Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Adding to the above, here are the opening few paragraphs from Outlaw Audio recent email (US based, but has been getting stuff made overseas for a few years).

You’ve probably heard the news about the tariff increases.



For that reason, we’re proactively reaching out so that you have our take on the situation. Economists estimate these changes will cost the average US consumer thousands of dollars per year and we’re no exception.



Things are still very fluid, so we have held off on price increases, but unfortunately they are a looming reality. It is a very real possibility that when our next shipment of multi-channel amps and stereo receivers arrive, the pricing will increase by hundreds of dollars per unit.

(emphasis theirs)
 
A friend of mine in the supply chain field told me over lunch that when the last price shock happened during COVID, they ended up applying the price increase to ALL their inventory. This was because they could not discern which items in inventory had the higher prices applied and which did not. He was with a major electronics distributor at the time with vast warehouses of equipment. Prices never went down after the price shock subsided.

So, as Alvin said in the video, the best time to buy will be before the tariffs take effect. Depending on corporate practices, after the effective date, all items in current inventory may see price increases.
 
mindhead1 said:
I’m a big Orchard Audio fan. If you’re ever get some mono blocks I’m getting these.

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A friend of mine had these in awhile back. Also a big advocate for Orchard. He loves the dac/streamer and it sounds great in his system. But I don’t think those amps even lasted a week in his house. Granted, he has an upgraded Musical Fidelity M3 NuVista, so stiff competition. But he said he was expecting more based on the quality of the streamer.
 
displayname said:
A friend of mine had these in awhile back. Also a big advocate for Orchard. He loves the dac/streamer and it sounds great in his system. But I don’t think those amps even lasted a week in his house. Granted, he has an upgraded Musical Fidelity M3 NuVista, so stiff competition. But he said he was expecting more based on the quality of the streamer.
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That amp is so steampunk.
 
displayname said:
A friend of mine had these in awhile back. Also a big advocate for Orchard. He loves the dac/streamer and it sounds great in his system. But I don’t think those amps even lasted a week in his house. Granted, he has an upgraded Musical Fidelity M3 NuVista, so stiff competition. But he said he was expecting more based on the quality of the streamer.
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I guess it’s all relative. I have the Starkrimson Ultra and have been super impressed with it in my system.
 
mindhead1 said:
I guess it’s all relative. I have the Starkrimson Ultra and have been super impressed with it in my system.
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Absolutely. This guy is running Joseph Audio speakers, dual subs, the full Nu-Vista M3 integrated and CD player system, all custom built silver cabling, all devices that don't come stock with a linear power supply have been upgraded to linear power supplies (including his Orchard streamer), power isolation transformer, and as I mentioned his Nu-Vista gear has all be recapped and re-tubed with all premium parts. It really is a super system, and it would be approaching deep 5 figures if he was buying retail cables and outsourcing the work he's had done on the various components. Which to me, really speaks to the quality of the Orchard streaming dac.

He did just move on to an Audial S5 dac paired with an ifi Zen stream. It'll be interesting to hear it and see how long he sticks with that combo.
 
displayname said:
Absolutely. This guy is running Joseph Audio speakers, dual subs, the full Nu-Vista M3 integrated and CD player system, all custom built silver cabling, all devices that don't come stock with a linear power supply have been upgraded to linear power supplies (including his Orchard streamer), power isolation transformer, and as I mentioned his Nu-Vista gear has all be recapped and re-tubed with all premium parts. It really is a super system, and it would be approaching deep 5 figures if he was buying retail cables and outsourcing the work he's had done on the various components. Which to me, really speaks to the quality of the Orchard streaming dac.

He did just move on to an Audial S5 dac paired with an ifi Zen stream. It'll be interesting to hear it and see how long he sticks with that combo.
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Toy boy.
IMG_0294.jpeg
 
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Ghost said:
The floors in my new apartment are quite springy and I’m dealing with my stylus skipping with heavy footfalls and when my Rottweiler mix shakes himself off in the area in front of the record player.

What options should I look into to isolate my TT from these factors? Would a Zazen be good for it?

@Mnpctech how does your isolation deck/feet do against stuff like this?
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I've had nothing but success with the Auralex turntable platform. While ugly, it's dirt cheap and effective. Used it in various apartment buildings with parquet and laminate laid on concrete and during my short duration as a homeowner on bouncy floors. I never had a skip, whether from dancing with my wife or GO trains racing past the building with irritating frequency.

If you decide on the wall mount, make sure you can locate studs in your unit before you buy the mount. That's always been a bitch regardless of what apartment building I have lived in. -__- Of course, this could just be me.
 
Does anyone have experience with Coda Technologies' amps? I may have an opportunity to buy my local dealer's demo integrated at a good price. I wanted to stick with Canadian-made, and one of my old Ontario dealers recommended Bryston's cubed series as a great match for Verity Audio speakers, however, the reviews seem to put Coda on another level. And even used Bryston cubed gear is painfully expensive.

Coda's ten-year warranty isn't quite Bryston's, but it's not bad either. Though shipping a 55 lb amp from Nova Scotia to California for service is a frightening prospect too.

Thoughts?
 
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