Dream Hi Fi Seperates

[repairman 1234]

Hi All,

I am thinking of trying to put together an absolute top notch record player, amp and speaker combination,( old transistor equipment, not valve gear) and would like to hear any ideas for the dream combination. As an idea of what i mean i thought something like .......
B and O or Thorens deck
Leak Amp
Wharfedale speakers.
I will look forward to hearing your ideas.

Cheers,

Chris.

[Kat Manton]

Hi,

If your budget will stretch to it, how about the system I heard at a hifi show in the eighties?

All Linn.

1. Turntable
2. PSU for turntable
3. Pre-amp
4. PSU for pre-amp
5. Active crossover
6. PSU for active crossover
7. 6 x mono power amps
8. 6 x PSUs for power amps
9. Pair of 'Isobarik' speakers

18 boxes and a pair of speakers, just for playing vinyl... but it remains the best vinyl system I have ever heard and would be my "Dream Hi-Fi"... the "Fi" was very "Hi" indeed

Cheers, Kat

['LIVEWIRE?']

TEAC PX300 Turntable(This will start the 'which is better-Direct or Belt Drive' argument!)
LEAK Stero 30+ Amp., or possibly Quad 303 with 33 Preamp.
Possibly Celestion or Wharfedale speakers. The type of gear mentioned by Kat is definetly a 'dream' setup.

[mickjjo]

My choice and the system I am currently using would be:

Goldring-Lenco GL59 turntable with AT 110e cartridge.
NAD 3020 Amplifier.
Leak Sandwich 600 speakers.

Regards, Mick.

[Kat Manton]

Hi,

Stepping down a rung or two from the Linn active system I described...

I can wholeheartedly recommend Celestion Ditton 44 speakers. Look for the later version (black grille cloth and veneered baffle-board, they look nicer than the earlier type with the grilles off.) I have mine raised off the floor slightly on spiked stands and I have no desperate urge to replace them. If considering buying a pair, carefully check the condition of the rubber cone surrounds on the bass/mid drivers, some will have degraded and disintegrated.

Amplifiers: I'll agree with Mick on the NAD 3020, a superb amplifier with a particularly good RIAA preamp. Quad 33/303 pre-power combination also definitely worth considering.

Also look out for Sugden integrated amplifiers. I had a Sugden A48 for repair once and didn't want to give it back. It sounded amazing (or rather, it didn't sound like anything, it just amplified and did it very well); a very transparent and detailed amplifier which worked very nicely with the Ditton 44s.

Cheers, Kat

[howard]

Originally Posted by Kat Manton

Hi,
If your budget will stretch to it .........
All Linn. [list=1][*]Turntable
Cheers, Kat

Hello Chris,

I doubt if your budget will stretch to all of Kat's dream system but the Linn LP12 Sondek turntable is one item well worth considering. Even with a modest arm and MM cartridge when set up correctly it'll produce outstanding results. Failing that go for the cheaper minimalist Rega Planar 3 turntable. Then just add a decent amp, eg: a NAD 3020 or Pioneer A400, and a pair of loudspeakers which produce a good soundstage eg: Mission 700s, Tannoy Mercurys, Heybrook HB1 etc.

Howard

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by Kat Manton

=Also look out for Sugden integrated amplifiers. I had a Sugden A48 for repair once and didn't want to give it back.

Me too! The fault was very high gain and hiss on one channel... open ciruit -ve feedback resistor, of course. The electrolytics were also all leaking gunge. There is a circuit diagram in the user manaul which is handy.

The case and controls feel very solid, but I have to say that the soldering in the one I had was very amateurish indeed

[dseymo1]

For the T/T, I'd go for a Thorens TD124 (if budget allows). Beautifully built, and even better sounding, but a bit expensive these days!

Speakers would have to be vintage Tannoy for me - anything from 3LZ upwards, depending on budget and space.

[Studio263]

Here's your amplifier:

www.beocentral.com/products/lab5000

and here's a nice record player to go with it:

www.beocentral.com/products/bg4000

I've tried this combination and it really is unbeatable. The new "soundsmith" pickups that B&O dealers sell for the turntables may be ugly and expensive but they do sound really good, nice and smooth with a good tracking ability.

The system can be completed with the matching Beomaster 5000 tuner, a Philips CD104 CD player and a Sony WM-D6C cassette recorder, along with loudspeakers to your taste.

[ben]

for me any dream system would have to include some silver pioneer gear. (drooooool!!). I have a ct-f1250 and ct-f9191 decks and a tuner whsoe model no. i've forgotten ,also with the groovy blue fluorescent display

[ianj]

Tannoy dual concentrics do sound great! For speakers today,I use a big pair of modern A-E 120 floorstanders, which are 4 driver, 3 vented beasts which sound lovely on all music formats. ianj

[jamesperrett]

My setup for vinyl transfers is a Garrard 401 turntable, SME arm, Stanton cartridge, Teac AX75 amp used just as a preamp, Quad 405-2 power amp with Tannoy Berkeley speakers. It is possibly a little too revealing of problems but that's what I need.

I have an old Dynatron HFC101 system for more relaxed listening.

Cheers

James.

[repairman 1234]

Thanks for all these great combinations chaps, i will have fun trying to mix and match. The Linn system sounds great, although i have to say that for me the Beo BG4000 looks more the part. I used to have a very nice set of Wharfedale floor standing speakers (not sure of the type now)they were about 2 1/2 feet tall, three way with polished ali rim on the woofer the same on the mid and also a grille over it , and the tweeter was square. These speakers had a real nice rich tone, wish i still had them! ( can't even find anything like them on ebay) I did find some Wharfedale Linton's that looked about the right size though.
Amp's, well i do like the sound of the Linn equipment, so it could end up looking like a Beo deck, Linn amp and Wharfedale speakers, how does that sound?

Many thanks for all your ideas

Chris.

[mastermanx2001]

Could your wharfdales have been "E" series. E70 was one model (I think) They had aluminium rings around the units. E stood for efficiency. This range made a lot of noise for not very much input.

[repairman 1234]

They could well have been E units, i was only sixteen when i owned them, a friend of the family gave them to me for free and i ran them until i got a stack system. As i look back the stack system was not anything like as good a sound, but the old system did not have the other features that at the time were the be all and end all to me ie, LED VU meters, remote control, solenoid operated tape section and of course that rack hi fi design that enabled you to have the cabinet to match with the glass door on!

Cheers,

Chris.

[PauldeH]

Well, clearly there's a range of opinion on this!

One thing I'd add would be try before you buy if you possibly can. Especially speakers and pickups - one person's dream system can be another's nightmare, it's not an exact science.

Also, watch out for the cost of pickups and styli for those old B&O decks - beautiful they may be, but parts can be like hen's teeth and very expensive when you do find them.

One other thought, if sound is your only priority, you could do much worse than go modern. My dream system is my current one, which does me very nicely. Pro-ject RPM4 with a Shure M97XE, Audiolab 8000A (which is, admittedly, nearly 20 years old) and Art Stilleto floorstanding speakers. To my ears, awsome.

[howard]

Originally Posted by PauldeH

.......... Audiolab 8000A (which is, admittedly, nearly 20 years old) .........

Yes that is a good amplifier, I have one here being repaired and one can still get original spare parts for it. It's certainly a well built British alternative to the NAD 3020.

Howard

[arjoll]

I'm quite happy with my current system - Marantz CD4000, Denon PMA360, and Infinity Reference 20's. None of it is high end, but it makes a beautiful sound.

In terms of vinyl, I have nothing to play it on at the moment - but I've got a 401 and SME 3009 (actually 5x 401's and 2x 3009's ), just need to service them, get some missing SME parts and make a decent plinth.

[ppppenguin]

Dream system:

Shure V15 III, SME 3009, Garrard 401 or Thorens TD125, Quad 33/303 or 33/405 or 34/405. Quad ESL63 or Spendor BC1 or Leak Sandwich. Or LS3/5A for a smaller speaker.

Funny thing is that I've got most of this, mostly bought new in the 1980s except the ESL63 which were s/hand c1990. Current lineup is Shure V15 III, SME 3009, Fons CQ30. Quad 33/405, ESL63. Also got a pair of BC1 which have been sitting in their boxes for years. Wonder if the bass unit surrounds are still OK.

Marantz CD player added later, replacing a Philips CD150. Tandberg TCD310 for cassettes when needed.

[mastermanx2001]

After only reading your first paragraph, I guessed that you may well own most of that equipment.

It was little surprise then to read on to your second paragraph.

It may also be little surprise to you that I also have very similar equipment. The 33/303 44/405 being bought new and the ESL 63s bought second hand in the early 90s as well.

As regards the BC1s, I guess that your bass units will have the black surround, not sure if the magnets will be the ceramic of Alnico, but bass units with the ba=lack surround are usually more reliable. The older white surround shrinks and is more likely to pull the coil off centre as well as affecting the cone movement. I guess that you know this anyway.

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

Dream system:

Shure V15 III, SME 3009, Garrard 401 or Thorens TD125, Quad 33/303 or 33/405 or 34/405. Quad ESL63 or Spendor BC1 or Leak Sandwich. Or LS3/5A for a smaller speaker.

Funny thing is that I've got most of this, mostly bought new in the 1980s except the ESL63 which were s/hand c1990. Current lineup is Shure V15 III, SME 3009, Fons CQ30. Quad 33/405, ESL63. Also got a pair of BC1 which have been sitting in their boxes for years. Wonder if the bass unit surrounds are still OK.

Marantz CD player added later, replacing a Philips CD150. Tandberg TCD310 for cassettes when needed.