The road to nirvana

My journey into Photography, Horology, and Audiophilia

The Evolution of my audio setup

Going Tubes

After spending decades with solid state equipment, I really wanted to try tube amplifiers.  The Dynaco ST-70 was a popular recommendation among friends and is also available from Rene Rivo. I brought my Kappa to Rene's shop and auditioned the ST-70 but just like everything else, it did not have a synergy.

Enter Anthem. I was offered a pair of Anthem Amp 1 and Pre 1L by a dealer from Cebu, Ferdi LuDo's Sights and Sounds. Because there is no way to audition the system prior to purchase, he gave me a deal that is hard to beat- he'll ship the items for me to hear, and I can return it if I did not like it. But I was wrong...

I was wrong in thinking that I have to return it. The synergy with the Kappa was very good, I kept the pair! The Anthem pair is huge and heavy that required a modification to my Flexy rack, thus I came up with this version of the Flexy.

Because the Pre 1L does not have a phono stage, I decided to buy a Musical Fidelity X-LP from Rene Rivo. The X-LP is one good and inexpensive phono stage.

Because the Anthem uses fixed bias, I decided to add a Yaden branded servo automatic voltage regulator to protect my system from overvoltage.

For this iteration, my gears are as follows:

  • Sources: Harman Kardon HD-750 HDCD player, Oracle Delphi Mk I turntable
  • Amplification: Fase Evoluzione PF-45 integrated, Anthem Amp 1 tube amplifier
  • Preamplifier: Anthem Pre 1L, Musical Fidelity X-LP phono stage
  • Speakers: Infinity Kappa 200 bookshelf
  • Cables/interconnects: Analysis Plus Oval speaker cable and interconnect, Silver Audio Silver Bullet 4.0 interconnect

    • Next> Going DIY > More DIY Projects > More Analog Journey