[jrebman]

I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread where folks could describe their current SD systems, what they've had in the past, and if they aren't somehow fully satisfied with the current system :d, what they might do in the future.

I'm going to start by admitting right here in front of everybody that I don't currently have a system with a single driver speaker.  Terrible, I know, but it's just a matter of time and money before I'm back in the swing, but I have to get all my sources set first.

What I've had in the past?  3 different speakers, all of which had their strengths and weaknesses, a variety of amps, and front ends.  I also had a sub (TbBI) for a while.  My first setup was a pair of Horn Shoppe Horns with the old Sigma 108e driver which spent most of their time being driven by a set of ASL Wave-8 8 watt PP monoblocks (though I also tried larger SE, PP, and a tripath amp with them.)  This speaker was the hands-down winner for detail and transparency, but for my tastes needed a sub to fill in the bottom end -- and that ended up taking some of the magic away.  Even when that was working at it's best though (when driven by a 40 watt, single-ended Golden Tube Audio SE-40) there was still a cabinet resonance around 200 Hz or so that I just couldn't get used to.  Also, because of the way the room was configured, I had pretty much the exact opposite of corners -- a large obstruction in the middle with the speakers on either side of it, and lots of open space on either side (with the nearest wall being about 7 feet away, and the other, 15 feet), and these speakers just didn't work well in that situation.

I then got a pair of Abbys, which were much better suited to the room and my listening tastes.  These were my favorite overall, though not with some caveats.  These too were driven by Wave-8s initially, an Audio Note Kit1 300B 8 watt SE amp, the Golden Tube Audio amp, a Sophia Baby, a Sophia el-34 PP integrated, and eventually a fully modded RWA Clari-T.  To my ears these speakers had the best overal tonal balance, the best bottom end, and a generally very smoothe midrange with very decent transparency, excellent dynamic response, and just plain listenable.  On the negative side, they really tended to shout at you, especially with female vocals, and the sweet spot was considerably narrower than with the Horns.  Still, it was a sad day when I sold them, but if I had the room and could afford to keep them, they'd still be here.

The last pair was the Omega Revolutions -- a Visaton B-200 driver in a Snell proportion cabinet with an aperiodic alignment.  I liked these speakers a lot with the RWA Signature 70s, but bass was a little thin and the upper mids and top end (which was, I think better than all the others, but since it had been so long since I had the Horns, it's hard to say that with any authority) was a bit too hot for my liking.  I had the drivers modded by Planet 10-hifi (which I highly recommend) and that tamed them a bit, smoothed things out in the mids and top end, and greatly increased the dispersion so there was less beaming of the high frequencies.  Then when I tried it with an 8 watt PP 6BM8 amp, the bass was all but lost, and since I then had them in the near field, they were just too hot to listen to.  Then an unexpected financial situation forced me to sell off my entire office system, and that ended the first 3 chapters of my single driver speaker adventure.

Now, a few things have changed and I now once again have an opportunity to build a minimal system in my office, and the front runner for this is Roger Modjeski's 13EM7 amp, possibly the preamp, and the little model 103 speakers, plus my squeezebox and a USB DAC of some sort.  Maybe a small sub will be worked into that at some point too -- I'll just have to see how much room/money is available, plus there may be a very cool, desktop sub coming out from another company, but there's no timetable on that yet.

So that's where I've been, and where I'm going.  As for what's here now -- a pair of Adagios and a Cayin 55 watt KT-88 PP integrated, which is all in the living room -- and a little setup in the bedroom consisting of a pair of AV123 X-LSs, a 27" Toshiba TV, a Denon 2910 (stock) and soon to arrive, an Onkyo 8222 receiver.

So, where's everbody on their respective single driver journeys?

-- Jim

[miklorsmith]

Awesome post! 

OK, I'll make a run at it (I worked 14 hours yesterday).  I owned Gallo Reference 3's and respected but never loved them.  My initiation to AC was during the Clari-T Days of Domination and I decided to take a run at the amp.  I was running an early Modwright preamp and PS Audio HCA-2.  I figured the Modwright was fine but needed some speakers to lash to the diminutive 'T.  After reading the TNT Big Fun Box project http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/bfb_e.html I decided to tackle it.  Some photos are here:  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=532  They didn't turn out pretty and they certainly were edgy but DAMN did they communicate through the midband.

My Gallos were up for sale 3 days later.  As ugly as the homebrews were, my wife didn't cotton to the Gallos (she called them Number Fives) so they were tolerated as main speakers in the living room.  I never thought the BFBs were destination speakers, as their bass output in my enormous room was weak, and they were highly excitable in the presence band.  For some fare, exciteable meant exciting and other times it was awful.  There were segments of my collection that were unlistenable.  But from the very beginning I knew my path had shifted, a one-way ticket.

A buddy of mine had brought in a pair of Decware Radials to try and I actually had ordered a pair.  After hearing his I cancelled the order.  They were too similar to the Fostexes - a weird sound.  The three of us all found they sounded really good like 25 feet away from the speakers but even at 15 feet were too forward.  It turned out that pair was defective.  My buddy got a replacement pair for evaluation and returned them.  His room was also very large.  I wouldn't be surprised if they come together better in a smaller room with better boundary reinforcement, as the biggest problem was light bass and overactive presence band - heard that song before?

I found Zu, talked to Sean, and sent away for a pair of Druids.  Now we're talkin'!  Cohesion, dynamics, tone!  Oooh, momma.

Then, I moved houses, fell into a little money, and upgraded to Definitions.  Otherwise, I'd still be running the Druids, probably with a Method or two.  While the Defs were definitely "more", they didn't have the low bass drive that I lust after.  I listen probably 15% to electronic fare that has a ton of information below 40 hz.  To be fair, the room is unreasonably bass hungry.  I haven't heard them in any other rooms and generally the reports are that the 1.5s are sufficient-to-excellent in the low bass department.

So, I picked up a TacT 2.0s to help out.  This wasn't enough so the 1.5's went back to Zu for Pro upgrade and the TacT got traded in to the 2.2X to handle crossover and correction.  The 2.2X was upgraded to XP status, I found Crown for the sub arrays, a Lessloss DAC for digital conversion, and I was happy as a clam.  Except, at some point I realized the digital processing was a barrier to transparency.  Around the same time I decided that even the Yamamoto wasn't quite tubey enough in that setup.  So, out went the TacT and in came the Lamm LL2 Deluxe (killer piece).

New problems - the native XO frequency for the Definitions is 40 hz.  With the TacT I found 65 hz to be optimal.  The sub EQ takes care of the low-pass channel, but I needed a high-pass filter and found one by Harrison Labs that is 12 db per octave at 70 hz.

Also, my in-room response is not quite as linear as I'd like it.  Luckily, Hugh Pyle of Inguz agreed to include a semi-parametric EQ in his package which is AWESOME (thanks Hugh) and does just about everything a reasonable person should need for room correction.  I'm lucky that the Defs do not have phase problems between the subs and mains.  If using separate subs, phase can be a problem.  A more-involved room correction may be needed for this.

I'm still trying to get a full parametric included as a base feature of Slimserver but for whatever reason nobody seems to think customizing in-room frequency response is important.   

Sorry for rambling, but you DID ask!   

[Blackmore]

My SD journey has been anchored around the Abbys with a Titanic 10" sub to dial in some bottom when needed.  Then after having some fun driving them with the AES 2A3 amp and a Sophia Baby, I jumped in with both feet (and my wallet).  I went on a Yamamoto binge; A-09 300B amp, CA-04 preamp.  I'm driving all this with a Consonance Opera CDP and my recently refurbished sonographe turntable.  One of the biggest changes happened when I met Chris from b-p-t and added a balanced power conditioner and some litz wire speaker cables.  Went a long way towards reducing the Fostex shout.  Where am I headed?  I'm not sure. I think I'll stop right here for now.  My wife said it all...."I could just listen to our stereo forever." 

[jrebman]

Blackmore,

You might want to take a look at the Planet 10 phase plugs for the Fostex driver.  I had a pair but sold them with the speakers and never got around to installing them.  They supposedly go a very long way to taming the nasties.  I'll bet that is one fine sounding system!

-- Jim

[Blackmore]

 Every Fostex guy I know says you have to get a phase plug in there.  Thanks for the reminder and I'll get some soon.

[zybar]

I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread where folks could describe their current SD systems, what they've had in the past, and if they aren't somehow fully satisfied with the current system :d, what they might do in the future.

I'm going to start by admitting right here in front of everybody that I don't currently have a system with a single driver speaker.  Terrible, I know, but it's just a matter of time and money before I'm back in the swing, but I have to get all my sources set first.

What I've had in the past?  3 different speakers, all of which had their strengths and weaknesses, a variety of amps, and front ends.  I also had a sub (TbBI) for a while.  My first setup was a pair of Horn Shoppe Horns with the old Sigma 108e driver which spent most of their time being driven by a set of ASL Wave-8 8 watt PP monoblocks (though I also tried larger SE, PP, and a tripath amp with them.)  This speaker was the hands-down winner for detail and transparency, but for my tastes needed a sub to fill in the bottom end -- and that ended up taking some of the magic away.  Even when that was working at it's best though (when driven by a 40 watt, single-ended Golden Tube Audio SE-40) there was still a cabinet resonance around 200 Hz or so that I just couldn't get used to.  Also, because of the way the room was configured, I had pretty much the exact opposite of corners -- a large obstruction in the middle with the speakers on either side of it, and lots of open space on either side (with the nearest wall being about 7 feet away, and the other, 15 feet), and these speakers just didn't work well in that situation.

I then got a pair of Abbys, which were much better suited to the room and my listening tastes.  These were my favorite overall, though not with some caveats.  These too were driven by Wave-8s initially, an Audio Note Kit1 300B 8 watt SE amp, the Golden Tube Audio amp, a Sophia Baby, a Sophia el-34 PP integrated, and eventually a fully modded RWA Clari-T.  To my ears these speakers had the best overal tonal balance, the best bottom end, and a generally very smoothe midrange with very decent transparency, excellent dynamic response, and just plain listenable.  On the negative side, they really tended to shout at you, especially with female vocals, and the sweet spot was considerably narrower than with the Horns.  Still, it was a sad day when I sold them, but if I had the room and could afford to keep them, they'd still be here.

The last pair was the Omega Revolutions -- a Visaton B-200 driver in a Snell proportion cabinet with an aperiodic alignment.  I liked these speakers a lot with the RWA Signature 70s, but bass was a little thin and the upper mids and top end (which was, I think better than all the others, but since it had been so long since I had the Horns, it's hard to say that with any authority) was a bit too hot for my liking.  I had the drivers modded by Planet 10-hifi (which I highly recommend) and that tamed them a bit, smoothed things out in the mids and top end, and greatly increased the dispersion so there was less beaming of the high frequencies.  Then when I tried it with an 8 watt PP 6BM8 amp, the bass was all but lost, and since I then had them in the near field, they were just too hot to listen to.  Then an unexpected financial situation forced me to sell off my entire office system, and that ended the first 3 chapters of my single driver speaker adventure.

Now, a few things have changed and I now once again have an opportunity to build a minimal system in my office, and the front runner for this is Roger Modjeski's 13EM7 amp, possibly the preamp, and the little model 103 speakers, plus my squeezebox and a USB DAC of some sort.  Maybe a small sub will be worked into that at some point too -- I'll just have to see how much room/money is available, plus there may be a very cool, desktop sub coming out from another company, but there's no timetable on that yet.

So that's where I've been, and where I'm going.  As for what's here now -- a pair of Adagios and a Cayin 55 watt KT-88 PP integrated, which is all in the living room -- and a little setup in the bedroom consisting of a pair of AV123 X-LSs, a 27" Toshiba TV, a Denon 2910 (stock) and soon to arrive, an Onkyo 8222 receiver.

So, where's everbody on their respective single driver journeys?

-- Jim

I bought Jim's Revolutions and have them paired with a McAlister PP-150 amp and a Bolder Cable modified SB2.

It is definitely a different sound from my main system, but I am not sure if I will keep the speakers as I cant really find much time to listen to this setup.

George

[DaveC113]

I went through several iterations of mid-fi speakers from KEF, Boston, Celestion, eventually sticking with a set of Mirage M990 bipolar speakers (they had a single driver for the rear speaker  ). I used an Adcom 565 preamp and an Adcom 5500 amp. I thought they sounded good, but didn't keep my interest. I was in a space that was too small for the speakers, and looked into something smaller... I found a lot of info on the net, and went down to the local hifi store to check out a single driver speaker and a small tube amp. They had nothing but conventional equipment, and said that single drivers and horns "weren't accepted" and were too "tweaky" for the average buyer. Also, "Why sell someone $700 worth of gear when they will buy $7000 worth of gear". The owner/manager recommended Omega speakers and a T-amp.... I looked it up online, read some reviews and ordered Omega XRS speakers and a Trends T-amp. I am also using a 10" Adire XBL^2 sub in a sealed box, downfiring. I plan on replacing the Adcom preamp with an Anthem pre1 in a couple weeks from an audiocircle member (at a very good price). I have also built a few DIY ICs and tried different speaker cables, both of which made a huge difference in the system. I can't see ever going back to a conventional speaker. I just heard the Omega Maxhemps, and they are on the top of my list for an upgrade. 

[JLM]

I've been into audio since the 70s, backslid during most of the 80s and 90s, then came back with the help of the internet.  I hung out at the Decware forum for years and attended some of their audiofests where I got a yurning for the purist approach.  But I've never had good luck with tubes (reliability issues and flabby bass) and most high efficiency speakers I've "met" have traded efficiency for colorations.

Two years ago we moved into a new house that included my 13 ft x 21 ft x 8 ft listening room in the basement.  The house has all 12 gauge wiring, new appliances, and our own transformer.  The room is almost completely insulated; dedicated audio circuits with cryo'd hospital grade receptacles, and six GIK 244 panels.  Speakers and listening chair are set up ala Cardias.

Anyway I'm a speaker guy.  My priorities are single driver, transmission line cabinets, and active (direct connection between each driver and a channel of amplification) design.  OTOH I'm also a big believer in having enough bass to provide a foundation for the rest of the music.

My solution has been the Bob Brines FTA-2000.  I commissioned the original pair (Bob was great to work with).  They're rated in-room 30 - 20,000 Hz, 8 ohm, 90 dB/w/m with no stinking whizzer.  (They use the "mighty" Fostex F200A driver, which has a huge Alnico magnet.)  Sure they beam, but you can use that to tune the treble response up or down and it reduces room interaction in the top 2 octaves.

I tried driving them with RWA Clari-T amp, but obviously that was underpowered (but did a better job than comparable tube amps and without the flabby bass).  I now use Channel Island Audio VMB-1 40 watt chip based monoblocks (no longer in production).  Chip amps are supposed to synergize with single driver speakers and they follow the purist/KISS concept.  Like me, Dusty Vawter believes in common sense, well built stuff with good power supplies.  Currently I'm slumming with an Oppo 970, but plan to add a Channel Island Audio VDC-2.

I've also got a Berhinger DEQ2496 and mic coming so I hopefully can lose the baffle step/zobel circuit and make a direct connection between monoblocks and drivers.

[mcgsxr]

I think I have rambled in the past somewhere on AC about the various systems I have owned, but I will do a brief synopsis of what I can remember!

I know I owned a variety of 3 ways in University, then a pair of Totem Rokk 2 ways, then discovered the single driver camp (thanks Dmason!) and have played with b200's (still my mains), WR125's, FR125's (both from CSS/DIY Cable).

I have owned Class A, Class AB, Class T amps, and currently use a 50's Magnavox SE EL84 amp with my Open Baffle b200's.  I augment with Open Baffle subs, driven by a tripath sub amp, Reckhorn Xover, all fronted by my Bolder fully modded SB3 with Rev1 PS.  Felicia cleans up the power.

For me, the cohesiveness of the Xover free mains is what keeps me listening to single driver, in spite of hearing some flaws in my system.  I just cannot go back to the Xover sound, even though it does some things far better than the DIY system I have created.

Great thread!

[sts9fan]

My story is much shorter then many here but I am pretty happy with the out come.  Step one was after college I decided that I no longer wanted my Awia minisystem to be the heart of my home audio system.  I honestly had no clue that "HiFi" existed.  Someone on a music message board told me to check out Paradigm speakers and I ended up buying a pair of Studio 60 v3s.  I then got the bug to try out SD speakers and built a pair of bookselves with fostex 126E drivers.  While the enclosures are not perfect I was very pleased with the sound.  I then sold my Paradigms and stepped up to Zu Druids which I am still enjoying.  I do find these speakers to be tricky though.  I think they need much more power then their 101db rating would lead you to think.  I will say that I love these speakers and I still get a kick out of the fostex.  I most likely will not be a 100% convert but there will always be fullrangers somewhere in my house. For amplification I am currently using a variety of Tripath amps as well as finishing up my gainclone.

[chadh]

I started putting together a system about six years ago with the strategy of finding affordable, value for money items that gave me a little flexibility.  I bought a pair of Von Schweikert VR1 monitors, Channel Islands VMB1 monoblocks, a Sugden Headmaster pre-amp/headphone amp, a Rotel multi-disc player and one of Wayne's modified ART DIOs.

I liked the set up, but also appreciated that I had no cohesive strategy for any particular sound.  I didn't want to make radical changes - but I thought I could start making small changes towards items that might offer more synergies with the rest of the system.

I jumped on the modified Squeezebox bandwagon (thanks Wayne!), and unloaded the multi-disc player and DAC.  And I also let go of the Sugden pre-amp, so that I could try an octal tubed pre-amp.  I picked up a QA-001 from Albert and Space Tech Labs, which I use with a pair of 6SN7 tubes.

Then I moved, and it became clear that monitors on stands would not work in the new living room.  On the other hand, the Omega Super 3 XRS form would fit the space perfectly.  So that's what I use now. 

With each change, I feel I've moved towards a system that expresses a more complete and well thought out musical strategy.  It was an easy path to follow, and one that I'm happy to have taken.  The XRS speakers aren't as smooth-sounding as the VR1s, and initially I missed that a little.  But ultimately I'm very happy with the way the XRSs  seem to energize the music.  I have them too close to the back wall, but am quite satisfied with the bass output.  It doesn't get boomy, except on one or two really bass-heavy discs.  As for bass depth, well I suspect I might be one of those guys who just doesn't realize that he's missing so much of the bottom octaves, but I feel the bass output I get is musical and well defined.

The music I get is truly engaging, but obviously not perfect.   With some recordings, I long for a sound that truly envelops me.  I want to feel as though I'm almost physically swept up in the music.  The single driver speakers don't do that.  But I'm not sure I'd give up all the good things I like about my speakers to get that experience.  Also, there is a tendency for the high frequency to be a little harsh, at least on some recordings.  When I finally get my hands on some of Louis's hemp drivers, I hope that will be tamed a little.  That's really the only thing I'm committed to changing at the moment.

If I were a bit richer I'd love to experiment in three ways.  I'd love to upgrade my SB power supply and see how the SB fares running directly into my amps.  I'd like to try a sub.  And I'd like to see how a tubed power amp would work.  That's the most interesting option to me, actually, and so I have my eyes out for a nice EL34 amp to try.  Initially, I'd just like a power amp to play with the 6SN7 pre.  I'd also really like to try a single ended version, with something around 8W per channel.  But the only single ended EL34 amps I've seen are integrated.  Maybe I'll just opt for a push-pull EL34, especially as most people seem to think the XRSs like a bit of extra power. 

If I were even richer than that, I'd get a turntable and start buying vinyl.

If I were REALLY rich, I'd experiment with something completely different.  I wouldn't choose a single driver speaker, because I'd want to see how I liked living with a radically different, but coherently structured, system.  Maybe I'd try maggies and some monstrous, power-hungry amps.  It doesn't matter much, though, as I'm not really rich.  And I'm not going to be at all distressed if I live with this current system for years.

Chad   

[jrebman]

Chad,

When you feel like you're ready for that EL34 tube amp, check out a Dynaco ST-70, or clone.  It's just a power amp -- not an integrated, and when rebuilt with a better power transformer, filter capacitors for the power supply, and improved driver boards -- as are available from Van Alstine, Mapletree audio, and Welborne Labs to name a few (the Welborne is an entire new new amp on a PC board and can use 6550s as well as EL34s, and fits in the standard Dynaco chassis.)  I'm pretty sure Louis has one variant of the ST-70 in his shop, and loves them with the XRS.

Thanks,

Jim

[chadh]

Chad,

When you feel like you're ready for that EL34 tube amp, check out a Dynaco ST-70, or clone.  It's just a power amp -- not an integrated, and when rebuilt with a better power transformer, filter capacitors for the power supply, and improved driver boards -- as are available from Van Alstine, Mapletree audio, and Welborne Labs to name a few (the Welborne is an entire new new amp on a PC board and can use 6550s as well as EL34s, and fits in the standard Dynaco chassis.)  I'm pretty sure Louis has one variant of the ST-70 in his shop, and loves them with the XRS.

Thanks,

Jim

Thanks for the suggestion, Jim.  I'll keep my eyes, ears and mind open.  Is it better to pick up an old Dynaco ST70 and then worry about modifications?  Or does one go straight to a source for upgraded units?

Chad

[jrebman]

Chad,

If it were me I'd probably try to find a used one that has been upgraded, but there may be places where you can get new ones built with the upgrades.  Ron Welborne may even offer this, I don't know.  If you want to put it together yourself, or find somebody who will do it for you, you can buy brand new chassis, improved power and output transformers, etc. and pretty much have it built to your liking.

I know that the Welborne kit is pretty much complete except for chassis and transformers (because it is intended to be retrofitted into an existing chassis.)  Beyond that, I know there are many combinations and suppliers of parts, kits, rebuild services, etc. and since I have only looked into it and not actually rebuilt one for myself, or even own one, I really can't advise you  on any specific route to go.  A local friend has one, and I've heard it many times (I believe his was rebuilt with the AVA board) and it was really nice, I'm sure he'd let me use it if he was still here, but he moved to Germany on a postdoc fellowship, so he either sold it or took it with him.

-- Jim

[ashok]

Hi Chad,

I know that Louis likes EL84 based amps too. I use the Diytube ST35 (Push-pull EL84) with Omega TS-1s. If you ever want to try it in your system with the XRS, let me know. I am in Ann Arbor too.

Ashok

[jrebman]

Ashok,

I have a diytube ST-35 project on the back burner right now, after recently almost making the mistake of selling it.

I forgot, they too offer an ST-70 clone kit, which I'm guessing is either offered through Triode Electronics, or tubezone.com.

BTW, the latter also has a full kit based on this same PC board that sells for something like $400 complete (and the circuit board is already built for you., and comes with a wood base chassis.)

-- Jim

[chadh]

Jim and Ashok,

Thanks so much.

Ashok,  I'll shoot you a private message sometime soon.

To everyone else - thanks for indulging this little hijack of the thread.  I'm looking forward to hearing about some more systems!

Chad

[planet10]

Every Fostex guy I know says you have to get a phase plug in there. 

That brings a smile to my face

I got started with SD when i was 12 and ripped apart my parent's fold-down turntable hifis. I reboxed the 4" FRs and the amp and ended up with separates. In high-school i used the proceeds of the summer job teaching swimming to buy a Noresco (Dial 1210+integrated amp all in one) & a set of Patterson Industry speakers with 8" RSC full-ranges in them (i didn't know that at the time, i just picked them because i liked the sound). In University I dabbled with FR (Lowther PM6 & Jordan Watts ordered from Wilmslow) but it didn't catch. After University i went to work at a hifi store. It was dominated by multiways and i went thru a lot of gear (ie i''ve owned more than a dozen Linn LP12s). I left there with what i call a mostly full-range lean (ie the midrange needs to be wide range, but i still hadn't grokked the FR ethos) and went on a bit of a hiatus... lived with Acousat 2s (eventually supplemented with woofers) for a long while.

Then some 8-9 years ago i had to pull down the main system to recap the NAIMs driving the Acoustats. "temporarily" installed a set of BD-Pipes with RS 40-1197s and a Magnavox dumpster diver EL84 SEP. When i realized i was listening a lot more, the old system went by-by and i started exploring. B-Horns, FE103As, phase plugs were a result of getting the last drop out of the 1197/103As. We built a lot of speakers, some tube amps, playing with T-Amps. Fostex Fe127, 126, 167 (now exploring 207), CSS WR125/FR125, Visaton B200 (Dan Mason was turned on to those by me), and quite few others, and a ton or 2 or 3 (literally -- i've probably burned in excess of 1000 cabinet carcasses in the last 5 years and just donated 900 pounds of drivers to some school kids to play with -- we need more diy addicts ) vintage drivers. Somewhere along the line i got dubbed frugal-phile (tm).

Currently in the living room, are 3 sets of Fonkens (we are evaluating 3 experimental variations of modded FE127e -- we are taking the 126/127 to whole new levels), and (not in regular play) a set of Aikos (FE108eS) and a set of Demetri (folded ML-V with FE167/FE207 soon), driven with a set of EL-84 monobloks (with design help from Eddie Vaughn). After resisting digital for what seemed like forever i've tried many things, finally just finding something i can live with (iBook into Edirol DAC, CDs ripped lossless). I have a Rega II with Linn Basik & Garrot P77 (i did say Frugal-phile(tm) -- the TT rig has set me back $100). The mains are sometimes complemented by a push-push sub (Easttech 8") and then there is the HT (ancient Denon DVD into Technics processor which uses the hifi for mains). The HT has its own sub.

My room doesn't have usable corners so the Frugel-Horns are at Chris' and i haven't had drivers in the Austin A126 since i cleared enuff stuff away to get them up against the walls (that required moving some 2000 LPs)

Probably the most significant component in my hifi is the room. I designed my own house and from the get go the focus was hifi. My listening area (pretty much the entire upstairs of the house) just doesn't intrude.

dave

[mcgsxr]

Thanks for the run down Dave, and thanks for putting me on the b200 track too (also via Dmason).

[SeaWolf]

I'm new here...but the topic is single driver speakers and current systems..so here goes.

Running Ohm Walsh F's (the big ones) from a BGW 750d (450wpc into 4 ohms) and JBL L166A's on the backside with a BGW 250d and M&K sub. An APT/Holman preamp controls it all with sources being a Thorens TD-166 , Sony ES MD deck , XM receiver, Carver CD and a ADC SS3 eq.

The F's - although at least 25 years old - still sound great...looking back at my list, nothing there was made this century (except the xm & md)