A great sounding all tube preamp which sounds amazing, with tone controls, built in dac, fully remote adjustable MC loading.
McIntosh MC 302 Power Amplifier
300wpc of solid state, output transformers and McIntosh goodness
Golden Ear Triton Reference Speakers
Golden Ear's flagship tower and rightly so. Sound is delicate, effortless and very dynamic with bass to die for.
Technics SL1200G Direct Drive Turntable
Giant Killer Turntable for the 21st Century.
Zu Audio DL103 MC Cartridge Modified
Low output moving coil cartridge that brings all my Rock records to life.
Sony HAP-Z1ES Music Server/Player
Music server with 1TB had drive, excellent dac abd a great all in one solution. Has the option of using an external dac (but why would you want to) and external USB drive for more space.
Apple iPad Pro
iPad Pro with 32gb of storage. Used in conjunction with Sony software app as a remote control for the Sony HAP-Z1ES Music Server.
Esoteric UX-3 CD/SACD/DVD Audio Player
Plays everything but Blu-Ray.. Built like a tank and a keeper. This player uses the Burr Brown PCM1704 r to r dac.
McIntosh MR88 Tuner
FM, HD Tuner
Canare Cable Canare 4S11 Speaker Cable
A 25 Foot pair of a very inexpensive speaker cables. After break in, these cables bested a pair of $1500.00 speaker cables. Great bass slam and silky smooth treble.
Acrolink 6N-D5050II Digital cable
Digital cable to go between the Esoteric UX-3 SACD Player to the built in DAC on the McIntosh C2500 Tube Preamp
Acrolink 6N-DA5500 Interconnect
This cable brought my Esoteric SACD up a couple of notches! Bass is deeper and more refined midrange is neutral and treble has sweetened.
VPI Phono Cable
I meter phono cable. The cable is manufactured by Discovery.
VH Audio Custom Interconnect
A custom interconnect 1.5 meters built by VH Audio to compliment my McIntosh preamp and amp. This goes between them.
Nordost Red Dawn Interconnect
I am using this excellent sounding cable between my FM Tuner and Preamp.
Accuphase AL 10 Interconnect
1 meter audio cable
Acrolink 6N-P4030 Power Cord
High end power cord connecting the Esoteric UX-3 to Hydra 4 power conditioner.
Shunyata Copperhead Power Cord
Power Cord for amplifier and pre-amplifier. also two 20 amp versions for Hydra 2 and Hydra 4
Shunyata Diamondback Platinum Power Cord
Power Cord. 2-15 amp cords
Pangea AC-9 Power Cord
(2) Pangea 2 meter AC-9 power cords for the GE Triton References. They are plugged into the Shunyata Hydra 4 PLC.
Shunyata Hydra 2 Power Conditioner
Two outlet Hydra power conditioner. This does not limit current and dramatically lowers the noise floor.
Shunyata Hydra 4 Power Conditioner (Black)
Power line conditioner that does not limit current. Used specifically for the Golden Ear Triton References
Shunyata Hydra 4 Power Contitioner (Silver)
Power Conditioner. All source components are plugged into this.
HRS Lightweight Record Weight
The combination of this record clamp and the Oracle record mat has kicked up the sound of my Technics SL1200G turntable quite a bit.
I have had an Audible Illusions preamp in my system for the past 20 years. The preamp I am using now is their latest incarnation and is about 3 years old with new tubes. I bought it from the factory as a refurbished unit with a warranty. I have had only 3 other preamps in my system before I went with the Audible Illusions and they were 2 Classe preamps from the late 90's and an Adcom from the early 90's.
You get the tube magic with the Audible Illusions but the sound is very extended with very low distortion. The speakers are exactly 22 1/2 inches from the rear wall. Placing them on the granite bases tightened the bass to the perfect amount. I am extremely satisfied with them.
I have been checking out your system from time to time. Like the way you have built it over a period of time. How do you like the sound of Audible Illusions? Never heard of them before? What other preamps did you compare it with? Also how far are those Odyssey Audio Kismet Reference speakers from the back wall?
System edited: Update 9-7-13 Added a Mapleshade 2 inch thick Maple unfinished platform. I painted 4 coats of black lacquer paint and hand rubbed and buffed with Carnauba wax. This was a DIY project and I saved more than half of the cost of a finished platform from Mapleshade. It looks gorgeous and made the turntable sound richer. The thinness in the upper midrange has vanished!
System edited: Update: Made some minor changes to the system. I installed a Kimber Silver Streak cable from the Esoteric UX-3 to the Modulus 3B preamp. It added just a little bit of air at the extreme top end. I also bought an iPad Mini with 32gb of storage and I am using it in conjunction with J Remote to control the J Rivers Media Player on my laptop. I can be anywhere in the house and pick any album and any song from my vast collection of music.
System edited: System Update: Replaced Esoteric SA-10 SACD player with an Esoteric UX-3 Universal player. Upgraded fm antenna to a Magnum Dynalab ST-2. Upgraded usb/spdif copnverter to a Musical Fidelity V-Link 192.
System edited: UPDATES: Replaced Audible Illusions Modulus 3A preamp with the newest and much improved Modulus 3B preamp. Added a Denon AU-320 SUT for the phono stage. Replaced Magnum Dynalab FT-101A with a much newer Magnum Dynalab MD-90 Tuner. Added a Shunyata Hydra 4 Power Conbditioner replacing the Shunyata Guardian 4. Also added 2 more Shunyata Diamondback 15 amp power cords and an Audioquest IEC-3 connector.
System edited: UPDATE: Replaced a Sony SCD777ES with an Esoteric DV 50 Universal Player. Also replaced Shunyata Guardian 4 with a Shunyata Hydra 4 power conditioner
System edited: UPDATE: Upgraded to Shunyata Hydra 2 Power Conbditioner with Shunyata 20 amp Vopperhead Cord. Amp and Preamp are connected via Shunyata Copperhead 15 amp cords. Has dramatically lowered the noise floor. Also added a Shunyata Venom power cord and Audioquest IEC 3 adapter which turns the Venom cord into a 3 outlet extension. Using it to power Laptop andMagnum Dynalab Tuner. The system in its present state sounds so realistic and smooth. Bass is thunderous and the sound is everything and more that I could have hoped for. Next up is putting threaded cones on my Salamander Rack to make it totally stable. Presently, the racks footers are resting on my very thick carpeting and I have noticed a little sway in the rack.
System edited: MAJOR UPDATES: Upgraded dac to a Wyred4Sound DAC 1, upgraded digital cables to Wireworld Starlight 6, replaced old laptop with new Asus 14 inch laptop running Windows 7, 64 bit Edition. Replaced Sanus rack with a Salamander Synergy S 40 rack.
System edited: SYSTEM UPDATE: Replaced MIT Terminator 2 speaker cable with Groneberg Quattro Reference speaker cables. The sound is so much smoother now. Also replaced 3 pairs of MIT Terminator2 interconnects with Groneberg Quattro Reference Interconnects between pre and power amp, cd player and pre, and DAC and Pre. As my power amp and speakers are internally wired with the Groneberg Quattro Reference cables, it makes sense to use them throughout the system. The music really flows now.
Very nice system!!! I heard an all Odyssey system at the Stereophile Show in NYC around 5 years ago and I thought it sounded great and offered tremendous value and I imagine the Kismet speakers and amp are considerably better.
Hello nice system. I have some upgraded Odyssey Khartargo Mono Blocks i use wuth some Merlin TSMXe speakers. I heard your speakers when Klaus brought them to Chicago Audio Socity. They kick ass, beleive me when he played Smoke On THe Water really loud it was clear as a bell. He was using Kismit Mono Blocks. I use his Gronberg ref speaker cable and i like it. Like you said your amps are wired with it, try it you will like them. I also use a tube pre VTL 5.5 NOS Mullard tubes.........dig the music, if i couls i would buy those speakers but my room is only 11x12ft. Thanks for any info
Congratulations on the great system and setup! I've read a lot of good things about Odyssey amps and MIT cables.
Just curious, but how would you characterize the difference between the Kismet Reference Speakers to the Devore's?
I'm also considering getting a pair of the Terminator 2 bi-wires as my first pair of after market speaker cables. I'm curious as well to you experience with them (gray versus beige) and another other MIT products (avt1, 2, or CVT Terminator 2s)
Placed my Odyssey Kismet Reference Speakers on a two inch thick solid block of black granite and added the heavy duty floor protectors from Adonis which is a perfect match for the Adonis gold cones.
This has further improved upon the quality of the bass. It's a good tweak as the speakers are located closer to the rear wall than I would like (WAF). This really smoothed out the bottom end. I am very happy.
Placed my Modulus 3A preamp on top of a 1 1/2 inch thick slab of black granite. That took away a slight glare in the 800hz range. Removed slab of granite under the VPI Turntable and used it as a base for my Shunyata Guardian Power Supplys and the Modulus 3A Power Supply. A VPI Magic Brick resides on the top of the Modulus 3A power Supply. Placed a Bright Star Audio, Little Rock on top of my Magnum Dynalab tuner. For whatever reasons, it smoothed out the sound of FM radio and my stations come in better.
I have been listening to a lot of rock since I got the Kismet Reference Speakers and I am really rediscovering my rock collection all over again. I am pretty much done for a while (I think). The only other thing I desire to try is the Groneberg Speaker Cables and Interconnects. My amp and speakers are wired with the Groneberg Wires so I think it makes sense. I'll have to wait until I get more money. For the time being, I will satisfy my habit by buying new cd's and vinyl.
You have a good thing going there. I have done many improvements to my Scout table, it's not at all the same table it was when I got it new. It is many times more musical than when I first took it out of the box. Feel free to copy anything you might want to try, we'll both be happy.
