Time tested spinner of tunes-embedded vinyl...work in process!
Minus K Isolation
Vibration Isolation for Turntables 2x Micro Seiki
Rockport Technologies System 3 Sirius
Floating saucer
Studer A810 Recorder/Reproducer
Just plain cool and a fine way to handle the Tapes. However, when recording me and my trusty guitar, I just sound deliriously worse than ever, but with much more detail!
dCS Puccinni
Spinning along those silver disks...
SRA CRAZ 2 reference isoRACK
Doublewide in the Sapele finish...thank you, Kevin and Tim
SRA Virginia Class Amplifier Stands
Amp Stands...very nice and a wonderful way to modulate the vibrations
Transparent Reference MM2
Speaker Cable
Wilson Audio Alexandria X-2
Mama's favorite in Desert Silver, however still rolling around on the casters
Wilson Audio Alexandria X-2 Back
Rear Connectors
Artificial Mice, random layout that changes daily
They are very helpful and necessary for chasing down and negating the ever moving standing waves.
Doing well here, it could only be better if I was in Austin!
Yep, still have the Wilson's, Lammies, Transparent Opus MM2 ICs + Ref MM MM2 SC, Studer, and some nice carts...Lyra Olympos and Miyabi Takeda San Standard along with the overachieving Micro Seiki RX. Maybe, I'll go Cali and look for a Studer A820. Your new Schroeder arm is appealing, you really have to love the super service from Steve Dobbins, please say hello to the music master Casey for me next time that you see him. Incoming...well, kittens!
Really nice system you have there sir, thank you for the kind remarks!
No direct experience with the HRS solutions; however, there are many fans that can give you feedback, I have heard good comments. I know that Bob Graham has had very good success with the HRS solution under the TechDAS AF-1...Bob, is first class, design/build of really, really good tonearms, and the NA importer of these very super TechDAS TT solutions. Did I mention that the AF-1 is really special?
SRA makes very nice platforms and equipment stands. I have had various solutions from them over the years. FYI, make sure that you get a RMA before sending a platform back for their recalibration warranty for a change of audio equipment.
The last two platforms that I purchased were from Minus-K. They are excellent under static audio equipment, less so, with spinning platters...trying to tame that beast will drive you simply mad :)!
The Rockport Sirius lll went over the pond to hang out with the tribe at "Mik" Rishi Das place. He is mad about Rockport spinners, he has 5, a Great Britain starting "Five" basketball team...a collection of Sirius ll and lll's. Shortly before the TT left, in December 2011, Mik's XMAS present to himself I believe, Tim Sheridan flew in to calibrate the machine and bring it back to specs. You have got to love those FedEx Great Rates.
The Odin power cords went shortly thereafter.
The Olympos SL, rebuilt after the previous Washington owner crashed it, whoops, it came with the Rockport Sirius lll, went to our fav Bavarian, Syntax.
Various SUTs went to Japan and other places.
The Big Blue Micro SX-8000 Turntable and FR-66s made the flight to Taiwan late last year.
The Minus-K is a little tricky with the Micro Seiki, it is more delicate to setup with a moving force than say, an air solution from Kinetic Systems. Kinetic Systems is the maker of the Vibraplane solution. I would guess that for most systems, the Vibraplane is a simple solution that has been well thoughtout. Check out both the Kinetic Systems and Minus-K websites for further details.
There is no truth to the rumor that I am buying, or have made a deposit, on an Apolyt turntable from Dertonarm, Daniel, Dietrich, or D...no, not from any of these fellows; simply, it is not so...
The Rockport has Siriusly left and safely arrived in the new home across the big pond. It is a Rockport gathering; sort of a Stonehenge motif, now simply a series of monoliths...a room with three lll's and two ll's, a Rockport Fab Five.
Finally, I found a Micro Seiki HS unit for my SX-8000 big BLUE machine. So, I will be putting the RX-3000/RY-5500 up for sale here on Audiogon, since I will not be needing to use that unit for my inertia anchor.
Nice to hear from you! I hope that you are doing well downunder. I do appreciate your facilitating the Miyabi Standard coming my way. It finally found its way to Texas last week and it will hop up on one the FR-66s tonearms this weekend. Thanks again!
I have enjoyed reading about your search for a Keith Monks RCM; I am looking to get one myself. It appears to one serious machine.
Thank you for the kind words! I enjoyed reading about your SME installation; you have a really nice setup. I have heard wonderful things about the Convergent Audio SL-1 preamplifier.
Nice to hear from you! I hope that you are doing well downunder. I do appreciate your facilitating the Miyabi Standard coming my way. It finally found its way to Texas last week and it will hop up on one the FR-66s tonearms this weekend. Thanks again!
I have enjoyed reading about your search for a Keith Monks RCM; I am looking to get one myself. It appears to one serious machine.
We really enjoyed having you here visiting with us and as I mentioned above to Syntax, it was a real pleasure having both of you fine gentlemen here visiting with us here in Texas.
I am happy to hear that you are safely back in San Francisco; have a safe and uneventful flight back home to Germany tomorrow! I hope that the sound plugs will be able to diminish the audible distortions floating around you (where are those standing waves when you really need them...;-)...) and therefore you will be able to enhance your sleeping experience.
D., thank you again for utilizing your talents bringing into forefront the very positive systematic gestalt capabilities that enhance the audio chain. Again, thanks for having the specific items manufactured for building-up the Micro Seike system! The double platter, IMHO, brings the Micro Seike capabilities up to another level. I have found that you are true gentleman and an unique source of stellar components of the highest quality.
Most of all, we enjoyed getting to spend time with you and continuing to build on our ongoing friendship!
Have a safe and quite flight back home, and with fate permitting, we will see you again next month!
We were very happy to have you visiting with us these past few days. It was a real joy to be able share such quality time with real quality gentlemen! Thank you again for taking the wonderful pictures and bringing your delightful sense of humor to Texas!
The system is very happy and flowing with such great ease and is resonating as a synergistic chain. Thank you again for your well thoughtout observations and solutions. You are a man of much patience along with being one of the good ones!
Look forward to seeing you again, my friend...have a safe flight back home tomorrow!
Yes, a nice ice cube metaphor! An over abundance of solid particles laid out in bits can be disruptive to the flow! :-)
Next week should be a fun endeavor; I am looking forward to getting a chance to share your investment along the analog learning curve. Regarding the matching of the Olympos with the FR-66s, yes, yes, and yes! J Carr was kind enough to share with me some insights that really helped with enhancing the setup and performance with the Olympos and the tonearm on the Rockport. Also, the Olympos really was happy having an appropriately matched chain that allowed for the necessary headroom to get out of the way of the dynamic flow.
The FR1-mk3 with the Ultimate Q4 stylus will be a nice complement with the Rockport's linear tracker. It will be a nice mix of direct (Rockport) and string (MS SX-8000 and RX-3000) driven modalities working as a platform for some delicious new analog machines...it will be a lot of fun mixing the FR-7f and the Takeda San Miyabi cartridges with the additional FR-66s and 64s silver wired tonearms. However, I am still patiently waiting for the visit of a Graham Phanton ll Supreme.
Interesting question. When I found myself getting back into audio five years ago, I picked up a dCS machine and enjoyed it very much. A couple of years ago I upgraded to the Puccini; I found it to be a nice and transparent player. If I was not jumping back into vinyl with both feet, I would have kept that player in the mix.
However, I do find myself preferring spending the available time listening to vinyl...so, for me it is a choice of changing disks. So, I recently sold the Puccini to a nice chap and I have been building up a different frontend mix.
There are a few new items coming together here over the next couple of weeks. The two Minus-K platforms arrived yesterday. They will be supporting the Micro Seiki SX-8000 and the incoming RX-3000 turntables...here I am left with direct and string driven opportunities :-)
Yes, after the next two months my audio wish list will be fortunately and unexpectedly completed with the help and encouragement of friends. I am starting to move some fine pieces of kit to make room for this setup. There is still the amalgamation of of all of the classic/new components that are coming into the mix at hand...Takeda San Miyabi Standard w/Ultimate Q4 stylus from the master and MCA, FR-1Mk3 w/Ultimate Q4 stylus cartridges...original silver wired FR-66s, Telos, and Bavarian tonearms...Omnigon...MS SX-RY 5500 along with the modified MS SX 8000 TT and modified MS RX 3000 TT as a spinner/inertia units...Minus-K platforms... a mono cartridge...that and realizing explaining to my wife that it was all necessary will be futile :-) The Rockport Sirius 3, FR-7f, FR-66s, Lyra Olympos SL, Lammies, and Wilson speakers will be staying. Now off to finding more source material, yes!
Hi Aaron, Thank you for kind comments. I do like your setup and the wonderful choices that you made. What a stellar selection of front-end components that are sitting confidently in your listening environment.
I have not had a chance to listen with the SGR Audio active speakers, but I have heard nice comments about their performance. I have been intrigued with the transducer utilizing an active-amplification process. It must be a lifelike presentation that presents as a whole, congratulations!
Like yourself, I am appreciating and loving the wonderful work that Dietrich is able to bring into the forefront with his modifications and reworking of classic products along with his thoughtful new creations for this hobby of ours. He does exhibit a passion of looking for workable solutions within the presentation of recorded music.
For now, my next big step is finalizing the building-up of the MS SX-8000 and getting a chance to listen to the Fidelity Research combo. I do have a couple of additional tonearms that will be arriving in the next month or two that will help host a couple of additional cartridges to the mix. That and cooking the cables...I hear that it is magical!
I am really kind of eclectic with my listening preferences...man, I just love listening to the music!
Hello Jfrech, thank you for your kind comments. I believe that the Rockport is closer to you and Albert than you realize :-)
Like yourself, I do enjoy matching the Wilsons with the Transparent Cable. You are a very sensible man to have matched-up the Wilsons with the marvelous and additionally Texas-friendly Ayre MXR amplifiers...and you live in Austin to boot!
Hi T Bone, nice to hear from you. You do have a wonderful collection of spinners along with a really nice assortment of cartridges!
It appears, outside of both of us having one of Mike's previous TT's, that we do have a few additional shared listening preferences. BTW, which of the Dobbins masterpieces did you end up with getting from Mike?
There have been a few feeble excuses, on my end, of little consequence that have been getting in my way with building-up my MS SX-8000; it is the same hammer-tone blue color as your MS SX-8000. For now, it is sitting at the top of the my list of audio items to hop on getting completed...soon! I kept changing my mind on how I would like to move forward; fortunately, I have finally made the remaining decisions. There are a few modifications being done in Bavaria for the SX-8000 and the inertia unit. I am hoping to be able to get a chance soon to fire it up with the FR-66s and FR-7f combination. I also am going to be adding a minus-k isolation base for the turntable and the inertia unit.
Hi Albert, Thank you for your kind comments! I am happy that I made it to the northwest ahead of you. I am still not sure if I visited Mike to buy the Rockport to get the Olympos or I was buying the Olympos to get the Rockport :-). Either way it is okay, many thanks to Andy Pryor and Jonathan Carr!
I enjoy reading about your quest to optimize your system and environment; I especially did enjoy my visit to see you a couple of years back.
I am looking to put a trip together to see what magic is happening in Bavaria. There is an experienced soccer player there that has really helped enhancing my listening experience.
Syntax, thank you for your kind comments. I have enjoyed reading about your observations and visiting your system page to continue enhancing my ride along the audio learning curve...thanks!
Okay, Scott of Found Music just finished dialing in the Rockport...I must say that it is just delicious...thanks Scott! The Olympos is just loving the experience of a dedicated phonocable and a Phonostage fine-tuned to bring out the best of the cartridge. Back to floating on air...
Radhe, thank you for your kind comments and I am very pleased to join you in the Rockport family. I am happy to hear that your two sets of Rockport twins are doing well! You have gone on an amazing journey putting together a current state of the art assembly of turntable machines...wow, and many congrats!
I agree with your sense of acknowledgment with what the Rockport brings to the table, it is a growing audio virus :)! My immediate first listening impression was that the presentation was involving, natural, and relaxed; I felt that it was a machine that I could be pleased building-up a system, further downstream, that could resonate with the unobtrusive flow of energy. I agree with you that the gestalt of the design holds its place with the desirable music making machines..as with other designs and methods, when done correct they are timeless. My TT silo of experience is not as broad, nor as deep as yours; however, I am enjoying with help of many new audio friends this beginning journey along the learning curve.
I was pleased when the previous custodian of this Rockport, I am the conscious third, agreed to send it my way.
Hello Fcrowder, thank you for your kind remarks. I have very much enjoyed reading about and viewing your system...RED!... along with reading your audio reviews on Dagogo. The Lamm ML3 amplifiers have been here for a little over two years. I have tried different amplifiers, but always seem to come back to these amps...9 boxes with the ML3s, LL1, and LP2. I enjoyed listening to your AN Kegon Balanced amplifiers at Neli and Mike's wonderful place in Boulder; yours is a special amplifier, I have always enjoyed the 300b tube. N/M were very gracious hosts and we spun vinyl till 2AM. It was like a mini shootout with trying different cabling options with the Odin and Jorma Prime cabling interfacing with the AN Kegon Balanced amps, Ongaku amp, AN S9 SUT, and the AN M9 preamplifier. The Jorma Prime and the Nordost cables are really world-class. The Odin power-cord was a knock-you-over-powerful addition that gave a deeper view into the capablities of the AN M9 preamplifier. I understand that the Ognaku/Alexandria setup in CA is really a great match...the 211 tube is a very musical tube. David Anslem is really hooked on the NOS RCA version of the 211 with his AN amplifiers. The sound in N/M's room was really live and palpable along withprimordial setting in the mountains overlooking Boulder.
For the last three years I have been using the Transparent Cable's Ref MM cabling throughout. Recently, I became involved with a new audio company here in San Antonio. They are carrying some of the products that are in my system...Lamm Industries, Transparent Cable, and Ortofon. The Lamm LL1 preamplifier and one of the LP2s were acquired through this company. Additionally, I am picking-up Transparent Cable's OPUS IC's. Also, I will be having an OPUS phono-cable made that will run between the Rockport and the Lamm LP2 phonostages. These are great cables, but I do have somewhat of a confirmation and economic bias...since I have a long history with their cables and now a business relationship with TC. The rest of this system was aquired either through purchases from audio dealers, mfg-SRA, or through audio friends.
Gshelly and Tzh21y, thank you for your kind comments.
System edited: System update... I few weeks ago I flew a out west and made a drive up a mountain to visit with Mike Lavine. For a couple of months we had been chatting about my taking a potential turn in the stewardship of his Rockport Sirius 3. He suggested that I get off the fence and head out to have a listen. So, off I went... i had a brief chance to meet his lovely wife before Mike and myself walked out to the magic room, his room is just a wonderful music machine. I must additionally say that Mike is a wonderful host and he really loves playing DJ. We spun vinyl for a few hours and had a chance to listen to some really great tunes on both the Rockport and Steve Donbins stellar Beat Turntable. Both of the turntables were just desirable and exciting with a different-in-kind presentation. Foolishly I asked to give the big Studer a listen, Mike warned me that I would be left in a terminal state of flux...this guy can sure predict the future. One project at a time... So, Mike put it to me this way, if you can help me lift the plinth, we can pack it up for shipping, done! Last week I was finally able to star building the machine back-up. The project was a little time consuming because I needed extra help letting the 200 Lb. stand. However, Mike was very helpful with assisting me to breakdown the Rockport, along with his detailed notes and Andy's instructions for setting up the turntable made it a pleasure building it backup in my listening room. Mike thanks again for all of your wonderful help, insights, and assistance. It was a pleasure to get a chance to see and listen to the fruits of his endeavor to maximize his listening experience. Herve's very tubelike solidstate darTZeel separates, Steve's turntables, the Talea and Reed tonearms, the Ortofon A90 cartridges, the wonderfully coherent Evolution Acoustic transducers, Willy Studers RTR, cabling by Transparent, Evolution Acoustics and darTZeel, the Palyback Designs player, the incomparable Equi=Tech juicer and of course, the superior source material. Just a great experience! Well the Rockport is up and spinning away, Scott of Found-Music is going to bring his expert ears and work his magic to finalize the setting up and tuning of the Olympos SL.
unoear on Ever Evolving