Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms The Analogue Experience

I took the liberty of moving the discussion here because it is perhaps the more appropriate setting and the other thread can continue to deal with car hifi.

Since three years I am very satisfied and happy with my set up. Sorry I didn't do any extra tidying up.



I have had the Mcintosh amps since 2004, it was a stroke of luck, the MC275 MK4 I had bought used in Switzerland from a dealer. He still had an original packed C22 CE (with board, not hard wired like the old ones, but still very good sounding) which I bought for 1900€ on that occasion.
I did have an EAR 864 preamp, which sounds very nice, which does without a cathode follower and instead uses a transformer at the output to lower the impedance. This achieves a great three-dimensional sound. But when I heard this old C22CE for the first time I was amazed, not to say scared in a positive sense. I had never heard such intelligibility of speech, the clarity of vowels, but also this combination of space and percussive precision of instruments.

The turntable is an Oracle Delphi Mk4 I bought in 2003 at a bargain price including the larger power supply from a Condor pilot.



He had to close his household in Germany for tax reasons because he moved to Bahrein and flew the private planes of the Sultan...he had three 767 all to himself and his harem for shopping in London etc. So I paid less (though without stylus) than what the SME MK5 alone, mounted on it, costs today.
Stylus is an Ortofon Venice MC. From there it goes into an EAR step up MC4 and then into the MM input of the C22.

As for tubes, I discovered an interesting source in the USA two years ago. There I bought NOS 12AX7 from 1960 for $25 a piece. They are original Sylvania but Baldwin (organs) branded, that's why the price is so low. Also 12AT7 from 1959 from GE for similar small money. You can argue about it but these tubes are much better constructed and more durable than anything today. You can argue if it is necessary to buy an old Telefunken E83CC for 500€. I personally think this is nonsense.
My current KT88s are some of the cheapest on the market but the ones I like best on the Mcintosh - JJ from Slovakia. I think the small gain and driver tubes are more important for the sound. But on the other hand I was not at all satisfied with the Satarov GEC Gold Lion KT88 in comparison with the easyness of the JJ. And as you said KT88 do not make it for too long a time so I feel not guilty to put the system on whenever I want and how long I want to. When using original RCA or Golden Lion from the sixties I would feel bad perhaps when letting the system just play a bit in the background.

I hardly ever use the Meridian G08 but it sounds very nice. For streaming I have a Bluesound Node2 that sounds really nice, not only for the price range but to my satisfaction.

Speakers are the newer interpretation of the good old BBC series, a LS3/6 from Stirling Broadcast with which I am extremely satisfied.
Maybe this has something to do with getting older and with my listening habits. I hardly know of any other loudspeaker that is so little disturbing and fatiguing. And this brings me to the point that is important for me. I am not a hififreak who is constantly changing devices and I think you are are also such a type of music lover, Peter, with the music in the focus and not the sound system under priority. At least I know how long you are since satisfied with your modern ESL. I am a music lover who likes to listen emotionally. But you can also hear my sound system when you read a book, just casually. Then it has the qualities of an old tube radio.

Until three years ago I had a more expressive system, probably the only Klipsch Jubilee in Germany, with a choice of high-midrange drivers, Faital, Klipsch and most importantly TAD 4002 Beryllium. To my 45 years lasting Odyssey belong small and bigger Tannoy (I still have the Canterbury from 1988 stored away) the ESL 57, formerly Rogers and Spendor.

But to be honest I am very happy now and I don't feel any urge for a change. But I have always had a system for at least 10 years before. I built the first sound systems myself when I was 15 years old, also a full horn system according to a construction plan.
I have never bought anything similar from another brand. But I changed between the transducer principles ELS, horn, conventional but BBC style when I really wanted a new experience.

But as your system looks like, Peter, it seems to be an established very good system growing over the years and you may do fine tunings from time to time as I do. It is the music that counts. The rest is old technical knowledge over the decades.


And yes, the stupid TV screen can cause unpleasant reflections. That's why I put a blanket over it when I hear really nice.


As I said I haven't cleaned up, but this is perhaps the more important part of the music system in the other corner. A lot of original 1960s jazz and classical records and 1970s rock, a lot of the 1960is inherited from my father.