The room is in the basement, size about 13 x 21 x 8, dedicated.
Love the sound of the Mastersound/Triangle combo, wife says it has "soul". Huge soundstage and lots of dynamics too, thanks to bi-amping, and insertion of Zero Autoformers improved a lot bass control and definition.
Found out most of my fun comes from vinyl, so I recently added a 2nd tonearm to the HRX with a custom armboard, I know a turntable with provision for multiple arm mounting would be better, but for the time being this will do.
The high compliance VdH Colibri is on the low mass JMW 12.6, and is amplified by the Lehmann Silver Cube into a line input of the HP100, the low compliance Phase Tech P3-G is on the high mass Ikeda, and, through the Yamamoto SUT goes into the phono input of the HP100, that's been modified by Hovland to accept external plugs for cart loading, so I can play with 2 different approaches to vinyl reproduction, the european and the japanese.
Hi Kevin, thanks for your comments, yes I am a believer in room acoustic correction, had a look at your system page and I think I have nothing to teach you about that, and it looks gorgeous too!!! About DAADs, yes they offer an absortive side while the other is diffusive, regarding placement and strategy, nothing I could do was as effective as having the man from Acustica Applicata ( http://www.acusticaapplicata.com/polifemo.php?lang=eng ) come over and do it for me, they also provided a plan with the amount and size of DAADs to be used. The tranparent columns are Polifemos, sort of a tunable Helmotz resonator that, to my experience, greatly improve room acoustics, much more than any change in components could do, you can get all the related info on that website. Love those Fab Audios.
Marco, When I first saw your room pictures I was taken back by all the poly's (DAADs) so knew you were as serious about room acoustics as the great gear you've selected. Kudos. Like you, my dedicated basement music room is my man cave and is close to your dimensions: 13'8" * 21' * 7'. Looks like you're placing the DAADs at the corners, 25%, 33%, 50%, 66% and 75% points of the front wall's width. Do the DAADs offer one side that's absorptive while the other side is diffusive? What sides have you got facing into the room - I'll guess that it depends on the location of each DAAD. Hearing your strategy would be of interest to me. Are you using DAADs of various diameters so as not to overly 'correct' a narrow bandwidth?
I see in one pic what looks to be a 2nd pair of speakers in a glass enclosure?!? What are they?
Bet it sounds great. I too love the sound of tubes with efficient speakers and use the PX25 tube to good effect. Congrats on a great looking room and gear.
Thanks for your comments on my system. I looked up Mastersound, and it seems they are well beyond my price range, unfortunately. I've had to build my system with a lot of purchases here on Audiogon, I wouldn't have this nice a system if I had to buy all new equipment. Thanks a lot for the kind offer though, I really appreciate that.
Hello Dan, no you don't, thanks for you nice comment. I see you have an impressive system, and I think Mastersounds would be a good match too. Too bad we're so far away, I have a spare couple of 845 Monoblocks that I would have gladly let you try in your system. A few years ago I followed the advice from another A'goner and had Mastersound upgrade my amps with Mundorf caps and Jena Labs wiring, that was a significant upgrade. I say that because I see you love tweaks too, I love what you did to your VPI table.
I love everything about your system, I'm going to check on the Mastersound amps, I think they would be a good match for my system. The HRX with the added arms is a great idea. I guess I don't have to remind you to enjoy it, do I?
Hi Alfredo, thanks for your kind words, yes I'm also a believer in room acoustics, being lucky to have a dedicated listening room I've invested heavily in it with no regrets.
Hi Marco. Nice setup. I like how you address the room acostics problem. I find it to be one of the most important tweak in improving sound. Happy listening.
System edited: Hi everybody, system updated, got rid of biamp and put a couple of monos for sale, applied some more aggrssive room acoustics control with Polifemos by Acustica Applicata with extremely good results, still playing with carts, now VdH is out replaced by Benz SLR Gullwing, the Yamamoto is replaced by Ortofon SPU Meister Silver. Pictures updated, thanks for looking, Marco.
System edited: System update: Digital: I have decided to rip all my CDs into a hard disk, and connected an hp laptop, through an M2Tech digital interface, to the digital input of my CD player, taking advantage of its DAC; I use dbpoweramp to rip and foobar to play, and am very pleased with the results. Analog: I've replaced the JMW 12.6 tonearm, I couldn't take it any longer, with a Reed P3Q, fantastic. I've also modified the HRX suspension system, replacing the rubber balls with Symposium Rollerblocks and custom feet, so I could add another tonearm, an Ortofon RS309D, and also added a Yamamoto YC03S cartridge and a Lector Phono Amp tubed phono stage. I know it may sound crazy, but I had fun. Other minor updates, I replaced speaker cables and interconnects with Audience au24e, and removed the loudspeakers bases, putting Finite Elemente Cerapucs instead. Thanks for looking, Marco
Sorry Afc, that link doesn't work, try this: http://www.tube-fullmusic.com/ go to product page, you can also try this: http://www.grantfidelity.com/site/TJ_Full_Music_845_MKII Cheers, Marco
Hi Afc, thanks for the link, I think you're talking about TJ Fullmusic's 845, that's the only other 845 manufacturer I know, http://www.tube-fullmusic.com/products/en-product0-845.htm, these appear to be on the price range you were talking about, 400 to 500 USD/pair. I met Lorenzo Sanavio of Mastersound at the last Top Audio Fair in Milano, he told me that a customer tried those TJ Fullmusic 845s on the monoblocks and was happy, but since I'd need 4 pairs I think for the time being I'll stick with 845B's. About 845M's, I'm also inclined to think these are not drop-in replacements, but haven't asked Mastersound yet.
Postscript- Cpatz, I apologize. Sophia is indeed selling Shuguang 845 tubes now. Those are not branded "Sophia Electric" as their new 845's will be this spring. The 845's they sell from Shuguang now are at a significant markup- you can find the same 845B tubes for as little as 149/pr, far less than the 225/pr Sophia charges. Finally, they state the the Shuguangs are RCA replicas. I think if you read Ed Sawyer's treatise on 845 tubes, you'll see that these are actually replicas of the old Amperex 845's. Sophia's new 845, not yet available, is supposed to be an RCA replica, and RCA was the "gold standard" for these tubes.
The Sophia tubes do not come from Shuguang. They're from a different Chinese manufacturer- at least their previous stock was. I'll have to check to get the name. I would expect the Sophia tubes to be substantially more expensive than the Shuguang tubes, on the order of 400 or so per pair, perhaps more. When talking drivers, I asked the Sophia people- they suggested using their 300B Princess tubes as drivers. Don't know that this would work without a significant change to the amp's circuitry. For what it's worth, and I don't know how this will translate to their upcoming 845 stock, but their 300B Princess tubes were very well received. Again, watch it with the 845M's- I'm pretty certain that there's a plate voltage issue. I'd check with MastersounD before installing those tubes on your 845 monos.
Hi guys, thanks for looking. Vernneal, thank you, at least I can do some exercise walking around the couch to change records :) Dhmbc1500, about 6SN7, I tried some tube rolling and settled on Brimar NOS on the mid-treble units and Electro-Harmonix Gold Pins om the bass units, as you can see I have a passive bi-amp setup. About 845s, I also use Shuguangs 845B's, got them from SuperTNT, haven't tried 845M's that are now unavailable. Afc, I also keep watching Sophia Electric website for the new 845, I understand they make a selection on Shuguang production, is it correct as far as you know?
Can't speak for Cpatz, but I use Shuguang 845B's with my MastersounD. That's about all there is out there. The KR's are not recommeded for the MastersounD's- something about the plate voltage, I believe. You can find NOS RCA 845's, but expect to pay about 1000/pair. The new Sophia Electric 845's are due out this spring- they're based on the old RCA design, while the Shuguangs are based on the old Amperex design. I think the driver tubes on my Compact 845 are different from the ones on the monoblocks. I use NOS RCA JAN VT-31's- they're the grey bottle tubes. Quite nice. A friend who has a Reference 845 uses Bendix 6922's for his drivers, and he absolutely loves them. With the 845's, we're all kind of stuck with the Chinese made tubes for now, but the Shuguangs are pretty solid, especially the 845B's. Avoid the 845M's made by Shuguang- again, an issue with the plate voltage.
you have great amp in your system,can you tell me what brand of 845 tubes and 6SN7 are you use now? Cause I have pair mastersounds 845 like you,I used chinese 845b and 5692 rca red base. but not that great,power to B&W N801.can you recommened any for me? thank you.Dan
I love the Compact 845. Great amp. My first experience with tubes was a modded and rebuilt Golden Tube SE-40, and I loved it. Replaced a Jeff Rowland amp with it. The person who sold me the Aliantes recommended trying a quality tube amp, and at that very time, the Compact 845 came up for sale. Great amp, very detailed, and as I'm sure you know well, they have tremendous headroom. Just got the Ayon CD5 today. Mastersound is apparently bringing some new products to the States. Waiting anxiously to see what they are. Their products definitely fly way under the radar in this country. Some people are leery of buying amps run off the 845 tube. They can be hard to get, but you can find them. I got two pairs of 845B's recently, and Sophia Electric is coming out with a new 845- modeled on the classic RCA 845- this spring.
Thanks Afc, I like them very much. Had a look at your system, I see you're also a Mastersound fan, I'm kinda surprised to see somebody in the US know this italian design, how do you like your compact 845?
Yes I do, it doesn't see much use though. You can see a SIM2 DLP projector on the shelf behind the sofa, and I used to have B&W speakers and a Yamaha subwoofer between the Triangles for home theater, but then I removed everything, hooked the Triangle to the HT system and moved the subwoofer beside the sofa. The rest of the system is a Sony DVD player and a Yamaha 5.1 receiver, almost 10 years old stuff that can't absolutely compare to your amazing HT system, but for what I do is more than enough.
