[howler minkey]

warm greetings everyone-

been getting my hands dirty in hi-fi since my high school days back in the 70s.
started with a yamaha CR-400 receiver, garrard turntable, and epicure speakers.
later that decade i assembled two heathkits: AA-1800 amp, and AP-1800 pre.
they were fed by a dual turntable and revox B77 r-to-r, and they powered
a pair of speakerlab S30 speaks (with nestorovic bass alignment), built from kits.

got into digital in the 90s via audio alchemy (and dusty vawter’s (channel island) mods),
with their dacs, de-jitterers, power supply upgrades, and I2S connections.
digital pursued further, along with room correction, in the 00s via Tact 2.2x “pre” and S2150 digi amps.

currently using an auralic vega (original) as my digital hub, directly feeding four channels
of a bryston 9B-thx (slid the middle channel out) to bi-amp a pair of gradient helsinki 1.5s.
sources for the vega: apple tv3 toslink, oppo bdp-103 dig-out, kanexpro haecoax de-embedder,
usb, and spdif coming in from MF vlink 192 and audiophilleo usb converters- the vega’s exact
clock mode prefers a long spdif run over a long usb cable run.
all the gear gets its common power from from a cinepro balanced power transformer (i.e., -60 - 0 - +60).

in the future, for hobby fun, i may try to use only the ‘sinki’s bass speakers to provide the
bottom freq’s for some jbl synthesis sam1hf/sam2lf modules (bought off ebay awhile back),
all x-over’d using my minidsp nano-digi/microphone/REW and additional dac/amp channels.
it ain’t gonna be pretty, but curious how that “fast dipole bass” would team up with very
efficient upper bass, mids and tweeters.

have a great 2020
cheers

[Phil A]

Welcome to AC!

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome 

[Wind Chaser]

Welcome to Audio Circle. 

[Mike-48]

Hey, Howler Minkey, welcome to Audio Circle!  I'm also in Portland, and also I had a TacT 2.2X some years ago. (Current system described in my profile.) Then I had a Vega for years (lovely DAC) and sold it because I needed to get a DAC-preamp with DSP into my system.

I invite you to consider joining the Portland Audio Club, if you're not already a member. It's a great group of audiophiles, very sociable & inclusive, with systems ranging from very economical to sky's the limit. But I'm biased -- I'm the lead organizer.

For a long time, I've been interested in Gradient speakers, but I've never heard a pair. If that sounds like I'm angling for an invitation, you're right -- PM me if that is something you'd like to do. Of course, I'll be glad to reciprocate if you'd like to hear the Janszens.

But whether you want to meet in person or not, a warm welcome to Audio Circle!

[howler minkey]

thanks for the welcomes, @Phil A, @FullRangeMan, @Wind Chaser, and @Mike-48.

@Mike-48-
the helsinkis, bryston amp, and vega dac all come from echo audio.
(haven't made it out to their new location yet)
thanks for pointing me to the pdx audio club, i'll check it out.
i'm sure we'll be able to sample our systems via that route.
and nice setup in your system pic, btw,
esp those speakrs and room tx's.

loving the fast articulate dipole bass and
airy highs coming from the helsinkettes.
since you have an idea, their bass reminds
me the room-corrected variety you'd get
using ye olde tact 2.2x... more articulate
than room-pressurizing, which allows the
mid-range to come thru more clearly.
left speaker, from listening position...


cheers

[ntjetsmoke]

Welcome to the Audio Circle!

[FullRangeMan]

Nice speaker, looks a modern art work or F1 trophy.

[Mike-48]

Thanks!  Hope to see you at PAC.
Echo's new location is quite an upgrade. You will enjoy your visit.
M.

[Mudslide]

cheers

Hi Howler and welcome from Lincoln City.  Your speaker looks like a little brother to mine.     J/K  I hope we get to meet some time.

RJ