System edited: Added any Ayre Cx-7e CD Player to the mix.

dsiggia May 16, 2006 09:43

System edited: Updated for 2006 - I'm in a new dedicated room. the room measures 15' X 20'6" with 7'10" ceilings. I've got 2 built in bookshelves in the rear of the room, one on the left & one on the right. The floors are hardwood with a throw rug on the floors. For football fans, my theme is the Pittsburgh Steelers. I've got 14 framed prints in the room. For sound treatment, I've got 15 Real Traps on the walls & ceilings; 4 mondo, 4 mini, 7 micro. I also have my HT in this room.

dsiggia March 12, 2006 14:54

System edited: It's been awhile since I've been on this thread, sorry for the lack of response. Slipknot1 & Timrhu thanks for the kind words. Timrhu, when I read your response I laughed to myself because I had already gone through several system changes at the time of your response, but didn't have them posted to the thread. Did you know I wasn't "done for now?" I've gone through a couple significant upgrades in the past few months. First, I've upgraded my speakers within the Tyler line to the Woodmere's. These are truly wonderful speakers. Soundstage is incredible, accuracy, neutrality, deep, etc. Second, I canned the Jolida CD player. I didn't use it enough to really see keeping it around. I use my Sony 9000es when I don't spin records; it works fine for some background tunes. Third, I got rid of the Sonic Frontiers Line 3SE & the Tom Evans Microgroove and replaced both pieces with a Supratek Cortese. The Supratek is simply musical. The line stage is unbelievable; it made my 9000es easy to listen to, which isn't a simple task. My phono stage in the Supratek is Mick's latest design as of Sept 04. I haven't had much to compare the phono stage against with my Denon 103r. The Tom Evans was a good performer at its price; the Supratek is several steps above the Tom Evans. As far as the Supratek goes, I've had some time to do some tube rolling. The tubes Mick supplies are mostly current production tubes, which sound decent, but can't compare to NOS tubes. I added a pair of Tele CCa's in the phono stage & kept the Phillips E180f's in. The changes were noticeable, but not nearly as significant as the Line stage 6sn7's I played around with. I tried a few different pairs of NOS tubes in the line stage. First was RCA. These tubes were extremely transparent, very detailed, nice spacing between the instruments which made a more defined soundstage, but after about 300 hours of listening I felt the bas was too thin for me to be extremely happy with the tubes. Next, I tried a pair of Sylvania 6sn7's and these had most of the characteristics of the RCA's, bass slam was better detailed, but the music felt too forward in it's presentation. The next pair I tried was Tungsol's 6sn7's & bingo! The Tungsol's added the same characteristics as the RCA's, but the bass was strong, punchy, and tight. With regards to the Cortese power supply, I added a Mullard 5ar4 rectifier tube & Tungsol 5881's. I haven't done any additional rolling with the power supply tubes. I'm really happy all my NOS tubes & should be set for a while.

dsiggia January 01, 2005 21:06

I have favorable impressions of Verastarr cables. The PC's let my components breathe life into the music. The Silver Ref IC's are natural, detailed, open, and smooth from top to bottom. The Silver Ref speaker cables unlock the detail, depth, and add air between the instruments and they're smooth on the top and provide an accurate slam on the bottom. I also use the Silver Ref jumpers between the Tyler monitors and bass modules. The improvement to the detail, depth, and air between the intruments was not minor.

As far as cables, I've tried quite a few combinations in my system. The different metals I've used were all Silver, all Copper, Gold plated silver, copper, & gold alloy, and settled on Verastarr silver plated copper. Verastarr builds a good cable. I used Cardas Golden Ref speaker cables - not a very detailed cable, and too warm in my system. The Verastarr retained most of the warmth, added detail, but was smooth and extended from top to bottom. The bass is tight and accurate with the Verastarr cables.

dsiggia October 25, 2004 08:00

Thanks for the kind words, certainly a big thank you goes out to all the Agon consultants that have helped along the way. I edited the descriptions a bit so hopefully everything is clear now, the cartridge is a Denon 103r. The Linbrooks have handled everything I've thrown at them with accuracy, rhythm, delicacy, and speed. They are a very neutral speaker. Bass is deep & tight while highs are airy & delicate, & the midrange is very realistic. The parts & drivers are all world class. I feel the Tylers are giant killers.

dsiggia July 06, 2004 07:53