[8snaces]

I stopped in at Saturday Audio Exchange in Chicago to look around. They had a Marantz 2600 receiver in the front window display. They said it was the local Marantz rep's unit, and it was mint. 300 watts per channel in to 8 Ohms. Had to have it - loved the oscilloscope. Kept it for about 6 month's, and sold it for double what I paid. Wish I had kept it.

[Delacroix]

I feel for the poster who had Quads left by the side of the street for pick up. When I left home back in the 80s, my parents, after what must have seemed an appropriately suitable separation period, allowed someone to 'clean up' my room. The culprit, whoever it was, cherry-picked my 45s (including some pretty rare pic-sleeve punk) and my Connoisseur turntable ('Well, you never use it anymore').  So, I have no regrets about selling, only about losing. There's a lesson in there somewhere, but I am not sure I fully appreciate it.

[Guy 13]

Hi all Audio Circle members.
I regret selling for peanuts my stereo sound system.
The ss amplifier and tuner was made by: SOUND audio from Japan.
(35wpc)
The turntable was a Dual 1019 with an Ortofon mm cartridge
and the Reel to reel tape deck was a Sony.
I was no hi-end stuff,
but at the time it was for me the top
and I paid lots of money for it with my minimum salary of the time.
The speakers are not show but they were RSC (Radio Speaker of Canada)
and where infinite baffle with two 4" full range drivers.
I sold it piece by piece to friends, don't know why I did such a stupid thing.
Well, that's life...

Guy 13

[TONEPUB]

My Audio Research D-79 power amp.  One of my favorites!

[jtwrace]

My Audio Research D-79 power amp.  One of my favorites!

Oh really?  My dad keeps telling me to come get his!  He's the original owner too.  I'm almost certain he even has the box.  Yes, crazy audiophile.   

[WireNut]

Oh my, the list seems endless after 30+ years.

[Wind Chaser]

The Electro Research EK-1.  30 some years later and people say it is still one of the absolute best playback systems for vinyl.

[James Romeyn]

Two amps, both tubes:
Audio Innovations (UK) Series 500 integrated with phono, dual EL34, the best of all their amps, sold 06-ish, now worth about twice what I got, attained cult status shortly after I sold it...stupid, stupid, stupid...desperate to sell prior to moving.
I owned among the very first ever imported VTL Compact 100 monoblocks...wife still misses those...rated 100, I was working next to John Curl at the time, who tossed them on his bench where they made all of 62 and 63W respectively (don't fret, similar disparity in ARC's latest amp reviewed in Stereophile) 

[James Romeyn]

The Electro Research EK-1.  30 some years later and people say it is still one of the absolute best playback systems for vinyl.

Talk to George Louis  about it, he heard them.  From what I've heard about it, probably stock Panasonic SE-405 strain gauge demodulator is better (I own two).  I wouldn't trade SE for any MM or MC system I've heard (owned Curl's SCP-2A). 

[S Clark]

My 6'3" 1890 vintage Steinway.  Sold it in 1974 when I got married and use the $ to buy a honeymoon and my first decent midfi stereo.  Still have the wife, so I can't complain too much.

[WireNut]

Well, Ive been thinking about selling my SFL-2 preamp but I didn't cause I know I'd be sorry. 

[Wind Chaser]

From what I've heard about it, probably stock Panasonic SE-405 strain gauge demodulator is better (I own two).  I wouldn't trade SE for any MM or MC system I've heard (owned Curl's SCP-2A).

That panny was modified and had very little mass.  I had to add 10 grams of ballast, but it tracked at 0.5 grams.  It also taught me that there's a world of difference between arms.  I wouldn't cheap out on a table, but I put more emphasis on the arm.  The pay off is staggering.

[Wayner]

I regret selling my Marantz 3300 preamp and 240 power amp, both with walnut covers. I believe I got a whooping $100 for the pair. What was I ever thinking......

 

[nickd]

Amber preamp.
They were not well built the RCA connectors were board mount with no chassis reinforcement. They would break right off the board and were all but impossible to fix.

But oh the sound! Crazy Transparent and Musical. and from an OP Amp based circut. who would have thought? I've never heard one like it since.

The only pre I've owned since that was that "Musical" was the mighty "NAT Symmetrical". Ran crazy hot and had a bazillion rare hard to find tubes inside. I always worried if it broke, I couldn't get it fixed (small import co.). Should not have sold that one either.

[James Romeyn]

That panny was modified and had very little mass.  I had to add 10 grams of ballast, but it tracked at 0.5 grams.  It also taught me that there's a world of difference between arms.  I wouldn't cheap out on a table, but I put more emphasis on the arm.  The pay off is staggering.

"Veeeeereee interesting...." as Arte Johnson's character used to say on Laugh In.  In the late 60s/early 70s Linn's Ivor Tiefenbrun came up with his so-called "Audio Hierarchy" which lists in descending order of importance:
Source (pre-digital age)
Preamp
Amp
Speakers

Naim jumped on the band wagon later, requiring, for instance (again, pre-digital era) owners to upgrade preamp power supply prior to upgrading amps.

Obviously both Linn and Naim did not dabble in room acoustic treatments, but that's another story.

Suffice to say they both, IIRC, subscribed to the opposite of your theory.  Their descending order for vinyl playback is/was:
TT
Arm
Pickup
Phono preamp

Linn, for instance, would dissuade shoppers from buying their top line pickup unless the TT and arm were at or near top-tier already.

I tend to agree with the above, but I'm not married to it, and could be convinced of your sequence. 

There are unrelated variables.  The deeper is speaker bass cutoff, the greater is bass power, and the worse are bass mode peaks, the greater must be the TT's resistance to acoustic feedback.   

[geowak]

Marantz 2230 mint. Snell E-5 speakers.

[jhm731]

My Futterman amps.

[SteveFord]

Don't sell the Sonic Frontiers SFL-2.
You'll find better preamps and different preamps but never one that sounds quite the same as that one does.

[WireNut]

Don't sell the Sonic Frontiers SFL-2.
You'll find better preamps and different preamps but never one that sounds quite the same as that one does.

Hi Steve,

I'm not going to. I'm building a Pass Labs B1 passive to give me something to play around with and keep my Audio Nervosa in tact.   

[Wind Chaser]

"Veeeeereee interesting...." as Arte Johnson's character used to say on Laugh In.  In the late 60s/early 70s Linn's Ivor Tiefenbrun came up with his so-called "Audio Hierarchy" which lists in descending order of importance:
Source (pre-digital age)
Preamp
Amp
Speakers

Naim jumped on the band wagon later, requiring, for instance (again, pre-digital era) owners to upgrade preamp power supply prior to upgrading amps.

Obviously both Linn and Naim did not dabble in room acoustic treatments, but that's another story.

Suffice to say they both, IIRC, subscribed to the opposite of your theory.  Their descending order for vinyl playback is/was:
TT
Arm
Pickup
Phono preamp

Linn, for instance, would dissuade shoppers from buying their top line pickup unless the TT and arm were at or near top-tier already.

I tend to agree with the above, but I'm not married to it, and could be convinced of your sequence. 

There are unrelated variables.  The deeper is speaker bass cutoff, the greater is bass power, and the worse are bass mode peaks, the greater must be the TT's resistance to acoustic feedback.

I don't know about 'audio hierarchy' as in one thing being more important than another, but I am of the opinion that a system is only as strong as the weakest link.  From my experience with the EK-1, the cartridge, arm and preamp are a unit.  With a strain gauge like the Electro Research, Soundsmith and Winn Labs, the preamp isn't really a preamp in the conventional sense of a phono preamp.  These systems send an electrical signal from the control center [preamp] to the conductive element inside the pickup cartridge.  As the stylus tracks the groove, the mechanical energy puts stress on the element thus changing the resistance which modulates the flow of current thereby creating an audio signal.  So in essence, the SG cartridge and the preamp are unified, by unique design and operation.  There's no mixing and matching of cartridges with phono amps and preamps.

This approach to converting mechanical energy into electrical is far more effective and sensitive than the conventional methods; therefore the tone arm becomes all the more significant due to its intimate relationship with the strain gauge, which by nature is far more sensitive and reactive than a MM / MC. With a SG the difference between tone arms becomes very apparent...

There was a time I went through turntables like toilet paper...  Eventually I settled down with an Oracle Delphi MK II and a Magnepan Unitrac 1 tone arm.  AFAIK, that was the only tone arm Magnepan ever made.  It was well received by the press and it may indeed have been a fairly decent arm relative to competition at the time.

September 1982, my Oracle TT and Maggie arm awaited the EK-1 strain gauge.  A few weeks later I was blissfully enjoying music every day for a year when Mel Schilling, the American importer of the EK-1 called me up and told me about a new, solid one piece arm made of titanium that would unfetter the EK-1--enabling it to perform on a much higher level.  I was skeptical but inquired "how much?"  He said $1400 [in 1983 that was over $1700 CAD].  In addition being skeptical, I was also unemployed, but Mel insisted that if I could swing it, I certainly wouldn't regret it.

A few weeks later I took delivery of the Alphason HR100S.  I don't know what happened with the Maggie arm, but Mel was right.  This difference between this arm and the Maggie was staggering.  I had previously considered upgrading my modified Sumo 9 [a James Bongiorno Class A power amp].  I auditioned a few amps in my home including a Threshold Stasis 500 and an Audio Research tube amp.  But the new arm made a much bigger difference--a staggering wholesale improvement across the board.

However as fate would have it, later that year The Absolute Sound reviewed a new arm called the Syrinx PU3 and ranked it as the best arm 'they heard' period.  A buddy of mine who also had an EK-1 went that route.  And all because of that stupid review, I proposed a trade, the Alphason for the Syrinx; and my buddy went for it because he liked the look of the Alphason. 

The Syrinx was okay... but it certainly wasn't in the same league as the Alphason.  Whereas the Alphason sounded very liberal and transparent, the Syrinx was contained and colored.  Transient attack was very good, but the details were penalized.   I was taken back, but a deal is a deal. 

How significant are the differences between arms with MM/MC?  I don't know.  But in my experience with a SG, the differences are very profound.

Why did I part with the EK-1?  It was 1984 and the writing was on the wall.  Like it or not CDs were going to be the new medium.  Three years later i sold the EK-1 for a pittance because nobody knew what it was.