An odd collection...

[hoopsontoast]

Larger versions @

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoopsontoast/sets/72157628426961607/

The History books:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoopsontoast/sets/72157628426948849/

 

[hoopsontoast]

Well the MMG's were lovely but decided to downsize on cost, rather than size so the Restek and Maggies went, to be replaced back with the Kolts and a Puresound A10.

 

[CnoEvil]

Very nice.....though I wonder how long it will last! :shifty:

 

[hoopsontoast]

Who knows :dance:

Picking up some Free Goodmans Magnum K2's at the weekend, for a bit of bass to compare to the Kolts.

Trying to keep the costs down (current outlay under £400 so far for the whole system) so unless I snag a bargain cant see to many changes in the future, but when have I said that before.......

 

[CnoEvil]

Who knows :dance:

Picking up some Free Goodmans Magnum K2's at the weekend, for a bit of bass to compare to the Kolts.

Trying to keep the costs down (current outlay under £400 so far for the whole system) so unless I snag a bargain cant see to many changes in the future, but when have I said that before.......

I would take your system over many much more expensive ones.

 

[hoopsontoast]

I think the sweet spot for S/H kit seems to be in that £300-£400 bracket. The Decware Zen, Puresound A10, Icon Audio LA3 and Audion Sterling are all about that sort of price for tube amps, then stuff like the Sony TA-F770ES and my favourite speakers are in that area too like the ATC SCM10 and SCM7, Kord Tornado and Rega R3. Whenever I have spent more (Rega R7, Magnepan MMG, Denon PMA-2000AE, Consonance Cyber 10SE etc) I have always been disapointed overall, maybe its just expectation bias.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Something a little larger to test the A10, some early single wired KEF Reference 104/2 that are a little scruffy. So far the whole system has come in at £500 minus cables (various free and cheap bits).

 

[CnoEvil]

Something a little larger to test the A10, some early single wired KEF Reference 104/2 that are a little scruffy. So far the whole system has come in at £500 minus cables (various free and cheap bits).

Gorgeous!

Your A10 will turn itself inside out driving those.......do you have your eye on something like a big powerful MF or McIntosh?

 

[hoopsontoast]

No real plans for any change yet, 10wpc with these is certainly more than enough in my room. They seem quite happy on the 4Ohm output tap on the A10, and they should actually be an easy load as they are almost resistive at 4Ohms so no tricky peaks and dips in the impedance.

Would be fun to try something beefy though at some point, see if it makes much difference.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Well, going back to an old favourite, a Sony TA-F770ES, will be interesting to see how it gets on with the 104/2s. Although I wont be able to try it for another week, as one of the bass drivers has gone to Wembley Loudspeakers to be re-built as the voice coil was rubbing.

I was a looking for a champagne Sony ES/Denon PMA to match the S9000ES, but they are quite rare over here, and the market, mainly in Germany is more expensive as they are more in demand over there. Still you can get some of the ES battleships for bargain prices over here, the Sony name is not as we regarded.

 

[hoopsontoast]

 

[Frank Harvey]

Speakers sorted? How are they sounding?

 

[hoopsontoast]

Quiet at the moment, the re-built bass driver should be back today, cant wait! Been missing the bass :rofl:

The kolts are great, but bass monsters they are not!

 

[hoopsontoast]

 

[hoopsontoast]

Going DIY in a big way:

DIY Turntable (Sony TTS-3000 based with an Audio Technica AT1005 MkII arm and Ortofon MC20 cartridge)

Sony DVP-S9000ES (as before)

DIY Decware Zen Amplifier (SET with EL84/SV83 output tubes and around 2-2.5wpc)

DIY Speakers with

Veravox 5S full-range-drivers (driven by the Zen)

2 or 4x 8"-10" bass drivers (driven by a cheap pro amp)

Fully Active Crossover (yet to be bought)

The Kef 104/2s and Sony 770ES were sold to kickstart the project(s) so the interim system looks like this:

Sony S9000ES / Eagle SA-100 / Keesonic Kolt or Eclipse TD-508

The Eagle is a little EL84 Single Ended amplifier from the mid sixties with around 6wpc output and 4/8/16 ohm output taps on the transformers.

The Eagle will eventually go into the second system with the Sony TT and Keesonic Kolts.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Veravox drivers arrived:

And with the Veravox drivers in place....

 

[drummerman]

It is difficult to keep up with your system changes and all the more interesting for it. Yours is one thread I always follow with interest.

Impressions about your new full rangers?

regards

 

[hoopsontoast]

Haha thanks, always searching.

Saying that, its going to be more of a 'greatest hits' system thats been planned, I will be using my favourite speakers I have had (the Veravox drivers) with my favourite amp (The Decware) and the favourite CDP (The Sony).

I had the Veravox drivers before some years back, in a number of configurations including a Bi-Pole ported, Open Baffle and Corner Horn/Quarter Wave hybrid.

The original plan was to go down the OB route again, but been playing around with placement and I might go for the corner placement that will be a bit less visually intrusive.

They were basically NOS when I got them, the previous owner had bought them new but sat in a box for a year or two un-used. So I was expecting them to take a while to burn in, and I would say they have had about 50 hours or so already and changed for the better, the top end has tamed slightly to more of what I rememeber them sounding like.

For a 5" driver they do dynamics very well and in the placement below, they produce a decent amount of bass with minimal cone movement, although its a bit un-even as expected so looking to invest in some room correction in the forms of bass traps for the corners,

For a temporary system cobbled together for £200 its not doing at all bad.

The Decware is slow progress, the Power/Output transformers are on order but sheculed to take aroudn 5-6 weeks delivery from the USA.

For the moment, the little Eagle is doing a sterling job, ultimate hifi it is not but its a lot of 'fun'!

 

[drummerman]

Very interesting.

I like the pleated surrounds, something not seen often these days. I believe the principle is to allow a more linear cone excursion or something down that line. They also seem to have a huge magnet (or are shielded).

How do they compare with the Eclipse's?

regards

 

[hoopsontoast]

Yes they are shielded, the next model up (even rarer) the Veravox 5X has a double magnet. Both are also vented through the back of the magnet, quite rare for full-range-drivers.

The 'Accordion' surround is designed as you say to keep the travel linear, but mainly to limit excursion as its a lot stiffer than tradtional foam/rubber surrounds. Most PA type bass drivers have Accordion or Double roll surrounds for this reason.

They are much better than the Eclipses, although they latter are really designed for desktop use. The Veravox drivers are close to the much larger Fostex FF225K based horns I have had before, lacking slightly in dynamics in comparison, but thats to be expected given the much larger but light cone on the Fostex with a much bigger magnet (Low QTS / High QMS / High BL / Low mms) and around 97dB senstivity.

 

[drummerman]

Thanks pet

Where do you normally source your s/h purchases?

regards

 

[Frank Harvey]

Thanks pet

Where do you normally source your s/h purchases?

regards

Anyone who will give him stuff for nowt :rofl:

 

[hoopsontoast]

Thanks pet

Where do you normally source your s/h purchases?

regards

Anyone who will give him stuff for nowt :rofl:

True, yes, got some brilliant free stuff (Sony S9000ES, Acoustic Energy AE2s, Eclipse TD0508s, My Sony TT bits/cartridge) but most of my purchases are hifi forum classifieds / ebay.

I tend to buy blind, as I dont mind trying stuff I might not like, and usually sell it on if it does not work or fancy something else.

The Maggies were bought 'New / Sealed' off Gumtree, just happened to come across the listing, again bought blind but were on my long term 'to-do-list'.

Had a few pairs of speakers that needed repair (AE2's, Kord Vulcan, KEF 104/2) that I have got really cheap then sold on for minimal profit to other forum members.

Also had a few end of the line/ex demo stuff like the Rega R7 and Rega Brio3, both bargains and the R7's more so. Helped when I was working in the industry! :rofl:

All of the DIY stuff has been various sources, the recent Veravox drivers are from a wanted ad I placed on a DIY forum, some of the other driver have been bought new from European sources, the Hawthorne Audio OB drivers direct from the USA.

Majority of my Amps and Sources have been purchased from Forum Classifieds.

 

[drummerman]

Great stuff

regards

 

[hoopsontoast]

Its all a bit of fun really, slowly getting there towards an overall compromise, I keep coming back to valve amps (EL84 based) :rofl: