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I does not take alot of money! A poor mans system..

66.214.19.141

Posted by System Status on March 8, 2003 at 23:05:32

I have never posted here but have been reading for years. I have been an audio fan for a number of years, equipement has come and gone. A few years back I fell into hard times and had to sell it all to make ends meet. I went for a couple years without any music at all. Not even a portable or a boombox!

About couple years ago I started frequenting this forum and getting ideas to get myself back into some gear to listen to some tunes.

I knew that I would not be able to afford some of the gear that I had owned in the past but I just wanted to listen to some music, even if it meant low/mid hi-fi. First I decided I would purchase some Magnepan MMG($500) and go from there. I had never heard planars but was convinced by the reviews at Audio Review and the people at the Planar Speaker Asylum that they were worth the money. I got some good advice there.

I also learned that Magnepans can be demanding speakers and try to find a cheap amp to drive them. I already had learned that to drive these speakers I would need a decent amp. again I searched the forums to find an inexpensive amp for these speakers. I resorted to a vintage reciever, a Sansui reciever from the 70's(9090db) I discovered in my local paper($125). It puts out enought power to drive the MMG's. Maybe not the best amp in the world but it does the job. The reciever is old, the amp section is good but the preamp I found to be a bit noisey and have some probelms.

I found a CDP made by Sherwood Newcastle that was being sold a u-bid, I won the bid and was a buyer. A pretty good unit for the money($110 plus shipping). All I will say is that the unit is above it's price.

So, I gpt myself some tunes now an decided to go back to the pages here and find out what I could do about the preamp. I read alot about preamps and found alot of good information. I really wanted to build a Foreplay preamp but I did not quite have the money for it and did not really have any electronics skills either. From here I stumbled onto the DIY Audio site where I came across a thread about a $20 preamp that is built from Radio shack parts. The post was from a Harry Haller. I was complete with pics and instructions. I must say that the looks were simple and did not have any features to speak of, one input and one output. I built the preamp in one evening for the stated price... about $20(it really was very simple). In terms of sound this thing amazed me! I had previously owned a Marantz that retailed for $1000, An AV-600(THX Pro-logic), again not the last word in hardware but not exactly on the bottom either. It has been some time since I heard the Marantz but I am tempted to say that the Marantz has nothing on the RS self built $20 preamp(except more inputs and a remote). I cannot be dogmatic about this beause I never heard the Marantz with the MMG's the Sherwood and the Sansui.

Maybe it is just a "synergy" thing going on here but I cannot believe this combination! Some of you are probably laughing right now at this system or maybe stopped reading long ago because this story does not intrest you, but I wanted to share this story for those who want to be able to hear good sound but dont have alot of money or don't know where to start.

Finally I made some of my owne interconects with some radio shack magnet wire, some Radio Shack RCA's and some clear packing tape. I use the for both outputs from the CDP and inputs to the Sansui amp. Again here I was floored at the ability of low cost gear to perform at high-end performance levels. I am still using some RS heavy guage wire for speaker wire but plan to make something of my own soon.

Please don't laugh until you have sat in the sweet spot in my room. I know that it can get better, I'm not dogging out high-end gear,but I cannot imagine much better at this price.
Magnepan MMG speakers $500.00
Sherwood Newcastle CDC-680- $130.00
Sansui 9090db(reciever-amp) $125.00
Harry Haller+ Radio Shack homemade preamp $ 20.00
Home-brew interconects. $ 7.00 each
Speaker cables - Radio Shack $ 10.00
Total $792.00

I'm not nearly as poor as I once was but I have a different perspective now and I have learned that there is a bit too much hype in hi-end audio. Hey if you've to the buck great, but if you don't just do your homework and try, try, try, and with a bit of luck you will have some good music. I still plan to upgrade some stuff down the road, maybe an DAC or maybe I will still build that Forplay and I may make some room treatments, but I won't be spending any big bucks anytime soon. No need to,it sound that good.

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