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what was the last piece of hifi you bought

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Recently bought a pair of EAR 509 mk2 mono power amps to replace my trusty DV HX-100 and complete my EAR amp setup (88PB/HP4/509s).

They throw a significantly wider sound stage with my Obelisk 2’s than did the HX-100 and I’m finding that recordings I thought I knew inside out, I actually didn’t…
 
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hifinutt said:
yes this is it

Black Ice Audio (formerly Jolida) lastest and last revision of the FX DSD valve dac with mods (latest revision boards)

1 of 3 I managed to bring in with factory mods on the dac board consisting of 12 Z-Foil Naked resistors (a $650 mod direct).

The last few in stock at Black Ice in the US are selling for $899 down from $1250 to make way for their new Aries dac (excl the resistor mod). Add duty, VAT and freight these days and the price shoots up.

Of the 3 that were brought in, one was modded for a friend, one sold on the forum for £1300 with no extra tweaks, and I kept this one for myself which has the below mods in addition to what Black Ice had done.

Further upgrades:
• Furutech gold IEC and AMR fuse
• Cast single core silver output wire
• Audio Note silver plated RCA output sockets
•Dac board’s electrolytic cap upgraded to Audio Seiryu
• Dac board voltage regulator upgraded to a Sparkos discreet type
• Mains board has resistor upgrades to Mills (one of which feeds the tubes)
• Regulator to the tubes upgraded to a Sparkos discreet type
• WiFi board unplugged (can be reconnected)
• Mains board caps upgraded to:
• Audio Note Seiryu and Standard, Panasonic and a Solen tin foil Teflon FEP cap.
• Output caps are Russian K73-11 which at some stage could me modded to V-Caps.
• Output tubes are CBS 5751 triple meca types (US made tubes)
• The headphone volume pot is bypassed but not disconnected. I can remove this if you want the full use of the volume pot for headphones or the output RCA’s. As it stands now with the bypass there is a little variance in turning the pot.
• On the rear IEC there is a Russ Andrew’s ground post and copper screw to connect a cable like the below if you use any grounding boxes:
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Phil, Most of those additional mods were done to copy what I've had done to mine (I was the guinea pig) I've also had logo & valve LEDs disconnected and Vcap ODAMs as output caps, also running NOS 60s TFK 83s. Was good in the lightly pimped state I originally bought (matched a Lab12 Reference 1) now it has greater authority & texture with a more expansive soundstage.
Just wait until it burns in Phil, it will go from V good to epic.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
Linn Exotik preamp… need a good MC phono stage now to go with it, going to my local dealer to check a few sub £500 models out. I’m intending to buy new.
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Why are you buying new? Get yourself a second hand Tom Evans Microgroove or a trilogy or something. I'm no expert but the cheaper phono stages I've heard have sadly, been a bit limited. Each to their own of course.
 
+1.
Grab the Pro-ject bundle in the classifieds, then stick the NRS up on eBay and get £100ish of the £575 back. A well reviewed PS complete with dedicated PSU at a bargain price, what's, not to like?
 
sometimesuk said:
Not sure if this counts....but had my Musical Fidelity amplifers upgraded by JS audio repairs....and just ordered some more industrial springs to place under my equipment as a poor mans Isoacoustic pods.
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I tried that, but they haven't replied to the email I sent them a year ago...
 
Mint ATC SCM20-2A at a realistic price. I'll be selling my SCM10A-2's in due course.

Means I’ve also got my downsize/retirement rig sorted. It’ll make it a lot easier to part with my 100ASLT’s when the time comes. 😥
 
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Yes john , got the previous black ice in to demo to the new owner .sounds superb ,in fact wonder why i thought of getting a newer one !!!
 
Darren said:
Why are you buying new? Get yourself a second hand Tom Evans Microgroove or a trilogy or something. I'm no expert but the cheaper phono stages I've heard have sadly, been a bit limited. Each to their own of course.
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Mainly because I have a good relationship with my local dealer, he will look after me and let me take my time trying the different option. I may stretch that budget out a little. If I do buy something reasonably expensive, he will take something of my excess kit in trade too which saves me the job of selling it. I hope quite a bit of excess kit because I’m too busy to deal with selling it all… there’s a risk my Kairn would sit in a box full months one fixed lol.
 
Some Wyred 4 Sound SX500 mono's for 250w of power to my Graham Audio speakers. They are currently getting a go in the main rig to see if I like them.

A Jolida JD9 phono stage also arrived yesterday for a borrow, and possible purchase, from another member. I haven't had a proper play with it yet as had to walk the dog last night, then ended up shopping for several hours, arriving back too late... But I have some free time today, plus several new records to play. So it will be getting a really good go. First impressions with my Technics 1210GR deck and Hana SL cart were very good indeed.
 
I have a Radford STA15 incoming in the next few days. It should be interesting to see the difference between that and the Leak Stereo 20 into my Tannoy Turnberry HE - both having been sympathetically refurbished.
 
Amormusic said:
Some Wyred 4 Sound SX500 mono's for 250w of power to my Graham Audio speakers. They are currently getting a go in the main rig to see if I like them.

A Jolida JD9 phono stage also arrived yesterday for a borrow, and possible purchase, from another member. I haven't had a proper play with it yet as had to walk the dog last night, then ended up shopping for several hours, arriving back too late... But I have some free time today, plus several new records to play. So it will be getting a really good go. First impressions with my Technics 1210GR deck and Hana SL cart were very good indeed.
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be very interested how the grahams go with icepower . i was extremely surprised when i put icepower on the tannoy eatons . they were far better than i thought . actually warm sounding and engaging . infact warmer than the valve hybrid amps i had on there at one point . Class D can be so surprising .. sometimes its horrible , sometimes its `too dynamic ` and then a bit fatiguing but just occassionally you get a sweet spot . i certainly can`t understand why John Stronzer abandoned icepower
 
Latest purchase is a nice brand new pair of Verum 1 headphones from a PFM member some months ago for a rather nice sum.

I should take them off my ears once & a while :)
 
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