by pigdog » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:18 pm
my journey with audio started not too long ago, as soon as i was able to set up my photo studio while sharing with a friend, one of my first priority is to install a Hifi system, consisting of a kenwood solid state integrated amp, and a sony LD player which also doubles as a cd player. since we have clients coming in and out of the studio and using the sound system, we stayed with a basic inexpensive rig, the LD player eventually died on us, so i bought my first ever stand alone cdplayer, a basic jap made pioneer. this was later replaced with a pioneer 5 cd changer.
speakers where small book shelve wharfdale bought second hand for a princely sum of HKD800 in 1994. bought from my audio crazy Van driver, he later offered me a pair of BOSE 501s
by 1996 the shared studio is becoming too crowded and my job requirements are getting more demanding, so it is now time to say good bye to my studio partner and move onto my very own studio in Happy Valley Hong kong. it was a decent 1000 sq ft apartment and just before i made the move. naturally the first thing i set up was a decent sound system, by then the same van driver offered me my very first Spark kt88
integrated tubed amp. it was still hooked up to the cd changer and i also bought my very first brand new pair of floor standers, a pair of B and Ws
which i paid a "princley" sum of HKD3500 brand new
Pioneer 5 cd changer
SPARK KT88 based integrated amp
el cheapo interconnects and
Bowers and wilkin floor standers.
at this time, i have no understanding of the audio components, synergy etc. and always wondered why inspite of the much hyped valved amps, my sound system is still not capable of producing music that i would enjoy.
but since i was too busy with work, i did not really explore audio that much
1998, the next door apartment became available, and i expanded my studio, where the next door served as a shooting area and the older unit as my private office, for the shooting area, i bought a Nakamichi Sound space, and it came with a subwoofer, i paid HKD5000 for it brand new. it was a fool proof system, easy to set up and somehow sounded nicer than my Spark, so this got me thinking.... the same van driver then offered me another tubed amp. this time it is an updated Cayin with 6L6G valves and 12ax7 and 12au7 valves and this being a power amp, i have to buy a preamp, the first preamp i ever bought is a kenwood and a friend offered my his equalizer, by then i got addicted to EBAY and was buying mostly 16mm motion picture cameras and during one of those evenings where there is nothing of interest in the motion picture section, i ventured onto the audio section.. BUT WAIT, i remembered my uncle used to own a pair
of BOSE 901s and i remembered everybody claiming it to be the holy grail of loudspeakers, so i went looking for a pair in ebay, after a few sleepless nights, i was succesfull in winning a pair of series 3 Bose 901s with the box and papers, shipping was by air parcel and the bose cost around USD450 for a pair and shipping from the US was USD500!
but the itch continues.....
Cayin 6l6 tubed power amp
cplayer still the el cheapo pioneer, but since i recently bought a pair of BOSE 901s i think i can allow myself the opportunity to buy a better cd player, so i bought my first "Hi End" cdplayer, a french made CAIRNS
beautiful to look at and very minimal design and i paid HKD6000 for it
for the preamp i was still using the kenwood, and i came up with this crazy idea of setting up a turntable, so off i went and bought me an el cheapo kenwood belt driven ttable with a shure carthridge, the ttable and cart costs HKD2000 brand new BUT.... i did not realized i needed a phono preamp and by now i am broke after splurging on the audio goodies, so i ended up buying an El cheapo turntable mixes which i used for a while.
1999 : my good friend from seattle having realized that i got myself into this audio mess decided to help me out by offering me his Audio Research d200 it was according to him a fine solid state amp and along with the package is a mint condition PS audio Preamp and the nice thing is, i came with a built in phono section! and i can even set the cart loading or whatever that is! so once i received this new setup, i thought it would be time to change the carthridge and its off to ebay for some serious shopping and i ended up with my very first MC cart an Ortofon and with the PS Audio's built in phono pre, it worked beautifully and i can ditched the embarrasing turntable mixer!
audio research D200
PS Audio preamp
Cairns CDplayer
Kenwood turntable with ortofon MC cart
decent system and not too embarrasing! BUT... i missed the valved amps, and it was during one of those days when i have nothing better to do that i discovered a shop in Shamshuipo selling used HI end audio gears that i encountered a preamp from a brand called Mckintosh, ok its a solid state and its been converted to 220v but it came with two phono stages! i bought it for HKD4500 also bought a california audio labs transport and my first ever DAC which i thought i can use as backup, itis i still have and is set in my bedroom. in a short time, i wandered into another vintage audio shop in HK and lo and Behold! a mckintosh mc240 being offered at a "princely" sum of HKD 12,000! i made an offer and an installment and in 5 months, the mc240 is mine! ditched the cayin in ebay and it ended up with a very happy owner in Paris!
Mcintosh MC240
Mcintosh C28 solid state preamp
kenwood turntable..BUT i find this turntable well boring and by then DJs are getting popular and the technics SL1200 ttable is the way to go, so back to ebay and wond a Mark2 SL1200 BUT.... the shipment never arrived.. so again back to ebay and won a brand new SL1200 Mk5 for usd 450 and this one arrived in HK safely, within a few months the SL1200 MK2 did finally arrived in hk via surface mail and was badly mangled. so that ttable was left sitting in the cabinet
it was during a job in manila that i met a fellow name Tony Gonzales, the brother of fellow ws member EF86 that i was introduced to the "master" Rene rivo and i visited his shop near cash and carry, i remembered that day as tony took me to lunch in one of the sushi joints near mkti cinema square and in a few hours, i got a nasty case of food poisoning! so my first meeting with rene rivo was not the most auspicious one! rene mentioned to me about a rowdy and crazy discussion group known to all of us as Wiredstate, i did not sign up until a few months later when i visited manila again in time for the 2nd Nov Audio show, from there i met Lito Gelano who tempted me with a LEAK stereo 20 and i also had the pleasure of meeting the Late Mang Johnny. at that time i dont know anybody else except rene so i did not hang out at the show. but in a couple of months, i am a proud owner of a LEAK stereo 2o courtesy of Lito Gelano
at this time the setup is as follows:
Leak Stereo 20
Vincent S6 cdplayer
Technics SL1200 MK5
Conrad Johnson PV12L
also available on rotation is a Dynaco St70 courtesy of my van driver,
Speakers were JBL monitors
phonopre Musical fidelity (the cylindrical one)
having discovered the LEAK stereo 20 lead me to a love affair with the venerable british amps. at this stage i have several amps and was buying regularly from a friend in UK where i got a pair of Leak Tl10s and later tl35+, an HMV integrated, QUAD II at this time, i read about the legendary LEAK TL12.1 so i set my eyes on a pair of 12.1s which is very hard to find. at this time i was offered a Kondo Nero for Princely sum of HKD57,000! BUT i was not ready for a SET amp nor do i know anything about SET so i passed this off and instead got the much Vaunted LEAK 12.1, this is a real find and i had it lovingly restored and will never sell.
back in 2004 i was tempted to try SET based on a 300B and it was through rene that i got my first 300B (the one that was giving me headaches over the past few days) somehow never appreciated the 300B
so it lingered in the closet for 3 years.
2005:
bought my very first altec lansing 604 and man that was a big change, it cost me HKD25K for the pair, i think i got ripped off but hell it sounded sweet! then my friend from the UK offered me a pair of tannoy reds,
our friend rene, then offered me a garrard 301 Grease bearing which he just restored and it belonged to a retired doctor. i paid PHP 35,000 for it!
Fellow WS member Bon D built the plinth out of cherry wood THE FUN BEGINS! the SL1200 MK5 sat neglected as i fell head over heels with the garrard
by this time i was beginign to get active in WS
LEAK 12.1
Vincent S6 cdplayer
Conrad Johnson PV12L later Bruce Moore Preamp later Audio note M2 Line
garrard 301 with sme 3009 arm with denon dl103r cart and rene rivos 6922 based phono pre
turntables are also coming in, a garrard 301 oil bearing which was later sold, a michel gyrodeck, a thorens td124, mated to an ET2 air bearing arm which was a subject of contention between egay and the previous owner. the western electric turntable,
at this time i have accumulated a personal stash of KT66, Ecc82, exx83, ef86, el34, 300B etc. around 2006 i was visited by tonyboy and in 2007 by Jen the superman and a few WS members including Egay
Nov 2007 during the last manila show, i spent a lot of time listening to the setup boys SET and fell in love with the SET amps, wait a minute, i do have a 300B! and it never occured to me that i should mate it with the altec lansing 604! and man oh man what a nice match it made!
current incarnation
rene rivos setup 1 based 300B set amp
audio note M2 preamp
47labs 4716 transport
dac lite dac60
turntables currently connected:
Nordic concept with schroders arm and 47 labs mcbee cart hooked to a Highphonic SUT
Thorens TD124 with a clearaudio linear tracking arm
EMT 930st with TSD15 cart
the garrard 301 grease the westrex and the michel are in hibernation while the technics sl1200 was sold to a fellow ws member and the mk2 was given away to another ws member which i last heard he was able to lovingly restore
the next step....
45 SET amp work in progress
Harana Isabel Preamp with ecc33 and cc32 valves
also work in progress a new V Vent cab courtesy of Joey 3rp with mang johnny's 604 B, with altec lansing 515 drivers, Vitavox S5 horns.