Smiling

by cymbop on Ever Evolving
Hue lights are fun.
Concert streaming!
Rear wall
Who can ID the musical reference?
A long while back

Description

This is a weird system.

I'm a tube guy, you see; but seven years ago the winds of circumstance blew into my room a pair of 1993 B&W Matrix 800s.  So I'm enjoying a (quixotic?) journey to make them sing with valves.  They're designed to mate with big solid-state iron, but surprisingly are 93 dB efficient and drop to 3.4 ohms at lowest.  

I took care of the bottom octave-and-a-half with a pair of REL 212/SE.  They are amazing.  Then with the low end a solved problem, we made our first amp upgrade in a decade:  The Ayon Spirit III Mk 4, a KT150-based push-pull with 65 watts a side.  It's settling in nicely.

I'm delighted with my DAC, a PS Audio Directstream with ethernet rendering from an internal Bridge II. Recent upgrade of its power cord, to an Audioquest Tornado, underscored the importance of source; it was a two-second, no-question improvement.  You can't *improve* the signal downstream from your source -- you can only hope not to muck it up.

Roon on an iPad ties the whole thing together and sends me down a rabbit-hole of discovery nearly every time I sit down.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
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Components Toggle details

    • Bowers and Wilkins Matrix 800
    Perhaps the finest speaker that could be bought with money in 1992.  (My friend reminds me that you can drive a Honda Civic off the lot today which will smoke a 1992 Lamborghini.)
    • Ayon Audio Spirit III Integrated Class A
    65 watts per side in Pentode mode.  KT150 power section.  Zero negative feedback.
    • REL Acoustics 212SE
    Precision and power.  I use a high-level connection from the amp, and dial the crossover and volume low enough that you can't locate the subs with your ears.
    • PS Audio DirectStream DAC with Bridge II
    This thing is stunningly good for the money.
    • PS Audio Power Plant Premier
    It doesn't have the current to feed an amp, but on source components it's a no-brainer night-and-day improvement.  No problems with this unit for nine years now.
    • MIT Cables Oracle v2.1 spk
    From 2003, custom-terminated at the factory for bi-wiring the 800s.
    • AudioQuest Tornado Source
    From regenerator to DAC.
    • AudioQuest Thunder Power Cord
    From wall to amp.
    • AudioQuest Water XLR interconnect
    From DAC to amp.
    • Pangea Power Cords AC-9
    AC-9s from wall to Power Plant Premier and from wall to subwoofers.
    • Small Green Computer Sonicorbiter SE
    i5 NUC runs Roon Core server in a separate room.
    • Blue Jeans Cable Ethernet Cable, Cat 6a
    This cable blew away the MonoPrice Cat 6a it replaced.  Highly, highly recommended.
    • Boltz Custom
    Not the last word in isolation, but I let the wife pick this one for aesthetics. The glass shelves rest on DIY norsorene half-globes from a scientific supply company.
    • DIY Absorption Panels
    Three hand-wrapped panels of 2"-thick Owens-Corning 703 fiberglass.  They're positioned to kill the first-reflection points on the right wall for the right and left speakers, as well as tame some echo behind the left speaker.
    • GIK Acoustics CT Alpha Series Corner Bass Trap
    In rear corners.
    • PorterPorts AC Outlets
    Another product that hits my sweet spot for price to performance.
    • Melody (Onix) SP-3
    My first hifi purchase, a $500 find on Craigslist!  38-watt push-pull. Tubed with Russian NOS 6P3S-E's in lieu of 5881s. I shall never part with it.

Comments 41

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Nice system!  What are some of your favorite Phish recordings?

ketchup

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