with the Exposure amps compared with the Onix was that the base lacked extension so bought a pair of Meridian 205's to warm the sound up. But then of course the OA31/401 came along but, as I'd got them I thought,well, let's see. And you know, they are almost identical in sound quality but have a bit more oomph to the 401. So that now acts as the power supply to the OA31 only.
So now all was rosy - except that I was planning to tweak the Rega Planar but the other guy at Reading Hi-Fi said it would be a good idea to review my CD system as well - I'd be blown away by the new stuff - have a look at Naim. So I did, but was underwhelmed but then I saw a Lector. And even worse, I borrowed one. Well I wasn't blown away (it's amazing how well the Meridian stands up against modern digital), but it just did more of what the Meridian / Onix combo did best. So now I have a Lector Digidrive and Digicode and am checking out an Isotek Sigmas and, you know, I wouldn't mind hearing a set of Leema Xones and I'm looking at a Rega P9. Maybe I should add a few more valves stages in as well. Arghhh......
Oh well never mind, not being able to afford food for a few weeks wouldn't hurt the old waistline. So it seems I'm hooked.
OK, I said it was all about the music. My tastes are pretty eclectic. I don't listen to a lot of classical but it depends on the mood. As an example I have near me the pile of CD's I have played in the last couple of days (the deck isn't running at the moment); Polar Bear, Eric Clapton Unplugged, Pink Floyd Pulse, Troyka, Joni Mitchell - Don Juans Reckless Daughter, Mumford and Sons, REM Live, Elvis Costello, 10,000 Maniacs, King Creosote, Paul Simon, Yann Tiersen, Juanna Molina, Pamelia Kurstin, 17 Hippies, Anna Ternheim, Michael Nyman and Cat Stevens (at the moment).
I'm afraid I will end up dipping in and out as I run a small company and often my time evaporates, and I travel fair bit. But I will try my hardest to contribute. I'm really interested in cables and mains at the moment, but I have a general interest in most things. I am a scientist by profession and take a fairly scientific approach to making changes but use my ears to measure the effects and kind of have an idea of where I'm trying to get. So I'm looking forward to talking things through with you all.
I'll try to put some pictures into the gallery in the next few days.
So, after a novella length intro, "Hi again", to all at Art of Sound.
Kind Regards,