The plugs may be tight but as the cable is heavy, there is a slight sag if you leave the cable dangling....
I have to use 2 wooden blocks, 1 of which is a chess seed, to support the plug at the end....
Neat and tidy it became....
Cheers..!
Showing posts with label adcom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adcom. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Current setup 20 Nov 2011
CAL Delta CD transport
Nuforce DAC 9
Adcom GFP-750 preamplifier
Channel Islands Audio D-100 power amplifiers
Polk Audio LSi-15 loudspeakers
Sunday, 9 October 2011
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Friday, 24 June 2011
Over drive
Yeah someone confirmed my suspicions that the ultra high output from the nuforce DAC 9 has driven the active circuits into clipping, hence the audible distortions from the loudspeakers....
Is there any other convertors with so high an output voltage? Not any that I can recall.... 4 volts or 5 is the max I have seen...
So this has made my adcom preamplifier's active redundant for a long time to come ....
And I will stick to the passive mode until I find another preamplifier to suit my needs... Which the stereoknight transformer volume control seems to be....
Sent by mobile mail
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Passive vs Active
To be fair, I should give the active stage more time to settle in as it has been used for a while....
But then I can't help myself...
Until tonight my past efforts to compare between the 2 were fruitless .... I was not able to tell the difference on a consistent basis in the past....
So I think the active stage with 40 mins of running time was
More exciting & energetic
Slightly more detailed in the highs
Seems to have more depth
Somewhat similar in the bass
Less relaxed
Tighter focus
More colourful
More compressed? I need more time to confirm this...
I will let the preamplifier settle in before I listen again...
Sent by mobile mail
Revisit
Tonight I'm giving the active circuits of the Adcom preamplifier a good spin....
It must have been months and probably years since I'd used the active stage ..... And I thought I should let some electrons flow thought the caps and chips...
Other than giving me too much gain, it's pretty awesome..... In fact I'm quite surprised by the energy and spatiality ...!!
Maybe it's because I'm using the full potential of this balanced preamplifier .....
Just as Mr Nelson Pass intended
Sent by mobile mail
Sunday, 5 June 2011
gain up
never in my dreams did i expect this outcome:
the system has TOO MUCH gain now..... !!
what do i mean by too much...??? well, the Nuforce DAC 9 gives out 8 volts from its balanced output!! a regular CD player / DAC typically has 2 volts from its RCA connection....
since using the adcom as a passive preamp, i've always desired more gain.....so much so that when ordering the D-100 power amps, i'd even requested for the high-gain version......
with the 2 volts from the MSB DAC unbalanced output and using XLR cables between preamp and power amps (6 dB gain), my regular volume setting hovered at 12 o'clock, sometimes even reaching 1 o'clock...... and i kinda liked it that way since volume pots usually do not track well at their lower range ....
now?
i am using XLR cables from DAC to preamp to power amps and it's tough to go past 9 o'clock.........
by then it's REALLY LOUD....
before bring it home, i wondered why is there a low gain version of the DAC 9 (2 volts RCA / 4 volts XLR) available on special order.....
the answer is...
it's possible to have TOO MUCH of a good thing.....!!
the system has TOO MUCH gain now..... !!
what do i mean by too much...??? well, the Nuforce DAC 9 gives out 8 volts from its balanced output!! a regular CD player / DAC typically has 2 volts from its RCA connection....
since using the adcom as a passive preamp, i've always desired more gain.....so much so that when ordering the D-100 power amps, i'd even requested for the high-gain version......
with the 2 volts from the MSB DAC unbalanced output and using XLR cables between preamp and power amps (6 dB gain), my regular volume setting hovered at 12 o'clock, sometimes even reaching 1 o'clock...... and i kinda liked it that way since volume pots usually do not track well at their lower range ....
now?
i am using XLR cables from DAC to preamp to power amps and it's tough to go past 9 o'clock.........
by then it's REALLY LOUD....
before bring it home, i wondered why is there a low gain version of the DAC 9 (2 volts RCA / 4 volts XLR) available on special order.....
the answer is...
it's possible to have TOO MUCH of a good thing.....!!
Saturday, 22 August 2009
one change.....
remember there's no more shunyata hydra? ... so there's one empty shelf on the left..... as the oyaide power outlet faces up, it's more convenient to let it sit on the floor..... anyway there are floor spikes for the mtb-6, so there's no issue with a floor placement.....
to make things neater the glass shelves adjacent of the loudspeaker on the left had been removed..... which led to a small but perceptible improvement to the soundstage.... maybe less diffraction i dunno....
the system still sounds very good..... so i am satisfied.......
cheers
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
back to basics
i've been telling myself to find that little bit of time to listen to music.......
in recent months i was so tired out after work and on many occasions, i would fall asleep on the sofa and couch while watching tv.... that was how hopeless i became..... haha
on monday i said i would..... and today i must do it.....
AHHHH it sure feels so good to go the room and fire up the system.... YEAH CRANK IT UP..!!....
and i can sense this feeling .... as if i am back to embrace my CAL delta tranport, MSB DAC, adcom pre-amp, CIA power amp and polk audio speakers........ OH what a reunion we are having right now haha.....
i feel so glad i did what i have been wanting to do......
and if you have been messing around with hifi and audio stuff for many years, you surely have seen and heard of the ebony wood pieces in the picture....
HA..... did it bring back any fond memories...???? especially places like hifi corner at the adelphi and people like joe lee...???
Friday, 1 June 2007
intro: my audio system
1st day of june.....
suddenly realised that it's almost at the mid-point of the year.....so fast huh, seems like jan and feb was just days ago.....time really flies, time and tide wait for no man......gone means gone ......
grow older day by day, week by week and then finally year by year......my birthday month was may, and it's oredi over in a flash....
ok lah back to the topic......this morning quite straightforward.....just list the various components i am currently using.......can refer to the pics in the link....
http://www.audiocircle.com/gallery/index.php?cat=48747
source:
california audio labs delta cd transport......
i like this shoebox-sized transport very much.... it's affordable and sounds great..... comes with S/PDIF, Toslink and AES/EBU digital outputs....... during its production years, it used to sell at about S$1500.......
the original piece developed a problem after years of loyal service and also could not read cd-r discs properly...... approached the dealer and was offered a mint display set for a small change....... it's still in service today haha...... great work cal.... too bad they are not around anymore....
msb link iii full nelson and p1000 power supply........
before this dac, i was using an audionote dac1, a simple but pretty good dac with a tubed output stage...... the AN used 2 sovtek 6922 triodes..... and way before that, was using audio alchemy dde....... haha, can anyone remember that classic???..... small in size but had big sound, big reputation and relatively small-price....
pre-amp:
adcom gfp-750
this classic preamp was designed by nelson pass for adcom....... i think at first not many people paid attention to it until it was reviewed and awarded a class A rating by stereophile..... overnight it gained a BIG reputation and it was also the cheapest preamp to get that rating back then...
well other than the hype, i must say it's really difficult to identify the sonic characteristics of this active/passive (user selectable) preamp..... it just sounded like nothing at all....... compared to a straight wire passive attenuator, there could be just that tiny weeny bit of transparency lost....... very very minor.... negligible especially if u need the gain.....
again it's out of production......
power amp:
channel islands audio d100 mono block:
100 watts per channel at 8 ohms..... hypex-based class d analogue switching amp...... each one smaller than a loaf of gardenia bread.......... while i could try to attempt to convey how good the amps are in words, i dun think i can do a better job than wes phillips of www.stereophile.com
so pls check out his review......
loudspeakers:
polkaudio LSi-15
3 and 1/2 way 4-driver floorstanding loudspeaker......... this is another major steal ..... at the display set price, it's almost foolish to ignore this pair of loudspeaker..... even if the dealer were to order a brand new pair, it's still worth every penny.....
well at the risk of being accused of believing too much in reviews..... i suggest you read what wes phillips has to say about the LSi-15 at http://www.onhifi.com/product/polk_lsi15.htm .......
other items:
pls visit http://www.audiocircle.com/systems/index.php?systemid=592
suddenly realised that it's almost at the mid-point of the year.....so fast huh, seems like jan and feb was just days ago.....time really flies, time and tide wait for no man......gone means gone ......
grow older day by day, week by week and then finally year by year......my birthday month was may, and it's oredi over in a flash....
ok lah back to the topic......this morning quite straightforward.....just list the various components i am currently using.......can refer to the pics in the link....
http://www.audiocircle.com/gallery/index.php?cat=48747
source:
california audio labs delta cd transport......
i like this shoebox-sized transport very much.... it's affordable and sounds great..... comes with S/PDIF, Toslink and AES/EBU digital outputs....... during its production years, it used to sell at about S$1500.......
the original piece developed a problem after years of loyal service and also could not read cd-r discs properly...... approached the dealer and was offered a mint display set for a small change....... it's still in service today haha...... great work cal.... too bad they are not around anymore....
msb link iii full nelson and p1000 power supply........
before this dac, i was using an audionote dac1, a simple but pretty good dac with a tubed output stage...... the AN used 2 sovtek 6922 triodes..... and way before that, was using audio alchemy dde....... haha, can anyone remember that classic???..... small in size but had big sound, big reputation and relatively small-price....
pre-amp:
adcom gfp-750
this classic preamp was designed by nelson pass for adcom....... i think at first not many people paid attention to it until it was reviewed and awarded a class A rating by stereophile..... overnight it gained a BIG reputation and it was also the cheapest preamp to get that rating back then...
well other than the hype, i must say it's really difficult to identify the sonic characteristics of this active/passive (user selectable) preamp..... it just sounded like nothing at all....... compared to a straight wire passive attenuator, there could be just that tiny weeny bit of transparency lost....... very very minor.... negligible especially if u need the gain.....
again it's out of production......
power amp:
channel islands audio d100 mono block:
100 watts per channel at 8 ohms..... hypex-based class d analogue switching amp...... each one smaller than a loaf of gardenia bread.......... while i could try to attempt to convey how good the amps are in words, i dun think i can do a better job than wes phillips of www.stereophile.com
so pls check out his review......
loudspeakers:
polkaudio LSi-15
3 and 1/2 way 4-driver floorstanding loudspeaker......... this is another major steal ..... at the display set price, it's almost foolish to ignore this pair of loudspeaker..... even if the dealer were to order a brand new pair, it's still worth every penny.....
well at the risk of being accused of believing too much in reviews..... i suggest you read what wes phillips has to say about the LSi-15 at http://www.onhifi.com/product/polk_lsi15.htm .......
other items:
pls visit http://www.audiocircle.com/systems/index.php?systemid=592
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