Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Let me get some more hours in b4 providing a more comprehensive view, but early impressions are consistent with online reviews -- the thing I notice most is how balanced it is, with plenty of instrument separation. I hear everything, but nothing is consistently dominant in the mix. It sounds very neutral and natural to me, and I'm hearing more low-mids (or at least hearing them more clearly) than I recall from my system with other components. This LKS-stamped copy of Shelly Manne @ Blackhawk Vol. 1 has become one of my go-to for sq reference bc it's a phenomenally recorded live set and I really like focusing on the cymbals in Summertime (at least I did with previous setups). But with the Hana I've discovered how pure the piano sounds and, really, the whole track is sublime from a sound perspective, including feeling the space in the room, and I feel like I'm hearing everything in the groove.

Importantly, however, this is all qualified by the fact that I've introduced multiple variables into the set up at once, so I cannot say definitively whether anything new I'm hearing is due specifically to the Hana. I also have the new-to-me table and a new-to-me SUT (bought it used).

Likewise, I have not owned another Hana so have no baseline for comparison and, perhaps most importantly, I probably would have gone with the ML or something in its price range but for the deal TMR gave me on both a component I sent for credit (and could not sell myself for a couple months) and a discount on the Umami Blue itself.
Nice to have another Bob's SUT owner here.
This little contraption really is sublime sounding.

Experiment with and without and you'll see what it brings.
 
Nice to have another Bob's SUT owner here.
This little contraption really is sublime sounding.

Experiment with and without and you'll see what it brings.
The only way for me to experiment without the SUT is to then tinker w/ the Darlington phono settings bc previously I had used it only w/ high-output MC. I can do that, and will eventually bc I do want to hear how the SUT impacts, but that'll just mean a different new variable relative to my previous setup bc I've never heard the Darlington with other settings.
 
The only way for me to experiment without the SUT is to then tinker w/ the Darlington phono settings bc previously I had used it only w/ high-output MC. I can do that, and will eventually bc I do want to hear how the SUT impacts, but that'll just mean a different new variable relative to my previous setup bc I've never heard the Darlington with other settings.
Yeah I can see that but hearing the difference over the Darlington gain switch will be fairly noticeable, especially with strings and vocals IME.
 
Interminable Degritter MKII replacement #706 has arrived with the fancy new paint job. (Actually replacement #2). Finally cleaning again...

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What has been going on w yours? I have gen 1 that i bought several years ago used from a stereo shop and it’s been an iron horse. Sucks that you’ve had problems but i guess good to hear they seem to be taking care of you to address them?
 
What has been going on w yours? I have gen 1 that i bought several years ago used from a stereo shop and it’s been an iron horse. Sucks that you’ve had problems but i guess good to hear they seem to be taking care of you to address them?
It was really just one problem that they couldn't fix. The first one leaked after about 7 months. I think it was actually leaking from two different places internally, I sent it in, they thought they fixed it but didn't, so I sent it in again. They sent me a new unit instead, UPS destroyed it en route. So they just sent me another that got here ok. They've actually been very good about it from the get go. Except the repair that didn't work. But I now have the newest unit which has a different paint job and a different power unit that self identifies voltage instead of the manual switch, it seems to be working great.
 

$2000 La Franken-Scalas anyone?
Nice woodworking/finish.
 
So Sutherland don’t have European distribution at all. Ron but me on to Todd the Vinyl Junkie but I’m just not ready to play customs roulette on something this expensive so Sutherland is out of the running.

This is my currently thinking with probably a mono switch too.



I’ll likely immediately tube roll to some 5751 to knock a significant amount off the gain because 55 is way too hot for an MM for me.

Any thoughts?
 
Why do they



out of curiosity?

Transformers are pretty much silent. Tubes can get noisier the more that’s asked of them for gain so an all tube MM is usually fine, an all tube MC is harder to nail. So most tube phonos uses tubes for the MM gain and then either an internal sut or solid state bit to give the extra gain for MC. In preference to solid state is probably more nebulous in terms of noise floor but there is a general feeling from the reviews I read that transformers are more musical than their solid state equivalents.
 
Truly an insane deal if he didn’t bollox them with the changeover.
Honestly if I had ANYWHERE to put them I'd make the drive out to this guy's place (3 hours east of me) and have a listen just out of sheer curiosity. I mean look, there's no deals like this, there's gotta be a reason these are so cheap. But either way it's pretty wild to see that price next to those pics.
 
Honestly if I had ANYWHERE to put them I'd make the drive out to this guy's place (3 hours east of me) and have a listen just out of sheer curiosity. I mean look, there's no deals like this, there's gotta be a reason these are so cheap. But either way it's pretty wild to see that price next to those pics.
I imagine the deal is partially because someone's gonna have to drive out there and pick them up.
 
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