System finished (for the mo)
After quite a few months of fiddling about with various bits of equipment and a new rack I have reached a point where I am reasonably happy with the system and how it sounds. I therefore thought some pictures worth posting and sharing, you may be interested. For those who aren’t familiar with what’s on show a few words of explanation, top right a Quad Artera pre amp, I am a great fan of Quad, both Huntingdon and China, although whether the modern unit will still be working in 25 years is a question. In truth it is under utilised providing only volume control and Quad’s long lasting version of tone controls. They are I suspect like Marmite but I like and sometimes use them. As the system is assembled the volume control could well be provide by the CXNv2 but for another reason explained later that isn’t wholly convenient.
Next down is a Cambridge CXNv2 which was I think the first purchase of the displayed equipment. At that time I bought it for streaming which as far as I can tell it does extremely well. I have no doubt that it is possible to stream for less money but I am quite keen on one box solutions. It is also currently providing a DAC for the Innuos Zen Mk3 below it.
One Sunday afternoon in the spring I chanced upon an advert for a year old ex demo Zen at a price that was just too tempting, so I bought it. In addition I am inherently lazy and selecting music from the tablet has become too easy, the idea of getting up to choose a CD from the rack is so passe. I have ripped my CD collection to hard drive and in that respect it works well, I am very pleased with the sound quality and it is audibly better than a compressed lossy format, even to my ageing ears. I am currently less than convinced by whether it’s streaming capabilities or indeed other basic functions are satisfactory, Innuos are primarily a software house that makes a product and I’m sorry but it shows. It doesn’t work properly in a number of key areas and whilst I feel they are making every effort to sort things out I do wonder about the ethics of using equipment purchasers as beta testers for software. Having said that if and when it’s fully sorted I will be more than pleased and depending on my views on alternative DACs, the Cambridge may well be surplus.
For more years than I care to remember, both my late father and I have used Quad power amps, 303, 77, 405II, and most recently an Artera. I like them all both from an engineering and sound quality perspective. Last winter I had a hankering for a large valve power amp, enough watts like cubic inches in car engines are important. I have no doubt 10W SET amps with the right loudspeakers are wondrous, not interested in finding out. The problem was the very limited choices and frankly cost, until I found a pair of Icon Audio MB90 monoblocks, three years old at v nearly half price delivered to my door. Now second hand kit is a bit of a gamble and valve jobbies more so but with the reassurance that they were in full working order they were purchased and duly arrived. I of course had no knowledge of the hours on the valves and my, I think, reasonable assumption was that the quad of KT150s were near the end of their lives and replacement would be sensible and as it is I also replaced the phase splitter and input driver stages as well. Certainly not cheap but subsequent peace of mind worth having.
This is of course subjective but I think they sound magnificent, necessarily different from a SS amp but just sufficient rounding off at the top end whilst also controlling a good solid bottom, the mid range is as good as I would want or expect. I have installed them such that the trigger output of the preamp operates a relay that powers mains to the amps. This obviates the need to get at the on/off switches mounted at the rear of the side panels just leaving the front panel standby switches for HT control. They do produce some heat inevitably but aren’t in my mind excessively hot, I guess that if they were in Class A that might be different.
All this feeds a pair of PMC 25.23i, which again I am enamoured with. My reading suggests that most people like them but there are significant detractors. I am not able to adequately quantify exactly how accurate or otherwise they are, nor does it matter much, I like the noise they make. I first came across PMC when they were a brand new company and they introduced their LB1 small monitor. At that time I was in BBC engineering and all my colleagues and I were staggered by the sound from such small enclosures, approximately twice the size of a LS3/5a, they had all the glorious natural sweet mid range with the addition of a bass response and top end. I love them then and I still do. I eventually managed to obtain a near mint pair which I would keep against all comers. I realise my bias here but I don’t think there has been a better “small” loudspeaker, discuss.
Lastly an Icon Audio HP8 head phone amp. I originally tried to buy a Quad PA1, one of the three I had worked well with a lovely sound but a flawed paint finish, the other two I tried were horribly microphonic and in the end Quad withdrew the product in defeat. My only real criticism of the Icon is a very low level hum which disappears into the noise when a signal is present so not a major problem but vaguely irritating. I suspect something possibly to do with either HT rectification/smoothing or heater supply balancing. Sat on the end is currently a pair of AT40mth phones which I think are nicely neutral and not expensive, adequate for any late night listening. The Icon is fed from the unbalanced o/p of the Cambridge which means that I can unpower the pre and power amps for headphone listening but does mean it has to have a fixed level output. I dislike more than one variable volume control in the signal path, the scope for getting it all wrong could be a bit expensive.
These two pics show the speakers and are taken from the listening position. It’s not ideal but equally not too bad either, stereo image is centred but occasionally balance is a bit rightwards especially if the material is off centre to start with. This seems to be most apparent when a stereo mix has been generated from a mono original. I did suggest that the dining suite, which we hardly ever use, was surplus and should be sold off. This didn’t meet with approval.
I hesitate here, cables, a subject that seems to polarise. I am no different but for the record I am a sceptic and I am largely disinterested and indifferent to claims for and against any specific cable. My choices are either Chord C line for RCA or Neutrik XLR balanced for interconnects, whatever Amazon can supply for ethernet and USB, RS for mains and 2.5mm 2 core SY for loud speakers. There are many others that would do just as well. I understand the physics well enough and fully recognise that if two cables have differing characteristics then there must be a change in sound reproduction. Whether that’s audible or not I really don’t know nor interested to find out. As for mains cables, explain to me how and I’ll consider the matter. Subjective is all very well but I’m with Lord Kelvin on this. If however you believe I’m totally wrong and you want to spend a lot of many that makes you happy, wire in.
There is also my second system in the workshop, primarily for some music to penetrate the machine tools and my lengthy pondering. It consists of a Quad FM4/34/405II all about 30 years old, feeding a pair of 15ohm Rogers LS3/5a on Target stands, and they must be all but 40 years old. I have to say that it stands up today as a perfectly listenable system which if I hadn’t the good fortune to afford the main system I would be perfectly happy with.
I am happy to answer any questions you might ask or indeed justify myself against the brickbats. None of it probably fulfils audiophile criteria however it is all musical as far as my hearing permits and I have no particular desire to chase this any further. I don’t believe that I can make a quantum leap in sound quality without spending ludicrous amounts of money so I’ll be happy with what I’ve got.
Best wishes
Martin
Reply With Quote
No brickbats from me (today anyway).
