Hey Halvis - superb system. I've thought about an alecto powered system myself. How do they compare with your old ATC amps? And how's the Dino phono stage against your old Era Gold V?
one thing - I see sources, I see power amps, I see speakers...where's the volume control?
Thanks 1000, good to hear from you.
In Hifi Mag speak I would say that the ATC integrated had a 'vice like grip' on the drivers. This was great for some material but very dry on others, and I did go and listen to other systems at one stage to compare. I found I was was enjoying the music better on these (often valve based) systems more.
So I did actually try a couple of valve amps in my system with the ATC speakers. A KT88 35W integrated drove them fine actually, plenty loud enough as well. However, it didn't do everything I wanted and the Alecto's are actually a great compromise between the speed and grip of the ATC amp and the extra depth and big sound of the KT88, but which was a little too slow and lacked clarity.
The Era Gold I was using would have been used with a different cartridge (probably AT OC9) so would be difficult to compare the two tbh. However, the vinyl front end I have now is the best I have had ever had by quite a margin, but its also the most expensive. I did pitch the Dino and a Dynavector P75 head to head with the DV 20xl cartridge mounted. To my surprise I kept the Dino and sold on the DV. The P75 sounded flat to me with the Dino having a larger sound stage and more air, this was with the standard PSU on the Dino as well. I couldn't hear anything better about the P75 at all and I wanted to like it.
The Audiolab CDQ takes care of volume control and selection as it has a built in pre-amp. Is also a DAC and CD Player too. I got mine brand new for less that £600 as it wasn't the latest model and then upgraded it to the latest model for £100. So for less than £700 it was an absolute bargain, as the pre-amp is actually pretty good, better than many I have used. I have tried it against a Benchmark Dac 1 and there wasn't really any difference to hear really.
Hope you are well, whats happening your end?