2023 was a memorably expensive year for me. After a 22 year love affair with my Audiomat Prelude Reference MKII integrated tube amp and after turning an improbable 85 years old, I decided I was going to make my last years my best audio years. I bought a Luxman CL-38uC tube preamplifier and a Luxman MQ-88uC tube amplifier.
The Luxman CL-38uC tube preamp:
They are beautifully musical and beautiful to look at, with the preamp especially nice eyeball candy with its retro looking wood trim all around and more tone controls than I know how to use. It also has an excellent phono stage, the same one that it is in their stand alone phono stage so I was able to obsolete my Audio Note Zero II phono stage.
I also bought an Ayre DX-5 DSD SACD player. What a find too! I had called Ayre to ask about it and discovered they had an Ayre DX-5 that had been on a shelf for years after only a brief demo, so it was essentially brand new. I then had to pay for the DSD upgrade. Even though SACDs were almost dead I had a fairly sizable collection and I wanted to hear those higher res discs, so it turned out to be a deal I found it impossible to pass on.
And then I decided to refurbish my Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4004 turntable. I’ll classify it as new since it cost me more to restore it than it cost me new. Yes, in cost me more than twice what I paid for it when I bought it new in 1980! I missed its automatic operation terribly and its tangential tone arm appealed, plus I loved its looks. No wonder, as it has been on display at the MOMA in NYC for years as an example of superlative industrial design. B&O had decided to refurbish the 95 or so original 4002-4004 turntables they had scrounged up. They took them completely apart and replaced everything possible and even added some features and sold them all for a improbable $11,000 each! I had Beolover do much the same and it is now as close to “as new” as can be done with an early 80s turntable. I’m so happy to have it back in service!! I will sell the Rega RP40 I bought ten years ago to replace it.
And lastly, I also had my Nakamichi DR-1 restored. It had stopped working, probably because I wasn’t using it. Sadly, I’m not sure I will use it much in future and I probably ought to sell it.
On either side are my Quad ESL-63 US Monitor electrostatic loudspeakers, I forgot to mention I bought a pair of newly restored US Monitors to replace the Quads I’d bought new in 1985. I don’t dare add up the cost of all this gear - ouch!! But very much worth it as I am very much enjoying the result. I should probably add that I mainly stream my music. The Roon Nucleus is in another room and connected to my Berkeley DAC and Audio Alchemy DMP-1 (Roon endpoint) via Ethernet.
Jim_F
(Remember - It's easier to Keep a Customer than to get a New One)
2
I bought very little in 2023, but did finally get my listening room. I bought a pair of Pioneer HPM-60 speakers, materials for two DIY bass traps, a 7 inch screen for my RPi4, and two battery backup/surge protectors. Also bought 3 posters and 4 frames, a few miscellaneous cables, and a lava lamp. I also bought a 1TB M.2 SSD upgrade chip and adapter for my late 2014 Mac Mini backup Roon server.
Apart from my trusty JVC subwoofer I have replaced all my 15+ years old hifi and TV.
I have bought a Bluesound Node X for my office/ game room,
For my living room I’ve went with Dali Spektor 2 speakers. Toshiba 55 inch 4K LED TV. A Sony 4K ultra HD BluRay player. And a full Cambridge Audio CX2 series set. CXA81, CXNv2 and a CXCv2.
The Marantz PM8005 amp was replaced by Rega Aethos; the Rega RP3 turntable by the Rega P6 plus Fono MC; the B&W 685 S2 speakers by B&W 703 S2; Ferrum Wandla was added and that lead to Schiit Jotunheim 2 being replaced by Ferrum Oor.
Edit: I forgot I started using HQPlayer too.
Phew!
I thought I had it sorted and it was time to buy music and listen, but on Christmas Day a friend gave me a Chord Dave on long term loan with a view to me buying it. Now I will see if the convenience of the Wandla (XLR and RCA connected at the same time allowing headphone and 2-channel listening without switching cables) can beat the potential audible difference between Wandla and Dave.
I still expect 2024 to be listening and buying music.
Got a new Marantz Model 40n and CD60 CD player, sold on my Naim Uniti Atom.
Got a FiiO M11 Plus and a Wiim Pro Plus as end points replacing a bunch of headphone gear and freeing up my RME dac connects to the core. Repurposed the RME with my old Arcam AVR360 Amp, Alpha 7 CD player and some surround speakers that I no longer use into a system for my office, sounds fab.
I love your turntable! I still have a B&0 Beocenter 9500 (about 10 years younger than your turntable) which is hard to separate from. But it will happen when we move to an appartement…
The look of B&O is indeed fantastic! About the sound you can discuss…
The Bathys travels between home and work and provides audio bliss when focus is needed. The QB2 has become a fixture in the bedroom, providing light baroque mostly, before sleep and when waking up in the weekends.
The Mu-so 2 is a brilliant addition to the workspace at home, working very well in near field on my desk. It has also become my audio laboratory of sorts, so I can mess with other software than Roon or Spotify, with a Topping D10s acting as digital bridge for my MacBook as well as (DSD256) DAC when toying with HQPlayer – all without disturbing the peace. Lastly, has become a great place for me to play music that wife and daughter find a bit eh… well eh… less agreeable.
I bought the Organik upgrade for my Klimax 350 Exakt speaker and got the Utopik upgrade for my Klimax System Hub free of charge because of the Linn Promotion.
Those upgrades were a game changer for my main music system.
Furthermore I exchanged my Akurate System Hub with a Linn Selekt DSM Classic Hub in my home office setup.
Finally I changed the original dram in my Nucleus + to 32gb dram. I had in the past several problems with the roon database (error loading). Those problems never happened after I change the dram. So, most likely the original dram had some problems and provoked failures in the database.
Big investments, but totally justified by the hours and enjoyment of music over the year.
Late last month I picked up a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M. I didn’t need it, I just wanted something new to play with. This is for my desktop setup where I was using a Geshelli Jnog DAC for a long time.
The last several years my desktop was getting most of the upgrades.
This past year was the biggest upgrade that I have made in quite a few years. I replaced the audio in my theater room with a new Yamaha 7.2.2 AVR, a set of SVS mains, SVS surrounds, Dual SVS subs with a pair of Yamaha Atmos ceiling speakers. Then I added a Eversolo DMP-A6 to the AVR.
This new theater setup is especially nice with Tidal Atmos and the DMP-A6 is a nice Roon addition to my new setup.
In addition, I upgraded all of my power cords to Shunyata Research Alpha v2 NR, and
two clock cables to Shunyata Alpha v2-Clock 75, all of which yielded a tangible improvement in SQ.
17 Likes
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
19
Thats some truly serious coin dropped!
But magnificent gear!
Enjoy the music.
