View Full Version : Vinyl/valve/horn lover
Hello everyone. I have just joined this forum in the hope that it will be a friendly place - seems so from what I have read.
I have been a music/hi-fi lover all my life and I'm pushing 60 now (hard to believe). I only listen to vinyl at home, being spoiled with a great system. I do have a Sony Playstation for CD playback but I've only used it once.
I have had lots of good equipment over the years (Linn, Audio Research, Rowland, Wilson, Conrad Johnson, Proac, Reference 3A, Cary, etc., mostly bought used) but my system is now heavily influenced by Kevin at Definitive Audio. I went into the Living Voice room at Heathrow about 12 years ago and heard the LV Airscouts for the first time. It was then that I knew that this was the sound I had been looking for.
I am now very fortunate to have the following system (again mostly bought used):
SME 30 turntable with SME 5 arm, Kondo IoM cartridge, Wave Mechanic power supply with Kondo mains cable.
Kondo SFz transformer and M7 preamp.
SJS Arcadia 2A3 SET amp (7 glorious watts).
Living Voice Airscout speakers.
All Kondo cables including tri-wired copper speaker cables.
Finite Elemente Pagode stand for amp/preamp.
Mana stand for turntable.
Music: all sorts but especially the sort of challenging rock/noise that can only be bought via Volcanic Tongue. Keiji Haino an especial hero.
Thanks for reading.
Ali Tait
23-12-2010, 10:51
Hi,welcome. Some great stuff you have there. Never heard the scouts. I always lusted after the air horn partners after reading a review.
Greetings Geoff - you really have got it bad, haven't you :)
Polite question - why the Wave Mechanic over the SME supply?
Why the Wave Mechanic over the SME supply?
Sorry, I didn't explain myself very clearly. I have the Wave Mechanic as an extra power supply for the SME supply. I used to have a Nottingham Mentor tt and used the Wave Mechanic with that. Kevin and I did an A/B with it for the SME supply and found an improvement, so I kept it.
chris@panteg
23-12-2010, 11:23
Hi geoff
I also heard the ' scout's ' at heathrow back in 97 or 98 i think it was and have been to kevin's a few time's ' the system's he puts together are quite sublime sounding though unfortunately for me also out of my league .
That's a great looking set up you have , i know the SJS pre amps , a friend used them a while back and those ' Scouts ' wow , i see you use a mana table ! has Kevin tried to persuade you to change this ? as far as i'm aware he dislikes the Mana effect.
I don't suppose you know Paul from Northampton ' one of Kevin's best customer's .
Hello Geoff and welcome , lovely system you have there, i'm a fan of 2a3 over 300b, just waiting for mine to be built, any chane of some pictures in the gallery for us to drool over.
Again I didn't explain things very well. I had my preamp on the Mana stand and tt on the Finite Elemente but swapped them over at Kevin's suggestion and it does sound better with the more solid foundation of the Mana frame. The Mana has a "Kevin sandwich" of 3 layers of chipboard screwed together on top of it, which probably mitigates the "Mana effect" (I never liked the Mana with glass shelf).
The SJS amp is a lovely thing. Can't afford a Kondo amp but this keeps me very happy.
I'll see if I can get some photos together.
Forgot to say that all this is crammed into a tiny bedroom, about 10 ft x 9 ft!
Hi Geoff
Awesome system Pics would be great
What music do you enjoy
Forgot to say that all this is crammed into a tiny bedroom, about 10 ft x 9 ft!
God I thought my room was on the small side!
Hello and welcome.
Do you have any Sound Stages, the big, flat platforms, under your Mana table? Is it sitting on a concrete floor?
I ask because, other than not setting it up right, these are the two things that can make it sound edgy and disjointed.
Spectral Morn
27-12-2010, 14:12
Welcome to AOS Geofff
Very nice system :)
Small rooms can sound amazing. I have a very good sound in my second listening room.....it be very tiny :eek:
http://www.adventuresinhifiaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SecondListeningRoom001-e1268857262190.jpg
http://www.adventuresinhifiaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SecondListeningRoom003-e1268857370664.jpg
Regards D S D L
Small rooms can sound amazing.
Yup, I second that - and I've got a bloody huge pair of Tannoys in mine! :mental: :eyebrows:
Marco.
Why the Wave Mechanic over the SME supply?
Sorry, I didn't explain myself very clearly. I have the Wave Mechanic as an extra power supply for the SME supply. I used to have a Nottingham Mentor tt and used the Wave Mechanic with that. Kevin and I did an A/B with it for the SME supply and found an improvement, so I kept it.
Next question - what did you prefer in the SME over the Mentor and what cartridge did you use with the latter? I found my early Mentor only really worked with the Decca Microscanner and wasn't totally happy with the more "refined" sounding cartridges out there, but when it did work well with a cartridge it liked, it was sublime and I've yet to hear much better (apart from the current model Dias).
Thanks for all your interest. To answer your queries...
I used to have Mana Sound Stages when I had a Linn Sondek and I kept them under the Mentor but didn't use the glass shelf. The floor is wood. To be honest I got fed up with the hassle of the Mana shelves so I got rid of them all except for the basic table. I never really did an A/B of the various combinations of stages -- I'm sure they do have a good isolating effect but it is a cumbersome and ugly solution (not that that ever concerns true audiophiles, of course!).
I went from an LP12 to a Mentor and was impressed with the improvement, especially in the bass and overall impact and scale of the sound. I used a vdH Black Beauty, then got a vdH Colibri. Then I was tempted by Kevin to try the SME 20 and it bettered the Mentor in all respects. The Mentor seemed less refined and less resolved than the SME, and by that I don't mean that the SME was thinner or brighter. (I'm not very good at defining differences but I know better when I hear it.) I was more engaged by the SME. Now I have got the SME 30 and it's just bigger and better again.
As for music, I listen to lots of the usual suspects but also a lot of extreme free jazz/noise/improv: Fushitsusha, Vajra, Keiji Haino, Acid Mothers Temple, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Bardo Pond, Volcano the Bear, Vibracathedral Orchestra, etc.
I used to have Mana Sound Stages but didn't use the glass shelf. The floor is wood.
I'm surprised that with a wooden floor and Sound Stages as well that you didn't like the glass. Over the years I've seen a few people unhappy with the sound of their Mana. Nearly all of them that I can think of had no Sound Stages, a concrete floor or there was some problem with the way the Mana was set up.
Mana is unlike other Hi-Fi stands in that if it's not set up right it sounds actively bad! It can sound really bad. People who remove the glass either have a set-up issue, no 'wood' in very bright installation or they are trying to be clever and second guess the design of Mana. The 'sandwich' you describe will be killing the operation of the design, I would expect it to sound much the same if you sat it on any metal table.
At the end of the day it's your kit and if that's the way you like it then cool. There's no right or wrong, it's just about what you like. I just think you might have missed something back there, that's all.
I've always liked the look of Mana myself but I can see why not everyone feels that way. My mother-in-law refers to it as 'the ironmongery' ;0)
http://mybriks.com/assets/colinmain.jpg
alfie2902
06-01-2011, 21:10
:stalks:Lovely system Geoff! You're a lucky man! :)
Kevin certainly sells some very nice gear & puts together wonderful sounding systems IMO!
The Kondo gear is out of this world! The IO, SFz tranny & M7 is a dream set up! :eyebrows: I've not heard the SJS amps but into the Airscouts that must sound very special :eek:
Some pics needed though!
As requested, here are some pictures of my system. Amp and turntable have SoundDeadSteel plates underneath. The grey box next to the SME power supply is a pre-production version of the Wave Mechanic power supply.
http://www.simister.com/public/drool.png
Reid Malenfant
10-01-2011, 18:28
3431 3431 3431
As requested, here are some pictures of my system. Amp and turntable have SoundDeadSteel plates underneath. The grey box next to the SME power supply is a pre-production version of the Wave Mechanic power supply.
Any chance of getting the gear away from the speakers? This is always a problem with domestic setups. Often, it seems the only place for the gear,no matter how expensive, is between the speakers, turning the whole setup into a shrine ;)
Yes, I wish I could space everything out more, but it's all crammed into a tiny second bedroom. My ambition has always been to move into a detached house (it's a semi) so I could listen to music as loudly as I would like.
I know it's a drool-worthy system and I'm very lucky to have it -- not to mention a very understanding wife! But I always remember something that [warning: name-drop alert!!!] Dave Wilson said. I was listening to his Watt/Puppies some years ago and I asked him why he didn't make less expensive speakers. He replied "You can have anything you want. You just can't have everything you want". Not 100% true, but there's something in that.
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