This is my music system which has been evolving for over 35 years.
Have had many different components of many styles. Have learned that synergy is everything and you have to trust your ears.
Also I've had had these systems in over a dozen listening rooms. I've spent many hours working on room treatments and setup and believe the room/speaker interaction is the most important aspect of great sound that many hobbyists fail to optimize.
Vinyl is spinning about 80% of the time (Used to be 90% vinyl, but digital changes both sonically and user experience w/Roon & Qobuz have been a big improvement). After relocating to Austin, TX and getting the room optimized, I changed the analog side of the system, having sold tt, arm, carts & phono stage prior to the move.
Most recent project has been upgrading from Ayre QB-9 DSD Twenty to Bricasti M3h DAC.
Previous pieces & systems included:
Soundlab A3 electrostatics & Krell FBP-300 amp, Nola Viper Reference III (with Lamm & BAT monoblocks), BAT VK150SEs & Silverline LaFolias, Acarian Alon V mkiii , Merlin VSM-MX, Atma-Sphere MA1mkII.2, Atma-Sphere MP3, Herron VTSP1a-166
5-driver, 4-
way, time- and phase-accurate
speaker system that incorporates a unique aperiodic, push-pull,
powered sub-bass system, a battery-biased passive high-pass filter and an 11-band
equalizer—in a “boxless” minimum-baffle, non-resonant enclosure system.
Quicksilver V4 Monoblocks
Tube monoblock Amps currently with KT-88 output tubes
VAC Renaissance Mark V Preamp with Phono
balanced dual mono linestage and phono stage with external power supply. Running Amperex orange globes on the linestage side and a pair of Amperex NOS 60s medical grade Bugle Boys and one stock Mullard reproduction on the phono side. Planning on experimenting with NOS Mullard, Amperex and perhaps Telefunken for the single tube on the phono side.
Sota Nova Vacuum Series VI with Eclipse(Phoenix Engr. designed) Motor Controller
Awaiting delivery of the new Series VI Nova table spring suspension turntable with vacuum hold down system, mag lev platter/bearing, Eclipse motor controller(designed by Phoenix Engineering) and Reflex clamp!
Maple amp stands with Eden Sound brass Bear Paw radiused footers
DIY Slipknot1 & Sbank Maple Madness Rack
PerfectPlank Maple 1 7/8, McMaster-Carr Brass hardware, Star Sound Audiopoints footers
Custom Room Treatments
Designed and framed by Sensible Sound Solutions. Assembled and upholstered by me using Guilford of Maine acoustical cloth.
SpinPlanet Custom Wood Diffusors
BBC "Skyline" style QRD diffusors handmade of solid pine on 24" birch plywood base. Hand made in Delaware, USA.
ATS Acoustics QRD 7 Well Quadratic Diffuser
AudioQuest Oak Bi-wire Speaker Cables
SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER+ (PSC+) CONDUCTORS
MULTI-LAYER CARBON-BASED NOISE- AND CROSSTALK-DISSIPATION SYSTEM:
DOUBLE COUNTER-SPIRAL GEOMETRY
FOAMED-POLYETHYLENE INSULATION (FOR ALL POSITIVE CONDUCTORS)
DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM WITH RADIO FREQUENCY TRAP
AudioQuest Water XLR
6.5M balanced interconnects pair used between preamp and power amp
Tel Wire Power Cables HC Cord & Cord
HC Cord - large 9 gauge OCC single crystal, ultra pure copper. Terminated with genuine Oyaide 004 series with Beryllium copper bases and platinum & palladium plating. HC with 20amp connector on Krell amp connected to 20amp dedicated circuit
Cord - OCC single crystal, ultra pure copper. Terminated with genuine Oyaide 004 series with Beryllium copper bases and platinum & palladium plating
Tel Wire Connect XLR
OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) single crystal copper of the highest purity available. Terminations are Xhadow Silver RCA’s that are hand-picked by Chris Kline, Jacketed cotton
(DAC to preamp)
Inakustic Reference USB Cable
German USB cable used between opticalRendu and Denafrips Pontus II DAC
Audioquest Niagara 1200 & NRG-Z3 PCs
Power conditioner & cable for front end of the system. PCs for the mono block amps.
Vinyl Stack Ultrasonic Record Cleaner
Paired with a 10L 40hz Ultrasonic tank and following the formulas and process suggested in @rushton's thread and www.positive-feedback.com article.
Eden Sound Terrastone Footers
Terrastone Bearing Isolation Footers under preamp and DAC.
Furman Power Station-8
Power strip on steroids. Using with Vandersteen subwoofers built-in to the 5As.
PS Audio Juice Bar
6 outlet power strip for networking accessories
Walker Audio Valid Points
resonance control devices
ERS Paper RFI/EMI Control
ERS paper to fight airborne RFI/EMI
Hart Big Willy MK3 Record Cleaning Brush
Described in detail in M.Fremer's Analog Planet Shootout video and review video. It's a brush that cleans dust off records. Way more effective than the Acoustech grounded large brush that it replaced
I bought the Nagra used 3 yrs. ago, so can't really say about "over the years".
It sounds pretty fine; dead quiet(it's battery powered) and very natural, detailed and spacious. I pondered an upgrade and can't really decide on anything I'd rather have without a big investment that I'm not prepared to make.
The amp stand and matching one now under my Sota are made by my wife. We bought huge pieces of essentially maple butcherblock from perfectplank in CA, and she did the cocobolo inlay. It's basically a small cutout with a thin strip of the darker cocobolo glued in then sanded. Then edges were rounded with a router.
When she made them, I had monoblock amps, so naturally, a pair was made. When I switched to a stereo amp, I moved the spare under the turntable.
The VPI I owned was a TNT6-HR. HR stands for hotrod, which means that the tonearm connects directly to the plinth without any separate armboard. I bought the table directly from Harry at VPI back in the day when I was spending time with our dearly departed friend, Bobby P., of Merlin Loudspeaker fame. Bobby had the same table in his reference system, which was photographed in much show coverage along with the first pair of VSM-MX in british racing green, which I owned and enjoyed for many years.
It's funny I think I deleted the REAL pics of the VPI, as well as the SP10mkII that followed it. The pic up now is a tiny handmade replica of the VPI and my audiorack that my wife made of ceramic/resin, etc. as a gift. It's about 2"x1" on a 4"wide rack, lol! The tonearm swings and platter spins too. Now THAT'S a labor of love!
Returned the CAT8 cables in favor of unshielded CAT6 from Blue Jean Cable. Due to reconfiguring the physical arrangement of my oRendu I needed a more typical length USB cable, so I'm temporarily using an Audioquest Cinnamon I hung on to as a spare until I decide what USB cable to get for the longer term. Started a thread to narrow the field. If anyone has thoughts or wants to offer something at a good price, feel free to PM me.
Replaced the Netgear switch connecting my digital gear with a Trendnet switch suggested by Andrew at Small Green Computer. Replacing some generic CAT5e cables with CAT8s over the next few days. Curious to see if it impacts my network speed with downloading large files and copying them to my NAS.
The recording of Fantasia was a gift from the Philadelphia Area Audio Group, when I had to resign as President due to my relocation to Austin, TX. The writing are comments from members for my sendoff.
Bowie was busted for weed in Rochester, IIRC. Now Snoop has his own brand!
Thanks! I just got Conception a few days ago. I need to give it another listen.
I'll look for the skyline plans. I want to add some diffusers above and behind the listening position. I'm planning a couple silk ficus trees for diffusion behind/between the panels.
I don't have a lot of room to experiment with seating or panel placement. The nominal room dimensions are 17'6" W x 15' D, but a bay window and coffee bar alcove increase the depth to 24' (really only a factor in exacerbating bass mode complexity). My primary listening position is at ~1/3 and bass is managed +/- 1 dB with multi subs in that position. Closer to the wall or center of the room and bass gets really tough to manage due to room modes.
My favorite Tone Poets so far are Lou Donaldson Mr Shingaling, both Stanley Turrentine releases, Katanga, and Witch Doctor (Witch Doctor is pretty hot and distorted on some of the drum solos, but the overall groove more than makes up for it)
My speaker panels are about 5' from the front wall. In another room I previously had them 4.5'. 4' is probably fine. You might want to play around with distance from your seat. I found that moving the seating in 6in. increments forward or back made noticeable differences.
Yes, my wife and I made the diffusors. They weigh ~18-20lbs. each, and hung easily with picture hanging wire and a 50lb. rated Ook branded picture hanger hook. (Those work great)
We made them using 1/2" birch plywood as the backer and 2x2" pine for the varying cut pieces. A link to the plans is somewhere in this system thread comments, including the math-based arrangement of the 1"-4" high blocks. It was a fun and easy project! Buy 2" x 8ft. pine, stain it to your preference, cut down a bunch of 1,2,3 & 4in. pieces and then glue them to the backer following the diagram. We mitred a piece of molding to trim the backer edges.
I'm happy with the coverage as shown in photos. I tried all four diffusors between the speakers, and decided 2 were better than four. This is when used with absorption behind the speakers, both the Owens Corning-based panels and the rockwool-filled bass traps.
For your Tone poets collection be sure to add Sonny Clark - My Conception; it's a winner with an allstar cast! Cheers,
I just looked at your room pics. It gives me great hope that my room will work well for Sound Lab speakers.
A couple questions: 1. About how far are your panels from the back wall? Mine will be about 4' from a paneled wall with broadband absorbers in the bottom and top of built in bookcases and LPs in the middle shelves. 2. Did you make your BBC skyline diffusers? About how much do they weigh? Are you happy with the coverage or would you like more?
PS I totally agree with the Tone Poet recommendation. They are outstanding records--every single one I've purchased (I'm up to 15 now I think?)
The Bernie Grundman mastered Blue is like a component upgrade vs. my original pressing. Don't forget the goosebumps come from listening to great recordings. Vinyl lovers, drop a Benjamin and get it while you can!
Just wanted to say to all you vinyl lovers, go buy some Tone Poets! Listening to Paul Chambers - Bass On Top, Wow!
Tina Brooks - The Waiting Game, Joe Henderson - Sound of the Tenor Vol1. All are great sounding recordings of great, somewhat lesser known jazz titles.
Haven't posted any updates in quite some time...When relocating to Austin, TX a couple of years ago, I sold my beloved Technics SP-10 setup to a local friend including my vintage cartridges and phono stage, rather than moving it cross-country. After settling in, I bought the newly designed Sota Nova Series VI turntable, and set it up with an Audiomods Series V tonearm with all silver wiring, and a Dynavector XX2 mk2. That's feeding a Nagra BPS battery powered phon stage, which I chose to minimize interference from the grid. It's all working out great.
Just recently I decided to upgrade the digital source. The Sonore microRendu was replaced by Sonore's opticalRendu + Sonore linear power supply and the Schiit Audio Gungnir Multibit was replaced by a Denafrips Pontus. I also subscribed to Roon in lieu of the various DLNA/UPnP apps (e.g. Lumin, Linn Kazoo) that I used for control previously). After only a couple weeks break-in for the new DAC, I am already very pleased with the improvements in both sonics and UX.
Well, I sold the Lamms. So I guess it's time to rename the system. Any suggestions? Some of my friends call it "The Sound Lab Lab." My wife calls it "The Twin Towers."
