Keeping it as simple as I can keep it without compromising what I want. I can sum up my thoughts with a sentence I once read:
"I am of the opinion that the better a system is, the longer it takes to understand its strengths and weaknesses"
Primary goal: To hear the lungs, fingers etc behind the "noise". Makes it very engaging.
Secondary goal: Being honest to the recordings. I say honest even though I was not there when things were recorded ...so I can only speculate :)
I will never replicate live music. Whew ..got that out of the way. So, instead I choose to see how engaging I can make a room sound ...engaging enough to forget about some things, shake up some other things and to share a bit of the emotions someone many decades ago went through.
The room is half the system! This is a very very challenging room 17 feet X 11 feet x 14 feet peaked ceiling and a suspended floor. The ceiling comes down to the floor on one side and to 5ft 9 inches on the other side - so the 17 feet is not really 17 feet. Speakers were moved around the long wall and short wall before anything was added to the room to find the most favorable spot. The results forced a near field listening environment using the long wall placement with the speaker center deliberately not lining up with the peaked ceiling line (preventing standing waves). This left the back wall just 1 feet from the listeners ears.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Acoustic treatments - I like a lively room, and I am not a big fan of absorption ...so I have used it sparingly. I started adding one treatment at a time and voicing it to see if it stayed or not ... a lot did not stay! [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Front wall[lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] - Plants around the dipole speakers to cause natural diffusion. GIK 13 root Diffusors between the speakers. [lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Side walls[lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] - Left wall is naked currently, right wall has CORE AUDIO DESIGNS Diffusors covering both the first and second reflection points. [lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Back wall (corners included)[lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] - Has GIK Tri traps and 244 bass trap [lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Floor[lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] - 5ft x 7 ft rug over birch floors. [lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Ceiling[lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] - Left naked - Experimented with GIK 244 up between the peaks but it made the room a bit too lifeless.
TRANSDUCER :: Horning Aristotle Zigma Ultimate
The little hornings with the upgraded drivers. The jump to Dx-65 lowthers keeps me from bringing out my Quad ESL 57's from the closet.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Isolation [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Sits on Symposium Super Plus Platform
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Connected by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Double shotgun using WSS Silver Speaker cables + Audience Au24e Speaker cables.[lessthansign]/br[greaterthansign] [lessthansign]b[greaterthansign] Positioning[lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] - Speaker are 104 inches apart (tweeter to tweeter). Left speaker is 19 inches (inside corner) from front wall and 36 inches from sloping ceiling. Right speaker is 19 inches (inside corner) from back wall and 30 inches from side wall. Listening ears are 93 inches from each tweeter. Speakers are towed in significantly to point to each outer shoulder of the listener.
AMP :: PureSound M845 Monoblocks
Grips the Hornings to make very very engaging music. It is essential to treat Speakers, Amp and room as a single voice. What maybe right for one room and speaker maybe disastrous for another.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Isolation [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] TerraStone Platform and TerraStone Roller-ball (brass) footer. Herbies Audio Tube dampers on the Rectifier tube.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Connected by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- WSS Silver RCA 3 meters. Powered by Tel Wire HC Cord 4 meters.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Voiced with [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Power tubes are Shuguang 845b. Driver tubes are 6SN7WGT/A Early type brownbase JAN Sylvania Military grade. Rectifier tubes are Tung-Sol VT-244 JAN CTL 5U4G black plate rectifier
PRE :: Tron Seven Ultimate Line Stage
Musically resolving. It's a Tron! It's delicacy is well matched with the grips of the M845 amp
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Connected by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Purist Audio Proteus Provectus Praesta 0.5 meters. Powered by Tel Wire Chord 2 meters
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Tweaks by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Hi-fi Supreme tuning fuse
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Voiced with [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- 1949 Tungsol 5687's
PHONO :: Tron Seven Ultimate Phono Stage
Musically resolving. It's a Tron! 100 ohm load for MC's. Originally had a standard Tron phono ... the Ultimate adds resolution and depth (not just soundstage) to the music by a significant amount (I was fortunate to voice both at the same time before I committed to upgrading to an Ultimate)
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Connected by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Raven 10.5 dedicated Phono cable. Powered by Tel Wire Chord 2 meters
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Tweaks by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Hi-fi Supreme tuning fuse
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Voiced with [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Mazda 12ax7 triple Mica's silver plate and a Mazda 12au7 silver plate
SOURCE :: TW-Acustic Raven 2 + AC motor controller
A good base to start with. Got the 2 armboard version for future mono expansion.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Isolation [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- SRA Ohio-Class XL IsoBASE for TT Shun Mook record clamp for record to platter coupling. Herbies Audio Tenderfoot + 2 SuperSonic Stabilizer for Motor Controller.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Connected by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Raven 10.5 Arm single run copper RCA's for stereo needs. WSS PowerChord on the Motor controller.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Tweaks by [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Hi-fi Supreme tuning fuse for motor controller
SOURCE :: Stereo :: Raven 10.5 + Cadenza Black
The Raven Arm is a superb arm with simplicity I appreciate. Ortofon Cadenza Black is an amazing cartridge. Everytime I want to move up the ladder and spend stupid money, I listen to my system and it tells me otherwise!
Added a Shun Mook Reference MC cartridge to the 10.5 arm. This is a very special cartridge. Great on mono records and bad records and is a good dollop more musical than any cartridge that has been through my system so far.
POWER :: A collective effort
Living in the heart of Denver, I have some really crappy power. Voltage varies from 114-127 regularly! Listed in order of
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Base Power [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- Single run Cryo treated 10 gauge - 20 amp romex (30 feet run from junction box) to a Synergistic research Tesla SE receptacle.
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Voltage Regulation [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign]- SPR-20i - Plugged directly into the AC receptacle using the Silver Circle Audio Vesuvius II chord:: sitting on top of TerraStone Roller-ball (brass) footer
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Amp power [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] Silver Circle JuiceBox 1 plugged directly into the Voltage regulator via Vesuvius II chord:: The monoblocks plug into this
[lessthansign]b[greaterthansign]Source power [lessthansign]/b[greaterthansign] REIMYO ALS-777 AC Line Stabilizer plugged directly into the Voltage regulator via Harmonix X-DC Studio Master Power Cord :: The Line, Phono and TT Motor Controller plug into this.
