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;
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mike hopefully KL audio is more reliable than audio desk. Out of 8 audio desk purchased, 4 unused & all 4 used developed problems within a short period of time including mine . 1 developed another problem right after it was suppose to be repaired the 3rd time. Keeping my fig crossed that mine won't developed another problem. Having said that audio desk is the most convenient LP cleaners I ever have which include VPI 17f & loricraft PRC4 .
Mike ,I agreed with u regarding the curved design at the centre front wall. I removed it & replaced it with 2x4 mdf 2D prime diffuser with 1" well using oliver prime PRD formula . Certainly improved every dept of my dedicated room
Mike, u got it right. I thought you were using both amp. Really surprise the 2a3 amp can drive your speaker. It should be otherwise you would have purchase it. So I can probably buy another pair of CJ 350 and use it the way you are using with your dartzeel or I may purchase a pass lab xa160.5 or even pathos adrenalin which is a class A 180 watter tube amp which my dealer is representing . Have been following your thread for the past few years . Very interesting development especially your analog stuff and reel to reel recorders. I got a studer a810 modified by doc to accept bottle head repro amp. Didn't listen to it enough as I don't have many tape except those for tape project & analogue association Germany . So can be boring listening to the same old 30-40 tapes & master tape copies are so exorbitantly price. To me , vinyl is interesting because of the wealth of vinyl titles available & the ability to tweak the system by changing tonearm & cartridges Anyway , you are definitely the envy of many audiophile with the opportunity & affordability to experiment with various set up
Hi mike , merry Christmas & a happy new year. 1 am getting an eggleston savoy signature soon & is considering driving the speaker with different amp for the woofer & mid but was told it may have coherency problem. How do you find matching your different amp ie dartzeel & 2a3 mono block with your speaker ?
Mikel, yes I understand. Initially I planned to sell my Feickert but decided not to because feickert allows easy adjustment of spindle to pivot distance. I wonder how much is the Beat tt? Is it using loricraft ps or its own ps ? What is so unique abt the Beat tt ?if it outperform technics sp 10 mk3 , it is certainly the turntable to beat. Looking forward to the Beat tt photo? thanks
Mikel , strongly suggest to look at mintlp protractor for specific tonearm. Way more accurate compare to Feickert. Just look at the 2 big null points dots compare to the cross line in mintlp which is visible only under magnifying glass. I have both mintlp for my schroeder and reed 2p and feickert
Hi mike, read thru yr earlier thread abt dedicated length with equal length. What is the significant of that ? If it's equal length certain line will prob need to run in a zigzag manner. I did 8 dedicated for HT/2 channel system with unequal length based on position of my outlets- zigzagging thru my concrete wall is not very practical. Thanks
What lighting system u wld use with the hindsight u have now? However I do like your spotlight at the back of your seat. Am considering tracking light for the back of my room.
Rives audio is currently building my dedicated room- level 1 since I m from Malaysia. I was looking at your design and if I m not mistaken you are using downlights with glass. Isnt there a better choice? TQ
U did answered me. just that I seems to have difficulty posting. Wld appreciate if u cld help me on the following. I believe ur quite familiar with Von schweikert speakers. Currently I m using a VR4sr. The midrange/tweeter module is connected to the bass unit with datalink which I thk is the weak link for this speaker. The top midrange unit has 2binding posts &the bass unit 4binding posts. Instead of biwiring ( currently I m using a Transparent reference speaker cable), I thought it wld be more economical to connect Opus to the bass unit, use a Transparent Jumper cable to connect the bass binding posts and buy a 0.75m Transparent Biwire adapter to connect the midrange to the bass unit. How bad is the sound degradation with such cable arrangement? TQ in advance. Yr input is much appreciated. Happy listening
Hi Mike. This is my 4th attempt to get into the thread. Reason for asking abt the Transparent Opus is I have the opportunity to buy it a a very good price and I want to make sure its the right decision. However I wonder whether it make sense cos I will be pairing it with VR4sr which is design for biwire. Some audiogoners will think I m crazy to use a speaker cable which is much more expensive than the speaker itself. What do you think? You certainly have a fabulous room, something I hope to be able duplicate sometime in the future. Great to have passionate pple like you who share unselfishly for the love of the music/gears. Wish we have dealer for MM3 in Malaysia. Just by looking at it give me a feeling that I have a long way to go in reaching music nirvana. Happy listening
Hi Mike I noticed from audiogon listing that you are putting up Transparent Opus speaker cable for sales . Cant remember what was the reason for the sales which you have stated in the advertisemt. I wonder what you are replacing it. After all Transparent Opus cable is a great cable. You have a great system. Happy listening
