I just finished building a dedicated listening room in my new apartment. It took me one year and a half to complete, but it was well worth the wait. I simply love it.
The room size is 14 x 19 x 8 feet.
The room was designed by a company that specialises in acoustic design. Not the popular Rives Audio, since I live in Europe and that would increase the costs of the Level 3 project well past $10k mark, but a reputable local company.
The room acoustics was was first designed in a digital domain and then improved upon with the real world measurements taken during all stages of construction work.
The room is soundproof and - among other things - features soundproof windows, double doors and 11" thick double walls. The measured noise level inside the room is 26dB during the day (measured during rush hours, at 16:00), so it is almost dead quiet.
The room has two dedicated lines, each rated 20A @ 230V, one for analog and one for digital gear. All cables, circuit breakers and mains outlets are of audiophile quality.
MSB DAC IV Signature with Diamond Power Base - replaced the dCS Scarlatti, which served me as my reference for the past 3 yaers.
MSB S200
Fully balanced 200 Watt stereo amplifier. Class A, Zero Negative Feedback design. Fluid, palpable, a bit on the warm side of things. An amazing piece.
Magico S5
New addition to the system. Replaced Wilson Sasha speakers.
MUSA S21T USB
Computer based transport with SOtM PCIe USB card, SOtM sata filter, fanless PSU, fanless i5 CPU, SSD, 8GB RAM and Synology 2x2TB NAS. Running Win 7/64 with Jriver and Jplay.
AudioQuest WEL Signature
Replaced Tara Labs The RS-1 interconnects.
AudioQuest Diamond USB
USB cable.
Shunyata Anaconda Z-Tron
A new model from Shunyata. Replaced van den Tara Labs RS-1 cable.
Shunyata Anaconda CX
I have two of those, powering Dart and dCS.
Pure Power 2000
Battery powered AC Regenerator.
Finite Elemente Pagode Master Reference HD09
Top of the range component stand from Finite Elemente, with their resonator technology (3 used). I favour those over a 4-tier Pagode rack, since they do not interfere with soundstage when placed between the speakers.
Finite Elemente Ceraballs
I have two sets placed under my speaker cables. Very unussual location, I agree, but works a treat.
Finite Elemente Cerapuc
I have two sets placed under my speakers. A simply stunning improvement in low-level detail retrival and microdynamics. Worth every penny !
HMS Energia SSDB mains outlets
Two of those finish off my two, 230V/20A, dedicated power lines.
AHP Klangmodul 3+
Audiophile circuit breakers. Gold plated, solid copper contacts. Each of the two dedicated power lines has his own breaker.
ACS Diffusors
Diffusors made by german company Acoustic Control Systems. I have 3 sets of those, one on the rear wall and two on the side walls. As you can see on the pic, the whole part of the rear wall, to which the diffusor is attached, pertrudes 12" into the room.
Custom absorbers
The whole room is fitted with custom absorbers, tuned to specific frequencies. The pic shows one of the six absorbers fitted to the front wall. If you look carefully, you wil notice, that there is an MDF plate with lots of small holes fitted inside, which divides the internal volume of the absorber into two smaller chambers. The sound enters the traps by the front gaps, goes to the first empty chamber and then through the holes to the next chamber, where it can dissipate in a mineral fiber (not fitted on this pic).
Custom diffusors
Set of 5 custom diffusors fitted over the listener's head.
RT-60 curve
This is the RT-60 curve of my room. Black trace is our target curve, blue one is base curve (empty room, no acoustic treatment, no floor), red curve shows how the room responded after ACS diffusors, wooden floor and sand stone were added. Green curve is the most recent one. It is still not perfect, but we are working on it.
Room Frequency Response curve
Room Frequency response. Quite nice if you ask me :-)
Daikin ultra quiet A/C unit
Daikin A/C split system replaced McQuay unit. The difference in noise levels generated by those two units is staggering. Daikin is so quiet (22dB) that you can barely hear it from the listening chair. There are CD-players that generate more noise than this ! The other outstanding feature of this unit is that it can work when outside temp drops to 10'F - so it can be used during winter too.
First reaction is to move up to ARC Ref 210 as you said... but I have 8 6550s in my smallish room and it can get a bit toasty. 18 6550s increases the toastiness factor by twofold. Good observation.
DarTZeel, Lamm, and Wavac I have not auditioned.
What about Spectral DMA-360?
I auditioned Spectral DMA-150 with your beloved Avalons (still my favorite of your previous systems) a couple of years back and was really impressed.
Are you sure the Gold faceplate of the DarTZeel fits with the aesthetics of "the European Experience?"
If you go with Lamm or Wavac that means you're back with two amp stands with a total of four. I know not a big deal but a factor in small rooms. That is one reason why I have procrastinated on building my rack which may end up being a platform for better flexibility.
Very surprised about your decision on Wilson Sophia II...but as always Elberoth2 your due diligence has led you to excellent decisions in previous systems.
I'm firm believer of synergy vs a selection of quality components.
Congrats on the Sophias. Spin the Yellowjackets on the CD-7.
So...where does this leave you (now that you joined the Acuphase Club) in the quest of finding the perferect loudspeaker to create the European Experience?
This past summer I had a similar journey for CD players. I listened to Audio Aero line, Estoeric X-03SE, Ayre CX-7e CD player(which is heck of a player for the price), and ended up purchasing emmLabs CDSA SE CD/SACD Player. I was looking for better soundstage and the ability to separate musical instruments along with higher resolution in 3-D. One important item to me in product selection besides great sound is innovation like in the areas of(transport, DAC, etc.)
Looking at upgrading my pre-amp(MC C46) to either (AR Ref-3, Aesthetix Callisto Mk II , or MC C1000.)
Elberoth2 I keep checking your post to see what's changed. Have you listen to the Diamonds with the Ref 110? And did it make that much of a difference in your system?
