This is no longer current.  Can't figure out how to change the title on it but I'm saving it.  Fun to look back and see what you had before.

ejlif January 06, 2020 03:01

Ejlif, you had Dunlavys at one time, correct? Can you describe your speaker journey from them to the current reference? (It's a lot to ask, I know.)

drubin March 15, 2010 18:18

Why am I not surprised that you have an amazing (but different) system than i remember hearing about several years ago... on the Iyer etc. topic, i had the Abbasi 3rd ear CD, (it was pretty ordinary) but i expect his other stuff is more interesting. Some Iyer w/ spoken word kinda put me off so my question about him was aimed at weeding these out. I've been liking some Rent Romus, (Lords of the Outland) and an older one called Thundershine that reminds me of some top level Vandermark. The last couple of Jason Kao Hwang discs are great, w/ Taylor Ho Bynum, Andrew Drury and Ken Filiano, (caught them in Vancouver in June). I like Broken Wire, real twisted electric violin , cello, guitar, bass, drums, (Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg Holm, Jim Baker). Delirium/Eclexistence on the TUM label is #@%^&&**, great kinda like Ornette Coleman Art of Improvisers in places but recorded alot better. Lard Free, (the pink one w/ the knife on the cover) is good crude old heavy psych. instrumental. The Patrick Brennan/Sonic Openings Under Pressure discs I have are up there as favorite sax, bass, drums trio recordings. Anthony Braxton Quartet 8 Standards, (Barking Hoop ) has burning straight ahead sax from A.B. and great drums from Kevin Norton... the guitar stuff is cool too. I'd like to get the new Univers Zero, the new Present, Brown vs. Brown and Zevious discs, (you could do a youtube search if you wanna get the gist of what they sound like...BTW, there's a Todd Sickafoose Show at the Jazzschool this coming Friday that looks pretty good.

duanegoosen February 06, 2010 19:42

I love your system. I've always been a fan of Von Schweikert's. How do you like them with your JC-1's?

timztunz February 05, 2010 17:19

.
Oh yeah!! Well executed system, congrats.
.

mitch4t August 01, 2009 09:22

Very nice system also. Any more pictures of room? I like setups, they give me ideas. If change my room again I think my wife will kill me though.

hevac1 May 07, 2009 20:23

Excellent system, nicely balanced and components show your careful matching. Clearly you have a good ear, and good common sense judgement.

Enjoy

gerrym5 February 06, 2009 20:05

Solid system. Enjoyed reading your comments on your turntable system, makes me yearn for a better rig, or at least really hear a top notch system such as yours. Your comments on the use of the Apple gear confirms that it is well worth venturing in that direction. With your VSR speakers I know you are going to have a wonderfull feast for the ears eash time to you let the music play..happy listening.

glenfihi February 02, 2009 19:58

Chashmal, Thanks for the compliment.

ejlif January 26, 2009 02:31

What a rig! You have put together something special here.

I like the image in the background too.

chashmal January 24, 2009 00:46

Jeff,

The VNC program lets you use the laptop to control the mini, you see on the laptop screen what is happening on the mini. It works fine you can do everything this way. It is a little slower than using a monitor for the mini, but if you don't have a way to integrate that into your system it's a great option. I am using Chicken of the VNC program. It was free and not to hard to set up.

I don't have the version mini with the remote but my friend does and he says it is great for quick scrolling and playing. You can also use the iphone or ipod touch as a remote control for itunes. This is really cool and works great. When I am playing itunes I usually have the iphone with me and I can pick and choose and even lower the volume if needed.

I was using 5 250gb drives and one 500gb drive chained via firewire together. Recently I switched over to a Western Digital Mybook studio 2TB drive. It is not much bigger than one of those single drives and is very quiet and only costs about 400.00. The mini is quiet too. It makes a little noise when ripping music but other than that unless you are sitting right next to it you wouldn't know it was there.

I do have my mini and hard drive sitting on my Grand Prix Rack.

I highly recommend the mini w/USB DAC route. It is simple and has been very reliable for me. I have a huge library and it is no problem. It sounds better than any high dollar CD player I've used. I can't imagine having to dig through racks of CDs to find what I want to listen to, plus listening to your whole collection on shuffle is pretty fun and you can't do that with a CD player.

ejlif December 03, 2008 17:48

Hi Ejlif, great looking setup and nice integration of PC audio. For a couple months I've been thinking of changing my digital front end. Rip all my CDs to my PC and use a Transporter. But recently I’ve done some reading and find the mac mini is well thought of. I’ve heard the Paradisea + DAC and really like it. So now I’m leaning toward exactly what you have. Not being real computer literate I’m wondering what a virtual network controller is since I like how you can control your mac mini with your laptop. I’ve never seen a mini in person, just on the apple site, and see it comes with an apple remote. I imagine your powerbook gives you much better remote functionality. Where do you store the 2 TB of music files you are approaching? I think the mini has a 120 GB maximum. Does the Mini sit on one of your racks, and does it have any fan noise?

Thanks.

jeff_ss December 03, 2008 07:08

Jackie,

Don't lay down the cash for the Cosecant (or anything else for that matter) until you hear the Paradisea. The Cosecant for me was dull and on the lifeless side compared to the Paradisea. I would say the Paradisea gets much closer to the vibe of vinyl which is what I prefer most.

ejlif October 14, 2008 15:07

Hi Ejlif,

I love your rig!

I've been considering the cosecant with mac mini and was surprised that you like the paradisea more.

Would you mind giving some more details as far as glare, bass, punch etc. is concerned.

thanks

jackiejr October 09, 2008 18:44

what are your thoughts on the dynavector, does it still perform well?

JP

analoghaven October 09, 2008 18:42

I am sure the Dias is better then the other models in the line up. There may be "better" brands out there but there have been times when I have heard what other people thought were better, be it amps, cd player, or speakers and I did not agree when I heard these products. And I am talking about a lot of people. And I like simple :). I am sure that the 294 would wow me.

mikeduke July 17, 2008 22:58

Mike, I can tell you the Dais is better, but if I could get all the money back that it cost to upgrade from the Horizon I would. If I were doing it again I would look at the 294 you mentioned. The real magic started with just getting a table then it was refined by getting a better one.

I'm sure a lot of other brands are just as good if not even better. The nice thing about Nottingham is how simple they are. I can tell you the Dais is pure luxury to use, so solid and well built.

ejlif July 17, 2008 20:05

Thanks for the reply. I know it it is tough to get a sense of "sound" from just reading, but I get the sense from my research that the Nottingham would suit my taste. My system
will be going through some changes. In a few weeks I will get a Grand Prix Monaco rack to replace my wall unit. I am also going to get room treatments and upgrade my cables. But first, I am itchin to get going so I will move my old TT upstairs. Then, when everything else is done, I will look for a table.

I am not sure what level I would go for. The 294 sure looks great. The Hyperspace also looks very nice. And of course the Dias. Many options to choose from. I just read that you can get another arm board for these tables and I even saw a 12in arm on a Hyperspace. To me, that shows many directions that you could go in with these tables. Over all I must say that you have a mighty fine setup. I am sure that it sounds very nice indeed.

mikeduke July 17, 2008 14:24

Mike,

My first table (other than like 15 years ago) was the Nottingham Horizon. I was so impressed by how good vinyl sounded and liked the sound of the Horizon I decided to jump way up the Nottingham line and get the Dais. It is a lot better than the Horizon for sure but the Horizon was still the biggest jump in sound. The Dais is quieter and deeper etc... but both have the magic. I just stuck with the Nottingham stuff since I wasn't that much of an analog expert and the Nottinghams are pretty user friendly. I wouldn't mind hearing some other stuff now that I am comfortable with setting stuff up.

ejlif July 16, 2008 21:35

I see you have the Dias. I can assume you like it very much?
Did you compare it to any other tables? What did you hear in the Dias that made you say, "yea, that's the one."
Thanks

mikeduke July 10, 2008 17:09

System edited: Swapped out the Dynavector DV20XL for the XX-2mk2, which is a worthwile upgrade. Sadly I've found the more you spend the better the sound with cartridges. The magic starts to happen with the high buck stuff. The Wavelength Cosecant was replaced by the MHDT Paradisea +. WOW what an upgrade and a savings of 3000.00 over the cost of the Cosecant. I can wholeheartedly reccomend the Paradisea + to anyone looking for state of the art digital sound at a real world price. I've tried some high buck digital stuff over the years and I like this the best.

ejlif June 07, 2008 17:30

System edited: Updated changes that have happened in the last 1.5 years. I am done! I would like to get the Shelter Harmony cartridge and a top dog phono pre when funds are a plenty though, so I guess I'm not really done done.

ejlif November 28, 2007 05:32

Pictures Please!

Why did you go with the external Phono preamp instead of the optional internal Ayre?

cytocycle January 31, 2007 09:23

Ejlif,
VERY VERY IMPRESSIVE SYSTEM!
IF I COULD AFFORD IT, THIS IS BASICALLY THE SAME SYSTEM I WOULD CHOOSE!

daltonlanny May 24, 2005 08:30