Magnepan MG-20's briefly replaced my big Polks. I loved those as well, but placement challenges and fuzzy imaging caused
by them pushed me back to the upgraded Polks. Given my space, and having a 2 year old precludes me from trying anything else for the time being.
Stock SDA are forgettable to me. I’ve never complained about their tone but understand the veil and muddy aspect....
The muddiness and veiled aspects tend to disappear when they are upgraded, but they really came to life with the introduction of Audioquest Meteor full bi-wires, and the...
Rich Warren doesn’t know what he is talking about. What were his testing methods? How long did he listen to them, and where? What is the associated equipment? What type of speaker wire? How were they set up? Were they broken in yet? Did he use the SDA cable and a common ground amp?
As I said...
Holy crap that is an old picture. This is what I have now... And 6 inches from the back wall is considered nominal. You can push them back even more, or bring them forward a bit, but I have found the factory recommendation of 6 inches to be best.
I have heard most every Polk speaker made... and yes, there has been some pretty bad ones, but you also have to take many factors into account. My Polk's are the size of the mini-fridge you speak of, and all of the SDA type speakers need room to breathe. Minimum recommendations are three feet...
I currently own the SDA-SRS 1.2TL’s. They have been fully restored with much better caps/resistors, better isolation transformer and other upgrades. I find they respond quite well to better gear and amplification. I won’t pretend for a second that they are the greatest speaker in the world, but...
I feel I am missing a ton of micro detail, particularly in the upper midrange and highs. The Passive sub can also feel bloated at times, so I augmented the lower end with a REL S-5.
Next up are my one of a kind Carver Statement Reference Mono Blocks. These took two years to construct, and were completed with the gracious assistance of Bob Carver himself. The tube decks are made from absolute black granite that was cut on a water jet. Every hole on the chassis itself was...
Going to start with pictures of my TriangleArt prototype turntable. When I got it, everything was raw aluminum. I decided not to alter the look to much, so I had it satin nickel plated and painted the top face of the plinth in Ferrari Nero Black. The arm is an Origin Live Conqueror MkIII...
The Frugal Audiophile suits me to a tee. My rig consists of:
Carver Statement 400 Monoblocks(DIY versions of the Raven 350 )
Pass Labs X0.2 Linestage Preamp
Pass Labs Xono Phono Stage
TriangleArt Prototype turntable with Walker Precision Speed Controller
ClearAudio Goldfinger Statement V2...
Thanks Tom... I will put something together on the amps when I get a chance. They are still rockin' 5 years later and just as beautiful to look at as the day they were born. Here is a quick peak for now. I will post in the appropriate place later on...
I have had Magnepan MG20's in the mix, but currently have Polk Audio SDA 1.2TL's up front. They have been fully restored and updated to currently accepted specification. I am on the hunt however, for a set of Usher DMD speakers.
Thanks for the welcome. I live in Los Angeles, (Woodland Hills), and do feel quite fortunate to have this table. It looks better IMHO, in the raw than it does all blinged out. I might get the plinth covered in a Rolls Royce type of olde English burl finish, but other than that, it will stay raw...
Can't speak to the entirety of your question, but I can tell you that I love my turntable setup passionately. It consists of a TriangleART Reference SE table(prototype) Origin Live Conqueror MkIII 9" arm, with ClearAudio Titanium V2 cartridge. Speed is maintained by Walker Precision and cables...
My amps were designed with the KT120's in mind from the start. I can run the 88's or 6550's if I want but I worry that some of the dynamics I currently have may be lost. Right now I am so content with the sound I get from my rig, I see no need to change a thing, though Usher Dancer 2's might be...
I use the Tung Sol KT120s in my Carver Statement amps, and find them to be quite musical, powerful and engaging. My amps are nearly 5 years old now and in that time I had to replace one tube out of 12. I will be using them again when I retube the amp next year.
I have heard most of the line, including the amps and preamp, and they are all nothing less than spectacular. The exception for me is the Concerto turntable, which imho can be bested easily VPI and some others near its price point. The table I have I could not have even begun to dream about were...
Thought I would use this first post of mine to chime in on the TriangleArt turntables. I own the prototype for the Reference SE table, minus all the bling that goes into the final product. I have it paired with an Origin Live Conqueror MkIII 9" tonearm, ClearAudio Titanium v2 cartridge...