BLFST
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Jon,
Congradulations on your raise. I am retired (military), so extra dollars are hard to come by for me these days. Not complaining mind you, I have it a LOT better than a Lot of people in this economy.
Anyway, on to your questions. The first is my impression of the HDT's. I origianlly ordered the HDT's to go with the system I had at the time, figuring at some point in the future that I would get into SET amps. I was using PSB toweres at that time, but they were not very efficient and I really wanted to try single driver full range speakers. I also wanted to stay with towers because I wanted the speakers at my listening height without having to put the speakers on stands. Shortly after ordering the HDT's, Steve offered up the Torrii MKII at a bargain price, so I ordered that along with the ZP3. I got them all at about the same time. First impression of the speakers was their weight and build. Extremely well built and good looking speakers. They came well packaged with no damage. Once I MUSCLED the speakers into my listeing room and got them hooked up (I also use Signal Cables and interconnects), I powered up. I don't remember what music I had on the TT at the time, but I was AMAZED at what I was hearing. As I recall, it was some orchestral piece because I was hearing something that I hadn't noted (from the listening session earlier in the day) prior. Turned out that I was hearing sheet music being turned. As Steve mentions in his remarks on the speakers, they will bring out everything that your system has to offer (good or bad). I was also very pleased with the frequecy response. The bass wasn't quite as deep as with the PSB speakers, but the quality of the bass was much better. I had problems with bass colorations in the past, and I had installed room treatments to help alleviate some of it (helped but didn't solve). In simpleist terms, I couldn't tell where kick drum ended and bass guitar picked up - they all sort of blended together. With the HDT's, I could now hear the different instruments as being distint from each other. The speakers sounded great from the gitgo, but they are just plain sweet now. I should also mention that the high frequencies were just beautiful. Absolutely no graininess what so ever. The only thing negative that I would mention is that they take a bit of positioning to get the best in soundstaging, but almost every speaker needs to be properly positioned to match the listening room and habits of each individual. You CAN'T go wrong with these speakers if your budget allows.
I am also very pleased with the ZP3. My only phnono stage before the ZP3 were solidstate circuit boards installed in my Rogue Cronus integrated amp, and the same for my Rega Mira 3 (also solid state), so I really can't compare it to other tubed stages. Mine does have an inherent hum, but it is very negiliagable and I can't hear it from my listening position. I have changed tubes (EH tubes for the inputs, and I replaced the other 2 tubes with NOS tubes). The only reason that I would consider a different phono stage is if I was going to be using MC cartridges (which I am not). I THINK that some other stages with more flexibility might be preferable to buying one of three options available from Decware for the MC cartridges.
If you arn't cleaning your vinyl with some sort of machine right now, definatly plan on getting one sooner rather than later. I was just using a wet brush up until a year and a half ago. Like you, I just wasn't sure that I wanted to go through the expense of a machine. I finally decided on a GEM record cleaner (I think that Sleeve City has them, and a link to a review by 6Moons.com). Anyway, it is completely manual cleaning using your sink and faucet to clean the records. I was AMAZED at just how much better my records sounded, not only playing much quieter, but playing with MUCH more detail than I was used to. Just like with the HDT speakers, I was hearing new things in the music that I had never heard before. The only thing that I didn't like about the GEM system is that you have to dry with a lint free towel and let air dry for a bit. I finally purchased a VPI 16.5 machine this past winter have never looked back. I can really scrub dirty records, or just do a quick go-over, and be playing the vinyl in literally minutes.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I an answer anything else for you.
bill
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