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I went to Woodlands Stereo and bought the AT rubber tips, but went back and realised the tips from Stereo had a smaller diameter than the original tip for CK100. Any idea where to buy dedicated tips for CK100?

some speaker brands prefer solid state amps. E.g. B&W and Dynaudio But usually quite a lot speakers put out good sound from valve amps if it can be driven. For some particular speaker brands, (quite well known for Dynaudio of contour models and above), they are quite difficult to drive. Some had even spent 3x , 5x or even 8x of the speaker price for their amp in order to squeeze the last drop out from the speakers. It is not that speaker is not good, in fact it is so good that it has tremendous potential and scales up well. Horses for courses, i guess. In general, most hifi shops will pair a suitable amp for the speakers and tailor to your budget. If you like the sound, it is somewhere there. I think most hifi shops will not pair an unsuitable amp since they need to take care of bottom line and should have some experience in their trade. It is better to audit more and gather some samples on where your preference/budget may be. Go blindly into one component and search for another suitable match after that commitment is usually a slippery slope. I guessed there will be some mistakes and lessons to be learnt along the way, but in the world of hifi, some mistakes can be pretty costly..... Your mileage may vary. Afraid i don't know much about your shortlisted options. PS: Btw, i think speakers need to run in more than other components in the chain. But if i don't know the seller well, it is a leap of faith afterall.

a person's musical taste will change. Budget will change priority will change. there is no be all n end all combination. There is only a (best matched) combination according to your available resources, preferences. I am not interested in sub as i don't like heart thumping bass. As such, different people have different preferences Certain speakers have particular strengths in reproducing certain sound E.g. (but not sure whether the following brands have Home theatre models) Sonus Faber - Violin Bösendorfer - Piano ATC, Harbeth - human voice I believe speaker manufacturers in designing crossovers or choosing the drivers will make some compromise to tailor the speaker models to perform better in certain frequencies/genres than others. Also, home theatre speakers are slightly different from two channel audio. I am pretty ignorant on home theatre though i think its best to use the same brand for speakers standardisation. But yup, room acoustics, electronics/ components/ accessories, and power supplies. All three are major contributors to make up to the sound u hear, i think. PS: I tend to think speakers have a slightly higher weightage in the overall sound presentation (sonic signature) as it is the last component in the audio chain, unless you take in the room as a factor. If so, the room is the most important and your hearing too. (as we age, we lose the ability to discern some higher frequencies). Not to say the rest of the chain are not important. They are important, dependent on your budget

"Should i be getting a speaker amp first for a 2.1 system (can i add a subwoofer that way?) and in future upgrade the amp to a receiver for surround system?" I think 2.1 or 5.1 system is used for watching dvds. more for impact sound. The eyes following the story as displayed in TV. More for kaboom, explosion sound. Two channel audio, more for closing your eyes and let your ears do the job. If your aim is to move to 5.1 eventually, av receiver is more relevant, i think.

dormant TT user now TT is enjoyable when u have time and patience. CD is convenient and easy maintenance. Digital is very convenient.

Going LP route must also consider RCM (record cleaning machine) eh...... Clearaudio, VPI got some pretty ok, utility grade RCM. Our local make also got a cheaper version using spinning to dry, but vacuum function still a good feature, i think. Loricraft, Keith monks, Hannl are bling, bling liao eh. May also consider using paper sleeve and newspaper cut out to LP size. (It does absorb moisture). Got budget, go for anti-static sleeve. Otherwise, maintain room temperature in LP storage. Our local weather is humid, not really that conducive for LP well being in ambient temperature, especially for those staying near east coast, i guess. For indoor smokers, condition will be lagi worse... But for nostalgia (older recordings), and analog heaven, LP has bragging rights, i presume

Thanks for the effort. Lots of headfi p*o*r*n and energy in the meet. Bravo to the organisers/photogs and the players themselves.

N Leben bought here is also a bit inflated price leh.

mmm, i think if using clearaudio statement as source, owner should have enough funds to build up a decent room. Headphone should be spare change.... In landscarce Tokyo, maybe living real estate is premium. But, ... but the platform that supports the tonearms and platter already take up a substantial area.

i thought class a monoblocks will chalk up electricity bills. not sure whether molten lava bubbling up will be exp though.

"even with so many hours of work I can't afford so many of those things in this thread" Mmm, personally, i do think that hifi/cans is quite a snobbish hobby. some kind similar to golf or sports car hobby lor. More money usually equate to a better product, but the performance increment may not be linear to the price. Luckily, there is still an additional factor of system matching. I.e. u bring in the most expensive components and put them together may not perform better than carefully chosen parts to form a coherent team. E.g buy eleven most expensive players and form a soccer team does not equate dominance. Chemistry and time to gel (run in time) are still essential.

erhmmm, i try to view from another perspective. Two parts actually: 1) We always have boundless desires but finite resources. To improve one's system, the fun is the journey itself. However, there is some generic approach (i think) to assessment but usually we need to set a baseline of reference. Setting the baseline, I would think largely depends on the source for sonic reproduction which depends on your musical taste. (i would put musical genre or the sound making instrument as the source for baseline reference, rather than the electronics or the medium of transmission) Musical taste differs for different people and from time to time, we also shift our interests. Pop, metal, then maybe vocals, jazz or classical. Those are the usual progression as one ages I believe it is logical that most audiophiles lean towards acoustic (non artificially amplified musical instruments) e.g. vocals, strings - violin, guitar, woodwind - trumpet, sax, percussion - piano, drums. This will avoid additional variables like a power cord affecting the electrical guitar amp or synthesized music. If your preference is electronic music, more power to you.... Anyway, if you prefer jazz, go to some jazz pub, classical-> esplanade, vocals -> concert. Instrumental, e.g. guitar, go and learn guitar. Develop a sense of timbral accuracy baseline. Know what u like. Know what is natural. 2) I do think tweaks are sometimes relevant to systems matching. What works in this system may not be that useful on another. One classical example is Naim (but they are never strong in soundstaging anyway) where they produce their own tweaks or upgrades. And their proprietary stuff (Hi line, Fraim) really work great for their own make. The second concern is design integrity. I.e. if an American amp is tune to produce powerful bass rather than wide soundstaging, it is unreasonable to tweak it or transform its character to something else. E.g. usually Americans may prefer Jazz while Europeans are avid classical music concert goers. The design emphasis will show accordingly. 3) Some tweaks exist for quantifiable measurement. However, marginal utility (price performance ratio) and the main reason why you enjoy this hobby can only be justifiable by yourself. One analogy is photography. One can argue on the sharpness and bokeh of different lenses but what touches you may be the picture composition or the message behind the picture, rather than the technical superiority or accuracy. E.g. Henri Cartier Bresson may be one of the most respected photojournalist but his photos may never be as sharply focused as your nokia handphone shot. Just my two cents. PS: me? nah, my ears are not that sensitive, luckily

mmm, ikea table is of inferior wood quality. Do consider placing somewhere else or reduce the playing time if possible. But thinking back, if it is just replacing the table after one, two years, maybe it is not that expensive compared to a proper hifi rack or footers Priority-wise, I would suggest spending money on grounding conditioner before the footers. I think rgc will reduce the noise floor much more than the footers for this amp. The visible advantage of the footers is to lift the amp up slightly for better ventilation. Believe u r aware that you can change the cap from Aural Designs? But that would be another few hundred hours of burning in. I would say, Victor of Aural Designs has pretty good ears and a very helpful attitude.

1) 6C33C can be really hot. Mmmm, hope the temperature around there is not too hot otherwise i would not play for more than 3-4 hours continuously. How's the wood of that table top? Solid or particle chip or plywood? If it is of good quality, maybe still ok, not sure if softer wood will react well with hot air after long play (1- 2 years) 2) i think speaker is a bit too close to wall? if possible a little off the wall may be better. Just a thought.

yes, my bad. Opening multiple browsers and didn't realise answering to a different thread :$. Anyway, thanks for the url. Good info indeed. Another similar website here as well, maybe bros here can check out before committing to a second hand item with regrets. http://www.oyaide.com/e_audio/support/support_index.htm Btw, regarding the pictures , i am still not sure whether all the pics shown are fake or the bottom few are genuine. Anyway the real Singaporean suppliers can be found understand the Distributor section, which is X-audio. Think owners of Audio basic and X-audio are close friends/ bros... Well, mmmm, if the plug is really fake, take it easy lor, we are learn something along the way.