Rookie looking for advice

[dirtbag]

Haven't had a decent system for about 15 yrs. Now I have the room for one and about 6K to spend. My room is a rec room over the garage, large ( about 3200 cu. ft.) with angled cielings and it has a lot of corners (shaped like a cross). I want a 2-channel system mostly for private listening. I listen to all music except classical. I want tube equip. with the retro look and speakers that are precise but that can rock once in a while.
Klipschorns have always been a dream of mine but not an option this goaround.
Right now I am thinking about the Antique Sound Lab gear along with possibly Hersey II.
What do you think of the ASL stuff? Is it a good fit with the Klipsch? Can you recommend a good CD player? I also have a Rega Planar 2 turntable the needs upgrades but I don't have any vinyl. Should I repair the turntable or just rely on CD's and possibly a music server?
I will buy only new equip.

My knowledge is very limited so keep it simple please. I'm not after the perfect system just something that sounds great and looks the part.

Thanks Dale

[jrhymeammo]

Okay dirtbag, I'll nibble....and Welcome to AR.com

I cannot comment based on personal experience with ASL product. But I would go with ASL over Jolida for triode/ultra linear option. Or are you just looking at 300B or 2A3 based SET amps?

Since you are only looking to buy new gears I think you are interested in Heresy 3. Da Heresy can ROCK out for sure, but I'm not sure how precise they are in a term of frequency response. Considering how efficent they are, I'm not sure if you need more than 8 watts of SET bliss... I guess my pair of Triangle is efficent enough to pair up with some SET, but I like my music LOUD from time to time. From the way you wrote, you sounds like you already know alot about audio. So I dont want to give you any mediocre advice so I will stop here..... Oh and one more thing, GO BUY SOME WAX!!! What all the analog gears do you have? Are you trying to include an outboard phono preamp in your 6k budget?

If you havent seen this site already, it should help expand your options.

http://www.worldtubeaudio.com/directory/categories/kategorie_80.htm

[Mr Peabody]

I think if it was me and I didn't have any vinyl, I'd sell the Rega and stick with CD. I was buying vinyl new when it was $5.00, give or take, new and I can't see paying $30.00 or more for an album, even if it is 180/200 gram. I really like Arcam CD players up until over the $2k mark then there are other options I think I'd take, like Audio Note now has a single box player at $2,500.00. Arcam cdp start around $680.00.

I've never heard any ASL. I use Conrad Johnson and love it. If you like tube gear with ourstanding ooks check out the Shanling gear. They do offer some integrated amps. I haven't heard any but Cayin gets pretty good rap and what is cool about some of their amps is they can be switched, with button, from triode to ultralinear, so it's like having 2 amps, or at least 2 different presentations.

I personally am ot a Klipsch fan so I will leave that to some one else.

check out Cayin at: www.acousticsounds.com
Shanling at: www.spearitsound.com
www.conradjonson.com

[Feanor]

Haven't had a decent system for about 15 yrs. ... I want tube equip. with the retro look and speakers that are precise but that can rock once in a while.
Klipschorns have always been a dream of mine but not an option this goaround.
Right now I am thinking about the Antique Sound Lab gear along with possibly Hersey II.
What do you think of the ASL stuff? Is it a good fit with the Klipsch? Can you recommend a good CD player? I also have a Rega Planar 2 turntable the needs upgrades but I don't have any vinyl. Should I repair the turntable or just rely on CD's and possibly a music server?
I will buy only new equip.
...
Thanks Dale

I go back in hifi to 'till when retro was new -- almost, (early 70's). I kind of like retro myself, but I'd be looking at vintage McIntosh, tube or S/S -- see a MA230 tube integrated, below. ASL? Ha!

So ... how can you be retro without a turntable? Eh? In practical terms if you have a fairly large vinyl collection, by all means repair or replace the Rega.

I'm a vinylphobe myself, but I recently replace a broken TT (with a vintage used piece) and bought a new cartridge and phono preamp -- I'm loving my vinyl though I still don't play it often.
...

[blackraven]

My power button finger is getting hard just looking at that MAC! I'm getting amp envy!

[dirtbag]

Thanks for the replies,

I have checked out most of the equip that you fellows have mentioned.

I drool over the McIntosh stuff as well, but the new stuff is real pricey and I'm hesitant about used gear because I don't know enough. The ASL stuff interests me because I could get into tubes for a modest investment and even if I can't resell it, I could always use it for a second system in the living room.
Ran into a home theater installer at a jobsite ( I see a lot of real pricey, 200K, home theater rooms thru work ) and he was raving about some JM Labs 700 series speakers that he just used. What are your thought on JM Labs? Also Tannoy Pretigse series.What would be the cut-off for speaker efficiency with a tube set-up?
Any thought on Dared Amps? They look great, are in my price range and seem to be getting good reviews. Also Rogue Audio has some stuff in my range.
We will also be putting a 60 inch TV in the same room and my first thought was to have a completely seperate system for home theater ( 1 movie a week doesn't justify a pricey set-up to me ) but could we do a 5 channel system using the tube gear?

Thanks again Dale

[Mr Peabody]

To my knowledge there is no tube HT processors and using that many tube power amps would be expensive and high maintenance. Conrad Johnson made a 5 channel MOSFET solid state amp that is still supposed to have a sweet sound. You could go with something like that and a tube CD player.

No personal experience with Dared but one online dealer had them and dropped them. When I was asking about them because they were priced to sell, he wasn't very hot on them. It wasn't so much what he said as what he would not say. I'd recommend if you want entry level tubes stick with the companies already established like Jolida, Prima Luna, Cayin and Shanling. I had an audition set up for some Rogue in my home but it fell through and my tube search stopped after hooking up the Conrad Johnson gear I have now. Unfortunately, CJ doesn't have a current entry level or integrated. Unless you buy used, CJ separates will run about $5k for a pre and power amp. Their gear is found pretty reasonable on Audiogon. VTL and Manley offer integrated amps around $2,500.00 new but I don't think either offer remote. I heard some VTL monoblocks one time and they were very good.

[dirtbag]

Now I am finding some really bad things about Dared. On Audio Asylum some people are saying they are basically crap, held together with hot melt glue. I'm going to look closely at the Rogue stuff, a local dealer carries it. If I can find a trustworthy local shop I may look into some vintage Mac gear. The internet gives me way too many choices. I don't care if I buy in the next 6 months so I will take my time.
Thanks

[Feanor]

Thanks for the replies,

I have checked out most of the equip that you fellows have mentioned.

I drool over the McIntosh stuff as well, but the new stuff is real pricey and I'm hesitant about used gear because I don't know enough.
...
Thanks again Dale

I'm no expert either, but I'd say that the classic vintage McIntosh tube stuff is grossly expensive for what you get. For example, some guy at Audiogon is trying to sell a C22 preamp, (1963-68), for $2500. IMO, Another guy is selling a C220, (also tube), current production, for the same price. Thus the vintage price is just silly, IMO.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatube&1172302545
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatube&1173479045See pics of C22 and C220
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