advertisement


Second system malarkey

Joe Hutch

Joe Hutch

Mate of the bloke
Up at the top of the house is my second system. It consists of an Exposure CDP, Exposure pre/power amplifiers, and Harbeth P3ESR loudspeakers. The CDP and amps were bought new in 1998, the speakers in 2010.

Recently I've noticed that the sound is a bit 'off', slightly flat and lacking energy. Given the age of the amps, the finger of suspicion pointed at them.

To test this theory, I dug out my spare power amp, a Croft Series 7, hooked it to the pre-amp and speakers, and ... nothing. Nada. Complete silence. Looking around on the internet, it looked like the problem might be a blown fuse, which turned out to be the case. (Replacement fuse is on order).

Then I remembered I have another spare power amp, dating from when I had a valve amp that kept needing to be serviced, new valves fitted etc etc. This other spare amp is a teeny-tiny Project Amp Box, which I hooked up in place of the Croft.

This time, music played. Remarkably well, with plenty of 'oomph', but lots of detail too. My plan had been to get the Exposure looked at, refurbed and re-capped as necessary, but the Amp Box is so good, I'm wondering if I'll bother. And I'll give the Croft another go when I can replace the fuse, which will complicate matters further.

(It's all a bit moot for now, though, as the top room is far too cold to sit in for long).
 
I had a second system years ago in my loft room. LP12, Lingo, Ekos, Troika, Incatech Claymore and Epos ES11’s. Never used it.

Kitchen hifi on the other hand used all the time!
 
My second system is on about 15 hours a day 365 days a year with radio as the source. I can switch in a DAC in another room to play digital files etc but rarely do. Main system gets about 4-5 hours a week use.
 
JezmondTutu said:
I had a second system years ago in my loft room. LP12, Lingo, Ekos, Troika, Incatech Claymore and Epos ES11’s. Never used it.

Kitchen hifi on the other hand used all the time!
Click to expand...

Started reading your post, got a bit excited for a second when you had an LP12, Claymore and ES11’s, iconic stuff. Then you promptly said you never used it :).

Tickled me did that :D.
 
I have a 2nd system in the attic, little Denon box into a pair of Richer Sound Gale speakers, it wakes me up with the radio; pretty much all the use it gets. Various smart speakers around the house get far more use.
 
wylton said:
My second system gets used daily, much more that the main system downstairs.
Click to expand...
Same with me. Recently set up a modest system in the dining room: Sugden/Technics/Royd Minstrels. The kids are in the lounge so much that the main system rarely gets a look in. Has me thinking do I even need it.
 
Tigerjones said:
Same with me. Recently set up a modest system in the dining room: Sugden/Technics/Royd Minstrels. The kids are in the lounge so much that the main system rarely gets a look in. Has me thinking do I even need it.
Click to expand...

Yes, unfortunately, TV rules in our house. If it weren't for the second system upstairs, music wouldn't get a look in tbh. But one can only live in hope! I think I enjoy music now as much as I ever did and the choice that you get with internet radio is vast. Enjoy your modest system as you put it, but don't be tempted to get rid of your main system; your time will come!
 
Back to the OP, the Exposures could be the culprit. I managed to get a pre and 2 monos at a very good price but they were very dull in my second system (driving AE1 speakers). Admittedly the speakers were difficult to drive but surprisingly an Audiolab 8000S did a better job.

I’ve had more luck (and fun) with second or kitchen systems using early 80s Pioneer and Sansui gear
 
I'm thinking I'll stick with the Project for now. It'll probably be a bit of a faff getting the Exposure re-capped, and there may be some delay in getting it done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top