17 minutes ago, STROP said:

You may keep the cat...

But I still want your centre speaker😉

 

ha ! you will have to fight the other cat for it .. 

 

she seems to like it as a perch 

 

 

and can often be found posing on it  

 

7 minutes ago, betty boop said:

ou will have to fight the other cat for it .. 

Shoo the cat away...

Your centre speaker is a perfect match for my Denon 4308 😀

26 minutes ago, STROP said:

Shoo the cat away...

Your centre speaker is a perfect match for my Denon 4308 😀

shoo ? no work...

 

sorry she is disobedient  

22 hours ago, betty boop said:

sorry she is disobedient

Little bottle of  water spray will this solve problem 😉

so some further consolidation made possible with an upgrade  in the mighty Marantz SACD 10

 

 there was only one way to go for me and that was the champagne

 

 

Partners well with my musical fidelity Nuvista 800.2

 

the sacd10 replaces the marantz ki ruby SACD i had some 6 years .. which was a lovely player about half the price and half the weight , prior and alongside to that i also had a luxman D-06.

 

... impressions of so far of how the sacd10 sounds ? .. from switch on.. it has a fullness .. clout..weight / heft to its sound.. a clarity of details ...it renders beyond what the ki-ruby was capable of.. the expansiveness of the sound stage the sacd10 portrays and solidity of central image is quite catching... loving the rendition of vocals... pop on David Bowie Cat People (putting out the fire) wow... ! love the way his voice just bellows...

 

I do believe in run in.. but gee this is sounding just so wonderful out of the box... it gets better from here ?

22 minutes ago, betty boop said:

so some further consolidation made possible with an upgrade  in the mighty Marantz SACD 10

 

 there was only one way to go for me and that was the champagne

 

 

Partners well with my musical fidelity Nuvista 800.2

 

the sacd10 replaces the marantz ki ruby SACD i had some 6 years .. which was a lovely player about half the price and half the weight , prior and alongside to that i also had a luxman D-06.

 

... impressions of so far of how the sacd10 sounds ? .. from switch on.. it has a fullness .. clout..weight / heft to its sound.. a clarity of details ...it renders beyond what the ki-ruby was capable of.. the expansiveness of the sound stage the sacd10 portrays and solidity of central image is quite catching... loving the rendition of vocals... pop on David Bowie Cat People (putting out the fire) wow... ! love the way his voice just bellows...

 

I do believe in run in.. but gee this is sounding just so wonderful out of the box... it gets better from here ?

Very cool, love the P9 😍

3 minutes ago, Mendes said:

Very cool, love the P9 😍

love the p9 😍 too ..  its out of action for now though .. when i picked up the sacd 10 .. i decided to send the audio reaseach ph9 on holiday ... when i bought it 2nd hand i noticed the person selling had for some reason reset the valve hours ... 😮 which had me suspicious (why would you do that ? ).. carlton audio visual kindly offered to check it out for me.. measure the valves and also compare with their unit they have there 🙂 hopefully all is good .. but worth the piece of mind 🙂 

5 hours ago, betty boop said:

pop on David Bowie Cat People (putting out the fire) wow... ! love the way his voice just bellows...

 

You have always had good taste in music Mr Boop. as this is perhaps my fav Bowie track of all time and if you havent heard check out the (IMO) vastly superior version he did for the Cat People soundtrack. Ive got a very special and ultra rare super extended version on vinyl that will blow your mind! The new gear looks fab also. Quite envious I am hahaha.

46 minutes ago, tubularbells said:

 

You have always had good taste in music Mr Boop. as this is perhaps my fav Bowie track of all time and if you havent heard check out the (IMO) vastly superior version he did for the Cat People soundtrack. Ive got a very special and ultra rare super extended version on vinyl that will blow your mind! The new gear looks fab also. Quite envious I am hahaha.

I see the makings of a kick@r$e GTG - al ! 

TB can bring his Cat People along! 😊

3 hours ago, tubularbells said:

 

You have always had good taste in music Mr Boop. as this is perhaps my fav Bowie track of all time and if you havent heard check out the (IMO) vastly superior version he did for the Cat People soundtrack. Ive got a very special and ultra rare super extended version on vinyl that will blow your mind! The new gear looks fab also. Quite envious I am hahaha.

 

oh wow ! how good is that track indeed. my favourite track too ! 

 

i had no idea about this special extended version on vinyl ! sounds awesome ! will have to bring over !  

 

3 hours ago, evil c said:

I see the makings of a kick@r$e GTG - al ! 

TB can bring his Cat People along! 😊

GTG definitely incoming 🙂 will let another week go so dont steal your thunder for the show dinner. hopefully everyone can make it. hope my vinyl rig is all up and going by then as well ... 

 

Edited July 19, 2025Jul 19 by betty boop

checking out the eversolo a8 streamer feeding into the marantz SACD10....

 

very pleased to report ... the eversolo a8 works seamlessly into the marantz to use its dac... is passing through lossless hi res 24/192 through natively via apple music. 

 

 

does mean I can also enjoy the lovely dac of the marantz sacd10 for streaming and music off the eversolo a8... the marantz basically now becomes my digital hub ... this is hooked up via coax spdif (using Chord Clearway) and seems to be working to very good result .. this is most pleased I have been with music streaming on my system ... EVER ! and one very big tick for me as streaming is quite a bit part of my every day music and also my best avenue for music discovery and exploring new music ... 

Edited July 19, 2025Jul 19 by betty boop

New Arrivals ! and its twins 🥳

 

 

yes 🥰 two little baby velodynes 🥰  Velodyne DD10 plus'

 

 

arrived mid last week and only getting around to things yesterday ! one out the box and followed soon by other ... 

 

and in place.... working as master and slave. Can just see them either side of their larger siblings

 

 

listening to angelique kidjo CD this morning they bring a remarkable foundation... i'm one of those who has always been less is more with subs...  ie can be seen, not heard but felt ... ...but goodness these little things add some gravitas to proceedings  !

 

I've been using subs for music some 2 decades. my velodyne dd15 on the right there is 21 years old this year ! and always enjoyed what subs can bring adding the 2nd few years later. ive over the years moved through many differnt configurations of using  ...the 2 old velo DD15s between dedicated for movies and now and then one of them for music.... these twin DD10plus' now allow me to dedicated my old DD15s for movies and use these newer DD10plus' for 2ch music ...

 

these little baby velodynes turned up at a remarkable price.. and had to be grabbed ! i was only thinking one but am glad i took the both. my measurements showing how the 2nd is evening out the bass vs the one only and the both of them filling out the bottom end of the focals very nicely  ...

 

listening to track 10 title track Oremi... hooley dooley   

 

ok now let me disappear off for more subterranean pleasures ! 

@betty boop it never rains, it pours with you! 😂

 

Can't wait to hear, I mean feel these subs! 🙂

@betty boop  How have you determined the cross over point?

1 hour ago, evil c said:

@betty boop it never rains, it pours with you! 😂

 

Can't wait to hear, I mean feel these subs! 🙂

haha one of those upgrades been thinking about for years ... just hard to justify and and definitely not sure could ever justify especially at full retail, so nice an opportunity comes along to partake. 

 

1 hour ago, evil c said:

Can't wait to hear, I mean feel these subs! 🙂

 

will probably take me a while to settle in what is best level across a bit of music across genres. i'm running these at 22/100 volume (doesnt need much from these to do their thing) at present as thats what measurement  tells me where should be to match level...

 

but also believe in salting to taste so see how that goes across a bit of material. Suspect can drop a couple notches to 20 or even drop to 17, depends just how subtle or full fat want it. i'm liking the full fat at present ...might leave there....whats wrong with a bit of exuberance  

1 hour ago, Kaynin said:

@betty boop  How have you determined the cross over point?

 

hi kaynin, these subs are a bit older tech in some ways ... subs come with a cd with test tone. Pop that in the marantz disc player. therefore goes right through system ..source, amp and speakers. then lets you mute subs so can see just what the speakers are doing for response and i picked 60hz for starters as starts to trail off from there. then can engage subs (can run one or master & slave with both and look at combined response and tweak from there. Have just set for level to blend mains and subs and not done any eq side of it (using the DSP they have on board) etc for now. early days... liking it as it is though...

 

the master slave is also older  tech too with apart from XLR/RCAs for signal between them, theres a rs232 serial cable between the two. Output from one makes it master and going into other makes it the slave.. while older tech, it all seem to work well as one with one remote controlling the two, setting up on the master taking care of the slave etc 🙂

 

 

Interesting, I haven't come across the CD method before.  Is the performance of the slave the exact same at the master?  Not that it would really matter I guess considering each sub is in a different position.  

 

It's interesting you've gone with subs for 2 channel.  For many years I was against the idea but a few years ago I went to the hifi show and one display room was using a sub with 2 channel to enhance the ambience.  I was really impressed.  Great to see you've got some more toys to play with!

35 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

Interesting, I haven't come across the CD method before. 

yes something unique to their current  DDplus range they have, my older DD15s just use a 2ch analog out which still pass the test tone through the 2ch rig. I like this CD approach as pulls player/source in mix as well.

 

37 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

Is the performance of the slave the exact same at the master?  Not that it would really matter I guess considering each sub is in a different position.  

they are exact same sub... but yes location indeed matters ... my one on the left is in a less idea corner location so I made this the slave... the one on the right is in much better location for response so went in as Master. One concern i did have with the master and slave was the slave might pull back the better performance of the master. However this hasnt turned out to be the case, thanks good ness and instead helped smoothen the response. otherwise the slave would have been up for sale  

 

4 hours ago, Kaynin said:

It's interesting you've gone with subs for 2 channel.  For many years I was against the idea

i think it was because i got into car audio in my teens and one of my early systems costing more than my car  had this beefy american rockford fosgate subwoofer.. was quite amazing. had some car systems after that some getting quite sophisticated with fully active rigs etc but always featured a subwoofer. no surprise ... one of my first forays at integrating a sub into a home 2ch system actually involved a car audio active cross over  it wasnt till i got hold of the velodyne DD15 all those years ago.. that things got serious 🙂 

 

4 hours ago, Kaynin said:

I went to the hifi show and one display room was using a sub with 2 channel to enhance the ambience.  I was really impressed.  Great to see you've got some more toys to play with!

thank you kaynin, yeah i find the adding of sub kind of revelatory...there is so much stuff we miss out of otherwise... all the discs with bass and sub bass are coming out

 

rediscovering them ... ! nitin sawhneys beyond skin track 2 letting go is a great example.. the subs add an air and atmosphere... missing otherwise, infact wouldn't even know off 

 

I'm thinking of disc after disc i want to hear again now  

 

May I suggest the two tracks below were a sub reveals so much more

 

Rag 'n' Bone Man - Human

Solid bass track that flows with his voice

 

Samuel Kim - Halo Theme - Epic Version 

May not be your style but stick with it as the bass sneaks up on you, not how you would expect 

 

Both need to be at volume 🙂

 

1 hour ago, Synodontis said:

May I suggest the two tracks below were a sub reveals so much more

 

Rag 'n' Bone Man - Human

Solid bass track that flows with his voice

 

Samuel Kim - Halo Theme - Epic Version 

May not be your style but stick with it as the bass sneaks up on you, not how you would expect 

 

Both need to be at volume 🙂

 

thank you Synodontis ! will check out for sure. i like and can appreciate quite a wide variety of music, and nothing i love more than discovering stuff havent come across before...

 

you are very right with regards tracks where a sub reveals so much more... an innocent album like Kandy on SACD. there are tracks with sub bass riffs just wouldn't know about

 

 

a bit dramatic !

 

its like the analog vinyl gods are conspiring against me ! my analog saga continues...

 

first my arc ph9 phono stage goes off to the doctor.. likely there another 2-3 weeks...prognosis not good.. the joys of buying 2nd hand... ! but yes fixable... and should be good as new .. eventually ! 

 

and now the Rega  went off on holiday on the weekend ...and a bit of an upgrade... 

 

hopefully back for the weekend ! hopefully all is right in the world vinyl wise soon.. even if temporarily  

1 hour ago, betty boop said:

 

 

a bit dramatic !

 

its like the analog vinyl gods are conspiring against me ! my analog saga continues...

 

first my arc ph9 phono stage goes off to the doctor.. likely there another 2-3 weeks...prognosis not good.. the joys of buying 2nd hand... ! but yes fixable... and should be good as new .. eventually ! 

 

and now the Rega  went off on holiday on the weekend ...and a bit of an upgrade... 

 

hopefully back for the weekend ! hopefully all is right in the world vinyl wise soon.. even if temporarily  

That's a shame al, and exactly why we should have a back up just in case of the unexpected! 🙂

Still got the Streamer though, to survive on! 😉

6 minutes ago, evil c said:

That's a shame al, and exactly why we should have a back up just in case of the unexpected! 🙂

Still got the Streamer though, to survive on! 😉

yeah still the digital side with the marantz and streamer ... so music thank fully still happening..

 

no back ups here sadly on vinyl side.. its one in all in  

11 hours ago, betty boop said:

and now the Rega  went off on holiday on the weekend ...and a bit of an upgrade... 

Hey Al, what happened to the Rega? just maintenance?

3 hours ago, RCADees said:

Hey Al, what happened to the Rega? just maintenance?

Upgrading cart 🙂