It's been a while since I've updated pics of my system, so I thought I'd post what the current set-up is as it's changed quite a bit since I last did this....
Conrad-Johnson LP-70S 70 Wpc tube (KT120s) power amp. This amp was TOTL in C-J's line prior to the current ART series debuting. I reviewed the ART150 last year, and you have to listen
damn hard to hear any difference between them at all (the ART150 is
ever so slightly quieter from use the use of newer-style bulk-metal foil resistors). I use my REL R-305 sub with this amp. Recently added a chassis ground post to connect this to the GP-NR system of Everest.
Fully dual-mono First Sound Presence Deluxe 4.0 III-Si tube preamp with Paramount SE upgrades...
Shot of internals of main control unit. All internal wirng uses air dielectric for connectors, etc. Pure copper bus bars for I/O connections.
Volume pots are all hand-soldered with Holco individual metal-film resistors for each position of gain.
The FS pre uses dual-mono external power supplies with 145,000 uF of filter capacitance/channel.
If you look carefully at the left side of the power supplies, each channel has Shunyata CCI noise-reduction filters, so you don't need to use a NR power cord to power these, an XC is perfect. These were recently upgraded by Emmanuel Go of FS to the current "CCI-X" specificaton, plus some "bonus tweaks" by Emmanuel.
Sometimes I use the Constellation Inspiration Integrated amp, as well. Don't use the REL with this set-up. This is a superb integrated amp, one of the three best I've ever heard, along with the Constellation Argo and DarTZeel CTH-3550. I really like the Constellation Integrated amp a LOT...
Lampizator Baltic 3 tube DAC...
Uptone EtherREGEN (ER) Ethernet switch and SOtM SMS-200 UltraNeo network bridge. Shunyata Omega Ethernet cable. Shunyata Alpha USB cable. The AfterDark Master Clock for EtherRegen is on the left of ER, and the power supplies for ER and the SOtM are at the back. Going to replace the Keces P3 as it's noisy...
Shunyata Everest power distributor (PD) with Shunyata Sigma XC and NR power cords (for PD and amp, respectively ), Omega QR-s for DAC, and Alpha XC for preamp power supplies. All interconnects are Shunyata Alpha V2 or Venom-X.
The ER, Lampi DAC, preamp, and amp are connected to Everest's Ground-Plane Noise Reduction (GP-NR) system terminals (the four black "binding posts" on the rear panel) using Alpha ground cables. This system
notably mitigates ground-plane noise, wihich is a problem in particular for digital devices, e..g DACs, switches, etc, as they generally have a lot of noise on their ground-planes. The improvement in tonality, timbral accuracy and rendition, resolution, micro-detail, layering, spatial information, and overall "naturalness" in the presentation that the GP-NR system provides is quite notable.
Harbeth 30.2 40th Anniversary speakers on Resonant Woods figured maple stands (note: system in this photo is a slightly eariier rev of the system described above).
