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In the beginning! THIS SECTION WAS REVISED Feb 2008 My interest in hifi dates back to the late 70's. My best mate at School, Stephen owned a really cool pair of American Jensen dual cone full range speakers. These things had real bass and worked well with "NEW WAVE". I was bitten by the bug soon after and I have never recovered. It is a brilliant hobby with so many avenues to follow. Initially I was just listening, then reading/buying, then designing and building your own equipment (highly recommend if you have appropriate skills), system matching, tuning the room, the history, retro gear, buying, selling. When you read these pages you may learn a little of my passion. My first system featured a BSR BDS95 turntable with ADC VLM, a ROTEL RA214 amp and a pair of Wharfedale Denton XP2s. Black vinyl was my only source for a very long time (1978-1988) This was followed by a huge range of gear. The best of the early items included the Rotel RA1000, A+R A60 amp, Mordaunt Short Festivals, Mission 763, Croft Super Micro, EPOS ES14 and the Quad FM4
SOME HISTORY I USED A AR LEGEND DAILY between OCTOBER 1983 and June 2005 (22 years of faithful service) I first heard CD running on Hitachi's first CD player. The HA-1000 (not sure about the designation) It was extremely impressive back in 1982. The Bose 901s generating a gale of very clear sounds. I was completely shocked when I heard the first Marantz CD player (top loader CD63) playing through some Quad ELS 63s. At the time I couldn't believe it could possibly get any better. My first CD player was a third generation Yamaha CDX-810 HiBit (18bit with 8 times over sampling) I always aim for the best sound for the lowest cost. It is best to build it yourself. My current systems are a strange mix of old and new but all three work very well indeed and all have different strengths and weaknesses. From June 2005 I have decided to move to all digital source components. I honestly believe that a turntable is the best sonic solution. However, they just require too much work and getting good quality music out of other sources has become relatively easy.
Lowther PM7C silver, Kef C-95 modified + Crysler Ce-4a My trio of single full range drivers (well the Kef has low end assistance!)
The Fidelio....here with a Fostex Fe 206E, DIY Bete Noire sits on top.
Twin Earle Weston 300B mono amps, sit on top of my trusty old Sony TA 4650 V-FET integrated CD system 1.......driven by 300B SET (or TA-N7 V-FET) CD Player Onkyo R1 (dual single bit) Magnetic Passive Pre (transformers wound by Earle Weston) Interdyn Interconnect Amplification is provided by twin 12W Weston Acoustics Single Ended 300B valve power amps.Mono version of "time machines" JJ Tesla GZ34, New Tungsol 6SN7 GTB, Electro Harmonix 300B Lowther PM7c Hi Ferric(silver) Fidelio cabinets Ortofon 6N flat ribbon speaker cable CLICK ON PICTURE FOR HIGHER RES IMAGE 0.5Mb
My unique 300B here sporting the superb 6188 twin triode. CLICK ON PICTURE FOR BIGGER VERSION 400kb
the picture above is high resolution
CD system 2..........driven by MOSFET Pioneer PDS 940 CD turntable and Luxman D322 CD player Audio Synthesis Passion , Dragon MOSFET amplifier, C-Fibre interconnect Bete Noire (KEF B110, Tandy Ribbon) Atacama lead filled stands Ortofon 6N flat ribbon cable
Fantastic (HOME MADE) Bete Noire (version2) massively heavy 2 way featuring 10mm thick acrylic baffle ribbon tweeter and 1974 Kef B110
CD System 3 ........driven by Hitachi MOSFET or TA-4650 Luxman D 105u hydrid CD player NIKKO RMT 50 integrated amp 1974 or Sony TA 4650 VFET (30W channel ) 1978 Living Audio Ce 4a Full Range 1973 or Canon S-30 "Mushroom" speakers
1973 Living Audio 5in FR alnico driver A simply stunning small speaker PICTURES TO FOLLOW SHORTLY
Wonderful TA-N7 gleaming inside and out!
CD players and passives all in Com Rack two
The Luxman D105u below
The CD player valves are on. Notice the metal grid behind. I hadnt really noticed this before. This is a very nice sounding CD player and seen quite often on eBay
A luxman D-322 from 1995 (web image) Magnetic + Dale/Vishay passives below
The brilliant Coral 4a-70 5in driver weighs over 1kg! Massive alnico magnet.
Verdik Quality Ten 1959
similar sonics to Crysler Ce4a
JBL TLX 16
HOME MADE AMPS I have built a number of solid state amplifiers, including 2 MOSFETS types (high power) and an excellent 2 box class A 15W per channel I have recently built an excellent mid sized infinite baffle speaker using the classic 200mm Mordaunt Short DSB 208 driver. I also own some stunning Yamaha NS 1000M studio monitors. |
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my guidelines 1. Use good quality interconnects and speaker cable. At least O.F.C. or better. Clean all plugs and sockets with contact cleaner. If you have time try to buy lengths of silver wire (say 0.5mm) from the people who supply the jewellers and make your own. 2. I often use passive preamps simply because they add nothing to the sound. In my experience the best passive controllers are built by Audio Synthesis in the UK. Rothwell electronics also make a similar device. You could also consider building one. A cheap blue 50K ohm ALPS pot in a box will give good results There are some great new designs around. Check out MF audio based in the UK. Their passive uses transformers with multiple taps In my view the ideal system, is still based upon a turntable, moving coil cartridge, passive pre/solid state power amp (class A) , or a neutral solid state preamp and Valve power amp ( I prefer the Mullard 5-10 variants EL84)A high efficiency single full range drive unit. or hybrid electrostatic (FR electrostatics have to be large) Experiment with old Alnico drive units. These may look uncool and lack fancy heavy magnets and heavy lifeless cones. But they sound much much better. The Alnico magnets are far far superior. I have just built a tiny 9L ported enclosure which house two 70's alnico SEAS drivers. It is so good its hard to describe. It has great pace, bass tempo and rhythm. IE MUSIC. Most speakers I hear miss the target 3.Amplifiers. Use a valve power amp or a class A solid state.. Buy or build in the biggest power supply you can. Buy or build an amplifier which has the minimum of discrete components. With each component come an extra character and yet another solder joint. Bad news for the audio signal!!!!! 4. I have been listening to speakers for a long time. If you have a big unconditionally stable amplifier and lots of money it really is difficult to beat electrostatic loudspeakers. Quad, Vass audio etc. If you have to use a normal dynamic loudspeaker, find one with a single, well made, full range drive unit. ,Kef UniQ, Bandor, Crysler or if you get lucky a Coral beta 8 or 10. The reason being they are usually easy to drive and they will give you an image. Also look out for 50, 60s drivers featuring Alnico drivers OTHER POINTS Use a simple vocal recording to check for the centre image. You will easily spot phase problems with speakers. Tweeters should be at ear height in your seated position. Lift speakers off the floor and keep them away from room corners if possible. (both help tune the bass)
Coral beta Ten in BL-25D horn
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ra10000 amp 
