Chaging my vinyl setup...again.

[topround]

Good Luck
Let us know how the Cinemag blues work out for you.
$1200 bucks is pretty steep for that level of performance. I paid $200 for my reds.  One day call Dave Slagle, you will be shocked at what can happen with his SUT's.

[rollo]

I exchanged a few emails with Bob Sattin at Bob's Devices and made my decision. 

I have ordered a Cinemag Blue 1131 SUT and will match it to a Soundsmith MMP3.  I talked to Soundsmith today and there is more good news.  For an extra $100 they will build a variation of the MMP3 phono preamp with custom gain and loading that I specify.

--Jerome

  Cool. Enjoy !! Let us know the outcome.


charles

[jsaliga]

$1200 bucks is pretty steep for that level of performance. I paid $200 for my reds.  One day call Dave Slagle, you will be shocked at what can happen with his SUT's.

I don't get it Mike.  Are you trying to give me buyer's remorse before I have even had a chance to give it a listen?  


http://www.10audio.com/bob%27s_devices_1131_step_up.htm

--Jerome

[topround]

Sorry I did not realize they were that much money, $1200 is alot of money. I have not heard them yet so i do not know, not trying to upset you, just that Slagles are a huge improvement over the reds, I hope the blue is a huge improvement over the reds.
I want you to be happy....really........ because I think you are going down the right path.

Call dave maybe he will wind a set for you to try, he is a great guy

Jerome Iknow I can be a pain in the ass, but not this time, I am not trying to piss you off. Art Dudley has the Blue Cinemags and he loves them, so they must be good

[jsaliga]

Sorry I did not realize they were that much money, $1200 is alot of money.

Well sure it is, at least to me.  Toss in another $500 for a MM phono preamp that is $1,700 for one channel.  I still have another tonearm to feed!

I have not heard them yet so i do not know

I didn't think that you had, which made your comment all the more puzzling. 

I want you to be happy....really........ because I think you are going down the right path.

I never imagined that you hoped I would be disappointed.   

Call dave maybe he will wind a set for you to try, he is a great guy

I'm sure he has a great product but it was $300 more than the Cinemags, and it was just a bridge I wasn't willing to cross.  I had to draw the line some place.

Jerome Iknow I can be a pain in the ass, but not this time, I am not trying to piss you off.

Don't sweat it Mike.  Being an occasional pain in the ass is part of the wonderfulness of you. (just kidding  )   

Peace out. 

--Jerome

[lonewolfny42]

... and it was just a bridge I wasn't willing to cross.

And they keep raising the tolls.....

[jsaliga]

The Aesthetix Rhea and SOTA where shipped out yesterday.  So long old friends.

The Cinemag 1131 SUT came in the mail today.  Still waiting on the Soundsmith phono preamp.  I placed my order on Monday and not a peep out of them so I called today.  I was told that they build to order and the turnaround is about a week.  Had I known that I would have ordered one from Acoustic Sounds since they had them in stock.  No biggie.  If I really miss the music I can hook up one of my backup phono preamps.

--Jerome

[etcarroll]

You can always listen to digital for awhile.......     oh, wait.... 

[jsaliga]

Can't do that.  I wouldn't want to pollute my analog wholesome goodness with that vile stuff.  Sort of like wanting Chateau Latour and settling for Thunderbird or Boones Farm.  

--Jerome

[jsaliga]

My new SUT and MM phono preamp setup has been in place for a while, but until recently I have not had a lot of time to do much critical listening.

Pairing a SUT with a solid state MM phono preamp might seem counter-intuitive, as most people are using them with tubed phono preamps.  But I liked the idea of a passive gain stage for LOMC cartridges.  I have two Soundsmith MMP3 solid state phono premaps.  One is a standard 47K ohm 43db gain that is used with the Bob's Devices Cinemag 1131 Blue SUT, and the other one is customized with a 100 ohm load to match my Ortofon SPU mono cartridge.

This set up costs close to what I paid for the Aesthetix Rhea tube phono preamp that it replaced (I got mine used for about $2,400).  The Cinemag/Soundsmith combo produces a much more satisfying sound than the Aesthetix Rhea.  It has virtually no noise, with superior speed, dynamics, and detail.

That being said, owning the Rhea was an enlightening experience and I took away from it some lessons learned.  I think the Rhea is a flawed design that produces good sound in spite of itself.  The flaw I find in it is using tubes for all three gain stages.  I could not find a 12AX7 quiet enough for the first gain stage, and it ending up injecting enough noise into the signal that eventually it started to bother me, even if I could not hear it with music playing.  I would lift the tonearm and there it was.  If you are considering using a tubed phono preamp with a LOMC cartridge then my advice would be make sure it has a built-in transformer for moving coils (some do) or buy a SUT to go with your LOMC cartridge of choice.

--Jerome

[etcarroll]

I just drove up and down rt 6 over T-giving to visit family in MA, next time I'm stopping at your door for a listen.

[jsaliga]

You're welcome to stop in.  I'm sure we could find a record or two in my collection that you would like to give a listen. 

--Jerome