Description

This virtual system is in serious need of an update...
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    • Technics RS1506
    Plays 1/2 track and 1/4 track up to 15ips and records 1/4 track.  That large diameter capstan is part of a huge, heavy flywheel that's about 6 or 8 inches in diameter. This makes for a super smooth and extremely stable tape transport.
    • Oracle Audio Delphi MKII
    I bought this table from the original owner along with the ET2 arm that he also purchased new. The table has silver Audio Note tonearm wire and cartridge clips, a WISA pump, Airtech surge tank, and a Mod Squad power supply.

    The suspension had been previously upgraded to the current system and just rebuilt by me (9/2006).

    While speaking with Oracle Audio, we came to the conclusion that my table would benefit from an oil of a different viscosity. While changing the oil I noticed a slightly worn thrust bearing which prompted me to resurface it. The thrust was polished it to a mirror-like finish which is now many times smoother than the factory finish. Pierre at Oracle seemed impressed with the effort! The work to the bearing resulted in amazingly smooth platter rotation which seems to take forever to stop if nudged.
    • Oracle Delphi motor bearing
    The Oracle Delphi's motor armature rides on a nylon thrust bearing which is housed in a machined aluminum bearing well. On the left are two pictures of the armature, shown upside down. On the right are two pictures of the aluminum bearing well and nylon thrust. I suspect the nylon thrust began as a nylon bolt that was cut to fit and subsequenty thread into the bearing well. Inspection revealed that the armature and nylon bearing were slightly worn and not of optimal finish even when new. I resurfaced and polished both the armature and nylon thrust to a mirror-like finish. Oil was added to the bearing well and the unit was reassembled. The resurfacing resulted in noticeably smoother motor operation. Due to the fact that the nylon thrust threads into the bearing well, experiments with other thrust materials can be easily conducted. Bolts are available in various materials, but nearly anything can be used as long as it can be threaded.
    • Eminent Technology ET2
    Wisa pump, Airtech surge tank, VDH tonearm wire.
    • Eminent Technology ET2.5
    ET2.5 with heavy magnesium wand and lightweight aluminum wand.  This may be used on a second table at some point in the future.
    • Denon DL103r
    .29 mV output MC. Boron cantilever, micro ridge stylus, potted with bees wax in an ebony wood body, Audio Note cartridge clips, silver Audio Note wire, KLEI Absolute Harmony RCAs.
    • Accuphase T-100
    Nice.
    • Jolida JD100
    Pretty nice and a definite necessity as 75% of my music is on CD. There are two in the photo because I replaced my silver one with a black one and owned two for a few weeks.
    • Classe CA200
    Used on the bass panels of the Magnepan 3.6Rs.
    • Magnepan MG-3.6r
    With fully adjustable, custom made stands. Horizontally biamped with a Marchand XM-44 line-level crossover.
    • Goertz MI3
    7 ft Goertz MI3 Divinity. Used on the bass panels of the Maggies.
    • Garrard 301
    Oil bearing 301 that I'm in the process of refurbishing. The plan is to use it with a slate plinth and my ET2.5.
    • Rack Part 1
    I'm finally building a rack for my gear. There will be four rock maple shelves measuring 24" x 48" x 1 3/4". This photo shows my brother radiusing the edges after we cut the slabs to size at his place.
    • Ingersoll-Rand T-30
    Air compressor for Eminent Technology tonearms.
    • Rack Part 2
    At my place milling one of the 18 stainless steel tubes which are to be the legs of the rack.
    • Rack Part 3
    Tubes are done and awaiting a cleaning.
    • Rack Part 4
    Tubes.
    • Rack Part 5
    This is a setup jig I made to place the holes for the uprights.
    • Rack Part 6
    Setup jig in position. The idea is to place the maple slab on the mill, put a 3/8" rod or tool bit in the mill, and align the slab until the 3/8" rod fits in the small hole on the jig which is exactly 3/8" in diameter.
    • Rack Part 7
    Experimenting with tube positions.
    • Rack Part 8
    It took 2.5 hours to machine 18 holes in slab #3 of 4. I started machining the slabs from the bottom, so this slab will be the second from the top of my four shelf rack. Holes are placed to approximately +/- 0.005". The stainless steel tubes were machined to approximately +/- 0.002". Not many racks (if any) are machined to these tolerances.
    • Rack Part 9
    Here I'm testing the fit of the first two completed slabs. Without even bolting them together, the assembly was unbelievably solid and stable.
    • Rack Part 10
    Here's one shelf after 13 sanding steps (60, 80, 100, 120, 150, 220, 320, 320 hand, 400, 400 hand, 600, 600 hand, white Schoth Brite pad) and the first coat of polymerized tung oil.
    • Rack Part 11
    Homebuilt adjustable brass footers for rack.
    • Rack Part 12
    All six brass footers.
    • Rack Part 13
    One of the six custom machined washers and countersunk, allen headed, 1/2-13 bolts that will clamp the top shelf to the rest of the rack.
    • Rogue Audio M-180
    Used on the mids/tweeters of the Maggies.
    • Eminent Technology tonearm air flow tests
    Air flow tests for various Eminent Technology tonearm and pump setups.
    • Marchand Electronics XM-44
    Line level crossover used to horizontally biamp the Maggies.
    • Hubbell HBL8200HR
    NOS, slim body, hospital grade outlets with unplated brass parts and non-magnetic, brass back strap. These are no longer made. Current versions have plated interior parts and steel back strap.
    • Aurender N100SC
    With 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD.  Connected directly to a Verizon Fios router with a 6m long DH Labs Reunion Cat8 cable.
    • Hubbell HBL8200HR
    These are supposed to have all brass parts, but the screw terminals on the sides sure look like unplated copper to me.
    • DH Labs Reunion Cat 8 Ethernet Cable
    Between Verizon Fios Router and Aurender N100SC.
    • AudioQuest NRG-Y3
    On Aurender N100SC.
    • VH Audio Flavor 4
    Power cord for Classe amplifier. Nine feet long with Furutech FI-25G connectors.
    • Rogue Audio Athena
    Preamp
    • HiFi-Tuning Fuse
    Used in the midrange and tweeter circuits of the Magnepan 3.6Rs.
    • European Audio Team E-Glo Petit
    Phonostage
    • Border Patrol SPDIF DAC SE
    Using with my Bluesound Node 2 and connected with an Oyaide DR-510 SPDIF cable.
    • Rogue Audio M-180
    On the mids/tweeters of the Maggies
    • Air Filtration System
    For Eminent Technology ET-2 tonearm.  60 Gallon tank at ~100 psi>several strategically placed drops for gross moisture removal>water separator for next level of condensed moisture removal>0.01 micron Motor Guard coalescing filter for everything else>pressure regulator>second 0.01 micron Motor Guard filter ("Final Filter") as last stage of filtration.
    • Oyaide custom built Black Mamba power cord
    6' long for my crossover.  Built with Oyaide Black Mamba V2 cable and pure copper Viborg connectors. All of the connectors were disassembled and every surface of the conductors were polished.
    • Oyaide Black Mamba Sigma V2 Power Cord
    I have these on my power strip, streamer, DAC, and preamp.  I also have one custom made cord on my crossover built with Black Mambe Sigma V2 cable and pure copper Viborg connectors.

Comments 43

Showing all comments by ketchup.

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Owner
Thanks, @cymbop !

I rarely come here and should really update my system.  The Magnepans are now biamped and sounding better than ever.

ketchup

Owner
I just added HiFi-Tuning fuses to the Magnepan's midrange and tweeter circuits.  I was not expecting a change, but there was quite an improvement!  The soundstage is much more three-dimensional and the speakers seem to disappear more.  Music is a lot more enjoyable to listen to with them in.

ketchup

Owner
System edited: After owning the Thiels for eight or nine years, I decided to try something different. I bought a pair of Magnepan 3.6/Rs and they're proving to be a lot of fun!

ketchup

Owner
Hi Chris,

Thank you very much! I just got the vinyl rig up and running last night, but I still have a lot of work ahead of me. I have to finish plumbing the air from my shop compressor's filtration system to my listening room and go over the ET-2 parameters. As an Eminent Technology tonearm owner, you know that there are a lot of parameters to dial in!

ketchup

Owner
Hi Dan,

Thanks for the kind words! My machinery is strictly for avocational work. I just get a lot of ideas in my head and needed a way to make them a reality!

The 301 has been sitting in a box, disassembled, for the last few years. My original plan was to build a slate plinth and put my ET-2.5 on it, but that just doesn't seem like the right arm. Maybe because I have never seen an Eminent Technology tonearm on a 301, I don't know. Your 401 looks great. How do you like it? Is there anything you would have done differently?

ketchup

Owner
System edited: Photo of the completed rack added.

ketchup

Owner
Hi Dan,

Well, the rack is not done yet, but it's very close! I really dragged my feet during the woodworking part of this project. The last coat of tung oil was applied about a month ago and I just finished machining some stainless discs for the top. They will act as large washers (slightly thicker than 1/4") for the countersunk, allen headed bolts that will clamp the top shelf to the rest of the rack. I also just finished machining six adjustable, brass footers. Photos of these were added. I hope to add some completed photos soon!

ketchup

Owner
Rhyno,
You bring up two things that I pondered mentioning in this thread: The Island Tour and Drum Logos. Crazy. April 2-5 1998 has some of my favorite music. "We got bored at home so we decided to play some shows." Will that ever happen again? Good stuff. Drum Logos is interesting not because of its good sound quality, but because of its very unusual combination of their 2000 playing style in a small club. At this point in their careers they were playing stadiums, of course. The best playing of the Japan tour is definitely from that night. I have a feeling that's why a recording began to circulate from Paul Languedoc's mics. 6-14-2000
Big Cypress was also great. I was there so I might be biased, but I can’t imagine anyone listening to that music without thinking that it's some of the most tight playing ever. That night was just perfect from the midnight start to the sunrise end. Unbelievable! Those recordings actually sound very good, too. There is a Schoeps source and a Neumann U89 that sound excellent. I don't have enough experience with the Neumann source, but people generally like that one better. I can find the exact source info if you're interested.
Another one of my favorite nights is 12-18-99 at Hampton. I was there but for some reason had an awful time. Listening back, though, this show had the coolest, most laid back and relaxed jamming from start to finish that I know of. Very unusual. This recording is not bad. A little too much low end, but the room sound is captured pretty well. Some guy came up to me at this show, either before it started or during the set break, hands me a little note pad and pen, and asks me to draw a rhinoceros. I wonder if that was you.
June 19th and 20th at SPAC in 2004 is another great run. The 20th is better. I just listened to it to get re-acquainted and I thank you for making me do so. Total bliss.
Now for some great, really new stuff- check these out if you haven’t yet:
2012-08-28 limb by limb
2012 09-01 caspian, light
2012-08-15 hood

ketchup

Owner
Cymbop,

That's a tough question. I don’t listen to their studio albums anymore, so they’re out. I used to when I was just getting into them, but as soon as I started getting live recordings, the studio CDs have gotten no play. I don’t listen to the official Phish soundboard recordings, either. They just don’t sound good to me at all. There’s a lot of detail, but they sound nothing like a live show. I know some people love them, but I want a recording to sound like the show. I want to hear the room. That’s pretty much absent from the soundboard recordings.

There have been so many good audience recordings made in the past few years, but there are still hundreds of really good recordings made before that. With 1428 Phish shows played and potentially (on average) several recordings made of each one, it is impossible to pick a favorite. I just can’t remember how every recording sounds. There are way too many.

So, hundreds of recordings may sound really good. These still aren’t “audiophile” recordings. Do they do imaging and soundstaging? Sort of, but not really. It’s nothing like on an audiophile recording, but you do get a sense of a stereo image on some recordings. This is not what I’m into, though. I want to hear everything that everyone is doing on stage. Minimal crowd noise is obviously a plus, too. The chatty girl next to the mics can ruin an otherwise good recording. She can also ruin your show if she’s next to you!

That being said, I listen to many Phish shows that don’t sound great but have amazing music. The content is really what makes me listen to a particular show, not the sound quality. A perfect sounding audience recording of a below average performance will get no play just like the studio albums.

ketchup

Owner
System edited: I just started building a rack and will be updating my system with pictures as I progress. Check back often if you care to follow along.

ketchup

Owner
System edited: I just added an air compressor to the system that will be used with my Eminent Technology tonearms. It should provide hours of listening without cycling as it has a 60 gallon capacity and 170 psi. I'm also working on a rack that I'll post some photos of as I build it. I'm going to build acoustic treatments after the rack is done. I did some testing with the acoustic material and noticed a huge improvement. I can't wait to finish them and get them exactly where I want them. Record Store Day was good to me today. I got the Pollack edition of Phish's Junta album (one of 2500- 5 LPs of their first studio album mastered from the original 1/4" analog tape), Phish's Two Soundchecks from last years Record Store Day, and the Dead's Dark Star: Europe '72 Olympia Theatre - Paris, France 5/4/72. Thanks for looking!

ketchup

Owner
Heyitsmedusty,
I don't know how I missed your questions. The thrift store was just a run of the mill place- clothes, dishes, some electronics, LPs, etc. The McIntosh stuff was hidden from view in a small closet. The store owner showed it to me after he noticed me checking out some Klipschorns... apparently the speakers that were driven by the McIntosh gear. He said that he took it all in at once. The 225 and C20 weren't priced, so I made him an offer that sent me searching for an ATM machine as it was a cash only place. I bought both pieces for about the widthdrawal limit of my debit card!

ketchup

Owner
Pescolar,
You are very lucky to have a pair of MC225s! I have read time and time again that the MC225 is the sweetest sounding McIntosh amplifier ever built. You will have about 70 watts per channel run as monos (each amp is actually about 35 watts per channel).

Terry DeWick is definitely who you want to send your amp to. He is not afraid to spread his knowledge. Go to AudioKarma (probably the best McIntosh forum) and read his posts. You'll learn a lot! He helped me out a lot when I rebuilt my 225 even though I didn't buy one thing from him (I would have, but he doesn't sell individual components, and I wanted to do the work myself). He even sent me a few diodes for free! You may want to think about sending both amps in to Terry, though. There are a lot of electrolytic caps in those amps that HAVE to be replaced if you want them to operate safely, especially the power supply caps. Bite the bullet and have both completely gone through. He'll replace all the components that can cause catastrophic failure. By not replacing the suspect components, you run the risk of taking out the transformers which are irreplaceable. They are unique to McIntosh, so there are no off the shelf pieces that will work. McIntosh does not have any left. There is one guy on the planet who rewinds them but I hear it costs a ton of money. Do what you can to protect those transformers! Also, by sending both amps to Terry, you will be sure that both amps will have the same sonic signature. One with new, modern components and one with old, vintage components will likely sound different.

As for the C20/225 combination, I do not know. I still have to put the C20 on a variac to bring it back to life. Then I'll have to replace the millions of old capacitors in it before I can listen and comment on its sound. If you only have one source, though, you don't even need a preamp. You can plug your CD player directly into the 225 and adjust the volume on the amp. If you need a phono stage, you might want to pass on the C20. I have heard that modern day offerings easily better it.

Good luck!

ketchup

Owner
Timrhu,
I hope to get some pictures of the complete system up soon. Thanks for looking!

ketchup

Owner
Cello and Jsuro,
Thanks for the compliments!

Plato,
The signal coming off the tape heads will not go through two equalization circuits. It will go through the modified phonopreamp only. When the phonopreamp is modified, the RIAA equalization circuit is turned into an NAB equalization circuit.

I actually decided to use the Seduction as a phonopreamp for now until I get a different phonopreamp. Then I'll probably modify the Seduction for tape duty. I just couldn't justify doing the mods to it right now to play the few tapes that I have.

ketchup

Owner
System edited: Added some pictures and text describing a motor bearing tweak I just completed.

ketchup

Owner
Thanks for the compliment, Rich121.
Your system looks very nice and I bet it sounds that way, too! There's something about reel to reel. I just wish tapes were a little easier to come by!

ketchup

Owner
System edited: Some newly acquired vintage Mac gear added.

ketchup

Owner
Hi Bill.
Thiel charges $150.00 to rebuilt each driver. If you actually have a faulty unit they will likely not charge you anything, as was the case with mine. They did, however, charge me to rebuild the other driver (at my request) which was not faulty. All you have to do is send the drivers, not the whole speaker.

Because one of my drivers was faulty, the biggest improvement for me was normal operation (no more intermittent crackling). I also saw more centered center images and a more consistent soundstage from left to right. This may just be due to the fact that one of the drivers was faulty and perhaps doing something to the sound when it wasn't actually crackling.

If your drivers are not malfunctioning or physically damaged, I can't say that I would recommend getting them rebuilt, though.

ketchup

Owner
System edited: Added an Oracle Delphi TT and ET2 arm to the system and some comments under the components.

ketchup

Owner
Albert,
I would be over in a heartbeat with my tape deck and the preamp if I just lived a little closer to you! The preamp actually isn't completed yet but it's coming along nicely (and slowly!). I'll post some pictures when it's done. I hope to see some pictures and a full report of your "new" deck soon! It sounds awesome.

ketchup