Shiny brand new second hand things in my system today V1.2

Pleased for you mate.

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Pretty bit of kit that :ok_hand:

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We know you love it :+1:

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Much awesomeness is occurring :+1:

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One does love it when one’s plan comes together :+1:

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Lovely. Classy looking.

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Cheers chaps! :sunglasses:

Too strong a word, but it grew on me, and I think I prefer it to the more mundane effort.

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Don’t you need a proper active preamp with that? It’s one of the few amps that’s not about the speakers, it’s about the pre.

Indeed didn’t Pass mention that you could use it with a low powered SET to make it drive more sensible speakers?

Yep that’s the one, luckily the M7 has about 20dB of gain so works well with it, NP claims it is completely transparent and is his favourite FirstWatt amp.

I have two of them but one drives the tonescouts easily so will sell the other.

Surely going too well, expect explosions and fire by next week

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Oh, don’t worry, fate has things in-hand: I’m away for the next two weeks.

Not even joking.

image

It’s sounding fucking epic!

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My second machine, should have got one sooner.

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Not a good buy, very dull and muddy, can’t say anything good about it :frowning:

Hendrix with a very old Koetsu,

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I’ve not heard the High output Hana but I really rate the Low output version.

My favourite mid budget cart.

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A few thoughts on the new amp -

Its adequate.

Its also stupidly heavy for something that only knocks out 30w - NP seems to have decided to shove a power supply from a much bigger amp in there and fitted surprisingly large heatsinks to what is according to the specs a relatively low powered amp.

Not that I need much power with 105db/w/m horns, I think the most I saw the Pioneer’s meters get to was just over 0.3w and that was at 85db in the room.

Its definitely different in sound to the Pioneer M-Z1a 60w class A monos. Can’t fully get a handle on things yet without putting them back in but immediate impressions are of a stronger impression of a left to right soundstage which is wider, and a weightier feel to music overall.

Obviously my preamp is holding it back so all this has really done is trigger the next fricking upgrade :wink: (Spanks Google for the next few hours browsing potential replacements…).

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(FWIW) power supply size = power supply robustness =/= high wattage output - it’s about current availability + dynamic headroom + the ability to reject powerline noise - less ripple downstream, better transient speed, blah-blah.

The temptation will be to match with a Pass pre, but I’ll just say I’m very much not regretting a tube-hybrid pre. VTL 5.5, AR Ref 5 would have been in on the cards but for £££££ and I’m not actually convinced they’re better than the Eclipse, flwiw…

The usual suspects from Kondo / ANUK would work well. Wildcard: the ANUK M2 / M5 that Emporium have is not as sketchy as it first appears, and I found them very helpful/discounty when contacted direct… Couldn’t afford it even then.

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Tru dat.

Dat also tru.

I’d like to hear it with an AR Ref 5SE for a start as I’ve typically preferred what they do vs say an M7 which are lovely but…

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I would be wary of a ARC Ref 5 due to reliability, as I have seen a few in reparers.

The Conrad Johnson ACT2, Esoteric C03 or C03x are extremely good, as are some of the Gryphon pres.

Also not a fan of AN M7.

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I recall one particular instance of a 5 rather than a 5SE which had been supplied s/h by a ā€˜high end’ dealer, which turned into a saga of problems.

Any worries about expensive repairs if they occur can be slightly ameliorated by using the guy who does all the repairs for Absolute Sounds (avoiding going through them).