From 'Stats to Horns.... a journey

by cmo on Ever Evolving
So I can find my CD's at night
Avantgarde
From my couch
The music

Description

My listening room is (19.5x15 with 8 foot ceiling sloping to 11, w/four dedicated 20amp lines). This is probably the biggest and best change I have made to my system.

I recently made drastic changes to my equipment. I went from high power (ARC VT200) and 'Stats (Martin Logan Prodigy's) to an SET amp with Avantgarde horns. I added the Aesthetix Callisto, and upgraded some PC,s as well.

Recent tweeks have included the Realtraps, NOS tubes, home made diffusors and maple butcher block, Lead blocks for components, Valid Points....... and a VPI record cleaner

I would love to get some feedback and/or comments from fellow Audiogoners, any advice is appreciated.

Thanks for looking

Chris
Read more...

Components Toggle details

    • Avantgarde Avantgarde Duo 3.2's
    Upgrades include: Cardas internal wiring throughout, Cardas Power cords, Cardas jumpers, Black Diamond Racing footers and pucks.... Cactus Green!
    • Art Audio PX-25
    6 glorious SET wpc!!! Low gain version w/Cardas conncects and stepped volume. NOS tubes: Amperex 6922's, RCA 12BH7's, Herbies tube dampers, valid points.
    • Aesthetix Callisto Signature
    All NOS tubes at this point... Telefunken AX7, Mullard 6922 goldpin, RCA 6SN7/5692's... The biggest improvement came from the Genelex NOS KT-66's.
    • Audio Research Ref. Phono
    Tube phono stage
    • Garrard 301
    I restored and built the plint. Added the Triplanar and Holy Cow!!! This thing is a killer!
    • Triplanar VII
    Tonearm........ Nice
    • ZYX Airy 3S-SB
    .24mv
    • Theta Miles
    Balanced
    • Alesis Masterlink
    A great tool for production work (mastering home recordings), burning CD's etc.
    • Purist Audio Designs Venustas
    3-meter XLR pair from pre-amp to power amp
    • Purist Audio Designs Venustas
    1.5 meter pair RCA phono pre to pre-amp
    • Purist Audio Designs Venustas Bi-wire
    Bi-wire 3 meter set
    • Purist Audio Designs Venustas XLR
    1 meter XLR CD player to pre-amp
    • Audioquest Ski XLR
    Balanced IC's from CD to Preamp
    • Hovland Music Groove II
    Phono Interconnects Turntable to Phono Pre
    • Argento Reference Level 2
    one on the Art Audio power amp and one on the Aesthetix Callisto
    • Shunyata Anaconda VX
    1.8 meter for Theta Miles (digital)
    • Zoethecus 5 tier
    z-slabs
    • Zoethecus 3 tier
    3 tier stand with Z slabs
    • Walker Valid Points Valid Points
    Resonance control
    • Realtraps Mondo, Mini, HF absobers
    Room tuning products
    • My own Diffusors
    Oak Diffusors......... I use these at the first reflection points to good effect (loosly based on the RPG model).
    • My own Maple butcher block
    2 inch piece under the Art Audio. 4 inch under Garrard with decoupled pod for the tonearm.

Comments 64

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Cmo,
Very nice system! Did you ever get around to trying passive bi-amping the ML speakers? And if you did, did you vertically or horizontally bi-amp them? Did bi-amping sound different/better than a single amp and if so was one biamp approach (e.g. vertical) any better than another?

Cheers,
Kevinzoe

kevinzoe

Owner
System edited: I just completed a "cable shootout" between Nordost SPM, MIT Magnum 2's, Synergistic Resolution X2, and like the Purist the best. For the money they sound like winners to me.

cmo

Hello...If you are interested in trying a phono cable, I suggest you contact SilverAudio and try their SilverBreeze phono cable. This is an excellent cable with resolution that was quite a surprise. I use this between a Clearaudio Ref TT with Clearaudio Accurate cartridge into an Aesthetix Io phono stage. It is difficult to imagine another cable could be anywhere near as good a value as this.....so try it out. I think they still offer a 1-month home audition.
John

jafox

Owner
System edited: New pics added......... New camera for Christmas (still trying to figure it out). Sorry for the earlier post; Pics didn't work.

cmo

Owner
System edited: I finally got a digital camera.......... A Christmas present. Not the greatest pics, but you should get the idea. Photos are of my system in my new dedicated listening room. Any thoughts welcome. If anyone out there lives in Austin, TX area would love to hook up.

cmo

I have also found that dedicated outlets and more power translate into better sound with stats.

dannylw

Owner
I Finally moved into my new listening room and the differences are huge. I don't know if it is becouse of better room accoustics or having four dedicated outlets for the power/pre/and digital electronics......... probably a combination of both.

Any additional comments from fellow Agoner's would be great........... Where to go from here? etc.

I will be posting pic's soon.

Chris

cmo

Owner
System edited: I updated my system a few months ago with the PAD cables. They replaced Nordost Red Dawn's. THe differences, while not huge, were noticable and positive. The music has more texture and weight or more color if you will. I don't think I lost any speed with these cables. I have heard that some people feel PAD cables can be a little slow, and the Nordost is a very fast cable. All in all the PADS sound fuller accross the audio band in every way, but at the same time they are not highlighting any frequencies that I can hear.

cmo

You will not regret SPM speaker cables. I would suggest taking the leap to Nordost Quatrofil IC's if you can afford it. Used the QF are a steal. I would also look at getting a Nordost El Dorado Power Cord. I stuck one of these on my amp, and WOW! what a sonic difference! It really goes well with the other Nordost cables.

KF

tok20000

Owner
Onhwy61,
I am very interested in the possibility of passively bi-amping my system. How does the sound compare with the system just running one amp? By the way I noticed you have a PS 600; do you like it?
cmo

cmo

I have M-L Odyssey speakers and I passively biamp them with JRDG Concentra and 112 amps. The combo works very well.

onhwy61

Owner
I would love to passively bi-amp the system. Have you ever tried this on a hybrid such as the Martin Logans? Does anyone have any cable advice, especially phono interconnects. I have heard the Hovlands are good, but am wondering about Nordost SPM's.

cmo

Good selection but substitute Koetsu and Sound Labs A, M, or U series since you can design the room around the system.

ivanj

Great system! I suggest adding a second VT200 and passively biamping the M-Ls. It will let your speakers "relax" and open up quite a bit. After that, and once you're in your new room, consider replacing the Storm subwoofer with a pair of Stadiums, or better yet Stentors.

onhwy61

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