Cayin TA-30 thoughts...


Recently bought a Cayin TA-30 after reading tons of great stuff about it.

I've been listening to it for about a couple of days now.

my setup right now is:

Cayin TA-30
Denon 2200 DVD/CD/SACD
Definitive Technolgy BP2004TL's

Alot of my musis listening is jazz/vocals/pop/rock with artist like Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong, Norah Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson, and on and on....

The Cayin replaced a Yamaha RX-V1000 (which is for sale). The Yamaha was a great piece for me, and if i wouldn't have switched to tubes i would have kept it.

I also use to own a Consonance M99 int tube from Opera Audio.

My first impression was CD's seemed easier to listen to. There was nothing harsh at all. The Cayin seem to bring out detail in the music i really didn't notice before. so listening to my CD's was like hearing new stuff. Vocals were very smooth, and you could hear very faint details, like when the singer would lick their lips and you could here the full extent of the vocals fading out.

Things seemed to be imaging a lot better as well.

I'm using the stock EL34 tubes, and plan to get some Svetlana's or EH tubes to play with.

Also i plan on purchasing either a Music Hall CD25 or Arcam 72 or 73t CD player so i'll report in a little more detail when i get all this setup and have had plenty of time to listen to everything.

Hope you find this a useful read. if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
128x128kray
Jdcrox,
I am curious, how well do you feel the Cayin drives the Europas? Isn't it 30 watts? Can you tell me a little about the type of music and volume you are enjoying? Also, what size room?
Thanks, Scott.
Scott, my listening room is about 13' x 16'. Carpeted. Current favorites lean towards Jazz, esp sax, female vocals. Also a fair amount of mostly classic rock. It has never sounded strained even at quite loud levels, louder than I would comfortably listen to. Surprised me how well it drives them.
John
Scott, if I can jump in here. My Europa's are being powered by (as a second amp) vintage/updated Heathkit A-9c integrated monoblocks with 20 wpc in a 17x18x11 room. The Heathkit would not of course compete with the Cayin. Nonetheless, there is plenty of power. Typical full sound listening level is volume set at 12. The most I can stand is volume at 1. Even 20 watts of PP tubes is enough, I believe.
Monte
If you own a hot glue gun (about $20 at Home Depot), have basic soldering skills, can paint/wipe down stain on cabinets AND can afford about $2500 consider the Zalytron "Phenomenal 3" loudspeaker kit. Easy build, as cabinets come pre-built/veneered and you can have the crossover parts preassembled on boards if you like (I did). Took me about 6 hours total to do the final stain/soldering/assembly.

I bought a slightly customized version with the identical drivers (PHL 1240 mids and Focal Audiom TD5 tweeters - the same tweeters as in the original Grand Utopias) and they are fabulous with low powered tube amps at 93dB 8Ohms impedance.
Beautiful music with my 30W/ch 6L6GC based monoblocks and Ming Da preamp.

The drivers alone cost over $1500 and only a few TD5 pairs remained last month. I may just buy another pair of the tweeters for a future project...

www.Zalytron.com
Jdcrox,
Thanks for the info. our rooms and musical tastes coincide.
It appears the Cayin may be something to think about. The price is certainly right.
Scott