After A couple of years watching and learning here and on AA/VA I have reached a point of Almost total satisfaction with my system. Having a small listening room has been the biggest challenge to getting great sound. After putting week's upon weeks' of tuning my room it was time to find the right speakers. More than a few speakers have done duty in here until I decided to go out on a limb in May and bought a pair of Usher RW-729 Monitors to try out and have never looked back. I retired my Beloved Magnepan 1.6QR's to the closet. Someday I will have more room to make use of them as I still love there sound but in MY room with MY system the little Usher's are just great. The TT and speakers are the only parts I have Purchased new and the rest has come from here on Agon or built as Kits. Overall this system does everything I could possibly want in this budget range. Since my last purchase in may I have looked forward to my time in the decompression room. Only now I hear the Music and not spend time listening to my stereo. I must say thanks to all of you over the last couple of years and a special Thanks to my wife for tolerating this HOBBIE and me.
Love this system and room! In the photo titled, Room view,I had to do a double take of the Sumo dude!!LOL looks so real in that photo,,,peeking out from behind that speaker stand,like he is ready to do battle with anyone foolish enough to enter the room with bad intent.
Scott, Thank you for the comments and shopping suggestions. You are welcome anytime to come over. I am still trying to find that Buddy Guy(stone crazy) album you or your friend brought to Mike's. Seems to be a hard one to find. John
I love the amps. They have been the foundation to my system for around three years now. have tried other pre's Turntables, cables and seedee players but have no desire to get rid of the Cosmo's. I have had several other tube amps(cary,SF) and solid state amps of less than stellar quality.(denon,classe) As for reliabilty the have been going strong for close to three years now. Only 1 Tube swap and rebias so far. I have been patiently waiting for a Kora eclipse preamp to come up for sale and then I should be done. John
Man, big Kora Cosmos on those little speakers! :) How do you like those amps? I have been wanting to hear a pair since I bought their Aries monoblocks. I am super impressed with Kora - their transparency is very hard to beat IMO. What other amps have you had? Any problems with the Cosmos? It all looks great by the way.
Hi John, enjoyed meeting you at Mike's place. Great listening session! Comment on your room: I love the rich wood floors and amp stands. Your acoustic treatments shatter the image of ugly and geeky, and are very tasteful. Would love to listen to your system sometime. You had asked about buying LPs in Seattle. I like Jive Time in Capital Hill for jazz. Their inventory is consistently in better shape than many stores, and I find the prices fair and reasonable. Scott
Ray, It was done mostly by ear. I had my wife laughing the whole time. She spent a lot of time moving around the room talking and clapping. Then I would move the panels around and try it again. After we were done she was amazed at the difference. The panels are a base of 1 inch thick compressed fiberglass with a 2" sonex panels glued over the top. Same for the corner traps except I added poly stuffing behind them to tame the bass. If you would like I could do some more detailed pictures for you of the rest of the treatments. John
John,How did you decide on your room treatments? Did you take room measurements or use your ears,,or both?I still need to treat my room,,which is not too bad untill i reach moderate to higher volume.Thanks,Ray
Ray and Stuart, Thanks for your comments. The amp stands I made my self. The room treatments have added so much to the system you would not believe it unless you heard it before. Also ended up bieng the cheapest upgrade as well. My music is around 40% classical 40% Classic Rock and the rest old jazz and indie etc... PS. Sumo Dude came from Okinawa when I lived there. John
System edited: Abruce and mdhoover, Thank you very much for the compliments. the room is only about 10 x 12. I just finished with a new hard wood floors that I put in and also did some pretty serious acoustical treatments. The room sounds much better now and managed to tame a strong midbass peak quite well. All in all Iam very pleased with sound and feel of the room.
That is a great looking system, and I'll bet it sounds great too. Like the amplifier stands, the speaker stands are cool looking too. Thanks for posting something so aesthetically pleasing--great photos.
Owl, Thank you for the compliments. I made the stands my self. They are made from 3x3 Poplar for the legs and 1 inch Maple butcher block for the platforms. They were made originaly as part of a home theater stand for the family room and when that changed to a plasma tv I dismantled it and came up with these.
