Lower budget rig

by dennis_the_menace on Done For Now
2013 From listening position.
2013
2013 behind listening position

Description

After 7+ years of sticking w/ my piega and vac setup, I decided to downsize both in size as well as value. Turns out this system sounds absolutely fantastic and is very satisfying.

The Transmission Audio's sound like Piega's but with better bass if you can believe it - not only more of it, but better integration.

The Magnetic Line amp is incredible for the price, and once you drop in some NOS BugleBoy 12AX7 in there it beats the VAC on tone, tho not in ultimate control and precision. Still, tone is a lot for me and I'm listening to more music now than I have in a very long time.
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Components Toggle details

    • 2 dedicated 20 amp outlet
    10 gauge romex
    • 2 x Oyaide R1 outlets cryo'd
    damn these GRIP like a pitbull! not sure they make any difference in the sound tho!
    • Sonos w/ Wyred4Sound mod ZP90
    Mod consists of: High-end sample rate converter made by TI Low jitter clock with less than .5ps jitter Low noise power supply for the clock and SR Micro processor controller Input & output digital buffers
    • Bel Canto Design 3.5VB mk.II
    Latest top of the line Bel Canto DAC. Has separate power supply that acts like a virtual battery.
    • Gabriel Gold Rapture
    1m
    • Line Magentic Audio 218IA
    22 watt per channel 845 SET. Driver tubes can be switched to adjust flavor. The options are 6V6, 6L6, 6550, EL34, KT88, 5881 etc. Remote control, adjustable bias using built in meter. 4, 8 and 16 ohm output taps.

    I'm using NOS Amperex ECC83 Bugle Boys and they made a huge difference.
    • Audience Conductor 2.5M
    I needed thin cables that sounded great, these fit the bill.
    • Transmission Audio M1i
    System Type Bass reflex/Dynamic Propulsion (dipole) ribbon tweeter. Circuit Type First order Butterworth Enclosure Type Compact bass reflex with dipole tweeter on top, freely radiating. Driver Compliment A-periodically damped high definition woofer Bass Driver 1 - 5" super-duty diecasted aluminum woofer, 300 watt peak power dissipation (10ms) Tweeter 1 – dipole ribbon tweeter with 4 separate ribbons in a 5 magnets Neo motor structure. Rear Ambience Dipole configuration Frequency Response 40Hz - 30kHz (+/- 2dB) Impedance 6 Ohm nominal Sensitivity 87dB @ 1 watt, 1 meter Power (per channel) Min - 10 watts rms Max - 100 watts rms Peak - 250 watts 10ms

Comments 5

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Purchased a pair of M1i, and they should be here sometimes soon. I see that you
have the grills in place, have you experimented much with and without?

I will be pairing them with Craig Merz OTL mono block amps, and an LDR Eva2.

I love the simplicity of your system, and it shows that a lot of thoughts went into
balancing everything together.

toudou

Very nice and well configured system you have. I agree with you on the importance of natural and realistic tone. A number of components/speakers fall short in this vital area. The fact that you`re listening to music more than before pretty much says it all.

charles1dad

Owner
Thanks for the nice words Schubert. I agree, this is more than most will get a chance to have, I feel grateful and lucky.

Tboooe, congrats on enjoying what you have. I remember watching your journey years ago as you built a very high end system. Nice to hear you're enjoying something more modest.

dennis_the_menace

Beautiful system in a lovely space.
You may say"lower budget" but you're living quite high on the hog.

schubert

Great job! I went through the same downsizing and simplifying as you with my previous system. My entire system now cost me as much as just my precious monoblock amps! However, my enjoyment has increased exponentially. I am still an audiophile at heart though so I will continually try little tweaks here and there but I am going to try and keep my current system as simple as possible. N

tboooe

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