The Shindos have landed

Amen.

 

Oh behave!

 

I've been tweaking the room to get acoustics right. I covered the fireplace with birch plywood and fabric. Amazing how much it tightened everything up.

Still a ways to go to fine tune, but every little tweak helps make everything that much better.

And miles to go before I sleep...

 

Congratulations- nice room and hi-fi. Enjoy it in good health.

 

No Shindos here sadly, but it's definitely a foggy Come On Die Young morning in the bay area!

(And I figure the worst that can come of bumping this thread is people have to drool over Brian's setup again)

 

Love me some Shindo...

 

Looking forward to hearing some Shindo kit later this year ... (crossed fingers).

 

I don't think I'll ever quite be able to realize the Shindo dream, but I'm thinking some of those Devore Gibbon 3XLs driven by a Line Magnetic 518 would work pretty well in my space. Maybe in a couple years.

 

The Gibbon 3xl is a very nice speaker.

 

Good to hear you say that. I've found over the years I've ended up with a lot of the same gear you own or have owned so we're probably have similar tastes. I don't plan on changing anything in 2015 but my eventual plan is to either go the Gibbon/Line Magnetic route or keep my current amplification and go with the Harbeth C7ES3's like you have. Fortunately I have a local dealer who carries both.

 

I really like the Gibbon 3xl but prefer the C7's. Their overall presentation is more complete IMO. The 3xl's sound great with LM amps.

 

I think their least expensive pre-amp starts at $3,500. I could be wrong about that, but that's what I seem to remember. I think the Monbrison is $7,900 new, so you might be able to score a used one for $4-5K. The pre-amps are definitely the bets starting point.

 

It's not so much the price as I don't have a room where a system of that caliber can be really appreciated. I'm more or less limited to floor standers, and if I had that kind of gear I'd really want the large cabinet type of high efficiency speaker. At the same time though, a preamp is a different story. I un-separated this past spring in favor of the aesthetic simplicity of an integrated, but I can't claim there weren't tradeoffs involved.

 

I love this answer because it gets me better sound and $4500 stays in my wallet. Here's hoping this is another time where I agree with your tastes.

 

Given financial realities, I don't know if or when I will graduate to this level of gear. I have Rega, Croft and Harbeth now; I may spring for a Line Magnetic CD deck, for a taste ... Those start at a relatively affordable $1,600.

 

Find the sound you like, and build it out of what you can afford.

 

Having finally heard DeVore O/93s, OMG yes. I like my wee Harbeths; but going from them to the Orangutans is like going from DVD via a portable TV, to BluRay on a 72" plasma HDTV.

 

You nailed it. I know there's more affordable gear of this basic philosophy out there; the exploring to find it is fun.

 

While I admit to not having heard a lot of these setups, from what I gather if you're going to tube, tube hard. Point-to-point wired triode and huge speakers with one silly looking tiny driver, or the K-horn looking things.

Not that I'd turn down an MC275 or anything though.

 

I saw the other day on ebay a guy selling a 300B amp he built from a Parks Audio kit. Listed all the parts he used and I imagine it's fairly competitive. That approach is probably where it's at if you have the skill set (I don't). Speakers too, there's a lot of DIY high efficiency designs and kits available.

 

Very nice set up and layout!

 

Just as an aside I am auditioning a Luxman D-N10 CD player and at $1500 it is the equal of the LM215 and by the time it is finished running in it may surpass it.

 

!! Cool ... I always liked Luxman years ago, usually into Wharfedales or Tannoys ...

Who deals Lux in the NW?

 

Heck if I know. I bought it from Music Direct. There probably aren't any dealers around where I live.

 

Interesting. Does it have a digital input by chance?