There goes the new car

by darkmoebius on Ever Evolving
old setup
oldsetup

Description

Just sold my 2,60 sq. ft. home and now am temporarily in a 1,100 sq ft apartment. Looking for a large loft to finally have enough room for a true system.
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Components Toggle details

    • Scheu/Eurolab Premier
    Black acrylic
    • Cartridge Man Conductor
    Air bearing parallel tracking linear tonearm.
    • Scheu Tacco
    Scheu's statement arm, some German users have equated it with at least the lower Schroeder arms.
    • Grado The Statement
    The STATEMENT utilizes gold wire coils, a boron cantilever and a diamond cut specially for Grado. All this is hand-assembled within a machined Australian jara wood housing.
    • Cartridge Man Music Maker 3
    The 'MusicMaker' Phono Cartridge is a high-performance variable reluctance device, employing a proprietory extended contact diamond stylus.
    • Denon DL-103D
    Considered by many to be the ultimate of the 103 series. No longer produced.
    • Gram Slee Era Gold mkV
    phono preamp Gain - 41.5 db Input Sensitivity - 2mv to 9mv Input Impedance - 47k and 100pF
    • Gram Slee Elevator EXP
    "Transformerless" stepup MC amp Gain - 24 db Cartridge Loading - 23, 30, 100, 840, 1000, 5100, 47kHz
    • Museatex Bitstream Data II (2005)
    The Melior Bitstream™ Converter has two digital inputs, one fiber optic and one co-axial. Two independent digital sources can be connected to the unit. A front panel membrane switch allows you to choose between the two.
    • Meitner/Melior by Museatex CD-D
    Matching transport to the Museatex Bitstream Data II DAC I have
    • Stevens & Billington TX-102 mkIII
    Transformer Volume Control (TVC) w/ Seiden 20 step attenuator and selector switch.
    • Art Audio PX-25
    Transformer-coupled, zero-feedback, pure Class A triode stereo amplifier. Output Power 6 wpc. Frequency Response 9Hz to 60KHz full rated power. Tube Complement 2 x 6922/6DJ8, 2 x 12BH7, 2 x Mullard CV 378 rectifiers, 2 x KR PX-25 power triodes. This tube has a very similar midrange sound to the 2A3 but much more extended frequency extremes and a lot more power.
    • Welborne Labs DRD 300B
    300B Direct Reactance Drive (DRD)SET Monoblocks using TJ Mesh Plate 300B's and 6N1P driver stage. 7 watts per channel of glorious SET magic and drive.
    • Audion Sterling ETSE EL34 integrated (mkI)
    Class-A, 12 wpc EL34 SET amp. Frequency Response: 14Hz to 35kHz - 3dB. Tube Compliment: 2 x JJ/Tesla Teslovak EL34, cryo'd Russian 6H23n-EB/6922, cryo'd NOS 1950's Tung Sol 5687
    • Cain & Cain IM-Bens
    Fostex FE-168 Sigma 6
    • Cain & Cain Bailey(pair)
    10
    • Paradigm X-30 Subwoofer Crossover
    Built-in active low level high-pass filter Variable 35Hz – 150Hz, 3rd order 18 dB / octave Variable 0 – 180° Phase adjustment
    • Hafler DH-500
    255wpc classic monster amp from the days when Hafler actually owned and ran the company.
    • Cain & Cain Cryo'd Cardas Magnet Wire
    Nothing too special about the particular wire, but it is smooth and detailed sounding. Just plain natural without calling attention to itself.
    • Hammer Dynamics Super-12
    Heavily modified 12
    • DIY AC cord Bob Crump design
    Belden 19364 cable Schurter 4300.0603 IEC connector Pass & Seymour 5266-X thre prong plug
    • DIY Magnet Wire Litz (Super-12's)
    Hammer Dynamics recommended: Woofers(20ga.)- 10 strands of 30 gauge silver-plated copper solid-core wire with Tefzel insulation twisted into a Litz configuration. Tweeters: 4 strands of the same 30 ga. wire twisted in a Litz config.
    • Topaz 2.4kVA Ultra-Isolator Transformers
    I have six of these wired with balanced secondaries for greater noise rejection. One for both tube monoblocks. One for the subwoofer amp. And one for my dac(filtered) and turntable. Common Mode Noise Attenuation - 150dB @ 100kHZ Transverse Mode Noise Attenuation - 65dB @ 100kHZ

Comments 66

Showing all comments by skushino.

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Darkmoebius - hope all's well. Check out these links. I found them useful:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/SubwooferplacementP1.php

http://www.harman.com/wp/pdf/multsubs.pdf

I repositioned my horn sub from the corner behind the left speaker to midway along the right side wall. Now my set-up looks like one of Raul's subs, to the side and slightly in front of the right main. Initial results are promising. Bass is less boomy, more tuneful and integrates better with the mains.

scott

skushino

Congrats on the Melior! Is yours stock or modified? Let us know how it works for you.

skushino

I don't remember exactly, but I believe Cy's amp is about 20wpc, or almost 6dB more than the Welbornes. That is one of the things that spurred my line of thought about dynamics and headroom. As for the sub, I'm using a Hypex plate amp from the Netherlands. It has what I need, 4th order crossover, bass boost, and sufficient power ~200w if I recall. Yes, the idea of one Seismic Sub in my room was a hurdle, but now that it's here, a second doesn't seem too difficult, if the pair smooths bass response. Mine is located near the left corner, behind the left speaker. Have you compare one vs two subs in your system?

Regards,
scott

skushino

Darkmoebius-

After a closer look at your system, I see that we share some gear in the SETs and DAC. I am a big fan of the modified Bitstream DAC. To my ears, it "vinylizes" my digital playback, rendering notes with a graceful round shape and layers of depth. As for the Welbornes, they are my first SET. I have been pleased with the manner they reproduce music, especially compared to the high-power amp I used to use. But sometimes I wonder if the system would benefit with more power. I know, horns like ours shouldn't need more, but I'm tempted to try a higher-powered SET amp, for even more dynamic range (not the same as loudness). Also, I'm working on integrating my single sub woofer. After reading the article I sent you, I am tempted to borrow my neighbor's sub to expereiment with a second sub to cancel room nodes. Have you compared playback with one and two subs?

Best,
scott

skushino

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