Hello

[LPgeek]

I've lurked for a little while and I'm very excited to join the community. I'm a jazz musician and love well recorded live albums. While I like recordings to sound as much like real life as possible, that's not a hard and fast rule. I've heard some records where the close mic'ing brings out subtleties that could otherwise be obscured.

I'm not technically gifted and I don't have significant understanding of the science behind stereos, but I know what sounds good to me and I'd certainly like to learn.

I've experimented with a bunch of stuff over the past 20 years: Rotel, NAD, Acurus, Aragon, Adcom, Schiit, Burson, Beyerdynamic, Grado, Hifiman, Rega, AR, Dynavector, Denon, Jolida, Cambridge Audio, Paradigm... the list goes on, and now that I've typed some of it, I'm concerned I have a problem!

I look forward to learning more and sharing what I've experienced experimenting with different audio equipment.

[harley .guy07]

Hello, I am also a musician but by hobby not as a occupation. I play guitar, bass and sing although I don't sing as much as I used to. I have also had several brands over the years but not as much as you have but I used to manage a high end home audio shop in my home town in the 90's and got to play with several brands then. Now its hard to get my hands on different stuff and hear different stuff due to there not being a good shop here and also there aren't many audiophiles in this area that I have connected with.

[blackraven]

Welcome to AR, tell us what gear you have!

[LPgeek]

The semi-abridged version of the very long story is: I started out with some old Paradigms (don't know what they were... they looked like older version of 3se) I got for $50. I enjoyed those for years with a Rotel 1070 pre and 1080 amp. AR es-1 turntable with ortofon red cartridge and Rotel CD player. I saw some 5se mk3 for $175 and gave them a shot. Definite improvement. Sold the older Paradigms for $50. That lasted a few years until I picked up a Rega p25 with Goldring cartridge.

Then I tried the Acurus rl 11 pre and loved it. Loved it so much I wanted to try an acurus amp too. At this point I started biwiring and noticed a huge improvement as well. With the Acurus pre I needed a phono preamp and headphone amp... Phono pre was Cambridge Audio. Beyerdynamic A20 headphone amp. Didn't like it with my Grado 225's. sold it and got a schiit Magni. Headphones now sounded so great that listening with speakers was a disappointment. So I tried to improve speakers with studio 20 v5. Not enough bass so I sold those and kept the 5se mk3. Around the same time I changed Goldring to Denon 110 cartridge.

Gave studio 40 v2 a try hoping they'd have the treble of the 20's with fuller sound and better bass. Better bass was true, but sound wasn't so full. I can't put my finger on it but they were just unsatisfying. Around the same time I went to trade my p25 for a p5 and cartridge from Denon 110 to Dynavector 10x5 (fantastic cartridge). They had Aragon 8002 really cheap at local store. It was so cheap I didn't want to miss the opportunity. I'm very glad I bought it. The improvement was astounding. So clean and clear. Was still deciding between studio 40's and 5se so I got to try both with it. I again preferred the 5se. Very fortunate considering I could sell the studio 40's for what the Aragon cost, and I had financially extended myself too much buying the Aragon.

Since then I upgraded the phono pre to Jolida jd9 and upgraded Magni to Burson Soloist. The Jolida was good when I 1st got it. But after switching the tubes it was like the clouds parted and the heavens opened up!

Somewhere along the line I tried the Schiit Valhalla 2 and Lyr2. Ultimately settling on the Lyr 2 because it handles both the Hifiman he-6 and the Grado pr500. I don't remember when I switched those headphones. I do remember trying hifiman he-500 and being disappointed how weak they were in the upper frequency.

...And that's the abridged version! If you hung in there... wow!

Since I bought mostly used, I was able to sell almost everything for what I paid (including shipping) so I've tried a lot of stuff without spending tons. Every time I'd switch (or decide not to) I'd A/B the 2 options for a while before selling. At some point I'll post some of the comparisons I made.

[blackraven]

What tubes did you use in the Jolida? I am thinking about buying this phono preamp in the future.

[LPgeek]

tung sol 12ax7
fwiw they're the same tubes in the upgraded version

Upgraded Version Features:
ESA Clarity Cap Output Filters
Added Resistors
Tung Sol Gold-Pin 12AX7 Tubes

I'm very happy the way it is. But maybe upgrades are worth $200 more, since the tubes will cost a little under $40.

I've read reviews that say Mullards are good too. I'm resisting venturing down the tube rolling road. It appears unending.

[blackraven]

tung sol 12ax7
fwiw they're the same tubes in the upgraded version

Upgraded Version Features:
ESA Clarity Cap Output Filters
Added Resistors
Tung Sol Gold-Pin 12AX7 Tubes

I'm very happy the way it is. But maybe upgrades are worth $200 more, since the tubes will cost a little under $40.

I've read reviews that say Mullards are good too. I'm resisting venturing down the tube rolling road. It appears unending.

I hear you about tube rolling as I have quite a bit of tube gear and have spent hundreds of $ on tube rolling. Thanks the lord that my BAT preamp (which takes 8 tubes) uses only 6H30's and there really are no NOS tubes and there are only 2 versions that come out of the same factory and are clones. My current phono preamp is a Bellari VP-129 which some one gave me and I found a tube that I like. I just got back into vinyl recently and I am using a 1970's vintage Thorens TD-145 TT completely refurbished with a Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge which is wonderful sounding.

[LPgeek]

How do you like the Bellari?

[blackraven]

How do you like the Bellari?

The Bellari with the stock tube is just ok. But I rolled in a Vintage 1950's RCA Black Plate and it sounds awesome. The friend who gave it to me was using it with a $1900 Pro-Ject TT and either a Clear Audio Maestro or Virtuoso cartridge and it sounded dull in his system. But the RCA tube really takes it up a notch and adds warmth, detail with better dynamics and musicality. The sound stage is much wider and depth is deeper as well. I can't complain for a free phono preamp which got me back into vinyl.