tom_hankins

I've had a chance to compare the new 500 with both the 201 and 301 for a couple hours at my local dealer, and its a different player (sound) altogether. Much more detailed, alot more air, and not the normal slightly soft Mac CD players of the past. Thought it was nice and also preferrd it to the Ayre universal player (C-5XE), which really suprised me. Just as resolving with more weight and texure to the music.

Gongrats on the Modwright. I have owned two on different occasions and enjoyed them alot. For a large and positive improvment on the player(although costly) try either the Bedix 6900 or GE7044 tubes.

Any of the older Classe preamps are going to be nicer sounding than the Adcom. The 47.5, 60, and even the 35 are all very good preamps. Also the BAT VK-3i is very good. The Krell HRC-2 or 3 come to kind too.

I think the total paid by the three of us is around 23,600 not thirty thousand. My amp and my friends tubes have arrived so you can subtract $6.5K from that total. As far as the shipping info, I was promised my three packages by no later than Sat. two arrived monday, and the third on tues. How much my post had to do with this we will never know. I Was going to send back the preamp without listening to it. I tried it and it sounds really good in my system. I'll keep it because I am not going to live with something I like less, that cost more. If I do bussiness with Mikhail again it will be under stricter timelines. I also wont get so far out on something that has not been built before. I will let someone else put the R&D time in besides me. And payment wont be made until I recieve tracking info. I went through some B.S. with this purchase. But in the end the product is as good or better than I hoped, and i have been enjoying my time back in front of my system.

The one I saw at a dealer had both SE and balanced outputs.

Well the great get greater.....Hossa goes to the Wings. I am glad for him, but what a $$$ risk he is taking not signing the five year deal with Pitt. This puts detroit at even better odds of repeating.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

I'm happy with my 1300 into 4. But after hearing the new 600 evos, might have to cut back a few watts to 1200.

This will be my fourth time. Just secured two seats third row. Should be great seats at this cool small place. Cant wait!

Any one else catching Tom Waits on his southern USA tour this year? It started last week. Anyone seen him already? I will be there at the Fox Theatre in ATL. on July 5th!!

I think they are good pretty much forever if you dont play them over and over/back to back. I have albums i bought new in the 60s that still sound new and have not gotten noisey. This has been the norm with all the albums I have bought new over the years. I also have found that the better the cartridge (by far) the quieter and at the same time more detailed you will get. The same records that displayed noise with my Dynavector 17D3, got almost dead quiet when I moved to the XX2 MKII cartridge. When we put a friends XV-1s cartridge on my table ZERO noise. Good cartridges ride deep in the grooves and all you get is music.

The only thing that might be bad is since they have been out of business since 05, you might want to check how available, and who has spare parts...just in case.

Another good combination of amp/speakers I have heard at local dealer is Jolida tubed int. amps with triangle speakers. They have lots of choices of each brand in your price range.

For a grand you can get a sounding pairing of Parasound and PSB. Get the amp used. Either Parasound HCA-1000A or HCA-1200. For speakers Saturday Audio Has great prices on new PSB T45 towers and B25 moniters.

Grawk, You my friend have just been added to my all time list of great posts by great people!!!!

O.K., We are shopped out and have gone well over our (absolutely no more than $1K on vinyl this trip) limit we set before we left ATL. Went crazy on new vinyl today. Didnt even look at the used sections of two stores. 29 more albums, all new, and cant wait to get home and start listening. My downfall will be that records stores are making a serious comeback as far as new released and new remastered music is concerned. I will try to get the list up monday. Lots of great stuff.

We are having a blast. Thiel went above and beyond anything we had thought they would do. Then after the tour and meeting and bothering the whole crew with dumb questions we were handed the remotes and turned loose in the listening room. We listened to the 3.7s with the new Krell evo 600 mono amps and Ayre pre and Ayre universal player. We spent close three hours in there jamming. After that Gary walked us around downtown Lexington and we went to eat. Great day. Back on track........ Picked up another 40 plus albums today. Found a store with a great classical selection and grabbed 21 there. Then 20 jazz and blues type music,(alot new) all simply vinyl, blue note and really good stuff. Most new. 3 new Tom Waits on the SV label and 3 new 45rpm Blue note reissues. Four more stores today and home tomorrow to start listening to this stuff.

Congrats on the new player rob.

Well my wife and I finished day one (five stores) of our three day used record buying binge. We hit Lousisville and stores were very good. Bought 93 records, alot of it new, all of it looks to be in very good condition. Was suprised how much new stuff was at all the stores. good prices too. We are hanging at Thiel this morning then off to three stores here in Lexington. from there Cinn. tomorrow. One of the stores today is mainly highend, prime pressings (new and used) Time to build up those flyer miles with the Discovery card!

Helped a friend set up his new table and cartridge, and then listened to records for several hours afterwards.

My wife and I are heading Louisville Ky. to hit the used record stores next weekend. Its always nice to know I might be able to increase my music collection by anywhere from one to several hundred over one day. After that its off to Lexington to see what they have to offer. (plus a day at Thiel) My wife has to do an on site at the Griffen Gate Mariott resort (supposed to be a nice place) so we will have a few days to spend messing around.

Purk, You got the Cary?

Just move to an arm that has switchable head shells and keep one mono and one stereo. A couple minutes to switch in and out at most. That way you can keep your table and just upgrade your arm.

"Third Watch" reruns.

"Murphy's" in Atlanta (virginia highlands) for breakfist. One of the best chorizos i have had and everything on the breakfist menu is killer. They have a bar there thatmakes killer bloody marys. Probably eat there 15-20 times a year. Southwest Frittata is to die for. Phoenix Noodle or Vallartas for lunch. Both within 10 minutes of the house and great food. PN is a Vietnamese place with everything good and great prices. Vallartas is a hole in the wall Mexican place, all fresh made and home cooked. They start by bringing you Mexican chick soup and end with cheesecake. The absolute best chips, sauce and refried beens. Huge portions and my wife and always get out of there for under $20 including tip. Plus that includes margaritas that they refill for free until you leave. Always packed and nice family atmasphere. Di Paolo...Best for last. One of the best in the ATL. area. Northern Italian. Killer menus that changes with the seasons and depending whats fresh. No matter how they do the Samon it is better than any I've had through out the country. My two favorites are the pan baked Samon on a bed of asparagus risotto, or the pan baked samon on a bed of shrimp rissoto. think I will call see if they have an reservation tonight!!