Best Hardware Acquisition of 2018

Time and break in. The Sugden thread pretty much follows it through. The Belles is a remarkable amp. We have a couple new Aria owners around here.

My Review of the Belles Aria Integrated

 

Got rid of the Gray arm and added an Empire 98. Using a Shure M7D with it. Easier to use, sounds and looks great.

 

It does look great.

Of course, I can't hear how it sounds.

But something that looks this nice, I get the vibe that it sounds nice, just from looking at it.

TT today are in some sort of contest to see how they can make their TT's more technical looking.

All fine and dandy.

Me, I will go to something that is warm and inviting every time.

 

I'll put up a video soon. I humbly believe it sounds as good as it looks.

And I agree with you about tt aestetics. Probably why I own 4 vintage ones.

 

I bought a pair of PSB Synchrony One's and sold my Synchrony Two's to my brother. I always looked at the Two's and wished I'd bought the One's. He's got an upgrade to his upgrade to his Cerwin Vega's. Everybody is happy.

 

Well I found my long term pre amp. I took possession of a Plinius Tautoro today, and have gotten it installed and have been playing it all day. Everyone claims their stuff is neutral, especially when its solid state, but this is the closest I have ever heard to truly neutral in my system. It reminds me of when i first heard the JBL 4365 speakers, in that it just gets out of the way of the music. I hear subtle details such as sympathetic string vibration, little embellishments in playing that were previously lost in the sound, and more realistic texture to instruments and voices. I am really pleased with this combination of Plinius Tautoro and the H2O Audio Signature 250 amplifier.

Here is a pic of one out in the wild.

 

I have made quite a few upgrades within the past month or so, some expensive and some inexpensive, but all have yielded substantial improvements:

Upgraded from Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary speakers (now upstairs in the bedroom system) to a pair of Spendor SP3/1R2's. I loved the Dentons and still do, but the Spendors are on a whole 'nother level of wonderfulness.

Replaced my speaker cables from a single-run of Kimber 4TC to bi-wiring with Canare 4S11. The Canares cost a lot less, but sound much better.

Lastly... I swapped the cork mat on my resto-modded AR turntable for a composite rubber-cork mat with a recessed label indentation. I was surprised by how much more dynamic and focused it sounded.

Oh... and I'm presently working on restoring not one but two 1958-59 Rek-O-Kut B-12-GH turntables. One will have a Grado Laboratory Series wooden arm and the other will get an ESL (Ortofon) S-1000 arm.

 

Upgrade my Gungnir to multibit and gen5 USB.

 

I forgot to add a photo of the Aquilar tonearm. I have the model in 'Leica Silver'.

 

Marantz TT15s1

 

Oh, you got one this year, too? Congratulations! You're welcome to DM me or find me on one of the Marantz TT threads here, if you have questions about setup, etc.

 

I am happy with the VInyl Nirvana restored and upgraded Thoren's TD-160 Super. It has a Rega/Moth 202 tone arm that has been upgraded with Cardas wiring and has the Ortofon 2M Cartridge with the Bronze and also the Black Stylus. This is the first custom Midnight edition that VN had built.

I do have a couple of Dual 1219's (which both require servicing). One has a Shure V15 Type IV cart and the other has the M97xE cart. I did manage to scarf up another one, after Shure made their announcement about leaving the business.

I would buy a TT like yours in a heartbeat!

I do have a modern day TT, which is also an important addition to the system, which has both modern and vintage components. There are always 3-4 systems in the listening room, that run off the same sources.

 

Listened to a number of amps/integrateds, vintage and new, mostly tube, and ended up with an Accuphase E-270. Love it.

 

Kirmuss ultrasonic record cleaner, awesome!

 

A VPI Prime Signature is by far the most significant upgrade I made this year.

Massive. Both literally and figurativelym

 

My PS Audio Direct Stream DAC and Direct Stream Memory Player, great products, taking CD and SACD playback to a much higher level.

 

Didn't see the entreaty for pics until I caught up (read back) on the Thread.

Here's one of the Prime Sig fresh from the box.

 

Mivera Purepower SE amplifier.

https://www.miveraaudio.com/photo-gallery

 

The Technics SL-1200G

 

Agreed, one of my best purchases as well.

 

I also purchased the Reference 3a MM de Capo BE recently and think they are just superb! Earlier in the thread I declared my BorderPatrol DAC SE as best acquisition of the year but now it's a dead heat. I suppose at this point it really doesn't matter which is the most significant. I can now just sit back, relax and appreciate all the fine tunes.

 

I can now confirm that this is indeed wonderful! So much so that it’s really slowed my vinyl spending and might even end up paying for itself The soundstage and overall presentation is stunning. The only downside is that it really does take days to come on song from a power up, but when it does it’s delightful. I’m looking at significant upgrades to both amp and speakers before the years out, but they’ll have to go some to beat the Yggdrasil.

 

My Berning "Siegfried" amplifier uses four 6sn7 tubes in the input/driver stages. I have tried new-production examples of this tube from Electro-Harmonix (very nice competent tubes), the Tung-Sol reissues made in Russia (even better than the EH), Sovtek (just okay tubes), as well as vintage RCA types (not so good in my amp, actually worse than the new-production tubes mentioned), and some NOS soviet 6H8C tubes from the '60s (clean and competent, much like the new-production EH and Tung-Sol reissues, but still not the "wow" factor I've been looking for).

But I recently struck gold with a quad of vintage Tung-Sol tubes from 1959-60 (shown below). These are not the fabled Tung-Sol 'round plate' 6sn7 tubes from the '40s, but they are special nonetheless in my system! These are tall-glass tubes with chrome tops, two have horseshoe style getters at the top (1959 ones I suspect), and the other two have round getters (1960 ones). But these tubes have put more "wow" in my system for sure. They are revealing new sounds, textures, inner details, nuances in the midrange (not just increase in high frequencies) -- all the things audiophiles are after when upgrading their systems. Vocal and instrumental lines are now more revealed, with better separation from the rest of the music. Not only are they digging more from the preamp signal to present, but everything I play now has a more beautiful quality somehow, it's just amazing and so gratifying. And I have so many familiar records now to look forward to hearing like I've never heard them before!

 

Lavardin IT integrated amplifier (picture from the internet).
What a (French) delight ! Although the specs indicate a mere 2 X 48 watts, it easily blows away my old Accuphase E-213 as to spatial image and ‘fullness’ of sound.

 

The best upgrade I made was for my backup system a Pass Labs XP22 preamp. It offers a lot of value, it took that system up several levels over the CJ ET5 that it replaced.