Actually i was having fun with some home depot plumbing terminations and out came these "milk churns". my wife thinks they look like .45 rounds. i swear the music got a little sweeter after they went in. either way i like how odd they are, so they stay. addition of a parametric equalizer taming about 5 room nodes didnt hurt either
star grounded, simple setup. sounds black. liking it, nice to reallocated expensive conditioner money elsewhere in system where it can be more readily improved
Cablepro insight 2.5m biwire
outstanding value
White Zombie Audio ZeroPointZero
1m xlr
White Zombie Audio El Chupacabra
1m unshielded rca silver cable. no grunge or brightness at all. just music and resolution
Signal Cable Magic Power AC
bang for buck. plugged into cd-e5
Element Cable AC cords
excellent bang for the buck
Finite Element Ceraballs
Confoundingly did nothing under the cd player, but i was quite pleased with the focus found when they went under the preamp. a bit pricey, but they did work. are much smaller in real life than in pics.
mapleshade heavyfeet
heavy
DIY Cable lifters home depot plumbing parts
they resemble either a 9mm bullet or a short milk churn. i did notice a small increase in apparent depth to the soundstage and i like how they look
System edited: The addition of the equalizer is something i thought i would never stoop to, thinking purity of signal to be paramount. By here we are, room nodes attenuated, and the sound has never been this transparent or three dimensional. Worth the risk, time, and effort and then some.
System edited: I have come out the other side of an experiment with a Behringer DEQ2496 and the room correction it offers. While bass nodes were tamed and suckouts filled in, it sounded compressed, unnatural, and non-musical. the minute i unplugged it from the system, the magic returned. Unequalized or not, it was a dead-end. Great fun to play with though and easy to flip here.
System edited: Many changes. Sold the Rega Planet, Musical Fidelity pre. Changes to front end and pre represent significant improvements in fidelity and musicality. Very very satisfied, for the moment.
actually they've been spiked since this pic was taken. previous owner could not find them, so i purchased a set from Adona corp on a'gon. excellent! love them. one of the few companies that carries the correct thread spikes for these speakers. as to the odyssey, just a wonderful amp. open, detailed, warm, musical- all the buzzwords. very good control of the bass. plenty of power. had some trouble when it was plugged into the ps audio p300, but this conditioner was never meant to deliver the current draw needed for all my components. once it was plugged into the wall, it sang again. definite recommendation.
i sent them back to Ty after about 3 weeks of run-in and use. The midrange simply did not emerge in a way i had hoped, and the bass response was not a move in the right direction. they were wonderful to look at and i really wanted to like them, but objective assessments led me to say goodbye to them. I am totally immersed in the vr-jr's now. unbelievable bass, timing, speed, clarity, transparency, soundstaging. a chameleon speaker that hides nothing, becomes its source material so easily that it has laid bare for me the differing qualities of my music. this is a two-edged sword. the sonic truth of it is inspiring though.
System update: 200 plus hours on the linbrooks. Have opened up nicely! Midrange a little less bloomy than paradigms, but a more musical truth being told here instead. soundstage is huge and pinpoint. lack of congestion is a wonder. i believe the millenium tweeter still has some warming up to do. curious if anyone else has seen this.
the tylers only have about 80 hours of run-in on them, so i must reserve judgement for a later date. no doubt the up-tilted tonal balamce of the paradigms is not present here, as well as a less sibilant tweeter. Beyond that, i'd like to see how they sound in a week or so.
I found the improvement from no power conditioning to its addition the most obvious improvement. The lower noise floor, seeming improvement in dynamic range, low level detail, etc. the p300 replaced a monster power hts5000 unit. while i did note an incremential improvement in the same areas, it was by no means earth shattering. but the p300 was bought used off this lovely site and thus was 1/3 the price. dont regret it one bit. plus, its fun to play with the multiwave settings to see which sounds the best. tweakers delight.
The bass traps are a bit large, but addressed and soaked up nodes below 200hz that were energizing the room. The toe-in was a project of several weeks of listening and represents a focal point about 3 feet behind the central listening position. The studio 60's have a bass response to about 38hz and in this relatively small listening space, responded quite well to shallow toe-in. Their placement in the room is a modified golden triangle ratio to minimize room node accentuation. Speakers are spiked with about a 5 degree inclination. DIY sidewall reflection absorbers still in the works. The pillows stay, I'm not here for aesthetic opinion. You presume much about the ignorance of your fellow enthusiasts.
