Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

AnthonyI said:
...which in turn opens up the "level your turntable" part of the formula. And hear me out here, if you check your azimuth with a bubble level and your table isn't level, your azimuth is off compared to the platter.

While leveling your table would be the best course of action, using a tool like this at any point will give you an accurate azimuth against the playing surface...............put the tool on the platter, not the record ;)
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I used to use a azimuth ruler block, but that also presumes that the stylus is perfectly perpendicular to the cartridge body, which may not be the case. (now I just pay to have my cartridge professionally set up so that I no longer worry if it's optimally adjusted) ;)
 
Hollywood said:
👀
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I just wish they made the streaming capability optional via a plug in module. Ultimately that “feature” will date the amp. A plug in module would make it upgradeable too to keep up with technology, assuming Marantz would make new boards.

Speaking of new amps, after borrowing my mother in law’s NAD C316BEE amp for a while, I was impressed enough that I did a thing.

NAD C165BEE preamp:


A50148A8-6C88-4284-90CB-30A65FFE9396.jpeg

And the C268 power amp. It’s nice but I’ll be returning it for its more powerful sibling, the C298.

C6907969-E74D-438E-8266-9CA534BF41E9.jpeg
 
HiFi Guy said:
I just wish they made the streaming capability optional via a plug in module. Ultimately that “feature” will date the amp. A plug in module would make it upgradeable too to keep up with technology, assuming Marantz would make new boards.

Speaking of new amps, after borrowing my mother in law’s NAD C316BEE amp for a while, I was impressed enough that I did a thing.

NAD C165BEE preamp:


View attachment 128950

And the C268 power amp. It’s nice but I’ll be returning it for its more powerful sibling, the C298.

View attachment 128951
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From the initial reports I’m reading it really does appear that the difference between it and the model 30 might just be the streaming so I suppose the option is there to just buy it instead. Especially as the matching SACD player has their highly rated DAC and a USB B port to plug in a streamer.

Nice on the NADs! Any news on your PL?
 
Joe Mac said:
From the initial reports I’m reading it really does appear that the difference between it and the model 30 is pretty much just the streaming so I suppose the option is there to just buy it. Especially as the matching SACD player has their highly rated DAC and a USB B port to plug in a streamer.

Nice on the NADs! Any news on your PL?
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I’ve been so busy with work that I’ve not even packed it up yet. That’s today, and I’ll ship it next week. Upscale quoted $125 for diagnosis and one hour of bench time with $65 for each additional hour plus parts. Not bad at all. I’ll likely part with it when it’s finished.
 
HiFi Guy said:
I just wish they made the streaming capability optional via a plug in module. Ultimately that “feature” will date the amp. A plug in module would make it upgradeable too to keep up with technology, assuming Marantz would make new boards.

Speaking of new amps, after borrowing my mother in law’s NAD C316BEE amp for a while, I was impressed enough that I did a thing.

NAD C165BEE preamp:


View attachment 128950

And the C268 power amp. It’s nice but I’ll be returning it for its more powerful sibling, the C298.

View attachment 128951
Click to expand...
Nice!! I haven't heard any NAD equipment, any signature sound really? Are these replacing the PL?
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Nice!! I haven't heard any NAD equipment, any signature sound really? Are these replacing the PL?
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The plan is for the NAD to replace the PL.

The thing about NAD is they are very conservatively rated. Quiet, with huge power reserves. They sound big and effortless, even the entry level C316BEE. The C316BEE had a certain “hardness” in the upper midrange on some recordings that's absent with the separates. The combo is very revealing without being analytical.

The technical improvement in with the C298 is worth it (to me) over the C268- and the C268 is no slouch. The extra power the C298 offers is really secondary.

The C165BEE has a very good phono stage as well. The Sutherland DUO is easily better, but the NAD should please most listeners.

Yes, it’s plain. I like that. I’ve heard NAD described as gear to make music, not look at. A fair assessment. Your friends won’t be impressed- until they listen to it.
 
Angsty said:
Yes, but I don’t measure it directly. It’s geometrically related to VTA - vertical tracking angle. I do directly adjust for VTA.
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HiFi Guy said:
I’m the same as @Angsty. I also am very picky about azimuth.
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Yeah I've got a VTA block chart thing on the way. I can tell that the SRA on this 2M Black is more angled than the previous one using the usb microscope. It's tail up and definitely more than 92 degrees pointed in towards the tonearm base. I'm not really too fussed about the 92 thing but I think this angle might be a bit much, could be contributing to noise. VTA definitely needs to come down in order to straighten it out. My question is, if I'm compensating for the SRA being off on the diamond tip, and it ends up with the tonearm not being level to the table as a result, does that affect anything else.. Like does a tonearm that's not level have other detrimental effects that would make it not worth compensating for this diamond looking slightly off?
 
HiFi Guy said:
The plan is for the NAD to replace the PL.

The thing about NAD is they are very conservatively rated. Quiet, with huge power reserves. They sound big and effortless, even the entry level C316BEE. The C316BEE had a certain “hardness” in the upper midrange on some recordings that's absent with the separates. The combo is very revealing without being analytical.

The technical improvement in with the C298 is worth it (to me) over the C268- and the C268 is no slouch. The extra power the C298 offers is really secondary.

The C165BEE has a very good phono stage as well. The Sutherland DUO is easily better, but the NAD should please most listeners.

Yes, it’s plain. I like that. I’ve heard NAD described as gear to make music, not look at. A fair assessment. Your friends won’t be impressed- until they listen to it.
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I enjoy reading your periodic posts about your gear journey. This is a twist I did not see coming.
 
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HiFi Guy said:
The plan is for the NAD to replace the PL.

The thing about NAD is they are very conservatively rated. Quiet, with huge power reserves. They sound big and effortless, even the entry level C316BEE. The C316BEE had a certain “hardness” in the upper midrange on some recordings that's absent with the separates. The combo is very revealing without being analytical.

The technical improvement in with the C298 is worth it (to me) over the C268- and the C268 is no slouch. The extra power the C298 offers is really secondary.

The C165BEE has a very good phono stage as well. The Sutherland DUO is easily better, but the NAD should please most listeners.

Yes, it’s plain. I like that. I’ve heard NAD described as gear to make music, not look at. A fair assessment. Your friends won’t be impressed- until they listen to it.
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Glad you found something you're enjoying!! I'm shocked you're moving on from the PL!! I figured you as a lifer! lol.
 
HiFi Guy said:
The technical improvement in with the C298 is worth it (to me) over the C268- and the C268 is no slouch. The extra power the C298 offers is really secondary.
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The C298 is a pretty extraordinary amp, even for NAD. It’s a very different design internally from most of their “classic” designs. If I didn’t have a “classic” C272 that had just been serviced to near perfection, I’d be glaring at my credit card bill from my C298 purchase!
 
Mather said:
Yeah I've got a VTA block chart thing on the way. I can tell that the SRA on this 2M Black is more angled than the previous one using the usb microscope. It's tail up and definitely more than 92 degrees pointed in towards the tonearm base. I'm not really too fussed about the 92 thing but I think this angle might be a bit much, could be contributing to noise. VTA definitely needs to come down in order to straighten it out. My question is, if I'm compensating for the SRA being off on the diamond tip, and it ends up with the tonearm not being level to the table as a result, does that affect anything else.. Like does a tonearm that's not level have other detrimental effects that would make it not worth compensating for this diamond looking slightly off?
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If you have time, desire, patience and the microscope to get to 92 deg SRA, then go for it. It won’t really harm anything if your arm is not precisely level, as “precisely level” is hard to achieve anyway.

Just be aware that when you use records of different thicknesses, your SRA can change somewhat. I decided life was too short to chase precise SRA versus listening to more records imperfectly.
 
Angsty said:
If you have time, desire, patience and the microscope to get to 92 deg SRA, then go for it. It won’t really harm anything if your arm is not precisely level, as “precisely level” is hard to achieve anyway.

Just be aware that when you use records of different thicknesses, your SRA can change somewhat. I decided life was too short to chase precise SRA versus listening to more records imperfectly.
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Thanks, yeah it's really more that the current angle seems like a bit TOO much off. It's a more severe angle than I feel it should be. I'll lower the VTA a bit and live with that.
 
Angsty said:
The C298 is a pretty extraordinary amp, even for NAD. It’s a very different design internally from most of their “classic” designs. If I didn’t have a “classic” C272 that had just been serviced to near perfection, I’d be glaring at my credit card bill from my C298 purchase!
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I’m thinking despite its cost, it’s a great value, I see it to be competitive with amplifiers that cost far more.
 
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