When is a downgrade an upgrade?

[farflungstar]

Well it's been a difficult journey but in brief here it is.

A year ago the finest vinyl rig including Hashimoto trannies. ARC Ref 75, Luxman AT3000. Tannoy Kensington Se speakers. Wonderful.

Changed house from an average listening room to an enormous room. Sound was terrible, unable to energise the room, lacking warmth and tonality. Sold vinyl rig as needed money and invested in a lovely champagne Sony X777es. Sound still crap.

On a whim dragged my old ANe's out of storage and hooked them up - wow. Warmth, body, soul - but still something missing.

Bought this little gem, again on a hunch... Amazing - finally my system has the same presence, warmth, and musicality of my old vinyl rig plus drive and an ability to really energise the room.

The tannoys are now in storage, the ANe's refoamed and I have tube rolling to look forward to.

The little box of tricks in the fotos is the Eastern Electric Minimax BBA. It allows adjustment of gain and volume. The gain adjustment is amazing in the way it affects tonality. Even with the stock tubes and out of the box it's effects are extraordinary. But I have plans to swap out the ubiquitous blue alps pot for a nice stereo autoformer and have the best of both worlds.

So it seems a very old pair of ANe's suits my space when the tannoys don't. Financially and technically a downgrade but most definitely an upgrade musically and emotionally.


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[Made in 1968]

I think some people are unconsciously downgrading when they think they are upgrading. Only takes a small change like using something old they not used for a log time or something a lot cheaper for it to dawn on them..

[Barry]

Glad to hear it's working out for you Adrian.

Sometimes we set off in a particular direction with our audio gear, and in doing so get "stuck in a rut" in trying to improve the performance; so much so we end up spending a lot of money only to find that it has made little or no real improvement overall. So sometimes it is best to stop and try a different approach.

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Happy listening
Barry

[Made in 1968]

I do it all the time Barry. no one that changes their mind mid way thru a mission like i do

[Jazid]

I have upgraded from Tannoys to the same pair of AN-E three times. Thank God I never sold them!

Tannoys just don't work in my room, paid the price, three times, learnt the lesson three times. And I so wanted them to work, they sound good for Tom/Montequieu over on AoS, but not Chez moi...

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