Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

BjorgenFjorgen said:
Hey friends, I'm having some trouble with one of my speakers. The other night when listening to some music it got progressively more staticky. I was in the other room, and hurried over to turn off the receiver. At first I thought maybe one of the wires was loose, but I detached and reattached all of them on both the receiver and the speaker ends. I think I've isolated it to the negative port on the back of this speaker. Sometimes it's fine but sooner or later it just starts humming static. As you can see/hear in this video, just inserting the wire into the port causes it to go haywire. I've already cut and restripped the wire, twice, swapped the ends (positive to negative), and swapped which ends are connected to the receiver and to the speaker, and had the same problem with the same end. I probably just need new speaker wire? It's this wire, fyi. Oyaide Explorer 0.75 Speaker Wire – Planet of Sound

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have you swapped left and right speaker cables to remove the amp from the equation?
 
Hey guys, wondering if anyone has any experience with Goldring MC carts? Thinking of picking up an Ethos, I'm currently running a Rega Aria so it has a dedicated MC stage in it. Just wondering about any opinions on the Ethos or Legacy or Elite Goldring Carts? Sound style? Warm? Cold? Technical?

Cheers
 
Mather said:
Hey guys, wondering if anyone has any experience with Goldring MC carts? Thinking of picking up an Ethos, I'm currently running a Rega Aria so it has a dedicated MC stage in it. Just wondering about any opinions on the Ethos or Legacy or Elite Goldring Carts? Sound style? Warm? Cold? Technical?

Cheers
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Damn, wasn’t it @blujay that ran a goldring?
 
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Anybody know what the break in period for the elac's is? The bass has opened up a lot in the last two days... Wonder how much better these are gonna get... I've probably put ten hours on them?
 
I’m just waiting for the seasonal half price drop to grab some floor standing B6.2’s. I’m still kind of kicking myself for not hitting that other crazy deal on speaker that I’ve erased from my memory because the pain is too great.
 
Is it normal for there to be a hissing noise when the volume is turned all the way up on the NAD 326Bee connected to the Schiit Mani?
 
How loud a hiss are we talking? A slight hiss at high volume and nothing spinning is normal for most phono preamps, even the expensive ones. It shouldn't be noticable when the music flows.
 
It's been a long time coming, but the day is almost here.
I'm getting my dream speakers DeVore Fidelity O/96 pretty soon.
But now I'm asking myself: Which cables do I need?

Here's the rest of the system:
Leben CS-600 + Leben RS-30EQ + Dr. Feickert Blackbird

Any suggestions @HiFi Guy @displayname @Mather ?

And please don't tell me that I need to get some new power cables as well.
I blew my budget already... o_O
 
Congratulations! Those are some gorgeous and no doubt incredible sounding speakers. I don't really have enough knowledge when it comes to cables to really provide much insight I'm afraid. All I know is my BIS Vivat cables and BIS Maestro AC cables made a massive difference in the presence and depth of my systems audio. But the AC cables I'm sorry to say did make a big difference...
 
phramenma said:
It's been a long time coming, but the day is almost here.
I'm getting my dream speakers DeVore Fidelity O/96 pretty soon.
But now I'm asking myself: Which cables do I need?

Here's the rest of the system:
Leben CS-600 + Leben RS-30EQ + Dr. Feickert Blackbird

Any suggestions @HiFi Guy @displayname @Mather ?

And please don't tell me that I need to get some new power cables as well.
I blew my budget already... o_O
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Let me start by saying I AM SO FREAKING JEALOUS!
I still haven't even been able to get ears on some Devore's yet, but all the descriptions have me interested. Match that with striking looks, and well I'd be tempted to buy them blind if I could. We'll need some pics ASAP 😁

What cables are you running now?

Personally, I'm a big fan of just changing one thing at a time. You won't fully appreciate the cables if you swap them right when you swap the speakers. But I would certainly put them on your list. I think some people are not getting everything they can out of their system because they didn't want to invest in cables. And given your gear lineup, I would consider a decent investment in cables. Some people go full loom for the ease of it, and some people like to experiment cable by cable.

I still have Zu Missions for my interconnects, and I really like them for the current ebay prices. I've been very impressed with Wireworld's options. I think each step up the latter make a notable difference, so it's worth setting your budget and going as high as you can with them. I would see myself going all Wireworld in the future if funds allow. Power cables to speakers, I'd have no problem with that.

Kimber is also good, but I think they are a little over priced when new. Others disagree, but dollar for dollar I think I'd chose WW over Kimber if we're talking new stuff. I haven't heard all their stuff head to head, but that's been my initial impression.

A friend of mine also is really into High Fidelity cables. I haven't spent enough time with them to have a strong opinion, but I would certainly consider them because this is coming from a friend who's ears I trust. I have also really enjoyed some systems using all Nordost cables, but I haven't done any A/B comparisons with them.

Some people still like AQ and Transparent. Not hating on either, but in both cases I'd spend my money elsewhere.

There is kind of three ways to go about approaching cables - word of mouth, buying used to A/B at home, or working with a dealer closely.
If you're looking at going full loom at a decent price point, you might be able to get a dealer that will either come to your place or let you do some A/B testing at their shop.
 
displayname said:
There is kind of three ways to go about approaching cables - word of mouth, buying used to A/B at home, or working with a dealer closely.
If you're looking at going full loom at a decent price point, you might be able to get a dealer that will either come to your place or let you do some A/B testing at their shop.
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Agreed, unfortunately depending on where you live you won't have the luxury of a dealer. That's my one beef now a days, at least in my area, the closest I can get to a "Hi Fi Shop" that's less than 2 hours away is Best Buy............and I cringe even thinking of shopping HiFi there, lol.

I also have to agree with @Mather and @displayname , cables due make a difference and the power cables were a surprise to me, but toss them in the mix. For what it's worth, I have Pangea SE MKII Signature Power Cables on everything, Zu Audio LIBTEC speaker cables and Pangea Audio Premier SE Interconnects and turntable cables, all are stellar :)
 
AnthonyI said:
Agreed, unfortunately depending on where you live you won't have the luxury of a dealer. That's my one beef now a days, at least in my area, the closest I can get to a "Hi Fi Shop" that's less than 2 hours away is Best Buy............and I cringe even thinking of shopping HiFi there, lol.
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It is tough. The best option in that case is to buy used and flip stuff you don't care for as much. You kind of just need to look at shipping costs as the cost of demoing.

But at a certain point, I think flights are worth the expense. And I think @phramenma has officially entered that point with the O/96 in the system. It might sound silly, but when you think about the cost of trying to flip $3-5K (or more, sky is the limit) of cables in a system, the cost of a quick overnight trip to Cali to hit up a big dealer (or two) in a single day becomes pretty small. Same goes for higher end speakers.
 
I am, quite depressingly, still running on the system I bough for mad cheap in college when I was broke over a decade ago. I have been meaning to upgrade my system to something that I mostly won't have to upgrade again. I want to get great speakers eventually but I live in a small apartment with plans to not really be settled for a few years still. So I will hold off on some sweet custom speakers.

For the deck I am pretty sold on the MoFi UltraDeck with the UltraTracker. I checked out the post on MoFi here and did some of my own research as well. Just seems like some of the best value out there on the higher end.

For speakers I have mostly settled on the KEF LS50 Mini Monitor Bookshelf Speakers. I really like the design and the quality seems to be there. That said, I am not an expert. So I am definitely open for recommendations on the bookshelf speakers. I am really just looking for the best quality I can buy for around this price while also matching the design aesthetic of the MoFi deck. Does anyone have any experience with these speakers? Am I way off base on these?

The amp is where I am having a real hard time settling. I have a few friends who have Marantz PM7005s and they love it. I also like Marantz, seems pretty good quality. I was looking at the PM7005 as well as the PM8006. I had looked at a few Cambridge ones -- CXA61 and CXA80. The reviews seem quite good. I don't know how they really compare the Marantz. Price wise these all seem in the same ballpark. I have been contemplating just blowing it out a bit and going for something like the Parasound Halo6. It's a beautiful piece of equipment and everything I have read has been gushing of it. Importantly, it seems like the kind of amp I could buy and never really feel the need to replace it. The price of around 3k new is pretty high, but I am not opposed it if the quality is there and it's really worth it. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on the amps (or these pieces in general).

One final question: all these amps are integrated meaning I should not strictly need a phono preamp. However it seems common to still run one and I am a but confused as to why. Would love thoughts on the benefits of the phono preamp in addition to an integrated.

My current set up is literally terrible so basically anything entry level or higher would be an improvement. But with a pretty large collection and finally having saved up a good chunk of money for a proper system I feel like owe it to the records to spin them on something a bit better!

Thanks y'all so much for the help and insight!
 
boyeatzworld said:
One final question: all these amps are integrated meaning I should not strictly need a phono preamp. However it seems common to still run one and I am a but confused as to why. Would love thoughts on the benefits of the phono preamp in addition to an integrated.
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Sounds like you're in for some fun upgrades! In your price range, I would certainly consider the new Polk L200 as well. I haven't heard them yet, but it's the successor to the highly praised LSiM line, and all reviews have been very positive so far. I'm on a list to hopefully get a demo around the end of the year/early next year. I'm hoping to get ears on them before the end of the year.

As for the phono preamp, I think this is often the most overlooked but highly important parts of the vinyl chain. The phonostage has to bring the very low signal from the stylus up to line level, which then feeds into your amp and the rest of the system. Your cartridge and TT are trying to extract as much information from the record as possible, and then the phonostage is trying to "expand" that information with as little interference or loss as possible. A lot of detail can be lost in the phonostage, and a lot of depth, tone, texture and detail can go with it. And anything that is lost (or added) from the phonostage will be amplified as the signal moves through the rest of your system.

Honestly, with what you are planning to purchase, I would put a decent budget aside for the phonestage. I don't want to give you a percentage or formula, because it's just not that simple. But don't under credit the phonostage. If you need to get something simple for budget reasons to get started, that's understandable, but you can get SO much more out of your TT with a good phonostage.

As for amps, you have some great options laid out. One thing to consider, is what all do you NEED your amp to do. For example, the CXA81 does not have a phonostage, so you would need to budget for that. But it does have a nice DAC, so you wouldn't need to budget for that.
The PM8006 does have a phonostage, but doesn't have a DAC. So do you need one?
The Halo Hint 6 has a DAC and a phonostage built in, so much more of a single box solution.
Other factors are balanced connections, sub outs, tape outs, headphone jacks, etc.

Personally, I like amps that don't have many features. Just let me select my input and amplify my sound. The Kinki Studio EX-M1 would fall in your price range, but no phonostage, no DAC, no sub outs, no BT, nothing. Just pure amplification. There are loads of other options too. I'm just making the point to find your key features of an integreated amp, and we can go from there. But you're off to a great start with the lineup so far. The only other thing I'd suggest is consider the MasterTracker vs UltraTracker if you're comfortable with the price difference. Getting it with the table is the cheapest you'll probably ever get it.
 
I see @displayname beat me to the phonostage discussion. I recently made the jump from my U-Turn's integrated to an entry-level Sutherland. The main thing I noticed was a drop in noise, so much that more records became enjoyable. One even avoided the recycle bin because of the difference.
The usual consensus seems to be that integrated phonostages (whether in the turntable or the receiver) tend to be pretty cheap. Not always though. At the other extreme, @Slimwhit33 returned a Sutherland 20/20 back in June because his Luxman's integrated was its equal. We need to ask people more knowledgeable than I where Marantz and Cambridge fall in this spectrum.
 
apholden said:
I see @displayname beat me to the phonostage discussion. I recently made the jump from my U-Turn's integrated to an entry-level Sutherland. The main thing I noticed was a drop in noise, so much that more records became enjoyable. One even avoided the recycle bin because of the difference.
The usual consensus seems to be that integrated phonostages (whether in the turntable or the receiver) tend to be pretty cheap. Not always though. At the other extreme, @Slimwhit33 returned a Sutherland 20/20 back in June because his Luxman's integrated was its equal. We need to ask people more knowledgeable than I where Marantz and Cambridge fall in this spectrum.
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I can't speak for the Marantz, but I'm fairly confident the Cambridge units will be bested by an external phono in $300+ range. They put a heavy focus on the DACs for those units.
 
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