I have moved from an apartment to a house! The larger room and vaulted ceiling really let my diy speakers shine. The low frequency of these speakers is finally realized. I still need a new rack... Everything else is pretty much unchanged though I have the parts for a pair of pass diy Aleph 5 monos which will hopefully provide a pleasing alternative to my Arc.
Pearl MM phonostage with optional MC boards. I have also added Lundhal MC step up transformers to the MM stage with great results. I have come to prefer the MM +SUT. Great sounding diy project. The power supply is the box on the bottom.
Slim Devices SB3
Great little device!
Audio Sector NON-OS
Non-oversampling dac with a passive i/v output stage. This dac uses Black Gate caps, Caddock resistors and other premium parts throughout. Great sound!
Tube Cad Journal Aikido 9-pin
Noval triode preamp with TubeCad Janus tube regulated power supply. This pre uses 6CG7s and 6DJ8s. It is wired up with Wonder Wire and Dale resistors. The output caps are Hovland film/foil.
Audio Research D-125
Big heavy ARC fitted with 6550EH tubes. When I got this amp, I replaced the power supply caps with high grade Conner-Dubliner computer grade caps (4 x 450V 850uF)I wanted to use 450V 3100uF but the 850uFs were the largest value that I could fit in the chassis!
DIY Eton/Accuton
Big floorstanding MTM's with Eton 7-372EH's and Accuton C23-6's. Wrapped in Santos Rosewood veneer with cocobolo trim. Internal wire is 11.5awg Cardas for the woofers and the connection between the binding posts and the x-over. The tweeters use 15.5awg Cardas. The x-over is a fairly simple 2nd order butterworth using Hovland caps (series), Solen caps (parallel), 12awg Alphacore inductors in the woofer section, 14awg Alphacore inductors in the tweeter section and mills resistors in the impedance compensation circuit for the woofers. There are no series resistors in the signal path- the tweeters and woofers are run full up.
Cardas DIY DIY
Cardas two conductor shielded wire with SLVR rca terminations.
Kimber 8TC
Great cable. Not really thinking about upgrading any time soon.
VPI 16.5
Vacuum record cleaning station, overflow vinyl storage and my other hobby- all stored in my office.
ZU DL-103
This is one of the new ZU modified dl-103 carts. I really like this cart, but I think that it is not the best match for my arm.
DIY Rack
My new diy rack is now in my system. The top portion is a sandbox which is spiked and sitting on aluminum squares on top of the main rack.
System edited: Built a tubecad journal Aikido preamp from John Broski's commercially available pcbs. While I really enjoyed my Rogue pre, the Aikido has taken my system to a higher level.
System edited: Updated my pics and changed a couple components and descriptions. The biggest two changes are the addition of Lundhal step up transfermers to my phonostage and the completion of my new rack.
System edited: My new audio rack is pretty much finished. I plan on posting pics soon. My cat broke my Shelter 301 cart so I am also currently contemplating a Shelter 501 II.
it's been a while, but i'll tell you what i recall. i tried to send you pix via e-mail, but all my attempts bounced back to me. my 66 was one of the first magnums actually. i was still able to eek a lot better performance out of it though. if you're not playing records right now, one tweek that's worth while is removing the tubes from the the phono stage. also get rid of those cheap gold plated tube sockets. i replaced them with silver audio note sockets and was amazed at how much better they sounded. i replaced all the signal wire with 5n's silver in teflon tubing. all power supply caps were replaced with panasonic ce caps. coupling caps were replaced with auricaps. the power supply cap inside the preamp was doubled (you'd have to see pic) also using the panasonic ce cap. the iec on the power supply was replaced with a croyed silver furutech. the chassis was damped with verra star copper sheets. out of all the tubes i evaluated, my two favorites were the amperex orange globes and the mullards. i had a beautiful set of perfectly matched 5814a's from a holland radar station, but i never got the chance to listen to them. i also used herbie's hal-o tube dampers, wooden knobs (thingamaknobs), wood top loading weight and isolation.
it's a nice little pre with a short signal path. i had a 99 magnum here and preferred the 66 magnum side by side. over-all the 66 was less veiled, less colored and more quiet imho.
so i guess the tubes keep things warm enough to save you money on firewood? btw i used to have a fully modified rogue 66. it was a really nice clean little preamp. if you ever want suggestions, let me know. i've rolled just about every 12au7 and 5814 there is through it, plus lots of caps, resistors, signal wire etc.
System edited: New pictures added. Last weekend in Vancouver I bought a large indian quilt to hang on the rear wall to hopefully damp some higher frequencies in this fairly live sounding room. I am very happy with the new room. Things are sounding better than ever!
System edited: New house, new room.... The room and system are in a more traditional set-up and are no longer in a nearfield/long wall setup. The presentation is much less intimate, but bass and image depth are much improved. Pictures will follow next week when I get back from vacation. Nate
Hi Henry- Thanks for your kind comments! I totally agree with you about the amp. My current rack is just a stop-gap ikea p.o.s. I am in the process of designing a new rack with appropriate shelves for all the gear, and I intend to incorporate some sort of dampening base for the turntable.
The neighbors are not really a problem, as my living room is somewhat isolated from my next door neighbors, but the people upstairs must be deaf! I haven't heard a peep out of anybody in the 2 years that I've lived here. There is a ghetto house behind my apartment building and there is a death metal band that practices there every day.... If someone ever tries to cause trouble I will just blame it on the band next door!
For me, the system is very envolving, but I have come to ignore quite a few room related issues.... The long wall setup seems to help with this a bit.
An Apartment system? Hah! Most full size homes should have such a modest system! Unless it is room constraints, (ie:family room) I would prefer the amp on the floor away from the TT. The new look is definitely more attractive. Either way, it is a clean set up, and I'm sure very involving, as I am familiar with most of your components. How do you do with neighbors? Have them bring their music over!
Hi Audio8, Thanks... To say that I am happy with every aspect of my Space Deck/Ace Space combo would be a huge understatement. Some of my favorite LPs are Daniel Lanois 'Shine' and E. Power Biggs 'A fetival of French Organ Music'. Both have some really great bass and the Nottingham pulls about as much off the vinyl as you can expect. I also play a bunch of AC/DC, Tool, and Primus with great results. I wouldn't worry too much about the Space/Ace as your cartridge and supporting rack. The limiting factors for my rig right now are my rack and my cartridge. I really like the Shelter sound, especially with the SpaceDeck but there are better carts out there- just for more money.... I listened to a few carts at my dealer, and within my budget I preffered the Shelter.
Long story short- Yes. It can really rock. What other tables are you looking at? Nate
Nice System...I am thinking of purchasing a Nottingham Space Deck/Ace Space Arm. Do you feel that the Nottingham lacks deep bass? Can you play Rock on it and be satisfied with the bass?....thanks, Chris
System edited: Per the recommendation of Tim at Experience audio in Seattle I added a Boston Audio Mat-1. The improvement was immediate and dramatic. The background is much quiter and more detailed without any loss of musicality. Precluding the Heavy-kit package for the Spacedeck this is a must have. Chico
System edited: I've moved some things around and added some new pics. I need to reposition the speakers now that the tv is moved into the corner. Some things were greatly improved immediately such as soundstage depth, but there is oddly enough now some loss of focus?! I plan on moving the speakers around a bit to try to fix this.
Hey chuckles! It was great having you over as well. It's too bad that we had to rush off to get wings.... ;) I appreciate your comments
I really enjoyed your system too, but you know that I've always loved sim audio gear and Mike is an incredible speaker designer! His "little wonders" kick but. It's amazing how much great music they can put out for about the same $$s as one of the tweeters in my speakers!! Your setup was also spot on. Now if I could just build those cardas cables for you... I'm shooting for next week before thanksgiving.
I would like to try the neuance platform, but first I need to do some adjustments to my rack- specifically, I need to swap out the spikes that I'm using for something more appropriate. Maybe when I drop off the cables I can borrow the platform.
Hey Chico, I had a great time listening to your system last Friday night. That new DAC really sounds fantastic - so don't go and screw it up by making a chassis out of 27 exotic hardwoods! Anypoop, well done on the system. Your time and care really show in the end performance. You know what they say, the devil's in the details and God is in the nuances. I can see (hear) why you enjoy your system so much. BTW, would you like to borrow my Neuance platform? I'd be interested hearing your impressions. Kudos!
System edited: I finally finished my www.audiosector.com non-oversampling dac. It is a great compliment to my Squeeze Box. More info can be found here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=609968#post609968
Thanks Oz, I've actually tried the Neuance platforms before, though not with my current rig. I really like your set-up with the wall mount! I don't have the option to do that, so I plan on making a new rack for my gear with a sand box on top.... or something along those lines.
Nice looking system. I see your comment about an upgraded base for the Spacedeck. I highly recommend ditching the faux marble MDF base in lieu of a Greater Ranges Neuance platform. This gives the table a more free and lively sound with better dynamics.
