My Bottle neck

[doug s.]

I still say your first move is to get a decent cartridge. After that if you want to do separates I would look for an Adcom GTP series tuner/preamp and a power amplifier. This way you get all of your receiver functions without having to purchase a tuner or phono preamp. I ran a GTP400 and GFA535 for years with good results and when I bought it, it clearly kicked the pants off any receiver I had heard (and unlike the audio purist stuff it had useful tone controls and a loudness contour switch. You can probably get both on Ebay for less than $400. Maybe less than $300.

this solution would likely work, but it's not for me, for two reasons. 1) i am a tuna freak, which means separates is necessary. the tuna in the gtp series' won't cut it for me. i had a gft-1a - easily adcom's best tuna offering - and it is only so-so, unless modded. if yure not into fm like i am, a gtp's internal tuna may be enuff, tho. 2), once i had heard what a nice tube preamp can do for a rig, for me, there's no turning back.

so, i'd use the sx650's tuna & fono stages into the amp/pre combo, until i could afford to upgrade these. (cracker has a rotel tuna he's considering selling; depending on model, it may be worth keeping.) but, i also agree a cartridge upgrade should be in the mix sometime...

as always, ymmv,

doug s.

 

[bully]

The HPM speakers are very good, so that part of your system is fine. They would open up with more power.
The table and cartridge are another point for upgrade. A better cart would really help things out.
Like RuSsMaN mentioned, going separates would be a good way to go.
For example, with my HPM-900 I'm using a 200 wpc Denon POA-2200 for glorious sound.

 

[Mister Pig]

You are thinking of the wrong TT. The NAD 5120 is a suspended table and if it is a copy of anything it sure as heck isn't a copy of a Rega anything. Its actually kind of interesting. It has this tunable damped counterweight that it claims can be tuned to cancel out the tonearm/cartridge resonance. Almost makes me want to get one to play with it. See manual's here: http://www.vinylengine.com/manuals_nad.shtml

Ah that is a differnt turntable than what I was thinking of. The 555 being the Rega clone. But with that being said I still would recommend a cartridge change. Having owned Grado cartridges a couple of times, I really do have to say I can't stand them. Maybe the Sonata wood body would be ok, but there are an awful lot of good $500 cartridges.

Somwwhere I read the original posters response of putting a $200 or $300 cartridge on an $80 dollar turntable as a difficult one. But if the NAD is a competant tuurntable then by all means do it. I think you will get the best return of performance vs dollars spent. And in the vinyl arena of today, $200 gets you into the first tier of good cartridges.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[Velocewest]

Yea all the info was actually a little more than what I wanted. WOW

I thought about getting a new cart. but thought it would be a bit odd to give an 80 dollar table (thats what I paid) a $300 cart.
I thought about a new table but still being new to higher end vinyl what does a better table do?

The NAD 5120 is pretty well regarded as I recall. Do you have the flat tonearm or the round one?

And don't think of it as an $80 TT just because that's what YOU paid for it. I didn't pay much for my Dual, but it was over $700 new in the late 70's -- that's about $1,800 in today money, which would get me into a nice Music Hall, Clearaudio, Pro-Ject, Sota, or a pair of Rega P3's!

 

[yosl]

It never ceases to amaze me how a thread such as this can become so esoteric so quickly. What's at the heart of every system, the speaker - amp combination! So lets examine that pairing; a set of HPM-1500s being driven by a nice but quite modest receiver rated at 35 wpc. It's already been said but the HPMs would definitely benefit from more power. How much more power and whether it's in the form of a receiver, integrated amp or true seperates becomes entirely a function of budget, availability and personal preference.

Of course there is also another option and that is to change out the HPMs for something a little more efficient.

Once the amp - speaker combo has been addressed, it's time to re-evaluate the TT and CD player. Where your priority lies on that front should probably be dictated by the size of your vinyl and CD collection.

 

[crackerkorean]

I will go cartridge shopping tomorrow and see what is out there.
This particular table has the round tone arm. I would like find the orginal flat one just for kicks.

I would like to go seperates but the severe lack of room is keeping me from doing that right now. That and future upgrades to the Home theatre is also a limiting factor in room.
As for the rotel tuner that I have it is a RT-1220 (analog solid state tuner)
Here is a current pic.

Also I flattened the speakers out (turned them so they are not angled) and that made a huge imporvement in sound.

 

[doug s.]

cracker, the preamps i suggested, plus the amps, will take up less room than your present receiver. of course, you would still have to squeeze in a tuner. your rotel, based upon the info i could glean from rotel's website, seems a decent tuner, but quite sizable.

http://rotel.com/support/pdfs/manuals/RT-1220.pdf

but, you could have some spare change for a nikko gamma 1, if you sold your receiver. these quite a stellar performers, & wery slim. they usually go for really reasonable prices on ebay.

(also awailable in black)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5847403156

then, you will need a decent bargain fono stage, like the radio shack little wonder, parasound, nad, sumiko, etc...

also, yosl's point is well-taken - if you stick w/the hp-1500's, (which i assumed was a given), you will certainly benefit from more power. another reason why i suggested the art amps - lotsa power in a small package.

good luck,

doug s.

 

[crackerkorean]

Gotta keep the receiver. My father gave it to me.
For now I will go with the cart and then an amp.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[doug s.]

Gotta keep the receiver. My father gave it to me.
For now I will go with the cart and then an amp.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

hey, i can understand sentimental attachment to equipment. but, it doesn't mean you have to actually *use* it in your main rig!

i remember this stereo my dad had, when i was a wee lad; i searched for ~6 months on ebay to find the exact same model; now it's on my orifice desk.

holly hippodaze, & best of luck w/your system upgrades. i would love to hear those hpm1500's some day.

doug s.

 

[crackerkorean]

Well with some bribing of the wife I was able to go ahead with my upgrade.
My wife said more power (gotta love her) :thmbsp: .

Last weekend I was at a new/used audio shop and they had a JA Michell Source One table with a Reference Grado cart for $599. I was set on purchasing that today but I found that it was sold. :thumbsdn:

Well I noticed a system that was playing in the used area and it sounded wonderful. Playing on a nice large pair of VAnderesteen (not sure if model). Norah Jones and Dire Straits sounded fantastic coming from those speakers. I ended coming home with this set up.

I am now the proud owner of two different items.
Audiosource Amp Two (80 WPC)

and an ADCOM GFP-565

I am happy with the upgrade. Much warmer sound. I did demo a Hafler 100WPC amp but it was a bit crunchy.

 

[GordonW]

My suggestion? On that budget, I'd try, instead of going with a tube preamp/amp combo (I'm dubious of the quality, and more importantly, the RELIABILITY, that can be acquired in a tube preamp of $300.00), I'd try listening to something like a NAD C320BEE integrated amp with a NAD PP2 phono preamp. The combo of amp and phono preamp would be just over $500... and IMHO, it's the biggest bargain in amps out there. I've listened to HPM1500s on such an amp, and it's amazing what that little amp can do with those big speakers...

Also, in terms of speakers- one upgrade I've liked quite a lot for the HPM1500, is to substitute a pair of Philips AD11600-T8 tweeters for the Pioneer cone tweeters (the 1.75" cones). Makes a BIG difference. Much more "air", smoother... just makes the speaker more listenable. While the Philips tweeters are no longer in production, I have a pair of NOS units here at the store (Audio Atlanta), that I got and kept, just because I foresaw someone coming in with a similar situation. If you'd like to try these, PM me... since you're local, you could just bring by the speakers, and I could "audition" the tweeters in them for you, here at the store...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[rwortman]

Cool beans! I bet it sounds great! Now start saving up for the new cartridge.

 

[crackerkorean]

Well its 2AM (eastern time) and I am getting ready to head to bed. My wife and I just finished listening to CDs and Vinyl of every major genere that we listen to on my new set up and I have to say that I am amazed......TRULY AMAZED!!!!!!!

Before everything sounded good but not great. Not like this. Most of the music that we listened to was revitalized (mid 80s rock was not produced well at all...the stuff that we listened to anyway).

Last weekend I had the oppertunity to listen to a pair of platnium series PSB speakers hooked up to an all MAC system and was amazing. Being in the presense of these speakers it almost discouraged me. It gave me the idea of having to spend $7000+ on a pair of speakers to get phenomenal sound.

I found out tonight that I can do that for a very reasonable price. Granted I got the best deal in the world for the speakers so with that I have $620 in my system. That is including the $500 I spent today.

These two items have given my system new life, at the same time it also exposes the weak link in my system. In between track I can hear the turn table but I can live with that. I cannot belive that I have gone all my life without hearing something as amazing as this.

Thanks again, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the guideance that you guys have given me.

 

[rwortman]

Fortunately, PSB's lower priced speakers sound good too.

 

[doug s.]

glad it worked out for ya! :thmbsp:

holly hippodaze,

doug s.

 

[crackerkorean]

Here is a pic of the pre and power amp.

 

[rwortman]

A bit of advice. That amp wants a bit more space above it for cooling. Even though it might look "wrong", if you have to stack them you are better off putting the preamp on the bottom and putting nothing on top of the amp.

 

[doug s.]

A bit of advice. That amp wants a bit more space above it for cooling. Even though it might look "wrong", if you have to stack them you are better off putting the preamp on the bottom and putting nothing on top of the amp.

what *he* said!

doug s.

 

[crackerkorean]

Can I use spacers between the two? I only have about 1.5 inches between the pre and the next shelf

Also just thought about it. My Cd interconnect is as far as itl go.

 

[doug s.]

Can I use spacers between the two? I only have about 1.5 inches between the pre and the next shelf

Also just thought about it. My Cd interconnect is as far as itl go.

yust flip the two - 1.5" clearance is better than nothing. and, better to heat up the shelf than the preamp. mebbe time for a new ic, if the cd ic won't reach the preamp...

doug s.