My 2019 Update Thread - My final system I think.

[Gazjam]

Another Purple in the house,
this time a 5A for the Meridian 557 power amp.

Thats Pre and Power amps done, as well as the Dac.

These things are (imo) component level upgrades.
Not always the case, the SR Blues I never got on with.

What I know now is I'm getting the best from my PS Audio/Meridian gear as well as all the benefits the balanced mains brings.
Clean power matters more than you might think.
All "choke points" eliminated.

Daft money of course for (on paper) just "fuses"
reality though;
off the scale VFM for the audio improvement you get for what you pay.

From experience,
They take a few weeks to loosen up and fully do their thing,
As always will sit back and enjoy it when it all shakes out.

Cool.

[Gazjam]

Minor wee tweak,
Still out to eliminate noise in the electronics as much as possible.

My Preamp has lots of unused inputs,
Thought Id cover the RCA jacks with sonething that might reject any noise coming in through the unused input jacks.

Couple extra for the unused rca sockets on the dac too.

Dont want to use shorting plugs (they have own problems) so alternative is these Oyaide rca caps.
Not just plastic covers, have a coating thats meant to help block any potential noise.
Made from Sendust, which was used to coat tape heads back in the day.

Couple of quid each, didnt break the bank.
Will it make a difference?
Some say yay, some say no.
If it helps protect the sockets then thats good enough for me.

Cheeky wee Rega badge too for my TT black custom platform

[Gazjam]

Naa...
Kills the top end and 'air' in the sound.

Ah well.
Not so much then.

Rega badge looks cool in place, so a result there.

[Gazjam]

Due to an 'Unforced error' playing records coming back after a night out,
(Great idea eh? )

My Rega cart is back at Rega HQ for a full rebuild.
As learned lessons go, not the cheapest, but value wise pretty great.
Shout out to Rega customer service.

H'anyway,

Carts gonna be away for a few weeks, so in the meantime fitted one of these.
Dynavector DV-20 X2 low output moving coil.







Not quite the Apheta 3, but still pretty great.
Been months since I played the Blackstuff, happy to be back!

[struth]

deary... naughty boy

[Gazjam]

I know.. I know...

[Macca]

It's not a bad cartridge to be slumming it with.


The trick is to get used to operating a turntable when drunk.

[Pigmy Pony]

It's not a bad cartridge to be slumming it with.


The trick is to get used to operating a turntable when drunk.

Expensive thing to get used to. If I 'had people over', I only played records early on. As soon as things started getting messy, switched to CD. My party tunes on CD number a couple of hundred, I can only think of four on vinyl.

[Ali Tait]

Bummer Gaz, vinyl can be an expensive pastime. After swearing off MC’s after trashing my Gullwing, I went and bought a Kiseki Blue…

[Barry]

I have accidentially damaged a couple of cartridges over the years. One a Grace F9E/14E hybrid (https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...ghlight=pissed) where I snapped the boron cantilever, and the second: a 'nuded' EMT TSD15 where I managed to break one of the lead out wires from the coil!

Bummer indeed, fortunately Gary you have a replacement cartridge of suitable quality to tide you over.