I lost 400 pounds of weight in 7 years !!!!

[fatoldgit]

So being an old geezer, I was stuck with the curse that old audiophiles have: multiple sources which in my case not only meant a large collection of vinyl and CD's but also a largish collection of concert DVD's.

So to support this, we see below my system as it was in 2010:

Now before you tag me as an "audiophool" note that the equipment makers (Ayre, Brytson, Oracle, Rogue Audio. Acoustic Solid, Lexicon) are not purveyors of snake oil products but rather are solid, engineering based companies. And yes I ran tubes but before that I ran Bryston amps... nothing wrong with trying some ying after some yang.

Also note, I am at my heart a minimalist but that is an impossibility when you have three source formats that you want to play with reasonable fidelity.

With my purchase of a Slimdevices Transporter in 2006, I started to nibble at the edges of ripping my CD's but given a busy career that involved lots of travel it wasn't until I retired at the rip old age of 58 in late 2018 that I could get really stuck in on my "weight" reduction program.

The first issue was what to do with my 2500 vinyl albums: rip them?.... yeah nah. So I decide to match each record with it's equivalent CD. While that was going on, I went about ripping and tagging my existing 2500 CD's and 450 music concert DVD's along with the trickle feed of CD's replacing my vinyl. Hardest part of ripping.... finding decent album art.

In May 2021, armed with 5000 CD rips/450 DVD rips, I could finally break free from the legacy shackles that bound me and rid myself of most of my legacy source equipment (I kept the CD transport for "reasons").

Rather than deal with the hassle of selling it (especially given I now lived back in New Zealand but all my gear was american voltage from the time I lived there), I gave it all away with the caveat that the donee needed to pay for shipping. See https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/free-to-a-good-home.1084824/

This then left me with my tube amps and what to replace them with. This wasn't an urgent imperative so it has taken me 5 years to assess alternatives with the last 2 years seriously watching the Class D market.

I have vacillated between many options (even considered going 100% spdif with the pair of Peach Tree GAN 1's) but have finally settled on some amps from Apollon. The "issue" was do I go for something with a huge SINAD or not but in the end I went for NC252's cause at my age any thing above it's SINAD of 96 would really be wasted and just be a measurement wank.

I also needed a new pre-amp but with only one source I didn't need source switching and I like passive pre's (have used them before) so went for a Audalytic HP70. I can turn all the gain/amp'ing off to run passive and I do trust Gustard with regard to their measurements.

It it important to note that I run a four channel system (two front speakers, two side speakers) so I need four channels of amplication, noting also that all source material is two channel. To run this I need two volume controls: one from my DAC for the front speakers (a master volume control) and a pre-amp slaved to this master control to adjust the relative volume of my side speakers on a case by case basis.

With the purchases made but not here, I turned my attention to what my racking might look like using my existing rack stock (which is extensive as per photo above !!!). The rack plinths are 1 inch black acyrilc and have interchangable legs of various heights (mostly 3" and 4" and smaller amounts of 5", 6" and 8").

The sticking point with any design is my front speaker cables use spades which given the lack of height of the Apollon amps and lack of "wiggle room" with back panel connector spacing meant that the back of the Apollon amps needed to be flush against the back of any rack plinth.

I tried various layouts "virtually" and the one below is the winner (all diagrams are to scale). Because I don't have the new gear here yet, I can't provide a photo but will do so once installed. I do however have a mock up "photo" at the end.

The racking design has a larger central rack with three smaller racks nested around it and the back of the amps face towards the central rack (i.e. when viewed from the front you see the sides of the amps). This is to provide for the spade connector clearance.

This also allows me to hide cabling (can't stand seeing cabling). My other pet, non-negotiable, peeves are a device must be mostly anodised silver (hate black... or black body/silver face) and controls/screens must be 100% symmetrical (small push buttons exempted).

I use a DEQX HDP-4 as my DAC/PEQ device and it also does my 2 channel to 4 channel matrixing. It is hidden at the base of the central rack as the only control I need is volume and it's black!!!!!....but I did compromise cause I got it at half price as a dealer demo... the one exception to my rules...and hidden it will always remain.

 

[thcdru2k]

Less is certainly more. Listening to music should be stress free. System esthetics and simple switching make a huge difference

 

[Oddball]

Not really sure what to make of the post, but all the pre-pro seems a bit outdated. Things are done a bit different nowadays and include room EQ options.

Even the great Gallo speakers are a bit small for this age. You have them on the customs stands, which is great, but it will not really bring them at par with current line of big towers. I have 6 of them and they are really amazing surround speakers. No holes barred.

 

[Karmacoma]

And what's more, seems you haven't even discovered streaming yet!

 

[fatoldgit]

And what's more, seems you haven't even discovered streaming yet!

Well..

One of my three Slimdevices Transporter happily streams Qobuz (been a member since 2009) from in my office.

But yes, in my system I only do ripped CD's.... it makes life simple...remember I am at heart a minimalist.

 

[middlemarch]

Went thru a similar process, different end point. First to go was all the vinyl and tape. Found it was all available at my fingertips on Apple Music, in multiple versions, all much better sound quality. Then started the cd rip process, but the conclusion was same as above. Then became intrigued with multi-channel audio (not much of a movie fan), so that led to Atmos, plus Dirac Art at the end.

So now it’s speakers, driven by an AVR, with the only source my Apple TV. Done. Never been happier, in fact it’s the first time in my audio journey (over 50 years) that I’m actually satisfied. With an iPad to rule them all.

 

[fatoldgit]

Not really sure what to make of the post, but all the pre-pro seems a bit outdated. Things are done a bit different nowadays and include room EQ options.

Even the great Gallo speakers are a bit small for this age. You have them on the customs stands, which is great, but it will not really bring them at par with current line of big towers. I have 6 of them and they are really amazing surround speakers. No holes barred.

"Not really sure what to make of the post,"...don't need to make anything of it, just a brief glimpse into one man's quest for his version of audio nirvana.

"pre-pro" not sure what you mean,,, not a single "pre-pro" in my old system or my new. Systems have always been two channel and I am NOT doing any funky faux four channel stuff (like some dolby thing).

To state again: this is not a home theatre.

No processing happens to my side (well actually they are rear speakers)... all I do is run them out of phase with the fronts (do at the speaker cable level) and control the relative volume with a second device. What has happened though is extensive re-positioning of fronts verses rears verses seat position to get the balance right.

The reason for this is simple: most of my recordings are stereo from late 50's to early 70's when pan potting didn't exist so you get the sound stage hard left, hard right and dead center. This makes it difficult to get a realistic sound stage (I am a spatial freak) cause the sound stage is so localized. So running four speakers allows me to stretch the left and right speaker imaging to something realistic. This also works fine for modern recordings.

"big towers" I love my Gallo's and won't change them...I don't want big towers... none of my music is as bass heavy it's all about mid-range and top end delights and the Gallo's are great in this area.

Peter

 

[fatoldgit]

Less is certainly more. Listening to music should be stress free. System esthetics and simple switching make a huge difference

yep and now I am there..just needed the time!!!

 

[xanalog]

And what's more, seems you haven't even discovered streaming yet!

Why would he? Based on the following:

I went about ripping and tagging my existing 2500 CD's and 450 music concert DVD's along with the trickle feed of CD's replacing my vinyl. Hardest part of ripping.... finding decent album art.

I did not save 400 pounds but I pretty much went the same route as @fatoldgit and happily living after and independent of the need for online-streaming.