[bryantdrew]

Hello community. My name is Andy and I am fairly new to the "real" audio game. I got my amp (Decware Torii mkIV) a little over a year ago. Thats when the addiction began. I still have my beloved amp but have gone through quite a bit of other gear.  I have been trolling this place for awhile now and really enjoy the information. Here are some pics of my rig. My next upgrade is a new house with a dedicated listening room.








I have pulled my Threshold SL10 preamp out and added the Sutherland battery powered phono pre (very fun phono pre). Went from a Marc Morin modded AR XA to a VPI Scout. My new cartridge will be here tomorrow (AT-ART9). I will be posting the SL10 soon and my old cartridge (AT-OC9III) as well. Thanks for looking.

Andy

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome Andy

[JLM]

Welcome.

I got a dedicated room (audio front/office rear) when we built 12 years ago.  With low cost features and some pre-planning such a room is easily attainable.

After hanging around the Decware gang for years I finally tried an original Torii with my 25 - 20,000 Hz, 91 dB/w/m, 8 ohm speakers and while it had tube palpability in spades and had nearly enough power it also had a bad case of bass bloat. 

So was wondering was speakers you use.

[dB Cooper]

Welcome to the sweet spot. Glad you're here and thanks for the pics.

[TrungT]

Welcome to AC 
Very nice setup.

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[bryantdrew]

I have Tekton Lore speakers. Forgot to mention that. I think they are listed at 97db but I think in all actuality they are closer to 94-95db. The bass is a little on the loose side but I think I always attributed that to the room I listen in. It could be a little tighter but it is by no means over the top. The speakers sound fantastic. I have always been a fan of live sound and I feel like these speakers deliver just that. When I get my new cartridge tomorrow I am going to adjust the azimuth a bit, back and forth, and see if I can control the bass a bit. Maybe not azimuth, whatever the needle angle is called up and down, not left and right.

[mca]

Love your audio rack, what brand is it?

[sunnydaze]

..........I am going to adjust the azimuth a bit, back and forth, and see if I can control the bass a bit. Maybe not azimuth, whatever the needle angle is called up and down, not left and right.

Called VTA. Changed by raising / lowering arm at its pivot.

To thin out bass, try raising arm a bit.  Reducing VTF may also help.

[bryantdrew]

The rack was actually made by a very competent furniture builder that I know from my job. I bought the wood (curly maple for the shelving and Shedua for the posts). He did a very good job. He did not use any screws at all which adds to the solid look as well.

Ya VTA. I get hung up on all the terms.

[opnly bafld]

Nice looking kit Andy. 

After hanging around the Decware gang for years I finally tried an original Torii with my 25 - 20,000 Hz, 91 dB/w/m, 8 ohm speakers and while it had tube palpability in spades and had nearly enough power it also had a bad case of bass bloat. 

An original Blue Torii or an SE34I ?

I had a Blue Torii and hooked it up to a pair of "BDSE" Legacy Classics with dual 10" woofers; the pairing produced wonderful, tight, deep bass.

[JakeJ]

Welcome, Andy, sweet lookin' setup!  So are running without any preamp (ie linestage)?

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Andy   

[bryantdrew]

I am not using a preamp right now. The Torii has a volume attenuator. Because Im not listening to digital very much I really have no need for it. I don't need the extra gain and I bought the Threshold SL10 for the phono preamp (which is very good btw). I think I am going to sell the SL10 and use the funds towards a good passive pre. The Torii has two sets of inputs but the previous owner had Decware (Im going to explain this wrong) bypass everything so the second input runs wide open and the volume is controlled by a preamp or external attenuator. This is for a more pure signal but I could only hear a minimal difference. I don't want to really ship the amp back to Decware and is simple as it is to probably get it rewired back to original by any competent tech I really don't want anyone to screw anything up. If I ever have the funds I will probably get a really nice preamp but as most people with this amp have stated, you have to go really big in order not to degrade the sound of the Torii. Most people I have talked to have tried different preamps and most just return to and run directly through the Torii. The Sl10 sounded good and I though the combo of a solid state pre with a tube amp would be a nice compromise but the SL10 seemed to add a little edginess that I was not used to. The Caps have never been replaced on it either so most likely I just need to replace those and give it another audition.

[JakeJ]

Ah, I did not know the Torii has an attenuator.  Simpler is often better.

My experience mating SS and tubes has always been tubes in the front end and SS for power amps but YMMV.