I'm a serious musician and audio has been important to me since the 1960s. This system is my third major upgrade in the last 40 years.
You can see that it's important for me to integrate my system into our apartment living space, that I share with my wife of 39-years. It was important for the speakers to be physically attractive as furniture and, most importantly, be very musical.
The analog front end is incredibly revealing. When I'm seriously listening I pull the speakers out to the positions that you see, which was determined using Sumiko's Master Set technolog. Rod Thomson of Soundings set mine for me. Believe it or not, that table to the left is no problem for either imaging or frequency response. The narrow set is defined by that short wall and the opening into the hall and foyer. The image goes out past the speakers and centered vocalists are about 3/4 the way up the armoire in the center and depth goes back to the back wall. You'd be amazed at the bass from this system, particularly given the wonderfully open and textured midrange.
At other times the AKG headphones and incredible Woo Audio amplifier provide a great alternative for listening without moving the furniture around.
The Korg MR1000 is used for live recording and archiving vinyl using 1-bit DSD at 5.6 mHz.
Uhr. . . sorry cant do, we's havin' that other one real fine audiophile Albert Porter already fixed up real good for evenin' feedin' with us. . . . {snivvles! Snivvles!]
Perrew, as mentioned in my post above, I do own a pair of Mahlers. . . and they are absolutely fantastic speakers. But Mahlers need 3 things to give their best and not sound bloated or fuzzy: 1. a reasonably sized room with a goodly ceiling: (my room is about 18 ft x 16 with 11 inch coffered ceiling, opening to double high area of similar size via a half wall); 2. A high current amp with hi damping factor that will drive them stoutly with mucho control. . . I have driven them very successfully with JRDG 312 as well as NuForce Ref 9 SE. David's JRDG Continuum 500 may work even better because of added output capacitance compared to my 312. Other high current / high damping factor amps should work just fine. 3. Mahlers need to be placed very carefully in the room, otherwise the bass driver may sound overwhelming. Get a professional/dealer who knows how to apply to them the MasterSet procedure developed by Sumiko. . . e.g. Soundings Hifi. Once you have taken care of the above, the Mahlers are marvellous: extended, linear, transparent, detailed, harmonically rich, tuneful in the bass, delicate at the top, very dynamic, amazingly nuanced. . . oh yes, did I mention that I like them? {grins!}
Hi Mapman, interesting you bring up single driver speakers. . . the new Muzick are, in some sense single driver speakers with multi-driver extensions. See: http://www.sumikoaudio.net/va/prod_themusic.htm From memory, there is a central pistonic driver that cover the main 7 octaves of the audible range from about 100hz to about 20Khz; the speakers have 3 10 inch bass drivers: 2 of them in a separate enclosure cover the range from 100hz down to 18hz, and the 3rd driver bridges the midrange with the bass; The Muzicks then have a Mirada supertweeter at the top spanning 20Khz to 100Khz. Efficiency is 91Db. I will listen to these creatures at RMAF in October for the 1st time in the Soundings HiFi suite, I believe on the 5th floor in the Marriott Tower. Unfortunately, She Who MUST Be Obeyed will never let me buy them. . . because she already let me get a pair of Mahlers last year!
Hi Mapman, I suspect that with internal Power Factor Correction that transforms everything to a 385V DC current before the current is stepped down, the Continuum 500 and 312 amps are pretty well immune to RF/EMI contamination through the AC. I have not heard the Continuum yet, but the 312 is dead quiet and completely devoid of extraneous grain.
Yes,, JRDG uses Icepower modules on all its current amplifier models. In particular, the Continuum 500 that Dave has, uses twin ASP1000 modules with integrated power supplies, front ended by a single 1500W PFC circuit. Audiogoner Marco Martinez (Martinez) has recently also purchased a Continuum 500 and is wildly happy with it. I'll let him comment if he so chooses. . . Marco may also be able to post some pics of the Continuum 500 with the cover off. The Continuum 500 is equipped with a bank of output capacitors that according to JRDG are not even implemented in the 312 flagship. The caps are designed to give the device additional authority. Guido
Dave, AMR player is likely to be at RMAF in October. . . perhaps an unofficial a/b session with your PD can be cobbled together after regular show hours? G.
