Behind the Scenes of Home Audio 3.0

Instead of cluttering up the last post on Home Audio 3.0 with how I built that system, I figured it would be a better strategy to do a separate piece. 

Everyone wants nice equipment, but nobody wants to go and shell out thousands of dollars all at once for it. And you guys know that I've always been a proponent of buying nice used gear and slowly piecing it together over time. In fact, over the course of the last 10+ years of me writing this blog, I've detailed how my own system (v1 to v3) has been built. It's also evident that I don't replace gear all at once, and this version change is no exception.

One continuity are the speakers. I've been using my Bowers and Wilkins DM603/S3, along with LCR600/S3, ASW675 Sub and rears for some time. So there was no money spent on those. That alone is close to half the cost of a system.

Neither did I spend any money on the main amp, a Rotel RB-976. Would I have loved to have replaced it with the amazing RMB-1095 which somebody is selling on Craigslist? You bet, but there's not that much real difference between 150 watts and 200 watts per channel my system.

No money was spent on audio cables of any sort, whether digital, analog, or speaker. That in and of itself is a hidden cost that most people forget. So yes; major changes were made but it's not as simple as going out and buying new gear. 

I can't emphasize enough that it's critical to buy (or trade for) good equipment so it'll last! While on the podium, I'm going to hammer on another point: be patient and use all your resources to search out the good equipment. 

Sure, my experience/knowledge comes in part from working in the industry, but I got that job because I knew things to start with! The information is out there, you just have to expend the time to find it and figure out what works for you. With that out of the way. Here's what I did to create the Version 3.0 system:

• Rotel RP-855 Turntable- I came across this turntable on eBay and noticed that it was a local (Dallas/Ft. Worth) seller. The price was already a decent $200, but he had a "Offer" tag, so I offered him $150. Turntables are notoriously difficult to ship, and most people no longer have the original packing materials. The guy took it and I didn't have to worry about it breaking during transport.
• Rotel RSX-1057 HT Receiver- Another eBay offering with a local seller. High-end receiver/amps are VERY expensive to ship because they are so big and heavy.  The guy wanted $140 and had shipping at $50 (which isn't out of line) for this item. However, the analog jacks for the CD input were bad (I generally use direct digital input for CDs). I offered the guy $100 and he took it. Again, no shipping or damage and I got it pretty WAY cheap for what it is.
• Rotel RDV-1040 DVD Player- Local Craigslist but the seller was in Denton (some distance north of Dallas) for $100. Missing the remote. I offered $75 and they took it. I had to go up there and get it, but it sounds awesome.
• Sum total of $325 for a major upgrade to my system!

What are the Wizard of OZ (behind the curtain) things? Here's a few.

•  When I say, "be patient", that means if it's on eBay now, it'll probably show up again. No need to pay crazy money to ship it. Wait for a local listing so you can just go get it! If the price is too high, let it go.
• Know what you want. I focused on several Rotel models which made it easier to search for and keep track of on eBay because I had done the research and I knew what I wanted and why. What features would help me and what it was going  to sound like married to my system. I already knew that those Rotel pieces would sound great with my speakers. 
• Don't wait and have to do everything at once. When I bought the Rotel amps that are in my system now, I didn't need them. But I knew that they had the ability to bridge into way more powerful amps and in my system of the future, they would be perfect for what I wanted to do.
•  Old equipment to be sold, so I should get some amount of my outlay back. My guess would be almost if not all of it back since I was able to move one of my Rotel amps to running the zone speakers which frees up the QSC commercial amp to be sold. Besides, now it won't sound like a Cessna is revving up for take-off every time I use it!
• Figure out what are good modular parts that can function and bought separately where someday in the future they can go well with the upgraded modules (see above). Case in point, the B&W DM603/S3s that I switched to 2-3 years ago. I learned in the past that Bowers & Wilkins speakers are not a match for certain amps. Over 15 years ago, I bought a sub I didn't need, the B&W ASW675. It was way more sub than I needed for the home we were in and the a/d/s/ L1290 mains I was using at that time. But I got a "Salesman Accommodation" price on it and I figured that someday I might have a bigger house and use smaller speakers. Ta-Da! There ya go!

You could say that my version 3.0 system is built on version 1.0 bones.

Home Audio 3.0

The spring of 2006 was not a terribly monumental time. There had just been a Winter Olympics at Turin, Italy, and the Russians were giving the Ukraine a hard time. So nothing new..... That was 14 years ago. We were into our second year here in DFW and my son was 3. That April, my wife was a month away from giving birth to our daughter, and Rotel brought forth the RSX-1057 home theater receiver. 

 

Here's Rotel's baby. I'm showing the image of the sliver-faced version (I have the black) because it's easier to see everything, and of course the connector covered back panel. One of the things that makes this model special is that it's a 7-channel unit, and pretty much up-to-date in terms of home theater decoding. So much so, that very little has changed since then, unless you're looking for Dolby Atmos, WiFi or Bluetooth. The main knock on it was the rather low power rating of 75w per channel (remember, these are Rotel power ratings).

Why are we looking at this? Because, three and half years after the last major upgrade and around 10 years since I've been using the Integra DTR-6.3 as the heart of my system, I've finally upgraded! I actually went back and looked. I wrote a post on May 1, 2011 discussing my system built around that receiver and already had it at that time! Wow; that's a long time! So, let's get into what I've done. As is typical, I'm not going to review it, I'll just discuss the main features that caused me to go with this component.

The driving force was not really the features, or the newer processing capabilities, but the simple fact that this is different/higher level of sound reproduction. Rotel in a general sense is at the top end of "Mid-Fi" or budget "High-End". I've been dabbling in this direction for some time.

You might remember that close to 2 years ago, I had moved on to using some Rotel amps to drive my speakers soon after I got the B&W DM603/S3. I went with Rotel for their smooth uncolored power and the ability to bridge the RB-976's 6 channels into to a very solid 150 watts into 3 channels. That resolves the major criticism 1057's with something I already had in my system. At the same time, since it was a receiver, I was able to eliminate the use of the RB-956AX by using the 1057's internal power for the rear speakers. I figure that by removing the load of driving the main 3 front channels off of it, the 1057 should have more than sufficient power reserves to drive the 4 rear channels. What else did I do to warrant a full version change (3.0)?A major overhaul of the input sources.

I always saw the Dual turntable as being a temporary fix until I found something better. 10+ years later, it was time. I had always wanted a Rega Planar 2 or 3, or at the very least a good clone like the Music Halls, Pro-ject, or ....... this! Well, actually, I've really wanted the Rotel RP-900 with the glass platter, or it's predescessor, the RP-850/855 as well. There were/are rumors that they were contracted by Rega, but in all probability, they were built by Systemdek, a well-regarded British company that built Rega clones! 

This is the latest piece which I'm listening to right now. The Rotel RDV-1040 (yes, mine is black). A DVD player for music playback? Yup. Rotel DVD players have always been well thought of as CD transports. Unfortunately, it's not far enough up the chain to do SACD or DVD-A, but I'm happy to have a single disc transport. Other than Christmas time when I put on 5-6 CD's and let them play for several hours, I've never really played my discs several at a time and found it annoying to have to have the mechanism rotate them out. So, not having a multi-disc changer was no loss.

You might be wondering if there's a point to changing out everything to all this Rotel equipment. I'll have to be honest, and say that I haven't sat and listened long enough to tell you that I'm hearing a distinct difference. That's going to take time. I'll say that I do seem to detect less stridency and everything sounds more relaxed. Of course, I'm almost 60 and my hearing isn't what it used to be. I will say that I'm happy, after 15+ years, I've finally been able to replicated the equipment of when I work in the industry,  I could honestly tell customers that it was the best sounding "bang-for-the-buck" stuff that we sold.

The Obscure and Sublime.... At Least In My World

I have a pair of these, and if you've been around audio for a while, you'll probably recognize them as a/d/s/ L***. ......and you'd be wrong...... kind of! They're NAD 20. So, here's the story.

In the late 70's and 80's when a/d/s/, otherwise known as Analog and Digital Systems was at the peak of their influence in the audio industry, they were tied in one way or another with Braun, the iconic German electronics company more known on this side of the Atlantic for their coffee makers and shavers. NAD, which was also a highly thought of company at this time went to them with a proposal to design and build some speakers. But for reasons unknown, a/d/s/ turned them down, but redirected NAD to Braun. This part is clear as muddy waters because, somehow around this time, a/d/s/ which had previously been a subsidiary of Braun bought out the parent company or at least the audio end of it. This ended up not going well because of some economics issues vis-a-vis doller vs. Deutschemarks. In any case, Braun did in fact build the two speaker offerings of NAD at this time, the 20 and the 30.

The 20 which is the subject of this post was a relatively small floor-standing cabinet 2-way with a dome tweeter and an 8" cone woofer. The 30 was a larger floor-standing 3-way speaker. 

My personal history with a/d/s/ speakers mostly center around a pair of L1290s I found in dilapidated cosmetic condition which I refinished and used for quite a while a few years. Along with them, I also had pairs of L200s and L300s which are the last of my collection of a/d/s/ speakers from that time. When my son inherited an old Yamaha receiver from my collection, I also passed along the L300s as well.

So, other than from a historic sense, how does the NAD 20s enter the picture? Some years back, I came across a pair listed on the local Craigs List for something like $75-80. I met the man and found them without grills and a badly scratched up woofer cone courtesy of his cat. I ended up paying about $50 for them. When I finally got around to hooking them up, they actually didn't sound half bad even with the bum woofer! When I started researching, I found virtually no information and certainly no sources for spare parts! But I went ahead and dismantled them anyway and found, not surprisingly, Braun parts numbers on the drivers since they looked just like the ones on my a/d/s/ speakers. Unfortunately, these numbers didn't match up with anything I could find here in the U.S. so I had to take a leap of faith and just find a similar Braun driver with a/d/s/ part number. I ordered it and it looked identical to the original but the speaker refused to work when I connected it to test using my office system Advent Response 420S receiver. So I decided I had done something wrong and set them aside.

After sitting for about 3-4 years, last week, as part of an effort to clean up, I decided to take another shot at them. However, I had also, reorganized my office sound system as well, now connected to an old Onkyo TX-82 receiver which is rated for a mere 45 watts per channel, but these 45 real 80s watts, not the "amp-on-a-chip" kind! Much to my surprise, those speakers fired up and sounded just fine!

As much as I'd like to tell you that I'm that good and those speakers were healed by me; that's just not the case. I'm pretty sure the issue was that I was too stupid to realize that those speakers were 4 ohms (pretty common for Braun) and my little vintage baby receiver couldn't drive the load! So yeah, my bad! The nice outcome is that my son's hulking older Yamaha receiver drives them just fine and he's been happily holed up in his room listening to them constantly for the last week.