Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus

Posted by Darnit (A) on March 27, 2015 at 08:37:41

Well, first post in a few years. I was a raging audiophile back in the day and sort of got sidetracked. So, just re registered and thought I'd post a hello and toss out a brief description of where I've landed in my current audio listening set up.
I did the usual asylum member stuff as I traveled the audio lifestyle. Huge 6550 mono blocks, flea powered 300Bs, vintage tubes Fisher integrated, tube and solid state separates for front ends, high end digital playback, homebrewed interconnects, solid silver Teflon speaker wires, high end turntables and cartridges. Vintage speakers, Electrovoice, JBL, back loaded horns, separate subs., high end solid state tuners, vintage tube tuners and so on.
Anyway, I just wasn't connecting with music, and no matter what I tried, I was always looking for more. I really became jaded with the inflated hype around the industry--how great the new boutique amps or preamps are, etc. The transparency of the $4000 interconnect (spoiler alert. Mfg'rs would never be able to sell a $2000 interconnect, if they couldn't convince the mark that it was 95% as good as a top of the line $4000 one).
Anyway, I've fallen back in love with music with a very humble and non audiophile setup--hence, the main reason for me coming back to the asylum.
So, here's the dog's breakfast of components that have somehow turned out to be amazingly synergistic and involving.
I'm running a Marantz 2252b. My vinyl rig is a VPI Super Scoutmaster with-- heresy of heresies-- an Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge, speakers are Lowther back loaded horns.
There are so many things in this setup that run contrary to common audiophile group think, that it is laughable. But, for whatever reason, the system plays music that draws you in an puts a smile on your face. The Ortofon was a pure fluke. I was having a Shelter 501 retipped by Soundsmith and picked up the Ortofon as a stand in while waiting on the retipping. The Ortofon plays music that you want to hear and not obsess over whether you are hearing the last detail in the tracks. The Marantz 2252B is just perfect, in fact, its preamp section very much reminds me of the Macintosh C11 I had in sound and function (go figure) and is more exuberant(in a good way) than my lovely Threshold Fet10 preamp, which was so transparent that it was personality challenged. The tuner section, which only has 3 gangs, is extremely satisfying, and convinced me to retire my Onkyo 9090II. The Marantz is hardly breaking a sweat powering the Lowther horns, but it doesn't feel throttled back like I experienced with other moderately muscular amps. The lowly $100 Ortofon is just hard to believe. I guess Ortofon just can't bring itself to create a bad cartridge at any price point. I've not even had any desire to put the Shelter 501 back into the mix. I'm sure it is better, but I'm not sure that will make me happier, so I'm probably just going to sell it.
Anway, me and my 10,000 Lps are pretty danged gruntled and spending a lot of time together rediscovering great vintage and some new music.
Just thought I'd share.
Darnit

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Topic - Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - Darnit 08:37:41 03/27/15 (14)

Listening to music and enjoying it is the entire point - nocoastjazz@gmail.com 08:04:08 03/28/15 (1)

RE: Listening to music and enjoying it is the entire point - Jack D II 11:47:06 03/28/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - Munkie_NL 03:51:01 03/28/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - AudioSoul 03:24:59 03/28/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - Darnit 12:37:10 03/27/15 (0)

Hello again. - jusbe 12:01:14 03/27/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - mbnx01 10:38:16 03/27/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - cactuscowboy@bresnan.net 10:13:45 03/27/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - Kirk57 10:02:05 03/27/15 (0)

Welcome back to the looney bin....... - BillyBenBilly 09:33:05 03/27/15 (0)

It's particularly refreshing..... - blues4ever 09:27:57 03/27/15 (2)

RE: It's particularly refreshing..... - Tre' 12:08:11 03/27/15 (1)

I think you hit that right on the nailhead nt - blues4ever 15:09:13 03/27/15 (0)

RE: Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus - MannyE 08:51:12 03/27/15 (0)

Coming back to the Asylum after long hiatus

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