[Rocket]

Hi,

Carlman (a regular ac contributor) was kind enough to send me his bugle halfway around the world to perth western australia.

Actually, we had almost given up hope as it took 1 month to arrive and thought it must have been lost.

I've had the bugle in my system for over a month and i have to say that it is a gem.  I've recently gotten back into vinyl and have slowly but surely been buying new gear.

I have a Bluenote Piccolo turntable
Audio Technica entry level cartridge (a cheapy but sounds okay)
Perreaux sxv-1 phonostage
N.E.W. p3 tube preamp or Modright Beta Preamp
Aksa 100 (nirvana) amp
War Audio speaker (Raven 1 tweeter and 2 focal kevlar
7k4211db 7 inch mid/bass drivers in a mtm setup)

Okay, simply put the bugle is better than the perreaux.  It is very easy to hear the improvement that the bugle bought to the system.  It is more transparent, wider/deeper soundstage and smoother.

In my current system i have had a nad pp1 phonostage ($170au) which sounded dull, lifeless and boring and my current perreaux sxv-1 which cost me $400us but usually costs $650au.  I was lucky with the perreaux as it was a special price as the dealer was supposed to supply an old stock musical fidelity xlps for me.

In comparison the bugle will cost you about $200au and i think that is enough said.  The only minor criticism is to remember to switch the bugle off otherwise you will flatten the batteries.

Regards

Rod

Ps carl thank you very much for forwarding your bugle to me.  Do you want to sell it?

[Carlman]

I'm continually impressed with the Bugle.  It has reigned supreme in 3 comparisons... against an Audible Illusions 2-D, Channel Islands, and a cheapo.

Anyway, I'd sell it if for no other reason to avoid shipping hassles.     I'm leaning towards building or buying a new tubed phono pre anyway.  

I have learned Rod is buying a DL-103 cartridge which is very low output... so, it might be wise to send an email to Jim Hagerman to see what would need to be done to up the gain to 60db.  It's simple to someone with a little electronics background but to us, it might be too involved...

Another option would be to get a step-up transformer.  I don't know anything about them, though.  Another Jim question and/or vinyl circle question.

So, yes I'm willing to sell but, make sure it'll work for you!

-Carl

[TABARD]

Hi, The 103 does not need 60dB to work, 55dB is plenty enough. I believe you can change the MM to MC by changing the opamps & a few resistors.

Cheers

[Carlman]

It's interesting that this topic got revived...
As I have come full 'circle' and I'm buying another bugle.  This time the new version, 3. Should be here Saturday.  I also needed a new cartridge. So I got a Goldring E1. It seemed to have the balance of warmth and detail that I tend to like.

I listen to vinyl about five times a year.  So I sold my very high-end phonostage and am replacing so don't lose my ability to play vinyl.

This situation has revived my interest in listening to music in general.  I am working on some base nodes that exist in my room after many years of listening to it and tolerating it.  By Saturday I should have the bass traps mostly in place, and listening to some new gear.  What fun!   

[Rocket]

Hi Carlman,

Nice to hear your still on audio circle.  From my dim memory you had an Eastern Electric phono stage.  I've been swapping phono stages for a while now and I recently had a Trumpet MC which I regret selling. I bought a Spread Spectrum Technologies Phoebe preamplifier which has an internal phono stage but only accepts mm.

Sounds very nice. I mostly play vinyl may'be its my age as I just prefer it.

Cheers Rod

[Carlman]

Same to you, Rod.  Happy to dabble in this hobby a bit; as it is very rewarding in many ways... one of which being the friendship/comradery.
My boys are 5 and 10 now, and starting to allow me a little bit of time to do my own thing.  Also I'm having to just take the time I need to do fun things for myself. 

I'm going to pick up cotton insulation today to make specific traps for 2-4 areas in my room that need them.. I've done some experimenting already and I know I'm going to address at least a large part of the problem.... so that has me excited...

And then the new cartridge is something I've been putting off for years.  I have a noise in my TT rig that sounds kind of like motor noise but I'm not sure what it is.. so I need to eliminate the really old cartridge I've been using for 15 years... it was old and tired when I got it... and might be falling apart inside for all I know... but who knows, it might be fine.  Then I can focus on fixing the real problem... which will be extremely difficult compared to other turntables.  I have a full-auto Sony (PS-X600) - these went for 300 new, I bought it for around 100.  Now they go for 500... which blows my mind.  If Sony made the same TT today, I wouldn't be able to guess how crazy the price would be.

I'm not sure it's a project I want to tackle... so I'd have to find someone to fix it for the same or less it would cost to sell and buy something else.  In Australia, you've got a great TT repair guy (Liquid Audio) I wish I could use.. but the shipping alone would be more than the value.

Thanks for the re-welcome.  Glad to see you here too.. hope to get back into listening a bit more in the coming weeks/months/years..

[Carlman]

The new Bugle 3 arrived ahead of schedule today.. .woohoo!
New cart and new phonostage need some break-in... so, burning it in on 'repeat' on a sacrificial album.
Thank goodness for full auto!
Sounded etched and brittle the first few minutes, now sounds too relaxed... can't wait to hear where it settles out.
Not hearing the noise I was hearing before.. so I may be cured.

[TomS]

The new Bugle 3 arrived ahead of schedule today.. .woohoo!
New cart and new phonostage need some break-in... so, burning it in on 'repeat' on a sacrificial album.
Thank goodness for full auto!
Sounded etched and brittle the first few minutes, now sounds too relaxed... can't wait to hear where it settles out.
Not hearing the noise I was hearing before.. so I may be cured.

Heeee's baaaaackkkk 

[Rocket]

Hi Carl,

I've been thru quite a lot of phono stages and I also have 2 hifi systems now lol. I had a divorce and after 4 years of being itinerant living in different situations I bought a lovely little 1950's own 6 kms from Perth cbd. I recently bought some different phono stages as follows:

1. Lehmann audio black cube statement - I rated this as really a good quality entry level phono stage.
2. Ear 834p clone - very nice but I moved it on.
3. Audio by Van Austine - vision phono stage - I thought this was a pretty good phono stage and fairly inexpensive.
4. Bluenote de medici phono stage - a great phono stage but hum issues.
5. Hagerman Audio trumpet mc - a lush sounding phono stage and very versatile.

Recently, i bought a SST thoebe preamplifier and optioned in the dac and mm phono stage. I have settle on this as my main phono stage as it really is very good quality. Probably the same level as the trumpet mc but without mc option.

Have fun.

Cheers Rod

[Carlman]

Rod,
Wow, you've definitely been working on perfecting your sound... and there are a lot of good HOMC's that do the job for your preamp.  I was going to get a Orto Quintet, Denon DL-110, or something like that.. trying to stay in the low hundreds... Because the Goldring didn't cut it for casual listening.

The Goldring E1 is at UPS now.  Compared to the old tired Adcom, there was no contest.  The Goldring sounded like it was in a box, kind of a dead zone in the mid bass, and overall just congested sounding.  I played it for 30 hours or so and just couldn't take it anymore.  The best pressings still had no imaging, no 'life'... kind of defeated the purpose of vinyl.  I RAN back to listening to the audio PC... ahhhh.

I thought the Bugle 3 might be part of the issue too.. but when I put my old Adcom back in, the stage came back to life... albeit still sounded a little tired... and not as "alive" sounding as my old tube phono, but that was expected.  ($200 SS pre vs $1500 tubed pre) 

I'm going to get someone to assess the Adcom's tip (and overall health?), likely get it re-tipped, and have them put new wires on the headshell. 

Anyway, back to fixing my room... need to fix a 140Hz bass resonance.. and I'm getting closer and closer.

[Rocket]

Hi Carl,

Seeing as how I started this thread I thought I'd go off topic and show you my latest photo of my system. I bought an almost new pair of Salk Sound Song 3's as backup speakers right here in Perth. I jumped all over them as I bought them for 2k usd in mint condition.

I am running the Ambrosia (which was my divorce present lol) and Ampzilla mono blocks. I don't know if you remember all the drama I had with them as I kept blowing fuses etc etc. I sent one mono block back to the US for repair and they are fine now. I just recently bought a Technics SL1200 GR and use an ortofon 2m bronze with it.  All setup by Mike from Liquid Audio.




Cheers Rod


Cheers Rod

[Carlman]

I remember you liked the Salk's so glad to see you got a good pair... and glad the Amp issues have 'blown' over.

Mike at Liquid Audio sounds awesome... You have some really good specialists in Australia I wish I had... Steve Hogg is a bike fitter I wish I could meet/join and help people get fit to their bikes properly... but that's another hobby/interest I don't have time for either.. ha.

The Ortofon 2M series was definitely in my sites.. almost pulled the trigger on a Blue... but in the end, going back to my philosophy of making what I have work keeps proving the right path for me... unless it's broken or just wrong for my situation.    So I'm waiting to hear if I need a re-tip, new suspension, or anything at all to my current Adcom cart.  There's a reason I like MC carts and I need to stick with them.  Unfortunately in the past 10 years there has been a tremendous amount of inflation... or whatever you want to call it... in the interests I have, anyway.  I get supply and demand but before covid, mountain bikes were getting ridiculous...

Turntables really surprised me... 80's Onkyo's, Hitachi's, Denon's, Sony's are all in the 300-700 range now... Too much for me... And it seems there is little to no interest in semi-auto tables (for newly manufactured ones anyway).  I have to have that feature.. or I will leave a needle spinning in the center for days on occasion it's just the reality of my life right now.  I basically have to steal the time I get... and I am laying claim to some time, but it is tough at the moment.

[Rocket]

Hi Carl,

If you can get your hands on a denon dp1200 for a good price that is a semi auto turntable which I thought sounded very good.  The only issue is that sometimes the speed controller needs a service.

Yes, Mike is really good and sets up a turntable beautifully.

Btw I have the big boys setup in my room now. They don't have enough room to breath but nonetheless sound pretty good.





Cheers Rod