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What is the Bottleneck in my System?

Isaac C.

Isaac C.

Cat Hoarder
Hello everyone, I have a question and seek your perspectives and or advice. Can you help identify the "bottleneck" in my system?

My system is as follows:
Hitachi Ha 610 (70wpc, recapped with Silmics)
Sanyo TP 1000 with Acos Lustre Gst 1
Kenwood KD 500 (I switch the tonearm between the two at the moment)
Cartridges: Ortofon VMS 5E, 20E, and F15 with Nerve Audio litz leads
Dyanco A25s
 
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Isaac C. said:
Hello everyone, I have a question and seek your perspectives and or advice. Can you help identify the "bottleneck" in my system?

My system is as follows:
Hitachi Ha 610 (70wpc, recapped with Silmics)
Sanyo TP 1000 with Acos Lustre Gst 1
Kenwood KD 500 (I switch the tonearm between the two at the moment)
Cartridges: Ortofon VMS 5E, 20E, and F15 with Nerve Audio litz leads
Dyanco A25s
Click to expand...

What’s the issue you think you have? Or do you mean “weak link”?
 
I think I'm squeezing as much performance as I can out of either the cartridge or speakers but not sure which would have the biggest impact. The highs are just so close to "popping out of the speakers and being lifelike" but they just can't do it. The amp was a TOTL and so are the turntables, so I'm unsure if the cartridge or speakers is the "bottleneck" that is impeding the potential of the amp and turntables.
 
GChief said:
What’s the issue you think you have? Or do you mean “weak link”?
Click to expand...
Weak link might a better word. I used to build PCs and bottleneck is what I'm used to saying when a component is impeding the performance of the rest of the system.
 
I don't have experience with the A25's, but was considering purchasing a set a few years ago and did some research.
I think there were maybe 3 variations of the crossover, although each with only one cap. Also there might be some attenuating resistors either in series or in 'L' pad arrangement.
 
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My friend has a ton of other box speakers, he is going to let me borrow his Advent OLAs to compare with my current ones. We'll see for sure if it's the speakers or something else. He said they sound "bigger" than the Dynacos and have a little more bass. I've got some Magnepan MG1s he gave me that need a complete rebuild, so if I "upgrade" it will be to rebuild those if I get a chance.
 
I had Dynaco A25xl and used w/ modern tube amp. One of the best vintage bookshelf speakers. Modern replacement Seas drivers are available. Beautiful midrange sound with minimal xover to interfere. Woofer rolls of naturally w/o a xover. Only tweeter has one to limit lower frequencies. Don't sell of trade away. Just add a different speaker and amp.
 
Isaac C. said:
Hello everyone, I have a question and seek your perspectives and or advice. Can you help identify the "bottleneck" in my system?

My system is as follows:
Hitachi Ha 610 (70wpc, recapped with Silmics)
Sanyo TP 1000 with Acos Lustre Gst 1
Kenwood KD 500 (I switch the tonearm between the two at the moment)
Cartridges: Ortofon VMS 5E, 20E, and F15 with Nerve Audio litz leads
Dyanco A25s
Click to expand...

The grey matter between your ears is the biggest obstacle to enjoying the most your equipment has to offer. I would start with the speakers.
 
Isaac C. said:
Dyanco A25s
Click to expand...

Dec 1969
Dynaco A-25 loudspeaker
https://www.stereophile.com/content/dynaco-25-loudspeaker
............Only in one respect did we find the A-25s to be clearly inferior to two of the systems we compared them With: transparency........

We compared the A-25s with two systems of comparable price—the Acoustic Research AR-4x ($57 each) and the KLH Model Seventeen ($70 each)—and some top-rated higher-priced systems—Janszen Z-600s, ...............................

.............Would you believe, the A-25s beat out all of them!
Click to expand...

You seem to have a well balanced vintage system, and in that respect there is no bottleneck.

However, should you add super tweeters plus a subwoofer and play with speaker placement in room, you will have a new audio adventure on your hands.

More tweaking, less listening but only you can decide which is more fun.

If adding a sub, this link may help.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/two-channel-stereo-subwoofer-small-room.907002/

In lieu of pointing super tweeters at you and using an L-Pad to lower the volume, you could try pointing them backwards for reflected ambiance in a dipole kind of way.

Of course, new speakers are always an option, including building an open baffle kit or something you have always wanted to explore, line arrays and so forth.
 
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I love the apparent balance of your system. My suggestion is to try something other than an Ortofon cartridge. All the ones you list are very nice carts, but, you can get a decidedly different presentation/sound from many other cartridges, vintage or modern.
A "true" upgrade might be gained by adding on separate phono preamp. You wouldn't have to actually change anything, and any separate phono pre is bound to be better than the built in pre in a vintage integrated.
 
The Dynaco A-25's were an excellent match with tube amplifiers which they were designed to be mated with. The impedance of the A-25 is just about a perfect match to bring out the best in tube gear. Twenty watts should really
deliver the goods.
 
I think another way to describe my system is "revealing". That is, if the mastering job of the record is horrible, I can hear it. If it is a good mastering job, then it sounds fantastic.
 
I finished recapping the Dynacos with Solen 5mf capacitors. Here are some pictures:
20200730_125157.jpg
20200730_125154.jpg
20200730_124405.jpg
20200730_124035.jpg
20200730_124023.jpg


I used some generic spade connectors to make things easier.
 
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