What’s your Hi-Fi set up? spec and pictures please

[Skyman]

Skyman said:

Good to hear you rate the ATCs so highly. I am looking to demo their SCM50s against some PMC FACT.12 Signatures. I am told both are well suited to my Moon 600i V2/610LP in this set up.

Edited by Skyman on Sunday 18th August 13:50

ATC Passive SCM50 Towers, Anniversary edition, ordered today. They are beautiful.

[Itsallicanafford]

^^ whow, amazing....keep us updated!

[heisthegaffer]

Far more humble than most posted but I am extremely happy with this

Topping VX2
Dali Zensor 1s
Old laptop USB to amp's inboard DAC.

Sounds fantastic to me

[heisthegaffer]

Some new acquired gear for me although no pictures yet:-

Audiolab 8000A (UK made version) amp
Castle, Severn 2 speakers
Run from a PC via Dragon fly black

Really chuffed with it. Amp very good nick
Speakers pretty good.

Sounds great. Big powerful sound which surprised me given my other comparable system is a high ish end Yamaha AV amp and Tannoy floorstanders which would suggest spec wise would blow the audiolab into the water. This is so much better.

[Funk]

As per my post on the previous page, here are the new A3s in place!



If I'm honest they're a little closer to the wall than I'd like but despite the large quantity of bass drivers they're really not overly-bassy (I think the XTZ takes a lot of the credit for controlling them well).

I'll be keeping the A2s for now, they're in superb condition - I'm sure I'll use them elsewhere in future and I'd probably regret letting them go for what they'd be worth...

[selym]

Funk said:

As per my post on the previous page, here are the new A3s in place!



If I'm honest they're a little closer to the wall than I'd like but despite the large quantity of bass drivers they're really not overly-bassy (I think the XTZ takes a lot of the credit for controlling them well).

I'll be keeping the A2s for now, they're in superb condition - I'm sure I'll use them elsewhere in future and I'd probably regret letting them go for what they'd be worth...

XTZ integrated? I have one and it gives great grunt with grip. Illiteration aside, it's a fantastic amp.

[Funk]

selym said:

XTZ integrated? I have one and it gives great grunt with grip. Illiteration aside, it's a fantastic amp.

Yes, I have an XTZ Class A100 D3.

[Ambleton]

Just got a new to me (second hand) system. Currently residing at my parents place until I've finished the house and there's not dust everywhere.

Ruark Prologue floor standers
Ruark Dialogue Centre
Ruark Epilogue rears
REL strata V sub
Yamaha DAP-Z7 receiver

When new I recon the whole lot cost circa £4k in 2009/10.

Feeding it will be a ps3 for sacd/DVD/BluRay and a yamaha music cast for streaming, then the tv for streaming netflix etc.

It'll be my first proper set up. I'm currently running an old pair of Linn 5110s at the rear, and some castle origin home builds at the front (no centre or sub), hooked up to a £120 Denon amp I got in a richer sounds "ex demo sale" about 5 years ago. It's nothing to write home about, but it works fine.

Will post images when in situ.

[selym]

Funk said:

selym said:

XTZ integrated? I have one and it gives great grunt with grip. Illiteration aside, it's a fantastic amp.

Yes, I have an XTZ Class A100 D3.

Snap. Very good, isn't it?

[NDA]

Ambleton said:

Just got a new to me (second hand) system. Currently residing at my parents place until I've finished the house and there's not dust everywhere.

Ruark Prologue floor standers
Ruark Dialogue Centre
Ruark Epilogue rears
REL strata V sub
Yamaha DAP-Z7 receiver

When new I recon the whole lot cost circa £4k in 2009/10.

Feeding it will be a ps3 for sacd/DVD/BluRay and a yamaha music cast for streaming, then the tv for streaming netflix etc.

It'll be my first proper set up. I'm currently running an old pair of Linn 5110s at the rear, and some castle origin home builds at the front (no centre or sub), hooked up to a £120 Denon amp I got in a richer sounds "ex demo sale" about 5 years ago. It's nothing to write home about, but it works fine.

Will post images when in situ.

I have Prologues - I think they're great..

[legzr1]

Funk said:

As per my post on the previous page, here are the new A3s in place!



If I'm honest they're a little closer to the wall than I'd like but despite the large quantity of bass drivers they're really not overly-bassy (I think the XTZ takes a lot of the credit for controlling them well).

I'll be keeping the A2s for now, they're in superb condition - I'm sure I'll use them elsewhere in future and I'd probably regret letting them go for what they'd be worth...

Very nice!

I found the (similar) Kef ref. 4 much more of a problem to place without bass drowning out everything else - the A3s were almost fit and forget in comparison which is strange considering the Kefs were front ported, the A3s rear.

Enjoy. They must be one of the most underrated speakers produced in the last 30 years.

[TameRacingDriver]

Funk said:

If it's a Behringer UCA202 I can't tell you how much of an improvement changing it for a better DAC was. I picked up an Audiolab MDAC for £340 and it utterly transformed the sound. I was a bit annoyed that it was the only silver component I own and coudn't help myself when a black one came up at a sensible price. The really nice feature of the MDAC is that it allows the PC to control its volume over the USB connection.

Didn’t see this comment earlier. But yes agreed, the UCA202 is only there to provide ones and zeros to the Beresford DAC I included in my list No way would I let the side down by using that as my only source!

[gizlaroc]

I'm now using a Kadas Tone Board Dac, it is stunning.
Oh, and think it cost £85.

I can't praise it enough.

[selym]

Topping D50 here, also a stone cold bargain.

[Funk]

selym said:

Funk said:

selym said:

XTZ integrated? I have one and it gives great grunt with grip. Illiteration aside, it's a fantastic amp.

Yes, I have an XTZ Class A100 D3.

Snap. Very good, isn't it?

For the money it's remarkable. I was looking around at used amps with a budget in mind of around £1-1.5k and a member on The Art of Sound recommended the XTZ. As fortune would have it, George at Heathcote had one in for £495; I figured that for that money it was worth a punt and even if it wasn't for me I could sell it on with minimal loss. The difference even with the A2s was huge, it's cracking value for money and I can't see how even anything in the used market around 3x the price would sound 3x better...

legzr1 said:

Very nice!

I found the (similar) Kef ref. 4 much more of a problem to place without bass drowning out everything else - the A3s were almost fit and forget in comparison which is strange considering the Kefs were front ported, the A3s rear.

Enjoy. They must be one of the most underrated speakers produced in the last 30 years.

I'd always had a hankering for the A3s (since buying the A2s actually...!) and after 20 years of "...the A2s are fine..." I spotted these in cherry with the 3-bar tweeters and every single driver is immaculate. Given that spares for them are non-existent and the bass drivers are unique to the A3 it was critical to buy good ones.

You're right about the positioning and porting though; my concern was that they'd sound overly bass-heavy where they are, especially given that - as you say - they're rear ported (and there are two ports!) but they really do sound really well-balanced.

Just in case anyone's interested, here's the size difference between the A2s and A3s:



They're larger in every dimension and weigh in at a hefty 47kgs each... Agree that they were massively underrated at the time but I think people have cottoned on now as they're nudging back up in value again now. Barring a catastrophe, these are keepers for me though!

[legzr1]

It must be over 5 years ago when I remember you first mentioning them - all good things etc..

I reckon ClassA power is definitely the way to go with them - they tended to sound a little edgy with A Marantz and Krell integrated I had at the time. A move to MF A308 power amp was a match made in heaven. Smooth, bite when needed and dynamics and sheer volume I’ve only just matched, at considerable cost.

It was the horrendous F-type Celestions that killed the market imho - mention Celestions a few years ago and all people remember were the Richer specials being knocked together for £200.
I think the A-series are the last of the real Celestions and it’s only correct that they’re being recognised for what they are. Good if you have them, bad if you fancy a pair

[outnumbered]

My system has got smaller and smaller over the years. A few years ago I was using a multi-box (5 or 6) olive Naim pre-power setup; I replaced that with a big ATC SIA2-150 integrated amp, which still made the system a lot more compact.

I'd been interested in Class D amp technology for a while, and realised that I could use my DAC/Room correction box as the pre-amp, buy a power amp, and get rid of the ATC amp. I went for March Audio's Hypex NC502 based box, which is more powerful than the ATC amp (2*500W and something less than a shoebox in size), and a quarter of the price too ! Measurements on the very useful audiosciencereview forum show the Hypex N-core modules to have class-leading performance.

Although there's a CD player in the pictures, I haven't used it for a couple of years, I use streaming either via the Squeezebox or a Raspberry PI. I have all my CDs ripped lossless, and also have Spotify premium.

The main speakers are ATC SCM40s, and there's also a C1 Sub hiding in the corner, which isn't really needed for most music, so it's only used occasionally.

DPP_6435 by tw_tvam, on Flickr


DPP_6433 by tw_tvam, on Flickr

Original Raspberry PI, works fine as a USB source into the DAC, using squeezelite. Note the huge care I have (not) taken with the cabling.

IMG_20190301_151834131 by tw_tvam, on Flickr

[jonny_c]

Agree about the F series - I bought a set way back from RS. The sales guy at the time advised on other make but I wanted the Badge...

Now i’ve listened to various other stuff I realise they are terrible! I have a cheap old sharp ipod dock come radio thing with tiny speakers that beat them for quality

I do wonder if there is a way to fix them as they are sturdy and heavy (F30’s)

[heisthegaffer]

outnumbered said:

My system has got smaller and smaller over the years. A few years ago I was using a multi-box (5 or 6) olive Naim pre-power setup; I replaced that with a big ATC SIA2-150 integrated amp, which still made the system a lot more compact.

I'd been interested in Class D amp technology for a while, and realised that I could use my DAC/Room correction box as the pre-amp, buy a power amp, and get rid of the ATC amp. I went for March Audio's Hypex NC502 based box, which is more powerful than the ATC amp (2*500W and something less than a shoebox in size), and a quarter of the price too ! Measurements on the very useful audiosciencereview forum show the Hypex N-core modules to have class-leading performance

The power amp looks really interesting. Does it sound as good as the previous amps?

[outnumbered]

heisthegaffer said:

The power amp looks really interesting. Does it sound as good as the previous amps?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: I'm firmly of the view that well designed SS amplifiers, used within their design constraints, pretty much sound the same (i.e. they can't be distinguished in proper blind testing). I've actually never heard a consistent sonic difference between various amps that I've owned or had on trial in various systems over the last 35 years. Some can just play louder than others before they distort. (btw I'm not interested in valve amps, or any amps that are designed to add euphonic distortion)

Hypex Ncore modules are used by quite a lot of manufacturers, both large and small. There are also very easy DIY options if you're that way inclined.

I really like the combination of great technical performance, lower cost, smaller size, and efficiency compared to traditional transistor amps with linear supplies. For example, the ATC amp which was class AB used 110W from the mains when it was running. The Hypex amp only uses 35W.