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.
I missed a chance at a Nagra, recently -- oh brother! Was this the Nagra T from the UK?
Sam, mine came from Florida off ebay. i had tried to buy a Nagra T from the U.K. which turned out to be a scam. there were 2 listed on London Craigslist at about 40% of market value trying to lure someone to wire money and then....'poof'. i pursued it until things did not add up. i did not see any legit Nagra T's in the UK in the recent times.
Thanks, Mike...I just acquired another A820 :-) It's 1/4" with butterfly rec/repro heads. I may go with 1/2" Flux Magnetics heads...we'll have to see.
congrats Sam. let us know about how the 1/2" conversion goes. is it easy to source the 1/2" tape path bits, and 1/2" hubs?
the Ampex 350 will be along later when it's finished, but i think i'm done with buying RTR decks. i likely have one more (the Nagra) than i can rationalize now, but i could not resist.
i did order some hubs today which will allow me to play 10 and 1/2 reels, i should have them in a couple of weeks. for now all i can play is a couple of 2-track 50's 7 and 1/2 ips tapes.
sorry the pictures are not better; later i'll take some close-ups so you can really see how clean the Nagra T is.
btw, i did recieve my Nagra T last night. this was a one owner Nagra T, said to be pristene and flawless.....and it happily is exactly that. and i played a couple of my 2-track 7 and 1/2 ips tapes on it last night and it sounds pretty good too. everything works correctly.
i do need to locate some hubs so i can play 10 and 1/2 inch reels.
i know these particular machines can be nightmares if they have issues and i'm crossing my fingers that this one will continue to work right.
it is an amazing machine even if it did not make great music.
i don't yet have my Telos, likely shortly after RMAF. when i do have it mounted i will share pictures.
i quote from the 'spec page' regarding the tonearm wire (you don't need to have another phono cable);
Phono cable uninterrupted from cartridge clips to termination connectors (except at the junction internal wires-interconnect cable). The junction between internal wires and phono interconnects is contained in a box made of wood carefully selected for its acoustic properties. The wood is finished with the same technique as the armwand
i'll say that i heard various versions of the wire and this one was better than the others.
everything matters at this level of information......everything!
i'm not 100% clear on the method of adjusting VTA and azimuth. i've watched it being done but not done it. i'll try to get an accurate description of those issues and share it.
Mike, thanks for the links. Do you know the price and lead time? I can not tell from the photo of the base how VTA and azimuth are adjusted. It does look like an elegant design, as in only the essentials and nothing more. Am I correct in understanding that the wire terminates at the wooden block at the base of the arm and then a separate phono cable is needed from the block to the phono amp?
Do you want to post some photos of the your arm on the NVS? Would love to see them. Thanks again for keeping us informed about the bleeding edge.
Audiophiles usually enjoy good meals - if you like cuisine basque do not forget the Auberge Etchegorry , at 41 rue Croulebarbe. And for lunch there are a few non inexpensive nice restaurants near Assemblée Nationale - french politicians like to eat well for little money!
My amp is with Herve right now, waiting to go pick it up! If you're ever in Paris let me know, I'm starting to find out about the good jazz clubs and restaurants!
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'm with you Mike, all the way on the numbers, but no kidding the right channel peaked at 1040 watts or close to that in his basement. The most amazing things was that there was no sense of reaching a limit, the control was just phenomenal, the separation of all instruments, voice was impeccable, the speed of base in an drum session on vinyl was as real as it gets, close up. The tt didn't seem to mind the kind of pressure it was subjected to. Herve, used a modified Colibri. I just never heard the MM3's like that before!
As for the cost, well he's backlogged on these mono's already more than a year. So we all have some time to save up a little longer... :) same for the MM7s I guess.
