I was looking through the photos on my iPhone the other day and realized there’s a lot of equipment I’ve brought in over the recent years with the intention of providing a full review, but, for one reason or another, just never got around to it. The photo summary also reminded me that I have an illness. Buying gear, playing with it, fully enjoying it, then…for some obscure reason, deciding to sell it. Many of these components should never have been sold, and I regret my oftentimes impulsive nature and desire to rapidly abandon a component to try something new.
Flicking through, there have been a few items that I should begin to think seriously about replacing, like for like, as selling them made no sense, and my system and its performance have suffered as a consequence. For example:
Emotive Audio Epifania – Fred Voltz’s masterpiece line-stage. A fantastic sounding preamp, wonderfully transparent and musically engaging. Its only weakness – the absence of a remote. SOLD
Quad ESL 57 – A timeless classic that I owned in the early ’90s and replaced around 2021, the Quad 57 does things that I haven’t heard from any other speaker. It provides a clear and unimpeded window to the recorded music and creates such a lifelike presentation. Its only real weaknesses – the shortage of low bass and the inability to play at concert levels. SOLD
Thor TPA-60 – I loved these monoblocks from the long-defunct Thor Audio. Once the old EL34s that came to me with the amp were replaced by two new matched quads of KT77s, the amps truly came to life. I’ve heard more holographic amps with more bass and more authority, but their ability to just make beautiful music was second to none. Perhaps the Synthesis A100 Titan comes close but it doesn’t look as gorgeous as the Thor monoblocks with their etched and backlit glass panels and round chassis! SOLD
More of my decisions to sell components were questionable, I should’ve worked harder at getting the Klipschorns to sound right in my room, same with the Altec VOTT A7s. The Dunlavy SC-III should never have been sold, for what little I paid for them, they should’ve been relegated to another room in the house. My Origin Live Resolution MKIII with Illustrious tonearm should never have been sold, nor should the Audio Tekne MC6310 cartridge. The list goes on.
Anyway, scrolling through my old photos gave me the idea to throw a post together capturing some of the highlights of the ‘system evolution’ that has taken place since moving to this home in Virginia. I know some of you just like looking at photos of gear, I do it all the time 🙂 I’ll also throw in some comments on some of the equipment shown, if you’d like more information on any particular component, drop me a note in the comments at the end of this page.
So here goes:
I moved to Virginia in 2019 with very little stereo equipment. Before I left Sturgeon Bay WI, to move south, I sold off almost all my system, including the Merlin Music VSM speakers, a VPI TNT turntable, and most of the other stuff. So from the get-go, my system consisted of an old Cambridge Audio 640a integrated amp, a Cambridge Audio 851C CD/DAC, a pair of old hand-me-down Michael Green speakers, a Rega TT, and not much else. Wow. Look at this:
It’s barely recognizable when compared to how things look now, but you can actually see a dining table in the dining room, off the main room. This was before I took over the dining room space for Audio Resurgence!
Conrad Johnson Evolution 2000 – Music Hall MMF-11 turntable – Dunlavy SC-III speakers.
It didn’t take me long to find the local audio dealers, and the first place I came across was Audio Exchange up in Richmond. Big shout out to Donny and Dave up at Audio Exchange, where I was able to get back on the ladder by picking up a couple of used items at a reasonable price. I can’t remember which came first, but in quick succession came a Conrad Johnson Evolution 2000, a Music Hall MMF-11 turntable, and from a private seller, a mint pair of Dunlavy SC-III speakers. I’ve talked at length about the Dunlavy speakers in a review at the link, and the Conrad Johnson Evo 2000, but I haven’t commented much on the Music Hall MMF-11 turntable pictured below. I consider this to be a very underrated turntable, it performed well for the modest sum that I paid for it. And while Music Hall turntables are very popular, it’s generally the lesser models that show up on the used markets, with very few of the MMF-11 appearing for sale. My tip – if you see one of these on Audiogon or USAudiomart, buy it.
You can also see the HSU VTF-3 sub that came with me from Wisconsin, and also the fruits of a DIY acoustic treatment project.
Above – the innards of the big Conrad Johnson Evolution 2000. This is/was a beast of an amp and sounded great. The story goes that CJ stopped making this amp because of a high parts cost and small profit margins. If you find one of these in good condition – buy it. It’s a real sleeper product from CJ, right up there with the Conrad Johnson CA200 control amplifier, which is also a fantastic component (I haven’t heard the newer CA150).
Dr. Feickert Volare with Origin Live Silver tonearm
Again, I sold the Music Hall MMF-11 and quickly regretted it, but its replacement won my heart – the Dr. Feickert Volare with Origin Live Silver tonearm.
I really like Dr. Feickert turntables, so much so that when I accidentally sold the Volare, I quickly bought another one, this time with a Jelco arm. The photo below is of my first Volare, with the Origin Live arm. Again, this was courtesy of Audio Exchange in Richmond, they gave me a fair deal on the table and also sold me the Ortofon Cadenza Bronze that you see fitted to the table. The Cadenza Bronze is a great fit for the Dr. Feickert Volare, don’t be put off by the high cost of the cartridge relative to the turntable, the Volare is more than capable of extracting the full potential from expensive cartridges. If the cost of the Cadenza Bronze is too high, consider mating a Dr. Feickert Volare with a Hana ML – a great combo.
Thor Audio TP-1000 MKII.
Soon after buying the Dr. Feickert table above, I came across an interesting preamp – the Thor Audio TP-1000 MKII. I confess to having bought this purely on looks, though I did read a couple of positive reviews beforehand. This was a really nice preamp and I kept it in the system for a while, before starting to lose interest and rolling in a few possible replacements. I’d liken the performance of the Thor Audio TP-1000 MKII to an Emotive Audio Sira LE that came along later, and in a higher league than a Supratek Chardonnay that I owned a few years back, that also checked an ‘eye candy’ box. The Thor Audio was far more resolving than the old Supratek amp, in fact, I could never really understand the appeal of Supratek, based on what I heard from their Chardonnay. Anyway….here’s the beautiful Thor Audio TP-1000 MKII with its outboard power supply.
So this is how the system looked for a little while – The Dr. Feickert Volare, a Thor Audio TP-1000 MKII preamp, the Conrad Johnson Evolution 2000 power amp, and the Dunlavy SC-III speakers. The phonostage situation was fluid, when the photo was taken below it could have been a iFi Audio iPhono2, a MoFi phone, or possibly even a Allnic Audio H1202, though I think the Allnic Audio came later. I’m still using the Cambridge Audio 851C Player/DAC at this point:
Conrad Johnson Preamp
I forget what model of Conrad Johnson preamp this is, but it came along and sounded really nice, then one day I woke up and it had gone. I recall owning a CT7, an ET7, and perhaps a CT5??
Edge NL 10.2 Power Amp
Actually, I’ve skipped ahead perhaps 3 or 4 weeks, because it appears quite a bit has changed. As well as a nasty toe fungus, I’ve acquired an Edge power amp, the CJ preamp, an Ayre power amp, and it looks like some new speakers, possibly the NHT 2.9 speakers that I bought from a local pawn shop for $150 !
The Edge NL 10.2 Amp was upgraded by Steven Norber, former Edge Electronics owner/designer, and was a real beast of an amp yet with remarkable finesse. It sounded a notch or two up from the CJ Evo 2000 that it replaced, and ought to have sounded better since it cost me three times the coin!
Look at this thing. Hewed from a solid block of aluminum and weighed close to 100#. I eventually sold this to a gentleman who knew a good deal about its origins and wanted it for use in a professional recording studio.
Ayre V-5x 2-Channel Power Amp
Somewhere along the way I bought the Ayre power amp shown in the photo above. I believe the model was the V-5x. The Ayre V-5x was a fine power amp, though it didn’t stick around for long. My understanding of Ayre amps is that they carry something of a ‘house sound’, and in the case of the V-5x I would describe it as quite smooth, detailed, a little laid back in character, but very easy to listen to, and musically engaging. I’d like to own the VX-R Twenty, or the Ayre MX-R monoblocks at some point. If you have a pair for sale, hit me up!
Enjoying the Thor preamp as I had, it only made sense to buy the Thor TPA-60 monoblocks, when a pair came up for sale. Though I was cheating on the Thor preamp at the time, I still had it in a closet somewhere, so out it came to work alongside the amazing new monoblocks.
Origin Live Resolution MKIV, and the Illustrious Tonearm | Zesto Audio Andros 1.2 and Manley Labs Chinook
A lot of stuff is coming and going at this point and there’s a gap of perhaps six months or so between the last and next photos. In December 2019 I ordered a new Turntable package from Origin Live in the UK – The Origin Live Resolution MKIV, and the Illustrious Tonearm. I up-specified it to include all available options, and it was a thing of beauty when it arrived.
So excited was I that I had to rush out and buy a Zesto Audio Andros 1.2 and a Manley Labs Chinook (in case the Zesto stopped working for whatever reason.
I liked the Origin Live setup a lot and reviewed it here – Origin Live Resolution Review, and later here – Origin Live Resolution V Dr. Feickert Volare
The Zesto Andros and the Manley Chinook were two very different sounding phonostages, hit the link for a detailed review. In a nutshell, the Zesto Andros’ main traits were detail and dynamics, whereas the Manley Chinook was warmer and more full-bodied. I liked them both but sold the Chinook (shock horror) then eventually replaced the Zesto Andros with my current Manley Steelhead. My rationale for buying the Steelhead was that it might combine the strengths of both the Zesto Andros 1.2 and the Chinook. Warmth and fullness with detail and dynamics. More later.
Allnic L-5000 DHT Linestage
Gear game and went, of note however is the next preamp on the list – the Allnic Audio L-5000 DHT. The Allnic L-5000 DHT is a pretty remarkable preamp, one I would highly recommend you get to listen to if the opportunity arises. I came across the brand Allnic when I reviewed their H1202 phono preamp here a unit that I really liked quite a lot. While the H1202 is relatively entry-level, the Allnic L-5000 DHT sat a fair bit up the preamp range, though since superseded by several new models.
Click Here to go to Part II of this System Evolution, where we’re edging towards the dark side.
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