[James207]

Hey fellow music lovers, My name is Jim. I'm 64 years old, I live in southern Maine and I have been obsessed with music since I was a boy. Growing up I had cheap gear that sounded mediocre on a good day. Most of my adult life, and while raising a family, I had cheap gear that sounded mediocre on a good day...but I still loved that music...In the late '90s I sold all my vinyl like a dumb *ss because I thought vinyl was going extinct and CD's were the next evolutionary step into the future. However, I always thought CDs sound clinical and sometimes flat.
 Fast forward to 2017...I got into the vintage gear scene with varying amounts of success and frustrations. A Pioneer SX-1010, a Pioneer PL-518 turntable, speakers and more speakers...Finally sold it all for a Luxman L-550AXII, Bluesound Vault 2i, Thorens TD-1601 turntable and Heresy IV speakers. (I wanted the Forte IVs, but the Wife Acceptance Factor parameters limited me in speaker size)....Although, 75% of the time this system sounded great, I could never get used to the Heresy's tendency to sound harsh, especially at higher volume...I couldn't find an acceptable speaker replacement, so with months of research, I bought an AVA Fet Valve CFR amp about a week ago and fell into the tube rolling rabbit hole....that's why I'm here. I will move on to the AVA circle next looking for experienced advice. Thanks for reading...Have a great day!

Jim     

[AllanS]

Welcome aboard!  Yours is a pretty familiar tale - you’re in good company. 
If you been lurking for any time you’ll know that both the AVA and bottle head circles are popular.

[Delta77]

 Hi Jim,

"Luxman L-550AXII, Bluesound Vault 2i, Thorens TD-1601 turntable and Heresy IV speakers.."

Sounds like a nice system.

You might want to get familiar with VOLTI audio.


 

[James207]

Hi Jim,

"Luxman L-550AXII, Bluesound Vault 2i, Thorens TD-1601 turntable and Heresy IV speakers.."

Sounds like a nice system.

You might want to get familiar with VOLTI audio.

Thank you, Delta 77. I'll be checking VOLTI out for sure!

[James207]

Welcome aboard!  Yours is a pretty familiar tale - you’re in good company. 
If you been lurking for any time you’ll know that both the AVA and bottle head circles are popular.

Thanks AllanS! I ordered that AVA FET Valve CFR preamp as a way to tame the Heresy horn shout and occasional harshness. I'm happy to say it's working beautifully so far. I had an interesting go round with some Telefunken diamonds and RCA Clear Tops. Waiting on a pair of Mullard CV4024s to be deliver from Parts Connexion. Those Heresy IVs need tube influence. What a difference.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

You should look into thr Schiitt Audio Lokius which is a 6 band tone control.  I bought one and love it.
I bought it to tame some brightness.  I recently bought a pair of Arendal 1528-series speakers after running Magnepans for almost 30 years.

That AVA preamp is a good one.  I have 2 friends that own them and I will ask them what tubes they found to sound the best. 

I review AVA gear occasionally for the company.   I live 5 minutes from where Frank lived.
I did review the first version.

Welcome aboard,

Larry

[SteveFord]

See if you can't find some good Sylvania's for that preamp.

[James207]

You should look into thr Schiitt Audio Lokius which is a 6 band tone control.  I bought one and love it.
I bought it to tame some brightness.  I recently bought a pair of Arendal 1528-series speakers after running Magnepans for almost 30 years.

That AVA preamp is a good one.  I have 2 friends that own them and I will ask them what tubes they found to sound the best. 

I review AVA gear occasionally for the company.   I live 5 minutes from where Frank lived.
I did review the first version.

Welcome aboard,

Larry

Thanks, Larry. I did seriously look into Shiitt Audio and was considering the Freya+. It has the tubes. It gets great reviews. But, it was the same ol' problem, NO PHONO. I wanted a tube preamp that would handle both line and phono M/C low output cartridge. It also had to be the right dimensions to fit where there is limited space...which was the reason I didn't want to deal with a separate phono preamp.  The AVA Fet Valve CFR amp checked all the boxes for my situation. So far, it's doing exactly what I had hoped it would do.