Current Setup of Sub-System C @ Summer 2011

【Hi-Fi System Configuration – Summer 2011】
Main System｜Sub System

Continuing from the 2011 Summer introduction of my compact pure Hi-Fi system. Let’s start with Sub System C, which lives in the study.

Back in 2005 when I started this compact Hi-Fi blog, it looked something like this,

by autumn 2005 it had become this, though the ONKYO A-1VL set was later moved elsewhere,

around 2008 it had turned into something like this,

in 2009 I was on hiatus due to illness and posted nothing at all, yet this is what I was getting up to,

and here in 2011, this is how things stand. Everything has been replaced over six years···

It may be hard to make out from the photos, but the speaker in the first image is the Audio Pro Image 11 from Sweden. The fourth image shows the Image 12, also from Audio Pro. Each piece of equipment that was swapped out has since moved to a different system.

Sub System C is a truly compact pure Hi-Fi system built around Creek Audio, the British company known simply as “Creek”. Over the past two years it has been the most frequently used system for classical music playback. It never tires the ear even after long sessions as background listening, and it is playing music behind me as I write this very blog post. When I listen to NHK-FM, it is almost always on this system or in the car.

The FM tuner, a DENON TU-1500N, sits on top of the digital piano to the left. Sub System C had already taken its current form shortly before I went on blog hiatus for convalescence in 2009, but in all the upheaval of that time I never got round to writing a review, and the months just kept passing. It has now been two years in the making, but I would like to take this opportunity to properly introduce the combination as it stands in 2011.

◆Speaker (Sweden) audiopro Image12
◆CD Player (UK) CREEK CLASSIC CD Player
◆Integrated Amplifier (UK) EMF Audio Sequel2
◆FM/AM Tuner (Japan) DENON TU-1500N
◆FM Aerial (Japan) DX Antenna Digicatch US100AW

◆Speaker Cable (Sweden) Supura CLASSIC 2.5H
◆RCA Cable / CDP (Japan) ISODA HA-08PSR
◆RCA Cable / Tuner (USA) STEREOBOX HDSE

◆Power Cable / CDP　Shinko Electric Industries, no-brand (PureVision bundled cable)
◆Power Cable / AMP (Japan)　CHIKUMA WISDOM AC
◆Power Cable / Tuner (Japan)　OYAIDE L/i15dpc
◆Wall Socket (Japan)　Panasonic WN1318

◆Hi-Fi Insulators / CDP (USA) J1 project SP35HR/4P
◆Hi-Fi Insulators / AMP (Japan) audio-technica AT6098
◆Hi-Fi Insulators / SP (Japan) ONKYO AS-258
◆Audio Board (Japan) ABA SUNSHINE A-40

I had been thinking of it as a purely European Hi-Fi system, but writing it all out in a list like this makes it look thoroughly mixed East and West··· Well, even so, I do believe the sound that comes out of this system is genuinely European. The most classical and European-flavoured sound among all my systems — and with a distinctly British accent at that. In terms of outright sound quality it cannot match the main system or Sub System A, but with its warm, natural, and acoustically resonant character, it may well come top for a certain musicality and easy listenability. As things stand, it is the sub system with the highest usage rate.

AUDIO STYLE

EMF Audio (Creek) Sequel2 プリメインアンプ レビュー その1

【Hi-Fi System Configuration – Summer 2011】
Main System｜Sub System