High End Stereo Gear For the Rock & Roll Enthusiast

[The_KiD]

As a hack guitarist, I have found a wealth of good information here in this forum. Playing music and listening to music is a big part of the overall enjoyment. I am curious to how many members here are as into their stereo setup as their guitars.

I am a little more outta hand on the stereo side of the fence as my system cost as much as some cars. (Hopefully this will change when I can play better. I have been eyeing a Les Paul Gold Top)

I have posted a Pic of my Rig with a little explination on what each peice is. Very curious to what everyone else listens to their music collection on. Or am I the only crazy one..

My Collection is around 1500 CDs and about 140GB of MP3's..


Tube Integrated Amp / Cary SLI-80 Signature (All NOS Tubes)
24/192 Upsampling DAC / Electrocompaniet ECD-1
CD-Transport / Rotel RDD-980
Apple Aiport Express (This is run into the DAC via Toslink, Makes MP3's sound great)
Speakers / Sonus Faber Grand Pianos (Handmade in Italy)
Speaker Wire, Interconnects, Power Cords (All Audience Au24)
Ipod 40GB for Traveling

[BrownSound1]

I like badass stereos, but I've never gotten into the real audiophile aspect of it. The audiophile guys are one of the reasons vintage vacuum tubes are so freakin' expensive. :D

[Nitro Express]

Both my brother and father were audiofiles. Both unfortunately have passed away and I have my dads McIntosh stuff and some of my brothers stuff. I have great amplifiers but need to get some decent speakers.

I basically blast rock and roll. I'm not sitting in front of it sipping expensive congac listening with my eyes closed trying to make my living room sound like symphany Hall.

[The_KiD]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
Both my brother and father were audiofiles. Both unfortunately have passed away and I have my dads McIntosh stuff and some of my brothers stuff. I have great amplifiers but need to get some decent speakers.

I basically blast rock and roll. I'm not sitting in front of it sipping expensive congac listening with my eyes closed trying to make my living room sound like symphany Hall.


The McIntosh stuff is great, especially for Rock. That was the whole reason I set up my room. So I could play it at any volume I want and just have some fun. The room my stuff is in is basically a media room. It houses my guitars, stereo, my laptop, all my CDs and of course a beer fridge... It is a great place to hide out..

KiD

[BITEYOASS]

Originally posted by The_KiD
As a hack guitarist, I have found a wealth of good information here in this forum. Playing music and listening to music is a big part of the overall enjoyment. I am curious to how many members here are as into their stereo setup as their guitars.

I am a little more outta hand on the stereo side of the fence as my system cost as much as some cars. (Hopefully this will change when I can play better. I have been eyeing a Les Paul Gold Top)

I have posted a Pic of my Rig with a little explination on what each peice is. Very curious to what everyone else listens to their music collection on. Or am I the only crazy one..

My Collection is around 1500 CDs and about 140GB of MP3's..


Tube Integrated Amp / Cary SLI-80 Signature (All NOS Tubes)
24/192 Upsampling DAC / Electrocompaniet ECD-1
CD-Transport / Rotel RDD-980
Apple Aiport Express (This is run into the DAC via Toslink, Makes MP3's sound great)
Speakers / Sonus Faber Grand Pianos (Handmade in Italy)
Speaker Wire, Interconnects, Power Cords (All Audience Au24)
Ipod 40GB for Traveling

How do the CVH bootlegs sound on this system?

[The_KiD]

Originally posted by BITEYOASS
How do the CVH bootlegs sound on this system?

Decent actually. Of course some sound better than others. The nice thing aboout using a TUBE amplifier is that everything is warm and very musical sounding. Even when cranked up..

Solid State stuff can be pretty brutal especially combined with a speaker that uses a Metal Dome tweeter...

KiD

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by The_KiD
The McIntosh stuff is great, especially for Rock. That was the whole reason I set up my room. So I could play it at any volume I want and just have some fun. The room my stuff is in is basically a media room. It houses my guitars, stereo, my laptop, all my CDs and of course a beer fridge... It is a great place to hide out..

KiD

I love McInstosh stuff and I have sevral power amps. My favorite is the 240 from the 60's. My dad had some cool old vynle from the 60's like Tom Jones Live at the Flamingo. That rocks on the McIntosh and so does RUSH Moving Pictures on vnyle or Van Halen II on vynle. Yeah, records still sound good. CD's sound all chopped up and thin to the old analog recordings.

[Nitro Express]

I also have a Golden Tube Audio SE-40 power amp. These sound pretty damn good and can be had pretty cheap now.

[The_KiD]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
I also have a Golden Tube Audio SE-40 power amp. These sound pretty damn good and can be had pretty cheap now.

Nice Amp! Yes, I am very familiar with that amplifier. My Cary amplifier is very similiar. It runs 40WPC in Class A Triode Mode or 80WPC in Class A/B Ultra-Linear mode.

KiD

[Nitro Express]

I really like the sound of my SE-40. It blew a fuse yesterday and today one of the power tubes is all frosty looking. Must have gotten a leak and shorted something out. The only thing I hate about the amp is you have to like remove 10 little screws and remove the bottom panel just to replace a stupid fuse.

[Blackflag]

My amps are tube, and that shit is expensive enough without having a tube stereo. That seems a little like overkill.

I was always pretty disappointed with any stereo equipment, until I got a Nakamichi receiver. I'm happy with that.

I like the nicer JBL speakers. But that just because I'm too cheap to buy something really nice. If I were feeling stupid, I might buy Infinity or B&W - those sound good to me.

But again...if I were going to spend the money, I'd rather put it into an amp, or something.

:rockit2:

[Blackflag]

Oh, yeah...and I should point out now that I get a little pissed off that stereo people are using up the supply of tubes just to listen to some lame Winger or Backside Boys song.

Save the tubes for the people that need them, you greedy bastards.

[PHOENIX]

I really love my JH 49X MegaWookie power Amp. Its got a 389mghz powerdrive and 600 Watt Turbo shift enabled. I bascially have it running throught Steinmens 100x50 cabs and a 2 x Celestial 444 Hi-Def speakers.

But its all basically useless to me cause i blew my ears out with the damn thing listening to Operation Mindcrime.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Blackflag
Oh, yeah...and I should point out now that I get a little pissed off that stereo people are using up the supply of tubes just to listen to some lame Winger or Backside Boys song.

Save the tubes for the people that need them, you greedy bastards.

I'm not running like new/old stock tubes in my stereo amps. My McIntosh runs on new Groove Tube 6L6 tubes. My Golden Tube Audio amp runs on new run of the mill Sovtek 5881 tubes.

I'm running all newly manufactured tubes. The only reason people still make new tubes is that there is a market for them. If you buy new valve tubes, anyone who uses them is your friend because that increases the demand and encourages people to still manufacture tubes because there is still a market for them.

Plus audiofiles tend to use the 6L6/5881 variety of power tubes. It's the guitarists who want the EL34 tubes so if the supply of new/old stock Mullards dry up, you can't blame us because we don't use them.

[Nitro Express]

I can switch between my McIntosh, Golden Tube Audio, and SAE solid state power amps. My stereo is actually in a big tall studio rack I have so much shit in my set up. Each power amp gives a different flavor to the sound. For digital CD recordings I find using the tube power amps warms the sound up a bit and makes it less cold and harsh. In a way, it gives it more of an analog sound. When I switch over to the solid state amp, I notice a big difference. Nothing solid state is going to replicate what is going on between the power tubes, the transformers, and the speakers. Theres some dynamics there that just sound killer with the right amp. That's why tube amps will always be considered the cream of the audio crop.

[Blackflag]

Originally posted by PHOENIX
I really love my JH 49X MegaWookie power Amp. Its got a 389mghz powerdrive and 600 Watt Turbo shift enabled. I bascially have it running throught Steinmens 100x50 cabs and a 2 x Celestial 444 Hi-Def speakers.

But its all basically useless to me cause i blew my ears out with the damn thing listening to Operation Mindcrime.

The MegaWookie is a POS, and so is Operation Mindcrime. Empire was far better.

[Blackflag]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
I'm not running like new/old stock tubes in my stereo amps. My McIntosh runs on new Groove Tube 6L6 tubes. My Golden Tube Audio amp runs on new run of the mill Sovtek 5881 tubes.

I'm running all newly manufactured tubes. The only reason people still make new tubes is that there is a market for them. If you buy new valve tubes, anyone who uses them is your friend because that increases the demand and encourages people to still manufacture tubes because there is still a market for them.

Plus audiofiles tend to use the 6L6/5881 variety of power tubes. It's the guitarists who want the EL34 tubes so if the supply of new/old stock Mullards dry up, you can't blame us because we don't use them.

Fair enough - as long as your turkeys don't go around using the old tubes.

[Blackflag]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
That's why tube amps will always be considered the cream of the audio crop.

Get on with yo' bad self. It's just ridiculous.