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ProJect-Debut-III-Phono-USB.jpgPro-Ject Debut III Phono USB 1075 viewsI just read about this new turntable with a USB out.
This manual turntable has an integrated MM phono preamp with A/D converter and USB output. Retail price is expected to be about $550.
More info is available at their website: http://www.project-audio.com
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Claravox-Dogma.jpgClaraVox Dogma Loudspeakers1360 viewsVery modern looking setup. If you think it looks expensive, they are $59,000 a pair for the speakers only! I wonder how well they image with the tweeter so far away from the mid?
Website: http://www.dgfdesign.it
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Seas-exotic-fullrange-loudspeaker.jpgNew Seas Fullrange Speaker1406 viewsThe new 8" Seas fullrange unit. Not much info available other than it will be release Jan 2008. The magnet does not look all that large, so I suspect it will be a high Q driver.
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BillsSetUp.JPGBills beautiful gear1608 viewsBill, an audio club member, held an afternoon of beautiful and varied music compliments of his valve based equipment. Valve Cymer monoblocks (bottom), passive preamp, Hydra power conditioner and separate DAC and transport. The speakers are local made but have been heavily modified with external Xovers. Truly magnificent sound.
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BillsAmps.JPGBills Cymer valve monoblocks1331 viewsThese valve monoblocks deliver as well as they look. The sound from the complete system was natural and authoritative. Expensive but nice.....
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Club191207.jpgLast Audio Club Meet for 2007 - Melbourne, Australia1067 viewsTaken with a camera phone the Melbourne Audio Club last meet of the 2007 year is DIY night. You can tell by the array of equipment there was plenty of participants. A Great night.
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WFR-20_1.jpgSangean internet table radio1156 viewsReally neat & nice sounding internet table radio. Works with a direct LAN connection or wifi. You have access to over 6000 internet stations sorted in a Genre or by Country list. Has a line out so you can hook it up to your stereo, or play songs stored on your PC.
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VTR-ST60-Tube-Amplifier.JPG VTR ST60 Tube Amplifier1220 viewsVTR ST60 tube amp. Just bought this one. Sounds great and has a very good bottom end, unlike the others. Uses SED 6550 (I’ll be replacing them with gold lions KT88 soon).
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Audio-Innovations-700-Integrated-Tube-Amp.jpgAudio Innovations 700 Integrated Tube Amp1334 viewsAudio Innovations 700 Integrated amp. It is only 25W and really not impressive at all. Uses EL34 valves.
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Audio-Research-VS55-Tube-Amp.jpgAudio Research VS55 Tube Amplifier1732 viewsAudio Research VS55 tube amp. I didn’t buy this amp, but had it in my house for some listening tests. Quite impressive, but has a lot of background noise. Uses EH 6550 valves.
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Jordan-JX92S-Speakers.jpgJordan JX92S Fullrange Speaker Drivers1306 viewsA pair of Jordan JX92S Fullrange Speaker Drivers.
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Electros.jpgElectrostatic Speakers1233 viewsThese Electrostatic speakers are made by a company which does not make speakers but develops new technologies in electrostatics. The best way to demonstrate these technologies is to build speakers to showcase them. They also have developed acoustic filtering which is applied to their sub-woofers which are based around two 5" drivers firing on opposite directions.
The tall black panels have two 100W amps built in the base made from discrete components, one for the panel array and the other to drive the sub-woofer in the base. The black speakers have a RRP of $AU12,000. Small black panels on the table are $AU1000 a pair. The tall silver panels produced clear live sounding mids and highs but seriously lacked base. These were demonstrated at a GM of The Melbourne Audio Club, Victoria Australia.
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PDC400s.JPG$50 Teac PDC400, as good as a $700 NAD C5421064 viewsOf course in its day this five CD player with four times oversampling and dual DACs would have cost a lot more than $50. But from a secondhand store, in a sleepy fishing village in southern Australia, this was a real steal! It has removable cover and hinges. No remote. And it works 100% flawlessly and is in excellent condition. Seen here with my headphone driver and ATH-AD700 headphones. I obtained two identical CDs and identical cables and put both the NAD and Teac through an A/B switch.Queued both CDs perfectly and switched from NAD to Teac repeatedly to try to resolve which played better. There was absolutely nothing between the two. The Teac performed as well as the NAD in every area. I have been told that if Teac went to the trouble of installing dual DACs it would definitely be a good player. I have about thirty hours of play on it in a very short time and it delivers clear and detailed music and works very well with my 2N3055 based headphone driver. Yes, a real steal!
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SV101939.JPGVintage Sony TAN-5550 and TAE-54501121 viewsPat from the Melbourne Audio Club picked up these very nice Sony VFET preamp and power amp combo for a song. The power amp uses a JFET front end but derives its power from an array of VFETs to produce 65W into 8ohms. The preamp has more filters, dual tone controls, inputs and outputs than you can shake a power cord at.
This combo drove my moddified Tandy Minimus 77s with a replacement Al/Mg 4" HiVi woofer/mid at good volume with a very controlled solid bass sound I would only have expected from much bigger speakers. Mids were warm and treble mellow. The Sony represents a great collectors piece.
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Fostex-GK120-Speakers-with-F120A.jpgFostex GK120 Speakers with F120A1193 viewsHello - this is a hard to locate set of speakers! The cabinet is a rare speaker enclosure from Fostex - model GK120. The speaker in each cabinet is the famous F120A. The set operates flawlessly - both aesthetically as well as acoustically. The wood (though I do not know the type) is solid and very nice. The enclosures themselves are made of a see-through Lucite and are definitely a conversion piece.
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Pro-Ject-Phono-Box-SE.jpgPro-Ject Phono Box SE Preamplifier1644 viewsInside view a Pro-Ject Phono Box SE Preamplifier. The op-amps are two TL071CP and four JRC5137G. The power supply is regulated using 78L15 voltage regulators. Nothing stunning in the box. I like my DIY Moving Magnet Phono Preamplifier Kit better!!
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CSS-FR125SR-Fullrange-Speaker-Drivers.jpgCSS FR125SR Fullrange Speaker Drivers1109 viewsA pair of CSS FR125SR drivers by Creative Sound Solutions. These are nice looking drivers that unfortunately have a few problems. See the CSS FR125SR fullrange driver page for more information and Thiele / Small parameter measurements.
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Sansui-SR-1050C-Fully-Manual-Turntable.jpgSansui SR-1050C Turntable938 viewsA Sansui SR-1050C, fully manual phono turntable.
I did the following mods to it:
1- Installed a new Shure m350ed cartridge
2- Replaced the belt
3- Added a belt strength regulator screw (the original design didnt have it)
4- Replaced the RCAs with gols plated ones
5- Replaced the Saprk Killer cap with X2 cap.
6- Installed ferrite chokes on audio and power cable.
7- Installed an EMI-RFI filter
It sounds and works great now.
Bernardo
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ONKYO-DX-C380-CDP-Modifications.jpgONKYO DX-C380 CDP Modifications768 viewsOk, so I got this Onkyo CD Player and noticed that it was really worth modding.
Its a 6 CD player and its well constructed. It also uses the very common Sony KSS-213 pickup (the same one the Marantz 5001 and 5003 uses).
Since I had just got some Elna Cerafine caps, I decided to try them in. Here's what I did:
1- Replaced all coupling caps with 100uF/50V Elna Cerafines
2- Replaced all PS and decoupling caps with Ultra-Low ESR Rubycon ZLs.
3- Added a line supply Cap (1uF X2 Rated)
4- Added a power input choke.
5- Bypassed supply caps with smaller (1/10th capacitance) caps
6- Replaced JRC2968 OPAMP with Burr-Brown OPA2134
The end result was amazing. This is now a truly Hi-End player. It just amazing how good those Elna Cerafines sound int this kind of application. I was willing to try some Black Gates in place, but these Cerafines sound so good in there that I just gave up.
Bernardo
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Sony-CDP-315-Modifications-and-Upgrades.jpgSony CDP-315 Modifications and Upgrades788 viewsOK, so I also got a Sony CDP-315 single disc player and decided to try modding it. This one was much harder as It had a pair of SMD opamps and replacing them with a pair of 8 pin DIP sockets wasn't easy, but I managed to do it just fine.
So, here are the mods:
1. Installed 0.15uF X2 power filter cap
2. Intsalled a pair of ferrite chokes (on on power cord and another on the line out flat cable)
3. Replaced original opamps with NE5532 and later with Burr-Brown OPA2134 (2134s do sound better).
4. Replaced electrolytic coupling caps with a pair of Jantzens 4.7uF/630V.
5. Replaced RCAs connectors with gold plated ones.
The increase in performance was great too, but nos as good as my ONKYO DX-C380 CDP. I plan on replacing all supply and decoupling caps with Rubycon ZLs to improve it further.
Bernardo
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