Pleased you got them sorted Gary, they look great, be interesting to hear what you decide on. [emoji3]Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Pleased you got them sorted Gary, they look great, be interesting to hear what you decide on. [emoji3]Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yup, looking good... You can't beat Densen for 'knob-feel factor':eyebrows:
I'd expect it to sound quite different from the Meridian, but you're assessing it the right way (same as I do)... Live with the 'new thing' for a few weeks, allowing your ears to become attuned to the sound, then make the change, using a familiar test track for comparison purposes... The difference [unlikely then to be imagined] should slap you around the ears!:D
Enjoy:cool:
Marco.
Totally agree mate! :eek:
Only way to audition kit I feel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Finally got the turntable support finished. Yay. :D
From this:
https://i.imgur.com/dfC3Ckn.jpg
which really didn’t sit right with the modern look of the deck...?
After much clamping, sawing and Dremmeling I got to this...
https://i.imgur.com/d2r1uEJ.jpg
And finally done.
Much better!
Gets the deck up off the glass surface and looks pretty cool too. Better match for the deck, almost looks like part of it.
https://i.imgur.com/QsGnp9m.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OpzXWte.jpg
Nice wee project, worth the time and the (not a lot) spent on it.
Its great when you get these kinda changes and doesn’t cost a lot.
Might get a Rega badge made up at some point, to sit on the right front foot, as a final touch.
looks like it came with tt now gaz.. top job mate
Noice... Any thoughts on the amps yet, provisionally or otherwise?:)
Marco.
Still running the Densen Marco,
theres new components in there after its service, want to give em time to bed in.
plumb in the big Meridian again next weekend, methinks.
Ah okies, good move:)
Marco.
Nice job mate, looks good.
Always liked the look of your double plinthed 401 mate, sure that was at the back of my mind somewhere. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
Aye, hopefully get that up and running sometime soon.
H’ok...
next step of the amp journey.
Taking all my findings here as relative...as it’s not through my final speakers...but the Dali’s I run at the moment are transparent enough to let me hear differences
in terms of amp drive, shifting air and general quality what I’ve got is good enough.
And I can carry the results forward when upgrading the speakers.
Up till now, for the last couple of weeks, I’d hooked up the recently serviced Densen DM30 power amp to my PS Audio BHK preamp.
Been enjoying the tunes on that setup for the last week or so.
My baseline for this comparison was against the Meridian 557 hooked up to the BHK Pre, which I ran for 6 months or so before that.
Different Pre’s hooked up to different power amps, only way to know what works with what is to listen, and trust my ears...ignoring cost, Brand name, what should work best “on paper”.
Have to say swapping in different power amps can make a noticeable difference in sound, I liked what the Densen power amp brought over the Meridian...a sense of ‘fun’ and groove about the music, but it lost something too...sounding a bit like hearing the music behind a glass wall.
You knew it was there but it seemed detached in that you observed it rather than felt it.
Too easy to engage the audiophile brain with all this stuff, (see what I mean? :D) so only trusting my ears in this.
So,
yesterday swapped in the matching DM20 Densen pre with it’s power amp sibling.
All Densen now, what’s the story?
https://i.imgur.com/uX5iC7J.jpg
Well, swapping out the BHK preamp what I LOSE, aside the general terrific sound quality of the thing, is a great built in headphone amp and fully balanced XLR connections between my Dac and power amp, using top end XLR cables.
The “on paper” part of my Hifi brain says don’t go there...
but I’ve decided to trust my ears with this.
Have various pre/power amp combinations and just want to listen, fit n forget and say amps now done, same way I have elsewhere in the setup.
Time to step off the roundabout and get on with just enjoying the music.
Densen’s sound awesome together. Wow.
From the get-go there was a sense of ‘life’ and boogie about the sound that drew you in.
Same on both vinyl, CD and digital (and even YouTube played through my Dac) there was a big, wide open valve sounding midrange that filled the room.
The amps had a warm character to them, but extremely crisp and detailed too.
At both extremes the low end was never too warm (with the implications that suggests) or the top end too detailed (with same..)
The combination just sounds “right” in a way that makes you forget about the Hifi stuff and the kit.
Well..almost.
Something in the mix is making the background hiss very slightly more than the BHK Pre setup, suspect losing the balanced connections may be a factor here.
Its very slight and it’s gone as soon as you play music, but need some time with it to see if it’s gonna be an issue.
The Densen Preamp was unplugged for months, want some time with it powered up before I make a call on what it can do.
Elvis Costello is currently playing an acoustic set in my room in a way I’ve not hear come together and sound “alive” as well before...so there’s always that to counter against it.
Enjoying the Danish supermodels for the next week or so, chilling out and letting them soak into my bones, then the final combination to try is swapping in the big beastie Meridian 557 power amp with the Densen big knobs pre.
I’ll know if any magics lost or if the British bruiser Meridian has a better chance to shine hooked up to the Densen Preamp.
Maybe lose the slight background hiss too...if it doesn’t vanish on its own with the Densen powered up for a few days from cold.
My Dacs got a lossless digital volume control, so another thing I can try is playing around with the amp setup’s gainn structure, see if that has an effect on anything.
See what happens. :)
Like everything in Hifi land, there’s always a trade off.
Getting there, and enjoying the journey, but nowadays looking to step off the kit rat-race and enjoy what I’ve got.
I'm confused, lol! :scratch:
Could you give us a précis, and outline the current state of play [your preferred option - the 'winner', as it were], as briefly and succinctly as possible, please?:D
Marco.
No winner yet matey,
until I’ve heard the last pre/power combination together, the Meridian 557 power with the Densen Pre.
So far,
Enjoying music more with the Densen combo most,
1 more combo to try, next weekend or next then I’ll make the call.
too many black boxes!
The games afoot Watson. :eyebrows:
Lolz - ah see yer thinkin' there, Batman!:D
Not surprised though that the Densies are dancin'.... They're renowned as boogie monstas!:dance:
Marco.
Yeah,
Talk about ‘air guitar’... :eek:
These Danish boxes are a bit special.
Got a thing for the record player: Origin Live Gravity One.
https://www.originlive.com/hi-fi/tur...d-weight-best/
Not a clamp, more a weight...but even that doesn’t really describe it as there’s next to no weight in it, about 70gms I think?
Im calling it a Damper.
No vibration from bearing or chassis with my deck, but always that from the record itself?
Took a punt one one of these after reading really good reviews and wondered if it would bring anything to the P10.
It absolutely does, good improvement across the board. Seems to bring out more of the deck’s “Magic Sauce”.
Very surprised.
Adds to the look of the deck too,
part of the deal along with the custom plinth I made for it, which is always cool. :)
https://i.imgur.com/CCN39ZT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pNAWa0J.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Iyfj8DN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yHR7hfW.jpg
If it works it works, hence worth the money.
Still monkeying about with turntable isolation...
After this calling it done. Again. :)
Tried the original P10 rubber feet under the SDS plates, previously they sat directly on the glass surface.
https://i.imgur.com/qlQPHkW.jpg
So that’s:
Turntable plinth
. Isoacoustic Orea isolation feet
. Stiff ‘n light bamboo platform
. SDS isolation plates
. P10 rubber feet
The Rega feet are quite a clever design, have little “blips” at the top, further isolating what they sit under.
Rubber on glass works well I’ve found.
So,
original plan was to get the deck up off the glass surface, job done.
Been a fun wee project, and I much prefer the way the P10 looks on the rack.
it’s custom now, and has more size and presence to it.
Few visual nods here and there to other turntables I like, which is cool.
https://i.imgur.com/6cMFhcx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4hfNSSn.jpg
Nice uptick in sound, can hear a bit more space around the instruments on a good recording.
Jobs a good ‘Un. :thumbsup:
System rack’s just changed (ignore trailing cables, not set it up yet)
https://i.imgur.com/7Nnuu7l.jpg
Image no worky Gaz.
not for me either.. android or pc.
Better?
yup..:)
Didn’t know you were into gaming mate?
its a good plex server too.
PC gamer since I was a kid Ali..
Got away from it recently, sit at a desk all day at work, didn’t want to do same when I got home.
Also got expensive keeping up the PC gaming hardware, and consoles weren’t cutting it quality wise.
PS5 got my attention when I saw it could do 4K 60fps, ray tracing and all that good stuff.
Previously thats high end PC territory...
At half the price of my Graphics card!
So sold that a while back, with the plan to pick up a PS5 when I could.
As Grant says,
it will do all the streaming services same as the Nvidia Shield I currently use, plumbed into the Oppo’s HDMI input, the sound gets flushed through the Dac and out the Hifi, sounds pretty epic.
So all in one media hub/gaming machine.
Home from work, kick back on the couch and chill.
Should be fun.
PS5 apparently has lots of attention paid to its audio hardware and sound quality, be interesting to see how that pans out.
Have the Oppo 203 and Audiolab CD transport for disk spinning, but be fun to compare the PS5 as a cd and 4K Blu-ray player.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
some lovely kit gary
have you seen this ?
https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/thre...llesen.251052/
Cheers Phil.
I knew Densen was at risk, but news to me that the Founder was letting it go.
Shame, a great company.
Hopefully someone will pick up the Company and invest in it.
Today I was mostly...
https://i.imgur.com/JJRZvP3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/lEZhYWK.jpg
Enjoy YouTube for playing music through the system, some really great sounding concerts n video’s out there, it’s a valid music source imo if played back through a good system.
Bit of an unusual setup for that here, in that I stream YouTube (and Netflix etc) from a box hooked up to the HDMI input of my Oppo 203, into the Dac over i2s connection.
So giving YouTube n stuff a fair crack at sounding pretty good if the quality is there.
Previously used an Nvidia Shield android box for this, recently plumbed in a PlayStation 5 to replace it and from the get-go it was obvious it’s audio was better than the Nvidia box plumbed into the Oppo.
Reckon maybe the CPU grunt the thing has, and the attention paid to the audio subsystem for gaming, maybe a nice side effect?
Cool,
nice bump in quality over what I had before for enjoying tunes on YouTube.
My kit is powered from a hardwired 10KVA balanced mains transformer, two Tails coming from it: One hardwired to a Wireworld shutko mains block feeding all the main black boxes and another hardwired to a linear psu feeding my router.
Only six inputs on the Wireworld block, so all other bits n bobs, the Nvidia Shield, USB hard drives and the like were connected to a typical cheap n cheerful mains block plugged straight into the wall.
Was very impressed with the jump in audio the PS5 had over the Nvidia box, even when plugged into a cheap mains block straight into the wall.
Got thinking though... :D
Balanced mains really improves the systems sound, why is a digital source you enjoy a lot of music from plugged into a cheap power strip and not fed by the balanced mains??
Had a spare Wireworld Matrix star earthed mains block, so decided to remove the BMU rail feeding only the router PSU and hardwire the 2nd Wireworld mains block to it.
That done, I could power the PS5 and all the other bits, not just the Router, from the Balanced mains.
That was this afternoons fun n games, and I’ve just powered everything back up and sat down.
Very worthwhile couple of hours,
I’m all for getting the most out of the kit you own, and Sound quality’s taken another jump again, everything’s bigger, clearer and more solid sounding.
Everything you’d expect with removing mush from the power supply.
New crimped connections, in my experience of doing this kinda stuff for a while now it takes a week or so for new electrical connections to bed in properly, so just enjoying it and if it gets better great.
Using supplied “wet string” figure 8 mains cable with the PlayStation, and hearing how it responds well to clean power I’ll stick a good Fig-8 mains cable to it at some point, either DIY or something from Mark Grant.
Happy Sunday for enjoying the tunes, always nice when a plan comes together. :)
sounds good... and yes, the cpu and possibly the psu will improve things..
Agree on youtube, I play a lot of stuff too. If you have anything using a switching power supply, it may be worth trying feeding them from another socket rather than the BMU, reason being they can inject noise back into the mains which the BMU should keep away from the rest of your kit.
Tried both in the BMU and into another mains block elsewhere Ali,Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
Was a thought I had too, but everything just sounds better through balanced power, seems to be.
Fair enough, go with whatever sounds best mate.
Yup,Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Tait
the old “Hifi on paper Theory” vs actually trying it in your own setup...
Was aware of it, and from an EE point of view it makes sense, but when was this Subjective hobby of ours ever about anything except what hits your own (subjective) ears!
Could have been the colour of my socks on the Day, but currently enjoying a very definite best sounding option. :)
(Sanity checked it over the next few days...and...Better sounding.)
Didn't know you wore socks ( or other accoutrements ) mate :lol:
Love to hear this system :(
One day soon(ish) Amigo, fingers n toes crossed.
Incoming...
pics to follow tomorrow.
Looking forward to this :popcorn:
Posties been...
https://i.imgur.com/PbDq9wp.jpg
Look nice mate.
You TV looks a bit small [emoji3]Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
nothing beats New Speaker Day.
You Betcha :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
Ah yes I remember when my last big pair of speakers turned up. The biggest speakers I've ever owned. They're still here.
I used to run with Impulse H2's.... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence001
They were bigger!
Yeah what happened to those, last I saw you were doing a re-build?
More time this morning to sit down for a listen after setting them up yesterday.
Will take some time to run in, not too fussed about that it'll happen in its own time.
https://i.imgur.com/ua8A9i8.jpg
,https://i.imgur.com/joXRnQB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NNXyrDF.jpg
Still "work in progress" :doh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
Really need to get em finished, cabinets all repainted, crossovers done, just the woofers to refoam then put em back together.
Will get done, soon... Ish... Probably.