Mike Lavigne's System

by mikelavigne on All Out Assault
the big rig.
left rear corner view--note the ceiling treatment
note the cloth surface treatment on the ceiling.
view from behind the speakers
sources +
84" tall, 575 pound main towers and 87" tall, 600 pound bass towers.
bass towers are powered and adjustable, main towers passive.
rear of the room.....
amps sitting on Taiko Tana active isolation platforms
NHB-468 sound amazing......liquid and amazing musical flow and texture.
meters on the 468's
new Massif Audio racks, plus Nordost footers.
2 turntables, and the Taiko Tana active device under the Esoteric T1, made a solid improvement in the performance.
Wadax Reference Dac and Power Supplies with RevOpod footers
Wadax Reference Server and Ref Power Supply with RevOpods
darTZeel NHB-18NS w/ 2 phono stages (new 2016 version)
Ampex ATR-102's + Ampex MR-70 preamps, on new Massif Audio racks, boosted performance.
Esoteric T1 power supply & Esoteric G1X Clock
1/2" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded
Ampex MR-70 tape pre hot rodded by ATR Service INC
Wadax Akasa optical (yellow) and power supply (red) cables.
1/4" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded
air box for CS Port tt; dead quiet.
Etsuro Gold MC cartridge
Etsuro Gold MC cartridge
DaVa Reference Field Coil phono cartridge
Audio Technica MC-2022 phono cartridge
CS Port linear tracking tone arm with air bearing
Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
Durand gimbal bearing tone arm
Durand Tosca gimbal bearing tone arm
Glanz MH1200S tone arm + Sumile Mono cartridge.
power supplies for the DaVa field coil cartridge and field coil FCL tone arm.
Massif Audio Design Snakewood record weight.
love my new Massif Audio design racks.
Evolution Acoustics bass tower interface and adjustments
cables and various cable decoupling strategies.
Tripoint Audio Elite grounding box for sources.
Tripoint Audio Troy Signature for amps
Entreq Poseidon + Atlantic Minimus + Everest knobs
linear power supply for the Taiko Tana active platform under amp
3 linear power supplies for Taiko Tana active under sources
Equi=Tech 10WQ wall panel A/C transformer with door open
Klaudio RCM + Equi=Tech with door closed.
the audio barn

Description

this room and system is the result of 10 years in High End audio. my system has been stable for a couple of years (except for transport and amplifier upgrades within the same brand). the room has been in the planning stage for about 18 months and i actually moved in a little over a month ago.

my audio philosphy is to have the system get out of the way of the event. i like as pure and simple a signal path as possible and, at this point, prefer passive to active gain stages. i love all the formats and enjoy having lot's of music.....vinyl is my favorite but i listen to at least 60% digital. the new room really reveals the benefits of SACD over redbook.

the system and room truely allow the event to be recreated before me. i love the way the speakers disappear and i am transported to another place/time.

i have choosen my cables, sources, amps, speakers to have as little of their own sound as possible.

recently, i upgraded my digtial transport from the modified Philips SACD 1000 to the new emmlabs CDSD.....this was a significant step upward in performance.

i have written an article in Positive Feedback regarding my room building experience.....here is a link;

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/lavigneroom.htm
Read more...

Room Details

Dimensions: 29’ × 21’  X large
Ceiling: 11’

Components Toggle details

    • Evolution Acoustics MM7's
    twin towers, 600 pounds each, main passive tower, 82 inches tall, active bass tower, 84 inches tall.

    passive main tower, 97db, 7 ohms, so easy load. active bass tower has 4 analog adjustments for ideal room integration.
    • darTZeel NHB-468
    Mono block Amplifiers. amazing first watt, transparent and rich tonality. great match for my speakers.
    • darTZeel NHB-18NS with 2 internal phono stages.
    battery powered preamp with 2 separate phono stages. uses BNC 'zeel' cables between pre and amps.
    • Evolution Acoustics 7.5 meter 'Zeel'
    7.5 meter pair of BNC cables from preamp to amps.
    • Evolution Acoustics 'System' speaker cables--10 feet
    new version of these cables, a big step over the amazing TRSC model i have used for 10 years. fantastic performance.
    • WADAX SA Reference DAC
    Wadax Reference Dac----state of the art dac with 2 separate power supplies. the best dac i have heard by a good margin. below is a link to a thread about my Wadax experience.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-reference-dac-and-server-arrive.34173/#post-771357
    • WADAX SA Reference Server with Akasa optical interface
    ultimate state of the art music server using Roon. includes the Akasa optical interface.
    • WADAX SA Reference Server power supply
    additional chassis power supply to improve the Wadax server performance.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-server-psu-unit-has-now-arrived.36722/page-6#post-948318
    • WADAX SA Akasa DC cables (3)
    replaces the standard DC cables. takes the performance of the Wadax Reference system to 'Level 4' for ultimate performance. Red in color.

    https://wadax.eu/akasa/

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-server-psu-unit-has-now-arrived.36722/page-9#post-971100
    • Arya RevOpod isolation footer (32 used under the 5 Wadax Chassis).
    height and tension adjustable. the Wadax dac, server, and server power supply chassis all use 8 footers, so it's critical to be able to adjust height and tension to have an even support for optimal performance. RevOpod's are unique in those attributes making them ideal for this use.

    https://www.arya-audio.com/revopod
    • CS Port LFT1 turntable w/arm
    air bearing platter and air bearing linear tracking arm; string drive with zero feedback dc motor, low pressure, low flow air system with zero noise air box.

    world class musical flow, nuance and delicacy, combined with authority and ease. serves the music completely.
    • Esoteric T1 Turntable
    magnetic drive/rim drive idler turntable with torque adjustment.

    with the deletion of my NVS turntable, i was able to move the Taiko Tana active isolation shelf to under the Esoteric T1. this has upgraded the performance of the T1 significantly. objectively small changes, but musically quite profound up tics in realism and immersion. more nuance, greater music focus, better bass articulation. 

    https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/t1/top
    • Esoteric G1X Master Clock
    Master Clock Generator for speed improvement for the T1 turntable. significant improvement in music realism.

    https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g1x/top
    • Durand --Tosca tonearm.
    gimbal bearing design. Tosca is on the Esoteric T1 turntable
    • Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
    Field Coil Loaded uni-pivot tone arm. with power supply. mounted on the Esoteric T1 turntable. amazing natural and very high resolution tone arm. link below.

    https://www.primarycontrol.nl/Field_Coil_Loaded_Unipivot_Tonearm.html
    • Glanz MH-1200S 12" tone arm
    12 inch tonearm, stainless steel. used for the Sumile mono cartridge.

    https://glanz.tech/e/collection/mh1200s1000s900s/
    • Experience Music/Intact Audio phono corrector + silver wound MC Trio SUT combo for three different tonearms.
    bespoke tubed phono preamplifier. silver wound, with custom dual power supplies.

    https://myemia.com/LR.html
    • LFD -3- Phono Cables DIN to RCA
    3 sets of very high performance phono cables. amazing performance. built by Dr. Richard Bews in the UK.

    one cable uses a DIN to RCA short Dongle + an RCA to RCA interconnect. the Dongle improves the performance of the DIN connection. details at the link below.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/lfd-cables-phono-and-i-c-from-the-uk-cables-as-components.31243/
    • DaVa Reference cartridge
    field coil cartridge. with tube power supply.
    • two Etsuro Golds, ---a pair of Reference MC Phono Cartridges.
    duraluminim (A7075) body, 24 carat 'Kinpaku' Gold Leaf finish, diamond cantiliver. .3mv output, 4 ohms. these are both special versions of the Etsuro Gold.

    one is mounted on the CS Port linear tracker.

    one is mounted on the Primary Control FCL arm.

    finest cartridge i have heard by a significant margin. WOW!
    • Audio Technica MC-2022 60th Anniversary cartridge
    uses the unified stylus cantilever design. which results in extreme lack of distortion and linearity. remarkable neutrality and ability to dig out detail and keep it natural and musical.

    https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
    • Murasakino Sumile Mono phono cartridge
    MC cartridge for mono records, .04mv output. tracking force 3gms. finest monaural cartridge i have heard. competes on musical refinement with the top stereo cartridges. 

    https://murasakino.audio/en/products/sumile-mono.html

    Mounted on the Glanz MH-1200S tonearm. mounted on the Esoteric T1 turntable.
    • DS Audio Ion 001 Vinyl Ionizer
    generates positive and negative ions to remove static charge from vinyl records. 

    https://ds-audio-w.biz/products/181/
    • CS Port Static Eliminator IME1 (two of them)
    An unprecedented accessory focusing on cartridge friction. It suppresses the effects of static electricity and makes records clearer.

    one is on the CS Port tt, one on the Esoteric T1 tt.

    https://www.csport.audio/products/products-ime1-en.html
    • Stage III Concepts 1.5 meter XLR set of Gorgon interconnects.
    high performance interconnects. used from the Wadax Reference dac to the darTZeel preamp.

    http://aaudioimports.com/ShowProduct.asp?hProduct=283
    • Ampex twin ATR-102----one 1/4" and one 1/2" reel to reel master recorder
    hot rodded by ATR Service Inc----Andrew Kosobutsky. significant upgrades over stock. each interfacing with hot rodded Ampex MR-70 preamps. the new tape deck performance standard in my opinion.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/ak-hot-rodded-ampex-atr-102s-w-mr-70-preamps-replaces-my-studers.36288/
    • Kosobutsky 1.5 meter set of RCA interconnects + 8 meter set of XLR interconnects.
    1.5 meter set of RCA interconnects are used between the EMIA phono corrector and the darTZeel preamp.

    8 meter set is used between the Ampex MR 70 tape preamps and the darTZeel preamp.
    • Nordost QRT QNET network switch
    Network switch, with Nordost Qsource power supply.

    https://www.nordost.com/qrt-audio-enhancers.php
    • Synology 30 Terabyte NAS (a pair = 60 TB) music file storage
    mirroring music storage for my music files.
    • Massif Audio Design Audio Racks, solid wood
    2--double wide 3 shelf racks for sources

    1 single wide rack 4 shelf rack for Ampex MR-70 tape preamp chassis.

    https://www.massifaudiodesign.com/racks
    • Nordost Sort Fut rack footers (3 sets of 4)
    mechanically tuned resonance control device. supporting the three Massif racks.

    https://www.nordost.com/sort-systems/sort-fut.php
    • Taiko Tana (5 of them) Herzan TS-150 (2) + TS-140 (3)
    active isolation under 5 separate components: (1) the NVS turntable, (2) the MSB dac, (3) the darTZeel preamp, (4 + 5) both darTZeel mono block amplifiers. custom modifications by Taiko Audio add a linear power supply plus panzerholtz top layer + Daiza platform to provide full frequency resonance attenuation to each platform.
    • Taiko Audio Daiza isolation platform--22 used in the system
    Panzerholtz Platform with spiral cutouts reducing mid and high frequency resonance while retaining life and energy and not changing tonality.

    22 Daiza platforms in the system of various sizes under every piece of the signal path.
    • Evolution Acoustics 'system' power cables
    a new version of the TRPC model i used on my darTZeel 468 mono blocks for the last 10 years. a big step up.
    • Sablon Audio King power cord
    used on the Wadax Reference Server power supply.

    https://www.sablonaudio.com/power
    • Absolute Fidelity power interfaces
    power cords specifically designed for either motors (tt and tape decks), amplifiers, and components. 11 in the system.
    • Tripoint Audio Troy Signature
    Grounding box for chassis grounding the darTZeel 458 mono block amplifiers + grounding the passive main towers of the Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker system.
    • Tripoint Audio Elite
    Tripoint Elite grounding box. this does chassis grounding for my sources. it uses a a pair of Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference ground cables for my dart preamp and the MSB Select II dac. there are also 4 Signature Silver ground cables to the two arm boards of the NVS tt, the power supply of the NVS tt, and the SGM server.
    • Equi=tech 10WQ
    10kva balanced Isoltion transformer and distribution panel.
    • Furutech GTX-D NCF Rhodium duplex outlets
    10 in the system. used with 10 Furutech covers and frames. uses NCF (nano crystal formula) material to reduce noise by emitting negative ions.
    • Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers
    8 sets-of-4 in the system for individual tuning of each piece of gear.
    • Auralex T-Fusor diffusers
    i use 20 of these. 6 each on the front side walls, and 4 each front ceiling and rear ceiling.
    • Klaudio Record Cleaning System
    automatic record cleaner
    • Acoustic Revive RL-30 mKIII CD-LP demagnatizer
    for demaging any disc.
    • Furutech DF-2 LP disc flattner
    will remove warps from Lps
    • Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Anniversary Ed.
    will cook any cables
    • Winds ALM-01 Stylus Force Gauge
    easy accurate, repeatable, measurments.
    • i-Tower by Koncept LED floor lamp
    (3) are used. best audio light ever. 2 'warm', 1 'cool'.
    • Quietrock THX 545 drywall
    specialized drywall with a 1/4" metal layer. used in my front sidewalls to establish proper room boundaries.
    • Barn.... ......room is....
    ....most of the ground floor. 29' x 21' x 11'.

Comments 3397

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Owner
hi Kevin, hello to Malaysia. i'll try my best to answer. understand i'm not the most technical person.

fist of all my room is in a barn, a separate building from my house. i have broadband cable service into my home and use the cable service modem. then my home network is hardwired copper into my barn and comes to a network switch upstairs in my barn. this particular network switch does have a linear power supply. that LPS is behind my upstairs cabinet so i cannot tell you the exact brand and model. but the network switch is the 'Netgear Prosafe 5 port Gigabit, model GS105, from there i have a 2" conduit downstairs to my room. inside this conduit i have both copper CAT6a and fibre optic. in the past i have used both, but right now i'm using the copper.

then downstairs in my listening room i have two network switches stacked.

the CAT6a is plugged into a Nordost QNET switch with a Nordost QSource LPS. from this i use a Sablon Audio 2024 Ethernet cable into a Reiki Audio Superswitch with a Prolinear UPS linear power supply. from that to my Wadax Reference Server i use the Rakustream network cable.

then from my Wadax Reference Server to the Wadax Reference Dac i use the proprietary Wadax Akasa optical interface.

broadband fibre high speed network -> generic modem -> home LAN copper ->network switch with LPS -> CAT6a -> Nordost QNET -> Sablon Ethernet -> Reiki Superswitch -> Reiki ethernet -> Wadax Server -> Akasa optical -> Wadax dac. 

mikelavigne

Hi there Mike, I’m kevin from across the bigger pond over in Malaysia ; ) - I was wondering if you might be able to share what primary modem and router you are using from your digital front, what linear power supply is feeding them, and which DC cables you might be using? Sorry for the probe - few post details of these and I’m in the process of getting advanced research done for my own system : ) - kevin

kevn

Owner
hi Ray,

nope. pulled my 468's off the market and decided to keep them. and honestly it was never about performance.....only someone had got me thinking about a change for change sake, and i realized i did not really need to do that. if you have an interest i suppose i would talk about it, you could PM me. but no intensions of offering them for sale again.

congrats on the NVS, it is a fantastic tt. i needed to sell one of my 3 tt's to fund some cables for my digital so it went away, but might get another one at some point. it should be wonderful with those arms.

cheers,

mike

mikelavigne

I understand you have officially parted with the NHB-468s (I was thinking of making an offer on them on Audiogon when they sold) - what amps are you using / considering now?

Also, it seems I picked up your old Wave Kinetics NVS.  Setting it up now (no Durand tonearm though - Graham Phantom and Basis Superarm), but looking forward to getting it up and running.

Best,

Ray

rzado

@mikelavigne Mike, thanks for sharing all the wonderful changes; the best keeps getting better!

If you do manage to something like better than, and do make the switch from the MM7 and Dart, it will be truly amazing!

zephyr24069

Why are you selling dartTZeel stuff.
What have you found that improves on it.
I thought it was the best.

           Robert

strapper211

Owner
just now updated my gear list and descriptions to match my current system. deleted pieces no longer here from the list.

Yesterday i had updated the pictures.

mikelavigne

Owner
last update to my system page was last July 23', 11 months ago.

just updated all my pictures reflecting especially on my new racks and how it looks.

new stuff/changes

1--new Massif Audio Design racks plus Nordost Footers

massifaudiodesign.com

2--new Glanz Audio MH-1200S tonearm plus Sumile Mono cartridge (subtract the Miyajima Labs Infinity 1.0 and 0.7 mil carts)
3--subtract the NVS turntable
4--move the Taiko Tana Herzan active system to under the Esoteric T1 turntable (nice performance boost)
5--new Wadax Reference Server power supply
6--new Wadax Akasa DC cables taking the Wadax to "Level 4"
7--new Massif Audio Snakewood record weight.

mikelavigne

@mikelavigne Your hifi setup is absolutely breathtaking!  I like the fact that you made the room acoustic treatment as important as the gear because we audiophiles tend to get caught up in the Hifi equipment and forget about the room.  

Enjoy the music!

dbt

Thousands of Hondas later...

...the King of Audiogon Virtual Systems!

tvad

Hi Mike, 
I remember visiting you 15+ years ago - and the system was amazing then. It has evolved into nothing less than an audio Shangri-la. Amazing and inspirational. If I can only find a barn to buy down here in San Diego :-)
Cheers and take care,
- Mike Nappi

mnappi

Whoa ... This is just really impressive. I wish I could hear it!

saxman73

Hello Mike , Do you might to share the 8m  XLR cable are you using ? Thanks

newqq1

Mike,...the system and room as always, are beautiful. You managed to improve on perfection....yet again!

zephyr24069

Owner
completed the first wave of new gear listings. added the Wadax dac & server, the EMIA phono, the Esoteric T1 tt w/clock, the -2- Ampex ATR-102 1/4" and 1/2" reel to reel decks with the MR-70 preamps.

lots more detail to add, but the big stuff is listed now.

mikelavigne

Owner
step 2 complete---new system pictures are posted.

next step is to add new gear listings and descriptions. and post comments on the new pictures. not sure how long this will take.

mikelavigne

Owner
last system update was 3 years ago, and it's now long overdue. i'm now working on it.

step number 1 complete.

----removed departed gear descriptions and pictures. items removed includes the MSB Select II dac, Taiko Extreme server, Saskia model two turntable, Clearaudio GFS cartridge, Ortofon Anna cartridge, 3 Studer A-820 tape decks + King Cello tape repro, and CS Port phono stage.

all of those excellent pieces and they brought me many hours of exceptional musical bliss. but my quest marches forward to higher heights.

----removed system pictures with those items showing.

next is loading new system pictures, gear listings, and gear descriptions. i'll try to get it mostly done tonight. spent the last few hours taking new pictures and processing them.

mikelavigne

Hello Mike,

Time to update your system pictures with the Wadax?

I suggest you try a Critical Mass Olympus Ultra rack for (all or part of) your system. It should bring a massive improvement.

I wonder what will be your new speakers after you sell the MM7s!

vn101606

WOW! 
What a beautiful well thought-out system.
My compliments to the chef ;-)

lak

Hi Mike, you probably don't remember me, but you were kind enough to have me up from Whidby Island to hear your system about twenty years ago now.
I see you're still hitting it hard, and no doubt enjoying it more than ever. Same for me, but there is a vast amount of difference between what you've invested as opposed to myself.

I'd love to come down, but at my age, I don't drive much anymore, unless I really need to.

Even so, I imagine we are both enjoying ourselves immensely! Have a great summer, and be well!

Dan Thomason

islandmandan

Just wow. I just setup my Etsuro Gold on my Sota Cosmos. Got a Graham Elite Gold that Im calibrating but a so excited to try it out.
This barn man!!! holy moly. Im imagining happening upon this barn during a zombie apocalypse. Crank the generator and secure the perimeter. Im sure if you've set this up you would be a good person to hang out with during the apocalypse. Epic setup!!

creekrau

Thanks for taking the time to post this, Mike! ("here are links to my final 4 main efforts i made to do the final 2015 tune on my room")

I need to get busy and creative, doing some tweaks and too mods that won't break the bank.

patrickdowns

Owner

here are links to my final 4 main efforts i made to do the final 2015 tune on my room; hope that helps to understand things. these efforts were cheap cheap, a few hundred dollars, but hundreds and hundreds of hours of experimenting, listening, and experimenting.


mostly sweat equity.


https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/almost-free-and-4-inches-the-final-1.17389/

 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/almost-free-and-4-inches-the-final-1.17389/page-3#post-314941

 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/suck-out-fixed-i-think.18116/

 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/suck-out-fixed-i-think.18116/page-2#post-329496

mikelavigne

Hi Mike, 

I know you had a Placette passive preamp for a while and I was looking for some advice.  I currently have a Placette preamp and I'm looking to upgrade my amplifier.  My plan is to upgrade to the nicest amplifier in the budget right now and keep my Placette.  The other options is to pair a new preamp with the same manufacturer as the new amp.  Obviously with the budget I would have to go down in level for the amp and preamp combo versus keeping the Placette.  

Thank you for your advice!

chauncey

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