My hifi had been languishing unused for many years whilst I worked abroad - parts of it still are, in Southern Spain! However, I did salvage the most important part of my system - my collection of (mostly) 70's vinyl! I had previously sold off my revered KEF 104/2 speakers (big mistake!), and my Roksan Xerxes deck developed plinth sag
, so I started off on a limited budget to get things back together.
First up - Castle Avon speakers, closely followed by Castle Harlechs. I like a clear mid-range, so my Mission 752's had to go, too bright. Amplification at this stage was from an old Yamaha AV receiver, but hey, for £15 it was good enough at the time! Next I bought a Velodyne sub-woofer, and ventured into Blu-ray with a Sony UBP X700. Binged my way through all 8 seasons of GoT! But I still had to address the record deck situation...
My nephew gave me an old direct drive SL 1200 copy (I actually have a real one, Mk 2, but it needs refurbishing..), which merely whetted my appetite for something better. Better than my old Roksan? That wasn't going to be easy...
I bought a second-hand Rega P3, and then shortly after that a Rega P5. I had owned many record decks in my past, but never a Rega. The standard Regas were just not cutting the mustard for me, I really can't see why they have such a loyal user base, but that's just my personal experience, yours may differ. Time to take the plunge - remember, I am a poor pensioner, so love a bargain - and I upgraded the Rega P3 with a Rage kit from The Funk Firm - Achromat mat, Boing feet, and most impressive of all, their Rega RB300 upgrade to Funk FXR arm.
I had also talked Audio Tecnica into swapping my old AT-OC9XEN MC cartridge with a shiny new one, at a 40% discount, thank you AT! I had however lost my old phono amp somewhere in Spain, but my new (second-hand) Yamaha RX-V3800 was capable of pumping out 140W per channel, so even a low powered MC cartridge could sing through its phono stage. I was back on to vinyl music nirvana, the Funk arm really does clean up your sound stage to a remarkable degree! Bass lines were no longer lost in the mix, and loud complex passageways like SKY's toccata really rocked!
Next upgrade was supposed to be a Moon phono amp., (second-hand from a reputable hifi shop) to take care of my MC cartridge, but due to the lockdown, that proved impossible to collect. If only Dominic Cummings had ventured further north, he could've picked it up for me! Instead, after some research, I plumped for a Hagerman Bugle 3, which duly arrived all the way from Hawaii in a matter of days - then got stuck in London with our wonderful Royal Mail for nearly two weeks
I excitedly plugged it in when it arrived, switched on, and BOOM! I'd forgotten to change the input from phono to line level...plugging in a phono amp to a phono input - not recommended! I think I've blown one of the upward-firing woofers on the Harlechs
Next upgrade will probably be to sell off the Castle speakers, and replace them with B&W CM7's, which an interested party in nearby Edinburgh will swap for my Roksan deck. Perhaps then, I will be happy with my system! What have I learned? If you like your speakers (I loved my KEF's), don't sell them...just because thousands of others like a certain record deck, it might not be for you...learn some diy and fix the broken bits!...and defo get yourself a decent arm for your record deck, makes all the difference!
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