New Stereo System - First in 17 Years

[jtx]

So, it was still the 20th Century (and I was living in a different country) the last time I purchased a stereo system. It was a Sharp MD-XL10 bookshelf system, with Minidisc play/record/dubbing and CD playback. It actually sounded (and sounds) remarkably good. The speakers were of decent size and build, with extended range courtesy of Yamaha's active servo technology, and I used one of the most expressive and dynamically complex CDs I owned (Talk Talk - Laughing Stock) to audition and be sure the system would work for me. And it did.

The digital inputs came in handy for recording the live broadcasts of Woodstock '99 and other music festivals I saw via satellite, and for making compilations of tunes for playing on my car MD deck. I've since retired that in-dash player, but have a 6-disc Alpine MD changer in the trunk of my car that I still make regular use of.

Although the MD portion of the Sharp system is still kicking, recently the CD has started malfunctioning (tray opens and closes only when it feels like it, making for a perilous effort whenever trying to play a CD). The years have finally caught up.

This set me on a month-long needs (wants) assessment and Internet research mission to put together the components of a new stereo system. Without an abundance of local shops to audition equipment in (nor the time), I went through the process of reviewing numerous reviews posted in numerous languages over the last several years to come up with a picture of my options, and narrowed things down to needing the following:

1. Speakers (bookshelf size, with enough frequency coverage and depth that I wouldn't need a subwoofer)
2. CD player (not a Blu Ray or DVD player, a dedicated CD player - I wanted a player that is more likely to last beyond the end of its warranty)
3. Amplifier (not an AV receiver, a purely stereo amp, with or without digital inputs - if without, a separate DAC would be needed)

After this narrowing process, it was down to budget considerations and equipment combinations. There is so much to factor in with regards to the numerous manufacturers of DACs and their various models. It has created a cottage industry of audio snobs who are more than willing to offer their opinions as definitive facts across multiple audiophile boards. In the end, I did my best to ignore the vitriol and bombast and cut through to a combination that I felt represented the use cases I had in mind, the space I had in my entertainment center, and the reserves in my wallet to come up with what for me will be the ultimate stereo system... for me.

Here it is in Photoshop mock-up form:



Here are the pieces of equipment:

1. Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary Limited Edition Speakers
2. NAD C516BEE CD Player
3. Micromega MyAmp

I am awaiting all of the bits and pieces in the mail, which also include a new HP mini Windows PC to serve as the digitally-sourced music player, pulling FLAC and other digital files in, and converted into analog sound by the ESS Sabre Hyperstream 192/24 DAC contained in the MyAmp. I will be using a new Ethernet switch to directly connect the PC to my NAS rather than relying on WiFi. The NAD CD decks are very well respected, and look very nice, too. The Wharfedales look amazing in person (they are the only piece that has arrived so far), and are known for a rich, wide soundstage. The Micromega amplifier is less known in the US, but has received very positive reviews in the UK, France, Taiwan and other markets. It is very clean and accurate, and can generate 60W per channel into 4 ohms while only weighing 1 kg.

With fresh new cables to connect all the sources into the amp, and a rugged set of Phantom speaker wires from Canada bi-wired into the Wharfedales, the end product should be a very good sounding and reasonably compact system that should serve me well for some time. Now, it just has to arrive...

[Ron Thorne]

That's quite an international system, Justin. The Wharfedales look sweet, as expected, and I'm sure will impress sonically as well.

I'm anxious to see and hear all of your new audio components in person, so know at least one thing we'll be doing together this weekend.

Congratulations!

[jtx]

So, I'm definitely enjoying the system. Listened to a number of albums yesterday, including Folk Songs by Charlie Haden (already coming up on one year since his passing), Egberto Gismonti, and Jan Garbarek. Also tried something out that I don't think I will use terribly often (but it's still an interesting capability), which is to stream music directly from my tablet or smartphone over Bluetooth to the amp (which supports Bluetooth pairing). It could be good for auditioning music on my Amazon prime account at the very least. One more way to get audio into my ears...

Close-up of one of the Wharfedales in their natural habitat...

[Ron Thorne]

Although I didn't spend an enormous amount of time listening to your new system during our recent visit, I heard enough to impress me with it's qualities. Those Wharfedales are quite transparent and tight while delivering ample bass response. Your little MyAmp amp/preamp really gets the job done ... cleanly.

Utilizing your Bluetooth capability for checking out samples via streaming sources seems smart to me.

It's a handsome, superb-sounding little audio system with a remarkably small footprint.

[jtx]

And I am listening to something nearly every evening, still impressed by the reproduction and performance. Until I've listened to all of my music on the new system, it's a little bit like opening a new Christmas present each time.

[jtx]

And now, the rest of the story...

After a couple more months of use, the amp's overheating circuit started firing rather regularly, rendering the system essentially unusable. Worried that I had a defective amp, I sent it to the manufacturer's service center for inspection. They concluded that it was faulty, and sent a replacement (note: this took nearly a month due to it being August in France). I ran the replacement through its paces, and after a few days... overheating again.

At this point, I did not want to sit through another lengthy delay. Plus, it seemed pretty unlikely to me at this point that the amp was at fault. It must be one of the other components, I thought... or, the cables. Either it was the USB cable connecting the amp with the PC that serves as my media host, or the bi-wired speaker cables connecting to the amp. After ruling out the USB cable fairly quickly (overheating continued despite which cable was swapped in), I ran the system with the factory-included brass bridge plate installed on the speakers, and only used the first two of four connectors of the bi-wiring cable attached to each of the speakers, and had no problems over the course of several nights of tests. But of course it looked pretty messy with the extra dangling bits and the now unnecessarily thicker cable housing (attracting my toddler's curious fingers), so I did some research on replacement standard wiring cables that were more compact, and less likely to be capable of flipping the speakers if tugged.

I accidentally stumbled upon an audiophile company in the UK that makes some very interesting cables (and they actually make them in the UK, not China), which start in the reasonable price range and go straight up to astronomical prices. After reading the reviews, I debated getting the "starter" range versus the next model up, but particularly given that I am running short cable lengths, and the next model up costs about double the starter model (and I don't have money to burn), I went with the starter model. Oh, and they are blue.

Tellurium Q Blue


The other piece I wanted was a set of jumper cables to replace the factory brass plates. The Tellurium Q Blue jumper cables were overpriced for what they are, so I stayed in the US for these, going to Anticables in Minnesota (again, made in USA, not China - 2 for 2!), and picked up their solid copper core jumper cables with spade connectors.

Anticables Level 2 Jumper Wires


The Tellurium Q cables were delayed in getting out of the UK by a week (but on the plus side, were assembled and terminated at the factory in UK while I was waiting, and were run through a 24-hour cycle on a Nordost break-in machine), so the jumpers, which had arrived quickly, stayed in their packaging in the meantime. Once both were in hand, I installed and tested the new arrangement over a weekend, and after playing with the speaker wire connection techniques, now I am settled on a diagonal arrangement (red wire from amp into the treble red connector, black wire into the bass black connector, with jumpers connecting the corresponding red/black post, and following the directional indications coming from Anticables, although I think it shouldn't matter), and the result is a stable system with excellent sound (maybe some suggestion bias, but I feel the sound is slightly cleaner now with maybe a hint more bass response), and no overheating, nor any unusually fat or dangling bits to entice my son. It just works.

New speaker wire arrangement

So now, I really have a new, bullet-proof setup that delivers on the sound. And no overheats ever since.