Post your stereo system!

dudeman · November 2025

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Cool! Congrats.

Getting those speakers up off the floor and closer to ear level will dramatically improve your listening experience. Speaker stands can be found for pretty cheap or free on CL, FB or at garage sales or flea markets. Probably the biggest "bang for the bucks" improvement you could make right now.

static111 · November 2025

dudeman said:

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Cool! Congrats.

Getting those speakers up off the floor and closer to ear level will dramatically improve your listening experience. Speaker stands can be found for pretty cheap or free on CL, FB or at garage sales or flea markets. Probably the biggest "bang for the bucks" improvement you could make right now.

Heading out of town for work for two weeks. Stands are my next piece for sure. We just moved around the living room and the shelf that I previously had them on was ear level, but it won’t work where we moved the stereo. If I sit cross cross applesauce on the floor about 6 feet away it sounds phenomenal. Been listening all day and I am happy, there is maybe a small loss in warmth, but I can hear details like the guitar amp vibrato throb at the end of songs and little stuff like that that I couldn’t hear before. Here is hoping this one lasts at least a decade.

mrussel1 · December 2025

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Looks like a current design. How old is it?

You like better than the SX?

mrussel1 · December 2025

Also I dig the green U-turn

static111 · December 2025

mrussel1 said:

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Looks like a current design. How old is it?

You like better than the SX?

Its 3 years old. Both the SX and AXR sound great. When saw this used for under $300 and was able to audition it at the guys house with a couple different speaker sets and turntables, it was an easy decision vs +$1000 for the CXR. Side by side would i have thought the CXR was better, maybe, but the axr in near mint for less than a third of the cxr was definitely a good choice. I'm finding i like it more than the Pioneer. Looking locally i can get $200-300 for the pioneer even with its current issues.

The green U-turn is great. I have had it for ten years since my old sansui crapped out. No complaints. Started out with orto red but now have grado green and really prefer the grado. My only wish is that it had auto stop, other than that no complaints.

I'm just happy i got a great sounding working stereo and was able to not spend an arm and a leg.

static111 · December 2025

static111 said:

mrussel1 said:

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Looks like a current design. How old is it?

You like better than the SX?

Its 3 years old. Both the SX and AXR sound great. When saw this used for under $300 and was able to audition it at the guys house with a couple different speaker sets and turntables, it was an easy decision vs +$1000 for the CXR. Side by side would i have thought the CXR was better, maybe, but the axr in near mint for less than a third of the cxr was definitely a good choice. I'm finding i like it more than the Pioneer. Looking locally i can get $200-300 for the pioneer even with its current issues.

The green U-turn is great. I have had it for ten years since my old sansui crapped out. No complaints. Started out with orto red but now have grado green and really prefer the grado. My only wish is that it had auto stop, other than that no complaints.

I'm just happy i got a great sounding working stereo and was able to not spend an arm and a leg.

I inaugurated the new system with Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker. I could hear the xompression on his voice and the throb of the guitar amp tremolo in the background during quiet parts. I never heard those details previously.

tempo_n_groove · December 2025

static111 said:

static111 said:

mrussel1 said:

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Looks like a current design. How old is it?

You like better than the SX?

Its 3 years old. Both the SX and AXR sound great. When saw this used for under $300 and was able to audition it at the guys house with a couple different speaker sets and turntables, it was an easy decision vs +$1000 for the CXR. Side by side would i have thought the CXR was better, maybe, but the axr in near mint for less than a third of the cxr was definitely a good choice. I'm finding i like it more than the Pioneer. Looking locally i can get $200-300 for the pioneer even with its current issues.

The green U-turn is great. I have had it for ten years since my old sansui crapped out. No complaints. Started out with orto red but now have grado green and really prefer the grado. My only wish is that it had auto stop, other than that no complaints.

I'm just happy i got a great sounding working stereo and was able to not spend an arm and a leg.

I inaugurated the new system with Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker. I could hear the xompression on his voice and the throb of the guitar amp tremolo in the background during quiet parts. I never heard those details previously.

I always wondered about the cambridge stuff. Glad to know its actually good and useful.

mrussel1 · December 2025

tempo_n_groove said:

static111 said:

static111 said:

mrussel1 said:

static111 said:

I picked up a gently used Cambridge AXR85 from an older hifi head on of marketplace. Sounds phenomenal. The MM phono stage is amazing. The sound is insane!

Looks like a current design. How old is it?

You like better than the SX?

Its 3 years old. Both the SX and AXR sound great. When saw this used for under $300 and was able to audition it at the guys house with a couple different speaker sets and turntables, it was an easy decision vs +$1000 for the CXR. Side by side would i have thought the CXR was better, maybe, but the axr in near mint for less than a third of the cxr was definitely a good choice. I'm finding i like it more than the Pioneer. Looking locally i can get $200-300 for the pioneer even with its current issues.

The green U-turn is great. I have had it for ten years since my old sansui crapped out. No complaints. Started out with orto red but now have grado green and really prefer the grado. My only wish is that it had auto stop, other than that no complaints.

I'm just happy i got a great sounding working stereo and was able to not spend an arm and a leg.

I inaugurated the new system with Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker. I could hear the xompression on his voice and the throb of the guitar amp tremolo in the background during quiet parts. I never heard those details previously.

I always wondered about the cambridge stuff. Glad to know its actually good and useful.

My first real discreet phono stage was Cambridge and it was nice. I demo'd an integrated from them a handful of years ago and it was really nice. I ended up going up market a bit, but I would have no problem with their stuff. I think Static got a great deal.

PJ_Soul · February 17

I was just forced to purchase a new receiver, since my Onkyo died on me a couple days ago.

Apparently, Onkyo receivers were plagued with a faulty chip, and supposedly there was an extra extended warranty offered on them, but I certainly never heard about it, and it's way too late now, so that pissed me off. I got maybe 13 years out of it, but that doesn't seem good enough - it was pricey. So that SUCKS. I did look into remedies, but they are a bit beyond my capabilities and not worth the price for a professional, so a new setup it is.

I don't have that much money to spend, so I chose a Denon S570BT as it's supposed to pair well with my TT, plus I'm going to give an external preamp a try for the first time. I just got the cheapy Pro-Ject Phono Box MM PJ35827166, but according to the internet, that will do a much better job than the built-in that my Denon dp-300f has, so I'm interested to see if I hear the difference..... I said I went cheap on this, but this is still costing me almost $800, which isn't a tiny amount of money, but compared to the prices I've been looking at, it's just about rock bottom. I hope I don't regret spending so little.

PJ_Soul · February 21

Yay. Found an open box Onkyo tx-sr3100 that was $250 off plus another 15% for the open box. Basically got it half price. And yes, and external preamp makes a difference!

mickeyrat · 2:16AM

PJ_Soul said:

Yay. Found an open box Onkyo tx-sr3100 that was $250 off plus another 15% for the open box. Basically got it half price. And yes, and external preamp makes a difference!

I like Onkyo stuff. When I got back in a to vinyl pre-covid , it through a gifted Onkyo compinent system from the 80's. still rocking it.

mickeyrat · 2:20AM

Random adbook marketplace scroll to check on a listing I saw my newest aquisition.

Need to check it over still and replace damaged stylus to start but I now have a DUAL 1009 SK to add to my DUAL collection. Stylus wont be an issue, have spares currently. good basic cleaning of contacts should be good to go without a relube for a minute....

dudeman · 4:22PM

mickeyrat said:

Random adbook marketplace scroll to check on a listing I saw my newest aquisition.

Need to check it over still and replace damaged stylus to start but I now have a DUAL 1009 SK to add to my DUAL collection. Stylus wont be an issue, have spares currently. good basic cleaning of contacts should be good to go without a relube for a minute....

Cool man! Those were built like tanks and the motors are torque monsters. People gripe about the tonearm but my 1019 will track pretty much any record I put on it.

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