Giovanni68
New Member
I kind of described my system in the introduction thread on the dedicated forum, now let's switch to sound expectations.
The oldest piece in my system is the couple of JBL4311B which I bought in my teen age, they are over 30 years old and still sounding, not just sounding, even the pads still work
they have been sitting almost unused for a while, then put them a few inches off the floor on a stack of books (when culture helps...) and upside down as to raise the mid-highs off to a sitting ear level, wow, they still rock and the bass is still the JBL one I fell in love with as a teen.
Back at teen age there was a Sansui AU-D7 to drive them along with a Technics direct drive turntable but my dream was (and still is) an Oracle Delphi but this is another story...
Till a year ago there was an Adcom couple to drive the speakers, a GFP345 and a GFA535, the former known as to have a good potential.
A friend wanted to sell his dad's old system gear and I helped him to figure out value and to advert on dedicated forums, when I saw there was a turntable my crush for the Delphi hit back and even tho it wasn't an Oracle but a JA Michell Gyrodec I patiently wait to put money aside and got it along with 3 (!!!) tonearms, a Kiseki step-up and an Audio Research SP9 preamp which sent the Adcom to sit on a shelf (planning to recap it for a second system). Another year passed and I also got, from the same seller, a tube amp, a chinese Aeron AP890 (about which I haven't found much literature if not a few sparse comments) with twin KT88 tubes, I sat the 4311B on two chairs I took off the backyard (when my mum walked in and saw it all she said "a woman could never walk in here..." and I am grateful there isn't any, the day there will be one she gotta accept not just me (...) but all of my toys), got a bit disappointed because, of course, the bass was almost gone when compared to floor level but mid-highs, especially after switching from solid state to tubes, got an incredible boost which made me test the caps on the JBL front still working after such long time.
The turntable is not in working conditions, I need new wires for the headshell and new belt but will get them as a Christmas present probably (would like to sell one or two arms and rewire the Zeta as to recreate the setup the owner used to run), at this moment in time listening FLAC audio through an Apple laptop, I know that not being best solution, will one day get a dedicated DAC whilst both the turntable and the CD player (another almost vintage piece, a Sony CDP-X505ES, goes to restoration, it all works but the pick-up doesn't move along the rails whilst it's spinning the disk) get back into working conditions.
Now the downside, I listen to different kind of music, rock from the 80-90s like Simple Minds, Depeche Mode and such stuff, electronic music like Mike Oldfield then modern house as well as jazz or what they call chill out/chill house, the sound is ok but I can't really figure it out them reproducing a stage, I mean, I can sure see a stage between the speakers (about 20-25" off the floor and 12-15 off the rear wall, 5' apart, listening position 7-8 feet apart), I can see where the singer is with good recordings, some of the instruments but sure not a proper stage which goes "around" the speakers, I know the gear I own is old and not specifically designed to reproduce a stage, when I got the JBL I was a teen and more in love with the boom-boom than with details, now I am grown and I'd like to see Frank when he sings "fly me to the Mooooon, let me seeeeee...", I know that the 4311B are not that kind of speaker, probably my room is also not the best but is there anything I can do to improve what I own?
I am very tempted to give it all away and to switch to an integrated amp and a couple of stand speakers as to make it all simpler and less cables, maybe a sub to compensate bass but this is too much stuff...
At a friend's place I did listen to Sonus Faber Electa Amator (I know, I know, totally different speaker and budget) through twin solid state mono amps (forgot brand and model) with my music through the Apple laptop and I was amazed at the soundstage, incredible how present the instruments and voices are there but, of course, the bass is not as extended or powerful as mine (they have a passive speaker on the back whilst mine only relies on a 12" white cone woofer) but for some kind of music they sound amazing.
So, this is the beginning of the story, today once I am done with some chores I either go for a hike with the dog, the camera and the tripod (another bank account breaker) or sit and try to switch from tubes back to solid state with the Adcom to find out the difference, would also try to move speakers closer to the back wall to reinforce the bass a bit and enjoy some music, a pity my wine pusher was closed because I so much felt like a glass of "moscato", well, there is time ahead...
Thanks everybody for reading
Giovanni
The oldest piece in my system is the couple of JBL4311B which I bought in my teen age, they are over 30 years old and still sounding, not just sounding, even the pads still work
they have been sitting almost unused for a while, then put them a few inches off the floor on a stack of books (when culture helps...) and upside down as to raise the mid-highs off to a sitting ear level, wow, they still rock and the bass is still the JBL one I fell in love with as a teen.Back at teen age there was a Sansui AU-D7 to drive them along with a Technics direct drive turntable but my dream was (and still is) an Oracle Delphi but this is another story...
Till a year ago there was an Adcom couple to drive the speakers, a GFP345 and a GFA535, the former known as to have a good potential.
A friend wanted to sell his dad's old system gear and I helped him to figure out value and to advert on dedicated forums, when I saw there was a turntable my crush for the Delphi hit back and even tho it wasn't an Oracle but a JA Michell Gyrodec I patiently wait to put money aside and got it along with 3 (!!!) tonearms, a Kiseki step-up and an Audio Research SP9 preamp which sent the Adcom to sit on a shelf (planning to recap it for a second system). Another year passed and I also got, from the same seller, a tube amp, a chinese Aeron AP890 (about which I haven't found much literature if not a few sparse comments) with twin KT88 tubes, I sat the 4311B on two chairs I took off the backyard (when my mum walked in and saw it all she said "a woman could never walk in here..." and I am grateful there isn't any, the day there will be one she gotta accept not just me (...) but all of my toys), got a bit disappointed because, of course, the bass was almost gone when compared to floor level but mid-highs, especially after switching from solid state to tubes, got an incredible boost which made me test the caps on the JBL front still working after such long time.
The turntable is not in working conditions, I need new wires for the headshell and new belt but will get them as a Christmas present probably (would like to sell one or two arms and rewire the Zeta as to recreate the setup the owner used to run), at this moment in time listening FLAC audio through an Apple laptop, I know that not being best solution, will one day get a dedicated DAC whilst both the turntable and the CD player (another almost vintage piece, a Sony CDP-X505ES, goes to restoration, it all works but the pick-up doesn't move along the rails whilst it's spinning the disk) get back into working conditions.
Now the downside, I listen to different kind of music, rock from the 80-90s like Simple Minds, Depeche Mode and such stuff, electronic music like Mike Oldfield then modern house as well as jazz or what they call chill out/chill house, the sound is ok but I can't really figure it out them reproducing a stage, I mean, I can sure see a stage between the speakers (about 20-25" off the floor and 12-15 off the rear wall, 5' apart, listening position 7-8 feet apart), I can see where the singer is with good recordings, some of the instruments but sure not a proper stage which goes "around" the speakers, I know the gear I own is old and not specifically designed to reproduce a stage, when I got the JBL I was a teen and more in love with the boom-boom than with details, now I am grown and I'd like to see Frank when he sings "fly me to the Mooooon, let me seeeeee...", I know that the 4311B are not that kind of speaker, probably my room is also not the best but is there anything I can do to improve what I own?
I am very tempted to give it all away and to switch to an integrated amp and a couple of stand speakers as to make it all simpler and less cables, maybe a sub to compensate bass but this is too much stuff...
At a friend's place I did listen to Sonus Faber Electa Amator (I know, I know, totally different speaker and budget) through twin solid state mono amps (forgot brand and model) with my music through the Apple laptop and I was amazed at the soundstage, incredible how present the instruments and voices are there but, of course, the bass is not as extended or powerful as mine (they have a passive speaker on the back whilst mine only relies on a 12" white cone woofer) but for some kind of music they sound amazing.
So, this is the beginning of the story, today once I am done with some chores I either go for a hike with the dog, the camera and the tripod (another bank account breaker) or sit and try to switch from tubes back to solid state with the Adcom to find out the difference, would also try to move speakers closer to the back wall to reinforce the bass a bit and enjoy some music, a pity my wine pusher was closed because I so much felt like a glass of "moscato", well, there is time ahead...
Thanks everybody for reading
Giovanni
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Studio Monitors, maybe I gotta listen from a closer distance... I moved the speakers, uhm, the chairs a full 30 inches forward and now the triangle which has the speakers as a base and the listener in the upper apex is close to an equilateral triangle, still a bit further than the distance between the speakers but I gotta say they sound different and better, now I can see the soundstage gaining depth, width didn't change but there is more space between instruments.
