bkeske's Main System

by bkeske on Enjoying the musicEnjoying the ride
Overview, rack to the right, Belles MB-200 amps on floor between the Treo’
Installed an inexpensive room divider to the left, at the opening to the Dining Room. Improved the soundstage and imaging.
In the cockpit
The rack. Non-audiophile, off to the side, and works just fine.
Vandersteen Treo, bare
AudioQuest Comet bi-wire
Belles Power Modules MB200 mono amps
Belles Power Modules MB200
Belles Aria Signature preamp on Nobsound springs, Denafrips Ares II & Bellari headphone amp
The SOTA/Jelco 850/Soundsmith MIMC Zephyr vinyl rig.
Hagerman Trumpet MC phono stage on Nobsound feet & SBooster power supply
2 CBS Hytron black plate 12au7’s, 2 Dynaco/Telefunken smooth plates, and 2 Daystrom 1962 Blackburn Mullard 12ax7’s installed in the Hagerman Trumpet. Very nice combo indeed.
Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO MKII 15-16V PS for Hagerman Trumpet
Benz Micro Ruby 3
Soundsmith MIMC Star Lo output Zephyr. My new primary cart
SoundSmith Zephyr MK III ES
Goldring G-1042, back-up cart, but a very nice one
A fellow Agoner gifted this to me to check out. Very nice and impressed for the cost of these carts. Very recommended for the money.
Ortofon 2M Mono cart
Audiolab 6000CDT transport. And the Nakamichi CR-1A cassette deck. Yes, I do occasionally play cassettes, and this deck does a very nice job.
iFi Zen Stream. Just a streamer, but this is a great piece of equipment. Connected to the Denafrips via XLO USB
iPower X used to power my iFi Zen Stream
Added two media converters tethered together via optical cable, and placed between my router and iFi Zen Stream. Nice improvement.
Vandy 2CE Sigs as my rears in HT
Grado SR325. Don’t use them much, but nice to have.
Whether they add to the sonics or not, finally purchased some old insulators to ‘lift’ my cables, and separate them from one another. Work well, and fairly inexpensive vs some of the manufactured specialty products.
Whether they add to the sonics or not, finally purchased some old insulators to ‘lift’ my cables, and separate them from one another. Work well, and fairly inexpensive vs some of the manufactured specialty products.
My vinyl collection keeps growing

Description

My modest but very nice sounding system. As this is a living room and listening room, it combines both 2-channel and HT. The HT set-up is completely separated from 2 channel listening as the 2 channel Belles Aria Signature pre has an HT pass-thru. The Vandy Treo’s are driven by the Belles MB200’s, even in HT mode. My two subs are connected directly to the each of the Belles MB200 in stereo mode, thus no LFE. Vandersteen 2CE Sigs are my rear speakers. HT is not really ‘critical’ at all for me. My concentration is 99% 2 channel, and those components, especially the vinyl rig.
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Room Details

Dimensions: 17’ × 12’  Medium
Ceiling: 8’

Components Toggle details

    • Vandersteen Treo
    Non-CT version.
    • Vandersteen 2ce Signature
    My rear speakers in HT. A bit of overkill, but sound great.
    • Elac Debut 2.0 Center
    Center speaker
    • Belles Aria Signature Preamp
    New 1/22. Very little info on this, but a wonderful preamp. Has broken in nicely.
    • Power Modules MB-200
    Belles mono block amps. 200wpc of the wonderful David Belles sound.
    • Hagerman Trumpet MC
    Tube Phono Pre with two CBS-Hytron 5814A in the au7’ sockets, and 2 Dynaco/Telefunken smooth plate + 2 Blackburn Mullard ax7’s. A combination I’ve settled on and sounds wonderful. Powered by a SBooster power supply. Sweet.
    • Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO MKII 15-16V
    Power supply for the Hagerman Trumpet phono pre
    • SOTA Sapphire sIII
    Turntable
    • Jelco TK-850s MKII
    Arm
    • Benz Micro Ruby 3
    Could become my main cart. Got a pretty good deal on this, in wonderful shape. Sounds fantastic.
    • Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC
    Lo version of the Zephyr. .4mV output

    Main cart
    • Soundsmith Zephyr III
    Back-up cart #1
    • Goldring G-1042
    Back-up cart #2
    • Denon DL-103r
    MC Cartridge. Great for the $
    • Grado Prestige Red w/8mz stylus
    Back-up #3
    • Ortofon 2M Mono
    Mono cart
    • iFi Audio Zen Stream
    Streamer only. Nice unit, great sound.
    • iFi Audio iPower
    iPower X used to power my iFi Zen Stream
    • Media converter boxes and optical cable. Media converter boxes and optical cable.
    Per a recommendation, purchased two media converters off Amazon tethered together with an optical cable. Nice improvement to SQ with more detail and definition vs without. Easy enough setup; router>two converter boxes tethered with optical via ethernet cable>iFi Zen Stream via ethernet cable.
    • Denafrips Ares II
    ‘Ladder’ DAC
    • Audiolab 6000CDT
    CD Transport. Very nice improvement over the Yamaha Blu-Ray I was using as a transport prior.
    • Nakamichi CR-1a
    Tape deck
    • Yamaha RX-V781
    AV receiver
    • AudioQuest Comet bi-wire
    These were literally ‘thrown-in’ with my Treo purchase, which was quite a deal. Running them installed right now. Sound very nice.
    • Western Electric 10 awg bi-wire speaker cables. 1950’s NOS
    Custom made for me. Had these hooked-up to my Vandersteen 2CE Sigs, and recently the Treo’s. ‘Sitting on the sidelines’ right now while I check out the AudioQuest Comet set.
    • AudioQuest Water
    5m Interconnects between my Belles Aria Signature preamp and Belles MB-200 mono block amps
    • Audio Envy Studio Prestige
    Interconnects 

    Phono Pre to Preamp
    • Cerious Tech Nano braided XLR cables
    Interconnects

    From DAC to Belles preamp
    • Silnote Audio Morpheus Classic Reference
    Interconnects

    Nakamichi tape deck to Belles preamp
    • Silnote Audio Morpheus Digital Reference
    Digital cable

    Audiolab CDT to DAC
    • XLO Electric UltraPlus
    USB Cable. Steamer to DAC
    • Chord Electronics Ltd. Crimson Vee 3
    Interconnects

    AVR pre-out to Preamp
    • GR Research B16 Power Cables
    One (1) six foot for my preamp, and Two (2) 4 foot for my mono block’s
    • Audience PowerChord
    Power Cable. Just picked this up, thanks Spencer, for my Denafrips Aries II DAC. Interesting design, as it has a ‘fold away’ ground pin.
    • Pangea AC-14SE
    Power cord for use with my Audiolab CD transport
    • BIC America F-12 Subs
    2 - Connected in stereo via Belles amp. Cheap but powerful subs. Ports stuffed with foam in order to work with the mains. All crossover and gain settings at the Subs.
    • Bellari Audio HA540 Headphone amp
    I hardly ever use headphones really, but as my Belles Aria Signature preamp has no headphone amp/jack, I purchased this simple tube headphone amp for those rare times I do. Replaced the stock 12AX7 tube with a RAM EI smooth plate, made on Telefunfen machinery. Pretty good deal for a smooth plate very similar to a Telefunken. Doesn’t sound too bad really. This is the earlier version of this amp.
    • Grado SR325
    Headphones
    • Record Doctor VI
    Vacuum record cleaner

Comments 49

Showing all comments by joekapahulu.

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Beautiful system. Dropped by to see how you put it all together. Been looking at the Belles gear myself...stuck between the Aria Sig preamp for one system with my modded McIntosh MC250 and getting either the Aria Dual mono or the Signature model or just going all out to the monoblocks.  Heard both in NJ last year and was totally blown away.  Loved the VS Treos too but given a bad room layout (LR is listening room) I am likely going to stick to my Ohm Walsh2-100s as they sound good and work for a choppy room. Still dream about the Treo s though if we ever move....its all gotta sound great. Aloha.

joekapahulu

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