A journey begins...
- Thread starter Dr.Bass
- Start date
sachi
Active Member
you have come FAAAR from the days i remember us going to ProFX to listen to KEF Q5 and Q7s nearly 8 years ago buddy 
enjoy maadi!
enjoy maadi!
you have come FAAAR from the days i remember us going to ProFX to listen to KEF Q5 and Q7s nearly 8 years ago buddy
enjoy maadi!
I still miss those days buddy...no matter how far I go.
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Perhaps the most stunning thing in your pics is the view from your room! This would be enviable anywhere in the world, I don't suppose it is an easy thing to get in Singapore! Just ...Wow 
Apart from that, a warning bell sounded in my mind. Are those shelf lamps giving off any heat at all? If so ... move your precious records away from them urgently.
Nothing I can tell you about high-end hifi --- but I was living with vinyl back in the days when it was all we had, and my experience includes a number of accidents. The memory of one or two of them still hurts forty years later!
Again, wow at view. How are your going to keep your mind on the music! Enjoy
Apart from that, a warning bell sounded in my mind. Are those shelf lamps giving off any heat at all? If so ... move your precious records away from them urgently.
Nothing I can tell you about high-end hifi --- but I was living with vinyl back in the days when it was all we had, and my experience includes a number of accidents. The memory of one or two of them still hurts forty years later!
Again, wow at view. How are your going to keep your mind on the music! Enjoy
reignofchaos
Well-Known Member
What phono did you end up getting?
anm
Well-Known Member
great looking simple setup. Will that center table reflect sound before it reaches you?
wow abhi now that setup is gonna take care of any itches for years
the speakers now seem to be positioned much better ( did you change them since the very first pics)
also the positioning of the electronics is much better -
p.S why cant the other electronics go on the same table next to the TT ?
P>S where in sing are you - i have visited a couple times! where are you getting that view from ??
spectactular
the speakers now seem to be positioned much better ( did you change them since the very first pics)
also the positioning of the electronics is much better -
p.S why cant the other electronics go on the same table next to the TT ?
P>S where in sing are you - i have visited a couple times! where are you getting that view from ??
spectactular
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pratimbayal
Active Member
Congrats . Excellent set up . Lookwise and sound wise perhaps ( since not heared )
Cheers
Cheers
Dr.Bass,
A very cozy set-up. Perfect for listening to music - looks a very quiet place, very peaceful especially with that view through the windows.
I have the same question as magma. Why the other electronics could not be housed on the same cabinet? That way the speaker cable lengths could be minimized.
And, of course, what is the new phono you got?
Now the new question? How are Tannoys sounding in your new place in contrast to the sound in your old place, assuming you have moved.
You were supposed to visit India around this time I thought.
Regards.
A very cozy set-up. Perfect for listening to music - looks a very quiet place, very peaceful especially with that view through the windows.
I have the same question as magma. Why the other electronics could not be housed on the same cabinet? That way the speaker cable lengths could be minimized.
And, of course, what is the new phono you got?
Now the new question? How are Tannoys sounding in your new place in contrast to the sound in your old place, assuming you have moved.
You were supposed to visit India around this time I thought.
Regards.
Thank you everyone for all those wonderful comments. However, I would like to say that the purpose of those pictures was something else. The pictures incidentally also describe the theme of this setup, the sound of this setup. There is an internal warmth to the sound which I had never heard before. The illumination of the stage or say the tones is also pretty similar to the illumination you see in the picture, a combination of warmish daylight and incandescence. And yes, the view from the window accounts for 60% of the reason I took this place
hyeah:. Anyway, it is not mine, just a rented place so all your compliments goes to the owner
.
First some courtesy replies:
Thanks for the alarm Thad. I immediately went checked. The heat is not enough to reach the vinyls. The vinyl covers are at normal room temperature. Anyway thanks for suggesting, it will be helpful in future.
Yes anm, it does. So my center image is sometimes right infront of the table but it is okay because it is not glass, it is wood, so except for some image shift, the smear is negligible. I will have to live with it here because it is a rented place. Good catch though.
Asit and Magma, the reason the other equipments are not on the same table as TT is because the other equipments are on a Solidsteel 5.2 rack. It is a very decently built rack with good isolation (if not great). The sound is a lot cleaner with equipments on it. These all wooden tables slow down the sound and smear up the lower mids to mid bass big time. The TT is hence on a TAOC.
Thank you sir. It is a good setup. Excellence is some distance away still.
Thank you Asit. Yes this is a nice place, I am happy about it as well. It makes listening to music more relaxing because it becomes difficult to get analytical when everything around you is natural, wood, sunlight, trees and air.
Thank you Prem. Vinyl hunting is going on for the last 7 months. It is the only way I could keep the fire alive. Even though I listened to CDs for 6 months here I only bought few CDs, mostly it was Vinyl shopping. It is still on. But now it is medium paced as I have lots of Vinyls that I havent yet listened.
Now for the general question on how the Tannoy sounds in the new place with a bigger room. So, the bigger room has some acoustic issues like more than desirable echo and some bass suck out on the left speaker. But overall this is a much more satisfying listening experience because of the realistic size of everything. Tannoys are not the speakers which will inspire you to gaze at the soundstage, everything is there but not for gazing but to enjoy as a recipe. But everything seems lifelike sized here so it is just more fun and also more serious. Interestingly I still listen to music at the same volume as I did when I was in a smaller room with a listening distance of 5 feet. At 9.0 clock position the room is filled. Could be also because of the extra echo. Now I have an itch of trying Leben, small itch but there
. I always thought 15 watts is not enough for this speaker and most users confirm this but in my exisiting room it may actually work. Lets see. Tannoys will work in any room that is granted. The sound will change with every room but it will all be enjoyble, so it is okay.
Lets get back to the analogue domain.
The Leben and the A23 SUTs are sold.
The new phonostage is an RCM Sensor Prelude. It is not a popular mainstream brand. A boutique Polish brand. They make only one phonostage. Recently it ha gained a lot of appreciation. I listened to it 4-5 times in the last 6 months. It was on my short list ever since I heard it first but the Leben did things which made me just pay and take home. The other phonostage in consideration was the Naim Superline. I had to reject it only because It needs a seperate Naim power supply which needs to be bought individually and the power supply which suits it well is "Supercap" which costs $2.5-3k in the used market. The phonostage itselft cost $2.5k. I am not in the market to buy a $5k phonostage so, rejected. Anyway the Naim dealer here is very friendly, he gave me a Naim Stageline MC phono to home demo. It is their entry level phono, costs just $400 but one needs a external flatcap power supply which I already have (to power my CDP). So the stageline gave me a good idea of what to expect from Naim and as usual I loved everything about it. Being an entry level phonostage it did not have the dynamics or extension of the Leben but it was very good.
The RCM phonostage is a very good all rounder. I had to sacrifice a little bit of tonal beauty of the Leben and Naim (yes tonally they are both extremely accurate) but it is just a shade more SS sounding than the other two. But otherwise it is a good reference grade phonostage. I bought it over anything else because I could hear it in 3-4 different TTs and my observations remained consistent about this phonostage.
Now that I have a very good phonostage I really understood the potential of the Denon 103pro cartridge. I have heard the Denon in 3 different TTs now, all good TTs. The Denon has the capability to produce some real WOW moments. Those moments will really make you feel the legend of Denon. But, yes the "but" is important. But the Denon lacks dynamics, especially micro dynamics. I know people have complained that it lacks extension or refinement but that did not bother me too much, it lacks dynamics and has a sound which is a bit fake
. Not easy to explain but I am trying. Denon is a nice cartridge to listen to rock, why ? Because in rock, micro things are not important, as long as one gets his share of attack it is all good. The Denon has the attack and this is where the slight fakeness comes into picture, the attack gives an illusion of dynamics but whatever follows the attack is flat, the tension is built but it doesnt remain and by the time the decay arrives, there is hardly any decay ..period. If this happens throughout the music, what will it feel like ? Feels like the attack was not to be there or everything else should have followed suit. This is the reason the Denon cannot do Western Classical or Pure Jazz. Both these genres require very good dynamics to be reproduced well the Denon clearly shows its weakness in these genres.
Secondly the Denon lacks colour. It is not tonally rich, it feels like red is a bit light red, black is off black, white is faded white. I would borrow the words of Romy the Cat, it is like watching a TV which has high contrast but low colour saturation. I would also like to add that Denon 103 is very efficient in picking up low hanging fruits, meaning if you give it a Vinyl which is well pressed and has a lots of detail on the higher level of the groove the Denon can sound stunning (wow moment remember ?) but give it anything slightly deeper and the fall is exponential. I did not observe this with other cartridges in general.
And well the Denon is also pretty non forgiving of surface noise, it can get annoying. This doesnt help playing Indian music which are mostly used records with surface noise. If I cannot use the Denon for good western music and also it doesnt work with Indian records due to surface noise then what the f*** am I doing with it ?
The Denon is sold !! Someone offered me a Technics SL-1200 in superb condition as trade in for the Denon. I grabbed ithyeah:. The 1200 is supposed to be better than the latter MK2 versions because of its die cast body, sp10 bearing mechanism and overall much better QC. I have it now. Not yet played it bcause I dont have any cartridge now. I took the TT as trade in because I know I can sell it any day and secondly I always wanted to listen to this TT. This will be a good opportunity.
More to follow...
hyeah:. Anyway, it is not mine, just a rented place so all your compliments goes to the owner.First some courtesy replies:
Thanks for the alarm Thad. I immediately went checked. The heat is not enough to reach the vinyls. The vinyl covers are at normal room temperature. Anyway thanks for suggesting, it will be helpful in future.
Yes anm, it does. So my center image is sometimes right infront of the table but it is okay because it is not glass, it is wood, so except for some image shift, the smear is negligible. I will have to live with it here because it is a rented place. Good catch though
.Asit and Magma, the reason the other equipments are not on the same table as TT is because the other equipments are on a Solidsteel 5.2 rack. It is a very decently built rack with good isolation (if not great). The sound is a lot cleaner with equipments on it. These all wooden tables slow down the sound and smear up the lower mids to mid bass big time. The TT is hence on a TAOC.
Thank you sir. It is a good setup. Excellence is some distance away still
.Thank you Asit. Yes this is a nice place, I am happy about it as well. It makes listening to music more relaxing because it becomes difficult to get analytical when everything around you is natural, wood, sunlight, trees and air.
Thank you Prem. Vinyl hunting is going on for the last 7 months. It is the only way I could keep the fire alive. Even though I listened to CDs for 6 months here I only bought few CDs, mostly it was Vinyl shopping. It is still on. But now it is medium paced as I have lots of Vinyls that I havent yet listened.
Now for the general question on how the Tannoy sounds in the new place with a bigger room. So, the bigger room has some acoustic issues like more than desirable echo and some bass suck out on the left speaker. But overall this is a much more satisfying listening experience because of the realistic size of everything. Tannoys are not the speakers which will inspire you to gaze at the soundstage, everything is there but not for gazing but to enjoy as a recipe. But everything seems lifelike sized here so it is just more fun and also more serious. Interestingly I still listen to music at the same volume as I did when I was in a smaller room with a listening distance of 5 feet. At 9.0 clock position the room is filled. Could be also because of the extra echo. Now I have an itch of trying Leben, small itch but there
. I always thought 15 watts is not enough for this speaker and most users confirm this but in my exisiting room it may actually work. Lets see. Tannoys will work in any room that is granted. The sound will change with every room but it will all be enjoyble, so it is okay.Lets get back to the analogue domain.
The Leben and the A23 SUTs are sold.
The new phonostage is an RCM Sensor Prelude. It is not a popular mainstream brand. A boutique Polish brand. They make only one phonostage. Recently it ha gained a lot of appreciation. I listened to it 4-5 times in the last 6 months. It was on my short list ever since I heard it first but the Leben did things which made me just pay and take home. The other phonostage in consideration was the Naim Superline. I had to reject it only because It needs a seperate Naim power supply which needs to be bought individually and the power supply which suits it well is "Supercap" which costs $2.5-3k in the used market. The phonostage itselft cost $2.5k. I am not in the market to buy a $5k phonostage so, rejected. Anyway the Naim dealer here is very friendly, he gave me a Naim Stageline MC phono to home demo. It is their entry level phono, costs just $400 but one needs a external flatcap power supply which I already have (to power my CDP). So the stageline gave me a good idea of what to expect from Naim and as usual I loved everything about it. Being an entry level phonostage it did not have the dynamics or extension of the Leben but it was very good.
The RCM phonostage is a very good all rounder. I had to sacrifice a little bit of tonal beauty of the Leben and Naim (yes tonally they are both extremely accurate) but it is just a shade more SS sounding than the other two. But otherwise it is a good reference grade phonostage. I bought it over anything else because I could hear it in 3-4 different TTs and my observations remained consistent about this phonostage.
Now that I have a very good phonostage I really understood the potential of the Denon 103pro cartridge. I have heard the Denon in 3 different TTs now, all good TTs. The Denon has the capability to produce some real WOW moments. Those moments will really make you feel the legend of Denon. But
, yes the "but" is important. But the Denon lacks dynamics, especially micro dynamics. I know people have complained that it lacks extension or refinement but that did not bother me too much, it lacks dynamics and has a sound which is a bit fake. Not easy to explain but I am trying. Denon is a nice cartridge to listen to rock, why ? Because in rock, micro things are not important, as long as one gets his share of attack it is all good. The Denon has the attack and this is where the slight fakeness comes into picture, the attack gives an illusion of dynamics but whatever follows the attack is flat, the tension is built but it doesnt remain and by the time the decay arrives, there is hardly any decay ..period. If this happens throughout the music, what will it feel like ? Feels like the attack was not to be there or everything else should have followed suit. This is the reason the Denon cannot do Western Classical or Pure Jazz. Both these genres require very good dynamics to be reproduced well the Denon clearly shows its weakness in these genres.Secondly the Denon lacks colour. It is not tonally rich, it feels like red is a bit light red, black is off black, white is faded white. I would borrow the words of Romy the Cat, it is like watching a TV which has high contrast but low colour saturation. I would also like to add that Denon 103 is very efficient in picking up low hanging fruits, meaning if you give it a Vinyl which is well pressed and has a lots of detail on the higher level of the groove the Denon can sound stunning (wow moment remember ?) but give it anything slightly deeper and the fall is exponential. I did not observe this with other cartridges in general.
And well the Denon is also pretty non forgiving of surface noise, it can get annoying. This doesnt help playing Indian music which are mostly used records with surface noise. If I cannot use the Denon for good western music and also it doesnt work with Indian records due to surface noise then what the f*** am I doing with it ?
The Denon is sold !! Someone offered me a Technics SL-1200 in superb condition as trade in for the Denon. I grabbed it
hyeah:. The 1200 is supposed to be better than the latter MK2 versions because of its die cast body, sp10 bearing mechanism and overall much better QC. I have it now. Not yet played it bcause I dont have any cartridge now. I took the TT as trade in because I know I can sell it any day and secondly I always wanted to listen to this TT. This will be a good opportunity. More to follow...
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Abhi, very nice analysis and review of Denon cart.The room is in beautiful surroundings and the scenic beauty through window makes perfect ambiance for any music session. Ultimately, blending with nature and mother earth is important. The Tannoy speakers now have better placement compared to your earlier room and you must be feeling happy. BTW how big is your present room?
Regards
Regards
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Great stuff!
Never underestimate just how fragile vinyl is. It must be even more painful watching on a deck like yours trying to play a warped disc than something more commonplace. Maybe the finer equipment might even be more sensitive to the faults, I haven't had the chance to find that out. As far as I know, the rule is still to keep them like books, absolutely upright and supported by each other, with good support at each end. Even leaning them at an angle is something that might cause regret.
Current vinyl-heads (if I may call them that) will have the current advice. They are too fragile for me. Always have been, and sod's law dictates that it is always the favourite that, however carefully I handle it, gets that scratch or something (but at least they don't crack or snap like the 78s did!).
Never underestimate just how fragile vinyl is. It must be even more painful watching on a deck like yours trying to play a warped disc than something more commonplace. Maybe the finer equipment might even be more sensitive to the faults, I haven't had the chance to find that out. As far as I know, the rule is still to keep them like books, absolutely upright and supported by each other, with good support at each end. Even leaning them at an angle is something that might cause regret.
Current vinyl-heads (if I may call them that) will have the current advice. They are too fragile for me. Always have been, and sod's law dictates that it is always the favourite that, however carefully I handle it, gets that scratch or something (but at least they don't crack or snap like the 78s did!).
Dr.Bass,
Thad's advice is good. I also thought about it, but probably forgot to mention. It's better not to keep them under a direct source of heat.
Thanks for the detailed report. From whatever little I know about the Denon, I think I agree with your observations (but my opinion is based on 103 and not 103R or the 103pro), and I have very mildly hinted that in a few of my posts here. But I did not write more emphatically because my experience/information is quite limited.
But you are making it more and more a thriller. Are we to understand that, now you have 2 TTs and no cartridges on them (unless I missed something from your last post). Come on, what is the new cart for your principal player?
Regards.
Thad's advice is good. I also thought about it, but probably forgot to mention. It's better not to keep them under a direct source of heat.
Thanks for the detailed report. From whatever little I know about the Denon, I think I agree with your observations (but my opinion is based on 103 and not 103R or the 103pro), and I have very mildly hinted that in a few of my posts here. But I did not write more emphatically because my experience/information is quite limited.
But you are making it more and more a thriller. Are we to understand that, now you have 2 TTs and no cartridges on them (unless I missed something from your last post). Come on, what is the new cart for your principal player?
Regards.
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