Used Deals Thread

Philharmonic 2 speakers

$1750

Los Angeles area

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/philharmonic-2s-for-sale.107416/

Still available according to the owner when we exchanged messages a couple days ago.

Differences/info on Phil 2 & current Phil 3

https://web.archive.org/web/2013020...hilharmonicaudio/philpages/floorstanding.html

 

Focal Elear - $850 CAD / ~$625 USD

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649359061-focal-elear/

 

Christ on a bicycle that's a good deal.

 

Philharmonic BMR's
$1200
https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/philharmonic-bmr.851999/

I read nothing but praise for these. This seems like a pretty good deal.

 

The Philharmonic look wonderful. Are they fairly efficient?

 

http://philharmonicaudio.com/BMR Philharmonitor.html

At 84.5dBW you'd probably want about 50+W I'd guess if you listen at moderate volumes.

 

Eddie Current 4-45 with tubes - 3500
https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/ic-eddie-current-4-45-with-tubes.852094/#post-13530938

I'd jump on this my dam self if I didn't have the 2a3 already

 

Dennis uses and recommends a reasonably affordable AVA 120-watt class A/B amp for good grip on the low end. I didn't listen and first went for a fancy class D amp to go with my BMRs, but I really believed in the power of synergy when I finally paired them with that class A/B amp.

 

Just out of curiosity, what amp did he recommend?

 

http://www.avahifi.com/products/pow...-amplifiers/synergy-240-solid-state-amplifier

 

Dangerous Music Source for $650 or best offer:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dangerous-Music-Source-/322494829157?hash=item4b16309265:g:dagAAOSwE0JY~8Wb

Ross Martin Super Beast II for $395:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gea.../1153532-ross-martin-audio-superbeast-da.html

 

Thanks for the reminder about AVA. Been years since I read about their stuff. Read a few links on this morning's commute, and Frank's philosophy reminds me of Schiit's in a lot of ways. For example (source):

Spoiler: Do you have a dealer network where I can listen to your products?

We sell factory direct to you at essentially dealer cost. Using a high end dealer network would double your prices.

In addition, we are not completely comfortable with the "high end" industry as it now exists. We think there is far too much effort to sell you "foo-foo dust" (magic wires, overpriced cables, mystic dots and spikes, and other overpriced accessories) that have nothing to do with the actual engineering of high fidelity reproducing equipment, and there is far too little interest in a real understanding of audio design.

We think the signal to noise ratio between good advice for your audio enjoyment and simple greed to pitch you more worthless gimmicks is poor and getting worse, detracting from your chances of getting good value and worthwhile high fidelity enjoyment.

We can do better direct, without this distraction and, too often, misinformation.

We do offer a satisfaction guarantee on factory-wired AVA components so you can audition them yourself without significant financial risk. The chances are very good you will be more than satisfied with our equipment.

Been in business over 40 years with this philosophy (thread re: their business model). They are also cable agnostic and design robust power supplies. Frank also loves tubes and I've read he designs his solid state gear accordingly. Maybe we should get one of these for the solid state comparison thread?

 

I don't mean to thread-jack but it was ineresting to see how my opinion about the 2-channel setup I'd put together changed going from a Nord's flagship One SE Up to AVA's Synergy 240.

With the Nord I felt like reaching for my Sagaheim/HD650 setup over the Saga/Nord/BMR's. Tonality seemed right and it was really resolving, but I didn't feel like I was being pulled into the music and I was getting listening fatigue that I was attributing to being tired. I thought maybe I made a mistake buying all this stuff.

Once I plugged in the Synergy 240 everything seemed to sound more effortless (musical?). I just want to play music all the time now. It feels like the top-end is rolled off a bit and treble seems sweeter and softer, but maybe it was the Nord that was artificially sharpening transients? I don't have the ears to be sure. Dennis was right, though. I'm kind of kicking myself buying into class D hype. I lost some money trying to sell that amp.

 

Not sure if this is the greatest rock collection ever... http://dustandgrooves.com/geoffrey-weiss/

but this will be a a special special sale.... June 24, in Los Angeles
http://www.rappcats.com/greatest/

 

For Canucks: Sonic Frontiers SFD-1 Mk1 for $1.2k CAD
http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649359533-sonic-frontiers-sfd1-mk1/

 

Not headphones, but there's a set of Quad ESL-63s with Gradient dipole subs and Gradient crossover/EQ box on eBay right now. Requires 4 amp channels. No connection to seller. Really wish I had a place for them, because that combination is by a large margin the best open baffle speaker system I have ever heard.

 

There's an HD800 with super dupont mod at ebay right now. Seems like the owner messed up the paint job, and hence it is still only at $540 (auction with 1 day remaining). Might be a good deal, provided not too many people do bidding.

 

Used Cavalli liquid lightning
http://www.tmraudio.com/product/tj-1934
$2699

I'm not sure this is a deal, but I guess I don't see these come up often.

 

He/She says sound is not affected by the paint job f**k up, but there's some on the metal foil which may affect acoustic properties. Suppose you could go at it with some Q-tips and turpentine. Link.