Rives Audio Designed dedicated 2 channel room for 2 channel audio performance and aesthetics.
The room was commissioned in early 2009, designed by Richard Bird at Rives with construction beginning in late April. Richard is the ultimate professional and was great to work with. I highly recommend him to anyone.
I was fortunate to work once again assemble a team of craftsman trade people. CLD Construction, Dolphin Custom Cabinetry, Spiegelhalter Electric, B&U Wood Floorers, Kendall Painting, Miner plumbing . My wife did all of the interior design, coordinating paint colors, fabrics, wood choices, rugs and window treatments (still coming).
The team was not only able to build a room that sounds outstanding but one that has great aesthetic appeal. It is a true pleasure to be in this room.
I've been in the room for 7 months fine tuning and tweaking its performance.
Special thanks to MikeLavigne, Cincy-Bob, Carl Zapp, Slipnot for their support and encouragement before and during the planning and construction process.
My system has been stable for the past 10 years or so. I am a Merlin devote and have built a system around the speakers. I've owned several version of the speakers as Bobby has continued to refine the design.
I have however turned to the dark side and totally diggitized my CD collection on a music server. Wavelength Audio Cosecant V3 asynchronous DAC has the digitial honors and is sounding outstanding.
Next upgrade will be to my front end of my VPI table and a new record cleaner. I also have 500+ albums in storage that need to be delivered and put in the new record storage/rear diffusor.
Critical Mass Systems Grand Master Isolation Platforms
Isolation stands for VZN amps, Variac Power Supply and Merlin Master BAM
Joule Electra VZN Grand Marquis Mk 4 Monos
Music Wood Chasis, JPS Labs Aluminata Power Cord
Music Reference RM9 Special Edition
RM9SE Roger's hand built cost no object master piece. NOS Siemen EL34 Outputs.
Joule Electra LA 300 ME Memorial Line Stage
Joule Electra all out assault at State of the Art Line Stage.
Cardas Audio Clear
RCA to RCA.
Apple MacBook Pro Quad-Core 2.4 Ghz
PC Audio Server SATA 3 SSD/16 Gig Ram Running Pure Music and Audirvana engines inside iTunes.
Promise Pegasus HD Array Thunderbolt HD Storage
Raid 5 Disk array to hold the ever growing digital library including large Hi-Rez files.
Wavelength Audio Cosecant v3
Asyn tube DAC
JPS Labs Superconductor 3 USB Cable
JPS Labs shielded USB cable.
B-P-T BP-1 Ultra
Heavily tweaked Piltron based Balanced power conditioning for front end components. Cardas Clear Beyond Power Cord.
100 Amp Sub-Panel Square D
separate meter tap and grounded to my Lenco Rods & and copper water service. Cryo 10/3 Gauge RSAD wire to five 20 amp circuits with cryo breakers ensures clean power to the room. Oyaide R1 outlets.
Oyaide R1 R1 Outlets Carbon Fiber faceplates
Highly (twice) polished Beryllium Copper base metal, plated with platinum, and then the R1 is finished with palladium plating. Best sounding outlet in my set up for sure.
Rives Audio Level 1 Consult Service
Level 1 design. Best money I have ever spent on audio. transformed my dedicated listening room to a beautiful and great sounding room with very high WAF rating :-)
Indian Agra Rug Tweak 9X12 100% wool Antique Rug w/thick Pad
Floor reflection/diffusion per Rives blueprint Damn good looking as well.
Merlin Master BAM Clear
Upgraded to Cardas Clear geometry cable for the Master BAM in my rig for 100 hours and it is truly the icing on the VSM Master speaker's cake! Mids are ever so slightly recessed relaxing the entire presentation This allows for seeing/hearing deeper into the stage with increased midrange textures and stage layering. The highs are even silkier and extended and the bass has more presence, whomp and weight. System is so focused without any artificial etching to the sound. Female vocals take on even more of that reach out and touch me quality. All in all, very impressive upgrade for not a lot of money.
fantastic all around setup, I'd love to hear the Merlins in a setup like yours someday - or perhaps not:) What are your thoughts going from a great OTL to the ultimate MR9SE? I've always had the itch for an Atmasphere or Joule but am smitten w/my RM10 although the itch for the ultimate RM9SE you have is always on my mind. enjoy!
