My First Post.

[Gio-G]

I've been excited to join the forum and learn what I can. I'll say this right off, I'm out of my depth here and likely won't know a lot of the terminology so please forgive me if I have some "stupid questions". I'm more interested in keeping my mouth shut and learning so I won't have many or any earth shattering posts.

I started with my very first real higher end system in 1999. Trial and error and some pretty good audio sales reps set me up with a system that I have just recently started to replace/upgrade the gear.

The system is almost all Bryston gear except the CD player which is a California Audio Labs CL-10. I recently replaced/upgraded my aging Bryston BP-25 preamp with the Bryston BP-19 preamp. They offered me very good trade in and trade up incentives. I've been very happy with their equipment for almost 30 years. The amps are next and that's likely it. I'll hopefully still be around in 30 years but my hearing will not be good, and if the new equipment is as good or better than the old, I won't need to do anything again. My kids can take over the system if they choose to do so.

The "isolator feet" you see are only for my own bling purposes and I can actually clean under the equipment. I used to take everything down to get the glass clean but these feet negate that and I like the look.

I love and still have my first (technically 2nd) pair of speakers. NHT 3.3s. I had the 2.9s first but the 3.3s were and are still a nice fit here with great bass.

They are second string now however.

I packed them up last week.

The Audioholics videos and reviews moved me into a direction I wasn't certain I would go. I adored the NHTs but I worry about age. Maybe it isn't something to be concerned about, but the other factor was something I'd read and heard about more than once. The speakers make the most significant difference in a system. I decided to go after a pair of speakers that received great reviews here.

I went with a pair of Perlisten S7Ts. I find them incredible.

I also ditched my Transparent Cables. They were free as a demo models thrown-in when I bought all of my gear. They were very thick and had black boxes hanging off them behind the speakers. I decided to overkill things a bit and bought 10 gauge Blue Jeans cables with the welded banana posts. They are less intrusive and work every bit as well as the boutique Transparent cables. The amplifiers are going back to Bryston in the fall and although the newer models won't be exactly an even trade, I'll still get a great trade for the current ones.

If the CD player ever fails, I'll ask around here about a good measuring rig that hopefully is "affordable".

I figured I'd say hello here.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Squishman]

Welcome to the forum! I am not familiar with any of your equipment, but it looks like an impressive system.

 

[dolynick]

That's some serious gear. And a very tidy clean setup. Congrats.

 

[Bucknekked]

I've been excited to join the forum and learn what I can. I'll say this right off, I'm out of my depth here and likely won't know a lot of the terminology so please forgive me if I have some "stupid questions". I'm more interested in keeping my mouth shut and learning so I won't have many or any earth shattering posts.

I started with my very first real higher end system in 1999. Trial and error and some pretty good audio sales reps set me up with a system that I have just recently started to replace/upgrade the gear.

The system is almost all Bryston gear except the CD player which is a California Audio Labs CL-10. I recently replaced/upgraded my aging Bryston BP-25 preamp with the Bryston BP-19 preamp. They offered me very good trade in and trade up incentives. I've been very happy with their equipment for almost 30 years. The amps are next and that's likely it. I'll hopefully still be around in 30 years but my hearing will not be good, and if the new equipment is as good or better than the old, I won't need to do anything again. My kids can take over the system if they choose to do so.

The "isolator feet" you see are only for my own bling purposes and I can actually clean under the equipment. I used to take everything down to get the glass clean but these feet negate that and I like the look.

I love and still have my first (technically 2nd) pair of speakers. NHT 3.3s. I had the 2.9s first but the 3.3s were and are still a nice fit here with great bass.

They are second string now however.

I packed them up last week.

The Audioholics videos and reviews moved me into a direction I wasn't certain I would go. I adored the NHTs but I worry about age. Maybe it isn't something to be concerned about, but the other factor was something I'd read and heard about more than once. The speakers make the most significant difference in a system. I decided to go after a pair of speakers that received great reviews here.

I went with a pair of Perlisten S7Ts. I find them incredible.

I also ditched my Transparent Cables. They were free as a demo models thrown-in when I bought all of my gear. They were very thick and had black boxes hanging off them behind the speakers. I decided to overkill things a bit and bought 10 gauge Blue Jeans cables with the welded banana posts. They are less intrusive and work every bit as well as the boutique Transparent cables. The amplifiers are going back to Bryston in the fall and although the newer models won't be exactly an even trade, I'll still get a great trade for the current ones.

If the CD player ever fails, I'll ask around here about a good measuring rig that hopefully is "affordable".

I figured I'd say hello here.

Thanks for looking!

Welcome to the forum Looks like you have a great start on the gear.

 

[lovinthehd]

Welcome to the forum and the decision to get rid of the Transparent cables! Altho I consider BlueJeans overkill (good, but I can do as well for myself).

 

[Gio-G]

Welcome to the forum and the decision to get rid of the Transparent cables! Altho I consider BlueJeans overkill (good, but I can do as well for myself).

I still have the Transparents but I started to really dislike the boxes on the cables near the speaker connections. The Blue Jeans are certainly overkill. They were so affordable and I'm not a DIY type so I figured, why not?
Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[MrBoat]

I've been excited to join the forum and learn what I can. I'll say this right off, I'm out of my depth here and likely won't know a lot of the terminology so please forgive me if I have some "stupid questions". I'm more interested in keeping my mouth shut and learning so I won't have many or any earth shattering posts.

I started with my very first real higher end system in 1999. Trial and error and some pretty good audio sales reps set me up with a system that I have just recently started to replace/upgrade the gear.

The system is almost all Bryston gear except the CD player which is a California Audio Labs CL-10. I recently replaced/upgraded my aging Bryston BP-25 preamp with the Bryston BP-19 preamp. They offered me very good trade in and trade up incentives. I've been very happy with their equipment for almost 30 years. The amps are next and that's likely it. I'll hopefully still be around in 30 years but my hearing will not be good, and if the new equipment is as good or better than the old, I won't need to do anything again. My kids can take over the system if they choose to do so.

The "isolator feet" you see are only for my own bling purposes and I can actually clean under the equipment. I used to take everything down to get the glass clean but these feet negate that and I like the look.

I love and still have my first (technically 2nd) pair of speakers. NHT 3.3s. I had the 2.9s first but the 3.3s were and are still a nice fit here with great bass.

They are second string now however.

I packed them up last week.

The Audioholics videos and reviews moved me into a direction I wasn't certain I would go. I adored the NHTs but I worry about age. Maybe it isn't something to be concerned about, but the other factor was something I'd read and heard about more than once. The speakers make the most significant difference in a system. I decided to go after a pair of speakers that received great reviews here.

I went with a pair of Perlisten S7Ts. I find them incredible.

I also ditched my Transparent Cables. They were free as a demo models thrown-in when I bought all of my gear. They were very thick and had black boxes hanging off them behind the speakers. I decided to overkill things a bit and bought 10 gauge Blue Jeans cables with the welded banana posts. They are less intrusive and work every bit as well as the boutique Transparent cables. The amplifiers are going back to Bryston in the fall and although the newer models won't be exactly an even trade, I'll still get a great trade for the current ones.

If the CD player ever fails, I'll ask around here about a good measuring rig that hopefully is "affordable".

I figured I'd say hello here.

Thanks for looking!

Welcome. Great choices. Getting rid of the gimmicky cables was a good start.

If you like CD (my favorite format), I would consider (if you haven't already) adding a streaming/streamer to your upgrade path. Not so much as an upgrade in sound quality (although, very good, IMO), but as yet a more efficient way to discover new music, at the least. Take this from someone who swears by CD, and is typically stubborn with change. I'd even go as far as to say that streaming, has been one of the most useful upgrades to all of my systems.

Streaming does a couple things. Makes new music discovery much more fluid. If I am listening to an internet radio and something I have never heard 'hooks' me, I can just hit the like button and surf it out later. Often times, this leads me down some pretty extensive artists rabbit holes and some really excellent finds. The other thing that it does, is that it can give us that random and spontaneous radio experience, without the ragging out the top 100 of hits that have been ragged out for the last 60 years, or since radio was invented, really. Not to mention, no ads. Streaming, is also the best way to get the kids on board.

 

[Eppie]

Congrats. That's pretty much a dream setup for me. Maybe when I get too old to travel I can consider something like that. Love the Perlistens.

 

[Gio-G]

Welcome. Great choices. Getting rid of the gimmicky cables was a good start.

If you like CD (my favorite format), I would consider (if you haven't already) adding a streaming/streamer to your upgrade path. Not so much as an upgrade in sound quality (although, very good, IMO), but as yet a more efficient way to discover new music, at the least. Take this from someone who swears by CD, and is typically stubborn with change. I'd even go as far as to say that streaming, has been one of the most useful upgrades to all of my systems.

Streaming does a couple things. Makes new music discovery much more fluid. If I am listening to an internet radio and something I have never heard 'hooks' me, I can just hit the like button and surf it out later. Often times, this leads me down some pretty extensive artists rabbit holes and some really excellent finds. The other thing that it does, is that it can give us that random and spontaneous radio experience, without the ragging out the top 100 of hits that have been ragged out for the last 60 years, or since radio was invented, really. Not to mention, no ads. Streaming, is also the best way to get the kids on board.

Thank you!

That sounds nice, and I have thought about it. You are also correct about the "stubborn to change" part. I had and still have an extensive vinyl collection and I was upset when CDs came around. way back when. I replaced almost everything vinyl with CDs. I love physical media and I'm not sure that streaming will work for me or not. I have a very basic analog system. No vinyl involved just my CD player.

How easy is it to hook up something like that (streamer) to a Bryston BP-19 (No DAC) and run it with mono block amps? I'm trying to avoid purchasing anything else other than my replacement amps. The good news is I find a lot of my undiscovered music/artists on YouTube which has been quite easy and fun. I typically hit Ebay if I find something I like after a Tube visit.

One other purchase that I may consider although it is significant, would be adding a couple of Perlisten subs to my system. The subs are not cheap, and from what I gather I'll need a MiniDSP or some type of crossover and that will add another bit of $$ to the cost. I did speak to Erik at Perlisten and he said their subwoofer software and their app could negate the need for the things I just mentioned. Is that accurate or did I misunderstand him? If I actually decide to go the dual sub route, which is not a sure thing, I'd like to keep things as simple and inexpensive as possible.

I have a lot of time to decide where I go. So far I'm enjoying the new speakers.

Cheers.

 

[j_garcia]

You can hook up a WiiM Ultra to an analog system with no issue, as it has analog out. I had a temporary system that was an analog only setup before I moved the main rig in here and the Ultra worked out very well. I still use it in the main system now.

I have my albums still, but no TT currently. Most of what I have are CDs these days, but I do stream quite a bit now, mainly for background music around the house.

 

[Gio-G]

You can hook up a WiiM Ultra to an analog system with no issue, as it has analog out. I had a temporary system that was an analog only setup before I moved the main rig in here and the Ultra worked out very well. I still use it in the main system now.

I have my albums still, but no TT currently. Most of what I have are CDs these days, but I do stream quite a bit now, mainly for background music around the house.

Apologies, I had to look that up. I'm probably behind the times a bit. That does appear to be an affordable streamer. Thank you for the pointer. If I decide to go the streaming route, which is unlikely but, if I do, that certainly seems affordable enough.
I'll look into things a bit more after I get the newer amps in here. I love my CD player and having a CD to look at while I listen. I really miss the vinyl artwork the most. That was one of the best parts of a new record.

Putting the record on and looking at the artwork while listening was a really cool experience. I still do it with CDs and now cheater glasses so I can actually read the print and see the artwork.

I really like the remixed/remastered Pink Floyd anniversary additions. Animals has a booklet with the old cover and the new version.

I guess I'm old school sort of. But I have seen music only available for streaming so I'm not against it. I just don't want to add much more to the system and that includes subs and whatever goes with that however that is possibly the next step after the amps get here in the fall.

I appreciate the advice and the fact you checked out my post.