Allan Songer

Adding some 2nd order distortion to a mid-1980's CD player playing mid-1980's CDs is probably a good thing!! You take pretty much unlistenable discs and make them sound less shrill and tizzy. That's why I can't possibly see how using this "distortion box" when you have contemporary players and discs can be a good thing--modern players and discs sound mighty fine to me!

I have one of these. I used it between an ancient Kyocera D player and a Fisher 500C. It certainly warmed up the sound of old CDs through that old player, but I can't imagine you needing anything like this with a nice contemporary CD player and a Peach!

Good looking 9's are getting rare. 5 years ago, $10 grand would have bought a pretty decent pair. Now it's $17K to $20K. Back when Allan owned them, he probably sold them for a couple hundred each! I'm on the hunt for some 9's someday. I need a pair to mate up with my audio consolettes. Not that cheapo low budget Marantz Model 7. Hey! I got TWO GRAND for my pair! And that included a bunch of NOS Mullard ourput tubes--like a dozen of them! That was a PILE of money in those days--the 9's were crazy expensive even then! NICE! How long have you had the pair of 1's and he 6? BEAUTIFUL! FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!! My all time dream preamp--never even seen the whole package in person. NICE! You need the model 3 tube crossovers and the model 4 power supplies too! You know, get the whole package!! But you probably already have them!! http://classic-audio.com/marantz/0003.html

Figure $20,000 if truly mint. You might be able to find a nice set for $15,000, but I doubt it . . . . Back when you could buy MC-30s all day long for $250/pair, the 9s were ten times that.

That's the nicest pair of 2's I've seen in long, LONG time. Wow! And look at the PRICE! DOUBLE WOW! I sold a pair of 9's in the early/mid 80's for two grand. The dumbest thing I've ever done, audio-wise . . . .

I always wanted one of Mr. Ikeda's arms and when I decided to add a second arm to my TD-124 i was left with three choices, really--another SME 3012, a 12" Ortofon or one of Mr. Ikeda's designs (FR66 or 407), as I an COMMITTED to the Ortofon SPU--I doubt I will ever again use another cartridge. I use the Ikeda for stereo records and that means I use it about 1/3 of the time, perhaps a bit more. The arm is BEAUTIFULLY made, really something to behold. I had to fabricate an SME-style slotted base for it in order to dial in the SPU. but that was not really too big a deal considering the difficulties overall in adding the 2nd arm to the TD-124. The Ikeda is a bit more laid-back than the SME and offers a more "polite" sound than you get from the 3012, but definately a good match for the SPU. The arm was CRAZY expensive--I got a good deal and still paid $2000. I bought it because I knew it might be my last opportunity to purchase one of Mr. Ikeda's handmade arms--he's in his late 80's now and the 407 is now out of production.

Until I bought my BAT CD player I rarely played CDs in my main system. But since then I listen to them regularly. Prior to the BAT I had an acient Kyocera, an original Rega Planet and an original AH! Tjoeb '98. I still used the Planet in my office system and the AH! in my 2nd home system. They're both nice players, but the BAT is in an entirely different league . . . .

NICE!

I'll take a pair or maybe a couple of pairs . . . Wanna trade for some cool records?

"old music, vinyl and tubes" So?

A "barn job?" I like it! I've done more than a few "barn jobs" myself over the years. Now I can afford not to.

I remember buying sleeves of Telefunken 6U8 for $10 ea back in the 80's when I had Scott gear and an MX-110. They were ALWAYS dirt cheap tubes! I wonder what the Telefunkens sell for now? $15 ea? More?

Siamese VRD?

100 watt single ended triode? Well, here's a nice 50-watt SET, only $10,000 http://www.dehavillandhifi.com/GM70_2003.htm Here's a true 100 watt SET (200 watts into 4 ohms!)--these will set you back $30,000 for the pair: http://www.vongaylordaudio.com/product_html/protri200se.htm And then there are these--not sure if they're still in production, but they put out a whopping 150 watts of SE triode power! Of couse, this set up will set you back $350,000 if you can find them! http://www.wavac-audio.jp/sh833_e.html http://www.vongaylordaudio.com/legend_files/amplifier/tri200sea/tri200SEa.jpg'>

DUDE! I thought you were banishing the nails in the New Year!!!

What sort of music were you listening to at 120db?

I don't know if you are deliberately trying to muddy the waters here or not, but nobody, including Jeff, ever puts 60W average into Heritage speakers in their homes. Perhaps you are hoping that a careless reader will think that means running a 60W amp into Klipsch will produce 30% harmonic distortion, which is totally untrue. Hey, Jeff just admitted that he DOES pump 60 watts of Crown power through his Heritage--only for "a song or two." Wow. That's must REALLY be LOUD. And REALLY distorted too!

No they don't.

fixed link

I like this idea best: Buy this: http://cgi.ebay.com/THORENS-TD145-147-160-165-166-REGA-MOUNTING-PLATE_W0QQitemZ190066880691QQihZ009QQcategoryZ48648QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem and this: http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1171211633http://cgi.ebay.com/THORENS-TD145-147-160-165-166-REGA-MOUNTING-PLATE_W0QQitemZ190066880691QQihZ009QQcategoryZ48648QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem''>http://cgi.ebay.com/THORENS-TD145-147-160-165-166-REGA-MOUNTING-PLATE_W0QQitemZ190066880691QQihZ009QQcategoryZ48648QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem' mce_href="http://cgi.ebay.com/THORENS-TD145-147-160-165-166-REGA-MOUNTING-PLATE_W0QQitemZ190066880691QQihZ009QQcategoryZ48648QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"> No need to rewire ANYTHING!

And the winner is: I don't know yet. The responses here are about 50/50. I've always thought that my old Pioneer DD table, which is starting to show its age, was one of the better sounding tables I've had - and I've had some decent belt drive tables (my current Thorens TD-145 for example). I'm leaning to the Technics, but some of the arguments here and elsewhere are giving me pause. I can't imagine a Rega P3 being all that much of an uprgrade from a TD-145. Why not uprgade the arm/cartridge of the 145 instead? You can get one of those purpose built mounting plates for a VARIETY of arms for about $40 and then try a Rega or an SME (both would be a MAJOR step up from the stock Thorens arm) and a nice MC cartridge. I think you'd get a MUCH bigger bang for the buck doing this than buying a new table.

Rim drive.

what he said

Plenty.

I listen to mono recordings about 50% of the time. I use a dedicated mono arm and cartridge and flip the mono switch on the preamp, but I still listen through two speakers because my listening spot is optimized for stereo and I find it rather annoying to have the music coming at me from one side. Through the years I have experimented with single speaker playback and for me it's not worth the effort--perhaps a DEDICATED mono system in another room with a single Khorn might be the way to go? When I build my dream house I'll make sure to include such a room in the plans . . .