[Gopher]

This may be a bit scattered and I appologize in advance: I'm taking a 10 minute break from an all nighter to write this.

As the title suggests, I'm thinking of dramatically altering my 2 channel rig and was hoping for some feedback on what you all think of the idea.

Right now I've got the following gear:
Unison Unico (for sale) (VD Power 3)
Musical Fidelity a308cr (Michael Wolff Source PC)
VPI Scout w/ Dynavector DV 20X-L (stainless steel claim & Ersamat)
Dynavector P-75
Von Schweikert VR-1s (Osiris stands)
Cabling is Empress/Grover SR through out.

I'm toying with the idea of essentially selling everything but the speakers/stands in the following ways:

Vinyl rig + cleaning stuff should take ~$3000 used ( significant hit for me)
MuFi could probably take ~1800

I'd send that ~$4800 to a used source with volume control (i.e. high end wadia).

I'd then sell off my Unico ~1100
my headphone rig ~1200
my power 3 ~100
and a little out of pocket to spend ~3K on a sweet pair of tube monoblocks.

Then next year when I had the money and a house of my own (apartment dweller) I could pick up the VR-4jrs I've been lusting over and have a theoretical dream system.

What do you guys think? Is it worth it to loose analog capabilities? I can keep my LPs until I can afford to do both some day in the future.

 

[bln]

What's wrong with it now?

 

[ooheadsoo]

He's got a lot of mid level gear and he's itching for nothing but the top notch.

 

[Gopher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ooheadsoo He's got a lot of mid level gear and he's itching for nothing but the top notch.

lets play nice!

Mid-fi, the system + tweaks carry close to a 20K retail

Nothings wrong per say--I want to maintain the level of transparancy I have currently, but while being less analyitcal and more exciting and emotionally stiring. I want to be mesmorized!

 

[bln]

I've seen you decribe your MuFi source as "analytical" before. Maybe you could just sell that and buy a warmer digital source with the proceeds.

 

[ooheadsoo]

If the vr-4jr's were my kind of stuff, I'd aim for the vr-4jr's first, then the rest of the stuff you wanted

Well, maybe amplification first, but I think they kinda go hand in hand...

 

[Gopher]

Thats a possibility I've pondered for a bit. I love it for it's transparancy/resolution and dynamics though. It's a bold detailed player I think would do really well with all tube gear (hence the hybrid Unico is up for sale).

It seems like you aren't into the idea of me ditching vinyl for now, is that a good conclusion?

I would love to pick up the VR-4jrs first, but my current living space just wont accomodate them. Next school year I'm renting a home with my girlfriend and I'll make sure to get one with a decent sized room for my rig.

Oh, and off the topic--I just bought a couple of Ikea Poang chairs & foot rests for my current listening room.

 

[bln]

I'm sure there are CD players in your price range that can make digital sound amazing, so if that would fit your needs better, go for it. For me, it'd have to be a pretty enormous upgrade to be worth having to set aside my LPs. It probably depends on the size of your collection and how much they mean to you.

Edit: that Poang is a very nice-looking chair, and for once something that I can afford. Maybe for Christmas.

 

[marios_mar]

I believe that selling yout scout would be a mistake!!

I dont think even a $15K CDP will reach your vinyl rig in many terms. Don't quit analog. It is not worth it.

Sell the other stuff and get a Meridian G08 or something.

 

[Gopher]

I am truely suprised at how little support my idea of building a dream digital rig is getting. Vinyl sounds great and all, but is just so much of a hassle--particularly now when I don't have the time for it.

None-the-less, I think I may keep my sources for the time being. I have a pair of VTL TT-25 monoblocks I will probably purchase in the next couple of days for about a grand, and need to start looking for a nice used tubed preamp in the <$1500 range. Perhaps this will give me the sweetness/emotion I'm looking for.

 

[Wolffy]

Quote:

am truely suprised at how little support my idea of building a dream digital rig is getting.

Gopher, I for one, am a digital maniac. I just cannot go back to cleaning ticks and dust spots off of records to put on a Oracle turntable. I just received a Gryphon Mikado cd player which ahem [size=x-small]"we"[/size] will be using at the January show. It is a loaner even though it is brand new.This is without a doubt the best player I have ever heard in my life... And it looks good to.

 

[lextek]

The VR$jrs scare me. You see tons of them for sale on Audiogon. Maybe demo a nice FMJ 33. Very, smooth palyer. The Krell 400xi is an awesome integrated and sweet sounding.

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolffy ...I just received a Gryphon Mikado cd player...

That's got to be one of the coolest looking pieces of audio gear I've ever seen. For 12 large I hope it sounds great, too.

 

[daycart1]

What you need to do is thing about upgrading the Scout to a TNT!

TEAM VINYL!!

 

[yidimsum]

One CDP to look at with digital volume control is the Audio Aero Capitole. Although I have not auditioned this unit myself, I have only read good things about this unit.

Assuming ~$4.8K budget for front end components, another idea for digital is to pick up a DAC like the Audio Logic 24 MXL (~$2.5K used - supposed to be awesome) or Electrocompaniet ECD-1 (~$1.2K used) and pair this with a quality transport, Sony SCD-777ES (same transport as used in the Classe Omega) for ~$1.3K used. This leaves you around $1k to buy a preamp. You could buy a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 and use the extra hundred or so to buy some NOS tubes. This setup would allow for great versatility, in that you would have both top-notch redbook and excellent SACD playback. The Line 1 is very versatile, in that it also has HT bypass (when you get a projector and go super quality 2-channel HT) and a Headroom headphone output that is decent. Costs would increase with the cabling, but the larger number of components allows for greater flexiblity.

If I was going to put together another system from scratch, this is what I'd get. Keep your records until you break out the bills for a TNT-HRX

. I wish that I had kept mine after selling the Scout.