Finally finished separating my 2-channel system from my HT gear. They still share a common amp, but my Butler 5150 is more than capable of doing justice to both
It all started when I heard, and subsequently fell in love with, the DeVore Super 8s. My local dealer is a HUGE audiophile and music lover, and even though nothing was able to take me away from my Maggie MMGs at the time, the DeVores were clearly the speakers for me. The Butler came next, as I was able to obtain it from the same dealer and get a very nice price on it. This amp will be with me for a very long time!
The preamp was something that I really had a hard time with. Obviously I needed an HT bypass feature, which is not all that hard to find nowadays...but there are so many good products out there! I pretty much had it narrowed down to the Van Alstine Ultra, the SAS Audio 10A, and the Mapletree Audio Design Line 2A SE. I knew I wanted tubes since the DeVores love them, but it was really hard deciding among these three. After quite a few email exchanges with Dr. Lloyd Peppard, and reading all of the reviews and feedback I could find, I pulled the trigger. Awesome piece of equipment!
A couple months ago, after my Denon 2900 started really crapping out, I began strongly considering PC based music. I kept hearing about something called a Squeezebox, so I read as much as I could about them. I ended up ripping all my CDs to iTunes in Apple Lossless, and then placed my order for a SB Duet. I've since been listening to music on a daily basis, and I love having my entire music collection in the palm of my hand. As happy as I was with how things were sounding with the analog outs on the Duet through the Mapletree, I wasn't going to stop there. I wanted a DAC.
I had been putting a DAC on the back burner for a LONG time because I was having the same problem as with the preamp decision. It basically came down to the Monarchy Audio NM24, the Van Alstine Ultra, and the TADAC. Every time I was thinking about adding one, my indecision resulted in a focus on somethign else and forgetting about the DAC for the time being. That all changed yesterday, when I took delivery on a TADAC from Paul at Tube Audio Design. I spent some time with it out of the box, and have been giving it some burn-in time over the last 24 hrs. All I'll say for now, though, is that I've been smiling wider since yesterday afternoon than I was before
As much as I love my gear, the most important addition was clearly room treatments. Glenn K and Bryan P of GIK were very, very helpful with my first venture into this area of the hobby. They answered all my questions and allowed me to feel comfortable from the first conversation all the way through the purchase. My cables are Blue Jeans Cable, my speaker wire is Mapleshade Golden Helix, and the plinths are Mapleshade 4" maple with solid brass carpet piercing footers. Lastly, the rack is from VTI. I saw a rack thread on here a while back and a few people were talking about this company. For the money, it's a very nice looking rack, in my opinion.
Anyway, sorry to ramble on so long, I'm just really excited to have my system finished (for now!). I owe a LOT to the folks who post on Audio Circle. I would have never even heard of some of this stuff if not for you guys, so thanks to all!
Audio RackOverall System
