Originally Posted by Alfasrule (Post 10106200)

I'm OLD School!! My playing amp is a A300 Hardon/Karman. My Records are played threw a Bogen DB-12 in my pool room, Records Only!! Have a Technics Turntable belt drive and a Pioneer Direct Drive.
Tubes Rule!!! No sound like it!
My record collection would fill up aschen's cabinets + more!!
aschen just buy more records and you won't see the wires?
Even though some records are worn, the sound is still fuller than any digital recording.
Rock&Roll!

Originally Posted by Don Ro (Post 10106170)

"Don, what is the model on turntable please?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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- Marantz Mod. TT-15SW1 turntable
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From Music Direct...came with a high end cartridge ...the mod. # I don't recall.
I recall that I had a choice of two cartridges and I don't recall which one I chose.
Free shipping - $1,499 - just looked at invoice. 9/09/15.
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www.musicdirect.com
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https://www.musicdirect.com/turntables/marantz-tt-15-acrylic-turntable

Originally Posted by aschen (Post 10106232)

Its a very nice turntable made by clearaudio (for marantz). Crutchfield had it on sale for $999 at one point which was crazy since it comes with an $800 Clearaudio cartridge.

Originally Posted by Don Ro (Post 10106184)

I bought that Marantz Mod. 2325 receiver off eBay. Seller went on and on about how it had just been tested and it was good to go.
"Best receiver I've ever owned."
.
Paid $400 to have it put into the condition that the seller crowed about.
One light burned out, broken dial string, two off-valued resisters in place where the proper valued resister ought to have been.
Other crap wrong with it.
My CC company stopped payment (somehow) and we went round and round.
Seller's wife called local police to report the issue. They called me and laughed it off.
Finally settled on $1,000 minus the $400 to fix if.
.
Love the unit. Pulls in FM from Prescott, AZ (I'm in Scottsdale) w/o an antenna. Heavy as hell...51 lbs.

Originally Posted by aschen (Post 10105227)

what is your approximate budget? How loud do you like to listen and how far is the listening position from the speakers? Are you a "bass head"? Are you willing to pay extra for finely finished furniture grade cabinets or is a more utilitarian look acceptable?


Sorry, need a bit of info before offering what will be probably be a very highly biased opinion

My favorite speaker mft is Dynaudio, but they may be a bit laid back for you. You can get a 20ish year old set of PSB stratus gold or silver speakers for ~600 that are a bit more on the resolving side and would be a pretty big upgrade in my opinion. If you want really giant dynamic range I wouldent completely discount older Klipsch Heritage models (Quartet, Chorus, Forte), usually available in the 700-1000 range. Lots of good options from KEF as well. Dunlavy speakers from that era are big and ugly but fantastic. The Older Thiels might fit your tastes quite well also. For absolute clarity I think the Revel Ultima Salon 2s are the champs for speakers I have heard. They are also 20k new and 9k used. I am not sure if that clarity is in thier lower lines, but probably so. I think used Revel performa's can be had in the 1500 ish range from the last series. Should be fantastic speakers.

Anyways so many options, it is hard to narrow things down without some more constraints. My Buddy had similar medium range B&W CDM floorstanders. He upgraded to circa 2002 Dynaudio Contours and has been extremely satisfied with the change.

Originally Posted by Don Ro (Post 10106184)

Love the unit. Pulls in FM from Prescott, AZ (I'm in Scottsdale) w/o an antenna. Heavy as hell...51 lbs.

Originally Posted by scottmandue (Post 10106501)

I'll try to get a picture on mine... also heavy as hell!
Problem is my Altec's are hooked up to a Luxman and I don't really need another amp. :confused:
Oh and I'm a dork... the name of your turntable is clearly stated in your post.

And looking back at your post to see that and saw... Martin Logan Theos ESL Bi-wire speakers... I remember listening to those in a store once and thinking "how much can I get for a kidney?"

Originally Posted by Dmitry at Pelican Parts (Post 10106623)

Posted this in the other 'Audiophile' thread, but thought it would make sense here as well for anyone looking to get into records or hifi:

I could probably write a novel on this, but I'll keep it short.

- Look for 180g pressings.
- German and Japanese pressings sound excellent.
- Warner and their subsidiaries until about 1980 all sound pretty good.
- New pressings on Concord Music Group are all excellent.
- Look for reissues that say they came from the original tapes.
- If it says 'Remastered', make sure it's from an analog source and not 'Digitally Remastered'.
- Reissue and Repressing are not the same thing.
- Color vinyl generally sounds like crap.

Entry level EXCELLENT turntable: Rega RP1
Entry level EXCELLENT cartridge: Ortofon 2M Red

Originally Posted by Don Ro (Post 10108035)

That's taking being anal to being ludicrous...nonsensical...laughable.
Unless the goal is to look cute...maybe to look organized.
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I go as far as trying to hide my cables...that's pretty much it.
To each his own, eh?

Originally Posted by 356RS (Post 10108095)

Jeff, That's a fantastic setup you have............

Originally Posted by tabs (Post 11395225)

I spent 50K on audio equipment and only have a coupla Donnie & Marie cds.

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr (Post 11395235)

I am not an audiophile but I have a nice stereo with a good Rega turntable.
- If it sounds good that's all that matters.

I know a guy that spent over 20k just on cables! :confused:

Originally Posted by jyl (Post 11395208)

I am not an audiophile, but have been playing and tinkering with my hifi lately.

Currently I have NAD receiver and NAD power amp - don’t recall model numbers, definitely not an audiophile, but they are 90s vintage I think? The receiver’s preamp out goes to a miniDSP equalizer and then to the power amp’s input. The source is either an old turntable, or a gen 1 iPod, or an Audioengines BFi WiFi/DAC. The speakers have changed around a little. There were some donated speakers, also some JBL mini monitors, briefly some weird omni-directional cheapo things from the 70s. But mostly they are a pair of Bose 901, with a Polk Audio powered subwoofer with the x-over set to 40 Hz, and a desktop amp driving some separate tweeters. Those have also changed around but are currently a pair of Linaeum omni-directional ribbon tweeters with a 2.3 uF capacitor for a xover at about 10 kHz.

My goal is a hifi that can be listened to from anywhere in the room, with enough bass for Ron Carter, enough brightness for Elvin Jones, and a midrange presence for John Coltrane. I basically only listen to jazz and, as mentioned in a thread earlier, my hearing is not great above 10 kHz. So I’ve tailored my hifi to my very specific needs.

Originally Posted by tabs (Post 11395225)

I spent 50K on audio equipment and only have a coupla Donnie & Marie cds.

Originally Posted by greglepore (Post 11395268)

Interesting. Harry Bosch has my speakers, Ohm 4's. The perfect jazz speaker imho, especially with a sub.

You like that amp?

Originally Posted by wswartzwel (Post 11395373)

Looking for some advice. Nowhere near the level of equipment I see here that you guys have, but I recently upgraded my Reciever/Amp to a Integra DRX-2.3. It will stream directly from Pandora, and yet has input for my old Kenwood KD-4100R turntable. I would like to get a decent cartridge for the Turntable

Three I am looking at.

http://www.lpgear.com/product/LPGAT95VL.html

http://www.lpgear.com/product/AT7V.html

http://www.lpgear.com/product/NAGAOKAMP110.html

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. I have very little knowledge about where to buy so I dont get ripped off. Would a $200 cartridge give decent sound quality? I have an assortment of vinyl from the 60s-90s. Jazz, orchestra classical, and rock that I would like to enjoy again.

Originally Posted by jyl (Post 11395362)

I do like the power amp, thank you! Remarkable how much better the 901s sound driven by the power amp instead of by the integrated amp (not receiver, I misspoke). I’m thinking of replacing the integrated amp with a preamp, so that I can use the integrated amp somewhere else.

Ohm speakers look very interesting. I’ve never had a chance to hear them. Are they very sensitive to room placement?

My wife objects to the 901s because she considers them “huge”. I guess her frame of reference is a portable Bluetooth speaker or something. She wants me to get a satellite-sub system. Not that she calls it that, her term is “little speakers that you don’t notice”. I’ve tried to point out that the 901s can double as cocktail tables, she says they are much larger than needed for a cocktail table, and why is “that” here (gesturing at stack of turntable and amps) and why do we have all these wires? Also (she’s getting up to speed now) why can’t we hear the same music everywhere in the house? And can’t you turn it down?

So I need a system where Coltrane plays through a mute, Jones just tinkles his cymbals, and Garrison occasionally taps his bass with his little finger, all in the other room while cocktail glasses float in mid-air.

I’m going to the office.

Originally Posted by masraum (Post 11395378)

I now have a nice pair of headphones and stream from my phone.