[SteveFord]

Famous last words, I know.
In this hobby it's so easy to spend your time continually feeding the upgrade monster in the quest for The Sound. 
Amps, preamps, cables, speakers, speaker placement and room treatments but so much relies upon the source. 
I finally got my new (to me) Well Tempered going with an Ortofon 2M Black cartridge and even though the cartridge has to break in, I found the sound I was looking for with the 3.7s.
There is still some messing around with phono stages to do but once that is done I can sit back and relax until next tax refund time rolls around again.
Then it will be preamp time - there's so many good choices out there but that's for next year.
Those with sharp eyes will notice an old Sherwood tube tuner in the cabinet; if you have a good FM station or two in your area, you owe it to yourself to snag one of these and have a good repair shop give it an alignment and check up. 
You will not be disappointed!

[josh358]

Looking good!

[SteveFord]

The cartridge decided to do me a favor and break in right towards the end of Stink Foot.




This forced me to change my signature line.
This is turning out to be a pretty good morning.  Beats being at work!

[medium jim]

Frank was a true musical and poetic genius that passed too early in life.  I can only imagine what he would have been creating for us in his later years.  Thankfully, we still have Fagen and Becker around to entertain us.  Rumor has it that they are again in the studio working on a new CD, wouldn't that be great!

Jim

[jimdgoulding]

Trek on, Steve.  I know the feeling.  Bet you wind up with a tube pre, like me.

[thunderbrick]

You can't conquer the incurable, you just put it in remission.  Hell, you've already predicted your next relapse!   

[SteveFord]

That's a safe bet as the preamp has 8 tubes in it already.
Hearing that Audio Research Ref 5 was a bad move on my part.

Yeah, the Magic 8 ball says the prognosis is not good for a cure.
Ah well, could be worse.

[kevin360]

I'm sorry Steve, but stating that you're 'done' is dangerous. When I bought a Bryston 10B Sub XO, I said that I was done. I thought I meant it too, but within a few weeks another idea started tormenting me and the Pass X350 (whose bias meter had stopped deflecting as a result of relieving it of reproducing anything below 60Hz) gave way to this:



After about a year of ripping CDs on the PC in the bedroom system, I added a NAS and connected the garage to the house network so I could start dabbling with network media in the cave. That led to a cheapo Sony BD player (for Netflix), a Marantz NA7004 network audio player and an Audio Research DAC7.





Done is like tomorrow - one just never gets there. 

[medium jim]

Kevin:

I too thought I was done, but I see a media server on the horizon, but am biding my time until a learn more and hopefully I can pick up one used from Agon or here at a good price.

Jim

[jimdgoulding]

Steve, just tonite I'm cleaning up and re-balancing a Micro Seiki BL-91 with a Sumiko high mass arm.  I need to properly set my old Koetsu Black in its' headshell before I can give it a go.  I had forgotten how heavy the BL-91 is.  Whew.  12lb platter and a very heavy tonearm mounting plate, too.  Thankfully, I've collected a few options over the years.  A couple I dearly wish I still had.     

[SteveFord]

Too true about never say never.
The May/June TAS showed up today and there's a whole section on preamps which I found to be of interest.
John Curl stated that improvements over the past decade (in amps and preamps) has been modest while Lew Johnson states that the improvements have been largely due to Teflon dielectric capacitors.
Other designers chimed in but I got the feeling that they were basically trying to drum up interest in their new products.
I think the way for me to go is to ship my downstairs SFL-2 up to Parts Connexion in Canada and have them do their upgrades as I like the basic sound of the unit but would like more detail.
I think that Kevin360 has got some keepers in his system!

[Letitroll98]

There is still some messing around with phono stages to do ................Then it will be preamp time - there's so many good choices out there but that's for next year.

The title says "Audio Nervosa Conquered".  Then I read the text above from our dear friend Mr. Ford.  It's a self defeating prophesy.  If a disease is delayed for a year, it's hardly conquered.  I had such hope for cure of our mutual affliction when reading the title, only to have that hope dashed upon the rocks of despair when I got to the text.  Oh, what a cruel joke you play on us Mr. Ford. 

[josh358]

Kevin:

I too thought I was done, but I see a media server on the horizon, but am biding my time until a learn more and hopefully I can pick up one used from Agon or here at a good price.

Jim

Jim, suggest you look at the Squeezbox touch. If you feed the output to a good converter, it's quite excellent (the internal DAC is only so-so).

Of course, this reflects my preference for staying away from overly-elaborate, less than versatile proprietary systems. The Squeezebox integrates nicely with whatever you have, PC, Mac, whatever. And it's quite versatile in terms of offering a range of solutions, from an audiophile one (though I recommend the less expensive Touch with your own DAC) to mono and stereo radios. I just got my stepmother a Squeezebox radio for her birthday, it runs off wi-fi so you can take it anywhere and access Internet radio, streaming services, and all the music on your own server. It also works with iTunes, so it's compatible with your iPod. And it's pretty cool to see a little picture of the album cover on a table radio. Also, the software is beautifully designed from a human interface perspective.

[medium jim]

Josh:

I was thinking more of a stand alone that has at least a terabyte of memory and a decent DAC and with the all important remote!  I'm not to the point of downloading music from the net yet and it would be for all of my CD's to get them cataloged and ready for playback.

Jim

[kevin360]

Some keepers, yes, but the jury is still out on the Marantz NA7004. I originally purchased a Sonos for network audio (reassigned to another system when I 'upgraded' to the Marantz unit yesterday), the interface of which is very slick. Whether using my phone, notebook or tablet, it's operation is quick, easy and flawless. Through a proper DAC (and the DAC7 re-clocks the data), I find no complaint with sound quality. It's one and only shortcoming is that it will not pass high resolution data – no 24/96(192).

So, I rolled the dice on the Marantz. I was very interested in the Bryston unit, except for the fact that it's tied exclusively to USB. I want to access my media via a NAS which is located in the house. Well, the Marantz interface is a far cry from that of the Sonos. In a way, I do like its typical player operation, but the damn text is too small to read from my listening position. Operating the device via the network is slow and kludgy -  hopefully, that aspect will evolve (various features have been added since the product launch, but it still doesn't quite seem fully cooked to me). On the plus side, I can now listen to my hirez material. Being from the same manufacturer, it also closely resembles my universal player, except that it's from China instead of Japan – my understanding is that the parent company has consolidated Marantz into Denon, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, I'm not sure I've found my network audio keeper yet.

---

I had a good scare Friday evening when I fired up my amp – as soon as I heard the click of the relay, the amp began to spit and sputter some ugly spurious noises. That's when I noticed that the XO wasn't on – I had prepared for a storm (that didn't materialize) and somehow missed that plug when I was firing the system back up. The VAC doesn't appear to appreciate having its inputs open. Man, did I freak out for a few seconds! Fortunately, no harm was done – and I learned a lesson. 

[Davey]

Kevin,

It still shouldn't act that way.  Even though you had your crossover turned off the interconnects were still attached, yes?

Are you saying that there was some kind of residual voltage on the crossover output even though it was turned off?

I wouldn't necessarily chalk that up to a procedural thing.  Maybe you do have some sort of a problem.

Cheers,

Dave.

[medium jim]

Kevin,

It still shouldn't act that way.  Even though you had your crossover turned off the interconnects were still attached, yes?

Are you saying that there was some kind of residual voltage on the crossover output even though it was turned off?

I wouldn't necessarily chalk that up to a procedural thing.  Maybe you do have some sort of a problem.

Cheers,

Dave.

Davey:

Are you trying to give Kevin a Heart Attack?  The fact that when he did turn on the bass x/o things went back to normal would tend to indicate there was something that the VAC didn't like when the X/O wasn't engaged. 

Jim

[kevin360]

Dave,

In the few months that I've had it, it has never generated the slightest spurious noise - not once, until that event. Yesterday, all was normal and I ran it all day long. It fired up normally this morning too. I'm going to contact Kevin Hayes to see what he has to say about this.

Yes, the ICs (balanced) were still attached; the XO was just unplugged from the AC outlet.

---

Actually, that amp has been more than quiet in terms of spurious noises, it is also dead silent (ear pressed against grillcloth) with my preamp cranked WAY beyond the level at which I'd want anything playing.

[medium jim]

Regarding my research for a Music Server (not a Media Server) has the Olive 03HD as a contender, but it only has half a terabyte, which should be okay if I don't load some of my CD collection.  I can always use Memory Sticks or add an outboard hard drive. 

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/digital-media-servers/olive-03hd-fl


Jim

[kevin360]

Are you trying to give Kevin a Heart Attack?

It was the system (well, apparently, my oversight) that tried to give me a heart attack. Dave's comment is reasonable, and if there is something wrong, I will simply have it resolved. I may go on a roadtrip to Florida - to the VAC factory. I'm curious to see what Kevin Hayes has to say about this.

A half terabyte gives you room for around 800 CDs ripped as WAVs (judging from what I've consumed thus far). It takes a long time to build your library.