Upgrading Into Audiophile Heaven | Virtual Listening Room

11 by 17 ft on long wall

Living room setup

EMMLabs CDSA SE

Black & Aluminium

great color matching

Leather Leolux Tango

Description

My starting system into audiophile heaven after two years of searching and listening.

Setup in small living room for now (220sqf). It has components from Mark Levinson, Emmlabs, Sonus Faber, Nordost Valhalla, Finite Elemente, and Jena Labs

Wish list: turntable (Transrotor, Avid, Grand Prix), cd rack for 2000 cd's, room treatment/bigger room, and more great music!

Suggestions are most welcome!

OK. Let's go back to the beginning. My first audio posession was a Telefunken one box mono radio turntable system, where the turntable colapsed inside the box for storage, it did 33, 45, and 78 rpm. This was back in 1973. I was the happiest boy on the planet, none of my friends had such a music box and therefore we allways came back to my room to listen.

Between then and now there have been many hifi components from various mass producers, Sony, Nakamishi (the best tapedecks back then), Jamo, Philips, Schneider just to name a few. Nothing interesting until I graduated from University in 1991 and purchased the following system: top of the line Technics CD player and integrated Amplifier, Tannoy loudspakers, bi-wired! This system stayed with the for 8 years after which I sold it to my brother. I turned to multi-channel in 1999 and was amazed at the (surround-)sound and thought this was the best ever. Yamaha Z1, the first Pioneer DVD player with DTS out, a set of B&W CDM SE speakers, silver based wiring. I guess not audiophile by any stretch of the imagination but I was extremely happy for some years, mostly movies though.

In 2003 I wanted to enjoy music more and I bought a sony dvp-9000 dvd/cd/sacd player through eBay and bought some SACDs to try it out. I was stunned by the increase in transparency, soundstage, and structure of the music. Particularly one song that convinced me to go on the path of the search for ultimate sound: When I look into your eyes by Diana Krall. And indeed when I first listened to this song at a high-end dealer, I was sold. The system comprised of a set of B&W 802Ds, a Classe CAP2100 integrated amp, a Marantz SA-11 SACD player, and home-made wiring. The next time I brought in my wife with me, and we were both absolutely blown away by how emotioanlly involving music can be played on an audiophile system. Subsequently we tried out many combinations of equipment B&W, Nagra, Denon, Cary, Broksieper, T&A, Octave, JPS to name some. And first we thought tubes was it, but after listening to excellent solid state equipment, the tubes idea was put on ice (maybe later in a second system).

This is when a 2 year search started. Which has been an interesting journey, and one that has the above outcome as a first true step into the audiophile world. To be continued...

Components Toggle details

- Emm Labs CDSA SE
This Emmlabs player replaced my first audiophile CD/SACD player, the Accuphase DP-77. Here is the reason: its sounded miles better, even after only 12 hrs of breakin! Biggest improvement is in the soundstaging ability, also increased ambient detail, the recording event, is significantly better. And last but not least, it fits better with my Levinson gear and Pagode rack.
- Nordost Valhalla 1.0m XLR
What's a great system without great cables. Exactly, very limited. The 1m XLR terminated interconnects take the source material to the no 32 pre-amp.
- Mark Levinson No 32
Mark Levinson's reference solid state pre-amp, now already 6+ years old and still a work of art. When I compared this to great tube preamps, tubes went down on my wishlist!
- Nordost Valhalla 1.5m XLR
Continuing from the no 32 pre-amp to the 33H connected by 1.5m XLR terminated Valhalla's. Needed a little length so the 33H can stand about 2 meters apart if necessary.
- Mark Levinson No 33H
Mark Levinson 33's little half-brother. Heavy at 220lbs per channel. But what great technology underneath and it was updated mid 2005 but not renamed...wonder why, and price increased by 20%! When I heard this power amp, I knew it was "the one" for me.
- Nordost Valhalla 1.5m
1.5m stereo pair, spades into the back of the 33H and banana into the Stradivari's. I auditioned Audioquest Everest, Kimber Select 3038 and Nordost Valhalla. I wanted speed, transparency, wide and deep soundstage, pinpoint positioning of musicians in classical and live recordings, inner detail, emotion, great tight bass. Valhalla won my heart.
- Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage
I have seen and listened to many, many, many speakers. But this pair just beats everything out there for looks, and on top it sounds absolutely georgeous. Best on female vocals, piano solo's and violin, viola any string instrument, brass etc. No need for a subwoofer as it goes down to 22Hz (not in my room now, but she goes still very low and very tight)
- Finite Elemente Pagode Master Reference
The Pagode Master Reference from Finite Elemente is just loaded with the technology that befits a true audiophile equipment rack. I choose the black maple wood version to match the Mark Levinson gear, plus its quite neutral. Five shelves (model HD04/110) so I can go for a Turntable setup if I wanted too and some AC conditioner without taking it apart or having to get a bigger rack.
- Cardas RCA covers (x 24)
Cardas RCA Caps fit over the unused female RCA connectors to eliminate RF and EMI noise absorption. Looks smart too.
- Cardas XLR Male(pic)/Female caps (x 6)
Cardas XLR Caps cover the input with a solid shield of nickel and brass to prevent both EMI and RFI from entering the chassis. Looks smart.
- Finite Elemente Cerabase Isolating Feet (x 4)
Here's what they say: Fast resonance transfer is provided by extreme hard high-tech ceramic balls. Combined with precision machined materials like stainless steel or aluminum the optimum balance between damping and deflection is achieved. The resulting vacuum effect draws off unwanted resonance directly where it evolves. The clear advantage: no resonance build-up, no overdamping, no loss of deflection. It really works well, improved sound stage, lower level detail, focus, longer tone decay. I'm wondering whether I should put cerapucs under all the components...
- Jena Labs The One - 10 Feet (x 2)
Needs no introduction for those who are in the know, it beats the $3000 Gutwire X-Clefs squared PC by a huge margin, and I mean HUGE.

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I really doubt you are "limited" by your current set up in fact, I will guarantee it. Anything beyond what you have defines the law of diminishing returns and in your size room, it defines possibly more.

The SF Stradivarius are arguably one of the best speakers out there a statement product by a fine manufacture (and one of my favorites). If you cannot enjoy this set up...then, I hate to tell you this, but there is something seriously wrong with YOU. It is one thing to wish/want/envy a system upgrade when your budget constrains you, but clearly this is not the case with you. There are people that have been in the hobby for decades and will never ever experience the audio presentation in their home such as you have.

The only thing that I wish you could have experienced is the journey that most of us have gone through. Yes, you spent 2 years with clearly an unlimited budget. I, for one, started off with a $2K set up 15 years ago. Since that time I have lived with bad choices, wastes of money, incredible scores, giant killers and all of it leading to the place I am today. I have about a $45K (msrp) in my set up and it sounds pretty damn good. Better then most. (it is the system posted on this site, it has completely changed - I will update someday soon). It was this journey that has educated me and like all other aspects of my life, made me the audiophile/person I am today.

One of the hardest lessons learned and one I wished I learned years before I actually did is that to trust yourself and enjoy what sounds good to you...then run with it. Listen to yourself: You have $40K in speakers and you are wondering what you are missing by not spending $80K...Does that no sound odd to you?

Don't get me going on your 200SF listening room that houses this rig....

No offense intended...John

jb8312 October 02, 2006 16:56