My own cave

[Pieoftheday]

What a great room,very jealous

[AlfaGTV]

Very nice "cave" Ole!
Agree that the art of album covers are worthy of displaying! And the Bluesound does sound good, have recently had a couple of Nodes.
Unfamiliar with the Hegel H160, but i was pretty impressed with the analog output from my Node2!
Would you mind telling us something about the percieved differences between the WilsonBenesch and the SL1200GAE? Or perhaps thats difficult due to the cart change?

All the best from the east,
Mike

[Macca]

Cool crib. Supercool turntable. What more can I say?

[rmcin626]

Nice room very jealous

[TazSob]

Very comfortable and cosy looking room, can just picture relaxing there on a cold night with that burner going...

[Breuer]

Very nice "cave" Ole!
Agree that the art of album covers are worthy of displaying! And the Bluesound does sound good, have recently had a couple of Nodes.
Unfamiliar with the Hegel H160, but i was pretty impressed with the analog output from my Node2!
Would you mind telling us something about the percieved differences between the WilsonBenesch and the SL1200GAE? Or perhaps thats difficult due to the cart change?

All the best from the east,
Mike

Thanks all for nice words.

Hegel makes fantastic DACs, Mike, and the one sitting in H160 is no exception. The H160 is a very competent amp. with a built in DAC. But it is not a digital amp., signal is analog all through amplification stage. It also have USB inputs and airplay for direct streaming, but I don't use this.

Mike, regarding turntable, I have lived with a Wilson Benesch Circle with ACT 0.5 now for almost 15 years. Mainly with different versions of Benz Micro Ref pickups. Seen here with Ref 3.



I have used many different RIAAs over the years, but the last one was a Benz Micro Lukaschek pp1 t9, a beautiful gem with no adjustments. It is tailored for BMs own MC pickups.




This has been a very competent player/arm/pickup/riaa combination, right up there with the other top notch belt driven turntables.

But, the SL 1200GAE is a better player in my ears. Of course, different pickup and RIAA bluring up the comparison. But what the SL 1200 adds to the equation is pace and punch. Fantastic bass control, and still no compromise in other hifi virtues. Maybe the WB had a more "elegant" presentation, but the 1200 digs those grooves better and deeper, and gives U what's there to get. And no motor artefacts like cogging. It is really a fantastic product made inside extreme spec. limits. Build as a tank inside a reinforced concrete bunker. The handling is top. I see some people complaining that the looks and handling is just as the old SL 1200/1210, but millions of DJs can't be wrong. If it works, don't fix it!

Im still in the initial phase getting acquainted with the player, and I have heard it too little with the Cadenza Blue pickup, but even with my spare MM Shure M97XE it sounds good.

[AlfaGTV]

Thanks for your response Ole, much appreciated.
I have a friend who also bought one of the GAE's but he is "between speakers" atm so i havent had a chance to hear it in a reasonably known environment.

Nice pictures, by the way!

My comment regarding the Node2 was more a recommendation to try its analogue outputs! With some material it was "better" than with a highly resolved DAC on the coax, at least to me!

All the best and looking forward to following your Gallery-thread!

[Joe]

Cool crib. Supercool turntable. What more can I say?

That rug really ties the room together.

[Breuer]

That rug really ties the room together.

Hehe, Joe. Yes it does. And the steaks was delicious

[Spectral Morn]

Nice room Ole