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Too many sources!

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James Evans said:
How do you decide which vinyl to play on which deck? Or do you buy 4 copies of everything and start each deck simultaneously and switch between them to see which you prefer? :)
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I just play an LP on the 401 for instance, and then the next record gets played on the Lenco or the Michell - simples! Regarding the difference in sound quality, you have to accept whatever limitations each deck has else what would be the point? For example, the 401 has a rich fulsome sound, maybe lacking a bit of top end sparkle (possibly a trait with the XX2MKII & Aro too), the Lenco has a rock-steady quality to the timing aspects of the music & the Michell has a beautifully open sound & looks great too!

I try to avoid the comparison thing tbh, else a music session just becomes an A-B test as you say.
 
wylton said:
I just play an LP on the 401 for instance, and then the next record gets played on the Lenco or the Michell - simples! Regarding the difference in sound quality, you have to accept whatever limitations each deck has else what would be the point? For example, the 401 has a rich fulsome sound, maybe lacking a bit of top end sparkle (possibly a trait with the XX2MKII & Aro too), the Lenco has a rock-steady quality to the timing aspects of the music & the Michell has a beautifully open sound & looks great too!

I try to avoid the comparison thing tbh, else a music session just becomes an A-B test as you say.
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No different to folk with several bikes, cars, cameras and so on.
 
My main invest regarding cartridges was the Dynavector XX2MKII, which was quite expensive. I bought a DV20XL and a DL-103, both low mileage, here on pfm at good prices. I also have two Linn Troikas, one my original, bought from new, is now an ESCO re-tip, and the other is a bargain basement eBay purchase, that I subsequently had rebuilt by Goldring. All purchased at different times; obviously, I didn't go out one day and spend a small fortune on mc cartridges! So, no, they won't all wear out at the same time.
 
FWIW, the Linn AV5103 has 10 pairs of analogue inputs and very good they are too. I have four r2r’s plus the usual DAC, Tuners, etc, etc. It’s a very flexible unit and can be bought for reasonable prices. I’m only using it for stereo.
 
Amber Audio said:
1 system firing down and 1 firing across the room, saves the shoe leather a bit
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Brilliant idea. Of course, you'd need sophisticated equipment to determine the sweet spot and as a consequence, a course of neck therapy afterwards.

Criss-cross quadraphonics anyone?
 
Charlie_1 said:
I guess you already know that 32.5 can connect 2 turntables plus 3 DIN inputs.
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Thanks for the reminder! I ended up buying a NAC32.5, in good condition, apart from the fascia, which I have replaced. I was also fortunate to be on the Ryan Sound Labs loaner program & end up buying a set of those too & it sounds very nice! I have one set of the RSL mc cards at the moment, but I will add another set to the 2nd input on 32.5 later. When I have time, I'll do an RSL mod to the prefix which is on the Garrard 401. I'll remove the PCB from the prefix & work out how to fit RSL cards.



To future proof myself I'm going ahead with the input expander too. I have a Naim CB half-width chassis and case, which was a NAC42.5 in a previous life. It has 3 x din sockets, 2 x RCA and an output socket. At the moment, I am using it to switch between the Lenco and Michell so that they can share the same mc card in the 32.5, but it will make an excellent input expander.



I came across this Glasshouse channel switcher on the Hi-fi Collective site & I think that I can make use of it. It features switching for 5 x inputs, either by remote control or a chassis mounted encoder, with an 8 x segment display to show which input is selected. It has the facility for a remote controlled, motorised pot too, but I won't use that. You have to use the associated Glasshouse Remote Control board, as it powers the switcher board, but I think it would form the basis of an excellent expander & it should sound good too, because the design allows you to keep all input signal wiring as short as possible.

 
Caledon1297 said:
But is the 32.5 as good as the 12?
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The NAC 32.5 has the advantage of being dual railed. When I joined the RSL loaner program, I had the NAC 12S & it did sound very good indeed, but I knew that I would struggle with 3 x inputs. Luckily, during my loan of the RSL boards, a NAC 32.5 came up for sale & I was able to get it into the system before the RSL boards had to go to the next person. I was concerned that I would lose that magic that I'd heard with the NAC 12S, but I needn't have worried, because the NAC 32.5 was excellent! You have to bear in mind that the RSL cards replace most of the active circuitry in the pre-amp, so the differences should be minimal. In any case, the NAC12S & the NAC 12N aren't going anywhere & neither is the NAC 22!
 
wylton said:
To future proof myself I'm going ahead with the input expander too. I have a Naim CB half-width chassis and case, which was a NAC42.5 in a previous life. It has 3 x din sockets, 2 x RCA and an output socket. At the moment, I am using it to switch between the Lenco and Michell so that they can share the same mc card in the 32.5, but it will make an excellent input expander.
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Just to update the thread, I was contacted by @S_J to say that he had a remote Controlled switcher kit, that might fit my needs. He offers a kit that has 6 inputs available, with both front panel switches and remote selection. I wanted to do something slightly different, because I wanted to switch my Michell Hydraulic Reference/Aro & the Lenco88/Zeta as well as line level sources. After some consideration, Sean said that this could be done with two PCBs, so I went ahead and purchased the kit, together with the extra board.

The donor chassis was the NAC42.5 pictured a couple of posts above. I stripped it out & then prepared for yet another fascia replacement!

The switcher works very well. I elected to use a flying lead for the turntables, so that I could keep the screen right up to the board. So I have three line level & two low level outputs. There is no switching noise & the turntables have very little noise pick up, so the screening has worked well.





 
Just to add - the kit does also have provision for controlling a motorised volume pot via remote (ALPS Blue etc), to give a complete R/C passive preamp setup, although wylton didn't need to use it in this particular application.
 
I had a similar problem with a early Exposure VII Dual, only 2 inputs + phono, Exposure made a little known unit called the Expander which gave 5 line level inputs and could double as a passive preamp on its own, worked a treat with a Quad 909.
Maybe ask Jez about knocking up something similar and getting someone with a 3D printer to make you a nice case to match your existing equipment? I don’t imagine that it would cost a fortune, they are pretty simple after all.

Edit:All sorted I see.
 
S_J said:
Just to add - the kit does also have provision for controlling a motorised volume pot via remote (ALPS Blue etc), to give a complete R/C passive preamp setup, although wylton didn't need to use it in this particular application.
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Yes indeed, I forgot to mention that. If I ever decided to remote the volume on the NAC 32.5, I have plenty of spare pins on the back.

Here's a picture of the switcher on the rack, next to the NAC 32.5. Two remotes, the one on the left is for the NAIM CDS and the one on the right is for the RC Switcher.

The box underneath the NAC 32.5 is a CB NAXO & the box just out of shot below the remote controls is an Olive NAXO 2-4, just back from a service at Naim, but not yet in use .

 
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