Jerry's ongoing system blog

[Andrew]

Well, one channel of my lovely Marantz receiver (used as a headphone amp ) has developed "the rustles". I'll probably have it checked out one day, but I only really bought it as an ornament anyway and was surprised and pleased how well it performed as a 'phones amp and as a phonostage.

So, after a quick peek at ebay this beastie has arrived ....



Sexy and kool, as long as you like lots of knobs and buttons.

It's been recapped so should be fine.

Very pleased with it so far and have even hooked it up to my MBL speakers where it did not disgrace itself at all, a little on the forward side, ballsy and with really good bass.

And it sounds genuinely good as a headphone amp.

I seem to be turning a bit vintage these days, in more ways than one.

Very under-rated amps. Popular in Germany. I had a 6550 and could happily live with one.

[jandl100]

Very under-rated amps. Popular in Germany. I had a 6550 and could happily live with one.

Yep, mine is very good.

Unk !! I thought I'd like to try hooking the Harman Kardan up properly to power my main rig to give it its best chance - which means using the standard 4mm banana plugs on my wanky-wire XLO speaker cables.

Argh - the bloody HK banana sockets don't take 4mm plugs, they are just a tiny bit too small.

Hmmm -- I may invest in £20 of Cable Talk 3 and just go with bare wires - excellent cables! - the slight Golden Glow from the Talk 3 may also tame the slight edge on the HK sound, too.

[Andrew]

I just used 2mm to 4mm adapters. It still sounded great to me. They are handy things to keep around and I think 8 only cost me about a fiver off Ebay

[jandl100]

I just used 2mm to 4mm adapters. It still sounded great to me. They are handy things to keep around and I think 8 only cost me about a fiver off Ebay

Coo - got a link?

EDIT: It's OK - I found some http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4X-2mm-Banana ... 5b067e2b82

£2.47 for 4.

[jandl100]

Ah, with the aid of a torch I just now peered more closely at the HK 'banana socket posts'.
Nope, they aren't that at all - just plastic knobs to clamp onto whatever goes into the small side input holes of the sockets - so yes, 2 to 4 mm adaptors needed.

[jandl100]

Boxswap update.

I do like Pioneer DVD players as CD transports.

For a while now I've been using a Pioneer DV-636D, bought for a few tens of £ on ebay with very fine results.
But a Pioneer DV-737 appeared on the Wam classifieds last week - and as the ad said, 'battleship build', so I thought I'd give it a go having in the past had excellent results from a DV-717.

And here it is, top left, all nice and shiny and champagny ...



That's my current line up of electronics .... Pioneer DV-737 via a certain co-ax cable into Wyred4Sound DAC1 via Epiphany Atratus 3 cables into NAD S300 integrated amp.
Bottom left is my Arcam DV29 DVD player, this actually used for DVDs! And under the Arcam my AG1500 mains regenerator which powers the whole setup, all fed with Nordost Magus / Blue Heaven power cables.

Sonic differences between the 636D and the 737? - simply more vivid, more presence and higher rez. The 636D is no slouch and imho beats most CD-only players/transports and the 737 simply takes this further.
Very pleased.

[Classicrock]

I found a 1m Profigold fibre cable for £4.99 (new) from a different Amazon seller. Didn't come up before due to slightly different description. Anyway swapped with the XO not expecting much due to the cheap looking cable jacket. What a difference - much more detail, fuller sound and better bass. This is a bargain at £20 let alone the price I paid. I suspect the mega priced fibre optic cables are the same Chinese sourced fibre with fancy looking cable covering and plugs. I would be surprised if this can be bettered by a significant margin. The plugs on the Profigold have a heavy quality feel and firm fit which may be a factor in performance.

[jandl100]

Yep, if it is something like my ProFi Gold TOSLINK cable then it is very good and I agree way better than the XO cable, and also better than most co-ax digital cables I have tried which rather surprised me.

[jammy395]

Yep, if it is something like my ProFi Gold TOSLINK cable then it is very good and I agree way better than the XO cable, and also better than most co-ax digital cables I have tried which rather surprised me.

Emmm.....How do I put this....I would consider a speaker change Jerry.

[jandl100]

Emmm.....How do I put this....I would consider a speaker change Jerry.

nah, you're Zingies are pretty good, I'd stay with them if I were you.