Serge's aka Parabellum System

[Allan W.]

Serge, look'n really nice. I'll bet it sounds wonderful too.

[jetblack]

Call me crazy, but Blk Mambas & Blue Jeans just sound like they go with Mac Blk & Blu.................

[Chubba]

Awsome system! I'll bet it sounds excellent.You said you enjoy loud music but I can see that being hard to achive with the Mani-2 and 252.Cheers.The second woofer inside sure helps with the bass.

[Parabellum]

Here is an updated picture as it stands now

I upgraded the stands for Totem T4L and changed the Mani-2 Signature for the maple finish.

[EfeTe]

Looks marvellous Sergie, congratulations. Super simple and clean.

Need to either find Sally a new home or put her to sleep though

[Parabellum]

Thanks for the comments!

Well, Sally just happened to "play" with those fancy pieces of foam at the beginning. Now that she had a taste of it, most likely related to novelty, she doesn't touch them anymore. So I am fine. If she had chewed those expensive cables instead would probably be another story.

[ronenash]

Nice and clean setup. Well done.

[Parabellum]

After more than 2 years away from audio because of the renovation of my basement, I am happy to be back listening to music and enjoying all these toys. Although I am not totally finished, you can get a good view of my listening space as of today. Pictures of the demo day in July 2016

Current setup consists of:

Yamaha CA-1000 fully restored / modified & XLO Ultra X-10
Bryston BDA-3 & Shunyata Black Mamba HC/CX
Chromecast Audio

I made a come back in last September so this is a work in progress..

[Formerly YB-2]

Very nice.

Did you do the refurb on your CA-1000? Have owned several CR&CA-800/810/1010/2010/2020s over the years and they are terrific pieces.

[Parabellum]

No I did not do the refurb. That is way beyond my skills and knowledge. I found a tech locally who is passionnate and meticulous enough so that I could trust him to leave him the duty to bring the amplifier to its best.

I also have another professionnal tech (Planabox in Laval, Qc) who did the modification on the AC/IEC plug so that I can use whichever power cable cord I want. I will post pictures later but his work is a work of art. The same tech will also do the modifications at the back of the amplifier to add some quality banana binding posts. He will also change all the fuses (total count of 8) with his home brand Audio Link audiophile fuses (comparable to HiFiTuning). But so far, despite the original fuses, mere 16 ga speaker wires it sounds fabulous. Some may argue that it's useless to invest in a vintage amplifier but I totally dig the aestetics of the CA-1000 and it's sound is way above my expectations. Plus, the CA-1000 I found is damn close of being totally mint, not bad for a 45 years old equipment.

So all this being a hobby, where I do not smoke, don't do bars, don't drink much, don't sky or whatever, I am having fun discovering vintage audio gear and how good they can sound when pushed to limits along being connected with modern DAC and cables. I have achieved my goal.

Here are some close up pics of my setup.