Best Hardware Acquisition of 2019

My Modwright SWP 9.0 SE; steroids for the Lyra Delos.

 

B&W606 speakers
Rega P3 TT
Marantz PM6006UK

Very happy. My apartment is now complete

 

Only purchase so far this year has been a ModWright PH 9.0 Phono Stage. Going to pop on a new Phono Cable to accompany it soon. That will be about it for me this year, other than some Tubes and some Music.

 

Two fine choices.

 

My vote is the Ruby, oh yes!

 

Ordered a few new contenders for my best hardware acquisition of 2019. Klipsch Forte III’s, Harbeth P3ESR 40th Anniversary Edition speakers, and Magnepan 1.7 planars. Adding a small variety of transducers into my all Klipsch rotation, can hardly wait!

 

Glad to hear that. I have heard them as well but never under favourable conditions. I’m a huge fan of Spendor though, so I suspect that once burnt in and with the right ancillaries, I would like them as much as the good reports that I have read.

The Classic Series models SP1/2 and 2/3 are Somme do my all time favourites, especially for the midrange. Oh and the Jadis 50watt integrated kicked *** when playing AC/DC a couple of years ago on the SP 2/3 at a local audio show. Who knew?

 

Thank you!

 

Just bought two used JL Audio F112 subwoofers with two sound anchor stands. Subs and stands were in near perfect condition. Drove 50 miles to get them and paid $1000.00 for everything. The original owner replaced the 112s with Magico 15” MPODs ($22K each).

The best deal I have found since getting back into audio

 

So far it is Rogue RP-5 preamp. Really high-end piece at real world price. Total keeper.

 

Do you think maybe that's because we're not even half way through the year?

 

A Chinese copy of the EAR 834P phone preamp. However I had to spend an additional £200 to cure a very pronounced hum (resolving that involved moving the power supply into an external box) and a potentially lethal earthing issue. Oh, and some caps were upgraded.

As things stand it sounds absolutely superb.

 

Border Patrol DAC, it’s made cd’s more relaxed and enjoyable than they’ve ever been in my system...recommended!

 

Elekit TU-8600r with upgraded caps, pot, and resistors. Running a Telefunken 12ax7 long plate, two Brimar 13D5s, and two Gold Lion 300bs. A joy to build and it sounds like the aurora borealis.

 

The year isn't over yet, but so far my best purchase has been installed just this morning.

A Trichord Dino Mk3 phono amp is now singin' and a-swingin' in between my TT and speakers.

 

I picked up a used, but pristine, Prima Luna DiaLogue HP Premium Integrated Amp for $2550 a few weeks back. It came with an octet of KT-120s, along with the (unused) stock EL-34s.

I can understand why they are so well reviewed, as it is playing quite nicely with my ATC SCM-40 speakers.

 

ELAC Discovery Server with built in Roon Essentials.

 

For me at this moment it is a Schiit Magni. This little amp sounds pretty darn good. I have something else on order but not in my posession so I cant say it's that item.

 

Love my new KEF R500s. All of my favorite music is new again on these full range speakers.

 

My Denon DCD-1600NE SACD player. If you look in the window of the player, you can see part of my CD shelves.

This impressive SACD/CD player was made in Japan. It features rock-solid construction, with thick metal on all sides. It weighs 18.1 pounds, more than twice the weight of my old player, the Yamaha CD-S300. The power cord is thick, with 16 AWG conductors, the same size conductors used in the power cord that came with my 100 watt Yamaha amplifier! The DAC is a 32 bit Burr Brown, PCM 1795. The dynamic range is 101 dB for CD and 112 dB for SACD, the signal to noise ratio is 116 dB for CD and 117 dB for SACD and the harmonic distortion is .0018% for CD and .001% for SACD.

The DCD-1600NE reads CDs and SACDs quickly and responds immediately to entries from the remote or the front panel. The display is easy to read, even from 10 feet across the room. It features Pure Direct, which shuts off the display and the digital outs to improve sound quality. Repeat functions and display options can be accessed via the remote, which is bigger than it needs to be. Still, the remote is of robust construction, just like the rest of this player, which is clearly built to last.

So far, it's read every CD, CD-R and SACD I played without a single error. You might think that this would be a given, but sadly it isn't these days. Last year on two separate occasions I bought a Marantz SACD player, the SA8005, and they were both defective when they arrived. My four tries with the CD-S700 CD player by Yamaha were all in vain, as each one had intermittent trouble reading CDs. While playing, one unit even made a loud noise that I could hear from across the room. Yeah, they don't make 'em like they used to. That is a huge reason why this Denon is a keeper.

The other big reason is it's dynamic, revealing sound. Although when I first plugged it in the sound quality on it was a bit thin, brittle and bright, over time it has smoothed out nicely. I recommend giving the CD and SACD functions each 200 hours of play (simply run a disc in each format on repeat, no need to have the sound on) before making any final decisions about the sound, for it truly needs this amount of time to burn in and sound its best. As I had found when I tried out this player out once before, it has a powerful, authoritative sound. Clarity and soundstaging is better than my old player as well. And much to my surprise, it plays CDs and SACDs equally well. It does not seem to be like many SACD players, where you get subpar CD playback.

I highly recommend this SACD player.

 

Got my Parasound A21 a couple weeks ago. I am tempted to rank it the best over my Paradigm Sub15.

 

This thread got me thinking, what did I buy so far this year? More than I thought!


Dynaco ST-70 Series 3


PS Audio Gain Cell DAC


Synology DS218+ (still can't get it to see my Plex library)

 

I just picked up a Parasound 200 Pre and 275 V2 Amp - really nice combo. It goes great with Harbeth P3ESR's...

 

I love the Border Patrol DAC!

 

It is an amazing amp. I love mine.