Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

HiFi Guy said:
@Splunders is your First Watt guy, even though he jumped ship.
@wooha is your Decware guy,

I’d definitely be interested in a Decware or a Shindo. You never see anything bad about Decware anywhere. Art Dudley (great respect) is a total Shindo guy.

I wouldn’t touch a Line Magnetic.
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I can't speak to First Watt directly - my experience is limited to the DIY Nelson Pass(Pass Labs, First Watt) designed Amp Camp Amp. Considering its $350, 8 watts, all class A power, with no toroidal transformers or other sort of power reserves, it sounded really sweet and warm with decent bass. I can only imagine a $4,000 First Watt J2 or SIT-3 25 watt amp would be killer with those Devores. Get a tubed pre and *chef's kiss*

What about Linear Tube Audio? They have a 10 watt integrated (Z10) that apparently sounds very spacious and walks a tight line between tube soundstage and solid state grip. Or so they say. 30 day trial, made in the USA.

Whatever you get please share, along with impressions of the speakers as things break in
 
HiFi Guy said:
@Splunders is your First Watt guy, even though he jumped ship.
@wooha is your Decware guy.

I’d definitely be interested in a Decware or a Shindo. You never see anything bad about Decware anywhere. Art Dudley (great respect) is a total Shindo guy.

I wouldn’t touch a Line Magnetic.
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I think Shindo is outside my price range for a few (umm, many?) years but am excited to dig through the range of options. (!)
 
Splunders said:
I can't speak to First Watt directly - my experience is limited to the DIY Nelson Pass(Pass Labs, First Watt) designed Amp Camp Amp. Considering its $350, 8 watts, all class A power, with no toroidal transformers or other sort of power reserves, it sounded really sweet and warm with decent bass. I can only imagine a $4,000 First Watt J2 or SIT-3 25 watt amp would be killer with those Devores. Get a tubed pre and *chef's kiss*

What about Linear Tube Audio? They have a 10 watt integrated (Z10) that apparently sounds very spacious and walks a tight line between tube soundstage and solid state grip. Or so they say. 30 day trial, made in the USA.

Whatever you get please share, along with impressions of the speakers as things break in
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I've heard good things about the LTA and obviously the Pass and just discovered Decware a couple of weeks ago! It's going to be a heck of interesting decision :)

On first impressions:. They are lovely, from finish and construction to the first impressions of sound -- albeit hooked up to an eight year old pioneer SC-57 with blue jean cables. I've not spun a record yet as tomorrow is swapping out my Ortofon blue for the Grado gold3. (Debut Carbon deck) assuming family duties don't prevent...

Digital has been Joe Henderson through Glenn Gould to the great gig in the sky and a range of acoustic. The sound great -- though I can't wait to do some serious listening.

It will be a balance to find out the sound as they say the speakers need 100+ hours to fully break in... And I've got a wife, two little ones, and a job -- but first impressions are great.

(Side note: paralyzing fear that the 4 yr old or 7 year old is going to side swipe the speakers is apparently my new permanent state anytime they are in the room....My heart rate spikes each time they walk near 🙄)
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah those wires are notorious for it, really thin and fragile, gotta be more careful than you should have to be with them.
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What an insanely irritating bit... Though lesson learned. Fortunately there is a great project dealer a couple of miles from me in Cambridge -- I just wish the timing had been different so that I could have been talked into an upgrade on the table 😋 but with the new speakers, I'd rather not risk divorce this weekend....
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
I've heard good things about the LTA and obviously the Pass and just discovered Decware a couple of weeks ago! It's going to be a heck of interesting decision :)

On first impressions:. They are lovely, from finish and construction to the first impressions of sound -- albeit hooked up to an eight year old pioneer SC-57 with blue jean cables. I've not spun a record yet as tomorrow is swapping out my Ortofon blue for the Grado gold3. (Debut Carbon deck) assuming family duties don't prevent...

Digital has been Joe Henderson through Glenn Gould to the great gig in the sky and a range of acoustic. The sound great -- though I can't wait to do some serious listening.

It will be a balance to find out the sound as they say the speakers need 100+ hours to fully break in... And I've got a wife, two little ones, and a job -- but first impressions are great.

(Side note: paralyzing fear that the 4 yr old or 7 year old is going to side swipe the speakers is apparently my new permanent state anytime they are in the room....My heart rate spikes each time they walk near 🙄)
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Can't recommend Decware enough, from being able to buy direct, customize/mod with upgrades and different configurations, and the sound is the best part. If you're interested in them, take some time to read some of the articles Steve Deckert has on the website. Lots of great stuff on his design philosophies and methods. A lot of it has a very propaganda-like feel to it - the dude is SUPER passionate - but I haven't had any reason to refute any of it. They're wonderful pieces of equipment.

A few caveats though: no remote control if that's something you need, and be prepared to wait 4-5 months after ordering for it to be shipped. Mine took 4.5 months. Well worth the wait though!
 
wooha said:
Can't recommend Decware enough, from being able to buy direct, customize/mod with upgrades and different configurations, and the sound is the best part. If you're interested in them, take some time to read some of the articles Steve Deckert has on the website. Lots of great stuff on his design philosophies and methods. A lot of it has a very propaganda-like feel to it - the dude is SUPER passionate - but I haven't had any reason to refute any of it. They're wonderful pieces of equipment.

A few caveats though: no remote control if that's something you need, and be prepared to wait 4-5 months after ordering for it to be shipped. Mine took 4.5 months. Well worth the wait though!
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I honestly may have splurged on a Decware if the Torii Junior had a variable output option, or if the Zen Triode Integrated had a bit more power. It was very tempting.
 
A little system update/opinion with the Statement being added, the Gold2/8MZ moving to the PLX and still having the DW's working themselves in.

This isn't a mystery, but sometimes when you have more choices things get more confusing rather than clearer, lol. But some things have become a bit more evident.
  • Good quality pressings sound amazing on the UD/Statement set up.
  • In general, the Gold2/8MZ sounds "better" than the AT VM95ML on the PLX system. Marginal at best, both sound great, you just hear some differences on the low end and the overall dynamics along with that little added Grado warmth.......neither is a slouch and personal preference and budget will be determining factors.
  • Crate finds that sound very "VG" on the UD/Statement, come to life on the PLX with the AT VM95ML. The difference really took me back a bit. The AT VM95ML is a wonderful cart that can tackle a lot of things.
Overall, I really like the Statement a lot (trying to ignore all the v3 excitement) which is what's thrown the biggest ??? in my thoughts and direction with the UD cart direction. I'll be the first to admit the user replaceable styli on the Prestige series is a big plus, but hearing the Statement (without having the v3 to compare it to) has me kind of wondering what might be a little higher up the ladder in the Grado "woody" department. Again, sometimes having a lot of points of comparison at your fingertips makes things a little worse, I'm not complaining, just talkin' out loud :)

I think the current game plan is to get the remaining life out of the Statement (around 500ish hours) and then see how we're feeling about all this. I'd also like to eventually toss in KT88's in the PL, so there's that expense as well. This is all part of the fun of the hobby, and I do enjoy the first hand experience with this stuff, it was a fun weekend "tinkering" with all this stuff, re-calibrating carts, re-positioning speakers a bit and so on 😎
 
Has anyone used the Sleeve City LP boxes for moving? Any complaints?
www.sleevecityusa.com

All Things - Vinyl/Records

Here is where we compile all of our best products for all-things Vinyl from all over the world. From record protection to record preservation/cleaning products. Check it out!
www.sleevecityusa.com www.sleevecityusa.com

@hifiI think you moved in the last year or so. Any advice on boxes for albums? They'll likely be in storage for a month or two also, so that's something to consider.
 
displayname said:
Has anyone used the Sleeve City LP boxes for moving? Any complaints?
www.sleevecityusa.com

All Things - Vinyl/Records

Here is where we compile all of our best products for all-things Vinyl from all over the world. From record protection to record preservation/cleaning products. Check it out!
www.sleevecityusa.com www.sleevecityusa.com

@hifiI think you moved in the last year or so. Any advice on boxes for albums? They'll likely be in storage for a month or two also, so that's something to consider.
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I just went to the local U Store It place and bought boxes there- 29 of them. They worked great for a local move and were a hell of a lot less expensive.
 
displayname said:
Has anyone used the Sleeve City LP boxes for moving? Any complaints?
www.sleevecityusa.com

All Things - Vinyl/Records

Here is where we compile all of our best products for all-things Vinyl from all over the world. From record protection to record preservation/cleaning products. Check it out!
www.sleevecityusa.com www.sleevecityusa.com

@hifiI think you moved in the last year or so. Any advice on boxes for albums? They'll likely be in storage for a month or two also, so that's something to consider.
Click to expand...
I'll second the UHaul small size boxes. They're the perfect size and super cheap. Used them exclusively my last two moves with no issues.
 
displayname said:
Those are much cheaper, thank you!
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Whoa, whoa, did you read about the sleeve city boxes? They are the"strongest, most durable cardboard record box anywhere." Not to mention "the brilliant white finish sets this box apart from the drab unfinished cardboard of the competition." Those Uhaul boxes? They're weak and boring. But hey, they're your records.
 
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