This was refurbished by STS Classic Turntables. After owning a Linn LP12 for over 30 years (upgrading along the way), I thought I'd try out a more contemporary turntable. Instead, I went backwards - but I went forwards, too.

Since I was going backwards on my turntable, I wanted an arm that would handle SPU cartridges. These are hand-built by a lovely man in Washington State. Every parameter can be adjusted, many on the fly. When I wanted to be able to put the back of the arm down a little lower, so he built me a two level arm board to accomplish that task. I think the arm sounds beautiful, warm and graceful, compared to my good arms from Rega, Linn and Funk Firm.

These are the SPU's in my stable. I would live with the the Synergy G if I had to choose just one, but I enjoy them all for the different way they present the music. I've fantasized about having a house where I could have a different speaker style in each room - horns in one, dynamic drivers in another, panel speakers in a third. in reality, I can't afford the space or the money to realize this. But I can change out the other playback transducer, and appreciate the more subtle changes in that way.

I also keep a small collection of more affordable cartridges all mounted up and ready to install. A Linn K-18ll, a Denon D103r, and a Shure V-15 Type IV MR are among the cartridges that I occasionally listen to for maybe a week at a time, and then go back to the SPU Synergy G.

My turntable has two tonearms mounted, and most of the time I use the Jelco for an Ortofon 2M Mono cartridge. I have many 1950's mono jazz albums, and to me, they always sound better using a mono cartridge than even a much more expensive stereo cartridge. I love how bold and present a mono record can feel.

This phono stage has built in SUT's (made by Jensen), and I like how a low-output MC sounds with a SUT. Despite being all tube, it has a certain incision that I like to balance out its slight warmth. I rolled in some Mullard's, and that gave me even more of what I like.

This music server replaced my Mac Mini as part of my streaming set up. It is quieter and faster at its job. And the ripping function is fast and easy. I have about 1,000 CDs and I have probably ripped a little less than half of them to this server.

This music player has galvanic isolation, using optical cabling to keep the noise down.

I had the QB-9 DSD for a few years before I got it updated to the Twenty. They pretty much replace the whole thing, and it does sound like a very advanced version of the QB-9, which I liked.

I can play pretty much any disc on this universal player. But I rarely use it, as I like the Ayre DAC playing the ripped CDs more than I like the CDs played straight from this player. Nonetheless, this versatile player can do many things, all of them at least fairly well.

This was a heavily modified tuner sold by Mapleshade. Now that Pierre is gone, I'm not sure they offer these anymore. This is one of my favorite components! I live in the Boston area, and we are blessed with many good stations that play a variety of wonderful music, curated by somebody other than me. This is by far the best sounding tuner I have owned, and I have owned many.

I dipped my toes into tape, purchasing this machine from a certified Revox technician. I now own about 30 or so 7.5 ips 4-track tapes, and really enjoy the way that many of them sound on this machine. This is a "high speed" model, playing 15 and 7.5 ips in both 2 and 4 track. I haven't lucked into any high quality 2-track 15 ips tapes yet, but I still dream...

This is a hybrid - tube input, solid state output. It has 5 inputs, either balanced or unbalanced. It is simple, versatile and really good sounding.

My speakers require some kind of DSP to work properly. They sell them with the DSP-Mini, but this is a quieter, better sounding DSP unit (at many times the price, so of course). I use correction up to 250 hz, which smooths out the bass in my troublesome room. It also has a handy "tilt" control, like the old Quad amps, where you can make quick tone adjustments on less than perfect recordings. It contains a very good headphone amp, and some "headspace" programs that make my Audeze LCD-2 phones (pre-Fazor) sound great.

For awhile, I used the PS Audio BHK 250 power amp with my speakers. It helped them produce a lot of high quality bass - the amp really gripped the four 15" woofers. But I didn't love the mid-range or treble quality. So, I moved to this all-tube Zesto 60 watt per channel amp. It does not (cannot) give as much high quality bass, but I have never loved recorded music more. The quality of the mid-range and treble is what I have been longing for for many years. It was a worthy trade.

I found these affordable, and good sounding cables, and enjoy them. I've never tried out the really high end cabling, but these sure bettered my Linn and Naim cables.

I use these on my three most favored sources - the record playing system, the DAC, and the tuner. Again, I know there are more expensive and likely better sounding interconnects, but I think these work well.

I have tried many kinds of speakers, from boxes to panels, and I found that these open-backed dynamic driver speakers have my favorite combination of attributes. More open than my previous box speakers, more power and kick than my Magnepan 3.6's. I've had them for about 5 years now, and I still enjoy them very much. I have a hankering for horns, but I don't think I have the right room for them. So, I'll stay put for a while.