Pictured is the iFi Retro Stereo system. Before you balk too much at the price, consider that $1995 would have been about $285 in 1967, when this style of audio equipment was common. Such a system would have cost more than $285 back then, believe me, especially a tube unit with natural finish (bamboo in this case), anodized front plate on the amp, and those ivory linen grille cloths reminiscent of AR, Advent, and KLH in the 1960s. This is a miniaturized version of such a system, but the sound should be about as big. The central unit's faceplate size is only about 6"x12". The speakers are 5.7"x10.6".
However, for all the retro looks, the capabilities of the central unit are so up-to-date, it's a challenge for me to catch up with what it can do. On the retro side, it's well equipped to play vinyl LPs with a quality built-in phono preamp that can handle both conventional moving magnet/moving iron cartridges and low output moving coil cartridges. It has a an EL84-powered tube amp that operates mostly in class A, which sounds sooooo seductive.
But then, it's also well set up to handle the most modern digital music delivery systems. It has a very high-res built-in DAC that can handle high-rate DSD, 24-bit digital with high sampling rates, Blue-tooth, and accepts digital inputs from optical toslink, coaxial, and USB cables. Whether it's from a CD player, your computer, smart phone, or whatever, you can play it through this set.
The speakers are worth a special mention. For some time, there has been a legendary nearfield monitor in the British broadcasting and recording industries called the Rogers LS3/5A monitors. The BBC (and recording studios) used these extensively as portable monitors for playback of remote site recordings. Such monitors in good condition are listed on eBay for $2K to $7K per pair. This iFi system includes a high quality reproduction of these monitors for this system.
Yes, I know it's mail order and the system is not cheap, but Music Direct has a 60-day return policy. I haven't personally heard this system, but I find it intriguing and I wouldn't pass on the info if it were a high risk transaction. If you'd like something for the bedroom, study, or desktop, the iFi system looks very cool and the specs and features indicate it should sound very good as well.
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JohnnyB
Pictured is the iFi Retro Stereo system. Before you balk too much at the price, consider that $1995 would have been about $285 in 1967, when this style of audio equipment was common. Such a system would have cost more than $285 back then, believe me, especially a tube unit with natural finish (bamboo in this case), anodized front plate on the amp, and those ivory linen grille cloths reminiscent of AR, Advent, and KLH in the 1960s. This is a miniaturized version of such a system, but the sound should be about as big. The central unit's faceplate size is only about 6"x12". The speakers are 5.7"x10.6".
However, for all the retro looks, the capabilities of the central unit are so up-to-date, it's a challenge for me to catch up with what it can do. On the retro side, it's well equipped to play vinyl LPs with a quality built-in phono preamp that can handle both conventional moving magnet/moving iron cartridges and low output moving coil cartridges. It has a an EL84-powered tube amp that operates mostly in class A, which sounds sooooo seductive.
But then, it's also well set up to handle the most modern digital music delivery systems. It has a very high-res built-in DAC that can handle high-rate DSD, 24-bit digital with high sampling rates, Blue-tooth, and accepts digital inputs from optical toslink, coaxial, and USB cables. Whether it's from a CD player, your computer, smart phone, or whatever, you can play it through this set.
The speakers are worth a special mention. For some time, there has been a legendary nearfield monitor in the British broadcasting and recording industries called the Rogers LS3/5A monitors. The BBC (and recording studios) used these extensively as portable monitors for playback of remote site recordings. Such monitors in good condition are listed on eBay for $2K to $7K per pair. This iFi system includes a high quality reproduction of these monitors for this system.
Yes, I know it's mail order and the system is not cheap, but Music Direct has a 60-day return policy. I haven't personally heard this system, but I find it intriguing and I wouldn't pass on the info if it were a high risk transaction. If you'd like something for the bedroom, study, or desktop, the iFi system looks very cool and the specs and features indicate it should sound very good as well.
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