This past week I added a new piece of source” equipment to my system - a computer built specifically for use as a music server! I made this decision based on three factors:

1. I wanted to have easy access to my entire music collection without having to get up, locate, and insert a CD into my player.

2. I wanted lay the ground work for something that could provide music throughout my entire house.

3. I stumbled across an EXCELLENT program www.albumplayer.com that allows you to maintain, organize and play your music collection from a LOSSLESS format such as FLAC.

I built my PC from scratch (very easy to do). It consists of an Intel “915” Motherboard that currently houses 1 gigabyte of RAM and an Intel P4 processor. The case and power supply are from Cooler Master. In order to get the best possible sound, I chose a sound card from M-Audio (Audiophile 24/96).

I am using the analog line out from the card to an input on my passive preamp. The sound is quite marvelous! I think I might be able to get even better sound by taking the digital output from the card to an external DAC. If I can get my old Rotel DAC to work right, I would be happy to let everyone know what difference (if any) I hear between to analog and digital output of the card compared to my Rotel CD player.

I would highly recommend exploring this type of set-up to anyone who is looking for easy access to all of their music, but don’t want to sacrifice the sound of their system. The key is to convert your digital WAV files to another lossless format. I chose FLAC because Album Player supports it as a playback option, and I found another utility, Direct Audio Converter (www.pistonsoft.com) that will convert AND rip my music all in a single pass (thus saving me a lot of time). DAC can usually convert and rip a typical single disc in just under 2 minutes. For those who haven’t tried this yet, most programs do one or another, but not both processes. The cost to register both the AP and DAC programs set me back a measly $60.00 or so.

Once ripped, I use Album Player to identify all of my converted FLAC files. It then accesses All Music Guide via the Internet to confirm track titles and automatically imports cover art from their web site. You guys should really check this program out – it is soooo cool!

I currently have about 350 discs ripped to my second 160 gig hard drive (I use a smaller 80 gig drive to house the operating system and the few programs utilized by the PC). I can get about 3 titles per gigabyte, so you can see I will soon need to get another hard drive. However, I took care of that this morning by ordering a third drive with 250 gigs of storage. That should get me another 750 titles or so.

I’ll try to post some photos in the next day or two showing my revised system and how the PC interfaces with it.

Just thought you all would find this information interesting!

All my equipment is housed in a dedicated listening room in my basement. The room is approximately 16’.5” x 12’ x 7’.5” and is fully enclosed with wood stud, insulation and drywall construction.

There are five separate circuits providing juice to the audio components. For the components used, this is somewhat overkill, but I can honestly say I have not heard a more quiet system that is void of typical electronic anomalies that plague so many other systems which have much more expensive components than I do. While I realize that many people may not have the good fortune of having a dedicated room built from scratch, I cannot stress enough the importance of optimizing this phase of one’s system – it truly is the building block from which all else emanates.

Just under half of the equipment I now own was purchased used. My favorite item is my Magnepan speakers which I also consider to be my best “find” (purchased used for $550 from a dealer on the west coast).

If there is one piece of advice I can give to newcomers or those who have yet to reach their own state of “audio nirvana” it is this: Pay less attention to the brand names of the components in your system and focus on how well your equipment mates AS A WHOLE. Just because some reviewer says a product is the best thing next to sliced bread does not mean it will integrate well with your existing equipment. Let YOUR ears be the judge. What sound goods in someone else’s rig, may not be the best choice for you (and visa versa). It often takes quite a bit of trial and error before you wind up with a system that you can truly call satisfying. So take care when choosing your equipment, but do remember to ENJOY THE MUSIC!