Advice on what to improve

[kininigin]

After residing to the fact im not going to be able to get some active pmc's or atc's for around £500 (with the sale of current speakers) i've decided to concentrate on the rest of my system.

I have about £200-300 and would like a bit of advice on the best route to take.

Options i've considered so far are psu for the technics and a S.A.S jico stylus
which would set me back around £250 ish (if dave still has some old psu's left for sale)

Or should i sort out my mains cabling with some Mark Grants and upgrade my dac?

Maybe some upgrades on the croft?

If it was your money what would you do?

[John]

What do you listen to the most the TT od digital side I think that should be your first guide
The MG cables should help with everything so they be a good all round bet also you could pick up a decent balanced mains that be a good all rounder
It really will depend on what you want to achieve so have a good think about it first the 1210 mods should help or you could do the passive mods to the DAC for all accounts that really ups the DAC performance and leads you some change for the MG cables

[kininigin]

What do you listen to the most the TT od digital side I think that should be your first guide
The MG cables should help with everything so they be a good all round bet also you could pick up a decent balanced mains that be a good all rounder
It really will depend on what you want to achieve so have a good think about it first the 1210 mods should help or you could do the passive mods to the DAC for all accounts that really ups the DAC performance and leads you some change for the MG cables

hi john,

I guess i mainly listen to the digital side more by about 70 -30 so maybe i'll start with that but at the same time i don't want to miss out on a discounted psu for the technics.

I remember reading a while ago that the caiman dac chip costs about £5-10 i think so maybe i could do that myself although i think it's extremly fiddly and im not sure im capable.I've not read the passive mods thread so not sure what it does so i'll take a look at that.

I've sent an email to olson enquiring about a mains block after a recommendation from marco so that will be my first purchase.

[John]

good mains will help with everything the caimen mod is nice and cheap and a few people who are not active DIY guys have gone for it; you still might have enough for a cheap PSU so win all the way

[chris@panteg]

Hi Darren

I would love to know how you get on with the olsen :).

Anyway my advice if you will take it ! go for an external psu for your Techie , you say Dave has some trade in's for £200/250 ? if so grab one .

A Mark Grant power cable for your Beresford is a no brainer.

[DSJR]

Not fashionable here, but start with the source, then interconnect to preamp (which doesn't NEED to be altered unless you wish some tube rolling - leave the rest alone in there for the next five years...).

The SC35C is a bit of a groove-grinder which the BBC used for some years, but as soon as the OM Pro S Ortofon came out they quickly changed to these for the above reason. On the vinyl side, the Shure really is letting the side down a bit and changing to smooth mm's like the Grado's or my re-discovered favourite Stanton 681EEE mk3 would bring about an improvement in the little details that separate a ballsy, enjoyable "sound" from a refined facsimile of the original. Marco speaks very highly of the current Nagaoka's and as long as the headshell isn't too heavy, then one of these would spice up the vinyl side without going over the top.

On the digital side, maybe a Caiman with Gator update would improve the sound further.

As for active speakers, both ATC's and PMC's are priced through the roof these days. All this OTT driver engineering looks good to lovers from the steam age, but in reality one doesn't need all this expensive ironmongery to do as good a job (if not better). I understand there are some really good actives out there under a grand now, but it's a side of the market that domestic audio dealers just don't want to know about. more fool them is my current view.

[kininigin]

good mains will help with everything the caimen mod is nice and cheap and a few people who are not active DIY guys have gone for it; you still might have enough for a cheap PSU so win all the way

Im interested in the caiman mod,do you think i could send my dac to stan
to get the wolfson chip,passive mod and gator done for a price?

[kininigin]

Hi Darren

I would love to know how you get on with the olsen :).

Anyway my advice if you will take it ! go for an external psu for your Techie , you say Dave has some trade in's for £200/250 ? if so grab one .

A Mark Grant power cable for your Beresford is a no brainer.

When i get the olson i'll let you know how it is no problem.

As for the psu,wheels are in motion :eyebrows:

I think eventually i will have Mark Grant power cables through out my system and will have to check funds but will probaly get at least one

[kininigin]

Not fashionable here, but start with the source, then interconnect to preamp (which doesn't NEED to be altered unless you wish some tube rolling - leave the rest alone in there for the next five years...).

The SC35C is a bit of a groove-grinder which the BBC used for some years, but as soon as the OM Pro S Ortofon came out they quickly changed to these for the above reason. On the vinyl side, the Shure really is letting the side down a bit and changing to smooth mm's like the Grado's or my re-discovered favourite Stanton 681EEE mk3 would bring about an improvement in the little details that separate a ballsy, enjoyable "sound" from a refined facsimile of the original. Marco speaks very highly of the current Nagaoka's and as long as the headshell isn't too heavy, then one of these would spice up the vinyl side without going over the top.

On the digital side, maybe a Caiman with Gator update would improve the sound further.

As for active speakers, both ATC's and PMC's are priced through the roof these days. All this OTT driver engineering looks good to lovers from the steam age, but in reality one doesn't need all this expensive ironmongery to do as good a job (if not better). I understand there are some really good actives out there under a grand now, but it's a side of the market that domestic audio dealers just don't want to know about. more fool them is my current view.

I have mg i/c from all sources to pre amp and from pre amp to speakers which im very pleased with.I think your right about leaving the croft well alone as im not hearing it at it's full potential yet so would be foolish to start messing with that now.

Im still finding my feet vinyl wise and marco did me a good deal on the headshell and cart as i only had a cheap (cheaper) dj cart on there and the shure was miles better sound wise.I will look the carts you suggest although marco didn't reccomend the Nagaoka's for me due to the type of music i mainly listen to,electronic,funk,dub/reggae,afro-beat.

I've been looking for pmc's or atc's for ages now for a good reasonoble price and i don't think i will find anything soon.I almost thought about going passive again but then started thinking about amp speaker speaker cable combinations and quickly dropped that idea :lolsign:

[Alex_UK]

marco didn't reccomend the Nagaoka's for me due to the type of music i mainly listen to,electronic,funk,dub/reggae,afro-beat.

Would never suggest Marco is wrong (heaven forbid! ;)) but my MP-15 (courtesy of DSJR who had never used it) has no problem with electronic music (in particular) or Funk, I don't have much (any, other than Marley?) reggae/afro-beat on vinyl though, so I can't vouch for those but I am very pleased with everything I have thrown at it so far. What mat are you using? The Herbies/Soundhifi Silicone foam one DOES make a big difference I found, though that's about the only tweak I have tried so far. (Feet?)

Otherwise, Tirna electropnics are the people to Caimanise your DAC - the passive output mod is a no-brainer too, if you don't use the headphones, or else the Gator board if you do, (on paper, as we have yet to hear it, but trust Stan implicitly!) - but I suspect you would need a "proper" Caiman for that.

[kininigin]

Would never suggest Marco is wrong (heaven forbid! ;)) but my MP-15 (courtesy of DSJR who had never used it) has no problem with electronic music (in particular) or Funk, I don't have much (any, other than Marley?) reggae/afro-beat on vinyl though, so I can't vouch for those but I am very pleased with everything I have thrown at it so far. What mat are you using? The Herbies/Soundhifi Silicone foam one DOES make a big difference I found, though that's about the only tweak I have tried so far. (Feet?)

Otherwise, Tirna electropnics are the people to Caimanise your DAC - the passive output mod is a no-brainer too, if you don't use the headphones, or else the Gator board if you do, (on paper, as we have yet to hear it, but trust Stan implicitly!) - but I suspect you would need a "proper" Caiman for that.

im using a funk firm mat with a slightly smaller neoprene mat underneath so it's not sat on the lip.Im not sure i'd pay £80 for a herbies mat no matter how good it is.

I think Caimanising my dac will almost certainly happen.

The Nagaoka's do look interesting maybe i might suck it and see im not sure yet.

[Marco]

Hi Alex,


Would never suggest Marco is wrong (heaven forbid! ) but my MP-15 (courtesy of DSJR who had never used it) has no problem with electronic music (in particular) or Funk, I don't have much (any, other than Marley?) reggae/afro-beat on vinyl though, so I can't vouch for those but I am very pleased with everything I have thrown at it so far.


Lol! :eyebrows:

At the time Darren was pretty strapped for funds, so I sold him the Shure at a very good price, along with a high-quality AT headshell, to get him on the right direction with his Techie.

It also made sense considering the type of music he mostly listens to. The MP-15 is a better all-rounder, but the Shure excels at electronic-type music, dub/reggae, etc, as it thrives on deep bass lines.

Like he says, it was much better than the cartridge he was using before, although in the future when funds permnit I would certainly recommend that he upgrades to one of the superb new Nagaokas :)

Marco.

[DSJR]

Although some of you are still at the stage of tailoring the system around the music style you play, the addition of a half decent digital source can provide a reference which has a neutral response at least (and the scale and involvement potential too if carefully sorted). This means to me that the wayward pickups with sound all their own will be very different (and worse by default)..

I suggested the Grado's and Stanton because they don't have an incisive treble performance (quite the opposite) and the Pickering XV15/625 should be considered too (I understand the Stanton 680EE is similar).

I ought to back Alex up on this, because even the livelier cartridges out there (my first thought is the AT440MLa for example which can polarise opinion) can be clearer on big bass cuts and better tracking too giving less distortion...

Finally, the Goldring 1006 and 1012GX are splendid on rock and electronica and have a ballsy presentation, so these may be the best compromise on the vinyl front..

[kininigin]

Well i've taken the plunge and bought a timestep psu and look forward to hooking that up some time next week.

So im left with about £100.After contacting olson they told me the mains block will be about £65 with postage and vat.Which is a little more than i would like to pay.

Would my money be best spent on a new cart as i have gone for the timestep?

To upgrade my dac to a caiman spec cost's about £50.

Thinking about it i could increase my funds to £150 to make my options easier.

So my choices now are

1-Dac upgrade and new cart
2-Mains upgrade (olson +mark grants)
3-Cart + olson mains block

im not sure which way to go from here :scratch:

[Alex_UK]

I'd go with option 1, but then I expect you'd expect me to say that! I think the consensus is that the Caiman is a considerable improvement over the standard, so that would be a no-brainer as far as I am concerned - I think a new cart would make more difference than mains, unless you particularly think you have a mains problem - you could then sort the mains in dribs and drabs over the coming months. Only my amateur opinion, but if it was me I'd like sexy new source upgrades!

[Ali Tait]

You could build yourself a DIY mains block if you are confident you could do it safely.Would cost you a lot less.

[MartinT]

Hi Darren

The Caiman mods will improve your CD sound no end, especially the DAC chip and passive mod. These won't cost you much but are tricky to do yourself. Also see if you can upgrade to the Caiman PSU (15V) - presumably you have the 12V? If there's any change treat yourself to a Mark Grant power cable and try it in different positions.

Just noticed you have active monitors so you might need to squeeze two power cables and try them running the speakers.

[kininigin]

I'd go with option 1, but then I expect you'd expect me to say that! I think the consensus is that the Caiman is a considerable improvement over the standard, so that would be a no-brainer as far as I am concerned - I think a new cart would make more difference than mains, unless you particularly think you have a mains problem - you could then sort the mains in dribs and drabs over the coming months. Only my amateur opinion, but if it was me I'd like sexy new source upgrades!

'sexy new source upgrades' i like the sound of that so have decided to go for the caiman upgrade but will get trina to do it as i will probaly mess it up if i attempt it.

I've been thinking about the mains block issue the last couple of days and im pretty sure i don't have mains issues so will try and get 1 Mark Grant power cable and see if it makes a difference in my system,if so i'll get more at a later date but must admit im not totally convinced by expensive power leads but i've never tried them.With an interconnect at least it is carrying a signal so can understand how they can make big differences.

I think your right new cart will make more of a difference so that will be on the shopping list aswell.There's been a few suggestions on that front so i will take my time with my choice as i don't like to change to much all at once.

[kininigin]

You could build yourself a DIY mains block if you are confident you could do it safely.Would cost you a lot less.

I have thought about this but im just too busy to be faffing around atm.

I look into mains products at a later date.

[kininigin]

Hi Darren

The Caiman mods will improve your CD sound no end, especially the DAC chip and passive mod. These won't cost you much but are tricky to do yourself. Also see if you can upgrade to the Caiman PSU (15V) - presumably you have the 12V? If there's any change treat yourself to a Mark Grant power cable and try it in different positions.

Just noticed you have active monitors so you might need to squeeze two power cables and try them running the speakers.

Hi Martin

Im going for the dac upgrade to caiman spec.As for the passive mod can i send my dac to someone (beresford/trina) to get this done? And if i have it done do i need to get a 'gator' board for headphone use?.Is this a diy job? as again i don't want to be faffing around atm as im quite busy over the next few weeks.

[MartinT]

You can send it to Tirna for any of the mods, I believe, but others can answer better than I can. I would have them do both the DAC and regulators, if you possibly can. The rest can wait.

[Jason P]

I'd also hang fire on a new cart until you've had time to assess the Timestep - this may make a new cart redundant, or give you a steer on what type of new cart you need. Unless you're going the whole hog, and getting everything done at once, I always think that a one change at a time approach pays dividends in the long run, in terms of system synergy.

[kininigin]

I'd also hang fire on a new cart until you've had time to assess the Timestep - this may make a new cart redundant, or give you a steer on what type of new cart you need. Unless you're going the whole hog, and getting everything done at once, I always think that a one change at a time approach pays dividends in the long run, in terms of system synergy.

Hi jason,

Yes i agree,as i said in an earlier post i don't like to change to much all at once.

I like to hear the improvments (or not) that each change brings.

Cart wise i just want to get a few on a shortlist as it will probaly be a while till i narrow the list down and make my choice.

[kininigin]

Hi Darren

I would love to know how you get on with the olsen :).



I've decided to jump on the belkin bandwagon and not get the olson.

£25 vs £65 makes more sense to me atm as an extra £40 can go towards some Mark grants power cables.