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View Full Version : What's your systems Good and Bad points



gary
17-08-2008, 01:00
For most of us our systems excell in some areas and could do with being better in others for me my system Naim cdx/282/180 with proac future 0.5 speakers and chord ref cables is brilliant at detail has a very natural sound soundstaging is amazing and gives a transparent view of the music however it can lack some midrange punch you know that feel it in your chest midrange bass.

I thought it would be interesting to hear others opinions of there own systems and what they would like to improve and whats great.

Please give your system details when posting

Iain Sinclair
17-08-2008, 16:21
Good points: Excellent treble; midrange to die for; great soundstage.

Not so good: I could do with a slightly more manageable range of volume; on CD it goes from 'not quite loud enough' to 'turn that racket down' in one click. I've tried attenuating cables etc but they seem to squash the life out of the music.

My system details are at the bottom of my post.

Steve Toy
17-08-2008, 21:46
I guess your pre has a stepped attenuator.

tfarney
18-08-2008, 02:40
Well, first of all, my system is a very modest one by AOS standards, and it is one put together almost exclusively for headphone listening. It consists of an Apple iBook and a hard drive full of lossless files, a Trends UD-10, a 70s vintage Harman Kardon integrated amplifier and a pair of Sennheiser HD580s.

Its strength is tone. What many of you would call "musicality." It is warm, rich, smooth and effortless. I can listen to a wide variety of average to excellent recordings, even at moderately high volumes, for hours with no fatigue and much joy. Even bad recordings are listenable enough, though I sometimes want to turn them down.

My system's weakness, I suppose, is, detail. High end home and studio monitoring systems that I've heard resolve details that my humble system is blissfully unaware of. I say "blissfully," because I don't miss them. They are details that one doesn't hear in performance, not even in a quiet room from just a few feet away. They are details that only exist when one is "listening" with a very sensitive microphone in a very quiet studio and they are (MHO, no one needs to agree) hifi hat tricks, not music.

Does that mean that my system could not be improved upon? Heavens no. A better DAC would probably be a great place to start. What I'm using doesn't present any audible problems, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be audible improvements. A couple more pairs of phones with different sound signatures would be fun. Replacing the old HK with a very nice tube amp would give me a bit more...more, without spoiling the tone, I suspect. But the big trick would be speakers. I'd love to get everything I get out of my system now, hanging in the air, presented in a more linear sound stage.

But that's a very expensive proposition.

Tim

alb
18-08-2008, 08:00
Tim said.

But that's a very expensive proposition.

Not with some simple open baffles it isn't.

Marco
18-08-2008, 08:55
No system is perfect - I'm sure mine isn't, but at the moment I can't really say there's anything about it that's bad. I'm sure though that when I get the Yaqin further modified the shortcomings of my system at the moment will be showcased in all their glory! :eyebrows:

I'd like a bigger room, that's all really.

What my system is particularly good at though is scale and impact, and a real 'physicality' in the bass, similar to what you hear at live gigs, due to the characteristics and size of the speakers and their successful interaction with the relatively small room they're in - with the right material it can scare the hell out of you!

However it also does the subtle 'intimate' thing too with gentler music and recreates that feeling of 'being there' in front of the singers and musicians as if they were performing in the room. It's also musical to a fault, very 'neutral' and revealing, and thus very importantly, connects you to the music on an emotional level.

I put much of the success of the system down to how it's set up in terms of mains, supports and cables. I am anally fastidious in this respect! And it pays dividends...

Marco.

Togil
18-08-2008, 09:26
Marco, what do you use as a digital cable beteen transport and DAC ? Transparent ?

Marco
18-08-2008, 09:36
Yep - Transparent Premium Digital Link:

http://transparentcable.com/products/digital/prem_75_digital_cable.html

It's the best digital coaxial cable I've heard, and I've compared it with many others. The Reference would obviously be even better! I intend to obtain one soon.

Marco.

Togil
18-08-2008, 09:43
The prices from AS are steep but I did get a 100% exchange value when I upgraded from Super to Ultra

Marco
18-08-2008, 09:45
Nice one, Hans. I now obtain mine from a source direct from the US and save a fortune ;)

Marco.

tfarney
18-08-2008, 11:21
Tim said.


Not with some simple open baffles it isn't.

Yes, but I don't have the physical space for open baffles. Instead, I've been considering single full-range drivers in a desktop, nearfield configuration, perhaps with a carefully integrated sub. But my 90 year-old father moved in with us last week. I think I'll be the AOS resident headphone geek for a while yet.

Tim

Yomanze
18-08-2008, 15:55
I use an Exposure 2010S with MC Phono Card into a pair of Amphion Argon2 speakers and a Stax Basic System II electrostatic headphone rig. CD players include (all modded) Rotel 965BX, Marantz CD65DX (a TDA1541A pearl) and a Sony PlayStation 1 (surprising analogue sound).

Strengths of my system are the coherence of the stereo image and the realism of vocals, which I feel is down to my DL103 modifications and the speakers, which make use of an unusual waveguide time-align the tweeter and give the same dispersion characteristics to the mid/bass. For what it is I don't feel there are any weaknesses (except my CD players), but the amp has probably become the weak link (as I mainly listen to vinyl) and I am looking at making a DIY Avondale NCC200 alternative.

Stax headphones simply provide unmatched transparency and detail (great for testing system changes), but are let down by a lack of 'slam' or 'punch' compared to dynamic headphones.

Other weaknesses are that I live in a flat and can't play it loud enough. Another weakness is that my digital setup has been utterly left for dead in comparison to vinyl so will be getting a new DAC to bring it up to speed.

gary
18-08-2008, 17:04
Hi Yomanze
I was fortunate to hear Stax lambada signatures at a hifi show a few years ago and what an experience if I remember the were driven by valves and were brilliant I could have sat there all day, frightning price though

tfarney
18-08-2008, 17:26
I use an Exposure 2010S with MC Phono Card into a pair of Amphion Argon2 speakers and a Stax Basic System II electrostatic headphone rig. CD players include (all modded) Rotel 965BX, Marantz CD65DX (a TDA1541A pearl) and a Sony PlayStation 1 (surprising analogue sound).

Strengths of my system are the coherence of the stereo image and the realism of vocals, which I feel is down to my DL103 modifications and the speakers, which make use of an unusual waveguide time-align the tweeter and give the same dispersion characteristics to the mid/bass. For what it is I don't feel there are any weaknesses (except my CD players), but the amp has probably become the weak link (as I mainly listen to vinyl) and I am looking at making a DIY Avondale NCC200 alternative.

Stax headphones simply provide unmatched transparency and detail (great for testing system changes), but are let down by a lack of 'slam' or 'punch' compared to dynamic headphones.

Other weaknesses are that I live in a flat and can't play it loud enough. Another weakness is that my digital setup has been utterly left for dead in comparison to vinyl so will be getting a new DAC to bring it up to speed.

Stax rock details, but more importantly, deliver an incredibly coherent, lifelike vocal midrange. I really miss the dynamics of dynamics, however.

Tim

John
18-08-2008, 18:38
On the vinyl side I am very happy with even though I still plan to take this further!!! The music almost reminds me of a live concert with its impact emotion and dynamics. However the Laptop DAC side is not as good on some music there is a tendency for it to sound harsh in the treble region mostly on my Pain of Salvation ( I am pretty sure its not the recording) tracks. Think its the DAC or using USB and not sure how I will sort it out perhaps an audiocom upgrade or maybe even radical re-think in how to get the best from computer audio side of my system.

Iain Sinclair
18-08-2008, 20:32
I guess your pre has a stepped attenuator.

Quite possibly, but reading a review of the Border Patrol power amp on AN Other forum, I think the gain is set too high; to quote from the review, which exactly matches my own experience:

'when playing CD I effectively had binary volume control - minimum on the premap was off, next step of the volume was acceptable volume, second step was far too loud'

This can be 'fixed' by BP, and I'll have it done when funds permit, but with daughter number 2 off to university next month it might be some time before they do!

zenith2134
19-08-2008, 15:49
I use a vintage EL84 integrated amp (12wpc) with Fisher XP-9C's. The amp has been recapped, and the speakers had the crossovers checked, and the woofers refoamed.

The strengths: a midrange to die for, sweet highs, strong bass, extremely non-fatiguing sound.

Weaknesses: rolled off in the highest treble ranges, complicated tone path...4 tone controls,loudness switch, channel balance switch, plus 2 volume controls, and a single master gain. 10 tubers get Hot in the summertime!!

tfarney
19-08-2008, 17:11
I use a vintage EL84 integrated amp (12wpc) with Fisher XP-9C's. The amp has been recapped, and the speakers had the crossovers checked, and the woofers refoamed.

The strengths: a midrange to die for, sweet highs, strong bass, extremely non-fatiguing sound.

Weaknesses: rolled off in the highest treble ranges, complicated tone path...4 tone controls,loudness switch, channel balance switch, plus 2 volume controls, and a single master gain. 10 tubers get Hot in the summertime!!

I love rolled off in the highest treble ranges. I play music. I have spent a lifetime in the presence of live music. There is almost nothing musical up there, just air and artifacts. The highest treble regions are, for the most part, hifi, not music.

Tim

nat8808
21-08-2008, 18:47
High treble exists in real life too so you could say that it is 'real' rather than just 'hifi'.

My personal preference is actually not geared towards music but getting some real life magically transported into my living space that shouldn't ordinarilly be there. Music is included within that too of course.

My system doesn't convince me that what i am listening to is there in the room enough but it does do both music and hifi equally ok (oddly enough). Perhaps I'm listening to the wrong stuff and should record my own... The room is honky too.