Been through Dual and Revolver ttbls, cheap Grado, pretty cheap Ortofon and Shure and Dynavector cartridges, various receivers, little old bookshelf Wharfedales, bigger Genesis 10 bookshelves, a Sansui AU-222 weakling amp; always on a budget, me. Mostly happy w/ present system - if only I had more SPACE to get the setup right. At least need better cables, and possibly still different cartridge. The 2Ces are big for my little townhome, yet am thinking about Vandersteen 3a Sigs or Maggie 3.6rs. Also made my purchases on the pres and amps from Threshold and McCormack, but hadn't rotated them into the system yet - but now I'm retired, heh. So I can get to it now. Still want Goertz MI-2 cables and ??? ICs. And will eventually need to start selling some stuff.
This recently (1/17) replaced a worn HO Dynavector 10x5 mc; also have a Shure Ultra 500 body that I may get a Jico sapphire stylus assembly for. Still considering LO Shelter 501 or DV 20x at some point, if can find used.
New York Audio Labs Moscode Minuet in A
hybrid; over time have picked up Threshold FET9, and McCormack ALD-1, but have not done critical listening comparisons yet.
VH Audio Pulsar Cu ICs
Also have mult pairs of Tributaries ICs, low line; will replace some day...
Superphon DM-220G
Have picked up McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe, Threshold S/300 II with Optical Bias (if I ever get around to listening to this, I may have Jon Soderbergh's mods done and possibly his Class A conversion), but have not done critical listening comparisons yet.
Kimber Kable 8 TC
Will replace some day; hope it will be with Alpha-Core Goertz MA-2 with Zobel networks. Or used Cardas of some sort. Also have lying around some Kimber 4TC, and some Audioquest F4.
Vandersteen 2Ce
Paid too much used...sigh. But I like 'em. A lot. With Sound Anchors with BBs and sand.
Yamaha T-85
Digital tuner
Magnavox CDB492
Cheap! Don't care! Like LPs much better!...BUT may replace some day.
Aiwa ADF-770
Cassette deck.
Nakamichi BX-300
Cassette deck on loan to me from a friend. May buy; gotta compare to the Aiwa in recording quality and playback quality.
Unity Audio CLA-3 mkII
Ummm, not quite full-range... These are retired....but....will eventually try with the REL I picked up.
REL Acoustics Strata mkIII
have not placed in the system yet.
Meadowlark Audio Shearwater
Tried these a while when the Dynavector was in the system. Liked, but not as well as the 2CEs.
Picked up a Yamaha CDR-HD1500 a while ago and haven't opened yet! Plan to convert some LPs for road trips. Be interesting to see how it sounds vs the CDB 492 as well.
Well enough, I think...there's a slight recessing of male and female vocals that I do not like, but I went with a new cart at the time I bought the Horizon (that'll teach me to make only one change at a time).
I have to find time to try other carts, which should tell me if the midrange deficit is down to the Horizon (I'd try a VPI table if a Grado or Shelter 501 make no difference), or the Dynaudio. Suspect the cart.
Your Magnavox CDB492 cdp is actually quite good. Warm, relaxed, detailed and analogue sounding. I know because I have one.
It uses the famous Philips TDA1543 non oversampling dac sought after by many audiophiles and used in many high end cdps. I have Consonances NOS dac cdp a year or so ago and always loved it sound. Now I got the vintage Magnavox and that musical relaxed sound back.
And the transport in it is the superb Philips CDM4/19 transport that is used in many older high end players like Meridian.
cippoliner on Opinions Please