FRED MANTEGHIAN BLOG

When we added the addition that contains the office to our house in 1990, I had the wherewithal to run speaker wires from the built-in nook in the office to the opposite wall. The idea was to put the stereo in the alcove and not have wires showing. I knew enough to use Radio Shack’s finest 16-gauge copper. Of course, I never actually used the wires or the nook. There was always some interesting high-end cable being proffered, and I’m only human. Besides, the speakers and equipment were out on display in the reviewing room, not meant to be hidden in an alcove.

Guess what. I’m back into hiding. The last thing anybody wanted to see in the new room was wires, although Laura did comment that it seemed like we were punishing the stereo by putting it into the alcove. No matter, those wires run through the wall would finally get their day. If wine can benefit from age, why not copper. Perhaps their crystalline structure had relaxed. Get me a whitepaper!

So what’s in the two-channel rack? A bunch of antiques I fear. With almost all my appropriated disposable income going to keeping up with the Ginsings in the home theater room, I don’t see any upgrading going on in the two channel room anytime soon. Not to fret. Even my old stuff is pretty good. The center of the system is the Audio Research SP-14 preamp. I bought this only slightly used from Lyric Hi-Fi in New York City in the late eighties. It has a phono section, which was key back then, and now actually. It received a good review from Ken Kessler in some British rag. I read up on it, lusted after it for a while, and then went down and bought it. I never regretted the choice.

The amp behind the preamp, actually, two racks above it, is a Bryston 4B. Considered by Ralph Cortigiano, owner of Take Five Audio in New Haven, as the amp I should have to drive my Magnepan IIIa speakers. It does, or rather did, do work great with the long since sold but much missed Magnepans. Not so well with Wilson Watt Puppies, a tweeter of which I melted when the Bryston clipped. I don’t play my speakers that loud anymore. Besides, I’m using the long discontinued but still reference quality Alon Point V speakers in the office. They’re a little too close to the wall now because I didn’t leave enough wire curled up in the walls, and I don’t want to extend them and introduce possible sonic compromises. That’s also why the amp is on the highest shelf and the preamp at the bottom. Not enough wire. Barely reaches. It’s a topsy-turvy world.

CD playback is handled by the Theta Data Basic II transport and Theta Pro Prime II DAC. I never had a remote for the transport, but a Rotel remote works well enough. The Rotel CD player, meanwhile, in one of the kid’s rooms, requires operation from its front panel. They’ve never put two and two together. I’ve simplified the setup, eliminating some cables and the anti-jitter box Theta developed. For the law office, a Theta CD and DAC are plenty good enough.

That leaves the turntable, or more precisely, the not turned in a long time table. Nude, begging for a cartridge, the Oracle Alexandria, an early eighties vintage gem of a spinner has been neglected since the VPI made its appearance. The VPI is in the home theater room, since I still love listening to records and, well, you know the story with the office. But as soon as I can put a new cartridge on the VPI Aries (with the original JMW tonearm), the current cart, an excellent Grado Sonato, will move over to the Oracle, making it whole again. The Grado should be happier too. Mated with the VPI, its moving magnet origins become apparent as it blissfully hums to any tune, courtesy of the VPI’s motor assembly. Turn off the motor, and the hum goes away. So does the music.