My journey through the haze of Hifi

[The Black Adder]

Hello Chaps.

After doing a cleanup of my photobucket account I found lots of pics from my hifi past and some current ones too so I thought I'd share this selection of kit.

This is by no means everything I've owned in the past but I don't have the pics for some other kit.

Anyways, enjoy!

Cheers.




DENON D250

My first bit of Hifi. Cost me over £1500 in the mid 90's. I can still stand by this hifi that it sounded superb.






MUSICAL FIDELITY X-PRE

My first ever valve pre amplifier... It was great at the time but had fiddly teenytiny knobs that my Hammy hands couldb't get the hang of.

A design flaw if you ask me but these are still very popular.



MUSICAL FIDELITY X-AS100

A superb bridgable amplifier. I had two of these in a Quad amplificaion with some X-AS200 mono's. Sounded great but I found them slow and not very agile.



MUSICAL FIDELITY X-AS2

A great preamplifier but simply didn't have any guts to admire sonically.





MUSICAL FIDELITY XLPSv2

I actually forgot all about this... I had this for a week... nuff said.



MUSICAL FIDELITY X-PSU

Crapola. Made no differnence what so ever to the sound.



MUSICAL FIDELITY X-TONE

Superb bit of kit... Again, very popular even now.



MUSICAL FIDELITY X-10D - ROCK GROTTO'D

Rock Grotto'd versions.. I had two of these one for each channel. Stock units need the Rock Grotto mods.. Easy to do too as both took me about 2 hours each to do.











MUSICAL FIDELITY X-RAY

A great CD player but I found it bright and brittle sounding.






PIONEER RT-909

My baby... still with me and enjoying it just as much as the day I got it.








MONITOR AUDIO BR5

Superb little floorstanders... I was totally amazed with these. Sometimes there are designs that just work.






DENDEN DM-10 V2

This was a lovely integrated but it was HUGE! and didn't fit anywhere. Those big gold knobs were also a little dramatic but the sound was great. Interestingly enough this sounded better single wired and not in a bi-wire configuration even though it had them.





NVA A80's

Superb sounding amplfiers.



NVA A40's

Superb sonics again.



NVA P50

A superb passive pre.



AUDIO NOTE OTO PP

Ooooh... this sounds very nice indeed. EL84/ECC83 complimented and with lots of grunt. One thing I would say is that it's very sensitive on the volume pot.





PRO-JECT RPM 5

For a first or re-visit to vinyl this TT is superb.



B&W CM7's

Gash... I liked the styling but thats about it.








Beogram CD 7000

I want another one... This CDP is still one of the best I've heard. Check out the DAC...








ARCAM ALPHA

Again... Top DAC and NOS converted.. Just felt tacky.



QUAD QC 24

Superb little preamp this but can be improved a lot more.





CHORD CPM 2600 SPM 600

Amazing sound but needed a bigger room to really sound nice..



DALI HELICON 800 MKII's

These were my first set of serious speakers, lots of weight and clout but not for valve amps I thought.




MICHELL GYRODEC SE

A classic... I loved it but my retro switch was flicked so it had to go...lol




PS AUDIO PHONO STAGE

Great sounding Phono stage but not very dynamic.




RAYSONIC CD128

Yeah baby... Very nice CDP here... takes good to rolling too.







SONUS FABER LUITO TOWERS

Hmmm... Pringle tubes in comparason to the Dalis or my latest Tannoys.






NICK GORHAM PHONO STAGE

Custom built, this is the daddy of phono stages... I'd be quite happy to put this up against the mid range Whest models.













RADFORD STA25 RENAISSANCE WITH MATCHING SC25 PREAMPLIFIER

This was a wonderful amplifier and pre. Probably not as good as the original series 3 but still up there with the gods.






HARBETH SHL5

I sold these very reluctantly. If I was going to buy for a second system again I'd definately go for some more of these...



THORENS TD124 MKII

My Baby... again. Fully refurbed by Schopper and runs solidly on the strobe. Love it.











QUAD II (CROFT MODIFIED)

My latest purchase... Very nice indeed. Weight, clout, dynamic...everything the originals were not. If you have some originals get em Crofted. lol

[Beechwoods]

Wow, your pictures are gorgeous. And the gear too. Do you take pictures for a living?

This one looks like it was shot in an Area 51 warehouse:



You've owned some very nice kit I have to say...

[aquapiranha]

Some great kit there Joe and lovely pics too. My fave might be the R2R, but the TD124 and the B&O look the biz too. Hard to beat a TDA1541 equipped player, especially when modded.

[Mark Grant]

Fantastic photos.

[Effem]

Those Dali Helicons, lovely

You really don't need to consult a calendar to accurately date the Pioneer RT909's pedigree do you?

[The Black Adder]

Wow, your pictures are gorgeous. And the gear too. Do you take pictures for a living?

Cheers Nick. Yes, I do lots of product photography.

Thanks Steve, Mark... Glad you like.

Frank, the RT is actually from 1981.. one of the very last made.



Thanks very much matey.

[Tim]

I don't use this word often Joe, as I don't really like it, but on this occasion it fits...... awesome Thanks for posting and I want some Quad II's!

[Effem]

Cheers Nick. Yes, I do lots of product photography.

Thanks Nick, Mark... Glad you like.

Frank, the RT is actually from 1981.. one of the very last made.



Thanks very much matey.

I guessed 1980 - 1981 Joe, so not far off was I? Beautiful high quality engineering from the days when the accountants were kept locked in small offices and not allowed to poke their noses into business decisions

[The Black Adder]

I don't use this word often Joe, as I don't really like it, but on this occasion it fits...... awesome Thanks for posting and I want some Quad II's!

Hehehe... thats ok matey. Just don't quote any Top Gun.

Gaaaah!

[Gizza]

Great post and pics, I felt as though I'd been on the journey with you!