Lorks - where to start? Dare say this is more of a hifi autobiography then a review but here goes...
All I've ever wanted is a system which is enjoyable - yeah, that's obvious, don't we all? However, how we enjoy that system (ie what we listen for and prioritise) can be vastly different. I don't do 'hifi' things - for one, stereo imagery means nothing to me as it doesn't exist in live music. Tonality is an interesting one, and something quite interesting as when someone goes on about an instrument's sound, where is their point of reference? One of my favourites for this is the Tenor Saxophone - an instrument notoriously difficult to record/reproduce as it is closest to a male human voice. Sure, a TS's tone can change (either by players with different make of instrument/mouthpiece/acoustic etc) but what it does to the air remains a constant - few instruments energise the air in the way a TS can, and for me a system which can get this across is doing really well. Get this right, and funnily enough most things follow and we're cookin'
Fundamentally then, what really does matter to me is the buiding blocks of music ie rhythm, pitch, interaction between (not separation - I must stress that) between sounds, and tempo - and the subtle changes that exist with all of these to make things interesting. Why not instrumental separation? Well, one instrument played solo has a certain sound, an energy. Add a second one to it and the first one's sound and energy will change because of lots of lovely harmonics floating around in the air. Then you have an ensemble. Add more and more, and each instrument will take on a slightly different sound and the sonic picture will build. That's why I've found that when a system is said to have 'great instrumental separation' my alarm bells start ringing. Integration/interaction is where it's at for me.
Ok, on to my stuff...
At the moment, my system sounds pretty mediocre - it's doing some good hifi things, but ye gods it's boring. I occasionally go through these phases, and whilst it's bloody frustrating at the time, it feels magical when things start to click again. In my 40+ or so years of interest in hifi (I started getting into it when my dad had his first rig; I was around 5 yrs old) there have been a few really great times - times when I should really have hung onto what I had - but hey ho that's this daft hobby for you.
Each time the system's been great, I've had very simple 2-way speakers on the end of it. First real bulls-eye was back in the early-mid 80's after my first paycheque: Planar 3/Sugden A21 (my dad's old wooden 12 watter)/Mission 70 Mk2's. Nothing fancy, but it would make sense of music which I'd previously thought of as noise. As an example, Shostakovich's symphonies snapped into musical focus because phrases would appear from the mix - the musical punctuation marks had been applied. Freddie Hubbard's trumpet playing made sense 'of course that's what he's meaning to play' rather than 'it sounds nice but what the hell planet is he on?' :D
A few 'upgrades' later and I had an LP12/Basik Plus/Nytech CA252/JPW P1's. I was happy, and despite a moment of weakness in buying a Philips CD player (which got sold on as the ol' fruitbox was so much better) things were good. The system kept my interest, and playing records was a fun thing to do. However, it was around 1990 that my frustration started to bubble to the surface - I'd always kept what I was hearing as a professional musician as a separate entity to the hifi. It began to bug me because I really wanted to draw parallels between them, not have them follow a different and varying path. My ear was maturing more, and I really yearned for something closer to the feeling live music gave me (as a listener to and player of). At this time my system had gone to LP12 (my second one)/Akito/Roksan Corus Black/Nait 2/Boston A40's...
A friend let me have a lengthy listen to his Gyrodec and from this point on I realised that the LP12 was the weak link in the musical chain. It was making music by its own rules - it had a sonic signature that whilst addictive (and fun in many ways) it wasn't realistic. It was controlling the music, rather than the other way round. I sold the LP12 to a friend (he still has it) and sat down to my new Gyro - my record collection went from being about 50 albums big, to around 400 without another record...if you get what I mean? I could play anything on the Michell, it let music breathe, find its own space, let rip or calm the listener. I LOVED this thing. Shortly after I discovered Exposure amps when Northwood Audio had a nigh-on mint condition X integrated. This was a big step up on the Nait, firstly it had proper speaker-driving power (and did dynamics too hurrah!) along with an utterly superb phonostage. I kept this amp for something like 8 years, when I happened upon a very clean Exposure VI/Dual VII/IVDR set-up.
All was well with the world until I got itchy feet for a new turntable. Yes I really enjoyed the Gyro - I'd considered the DC motor 'upgrade' for it but having done a comparison preferred my old AC-powered one. The DC sounded lazy, more mechanical, more 'belt drive' if that makes sense? Anyway, the bug had bitten so I went off turntable auditioning. Result - a NAS Spacedeck with OL-modded RB250. Not too dissimilar in sound to the Gyro, but this thing was so addictive - in many ways not unlike the LP12 - but with no colour of its own. Also, the first turntable I'd owned on which acoustic piano sounded right. The LP12 just couldn't do it - now, we can quote W&F figures etc until blue in the face but the fact is; a piano note, especially when struck hard, wavers in pitch. If you don't believe your ears (which you should!) stick a digital tuning meter on it. You'll see the guage move as the note is struck, then it settles quickly. It only takes a second or less. The LP12 and the Gyro did something slightly odd with it - sure there was the waver, but it wasn't what a piano
really does. The NAS on the other hand did this naturally - and at the time it was a small epiphany for my turntable journey.
I then found that this stability which the Spacedeck brought to the party had an effect (or rather didn't effect) on all types of music. Stuff which didn't make sense before really snapped into focus. Michael Brecker's first album is an absolute bitch to play back with any kind of convincing musicality. Never mind his Tenor Saxophone, the interplay, the sheer energy and fizz which the music puts into the air had never happened for me on any of my previous turntables. It all started to make sense - it became interesting, I could play it louder (without it sounding loud) and the goosebumps started to rise.
At was at this stage that NVA amplification reared its head. At the time I had the NAS/Spacearm/Puresound P10 phonostage/Puresound A30 amp/Audio Note AX2 speakers. I really nice rig - the speakers especially, a bit of an unsung hero in fact. I wanted to try NVA from having heard them back in the early 90's so went for a P50sa/A70 monos. They sounded really good - that was a given. However I didn't really gel with them, and RD graciously took the 50/70's back and no harm was done. I later realised that I should have gone for an NVA phonostage too. The P10 was making the amps sound flat, un-dynamic, and since have learnt that the P10 really does prefer a different amp. Others' experience seems to ring true - with the right amp it's magic, with the wrong it's well a tad dull. Not its fault, nor the NVA's.
Anyway, some time later a chap on one of the forums was flogging a used NVA A60 stereo power amp, and a P50 pre and as it was going so cheap I thought 'let's do this again'. I had a Dynavector P75 phonostage at the time and along with the NVA amp it was bloody marvellous. I'd also got my beloved Royd Merlins by now which the Puresound A30 really didn't like (they're not hard to drive, but they like a few more watts up'em) but with the NVA's it was 'oh yes'. With the NAS/Dyna/NVA/Royd combo music just poured out - I had a brief play with a Naim 72/HC/180 but the NVA set up was so superior it wasn't even funny. This blossomed into a Phono2/P90sa/A80/A40 bi-amped rig and with the addition of my very own PL71 all was wonderful at Gromit Towers. Oh...and with an Ortofon SPU in place I don't think I've owned a system which played music with such heart, such resolution, such rhythmic dexterity and sheer joy. It took a lot of work to get there - and my listening room was bloody terrible - but I got there in the end.
The system I have now though is in a real state of flux. On several occasions I've almost started from scratch again, only to be lucky enough to happen upon one bit of gear which has worked and got the musical juices flowing again. I had a brief flirt with a Sony PS6750 turntable earlier this year but had to sell it on, along with my beloved Royds, to raise some cash. The Sony was excellent - I'd even say in standard form it was slightly better than a PL71, even if its arm possibly not quite as good with the mass-hungry MC's of this world (103's/SPU etc). I bought the SL1210 as a stopgap to last until next spring when I hope to get back to something more rewarding. A little-used Jelco SA750D came up for sale so have had a quick play with that, but it's so frustrating. It does the hifi stuff better, but the turntable's still dull as ditchwater. My CD player is more musically convincing. The little ProAcs used to be mine (I had them 1993-2004) but my dad has very kindly passed them back to me now. They're great little speakers but a. need an amp with lots of current and b. are ruthlessly revealing, tearing the front end/amp apart and laughing at the resulting damage.
The sound is thin, harsh, lacking dynamic impact and really does give the impression that music is wandering around in the dark. The Supertabs worked really well on the end of my old Exposure VI/VII/IVDR and with the Gyro at the front but now, I really feel they're a step too far for what's in front of them. I'm not having fun, and it's starting to get me down - seriously - as music is such a huge part of my life, occupying almost every waking hour. Trying 2 other cartridges (a Dyna 10X5 and a Denon 103R) didn't help, and with the Jelco I think they were just uncovering further cracks in the otherwise standard Technics turntable unit.
Where to go though? I'm really not sure. My room is another difficult one (20'x10' so an acoustic nightmare) so difficult to find speakers which don't boom or at least set off bad bass resonance. I do have a muso work mate who can lend me a couple of interesting bits of kit - namely a Brio R amplifier (he loves it as part of a full-Rega system, and he goes nowhere near the forums I should add) which might add a bit of musical zip. My dad now has the pair of tiny Q Acoustics 2010i's I bought to swap for his ProAcs and I'm giving thought to swapping back (he's really not fussed either way tbh) which were a lot of fun. Hopefully 2013 will be an 'up' year as 2012 certainly hasn't been entirely that.