charlaph's setup, about to change....

[charlaph]

Hey everyone. I guess I'd better give a rundown of my system and how I got to it (take a deep breath, it's gonna be a long post!)

At the moment I have the following in my lounge;
Pro-Ject Xpression 1 + AT OC9MLII
Pro-Ject Phonobox SE
Pioneer A400X
Rogers LS55
Samsung HD950 acting as a CD player

In the bedroom;
Yamaha CDX860
Denon AR-1603
Mission 760iSE

and languishing in various boxes;
Sony STR-DG700
Celestion AVR305
Yamaha KD380
Dual CS503-2
Gale Mini Monitor Golds
Gale Centre 20

So what's the story? well about 20 years ago I was happily listening to music on cassettes via a Sharp boombox. Then my older brother went and bought a full Micromega seperates system and some Mission 734 floorstanders, coupled with a Rega 2. I was astounded by the quality, but being about 13 at the time, couldn't afford anything like it. Over the years I worked my way up via a big 70's style all in one turntable/cassette deck/amp, then the Missions, then the Dual, then the Pioneer. That setup lasted me through university and took a royal pounding. Then I went out into the rat race and once I was earning I bought a CD player (I didn't own one until 1999!) and the Rogers.

Then I didn't do any more upgrading until about 5 or so years ago when I bought a little cottage in the countryside and thought I'd kit it out with a home cinema. So in came a projector, a cheap Sony surround amp and some Eltax sub/sats. I was convinced by the impact of surround sound so quickly sold the Sony and Eltax stuff and replaced it with the Denon and a cheap mishmash of Gale speakers while I saved for something half decent, which was the Celestions. I stuck with this for a while, but then I replaced the old Dual with the Pro-Ject and rediscovered my vinyl collection - but it just served to highlight the shortcomings of the surround setup with regards to 2-channel music.

Late last year I planned to buy a PS3, High-def TV and a HD DVD player and so in anticipation I bought the Sony receiver because it did HDMI switching. Big mistake. It was a better match for the Celestions than the old Denon, but now I had 3 amps in the house. My newborn son had the Pioneer in his room with the old Missions and Yamaha CD player, so I got my Rogers out of storage and hooked them up to the Denon in the bedroom.

This just made me unhappy with the 'main' setup. So earlier this week I advertised the Sony receiver and the Celestions, and moved the Pioneer and the Rogers into the lounge. I'm once again happy with my setup, but the Rogers aren't a very good match to the amp, so I'm looking to upgrade the amp first, then possibly a CD player. I'm happy enough with the turntable for now and once I get a new amp I'll reevaluate the speakers.



So that's it. Not very exciting, I haven't owned much stuff (which is a good thing, because it meant I spent most of my money on records instead of equipment) and all of it's been budget kit. I stumbled across this forum when hunting for info on my Rogers LS55s and I like the look of the place so thought I'd register.

[itlldue]

I've never used this before, so here you go!!

[dingus]

those LS55's are dynamite speakers. i cant remember what clint e. uses to drive his but i'm sure he'll have some solid recomendations for amplification.

[clint e.]

I remember well those Pioneer A400 series. Incredible sound at low cost.
I use my Rogers with all my amps: Nad C325BEE, Musical Fidelity-XA2, Cyrus 3i and with a Chineese clone of The Baby Sophia tube amp; and with all of them i have great sonic results.
Congrats for your great gear.

[hifi_nut]

Quite a nice lot you have there, Charlaph.

The original Pioneer A-400 made quite a stirr when it first hit the marketplace.

Are you located in Britain?

Jorge

[Mark B]

Interesting evolution of your system. It's nice to hear that you prefer 2 channel for music, and enjoy playing vinyl. Now how about posting some pics?