I love this little system. It hasn't been through many changes since I set it up about 3 years ago. A couple of Amps, a couple of CDPs, 3 or 4 speaker changes, and a trailer load of cables. Does that qualify as few? ...or many? Ahhh, who cares, its fun.
I removed the bulk of the room treatments. Especially the corner Bass traps. Now, I am using a Rel sub with great success. Crossover very low to avoid the pile up of room modes at 50hz.
The red wedge foam behind the speakers may be replaced with Skyline diffraction panels. As I understand it the Skylines dont absorb midbass/midrange like the 2" foam does.
It sounds great. The Merlins are awesome. Vocals to die for. Tight and superbly accurate bass. Definitely not bright, as some suggested would be the case with SS amplification.
A few minor tweaks upcoming. A better stand with/for isolation. A better Rel Speakon cable, and a few cable auditions to maximize performance and satisfy the incurable condition of audiophilia nervosa.
Comments welcome, opinions, and suggestions welcome.
Edit: 01-19-08
Red wedge foam - gone. Replaced with pyramid foam. Better looking and a little better sounding. These speakers dont need a ton of room tweaking like my last speakers did.
Update: 07-01-08 Adona 3 level rack with composite and granite shelving. Pretty nice piece. Easy assemble. Good sonics.
Rel B3 Sub - Great sub, room placement was a little tricky, but reward with plenty of superb low octave energy. This one here to stay.
Great amp. Plenty of heat in the winter! Virtual Dynamics Power One straight to Porter Port outlet.
Resolution Audio Opus 21
Fantastic CDP. Running direct to Amp with no regrets. Small two box chassis is neat but requires two shelves and twice the isolation devices. Top notch sound. Virtual Dynamics David Power Cord and Audience Au24 Balanced ICs direct to Amp.
Merlin Music Systems TSM-MXe
Sealed design 6" midwoofer with 3" voicecoil 1.125" Silk Dome tweeter On 24" Sound Anchors Concrete filled stands. Single wired with Audience Au24, Merlin Jumpers, and Zobels.
REL Acoustics B3
Very Nice. Have tried several Subs, I prefer this one hands down. Virtual Dynamics PC
System edited: Some updated pics Thinking of upgrading my Power Cords to Shunyata Pythons? Or maybe upgrading within the Virtual Dynamics lineup? Audience maybe... I am really undecided. I am realy enjoying this current setup. The Merlins are very forgiving even with the SS amp.
System edited: Updated Items and Pics. In short the Merlins are awesome. Over the next few weeks I intend on demoing cables. Both ICs and Speaker. Bobby Recommends finely stranded copper. Any suggestions? Nothing rolled off on top please, in fact, I would like to add a little sparkle!
Interesting info on the CD-55. I paid $470 w/shipping for the cd-50 so finding a 55 close to that price may be difficult. I'll keep my eyes open though. Have you found a more comfortable chair yet?
Tim, No I have not made any significant changes to this systems isolation. I intend to build sandbox's one of these days. Currently I am using BDR cones and pucks on the transport and sorbothane feet on the power/display chassis.
I bet the granite is going to look like a million. Let us know how it performs.
I can not comment on the 50, having never had one in my system but, I can state that the Opus is not smoother than the 55. In fact, in retrospect, the 55 is smoother (ever so slightly) than the Opus. The 55's bass had more warmth and a percieved greater presence. The 55's highs were a little less pronounced and its mids had nice tube like character. As you can tell I liked the 55 a lot and at its used price is an absolute steal.
From what I understand, all of Jeffs CDPs are very similar in design and sonic character.
Have you replaced your system rack or added any isolation yet? I am planning on building a new rack with granite slabs. We are having our kitchen counter tops replaced and I made a deal with the counter top guy. He is going to throw in three pieces of granite with holes drilled for the all-thread. He says its no big deal as he has plenty of extra pieces left over from sink cut-outs. The first time I checked your system you were running the CD-55. I wonder if the difference between the 50 and 55 is similar to your experience with the Opus. The 50 is the smoothest cdp I've owned.
Thank you both very much. It's an all A'gon system and at the least, somewhat piecemeal, because I am still fairly low on the learning curve.
Philoman, I like the RA CDP very much. I've had a few CDPs and DACs in house and nothing has beat it yet. The RA is strange animal. It's smooth yet detailed. I would characterize it as the best of both tubes and SS. Now of course tubes can be just beautiful with some recordings and musical styles. For instance, I love female vocals.
The Bryston is a great amp. Way overkill in this small system. It has no glaring faults and that may be its ultimate fault too. Its pretty darned faithful to the recording and that gets a little boring. It is going to get a break. I am really itching to try something else.
Small rooms are a bugger. Reflection points must be softened and the bass reinforcing nature of the cube shape needs to be attenuated. I could go on and on with what I have tried but it might be better if I wait a little bit longer and complete a few more changes and experiments (as noted above).
Higend64, I have B & W CDM1SEs and CDM9NTs in my theater room. Both worked well in this system. What surprised me most was that the dual woofer 9s seemed to have smoother bass response than the single woofer Soliloquys. ...and get this, when I took the Soliloquys into the theater room (a much larger room) they seemed to be the Bassy speaker. Room to breathe I guess.
Nevertheless, the soliloquys are great with vocals and the bass is articulate. With corner traps and front and rear 2" foam I have nearly tackled my 50 hertz hump.
I must say I have been eyeing Signature 805s and De Capo's and various other small bookshelfs. Who knows it may happen.
Distortion, you have a small but exquisite looking system. Have you tryed going with bookshelf? This might even give you a little more room depth in a small room. I also have a small room so I know how difficult it is to control the bass, especially in a cube-like room. Happy listening
Hello Saki, I have not tried that. As the room is (full of computers too) that configuration would not be possible. But... I am setting up a wireless LAN and the wife and I are going to notebooks. This will open a lot of space in this room.
I havent had a chance to try Bob's idea yet either. When I get the opportunity I will try both of your ideas and report back.
Nice system, how do you like the Resolution Audio Cd player? I am looking for a new cd player for my system. how does the Bryston's sound with the cd player? i know its hard to tell in a small room, but I am in a similer sized room now, so any imput would be appreciated.
Distortion - Have you tried moving things to a diagonal position ? Put your listening position in one corner and the speakers coming out of the opposite corner . I have tried this and find that the problems , that most often occur with a 'straight' set up , are not prevalent . My room is about the same size as yours . My speakers are the same distance apart as they are from my listening position , @ 6ft. They are only @ 1 ft. from the nerarest wall , to the rear , but because it is at an angle it is not problematic . This set up was used by a well known amp designer/buider to solve problems with his new square listening room . After setting things up in this manner he found that he did not need all of the treatments that he was using with the old set up plan . This 'diagonal' set up was reccomended to me by a well known speaker designer/builder as well . Just a thought .
Those are very interesting observations. Especially interesting is the high rack and sonic interference. I will try an experiment... By moving my rack to one side or maybe removing it altogether. I have damped the rear wall a fair amount and I need to update the pics!
Thanks so much Bob, I really appreciate your thoughts. I'll post after I complete the experiment with the rack.
Distortion - It interesting, any small change that is made is even more noticable in a small room than it is in a larger room. It's best to use speakers that work well against the wall rather than those that you have to pull out away from the wall to sound their best; I'm using some old Coincident Conquests with pretty good results. I put dampening on the speaker end of the room and this seems to help; also all the equipment is kept as low as possible near the floor because I have found that tall stands are very audible and interfere with the sonics.
Thank you! It's tough to get the sound right in a small room isn't it!? The Bass can be very position dependent... both speakers and ears. I guess I am at a very good place currently, from an audiophiles stand point that is. The sound is so to my liking that I cannot decide what to upgrade next.
I go back and forth from amp to speakers... I am wondering if sealed enlosures would cure a bit of the bass "one note-itis" that I have. Of course I have been wanting to try tubes or Mono blocks for a few years.
Bob, would you mind sharing what with or how, you have improved your small room system? Of course, any and all opinions are welcomed on this matter.
System edited: I have added some new ICs and Powercord. Also added a fair amount of room treatments. Including floor to ceiling Lenerd type corner treatments (2 corners), 24 square feet of pyramid foam behind the listening position, and 24 square feet of wedge foam in the center of the wall behind the speakers. I am really stuck at were to upgrade next. I really cant budget the funds right now any way. But I am pretty sure when I can, it will be a tube amp!
Thank you so much, Mimberman! Self control isnt my strong suit!
First I took the Sol 6.2s into the HT area and compared them side by side to my B&W CDM9NTs. The Sols work pretty well that room. So, I brought the B&Ws into to the 2 channel room and well they work pretty well in that room too. Though I think I prefer it the other way around!
I have Frank, the room modes have been adressed to some degree and the speakers now have 500+ hours. Utterly astonishing midrange clarity. Nearly fatigue free listening. Smooth and very acceptable dynamics. I am considering tweaking the speakers some. Silver solder on the internal connections? Maybe a high grade crossover replacement?
I must say, putting together a separate two channel has been highly rewarding. Thanks so much A'goners, for all your help, you're a great group.
BTW, a four drawer file cabinet has a profound impact on bass in my size room. Legal documents and bank statements must really soak up those stray 50Hz waves!!
Keep feeding the 6.2's and give them some moderate volume when you can. The bottom end will extend and become more refined after a few hundred hours. I want to say around 4-500 or so. I went through break in on these new and you will be suprised the amount of performance they will give, even in a small room. Hang in there and keep the music playing! I was driving the speakers with a Unison Research Unico integrated and they were one of those "synergistic" combinations. Keep us posted as they break in for you.
