This new and almost finished room looks out over a beautiful and peaceful lake, which together create a wonderful atmosphere dedicated to listening to music. For the last year, I have been occupied with designing and building up this space. It has been a great experience combining further study of acoustics, a lot of necessary research into products and methods, many decisions and tradeoffs, and much hard labor.
The equipment consists of ARC tube electronics, AudioQuest wire, and Vandersteen speakers. This combination has great synergy, producing a very broad, transparent, high definition image and lifelike tonal reproduction.
Bottom line is that the result has far exceeded my expectations. Here are a few of the basic features of this room.
Length width and height based on the Fibonacci Series to minimize variation in room modal response.
An all out approach to ceiling isolation, which includes suspending 1600 lbs of dual 5/8 drywall layers and Green Glue, thereby reducing sound transmission to the rooms above.
Dual sound lock doors to reduce sound transmission to adjacent rooms.
A 100 cubic ft. Helmholtz resonator built into the rear wall to absorb low frequency energy.
Super chunk bass traps built into the front wall corners to absorb low frequency energy and reduce decay times.
A dedicated 60 amp subpanel driving a 4 kva isolation transformer, six dedicated 20 amp circuits, a second 125 va iso transformer on the CD player, and Hubble outlets.
The wonderful ambiance which includes warm clay colored walls, thick carpet, theater lighting and a great Ekornes chair and ottoman.
My fascination with music and its reproduction equipment began at age 3 while standing on a stool to wind up a Gramophone and play a 78 rpm recording of Little Toot. This evolved into singing in choirs and quartets, playing the trombone in bands, getting degrees in electrical engineering, and building and buying the makes of numerous audio systems over many years. My current music listening tastes are quite disparate and include the traditional big bands, small jazz instrumental groups, female jazz singers, and a mix of folk, blues, string ensembles, country and more. I spend as much time as possible at live events, and use that as a basis of improving my system.
My next steps are to experiment with absorption/diffusion on the front and side walls.
This TT features a lead shot pocket loaded platter constructed from solid cocobolo hardwood. This hardwood has been found to sound dramatically better than many other materials and adds beauty to the overall system. The Signature motor is speed regulated and battery driven. The plinth sits on a maple box filled with 50 lbs of sand and having a floating lid.
Graham Eng. 2.2 & Nightingale II
The Nightingale is based on a Transfiguration cartidge and designed specifically for Graham. The combination is unusually good in detail, tonal timber and tight bass.
Audio Research PH-5
I believe ARC hit a grand slam with this excellent phono pre for this price. The pre sits on a maple box filled with 50 lbs of sand and having a floating lid.
Audio Research CD3 MK II
This redbook only, top loading CD player has a very rugged build quality, and is very detailed without a hint of harshness. You can listen all day without fatique.
Audio Research Ref 3
The Ref 3 is a major step over the previous reference series. It exhibits great detail, precise imaging, and full rich tonal accuracy. This pre conveys the midrange with great musicality and makes your foot tap.
Audio Research VT100 MKIII
The VT 100 MK III is a substantial improvement over the MK I or II, and is very detailed, fast, and alive. It has plenty of power for the 5As.
Vandersteen 5As
This gem is simply the best speaker I have ever heard, and will be with me forever. Very cohesive 3 drivers that are time and phase accurate plus built in subwoofers and amps.
Interconnects and Cables (AQ and KS)
AQ LeoPard DBS RCA from TT to phono pre. AQ Panther DBS RCA from phono pre to pre. Kubala Sosna Emotion XLR from CD to pre. AQ Cheetah DBS XLR from pre to Vandy 5A high pass filter. AQ Volcano DBS from amp to Vandy 5A.
AC Power System Subpanel
This new subpanet is directly outside the listening room and utilizes 2 isolation transformers. No further power conditioning is required.
AC Power System - Architecture
See the AC power system architecture diagram for a pictoral schematic of how all of the power conditioning equipment is configured and wired.
Dedicated Subpanel & six dedicated circuits
The 60 amp subpanel feeds 6 - 10 gauge dedicated lines, with hot and common wires twisted and separate star grounds, which are encased in EMT and terminated in Porter Ports (20 amp Hubble cryoed outlets).
Topaz Isolation Transformers 4kva & 125va
The 4kva iso keeps any AC grunge out of all componants except the Vandy subs that are each wired dedicated direct to the subpanel. The 125va iso is fed from the 4 kva iso and keeps the CD from feeding back any grunge into the already isolated and filtered dedicated lines.
Timbernation Equipment Rack Custom
Custom designed and built to meet my equipment needs. Allows for air flow above and around the tube amp and preamp. The legs are finished in gloss black and the shelves in teak stain. There are spikes under the legs to provide for leveling and acoustic coupling.
Turntable Stand Antique Cabinet
This antique stand was completely dissembled and rebuilt to include a maple interior sand box and shelf. It is very rigid and weighs over 100 lbs before the TT is placed on top. There are audio points under the legs for coupling and leveling.
Stillpoints with Risers
These sit under the CD resting on the 2
Star Sound Audio Points
Four points under the TT cabinet legs to provide for coupling and leveling.
Airegin, yes its Beethoven. The nearest thing I have is an autographed copy of the Horowitz Concerts 1977/1978 on an RCA Red Seal LP with Horowitz playing the List: Sinata in B Minor. What a special performance.
After experimentation, I actually am now running without them. This deserves some explanation as every situation is different.
My current room has concrete floors and block walls and thus is quite rigid. While a concrete slab can transmit vibrations, they are mostly in the horizontal, not vertical direction. If you look at the Stillpoint design, it appears that it is best at absorbing vertical vibrations.
Between the floor, the TT stand, the sand boxes, and heavily lead loaded plinth and platter, things are very well coupled and if the move at all, they move together. My listening sessions find no difference with the Stillpoints under these circumstances.
Stillpoints are a great product and in my previous room with a suspended floor and stud walls, they were clearly an effective solution. So, as always if in doubt try them. They resell for the same price you pay for them used.
Vernneal, thanks. I note you have McIntosh gear. My first real audiophile system (after building and owning Dynakits, was McIntosh based. It included an MA 5100 integrated amp and MR 67 Tuner both of which I still own and use.
This is a good opportunity to provide an update on my room experiments. The back wall was designed with album storage cubes and does provide a measure of diffusion which I have found to be quite satisfactory. I have not found any objectionable reflections or measurable cancellations from that area.
My more important focus is on the front and side walls, as this room is smaller than I am used to and I wanted to see if I could improve the sound stage. My first experiments included trying different kinds of absorbing materials from couch cushions, pillows, foam, ceiling sound soak panels, insulation, etc., placed in all combinations to the side and rear of the front speakers. After weeks of listening, I concluded that whatever reflections were present were not degrading the image and in fact reducing them caused the room to be overdamped and loose some of its liveness. Note that while I have little sound absorbing furniture in the room, there is a plush carpet on the floor.
So based on advice from Richard Vandersteen, I turned to experimenting with diffusion. I decided to try some RPG Skylines (that are quite reasonably priced) on the left and right reflection points. This produced an immediate and unmistakable widening and deeping of the sound stage without loss of image clarity and convinced me that diffusion is the better answer for my room. I'm glad I trusted his advice despite the commonly reported and accepted need to reduce first reflections.
I now plan to try additional diffusion on the front wall (perhaps the CORE AD-3 2D diffusors), and potentially something on the ceiling as well. Diffusors seem to be a great area for DIYs, and I might try building something that will fit dimensionally and esthetically in my room.
Themadmilkman, the room is 8 ft.H by 13 ft.W by 21 ft.L. That matches the Fibonacci Series (8, 13, 21) where each number is the sum of the previous two numbers. The Helmholtz resonator built behind the rear wall is very effective in absorbing the resonant low end energy. As a result, there are no noticable low frequency peaks anywhere in the listening area.
Mapman, the Teres is an eye catcher besides sounding great. I just upgraded to a Graham Phantom and the Teres Verus DD motor, and will report soon on the results.
Albert, You would be welcome to visit any time, as well as any other of my AUDIOGON friends. Seriously, we could take a spin in the boat, watch the sunset and then gather with a bottle of wine for some great music. BTW, we refer to this as our "Resort and Marina" and take reservations for family and friends (:-).
This lakeside living is much like being in a wild life center. We have American Bald Eagles that live and breed in the area and sit in the trees or soar on the winds over the lake. There are fish jumping, squirles chasing each other, chipmonks, red birds, blue birds, chickadees, woodpeckers, sea gulls, you name it birds, and deer wandering through the property. It is a menagerie of activity at all hours of the day.
Plus in the middle of it all is our Golden Retriever, Sandy, who wants nothing more than swim in the lake and won't come out short of a leash and a lot of cajoling.
Between lifting the needle, I get to look out and enjoy it all. Life is great.
This lake is over 7 miles long and has access into a major river and the Great Lakes. It winds a bit with a number of bayous and river inlets, making it perfect for fishing and boating. The Great Lakes salmon sport fishing is especially exciting and unique.
The decision to move here was motivated by a couple of dreams. One was to be able to get up in the morning, walk down to the dock, get in my boat and go skiing on the quiet, glassy waters. The other was the opportunity to build up a dedicated listening room to my specifications. Both have come true - so I'm am truly lucky.
Yes, those are solid core doors sealed with weather stripping. The room on the other side is the home theater and recreation room. The space behind the media cabinet houses a helmholtz resonator and the rear of the fireplace in the other room. With both doors closed, it is possible to operate the systems in both rooms without hearing each other.
My previous system was set up in the living room, and this was far from ideal as far as my wife was concerned. Fortunately, the room was almost perfectly suited to listening, as long as other activities were curtailed. With this new room, I can do my thing without compromise and she has the freedom to decorate the rest of the house as she wishes.
