Any audiophiles out there?

[Don Ro]

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.

[Alfasrule]

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!

[aschen]

Originally Posted by Alfasrule

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!

Don't worry I have more, though not tons. I had bunches more but I started weeding out rougher copies. Have thousands of cds though.

97% of my listening is digital. I do like records but I have 3 small kids so I don't get much time with fragile stuff. Ironically I started by the occasional record in the 90s when LPs were super cheap because everyone was trading them in for CDs. Now that kids and hipsters love reccords and prices are way up, Its hard for me to pay 25$ for a new LP these days. I am waiting until the trend dies to start rebuying used.

[KFC911]

I love vinyl.....but the vast majority of my listening pleasure was never pressed to vinyl or even commercially released digitally...it's ALWAYS been about the music for me...rock on

Early daze of digital....meh. 3 decades later....it's just fine...warts and all

[aschen]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

"Don, what is the model on turntable please?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
- Marantz Mod. TT-15SW1 turntable
.
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.
.
www.musicdirect.com
.
https://www.musicdirect.com/turntables/marantz-tt-15-acrylic-turntable

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.

[cairns]

Crutchfield had it on sale for $999 at one point which was crazy since it comes with an $800 Clearaudio cartridge.

It looks like a Clearaudio Emotion with a slightly different plinth. What makes that Marantz an even better deal is the Satisfy tonearm- that's a grand easy if you were to buy it separately.

FWIW I own a Clearaudio Ambient and love the thing.

https://clearaudio.de/en/_archive/turntables-ambient.php

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by aschen

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.

I missed out on a couple of sales since I was late for the train.
Just setting up this latest system...had ants in my pants and wanted a turntable.
Yes, to you and cairns, on the value....at $1,499 I was OK given what I got.
I even sat it on a marble cutting board for purity sake.
...

~~~~~~~~~~~
"FWIW I own a Clearaudio Ambient and love the thing."
.
Sweet!!!

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

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.

Just looked at the invoice......paid $611.
So seller (rat fink) got his $389.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by aschen

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.

Important questions, thank you.

Budget is $500 to $1000

Volume is what I would consider very loud, indicator at 1 or 2 o'clock on knob.

Couch is about 12+ feet away from system.

I am a clean and bright head if there is such a thing. Vibrance and clarity are key. The CM4s don't have much bass when listening at higher volumes and I miss it but lower volumes the sound seems full.

Either look is ok with me.

You've listed some speakers that I can begin to research, thank you.

I would love a set of B&W 803s but can't justify spending so much yet it was easy spending that on an MFI system for a 2.7 RS motor I'm building. Not even a question. Why I look to older, high quality equipment.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

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

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.
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?"

[CurtEgerer]

Helping my B-I-L sell his Sansui QRX-9001. He bought it new in the 80s. Completely serviced a few months ago to the tune of about $400. He's asking $1100. It's a beauty.

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

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

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

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.
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?"

Good to know.
They're a different experience from your VOTT's, eh? Not that big beautiful Altec sound, but quicker.
When I got the itch again back in '15 I knew that I wanted something close to my Apogee Divas w/o the refurbished $20k price. The bi-wire feature is what I wanted, as well. The Theos are no longer made, as I recall. Haven't followed Martin Logan so I don't know their line any more. They work nicely in my huge living area. Placement is critical and I ought to put them in front of an open wall, I know, and not in front of shelving. But they point at my sofa, which is where I rest my tired old body these days.
.
Sold my vinyl collection when I sold my past system and moved out of CA.
Wanting to build another collection...with purity of sound in mind.
Have some recommendations for me?
Anyone?
.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by Dmitry at Pelican Parts

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

Most excellent, Dmitry. More of what I was looking for and didn't know how to ask. Kisses.

[prez!]

Ok, I could not resist this is my Audio Room.

[herr_oberst]

Im thinking of copying this idea for my speaker cable isolators.
I can't stand the idea that I might be leaving expensive sonic goodness on the floor!

[Don Ro]

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

[Don Ro]

prez!
~~~~~~~~~
Nice equip't and layout. I like your album crates.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

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

I guess I should have put this in a green font, denoting whimsy and good natured sarcasm!

[Don Ro]

^^^
I got it.