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Whats in your second system?

Just curious as to the people who like myself have many thousands "invested" in their main system with all the latest tweaks, cables etc and also have a second or even third system.

Did you assemble that with the same love and care and dedication and costly tweaks?

Or did you throw something together from bargain bins or indeed your old leftovers and then sat back and thought...Wow this sounds really good!

And if so did that get you thinking on the main system...lol.

My second system cost way less than the speaker cables on my main system but I am constantly shocked at just how nice it sounds for such a no frills setup.

Linn Classic all in one
Tannoy 2 ellipse small floorstanders
20 year old (at least) Jensen 50w 8 inch sub.
Monster Cable 12/2 speaker cable bare wire ends.
Home brewed power cord just cos I had it laying around.

The Linn just sits on top of a chest of drawers with the Tannoys flanking the chest either side and the lil sub sitting behind the chest.

And it sounds darn good tbh!
128x128uberwaltz
prof
3,473 posts
 

I doubt these count as "second systems" because I'd be using the same amps/source.  But though my main speakers are Thiels (3.7 and 2.7) I have a variety of speakers I also switch into the system:  MBL 121 monitors, Waveform Mach MC monitors, Hales T1 monitors, Spendor 3/5s, Thiel 02s.

Yeah, I got the sickness.

My DREAM second system would use Quad ESL 57s.  And in fact I was actually offered a pair free.  But try as I might, I couldn't come up with a place to set them up that would work. 
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
My God man! Free quads?! I would have take them just to play with
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Looks like a lot of people have some very nice office systems.
Gotta work to feed my habit ;-)
willemj
1,036 posts
 
I similarly have a spare pair of Quad ELS57s, after I upgraded to the modern 2805. The 2805 is not only better, but of course has a far better remaining life expectancy. My ELS57s are still in good condition, but you can be sure you will need to have them refurbished quite soon, and that is neither easy nor cheap. Which is also why I decicided to upgrade to the 2805. I offered them to my son, but he said no: they are bound to need expensive maintenance, and they are too bulky in a student room. So once I get round to it, I will sell them, but since everybody knows that they need an expensive refurbishment second hand price is actually quite low.
My son is now working part time in a supermarket for a pair of Harbeth M30.1s, the largest speaker that he thinks will work in a student room or small apartment. In the meantime he uses my old LS3/5a’s that he is very happy with. Once he is done with those I will sell them as well. There is a crazy market demand for them.
prof
3,473 posts
 
@toddverrone,

Believe me, it was killing me.  They were a beautifully maintained pair of ESL 57s from an old audio writer.  He just didn't have a place for them anymore.  But neither do I.  The only space I have for speakers shares room with my home theater system, and they have to be somewhat narrow to fit either side of the projected screen image.  So all manner of box speakers work there.  But the Quads are so wide they would just be in the way of the image all the time.  And I thought about placing them somewhere to move in for occasional listening sessions, but I've already pushed my wifely luck with the speakers I have littering the house.  The Quads would be a lot harder to put anywhere discrete for the WAF factor.

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