My 2019 Update Thread - My final system I think.

[Gazjam]

You tease. That's not some pics.. Looks great
Ah more pic.. Ti's a fair chunk of gear mate. I fancied one of their bits of kit too but was too rich for me. Think it was the phono

Was updating the thread as you replied.
Think you were quite taken with the Phono Grant, but you got one that did the similar digital chicanery I think?

Need to get over to yours, have your Power Inspired regen to return (not to mention try some great coffee and discuss coffee machines!)

[struth]

Was updating the thread as you replied.
Think you were quite taken with the Phono Grant, but you got one that did the similar digital chicanery I think?

Need to get over to yours, have your Power Inspired regen to return (not to mention try some great coffee and discuss coffee machines!)

Anytime.. Yup it does digi on fly etc. Works quite well at its price point. About 500/550 I think it was.
I'm like u going more toward digital all time

[Gazjam]

Without wanting to sound like a bad American Infomercial...but wait, there's more.

As much as upgrading my Dac and preamp were game changers, this one was far more fundamental.
Systems completely changed now, pretty sure I'm really hearing what the various bits and bobs I've upgraded are capable of now.
Endgame stuff for sure.

So, different schools of thought about the hierarchy of system upgrades - whats the best thing to upgrade, where should you allocate most resources...etc.
Source first vs optimise the room vs get the best speakers and work back.

Components been upgraded and I'm calling them done, so what was next?
Source is sorted...and my rooms OK no complaints...so look at speakers?

I have the Eddingdales, Colin Topps' amazing box speakers - best box speakers I've heard and give massive bang for buck.
Commercial from new talking silly money for this quality.
Fantastic...box...speakers.

See where I'm going with this?

[Bigman80]

Without wanting to sound like a bad American Infomercial...but wait, there's more.

As much as upgrading my Dac and preamp were game changers, this one was far more fundamental.
Systems completely changed now, pretty sure I'm really hearing what the various bits and bobs I've upgraded are capable of now.
Endgame stuff for sure.

So, different schools of thought about the hierarchy of system upgrades - whats the best thing to upgrade, where should you allocate most resources...etc.
Source first vs optimise the room vs get the best speakers and work back.

Components been upgraded and I'm calling them done, so what was next?
Source is sorted...and my rooms OK no complaints...so look at speakers?

I have the Eddingdales, Colin Topps' amazing box speakers - best box speakers I've heard and give massive bang for buck.
Commercial from new talking silly money for this quality.
Fantastic...box...speakers.

See where I'm going with this?

Oh dear lol. Got some open baffles have we?

[struth]

Without wanting to sound like a bad American Infomercial...but wait, there's more.

As much as upgrading my Dac and preamp were game changers, this one was far more fundamental.
Systems completely changed now, pretty sure I'm really hearing what the various bits and bobs I've upgraded are capable of now.
Endgame stuff for sure.

So, different schools of thought about the hierarchy of system upgrades - whats the best thing to upgrade, where should you allocate most resources...etc.
Source first vs optimise the room vs get the best speakers and work back.

Components been upgraded and I'm calling them done, so what was next?
Source is sorted...and my rooms OK no complaints...so look at speakers?

I have the Eddingdales, Colin Topps' amazing box speakers - best box speakers I've heard and give massive bang for buck.
Commercial from new talking silly money for this quality.
Fantastic...box...speakers.

See where I'm going with this?

I dare say they can be TOPPed Gaz, but it will be difficult. The edi gdales are great and take on all comers

[YNWaN]

Yep, it does sound like a Bastanis moment, the very definition of ‘curates egg’ performance in my experience....

[Macca]

The Edingdales were perfect with that amp, and the amp limits your choice a bit, so I'm going to say even better Edingdales

[Gazjam]

Naa.
Never got on with open baffles Ollie.

With an 8/9 watts SET amp, it was something I had thought about?
Great as the Eddingdales were (at 94dB efficiency) after the recent upgrades, turns out they were the bottleneck holding my system back.

The funny thing is that changing the speakers wasn't planned and happened completely by accident.


Good story:
My SET power amp was back with its designer getting some TLC last couple of weeks and at the weekend there I drove down to collect it.
A mate lived 40minutes away so took the opportunity to pop across and see him.

Plumbed my amp into his system to hear how it sounded with his kit, particularly on his Bastanis open baffle speakers.
Unexpected results on listening, not a great match, but I happened to notice a couple of massive wooden cabinets in the corner which were, he let me know, up for Sale.

Speakers I had been curious about since reading of them in magazines back in the day, but never thought I'd get a chance to hear.
These were as minty as you could ever want, recently refoamed and had a tweeter crossover mod to improve them done.
So ideal really...just one of life's weird coincidences that sometimes happen.

Impulse H2 horn speakers - A review from Jimmy Hughes (remember him?) from back in the day.


And another:


So we hooked up the H2's to my SET amp and sat back to listen to some music.
Some things just "work", and the sound coming from the horn speakers with my SET amp was jaw dropping.
Never heard my amp sound like this, the scale, clarity the detail and the grunt...shocking how good it was.

Bought them on the spot with the proviso they worked as well in my room at home.
And they did.
Never thought I'd say this but I'm moving on from the Eddingdales.

Game changer for me, amazed how good they make my gear sound played through them, my last speakers short of a lottery win - which I think I'd need to better whats hitting my ears.
Valves and horn speakers, some things just "work" I guess.

Some pics in situ:
Still playing around with placement etc and trying to get them dialed into the room but great as is.
Eddingdales are huge speakers, but...

Bass horn comes out the bottom of the speaker, and spiked directly into the carpet they weren't working properly in the bass.
So sat them on some slabs to allow the gap at the bottom to let the bass work - much better now.






Happy chocolate button, best sound at home by a country mile.
Depending on wether I sell the vinyl or not, one more stab at upgrading the digital front end then I'm done I think.

Happy days, just lets me enjoy my music better which is the point really of having a good system.

[Barry]

Well done Garry. The Impulse H2s are one of the very few folded horn-loaded speaker designs I can listen to. A friend of mine has a pair, tri-wired to an Audio Innovations 500 amplifier.

Now you and Audio Al will be able to compare notes.

[struth]

Great things the h2's. Surprised they worked so well tho. Guess I better get saving lol