terance
1000+ Head-Fier
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- Oct 9, 2006
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It has been about 4 months since I've converted to vinyl, and about 2 months since I've gotten rid of the headphones in favor of speakers. This thread is mearly to give my impressions on both changes, which I felt was very big, and inform people of some great gear at even greater prices.
A small run down before I give impressions, the [XX] denotes how much I paid to have the item shipped to my doorstep.
[size=small]Sources:[/size]
Technics SL-Q3 (Shure M44E Cartridge) [$100] and Sony CDP-CE105 [$25]
[size=small]Phono Stage:[/size]
NAD PP2 [$151]
[size=small]Amp:[/size]
Sonic T-Amp [$32]
[size=small]Cable:[/size]
Monster Speaker Cable [$18]
RCA Pair DIY'd by Gil Schwartzen [$20]
[size=small]Speakers:[/size]
Athena Technologies AS-B1 [$81]
Making the transition was pretty hard, especially since I jumped from digital to analog, then headphones to speakers within a few months. The things I really loved about my Grado SR-325i, which I will buy again some day and I've made that very clear on this forum, was the detail and overall balance between the bass/mid/trebble. Switching to vinyl however was an entierly different beast. I still to this day struggle with surface noise, but I've found my tricks to limit it the best I can. Eventually I broke down, and purchased a Sony CD Player it holds 5 cds, and I don't have to clean a damn thing
.
I won't get into a vinyl vs. cd debate here, but I will come out and say that I probably cannot ABX the difference between them. All I know is that when I listen to vinyl I almost always listen to the record from side A to side B (and on to C, D, E ect.) and when I listen to a CD I will most likely not listen to the entire thing. It is the desire to just flip that record one more time that has kept vinyl at the center of my set up and not a digital medium (be it an iPod, or my MacBook).
For giggles, here are some innards of the CD player:
I don't know a thing about this, aside from for 25 bucks I don't think I could have gotten anything better, it looks pretty slick too. I really like the front hatch, and prefer it over the slide out style of my old Sony CE595's front ahtch.
Now for the Athena Technology AS-B1's. There was a huge sale on the AS-B1.2's, but after shipping they would have cost me 90 something dollars. In hindsight, I probably should have splurged the extra 9 dollars (give or take) for the AS-B1.2's, but hindsight is 20/20. That being said, there isn't a day that goes by when I think to myself, "Wow, will I ever have to upgrade these?". The trebble on the AS-B1's really reminds me of my Grado SR-325i's and that makes me happy, however the bass is more reminiscent of my UE Super.fi 3's. Ok, maybe the bass is not lacking to that extent, but it surely isn't as prominent as I'd like it. With this in mind, everything else about the speakers is fantastic and I don't regret spending the money on them, but I might still regret not spending the extra money for the AS-B1.2's. I think some of the credit I gave to these speakers can be attributed to what is driving them. [This portion was all written listening to the Technics deck]
Have 32 extra bucks? I can tell you what to do with them, go to amazon.com and pick up a Sonic T-Amp. In this section, I will review the Sonic T-Amp and the NAD PP2 togeather, mostly because It has been so long since I heard the PP2 with my headphone set up, so I really can't pick up the specifics. What does 32 bucks get you? Crystal clear highs, buttery mids and super low bass. . .kind of. The highs are really great, but I think most of the credit really should go to the NAD PP2 phono stage on this one (or maybe vinyl?). I feel that this is the case because when I listen to my Sony CE105 there is a noticible lack of the upper range during playback. I have no complaints about the mid range when listening to vinyl, it reminds me of the Grado sound, just a little more laid back. I will admit that I absolutely love the mids on the Sony CE105, and I will also admit that it is much easier to achieve higher volumes with the Sony than it is with the Technics (probably a volume mathing problem). Bass? A little lacking, but I feel that this is more of a speaker problem than it is an amp or source problem. I couldn't tell you what makes me feel that way, just a hunch. Why haven't I mentioned Gil's interconnects? Probably because I don't feel like the color the sound much at all, they take the sound from the source to the amp which is really all I need. For 20 bucks you really can't go wrong, they look pretty slick too.
In all, this system has really opened my eyes. For a great price I can listen to all of my LP's and all of my CD's. It had to be a great price because I am a 20 year old college student and the bills are only going to get worse
. I should probably say right now that almost all of the components were chosen based on price, $20 interconnects, $32 amp and a $25 digital source.
Hope you enjoyed reading,
-Matt K.
A small run down before I give impressions, the [XX] denotes how much I paid to have the item shipped to my doorstep.
[size=small]Sources:[/size]
Technics SL-Q3 (Shure M44E Cartridge) [$100] and Sony CDP-CE105 [$25]
[size=small]Phono Stage:[/size]
NAD PP2 [$151]
[size=small]Amp:[/size]
Sonic T-Amp [$32]
[size=small]Cable:[/size]
Monster Speaker Cable [$18]
RCA Pair DIY'd by Gil Schwartzen [$20]
[size=small]Speakers:[/size]
Athena Technologies AS-B1 [$81]
Making the transition was pretty hard, especially since I jumped from digital to analog, then headphones to speakers within a few months. The things I really loved about my Grado SR-325i, which I will buy again some day and I've made that very clear on this forum, was the detail and overall balance between the bass/mid/trebble. Switching to vinyl however was an entierly different beast. I still to this day struggle with surface noise, but I've found my tricks to limit it the best I can. Eventually I broke down, and purchased a Sony CD Player it holds 5 cds, and I don't have to clean a damn thing
I won't get into a vinyl vs. cd debate here, but I will come out and say that I probably cannot ABX the difference between them. All I know is that when I listen to vinyl I almost always listen to the record from side A to side B (and on to C, D, E ect.) and when I listen to a CD I will most likely not listen to the entire thing. It is the desire to just flip that record one more time that has kept vinyl at the center of my set up and not a digital medium (be it an iPod, or my MacBook).
For giggles, here are some innards of the CD player:
I don't know a thing about this, aside from for 25 bucks I don't think I could have gotten anything better, it looks pretty slick too. I really like the front hatch, and prefer it over the slide out style of my old Sony CE595's front ahtch.
Now for the Athena Technology AS-B1's. There was a huge sale on the AS-B1.2's, but after shipping they would have cost me 90 something dollars. In hindsight, I probably should have splurged the extra 9 dollars (give or take) for the AS-B1.2's, but hindsight is 20/20. That being said, there isn't a day that goes by when I think to myself, "Wow, will I ever have to upgrade these?". The trebble on the AS-B1's really reminds me of my Grado SR-325i's and that makes me happy, however the bass is more reminiscent of my UE Super.fi 3's. Ok, maybe the bass is not lacking to that extent, but it surely isn't as prominent as I'd like it. With this in mind, everything else about the speakers is fantastic and I don't regret spending the money on them, but I might still regret not spending the extra money for the AS-B1.2's. I think some of the credit I gave to these speakers can be attributed to what is driving them. [This portion was all written listening to the Technics deck]
Have 32 extra bucks? I can tell you what to do with them, go to amazon.com and pick up a Sonic T-Amp. In this section, I will review the Sonic T-Amp and the NAD PP2 togeather, mostly because It has been so long since I heard the PP2 with my headphone set up, so I really can't pick up the specifics. What does 32 bucks get you? Crystal clear highs, buttery mids and super low bass. . .kind of. The highs are really great, but I think most of the credit really should go to the NAD PP2 phono stage on this one (or maybe vinyl?). I feel that this is the case because when I listen to my Sony CE105 there is a noticible lack of the upper range during playback. I have no complaints about the mid range when listening to vinyl, it reminds me of the Grado sound, just a little more laid back. I will admit that I absolutely love the mids on the Sony CE105, and I will also admit that it is much easier to achieve higher volumes with the Sony than it is with the Technics (probably a volume mathing problem). Bass? A little lacking, but I feel that this is more of a speaker problem than it is an amp or source problem. I couldn't tell you what makes me feel that way, just a hunch. Why haven't I mentioned Gil's interconnects? Probably because I don't feel like the color the sound much at all, they take the sound from the source to the amp which is really all I need. For 20 bucks you really can't go wrong, they look pretty slick too.
In all, this system has really opened my eyes. For a great price I can listen to all of my LP's and all of my CD's. It had to be a great price because I am a 20 year old college student and the bills are only going to get worse
Hope you enjoyed reading,
-Matt K.
