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Just got another system up and running in the mancave

Wes_in_VA

Wes_in_VA

Super Member
A while back my brother in law gave me a pair of Eico HF20 tube amps. I brought them down to the mancave and they sat for a week or so. I plugged them in...and got a nasty hum. So I put them off to the side and they sat there until today.

A couple of days ago I finally got around to refoaming the woofers on a pair of EPI Model 11's that I had picked up at a flea market for $20.
And, I finally got around to pulling my Playstation CD player out of the main audio rack in the mancave.

See where I'm going with this? I had a system just waiting to be hooked up.

Plugged it all up and lo and behold, no hum on the Eicos. :banana:

I've run a few different CD's through so far and this system is telling me it really likes jazz. Groovin' to some Kind of Blue right now and it's pretty sweet.
This is my first all tube (well, 'cept of course for the CD player) setup and I'm diggin' it. I tried the EPI's on a SS receiver when I first finished them and I wasn't that impressed, not that I was expecting much.
Now they sound pretty nice. Really balanced and the highs really sparkle. The low bass is lacking, but what do you expect from a 6.5" woofer?

I've attached a pic of things as they stand now. It's a mess but I'll be thinning some stuff out and coming up with a better layout for this system.
 

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Thanks, ya'll. I'm pretty excited to have a tube system up and running.
I'm going to build some stands to get those Epicures a little farther off the floor and see what I think about them then. Hearing how much sweeter they sound with these Eicos than they did with my Marantz 1250 (which is a killer integrated amp) makes me really want to get them on the best speakers I can.
 
Oh boy oh boy...Just found a pr of DCM Timepieces on ebay for what I consider a steal, so those are on the way to take the place of the Epi's. I need something small for this setup so these should be the ticket.
 
:thmbsp::thmbsp:

Looks nice.
I will be curious what those DCM's will sound like on tube gear.
The pair I had I thought they were a little muffled on the lower end so maybe tubes will help.
 
Yeah, I'm curious too. Worst case scenario they'll end up in another system or I'll sell them, but I'm excited to see what they're like.
I'm checking out some Mission Model 70's this weekend as an option, too...and a pair of Athena towers, for that matter. I'd prefer a larger speaker for the tubes to really bring them out but I'm so happy with my "A" setup in the mancave I don't want to give up too much space to this one just yet. But we'll see, once I hear those tubes with a decent speaker. The EPI's are fine and all, but they don't offer up much soundstage and that's what I like.
 
An update (already!)

When I first got the Eicos, I stumbled across an article on an easy way to turn them into monoblock power amps. This morning I decided to play around with that using the pre out section of my Marantz 1250 as the preamp.
WOW. What a difference. There's a *lot* more "oomph" to things now, and the Epi's sound really great. They have a much more full low range with the addition of the Marantz.

It's going to be fun playing around with this to see where the best synergy lies. I have a few toys lying around with I can try out...
 

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Is that a flexy rack?! I like how the top is that wide! How's the stability on top when there's nothing up there?
 
It is indeed pretty much a Flexi Rack, though I came up with this one before I heard of the Flexi Rack. It's pretty darn stable, though I'm actually going to be reconfiguring it so that there are fewer shelves, probably 2 wide ones and one narrow.
 
Last night I got home from work and there was a set of Aural Thrills self-powered RCA's waiting for me so I figure I'd go throw those in this system to give them a try since I was using super-cheapy RCA's from my cdp to my preamp.
WOW. I'm totally in love with this system now. The synergy of the Marantz with the Eicos playing into those EPI model 11's...incredible.
Maybe I don't need new speakers after all????
 
eteller said:
You've been busy neighbor! Nice system.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been going kinda crazy as of late. I ended up with a little bit of mad money and I've made good use of it, and I've had some great finds.

Now the issue is that I have a lot of toys to play with and not enough time!
 
I went yardsaling with the wife today and came home with a perfect pair of speaker stands for the EPI's and a new ceiling fan for the room.
It's getting pretty damn nice in there.

This tube system is very different than my other two systems. Less soundstage but more accuracy I think. It's pretty cool to have choices.
This setup sounds perfect with stuff like Wynton Marsalis, Coltrane, Norah Jones, Lyle Lovett... not so hot with Janes Addiction! Not that I expected it to.
 
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