What equipment do you use?
Sat, Dec 31 2011, 5:45PM
#2
RE: What equipment do you use?
I bought an OPPO universal player, model 95 about a year ago and I believe it was the best $1000 I have ever spent. It plays analog LPs in the correct method and everything else in digital form. The video is also wonderful. I use B&W 802 speakers when playing classical music and the rest of the speaker array when watching movies or Blue Ray anythings. I hope OPPO is available in the UK as I seem to find nobody even mentioning it.
Sun, Jan 1 2012, 2:45PM
#3
RE: What equipment do you use?
Stello CDT200, Sqeezebox Transporter, Myryad MT100, Audio Analogue Maestro Settanta REV2.0, Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage
Sqeezebox Touch, Quad 34/306/FM4, Sonus Faber Concertino
Sqeezebox Boom, Radio, Controller, iPeng, Squeezepad
Tue, Jan 17 2012, 4:26PM
#4
RE: What equipment do you use?
Linn-Sondek LP12 with Dynavector cartridge
Bellari tube (valve) moving coil cartridge phono step-up amplifier
Shindo Aurieges preamplifier
VAC Marantz 8b replica tube amplifier
Pro-Ac Response 2S speakers
used with QUAD CDP, QUAD FM4 tuner, Oppo universal disc player
Sun, Jan 22 2012, 10:03PM
#5
RE: What equipment do you use?
I have two systems at home that I enjoy.
My main system is a Naim CD 555, Naim NAC 552 Preamp and a Naim NAP 500. These feed into some floorstanding speakers, the Neat Ultimatum MF7's. My other source is a Linn LP12 turntable with Naim Superline phono stage. Headphone listening is via a Naim Headline/Hi-Cap and Grado GS1000 headphones. All sat on a Naim Fraim rack.
My second system in my office is a Naim Unitiqute into the new B&W PM1 speakers.
Other music listening via a B&W Zeppelin Air and iPhone/iPad into Etymotic headphones or B&W P5 headphones.
Wed, Mar 21 2012, 1:42PM
#6
RE: What equipment do you use?
Like of a lot of you I wish to get the best analogue sound I can afford.
My current system comprises the following:
Dynaudio Audience 9 loudspeakers
CEC TL3N CD-transport, belt-driven and top-loading. Is a new addition and is brilliant.
Audiomat Tango2 Digital-analogue converter (DAC), with valve
Thorens TD 160 turntable, rewired arm with Ortofon Vivo Red MC cartridge
Pro-Ject Tube Box II phono pre-amp with 2 valves
De Groef Audio passive pre-amplifier built to order
Vincent SP-331 MK power-amplifier with valves
Internet radio stations streamed via an E-Machines notebook computer with a V-Link converter from USB to SPDIF feeding the DAC optical input.
We are not into ripping CDs and such like procedures
The whole produces a magically musical clear analogue sound which surprises professional musicians. We play early music, chamber music, viola da gamba, and piano jazz.
Should also say that our house is a converted chapel with stone floor, wooden ceilings and thick brick walls. Acoustically ideal for our choice of music.
Barry Hake
Mon, May 28 2012, 6:12PM
#7
RE: What equipment do you use?
Any old digital source > AVI ADM40
Simple.
Bliss.
Mon, Oct 8 2012, 1:11AM
#8
RE: What equipment do you use?
Had a 1997 vintage system Primare A30.2/CD32/Dynaudio Contour 1.1 system with Nordost cabling. Very engaging. Went to streaming in 2011 as kids growing up allowed floor-standing rather than wall-mounted speakers.
After a few upgrades, now have:
Streamer: Linn Akurate DS (Upgraded from Majik)
Power amp: Akurate 2200 - no pre as has built in volume control
Speakers: PMC Fact.8 (Upgraded from Linn Majik 140)
Interconnects: Linn Silver (upgraded from Linn packaged cables)
Speaker cables: Chord Epic (upgraded from Linn K400)
Really pleased with this lot, given the very wide range of music listened to.
Main reason for post was NAS source. Purchased a Zoneripper Max. Found it noisy even when not ripping, slow in quiet ripping mode, thunderous in fast ripping mode, poor metadata source and the Windows Media Server needs rebooting fairly regularly. Rips failed from time to time on older discs. The Windows Media Server is also complex to use.
Just purchased a new NAS product from AVA Media called Zara Premium. Dead quiet, quick ripping, primarily WAV bit-perfect ripping of CDs rather than FLAC encoding, uses various data sources but mainly AMG Lasso, which digs up data on even the oldest deleted CDs. Has scanned over 300 discs without a single fail. There seems to be little choice for these products, but this one seems to be a winner.
Tue, Oct 9 2012, 8:40PM
#9
RE: What equipment do you use?
I've only glanced through the above set of replies, with their bewildering lists of components. But I might as well add my own contribution, as I do feel that the new, and rather ambitious, set-up I treated myself to earlier in the year seems particularly well suited to classical music (the only kind I listen to). It looks a little strange on paper, as the CD front-end would appear to be light-weight and not a quality (or expenditure) match to the amp and speakers. Yet I find the result totally convincing -- with a sound which is astonishingly clear and full-bodied. Just what I was looking for, in fact.
Rega Planet CD player (the original model, which I've had for a dozen years)
Audiolab M-DAC
Rega RP6 turntable, with Goldring 2500 cartridge
Sonos
Classe CP2100 integrated amp
Spendor ST speakers
Naim NacA5 speaker leads (left from the previous set-up, like the Planet and the Sonos)
Quadraspire stand
Grado SR325 headphones
Interconnects? Whatever the dealer installed.
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 5:31PM
#10
RE: What equipment do you use?
For many years I lived happily with an A&R Cambridge A60 and mission speakers. But everything has crumbled now so am starting again, and I am going to rip my cds in lossless format. So I am thinking about a NAIM box (uniti2 maybe) and a vortexbox, and replacing the speakers (B&W borrowed from a friend, pretty ancient) when I can afford it. But I dont really expect to reproduce orchestral music in a domestic setting, not really. Chamber music and small group vocal singing, yes. Anything designed to be played somewhere huge in real life, it has to be a bit ersatz, I think?
Tue, Oct 30 2012, 7:07PM
#11
RE: What equipment do you use?
Being away from home for a couple of weeks, I'm accessing my music via a Western Digital NAS connected to my wireless router at home. With an app on my iPad, I can access my music from anywhere where I can connect to the Internet. I'm using a Bluetooth Braven speaker - a quality portable speaker - the sound is amazing.
Fri, Mar 1 2013, 8:56PM
#12
RE: What equipment do you use?
New to the Forum.
After being forced to update our large, multi-amplifier main Linn system of about 20 years by an unfortunate plumbing problem, our current system consists of:
Linn Akurate DSM
Linn Sondek LP12 (from the previous system)
Rega Apollo CD player (being fed into the DAC of the Akurate DSM)
Linn Artikulate 320 speakers (connected via balanced outputs of the Akurate DSM)
Audioquest digital, balanced speaker & interconnect cables
We also use a Sonos for the purposes of sending internet radio throughout the house.
We're using a Mac laptop's hard drive as a server, which employs Time Machine to automatically back up any additions to the iTunes library. Music is streamed on the Akurate from the iTunes Library using Songbox/Kinsky. At some point, we may go the NAS route, but the current setup serves our purposes very well, so far. CD's are ripped to WAV format. The next addition/upgrade will be the addition of a REL subwoofer.
It took me a while to come around to the whole streaming thing. Before that, I preferred CD's, although I admit that LP's can sound much better if the turntable is set up correctly. Being the owner of a Sondek LP12 and preferring CD's is a crime, I know, but I always felt that CD's allowed me to concentrate more on getting straight to the music and allows greater access to a wider variety of new recordings. It never was as much of a sound quality matter, although I've always had equipment good enough to produce excellent sound. However, I still listen to vinyl a good deal of the time, and will never part with the LP12.
The current system is more streamlined than the previous one, having reduced the number of pieces of equipment substantially.
Additionally, we have a secondary system in another room in which the CD and LP collections are kept. That system is comprised of:
Rega P3 & Rega phono preamp
Rega Apollo CD player (older version)
Rega DAC
Linn Classik (used as an integrated amp)
Linn Ninka speakers
Although smaller than the main system, this system produces very good sound.
We listen amost exclusively to music of the Baroque, Classical and early Romantic periods. Sometimes, a little Bartok sneaks in.
It's taken 20 years but I think I've reached my ideal system:
Speakers - B&W 802D
SACD - Krell Evolution 505
Pre Amp - Krell Evolution 222
Amp - Krell Evolution 302
Interconnects - Krell CAST MMF
Speaker cables - Audioquest Gibraltar
The Krell Evolution series with CAST cables is the only solid state gear that I have heard, that to my ears, betters the best valve amps. It portrays the warmth, body and 'being there atmosphere' of the best valve gear without falling apart when pushed to the limits. The Krell holds everything together with a vice like grip, and not just the bottom end for which they're known. Furthermore, the Evolution series to my ears doesn't sound as dry, harsh and clinical as some of the previous Krells. The 505 SACD player is truly staggering and sounds better than all the rave reviews. The B&W 802Ds are quite amazing too. Nothing beats going to see a live concert but on sonics alone the system sounds better than any concert hall in Sydney.
Previously my system comprised of Apogee Mini-Grand speakers, Marantz SA-14 SACD player, Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 pre-amp (valves), Mark Levinson 23.5 amps, Audioquest Anaconda interconnects. Another great system but when I heard the Krells with the B&Ws together I had to upgrade!
I won't be upgrading for a while...