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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
jb0194
476 posts
 
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
abbeydog
70 posts
 
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
jeffaguilar
7 posts
 
I have had my TA-30 for several months now. I recently upgraded my CDP to a ShengYa tubed output player and cd playback improved GREATLY. I love my TA-30, it powers my power hungry Martin Logan Aeirus i's really well. I have never had an issue with them sounding under powered.

I bought mine from Paul at BizzyBee and I am looking forward to the new pre-amp that he is going to be releasing here really soon. It is suppose to match up really well with the Cayin TA-30.

Jeff Aguilar
bartokfan
664 posts
 
Yes the Cayin amps look very nice. I'm interested in the Cayin 500, with 4 FU29's, but as I cannot read german, I have no idea of the description/details. I tried emailing a Cayin dealer in Europe, and they just said, "yes the FU's are great for classical music"(which is my collection. But thats not telling me just how the amp sounds, etc. Its alot of money $3500, to lay down w/o knowing more about the amp. Anyone here heard a FU's?, (the MK11, has GU's, but I believe its the same tube, just has a remote)...Not to railroad your thread, may I offer this recommendation. For a cdp, you should consider the Cayin 12 Tube player. I just got mine and the dynamics are certainly there. Its as good as or better than a very popular tube cdp, at 3x's the price, I won't name.
So can anyone offer an opinion on the 500?
bartokfan
664 posts
 
America get ready for an invasion.....The Cayin Invasion....I CAN'T WAIT!!! The Hype Era is over at that time.
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