Update - have a very nice optonica turntable mounted on a 2 inch stone slab feeding a external phono stage to a 55watt per channel amp going to a psb sub/sat combo. Bookshelf monitors are mounted on heavy metal stands at ear height about 12-14ft away from listening position. Sent the Akai reel to reel for pro servicing so have been listening to LP records. This is an interim setup.
Conclusion = some records sound pretty good, in fact suprisingly good and listenable. Examples are Ozark Mountain Daredevils 1st, Willie Nelson's Red Haired Stranger, Eagles 1st, Linda Rhonstadt. Vocals, acoustic guitars and piano are realistic and well presented. Of course Paul Barton always seems to get the midrange right. I've mainly listening to albums i remember from 1969-1979 but i also listened to some classical recording. Small ensembles or solo instruments sounded good here but like in some rock records massed instruments sounded a bit 'muddied' and indistinct. This may be a limitation of the current setup so i'm adding to the experiment as initial results are encouraging. Note that i have listened exculusivly to digital audio for the last 25 years...
Next Steps
Ordered a Bryston pre/power combo to replace the current amp. Replacing the PSB B25's and sub with PSB Titanium T6 towers. Almost snagged a set of Axion M80's which i want to try, but someone beat me to them...
Will test this out with the turntable and when the built-in shelving is finished then the high end sony tapedeck and akai reel to reel can be added to the analog system.
