Start of the Journey

Alan Weir 1

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So after discussions with my financial advisor (and gorgeous wife!😀) have been given the go ahead to start upgrading my system in the next couple of months.

Hopefully this will involve getting new speakers, amp/streaming amp and turntable plus various bit and bobs.

Most of my listening is done via Spotify connect and Vinyl but I have the telebox connected as well.

Most of my current kit will be moved up to my bed room all except the BK sub and the speaker stands.

My budget for this is between 10-11k and have already started looking around various sites and shops. I would prefer to buy local and if possible all from the one place so that I get the chance to dem it all together, and possibly get a better deal.

So for your perusal and consideration a ( not definitive) list of components that I'm considering.

TT - Rega Planar 8, Gyrodec with technoarm, Origin live Auora or Calypso with silver arm, Vertere DG-1, Acoustic solid 111 metal and EAT C sharp/ major.

Was thinking of dipping my toes into the world of the MC cartridge but looking for some advice/pointers with this.

Amps - Lyngdorf 1120, lyngdorf 2170 + streamer, Moon Ace amp/streamer, Moon 240i + streamer, Rega Atheos/Elicit-R + streamer

Speakers - Fyne audio 700s, 701s, F1-5s (made just down the road from me), Dynaudio special 40, PMC twenty 22i, Focal Kanta No1s and B&W 705 signature.

As you can see the worm hole has opened, just looking to get a well balanced clean sounding system with plenty of clarity across all ranges but also not to cold and clinical.

My room is around 4.5m × 5.5m and I've attached a picture of where the system will sit.

Sorry about the length of the post but as my Great great Uncle Tolstoy always said " why use twenty words when a thousand will suffice!"

Looking forward to your advice/comments/ridicule

Al
20210823_170101.jpg
 
@Alan Weir 1

Nice.

I see you're in Scotland and if anywhere near Glasgow, I can highly recommend Loud and Clear (on St Vincent street).

Keep us posted on kit as you buy.

Ps. Sonus Faber are worth an audition.
 
I would add the Clearaudio Concept turntable to the mix. A friend of mine ran this off against the Gyrodec and the Clearadio won but quite a bit. You can get it with their mm or mc cartridge as a bundle. But then again the Gyrodec is so good looking!

With your speaker placement I think the Lyngdorfs would be of benefit with the room perfect dsp. Iirc someone on here has the tdai1120, dynaudio special 40’s and a sub, edit - looks like it is @andycc72 .

Sounds like you are in for some fun.
 
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@Alan Weir 1

Nice.

I see you're in Scotland and if anywhere near Glasgow, I can highly recommend Loud and Clear (on St Vincent street).

Keep us posted on kit as you buy.

Ps. Sonus Faber are worth an audition.
Popped into Loud and Clear on Saturday for a quick peruse. They are a stockist of Fyne audio speakers,Moon, and rega kit
My only issue was they were a bit dismissive of Room correction, felt as if it was a bit below them even though they carry the SA30.
 
I would add the Clearaudio Concept turntable to the mix. A friend of mine ran this off against the Gyrodec and the Clearadio won but quite a bit. You can get it with their mm or mc cartridge as a bundle. But then again the Gyrodec is so good looking!

With your speaker placement I think the Lyngdorfs would be of benefit with the room perfect dsp. Iirc someone on here has the tdai1120, dynaudio special 40’s and a sub edit - looks like it is @andycc72 .

Sounds like you are in for some fun.
Yeah, had looked at the Clearaudio and probably a very fine TT, but (and I know I shouldn't be saying this!) they look so so dull.
Would like the TT to have a bit of glitz about it aesthetically as well as sounding great.
 
Hi Alan

i can vouch for the EAT turntable. I have a C major with an Ortofon blue MC cartridge paired with a Moon 115 phono stage. Sounds great. And dare I say it, looks a bit special too! 🤫

Dave
 
I would add the Clearaudio Concept turntable to the mix. A friend of mine ran this off against the Gyrodec and the Clearadio won but quite a bit. You can get it with their mm or mc cartridge as a bundle. But then again the Gyrodec is so good looking!

With your speaker placement I think the Lyngdorfs would be of benefit with the room perfect dsp. Iirc someone on here has the tdai1120, dynaudio special 40’s and a sub, edit - looks like it is @andycc72 .

Sounds like you are in for some fun.
I have the 1120 with the Dynaudio S40 which I also run with 2 x REL T5i’s. To my ear and in my room I think it sounds sublime. I haven’t heard any of the other kit the OP mentions so unable to say how it compares.
 
Hi Alan

i can vouch for the EAT turntable. I have a C major with an Ortofon blue MC cartridge paired with a Moon 115 phono stage. Sounds great. And dare I say it, looks a bit special too! 🤫

Dave
And yes you can dare say it!😀 Aesthetics to me are an important part of the set up. You want to be sitting in a pleasing environment when listening, it all adds to the ambiance. Yeah sometimes I do close my eyes to listen but a lot if the time they are wide open.
 
I have the 1120 with the Dynaudio S40 which I also run with 2 x REL T5i’s. To my ear and in my room I think it sounds sublime. I haven’t heard any of the other kit the OP mentions so unable to say how it compares.
Do you run a TT with that? Reason I'm asking was thinking of going down the MC route but was wondering being a fully digital amp if you would notice the difference?
 
I know you want to buy form the same place so here are a couple of tempters from Fanthorpes in Hull

Kef Reference 1 speakers £5k


Leema Tucana II amp £3k


or Musical Fidelity 6 PRE & PRX £3.7k


Gyrodec + HR power supply - will need phono stage, tonearm and cartridge (£1-2k) £2k


or they have a pre-owned Pro-ject 12 but looks like it has some wear on it.
 
I know you want to buy form the same place so here are a couple of tempters from Fanthorpes in Hull

Kef Reference 1 speakers £5k


Leema Tucana II amp £3k


or Musical Fidelity 6 PRE & PRX £3.7k


Gyrodec + HR power supply - will need phono stage, tonearm and cartridge (£1-2k) £2k


or they have a pre-owned Pro-ject 12 but looks like it has some wear on it.
Thanks for the heads up. The main reason for getting them all from the same place was so I could demo the kit all together. Hull is maybe just a little to far!😀
Also if I can stick to North of the border that would be ideal.

Also would prefer to buy new. Full warranty, that new box smell, and being just a wee bit of a snob!etc
 
Do you run a TT with that? Reason I'm asking was thinking of going down the MC route but was wondering being a fully digital amp if you would notice the difference?
I do run a Technics SL1500C and use the phono stage in the 1120. It's the first turntable I have had in over 30 years and I have only ever used the internal phono stage and the one in the 1120 with an MM cartridge. I've never used an MC cartridge so am in no position to comment I'm afraid.
 
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The Lyngdorf TDAI-2170 you mentioned is discontinued, but its replacement, the TDAI-3400 offers the advantage of including the streamer you had as a separate item. You'll probably want the high end analogue input module (adds support for MM) and If you want to run the TV through it, the HDMI module. This will set you back ca 3.5K.

If you go for MC, you'll need to budget in a decent step-up transformer / headamp. My preference is a step-up transformer, but a decent one can be quite expensive. An MC cartridge + transformer will eat significantly into the 10-11K budget; I would therefore suggesting remaining with MM at this stage.

The photo of the room implies that it may well be rather active in its interactions with the audio system. Room Correction may help to tame it, but I feel that you ought to budget something for room "treatment".
 
@Alan Weir 1 Congrats on gaining financial approval🤣

Look forward to seeing the new kit develop.

Since I stopped WFH (Deepjoy!) the home office has become a dumping ground and haven’t used my kit for the last 5 months, Hoping when I set it up again in a different room it will sound like a new system and hence save me another upgrade !
 
I ant help with much if this, but I can vouch for the Rega P8 with either the Ania Pro or (for another £150 in a bundle) the Apheta 3. A quite stunning combination.
 
I would give Monitor Audio gold 100’s a demo too. I run mine through a Yamaha AS2100 Amp and Rega planar 3 with the neo psu. I Love my set up, but I’m saving for the Roksan Xerxes, just because I’ve always wanted one! 🤣

Just picked up the new blue sound node, great streamer for the money.

Good luck with the demo’s.
 
It will be fascinating to see what you get. My gut tells me for that sort of money you should demo the TDAI 3400 with analogue add in which may enable you to save a bit on the speakers. I don't have any experience with Lyngdorf but there definitely seems to be a lot of love for them on the forum.
 
Also would prefer to buy new. Full warranty, that new box smell, and being just a wee bit of a snob!etc
I know what you mean! When I got my Spendor A7s I figured these babies would be with me a while & I wanted to be the first to open the box, set 'em up & listen to them.
I have not heard the PMC 20 range but the 25i range sounds awesome.
Hi Fi Corner are based in Scotland & have branches in Edinburgh & Falkirk. Reviews suggest they are very good & helpful.
I think you are going to have a lot of fun on your little journey. Good luck & enjoy the process. 👍
 
It will be fascinating to see what you get. My gut tells me for that sort of money you should demo the TDAI 3400 with analogue add in which may enable you to save a bit on the speakers. I don't have any experience with Lyngdorf but there definitely seems to be a lot of love for them on the forum.
Yeah have been considering the 3400 but apart from power does it offer much more than the 1120? It's not a huge room I am trying to fill and the savings could be spent else where.
 
Yeah have been considering the 3400 but apart from power does it offer much more than the 1120? It's not a huge room I am trying to fill and the savings could be spent else where.
That is very true but for me at least I don't think there are enough input/outputs on the 1120. I could be wrong but can you drive a headphone amp and sub woofers?

On another point what stylus/cartridge are you running on your TT? On another thread people were recommending the VM95 range and I ended up buying the SH version as I couldn't get hold of the ML version and the difference from my Ortofon Red is staggering.
 
That is very true but for me at least I don't think there are enough input/outputs on the 1120. I could be wrong but can you drive a headphone amp and sub woofers?

On another point what stylus/cartridge are you running on your TT? On another thread people were recommending the VM95 range and I ended up buying the SH version as I couldn't get hold of the ML version and the difference from my Ortofon Red is staggering.
On my TT at the moment it's only a OM20 that is fitted so fairly basic.
 
Just to muddy the waters a little, have you considered sticking with Moving Magnet? You can get extremely fine sound reproduction from a top grade MM/MI Cartridge and for a lot less than a quality MC. I'm referring to the likes of Soundsmith MI models and Audio Note MM. Others are available.

After a great deal of thought, I recently decided to not go the considerably more expensive MC route. I do have a MC cartridge, but improving on it would be very much more costly than I wanted to outlay. So I am sticking with quality MM/MI and making the most of those. If ever I decide to opt for MC, all I would need would be a SUT, but a decent one would be fairly costly.
 
Just to muddy the waters a little, have you considered sticking with Moving Magnet? You can get extremely fine sound reproduction from a top grade MM/MI Cartridge and for a lot less than a quality MC. I'm referring to the likes of Soundsmith MI models and Audio Note MM. Others are available.

After a great deal of thought, I recently decided to not go the considerably more expensive MC route. I do have a MC cartridge, but improving on it would be very much more costly than I wanted to outlay. So I am sticking with quality MM/MI and making the most of those. If ever I decide to opt for MC, all I would need would be a SUT, but a decent one would be fairly costly.
At the moment I am considering both. I hopefully have a couple of demos lined up shortly once the dealers get the items together, one a MM system the other MC
 
Damn it! Now I'm tempted to upgrade my TT to an MC system now.
I was thinking about the Rega Planar6 but now I'm thinking about the Rega Planar8, it will definitely be my last TT & my local hi-fi dealer has both on demo. Rega gives you the option of having a cartridge fitted, Ania, Ania Pro or the Apheta at a discount. There's quite a difference in price between the 3 cartridges.
 
Damn it! Now I'm tempted to upgrade my TT to an MC system now.
I was thinking about the Rega Planar6 but now I'm thinking about the Rega Planar8, it will definitely be my last TT & my local hi-fi dealer has both on demo. Rega gives you the option of having a cartridge fitted, Ania, Ania Pro or the Apheta at a discount. There's quite a difference in price between the 3 cartridges.
Yeah the Planar 8 is in one of the systems I'm going to hear, and as you say a huge difference in price between cartridges.
One of my concerns is the cost of replacing a expensive MC cartridge due to unexpected damage what with having four kids, four cats , two dogs a wife and my big muckle hands!😀
 

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