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, . Thanks for sharing the process with us and for taking the time to explain in such detail. . I have had great results with record cleaning and other tweaks and certainly want to give this a try.
I would be happy to hear were I can pick up both pieces if you would be so kind. . Thanks / Best Regards, . Larry
. Mike, . Welcome back and thanks for sharing a bit of the future. I am looking forward to hearing all about it when it's time. . I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm for something that comes along that is so system changing for the better. Please keep us updated as you go forward. . OBGYN.........Huh....? I am hoping you were not serious with your posts. . Rgds, Larry .
. Fendergibs, . Hopefully you will learn to speak when you have something factual to say. . Please don't waste any one's time with your inane comments and or insults. . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike nice advice for Henry and the rest of us. . Have you ever had the Stradaveri in your room and or heard them in a familiar set up ? . I would love to hear your comments on them. . Rgds, Larry .
. Loxodrome, . I find your comments illogical, annoying, and inaccurate. . If you truly had followed Mikes system thread for the last few years, you would not have made any of the statements you have made to date. . You appear to be an articulate incompetent that either has an agenda (as was suggested regarding some interest you have in Kharma, if you do, you have not done Kharma any favors with your behavior) or you have some mental or personal deficiency that requires you to strike out at others. I have no idea of what your issues are but please seek getting some counseling and keep your comments to yourself in the future. . I have found Mike to be incredibly generous with this time in trying to help others move along their quest to enjoying music through audio and he has consistently invited others to join in his joy of music and audio. . If you want to take the time to read his System thread from start to finish, you should end up posting a full apology. . Please keep your pompous and self absorbed, incorrect, and uninformed theories to yourself. The world needs more people like Mike and less like you. . Sincerely, Larry .
. Mike, . I am guessing that we can take your post as an abbreviated review and that you recommend the quality of the Zeppelin set and think it is worth the price ? . Did you get it from Acoustic Sounds ? . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike, . I for one, am glad that you have your priorities in order. . I have always appreciated all of the time and effort you have put into sharing the progression of your system and the logic that has gone into all of the well thought out steps. It continues to be enjoyable, educational, and inspiring. . Thanks, Larry .
. Mike, . Thanks for the review/comparison on the EMM Lab player. Would you guess that the Signature Dcc2 would equal or suprass the Signature DAC6e ? . Thanks, Larry .
. Mike, . Thanks for taking the time to share the comparisons between the Colibri, Universe and XV-1s. . You bring some nice insights that will be fun to investigate as soon as the opportunity presents itself. . I am looking forward to getting a Colibri and XV-1s in my system and do the same comparison. . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike, . It sounds like you have musically reached way beyond fun. . I am wondering if you could buy / build some sort of battery /charger system for your EMM labs gear. . Please do video tape Hooper when he finally hears your system. . Congratulations, Larry .
. Mike / Islandear, very thoughtful and nice posts. . Mike, sorry we did not catch up with each other at the RMAF in Denver. Time flew by and before I knew it, it was time to go. I will make a point of getting to meet you at the next opportunity and definitely in Denver if you will be attending. . Rgds, Larry .
. Hooper, . Thanks for sharing the info on EMM vs Zanden. Have you ever heard either the Zanden pair or the EMM DAC and Transport compared with the Wadia 861 SE (with all of the upgrades) ? . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike, . You will love the Loricraft. It is a joy to use and does a fabulous job of cleaning. Which fluids do you use ? . I also have an Audio Desk and it definitely provides an improvement to the sonics on most CD's. . You might want to try the Furutech Demagnetizer. It is surprising to hear how much an improvement it makes when used before each play (60 seconds to use it). . I have had the best luck with using Audio Top CD treatment as compared to Vivid and some of the other CD treatments. . The combination of using the Audio Desk, Furutech Disc Demagnetizer and Audio Top treatment yields a surprising improvement in the sonics....more detail, less glare, better bass and sound staging. It is a bit mind boggling, but it works. . Congratulations on getting to the point where you can really focus on software. . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike, . I am happy for the way the VR9's seem to be shaping up. It's a great feeling to have that anticipation of one's system taking a nice jump forward. . Good luck and please keep us updated with as you roll through the break-in process. . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike, . Do let us know when you get to listen a pair of Stradevari's (hopefully in your room) and what you think of them compared to the Exquisites and VR9's. . Rgds, Larry .
. Mike, . Congratulations on an amazing system and a gorgeous room - as good as it gets ! . Do you tend to listen more to the Koetsu RSP or the Van den Hul Colibri ? How do you compare what they do ? . Rgds, Larry .
