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.
Thanks for the report from Herve's. Must have been something to be there, I can only imagine. Herve needs to bring out a set of mono's to bridge the gab between the 108 stereo amp & the awesome 458's..........let's say something more with in reach.
I don't want to hijack Mike's thread, my apologies, but I have had both the Reed arm & the Telea II.
I really liked the Reed arm Except for a couple of nagging issues with the quality & set up it was a nice sounding arm.
Saying that, I much prefer the Telea II over the Reed & by a substantial margin. I also agree with Mike & Jonathan on the improvements in the retrieval of information from the Telea. It is the most life-like sounding arm I have used to date. So I guess everyone will have a different opinion based on there systems & taste. But to me there was no real comparison.
I think the table, arm, & cartridge combo is pretty impressive / special. Very much worth the wait, but I hated the long wait & didn't want to just move into another table temporarily. Sooo I waited.
I'm still waiting on the base & hope to see it next week, according to JT.. I'm having a 316 stainless arm board built & should be ready by midweek, thus the question on the height difference over the wood. Thank You for supplying the measurement. I may experiment with some other metals as well in due time. I have access to a cnc machine & other metals as well.
This should be fun, as this table is so damn nice & has some flexibility.
Very Nice, can you interject your opinion on the differences between the wood arm board & the stainless? Which grade stainless? 316? & is it 1/8 or 1/4" higher than the wood.
Early on, I was intrigued by the use of stainless on this table & thought it might be a good fit.
The install of the Equi=tech was part of my new room install & I agree, it's sometimes hard to separate what exactly is doing what with so many changes. That being said, I'm confident of my remarks based on my experience with other rooms I have worked on. & the running of dedicated lines & different power conditioners used in the past. I had a good feel going into my own project how it would turn out.
As far as burn-in.. it's the usual 200 to 500 hrs. That included transformer, wire, breakers, & outlets. We also treated everything on the install with quicksilver gold as well.
I have a close friend who is a electrician & we did all the wiring. I had him speak with the Equi=tech personally to be sure of the proper install & star grounding procedure. After helping do the install with Dave I still don't fully understand it 100%. I would recommend a call to them, they were great to deal with & I love their products.
Congrats on the Equi=Tech 10WQ. Please let me know your impressions after a bit of burn in time.
When I did my room build 3 yrs. ago I installed the 10Q as well. I would have to say after trying many different power conditioners.. it was the best investment I or one could make to their system. Grunge.. gone, noise floor lowered, I could not be happier with the results. My system sounds the same both during the day as well as late into the night.
I would also suggest paying attention to the star grounding.
Your explanation of the new Evolution BNC cables is spot on.
I could not put it into words the way you have but I would like to add one thing... Anyone who has the darTZell system needs to hear what these cables do for the overall magic of the system. They owe it to themselves to try them.
BTW, My venture back into tape has been very much to my liking. It amazes me the sources I gave up years ago come back stronger than ever. Long live analog.......
I have to agree with you on the EV BNC's. I've had them in my system for over a month, ( pb to zeel pre & zeel pre to zeel amp ).I would say they should be close to being totally burned in. Well over 600 hrs.
Yes a 'game changer' is a good phrase to put it. As good as the original 50 ohm zeel bnc's are these are worlds better. Macro / Micro dynamics, air, body, depth of soundstage all improved. Another characteristic,, they are not a forward in your face type of cable. JT & Kevin were dead on these.
When you install them between your pre & amp,, enjoy the ride.
Glad your feeling better & taking some time to enjoy the music & system. To bad it was at the expense of a surgery. Never fun.
I have to agree with you that the A90 loves the Evolutions & the darTZell combo too. I found the synergy with all to be very natural & balanced. The noise floor is impressive to say the least. I have never heard a cartridge so quite & track so smooth. The Reed arm with the A90 works perfect as well.
I found the cartridge & cable does need at least 60 hrs to reveal it's self.
Thanks for keeping us informed & educated on your journey.
Hi Mike, Always enjoy reading your post / always very good insight. We have talked a few times on conference calls with JT. Always a pleasure. I too have played with the speaker placement on the MM3's. They, as with most all speakers benefit from proper setup. I can't tell you how many times I have moved mine, each time I have made different adjustments. A few time I didn't like the move & went back to the original spot. I have charted most of the placements & finally settled one the one that gives ( in my opinion ) the best results. Thats the fun of this great hobby > make a discovery that gives you the wow factor. Thanks for sharing your experience. By the way fantastic room. Your room was a insperation when I finally did mine.
