End of my tether

And that is what it’s all about :blush:

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That was supposed to happen two weeks ago but someone on here went and bought the one I was supposed to demo! :slight_smile:

Get my other issues sorted and it would certainly be on the agenda ahead of an M-Scalar. However, see below.

Nah, if anything it will be amp. Put the wheels in motion sell my CDX2 and am pricing up the rest to get an idea of what funds might be available. However, lots of other things to mess with before that happens.

I think I may have my mojo back.

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Mike, my memory is not so bad. Here what you wrote some days ago:

mikehughescq

Simon-in-Suffolk

5d

Certainly am. It would be nice to have more presence/mids at low volume but I’m not going to stress about it when there’s a Christmas tree at one end of the living room likely screwing with the sound anyway until January.

Also, with two new boxes in the system I think that realistically I will need to (re)explore speaker positioning. Once that’s all been addressed I can think about what I want. I don’t see me moving to valve amps as a solution as they simply don’t do it for me. So, possibly a speaker change at some point.

Lol, sorry!

Poorly expressed on my part. The speakers are unusual but like the source and DAC they are keepers. I definitely have some experimenting to do with repositioning and maybe even the spike height which directly impacts bass but getting rid of definitely not on the agenda.

Ok, i understand. The thread continues :smiley:

Ah, good, that’s a relief.

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Glad to hear it almost all come together in time for the new year. Enjoy!

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Nice that it continues into another year. :blush:

Didn’t understood Neil. It’s ironic ?

Yeah, for about 5-6 months. It sounded excellent but was advised the 8ohm 89db sensitivity may not be sensitive enough and probably not getting the most out of my speakers.

As it happens, they were correct and my system has improved massively since adding the Chord Etude. But, I can honestly say it did sound excellent from the TT2 direct to the speakers. For about £35 for the adapters, it maybe worth a shot.

@mikehughescq it’s been interesting following your trials and tribulations and great to hear that you’ve now reached a point that you’re enjoying you music again… this has to be the most important thing! Other tweaks might be available but it sounds like a time to put your feet up, enjoy a festive drink and enjoy the music! Looking forward to see how it all pans out for you!

Interesting. What does “not sensitive enough” mean?

Adapters for what? Speaker cable?

@anon23154165 we spent 4.5 hours listening to music at varying levels yesterday. Hugely variable with older music such as Phil Spector lacking weight and slam but equally we had stuff like Ana Moura where she was practically stood in front of us.

So, not perfect but getting there. Very interested in whether the TT2 can improve matters as an amp. Given a sensitivity of 101db/W I assume no issue there. The question I’m guessing is really around which mode the amp should be in to pair with 16ohm speakers.

I think they had in mind speakers with 100db sensitivity at 1m. But, I’d imagine it will still be speaker dependent as to how it sounds.

Places that make custom cables would be able to make them. XLR to female speaker cable plug. Pin 2 of the XLR is red and Pin 3 is black. Flashback sales cables are know longer trading as he sadly past away recently… really helpful guy and will be missed by many! I’m sure there’ll be other places that make similar cables. I’ll see if I can dig out a pic for you so you can see what I mean.

Edit, here you go. You’d use the TT2 in amp mode, set to hi-gain. If you have to sit with volumes of -10db to -15db for longer periods of time you’re probably better sticking with a power amp and just use the TT2 as the DAC / Pre.

Right. So you’d go XLR rather than RCA? Mine would be XLR to bare wire as the Zu just have binding posts

Not sure what you mean by that. Forgive my ignorance.

I guess with more sensitive speakers both would be an option. The TT2 has 18w rms for XLR and I think 7.3w rms for RCA. Because my speakers weren’t as sensitive I opted for the XLR adapters over the RCA ones.

The more you have to turn up the volume on the TT2 the more it will heat up. In amp mode, it runs from -70db (quietest) to I think about +25db. I know Rob Watts did not recommend spending much time in the +db range. But, as in my case, if the speakers aren’t quite sensitive enough, they wouldn’t perform as intended. The max volume I used was about -7db and as such was no danger in damaging the TT2 but I just wasn’t getting the best out of the speakers.

When I added the Etude, the pace, detail and control of the bass improved significantly. The TT2 on its own was just not quite enough to run the speakers properly.

I guess the only real way of knowing is to try with the appropriate RCA or XLR adapters. It could sound very good… it might not. It really does depend on TT2 and speaker combination. If the adapters only cost a few pound then it might be worth a try.

Also, others here go from TT2 into a Naim power amp and enjoy that. You have plenty of options at the moment so you’re in a good position… and you’re enjoying how it sounds now… which is great

Thanks. That all makes sense now.

Just to say… while the XLR / RCA adapter route is possible… if I was in your current position. That is trying to get your current system sounding it’s best after all the problems you’ve had, I would focus on getting that right first.

Once your current system is setup and stable… I.e. happy with the network setup etc and it consistently sounds good, then and only then would I investigate other avenues as it may be tricky to tell if something is better or not until it is performing at a consistent level that you’re happy with

I’m awfully sure the TT2 was not designed to drive a 16ohm Load… I think the idea was the
(Table Top 2) was designed to drive normal desktop speakers. But I could be wrong… Maybe a good Idea to ask Chord. Would suck to damage you TT2…

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I think it would be wise to fire a question to Rob Watts over at Head Fi or contact Chord tech support… they’re quick to respond. As I mentioned above, if it was me, I’d focus on sorting out the other remaining issues first.

Edit. When I asked them the question of speaker sensitivity, they just mentioned that 89db 8ohm was not sensitive enough but I didn’t specifically ask about ohm requirements.