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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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In Reply to: Very good insights.... posted by doodlebug on March 2, 2007 at 15:21:44:
David,
I think you upgraded your LS8 the best way- take advantage of hundred's of hours of listening by people with critical hearing and, importantly, the technical knowledge of the gear to be able to make effective improvements- they know what change will affect which thing and contribute to an overall improvement. The person at home, no matter how enthusistic, can rarely have this kind of time, money, and expertise to access and experiment with about every Hovland, Solens, Inifinicap piece made, constantly reference the original sound, and determine which component is the optimium contribution to the sound.The overall improvement is the critical aspect for me as something that just makes a huge bass or sweet midrange is likely to upset the aspects of overall balance I sought originally.
Yes, I think I like the SP3 c- upgrade quite a lot, as it is so well worked out, but for me, the improvements that I like are already present in a good Revision 4 to 7 SP8. If a person is going to be putting $2,000 into an SP3, it would be wise to be very sure about the direction of the outcome as well as other possibilities. With careful buying, $2,000 could buy a really nice SP8 at about $1,100 and one of ARC greatest tube amps- a D70 (65W, 6550s) at about $900. The SP8/D70 in combination, especially with electrostatic speakers, is one of the "magic" audio combinations of all time. It won't be long too that $2,000 might buy most of a used LS16 and PH3SE, for those that want the modern, remote control stuff,..
McIntosh: I'm talking to various people regarding my MR67 tuner and have spent three months buying NOS tubes. I';d like to put this is super condition and then spend the next 30 years listening- I think that tuner is unlikely to be surpassed for the way I'd like to use it. As I listen to FM in the office 100 times more than at home, it's likely this MR67 will be the office tuner: Cambridge Audio 640C/McIntosh MR67 > Audio Research L3 > Audio Research D130 > Vanderstenn 2C. The lush, deep MR67 through the neutral and dynamic LS3 and D130 is quite astounding. The solid state stuff is an experiment- after 20+ years of all tube- as I want good sound in the office where I actually listen most, but don't like to run expsensive tube stuff when it's often idling or muted. Still, I'm quite sure the LS3 will turn into the SP8 in the near future and I'll just put Sovteks in the phono spots so as not to burn the original Siemens ECC83s needlessly.
But, it's still a debate with me as to degree changes to the MR67 I'd like- I just don't have a reference to what putting in Solens coupling caps or whatever will do. As I 'm simultaneously completely retubing, will I end with such a different MR67, will I be happy? This project will cost about $900 total in the end and that's a serious tuner investment in time and money. Of course, this is essentially the same debate our friend Tromatic is having over the SP3- how to know if an uopgrade is worth the cost and is it really an upgrade- and my native skepticism and frugality means I'd only do the upgrade if I could hear an example that's been done- and placed in a very similar of the same system.
Cheers,
Bambi B
[ Audio Research: SP8, SP10, D115, LS3, D130 / McIntosh: MX110, MC240, MR67, MR77 ]
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Follow Ups
- A very difficult decision.... - Bambi B 18:13:46 03/02/07 (1)
- I understand your situation - doodlebug 20:28:28 03/02/07 (0)
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