My room was purpose build using the ratio described by Floyd Toole from the Canadian Research council.
Have 20 dedicated 15 amp circuits, 4x20 amp circuits and 2 220 volt 60 amp circuits. The wall construction is 12" thick ,made up of a double wall of 2x4 studs at 16 oc with the studs staggered ,insulation (rock wool), t&g 3/4 plywood glued and screwed, then the drywall is glued with a v notch trowel. This room is so quiet the music can flow with absolutely no distractions. This is a great way to enjoy the music at the end of long day of work.
Many many changes have taken place since posting my system here.
Decided to repaint the room a much lighter colour to lighten things up for reading in the room.
Using the darTZeel pre amp with two different amps. The first amp in this system is the Wyetech Topaz 211 and second one is the darTZeel amp.
Both bring forth tremendous musical enjoyment albeit different presentations.
Mike L turned my focus back to vinyl after being at his home many years ago. Had my Lp and gear packed up until Mike opened up my eyes/ears.
Now LP playback is 90% vinyl and 10% digital.
Steve Dobbins came by last weekend to deliver and set up the KODO the Beat.
Tonearm on the BEAT is the Reed P3 along with the Kuzma Airline. Room for one more.......
Second table is my Verdier which I bought after visiting Mike L's place.
Using a FR 64s and purchased an ET-2 which will be upgraded to a 2.5 in the next month pending Bruce's schedule.
Studer Tape deck plays a role too but is limited due to lack of tapes. Having spent funds on vinyl rigs and arm/cartridges leaves the deck out side of the music room.
Custom build direct drive turntable by Steve Dobbins. Has a separate power supply and speed controller. Can accommodate three tonearms.
JC Verdier La Platine
Great turntable
Technics SP-10 MKII
Direct drive from the late 70s. This one is in mint condition. Will start building different types of plinths for the turntables that I have recently purchased. They will be made out of combinations of slate, alloys and homebrew plywood using veneers and an 80 ton press.
Kuzma Airline
Airline
Fidelity Research FR 64S
With VTA adjuster
Fidelity Research FR 24 MK II
One Ikeda's early arms. Looking for an copy of the original manual of this arm.
Reed 3P
12
Eminent Technology ET-2
ET 2 will be shipped to Bruce Thigpen to get updated to a 2.5 version and get a full check over.
Dynavector XV-1S
Great sounding cartridge
Ortofon A90
Their latest top flight cartridge.
Lyra Kleos SL1
Low output moving coil Kleos. SL stands for single layer
Empire 4000 DIII GOLD
MM Cartridge from the golden era
Grace F9-E
Had this one on my first Rega 3
Denon 103 R
Denon MC
Denon 103
Second moving coil that I purchased after buying the Kuzma Airline.
Allnic H-3000V
Phono stage which allows the use of two MM and two MC
Loricraft PRC-3
Lp cleaner
Audio Research CD7.5
Reference CD player
Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t
Very good power best that I have heard in my system. Powering the Audio Research CD-7.
McIntosh MR-78
Great sounding FM
Wilson Audio Maxx II
Great sounding full range speaker
Wilson Audio Puppy 5.1
Wilson Watt Puppies
Wilson Audio Watch Center
Center
Wilson Audio Watch Dog
Wilson Watch Dog
Nordost Valhalla
Nordost Valhalla Have this as my interconnect through out the system excapt for the zeel connect between darTZeel preamp and darTZeel amp.
Nordost Valhalla Speaker cable
High resolution speaker cable
Stillpoints Dampers and Risers
Isolation device
Theta Digital Casablanca max
Casablanca III with Extreme Dacs
Sony VPL-VW100 Ruby
Great looking projector and stunning picture
Stewart Screen 110
Luxus Delux Gey Hawk
Slim Devices Transporter
Computer based server with with its own DA
Balanced Audio Technologies VK-6200
200 watt five channel Home Theater amp
Toshiba HD-XA2
High definition HD DVD player with great upscaling on SD DVD
Dartzeel 18 NHB-18S
Solid state preamp purchased and hoping for a Xmas delivery. Ordered with two phono stages.
darTZeel NHB-108 model one Version B
Solid state amp made in Switzerland.
AUDIENCE ar12
Top notch ac filtering 20 amp unit made for Wally of Wally Tractor fame.
Audience aR6-T
Used for the amps at the front of the room.
Wyetech TOPAZ 211 A
18 watt SET with the gold plated Audio Note Transformers.
Studer A810
Vintage 1/4 inch 1/2 track. You have to hear it to believe it. Makes great vinyl sound like MP3.
Studer A810
My second Studer. This will be used in another system.
Nordost Brahma
Power cord for the Aestehtix IO
HOMEBUILD Amp Stand
4 inch thick Jatoba ( Brazilian Cherry) wood
Sutherland TIMELINE
Strobe light to check turntable speed. Two speeds only 33 1/3 and 45 RPM. Very accurate and easy to use.
Allnic Speednic
Strobe for Turntable to check speed accuracy.
HARMONIC RESOLUTION SYSTEM ANALOG DISC CLAMP
Record clamp/weight
Unknown Ebony LP weight
Ebony disc weight
Custom LP racks Apple plywood
Never enough room for LP storage, so I took over the front entrance with my wife's permission of course.
Modified IKEA shelving Walnut gables
Wanted a storage area with sliding doors to hide various tapes, LPs Blue rays and misc.
Modified IKEA shelving Walnut gables part II
Picture of sliding doors open
Canadian Tire Tool Chest
Hold all of tubes,cartridges, footers, set up tools.
TEL WIRE HC Power cord 8 feet
TEL WIRE HC Great synergy in my system. Beautifully finished and the Oyaide connectors are of the best quality. Extremely happy with them.
Acoustical-systems P2S
Direct measuring and marking system made by Dertonarm. Quality is very high and very easy to use.
i see your darTZeel comment above and could not agree more, the dart pre and amp just do everything so 'right' that you just listen to music and don't give them a second thought. solid state? tubes? you don't even think about it, just music!
Hi Natan I am very glad that you are enjoying the darTZeel gear. With the zeel one forgets about the gear and it's all about the music. The build quality and as you said and the support from Herve is really special. Let me know which cables you settle on. Had the Kubala in my system for a short time and settled on the Valhalla's. Take care and all the best.
Very nice system - eh ! I can't still cant believe your treasure chest story - can't imagine the feeling you must of had when you opened it the first time ? Like others here the audio stands really caught my eye. They are giving me ideas. Is the Kuzma your first tangent arm or have you had others ?
I bought the 18NS and it is everything that I want in a preamp and more. CAT ultimate and Wavac PRT1 each have their strengths and are great preamps that I have thoroughly enjoyed, but the 18NS combines these strengths and betters these preamps in some respects that are important to me and within my system.
But more importantly listening to music has taken center stage more than ever before. It is riveting, emotional, interesting... my new Critical Mass Systems Maxxum rack has a little to do with this but that's another story.
Regards, Natan
Soon after buying the 18ns, adding the 108 and a Dartzeel BNC link was a no brainer.
I am elated with the overall result, Herve's support, and I have not even optimized the system with cabling... will be trying Kubala Sosna Elation, CH Acoustics X20, and Evolution Acoustics.
The SS tubing is from a local steel fabrication shop in Langley , BC. The tubing is 2" diameter, threaded rod is 1/2" brass, SS fender washers and nuts are also SS. The shelving is assembled and is in a mode of compression. The bottom shelf has the threaded rod protruding 2" in order to receive a brass cone, SS nuts to lock the cone. Next 1/4" space then another nut then fender washer. These four nuts get leveled. Once all four nuts on the threaded rod are leveled, shelf gets installed. This is actually easier with the shelf installed. On top of the very first shelf another washer and nut to "squeeze" the shelf as tight as permissible. Then comes the 2" SS tube which gets filled with lead shot and sand. Once filled the tubes are hit with a rubber mallet in order for the shot and sand combo to settle down the tube. Tube is refilled to the top of the pipe and hit again until no more settling occurs. Next shelf gets installed, washer and nut get tighten and the process starts all over again. Hope this helps.
Hi Sam Hope that all is well with you and Sunny. Yes I would love to be closer to your neck of the woods. Have my room apart so that I can rearrange my shelving system. The turntables were too high when sitting on top of the shelves. Therefore different height tube will be used to lower the overall height of the shelving units. Purchased a Festool vacuum with a Oneida Air Box in order to extract and reuse all of the lead shot that is in the stainless steel tubes. This tool combo made the extraction a very simple process. No having to find and vacuum lead shot from the carpet. The shelving will be back together today. It will take some time to get all of the gear back in, rewire and with some luck have it up making music again. Take care, Mike
Hope that you get a chance to listen to the dartzeel. It is a very good preamp.
System change on the video side, have a Sony CX7000ES that is now keeping things organized on the Blue ray library. Took almost three hours to load the discs. Installing tonight to see how the Gracenote interface works with the Sony. This will make choosing a movie much simpler, I hope.
Audio side, installing new SS tubing for the shelves that I build. Presently too high for the turntables, therefore the SS pipes will be shorter to bring the overall height of the top shelf down by six inches. Will post pics once done.
Hello Vince, I am also considering Dart preamp and bass is very important to me. Have not auditioned yet. Currently have CAT ultimate and Wavac PRt1 preamps. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Suffice it to say that I wish I could have the transparency and purity of Wavac and the bass grip of the CAT with multifunctionality and more interconnectivity in one chassis. I use 2 outboard powered subs and and have 2 main amps that I alternate. I think, I hope the Dart preamp can do this. We'll See.
Thank for your feedback. I guess I should try to find a way to listen to the dartzeel 18N in my system. I listed to the VTL 7.5 series 3 and really liked them them in every aspect, but I have not been able to compare them to the Dartzeel 18N that so many people, like you, believe is the best. Cheers,
The Bat VK 6200 is used in my home theater set up, and not for two channel listening. At the time of purchase I found it to be the most dynamic, best layering of sound stage of the multi channel amplifiers that I had access to. The other amps that were auditioned were Arcam, Krell and Anthem.
Sorry for the delay, sent my 18 year old son to Japan last week and well you know what's happening there.
Have no personal experience in my room with the Krell or the VTL and cannot comment.
The dart preamp is exceptionally musical and can say that I do not feel that I am "missing" anything in the bass dept. My personal references that I used in my room are the following. ASR Emitter II Exclusive Blue Version, Convergent Audio, ML and Supratek. Vince, I know that I have not answered your question but hope this helped. If you are close by, you are more than welcome to drop by for a visit. You cannot go wrong with the dart, but that's my biased opinion. Biased because I own it and love it.
I currently use a Levinson 380s preamp. I read a lot of good things about the Dartzeel 18N preamp, but also that its bass is not as forceful. Bass is very important for me, so I am considering a Krell 202 or a VTL 7.5 mark III.
How would you describe the bass of the Dartzeel? Any comparisons with the above?
For two channel listening the darTZeel preamp has multiple outputs options. BNC, RCA and XLR.
The 50 ohm BNC zeelcable connects to the dart amp.
The RCA Valhalla connects to the Wyetech amp.
These two output connections are always plugged into the darTZeel preamp and the two amplifiers.
When using either amplifier I have to switch the Valhalla speaker cables. They are long enough so that they stay connected at the Wilson Maxx II speaker side but have to be changed at the amplifier side. This is a bit of an inconvenience, but not to big of a hassle.
For movies the the darTZeel preamp, darTZeel and Wyetech amplifiers do not get used.
Processor is the Theta Calablanca. The BAT VK6200 is a five channel amplifier which sits behind the center channel speaker. This is how I power the five speakers. The sub is self powered.
The Wilson Watt Puppy 5 are being used as rear surrounds and the Wilson Watch is being used as the center channel. These three speakers are connected with their own speaker cables directly from the BAT VK6200 amplifier.
The front left and right channel are the Maxx IIs. Here is where it gets tricky. The VK6200 front left and right speaker cables get connected to the back of either of two channel amplifiers binding posts. Another words the amplifiers binding post are being used as a connection/jumper post.
For example : When the darTZeel amp is in use for two channel listening and I switch to movie mode.
First, all of the two channel gear is off. The speaker cables from the darTZeel amp are connected to the Maxx IIs. The five channel amplifier front left and right speaker cable get connected to the binding post on the back of the darTzeel amp. This way I do not have to go the back of the MAXX II speakers to change to cables.
Whenever I listen to two channel, the speaker cables from the VK6200 get removed from the two channel amp so that there is no interaction.
Sounds complicated but its very easy to implement.
So, in a way I have three systems options in my room.
Can you please explain to me how you have all your fine gear hooked up for 2 channel music and 5.1 movies. Do you have 2 systems in this one room? Sorry, but I don't understand.
The dart drives the my Maxx II without any issues what so ever. Original concern was that the amp would clip, so far it never has. The dart pre and amp are a symbiotic match. Congrats on the preamp, you will love it.
