My second system

[Lawrence001]

Now it's finally sounding so good after starting it 8 years ago, I thought I'd post something about it and the evolution behind it.

Bastanis Dragonfly DIY speakers, bought off PFM a few weeks ago. Back horn loaded 8" Dual concentric drivers run full range on the paper "woofer" (by Eminence I believe) with a good cap on the tweeter. The tweeter was the upgrade option at the time. Very similar to the drivers used in WLM speakers I believe.

These replaced my Celestion A1s which have served me well for a few years. I wanted to try a more relaxed sound and found it was what I've been looking for in recent years.

Opera Consonance M100SE EL34 integrated amp, bought nearly 10 years ago, one of the early high end "Chi-fi" amps and it sounds lovely. Always liked amps with 6SN7 drivers. It's got all of the valve loveliness with the grip of EL34s but no noticeable treble roll off and sugary sweetness of the later version I've heard. Great match for the Bastanis. I might try my "reserve" KT66 monoblocs and Tektron pre at some point.

Yaqin MS23B phono stage with upgraded valves. I had a Cambridge Audio 540p and rarely used vinyl. When I put this in it was suddenly enjoyable, it's a great piece of kit for the money.

Ariston RD11 with SME3009. I bought this about 8 years ago, it came with a Linn K9 with unknown hours and possibly needed a new stylus but someone was after one so I sold it and fitted a spare budget AT (yellow) one. Never got it sounding great until I fitted the Ortofon 2M Silver I bought of Steve. It's a red with silver coils and better stylus, only available bundled with Project TTs AFAIK. Still got a few issues to sort but that's for another thread...

MF vDac with Maplin 12v regulated PSU. Great dac for the money, was going to upgrade but it sounds "right" with the Dragonflies so why bother?

HHB CDR800 CD recorder (transport). A rebadged Pioneer, stable platter, full copper chassis. Tried a few transports but always came back to this one.

Cables: Acoustic Zen Satori recently bought off HiFi for sale, lovely smooth detailed sound, perhaps designed for their full range speakers with augmented tweeter so perfect for the Bastanis I later bought!

Ixos silver plated OFC RCA Cables, forget the name but they're yellow. They're fine for now, no obvious flaws.

Alphason glass shelf rack, was in my main system a few years ago.

Belkin mains conditioner, cheap but does the job. Separate filters for digital and analogue.

There it is, it's served me well but with the addition of the Bastanis speakers and Ortofon cartridge it's reached the point where it's at the level of my main system. I can see a few swaps coming over the next few months.


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[Lawrence001]

Just noticed the discussion about Roy's music collection so I thought I'd post some pics of mine. About 1/3 to 1/2 of my CDs are elsewhere, but most of my favourites are probably here.

The record collection was built up during my student days, I've probably bought 5 in the last 20 years. There are a few from when I was at school. Pet Shop Boys Disco, used to love it! They're split almost perfectly 1/3 new wave/new romantic/80s/Goth/industrial, 1/3 rock,metal & "other", 1/3 classical. Represents my taste in my teens, jazz (except New Orleans/Trad and big band I liked early) came later so is mostly on CD.

The CDs in the towers were similarly bought from the age of 16 up to about 8 years ago. The first two columns ate "modern" music and the other two classical (mainly early, baroque and "proper" classical (ie the period).

The ones on the bookshelves (2 deep) were an eclectic collection of c.500 I bought off someone a couple of years ago for £1 each. High quality Jazz, Classical, a few SACDs, some 70s rock and more recent indie like Mogwai etc, complete Beatles, Pick Floyd etc. All ripped once and left alone so mint condition! Anything in a rough cardboard sleeve was meticulously transferred to jewel cases. My sort of collection!

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