I have been experimenting with hifi equipment for over 50 years trying to get my jazz LPs to sound their very best.I started out making a lot of equipment myself, mostly out of economic necessity, but I returned to DIY simply to get the sound that I want. It's also more satisfying to design and build something than it is to be on the audio merry-go-round where nothing is ultimately satisfying. In general, I like a warm, detailed, dynamic sound with good rhythmic pacing. I also want my speakers to sound like a single driver, not a collection of several drivers all sounding a little different. That sounds simple enough but it can be hard to come by in today's high-end world.
One thing that has remained constant over the years is my love for straight-ahead jazz especially from the late '40s through the '80s. I particularly enjoy jazz guitarists. Some favorites include George Barnes, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gene Bertoncini, Emily Remler, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Charlie Christian, Barry Galbraith, Jim Hall, Barney Kessell, Oscar Moore, Sal Salvador, Chuck Wayne, Django Reinhardt, Carl Kress, and Johnny Smith. What talent! Jazz probably accounts for 70% of my listening, but I also listen to classical chamber music.
I generally prefer the sound of the original issues of LPs or early reissues, in contrast to the reissues sold today by "audiophile" labels. For whatever reason, most modern reissues just don't have the natural sound that records pressed in the 1950's and 1960's have. I would rather put up with a few ticks and pops and even some occasional distortion when listening to a used record from that era than listen to a modern reissue which may sound clean and pristine but also processed and less natural.
Deja Vu Audio speaker with all vintage components--Jensen A15PM woofers in open baffle, Western Electric 32A horns with YL Acoustic 5500 compression drivers, and Electro-Voice T-350 tweeter. Internal wiring is Audio Note Lexus and Audio Note SPx..
Galibier Gavia
with Gavia platter (32 lbs). Dynamic, detailed and musical. The table has the updated Galibier high-torque motor and new controller circuitry. It is powered by a Teddy Pardo power supply.
Analog Instruments Siggwan 12
A 12" unipivot arm made by James Grant in New Zealand from a single piece of cocobolo. I replaced the standard Cardas wiring with a Discovery wiring harness. I tried 2 different armboards but recently switched to the solid brass arm pod shown in one of the photos. That sounds better to me.
Triplanar VII.2 Ultimate
The Triplanar is a great match with the Benz LP.
Benz LP
I have been a loyal Benz customer for over 20 years, progressing from a Glider M2 to L2 Woodbody to the LP. I have enjoyed each one.
Denon 103R
A classic. Recently upgraded with boron cantilever and MR stylus by Andy Kim. Sounds really nice on the Siggwan tonearm.
EMIA Intact Audio MC Stepup Transformers
Copper 1:10 stepups
DIY D3a/5687 Phono
My main phono preamp is a 2-stage tube phono circuit with passive RIAA equalization. The first stage is a Siemens D3a (in triode) and the second is one-half of a 5687. Each tube is biased with LEDs. The outboard power supply uses a 5R4GY rectifier, a vintage Chicago choke, and Blackgate WKZ filter caps. The audio circuit uses a number of Audio Note Silver tantalum resistors. Interstage coupling caps are .1uf CuTF V-Caps. Intact Audio output transformers.
I experimented with a number of audio circuit topologies and power supply designs, as well as component types, before settling on this particular setup, so it's no surprise that I like its sound very much. Aside from sound quality, it is also very quiet, more so than any of the 4 or 5 solid-state phono preamps I've tried.
Emotive Audio Epifania Custom
This is a one-of-a-kind version of the Epifania. It uses the Epifania 12B4A audio circuitry but with solid state regulators. This unit has V-Cap coupling capacitors and Black Gate WKZ power supply caps.
Slagle Autoformer passive attenuator
Western Electric WE 124 amplifiers
DIY version of the WE 124 amplifier with Acrosound TO-330 output transformers and vintage Collins chokes. RCA 6L6-G output tubes. Copper V-Caps, Audio Note Silver Tantalum resistors, and WBT binding posts.
Emotive Audio Vita monoblocks
These are a custom pair of Vita amps built by Fred Volz at Emotive. The Vitas are a push-pull design that can use KT-120s, KT-88s, 6550s, EL-34s, KT-77s and 6L6GCs. My favorites are Genalex (reissue) KT-77s and Tung Sol KT-120s. These amps are, without a doubt, the best sounding high-powered amps I have had in my system. They are also the best looking with matching tiger maple bases. The amps have 3/4" thick aluminum slabs around the perimeter which act like a sink for vibrations. They have copper V-Cap (CuTF) coupling capacitors, Teflon tube sockets and WBT connectors.
DIY 6L6GC Monoblocks
Push-pull amps with GE 6L6GC Blackplate outputs and vintage Chicago output transformers. They use a floating paraphase inverter circuit. Coupling caps are Copper V-Cap (CuTF).
DIY 46 SE Monoblocks
Single-ended 2-stage amps with Electra-Print output transformers. A Western Electric 417a driver feeds a RCA 46 output tube via an interstage transformer made by Dave Slagle of Intact Audio. The driver stage has voltage and current regulation with a CCS feeding an OD3 gas tube. Choke-input power supply with 5R4GY rectifier and BlackGate WKZ filter caps.
with ETI Legato and Furutech connectors. Used throughout system.
Sound Anchors Stands
Dedicated stands for turntable and monoblock amps.
ASC Tube Traps
one trap in each corner behind speakers
Loricraft PRC-3 record cleaner
Box Furniture rack
DIY Tube DAC Non-Oversampling
Digital board has AD1865N chip and vintage caps and resistors. Audio portion uses Western Electric 407a with tube rectifier and BlackGate WKZ filter cap.
Sal, isn't retirement great? Just like you have kids when you are young, when you're old, you should be listening to music, and working on your stereo, just like we are!
Yes, indeed still around. I don't post on this site very often anymore (too much vitriol for my tastes), but I do visit from time to time. I am now retired and have more time to listen and play around with the system. My wife and I also moved to a new house and I am still working on getting the system sounding the way I want. I am not there yet but I am making progress.
I hope you are still enjoying music and life on your island Shangri-La!
Thanks for the comments. My DAC uses a digital board assembled by a guy in Italy, Bruno Petrosillo. Bruno used to have a site called Sound Monogamy where he described all his gear. His digital board has a non-oversampling AD1865 with several shunt regulated power supplies. All of the components on the board were selected vintage parts---Allen Bradley resistors, Aerovox and Mallory caps etc. My only contribution was to add a simple tube output stage and power supply. I used a choke-input power supply with a 6x4 rectifier and BlackGate WKZ filter cap. The audio circuit is a Western Electric 407a with CCS loading on the plate and a vintage output coupling cap. To my ears the DAC sounds very good. I still prefer the sound of records on my phono setup but I don't mind at all listening to CDs or streaming through the DAC.
Sal, as one old fart to another, I'm so glad to see you're still around! I hope like me you are enjoying music and your system more than ever before, more power to us!
Very cool system. I'm also a big fan of DIY and have built my own speakers, amps and preamps. Can you tell me more about your DIY Tube DAC? I'm starting to think about a DAC project in the near future. Thanks, Jay
I love what you've done with your system at this time. Your hornspeakers are beautiful, I'd love to hear your system some day, but, I don't do much traveling these days. The inconvenience of age.
Lots of changes in the 4 years since I last updated my system. The speakers may look the same but they now have Western Electric 32A horns and different YL Acoustic drivers. My main amps are now DIY versions of the Western Electric 124.
New speakers! For the past week I have been listening to my new YL Acoustic/Jensen speakers that were designed and built by Deja Vu Audio in McLean Virginia. They are built around a midrange horn and compression driver made by YL Acoustic (Yoshimura Labs) which was a Japanese firm that supplied movie theater sound systems in the 1960s. YL Acoustic was inspired by Western Electric designs and made some replica WE compression drivers for the Japanese market. The firm is perhaps best known today for some of its employees who went on form Kondo, Ale and Goto. My speakers use a YL horn from 700 Hz on up and are supplemented by a Electro-Voice horn above 10K. The bass is handled by a Jensen P15LL in an open baffle. The crossover components use vintage paper in oil capacitors. The internal wiring is all Audio Note Lexus.
Preconceptions can be dangerous. In the past, I have preferred the sound of AC heating for preamp and power amp tubes instead of DC heating. Therefore, when I revised my phono preamp to use a pair of Type 56 tubes instead of 5687, I used AC for the 2.5 volt heater supply. To my surprise, changing the heater supply to 2.5 volts DC not only lowered the noise levels but also sounds better. That's a first for me.
My next surprise came after running the 56 tubes for a few days and then switching back to the 5687. Yes, the 56 has some appealing qualities, but overall the 5687 has a more neutral tonal balance and more detail, at least in this application. So I have come full circle and ended up back where I started.
Time for a new project! I am thinking veneer for my speaker cabinets......
Agear, thanks for the nice comments. The combination of old vinyl, tubes and vintage high-efficiency speakers continues to be very satisfying to my ears.
Sal, beautiful system and philosophy. Given my vintage propensities and recent vinyl renaissance, I just love your rig particularly the Altecs. Total eye candy. I have been sleuthing for vintage horn-based high efficiency speakers to try in my main listening room.
I am sure you may be aware of this guy who restores a lot of vintage speakers:
I made an interesting change to my phono preamp, changing the second stage tube from a 5687 to either a 27 or 56. I have a lot of 27 tubes left over from my Emotive Erato days, and it's been fun hearing these again. My favorite 27 continues to be a National Union with ST glass. The 56 is a very similar tube to the 27 and I have now tried a couple brands. So far my favorite 56 is also a National Union. There is something about these really old triodes that communicates music in a more direct, more fundamental way than modern tubes like the 5687 or 6DJ8 etc.
As an experiment, I am running the 27 and 56 tubes with an AC heater supply. Tube phono preamps nearly always use DC on the heaters to minimize noise pickup in a sensitive application like a phono stage. However, running my second gain stage on AC doesn't seem to cause any problems. The residual noise in my present setup is higher than the ultra-quiet background I have with the 5687, but I suspect that is due to the difference in gain between the tubes and not the heater supply. Anyway, eventually I will try a DC heater supply to find out if that lowers the noise at all, and if it does whether it is worth the sacrifice in sound quality. In past experiments with other tubes, I have always preferred the sound with AC on the heaters.
Thanks for the update on AN silver tants Salectric. When I am feeling wealthy I may try some of those silver tants on the cathode of my C3m driver tube. And thank you again for your recent advice on some of the tweeks I have made to my amp! Regards Jet
I have been experimenting with the new Audio Note Silver Tantalum resistors in a few critical places. So far they have been a distinct improvement over the resistors used previously which include regular Audio Note tantalums and some other brands. They have exquisite detail and microdynamics that result in a lively and very natural sound. It's too bad the Silvers are so expensive (close to $90 per pair) or I would use them everywhere.
It doesn't surprise me that the Ocellia would expose the quality of an IEC connection. I believe the Ocellia cables purity of signal transmission will just reveal the truth. They accomplish this in a natural rather than analytical fashion.
Sal given the make up of your system, yourjazz music collection must sound divine.
It turns out the Ocellia power cord is better than I thought it was. A while back Charles1dad asked me about it and I posted that it sounded good but it didn't impress me as much as the Ocellia interconnect. Since then I found out that the Furutech IEC plug used on the Ocellia power cord is quite sensitive to the type of IEC inlet on equipment it is used with. In my case, I had the Ocellia plugged into an ordinary tin-plated IEC inlet on my phono preamp, the same type of IEC inlet used on virtually all commercial equipment and unfortunately not a good sounding match with the Furutech IEC plug on the Ocellia. I don't claim to be any expert on IEC inlets since I have only tried two after-market inlets, but I can say that the Oyaide R inlet is a far better match sonically to the Ocellia than the tin-plated inlet. (I also tried a gold-plated Furutech inlet but did not directly compare it to the Oyaide.). The Oyaide inlet preserves all of the positive qualities of the Ocellia power cord while pretty much eliminating my reservations about it. Previously its midrange was a bit withdrawn and lacking in body and the midbass was on the lean side. With the Oyaide R inlet, the Ocellia power cord is well balanced from the deepest bass to the highest highs and the midrange is no longer recessed. Dynamics and detail are also improved. Based on this experience, I highly recommend the Oyaide R IEC inlet. Also kudos to Chris at VH Audio for his helpful advice.
Bojack, I couldn't agree more with your comment about Spendors. I used to hear the SP-1/2 fairly often at my dealer and I have a lot of respect for them.
Granny, I should probably have withheld comment on the WE 16g wire since my WE wires have so few hours use. I hope to get around to trying them again soon.
Charles, I have Ocellia interconnect between my phono preamp and linestage. I would love to have an Ocellia from linestage to power amps but unfortunately I need a long 4M cable. I haven't seen any Ocellias longer than 2M. I use a 4M Wireworld Eclipse II that sounds very good in my system.
All of my power cords are Virtual Dynamics David except for the phono preamp which has an Ocellia. The Ocellia power cord is very good but I don't like it as much as the Ocellia interconnects.
From an SP 1/2 owner your system is super cool. And I agree with your statement about driver integration. Spendor nailed it with the SP100s and SP 1/2s (2/3s not as much, IMO) super coherent, just like live music. I am a bit jealous.
