What would YOU do?

Hi Seagull,

I went in this order;

Valhalla/Ittok/K9 to

to Lingo/Ittok/Dynavector DV20XH (MC, but high output so it uses MM boards). The Ittok was perfectly good enough to deal with the better cartridge, as you'd expect.

to Lingo/Ekos II/DV20XH.

The 140 has revealed the benefit of every step, so I didn't feel the need to go 250 just yet.
72/Hi/250 is another classic combination, but if your cartridge is going to need replacing soon anyway...

My own upgrade plan is to go 52/Scap/140 or 72/Hi/135's on the way to 52/Scap/135's depending which crops up first at the right price.

Regards,
Steve.

Seagull, take Mrs S on a nice holiday and kick start the next 20yrs. (Your system is well balanced).

sbls would make the biggest change in your sistem by a long way, and a 140 will be fine with them.

Alex S.

Nice idea but this is my hi-fi budget! Mrs S is an accountant, so if I don't spend it then it will probably go towards that new dining table and chairs she saw when we were looking for a listening chair for me...

We already have a holiday fund.

Over 200 views but only 15 votes? At least I've got some nicely conflicting answers. Keep up the good work.

Seagull,

depending on the use of your front end, I would either:

- upgrade the LP12 with a better cart and power supply

OR

- upgrade the CD5 to a, say, a CDX2

my 2 cents
Jean-Marc

1. ARO. £500-700. Absolutely my first choice.
2. Power-supply. £300-400. You should get £80+ for your Valhalla on ebay which makes this less painful
3. Mana table/shelf. £200. If you have a pre-circus LP12. Not so sure with a circus'ed deck.

Under budget and guaranteed to transform your music. Spend any cash left over on Vinyl or treat your deck to a service. 140 > 250 doesn't come close to any of these individually, let alone together IMNSHO!

duncan

Email: djcritchley at hotmail.com

quote:

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Originally posted by seagull:
I thought I'd recovered from the upgrade bug.

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You never "recover" from the upgrade bug - you go into remission

Jay

I voted SBL's Seagull.

I think your Kef's are the weakest link. You're system's well up to SBL's and I think you'll be amazed at what was coming down that NACA5 only to be "compromised" by your Kef's.

I imagine they'd sound quite different than your Kef's though, so a good listen would be mandatory.

Jay

Following the excellent eve3ning at the POW World event when Mrs S was in a relaxed mood have you thought about a room swap.......

You know my views

Hi Seagull,

Please see your private topics.

Cheers

Dave

Alright, I'll try again:

1. The deck: Aro/DV17D2 for LP12, followed by Armageddon, followed by DVP75 phono stage or Flog that lot and buy a Well Tempered Record Player (I found this rather better than LP12/Aro/Lingo).

2. CDP - Flog the CD5 and get a Densen 400XS (Never got along with the CDX).

3. The preamp - get a Supercap for the 72. At least preamp upgrades help both sources. (I prefer Supercapped 32.5 or 72 to single or double Hicapped 82 and the Supercap gives you the option of the 52 Head Unit later).

4. Power amp - 250 as you suggest.

5. Speakers - SBLs as you suggest.

6. Stick the lot on Hutter.

7. You have separate spurs - if they're not 10mm do that and if you don't have the Memera CU do that too.

Alex

BTW I went upgrading from a very happy CD3/LP12 32.5/HC/250 AE1 position - not that unlike your present situation. It took me a very long time before I was happy again!

Seagull,

You should sell the 140! This would mean you could buy a Lingo and probably spend only £100. I'll sell you my MC boards for £25. Get a decent cartridge. And try those SBLs.

Noel.



What am I saying - Get some Shahinian Arcs

Yo Posse dude

82 or Lingo 2.

You heard Malcolms' in my system, you know what it can do! I now have an L2. No doubts.

Regards

Mike

On the Yellow Brick Road and Happy

Not easy, and not obvious. You NEED SBL's, and it would be nice to getat least a 180 to go with it, but a 140 will still do OK.
In my book, being given the OK to spend £1200 means you will end up spending £2400 , so that's SBL's and a 250.

You clearly need a pair of SBLs - here's some that'll fit so easily in Mrs S's budget plan, there'll be enough left over to buy that new Dynavector 20X cartridge. Then you can get your soldering iron out and build a DIY-geddon - job done! - no charge for the advice
http://63.99.108.232/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3102

David

"Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours." :Carl Sagan

David,

I had spotted that one and if you notice Dev's advice (above, for it is he) it suddenly made sense.

They would go cosmetically with the room so it is tempting.

Talk to him nicely, he might let you have them on home audition. They've been on PF for a while and he might prefer not to have to eBay them - nothing ventured and all that

David

An update...

I have used up two of my lifelines ('Ask the audience' and 'Phone a friend') and I'm still 9 questions away from one million pounds.

I went with the audience and have agreed to buy a s/h 250 I guess that with the s/h market it is availability rather than flat earth principles that rule (i.e. if an amplifier or speakers on the wish list become available at the right price then you buy them).

As Rasher said £1200 soon becomes £2400 and Mrs S has given the all clear for me to spend more of my tax rebate on hi-fi (so I didn't have to use my 50-50). Hopefully a pair of SBL's will soon follow but like I said availability is the key here.

If nothing comes of these then I will probably look to improve my stand(s) with a QS bog seat Reference top tier for my CD player and something (tbd) for the (pre-cirkus) LP12.