System edited: Moved everything downstairs a couple of years ago and completely rebuilt my system. Room is 18'x 31' with 10' ceilings. Playing around with acoustic treatments which I consider to be a long term project since the process seems to be half science, half trial and error, and half magic.

mikeba316 August 20, 2015 17:57

System edited: Separation Anxiety! I moved all two channel components to separate location and placed them on a four inch thick shelf Mapleshade rack. I added three new dedicated circuits. Purchased my first turntable. Garrard 301 with Steve Dobbins Plinth, copper Platter, Loricraft PSU 301 AR power supply, Reed 2P tonearm, and Allnic Puritas cartridge. I also finally got some curtains up and playing with home made acoustic panels for better sound. New speakers on the way also.

mikeba316 September 07, 2011 09:12

Sam,

I got the Messenger used about a year ago here off Audigon so the price was right. I bought it mainly from it's great reputation and the fact that it was supposed to have a really great phono section.

There was a lot of buzz a few years back and it received best sound of show at CES 2004,2005,2006.

I like the design concept of keeping the circuitry as simple as possible. For instance, the designer has tried several times over the years to find a remote that wouldn't degrade the sound. He was never satisfied with the results, so a remote ha never been implemented.

Performance wise there is nothing lacking. It was a big upgrade from my Cary SLP-05 that it replaced.

mikeba316 August 19, 2011 20:14

Gerry,

My set up is currently 5.1, but I have the B&W SCMS for side surrounds which will go in after the curtains are up.

The HT/2 channel set up is not too bad. They are completely separate. My preamp is single ended only so I use RCA for music and XLR for home theater.I just plug in the correct connection to the monos depending on what we are doing.

See you up at the winery. We usually go to 5 or 6 shows a year up there seeing a wide variety of music from English Beat to bluegrass to YES-progressive rock to Jazz

mikeba316 March 22, 2011 13:54

Tom,

He said get the curtains up and also think about hanging curtains behind the speakers. He suggested hanging a big blanket over the flatscreen TV when doing critical listening.
The original house plans called for exposed wood beams configured in a large grid pattern on the ceiling, so we talked about installing sound absorption panels flush against the ceiling within the grid so as not to be noticeable.
He basically said do as much treatment as possible, but be because of aesthetic limitations, I may never have a really optimal room.
I have a 14'x 26'x 10' room in the basement which someday will be my music room. But during house construction it turned into a bedroom for my mother in law. At least I can dream.

mikeba316 February 20, 2011 06:56

System edited: Upgraded some components. Still Working on room acoustics.

mikeba316 February 19, 2011 11:59

Thanks Jerico. I just purchased a Messenger preamp and upgraded the center channel to a HTM1D. I will post pics soon.
Sound treatment for the room is my biggest concern though, and we just had a designer over to help pick out curtain fabric, so we are finally taking some steps in the right direction to tame this very bright sounding room.

mikeba316 April 29, 2010 15:11

Thanks for the compliments on the room. Since we built our house from the ground up, we could decide for ourselves exactly the look we wanted. I had the foresight to put in two 30 amp dedicated circuits with 10 gauge solid core wire along with pre-wire for 7.1 system and two runs of CAT5 as well as optical, but I never thought about room acoustics while construction was going on. I wish I had done a little research before.

I've hired a room acoustics professional to come out this week for a consultation. I will report back with his feedback and obviously post updated pics as I figure this out.

mikeba316 November 29, 2009 11:31

Bigsman,

Same reason I put this system in our main living area. My house has a full basement with a 18'x32'x10' rec. room with a second HT system which I just set up, but we don't utilize it that much.

The basement system consists of older Martin Logans that I had and and an Arcam AVR600 and it sounds better than my main living room system due to better room acoustics. This is the main reason for now being inspired to optimize room acoustics for the family room system

SFdude,

I wasn't aware that sound absorption panels BEHIND artwork would work. Are you sure about this? I figured the canvas/paint would not be acoustically transparent.
I've ordered so samples of "acoustically transparent" fabric from Guildford of Maine to experiment with. I was possibly thinking of cladding my entire back wall within the arched area around the TV with something like Owens Corning 703 and then covering the whole thing with this fabric like it was wall paper and thus disguising the whole acoustic treatment look.

Mike

mikeba316 November 26, 2009 12:17

Dave,

Thanks for the response.

Yes the room is a good size- 20'x32'x10'. I actually have a piece of masonite under each speaker that extend out four feet under the area rug. They are painted dark brown to match the floors. For two channel music I just roll back the carpet and roll out the speakers because they have built in casters, but the room acoustics are still so bad that I don't get a well developed soundstage and especially depth wise. Whatever room treatments I come up with need to be VERY inconspicuous for the WAF

mikeba316 November 22, 2009 20:56