bugredmachine's Tennessee System 2023

Owner

Now using 100% KS cables on dac and preamp. Considering KS speaker cables although the PAD Venustas I am using are triple run cables for tri-wiring and do not disappoint. It's the curiosity aspect of going to KS on the speakers and how that might complement the sound. Hmmm

I'm doing something crazy by daisy chaining cables. I am doing it with power cables and IC's. It does seem the last 3 feet really do make the difference.

bugredmachine November 05, 2023 13:49

Owner

Using KS Elation PC on the Puritan. Have used many different PC's with equal success on the input side. I don't see anything special about the Puritan cable and for that kind of money I'd look sideways to other brands based on my experience.

Carpeting isn't going to tame the long frequencies at 100 hz. It took about 20 cu ft of OC 703 each side to do that. I only have 5 feet of width at the ceiling height of 10 feet, so mathematically a panel may help, but I did not want the look since I was able to achieve it on the floor.

bugredmachine September 11, 2023 17:30

Thanks very much for this info! Which version of the Coda Continuum amp do you have? I've heard some people say the PSM156 helps their front-end components but hurts their amps a little bit, so it's useful to hear your perspective as well!
Did you ever get to try the Puritan Ultimate cable between the PSM156 and wall? Which Kubala Sosna cable did you have most success with in this position?

PS. Great room and great results with the treatments! That 100Hz bump is often attributable to floor bounce or ceiling bounce. Did you ever try adding a panel in the middle of the ceiling? or a bit of carpet closer to the speakers?

vsrrr September 09, 2023 22:14

Owner

Everything is plugged into the PSM156. This unit does not constrain current flow IME. I have tried it both ways and prefer the PSM noise reduction. I have done this in two houses now with similar results.

I'm using Kubala Sosna PC's from the wall to the PSM and all the devices use KS cables (Elation or Emotion) except the Aurender.

I have a KS Emotion IC coming to compare to the PAD Corvus.

bugredmachine September 07, 2023 18:13

Hi! Great to hear your comments about the PSM156.

Out of curiosity, have you had success plugging your 400W amp into it?

I have a 300W amp, and am worried that perhaps the PSM156 might constrain it in some way.

Also - very curious to hear if you found any great power cable upgrades for connecting the PSM156 to the wall. The Puritan Ultimate cable seems like the logical first step, but by the looks of your 2023 testing, it sounds like you may have gone further!

vsrrr September 07, 2023 16:24

Owner

They are 3 inch thick maple (butcher block) slabs. Years ago I had Salk Sound paint them black for me to tone down the look to a more modern gray-black combo. I have toted those things around to many different houses. Ridiculously heavy.

With their mass on small bumpers along the rails and then further isolating components on the heavy mass, it's an attempt to dampen what I can. Much like having double drywall hanging on hat-channel in a room construction.

bugredmachine September 03, 2023 14:07

Hi Pete: I see you/re not using the stock Adona shelves under your front end gear. What shelves are those you replaced them with? Jeff

yoby September 01, 2023 18:54

Owner

I don't believe I ever posted about my DIY cable risers. I made them back in about 2006 out of bowl blanks. A little router work and some lead weights on the bottoms. I wanted to organize power cables away from IS's or SC's and neaten up the systems. They have shown up in all my system postings since. I'll have to post some construction photos.

I made the triangular pieces just recently to hold up the very heavy tri-wired Venustas SC's. Quick and dirty.

bugredmachine August 04, 2023 18:44

Is that a black seatbelt onyour chair to keep you from getting blown away?

Man it must be awesome!

Enjoy, Dan

islandmandan July 31, 2023 03:19

Owner

Updated photos. About 99% of where I need to be on IC's. Saving my sheckles for a 3 meter Venustas. Wrapping the cabling around the left speaker is much better, ala original layout.

bugredmachine July 30, 2023 13:57

Owner

I updated my description with a list of the power cables I have bought and auditioned in 2023. Paypal thinks I am a business now due to my volume!

bugredmachine June 25, 2023 11:41

Owner

I am way behind taking new photos. Lots of cabling changes, added an Aurender, etc.

Everything I play sounds incredible. I played a Playlist not spun in 10 years and everything was making me smile.

And thanks to Tom Hankins for letting me audition his Kubala cables. I'm leaning toward KS power cables and PAD IC's as a great combo. I like the detail of the PAD's and the KS power cables are off the hook in the bass and "filling the soundstage".

bugredmachine June 19, 2023 17:27

Owner

Yes. I have way behind in updating my components. LOTs of changes.

The ARC is the best sounding preamp I have ever owned. I have had several very nice pre's like the TRL Dude, which was very clean and musical. The Sachs and Aric are both superb preamps over the last few years.

I chose this model as a value-priced unit after reading every comment and review I could find. The 5SE was highly rated and if you were going for a 6, then why not the 6SE, but now the price is getting up there versus the performance the 5SE was praised for.

Sensational air and presentation by the ARC. The overall smoothness, soundstage width, depth, and delineation of instruments, is absolutely addicting.

bugredmachine May 13, 2023 02:41

Hi Pete: Did you get the ARC 5SE yet? Jeff

yoby May 11, 2023 09:45

Owner

I need to make some updates i.e. power cables and new ARC preamp.

bugredmachine April 27, 2023 21:35

Owner

One night this week I put a 20 foot Transparent pc to the amp and placed the Nagomi and a Studio Master on the preamp and dac. The sound was nice but there was no bass to speak of. And the tone was not quite right w/o a Harmonix in the amp line.

Then last night I daisy chained 2 Aluminatas and a NRG The .1 into the amp. The bass was incredible, but too wooly. It was deep, but loose. The NRG was not up to the task. I digested that for about an hour.

It was getting late but I had to know if I could get some Harmonix goodness into the mix so I swapped out the NRG and Nagomi. Now with the Nagomi on the beginning of the Aluminata chain the sound was crystal clear and bass was tighter and more controlled.

For this weekend I am going to try the Nagomi on the last part of the chain connecting to the amp to see what effect there is being the last piece to touch the amp. Stay tuned.

bugredmachine April 21, 2023 12:55

Owner

I added a third Elrod to the other two in the string arrangement and it was not good. Tubby bass and hazy top end. I'll post a pic of that if I can.

I swapped the Nagomi into the middle Elrod position and it was fantastic. I don't understand how the string of 2 Elrods and one Hijiri could take on the influence of the single Nagomi cable. We would expect the Elrods to overpower the one meter Hijiri Nagomi, but the combination was enough of a positive turn, even over the Tara labs pc, that I now know I should be moving toward Hijiri cabling where I can.

bugredmachine April 17, 2023 18:55

Owner

More changes coming. Have another Elrod to make my daisy chain power cable 3 Elrods long.

Have the ARC Ref 5SE coming next week.

Also have an Aurender X100L coming so I can see if it is an improvement (which I expect) and at this price it is minimal risk to dip my toe into a true music server like this over my PC set-up from HAL.

I need to further evaluate the Nagomi power cable to decide if I should keep it.

I also ordered a Sablon Robusto power cable that I want to try.

bugredmachine April 15, 2023 09:32

Owner

On Sunday I let the system run for several hours while I did some landscaping. I did not notice any changes. At that point I decided to try my experiment of daisy chaining 3 power cables together to bypass the AntiCable 28 foot power cable to see if the higher end cables would make a difference in that crazy configuration.

And it was magic! I put an 8 foot Elrod EPS 3 on the Puritan, then connected an Elrod EPS-2 at 6 feet, and then a 6 foot Tara Labs The One to the Coda amp in a 20 foot run. Wow.

Immediately I was delivered more bass and after about 20 minutes the treble straightened out. I cannot believe the AntiCable was holding me back so much. And, of course, I was surprised that the daisy chaining would not be a total bust by inserting very inexpensive 2.5 inch adapters between cables. My theory was to use the best first and the next best cable of the Elrod brand and finish off with the Tara which I felt was the most neutral of the 3.

Anyways, it was enough of an improvement that I felt the Nagomi could now continue to do its thing and the next 2 hours were a new high at the Aural Enlightenment venue.

bugredmachine April 10, 2023 02:26

Owner

I'm not really sure how to sensibly make an update of what transpired this weekend. I visited Gestalt Audio and was highly impressed with Colin's gear and taste of music. I walked away with a brand new loaner Hijiri Nogami C-19 power cable to try.

I also wanted to try the Elrod power cables on the dac and preamp, but that never happened due to other positive tests I ran today.

Yesterday I inserted the Nogami in place of my NRG The Five cable feeding my Puritan and it didn't suck. At first I did not hear a delta in the music I could put my finger on, but as time went on I felt the music had more body to it. One thing, for sure, was it decreased the tweeter noise even further which was quite a surprise given the NRG's heavy noise filtering employed.

So I waited for Sunday to spend more time with the Nogami.

bugredmachine April 10, 2023 02:00

Owner

I have not gotten to them yet Jeff. I am a weekend warrior and by the time I get a break from yard work or other projects, I'm pretty beat and just fire up the system and listen for a few hours.

Saturday, I am going to have some "me" time and go visit Gestalt Audio in Nashville to check out Hijiri cables and other goodies. Hopefully Saturday night or Sunday I can insert the Elrods and give them a run.

I am on the verge of buying an ARC Ref 5SE preamp to try out as well. We'll see how it stacks up to the Motherlode II. Fun times!

bugredmachine April 07, 2023 20:26

Hi Pete: How did the Elrods work out for you? I've never heard any of them, but many give them high praise. Jeff

yoby April 06, 2023 10:05

Owner

Thanks Jeff. You brought me another important piece to the puzzle. Now I have Aluminata's on the DAC and preamp. I'll do some further evaluation of the Tara Labs cables before deciding if I jettison them.

bugredmachine March 31, 2023 11:41

Hi Pete: Glad the JPS Aluminata has worked out for you. Good listening. Jeff

yoby March 30, 2023 19:54

Owner

I'm also looking into an Audio Research preamp even though I like my Aric Audio preamp. From the wayback machine, I had a 2 week experience with a 6H30 preamp, a Rogue Hera. I really liked the soundstage and presence it created, but the tubes made a slight ting, ting through the tweeters that I disliked. So, I wrote it off and moved on as I was in my TRL Dude days then.

Having that in my memory bank, I now have an itch to get another 6H30-based preamp.

bugredmachine March 28, 2023 01:32

Showing 1 - 25 of 39 posts

Description

Room Details

Components Toggle details

Wilson Audio Alexia 1

Audio Research 5SE

Bricasti Design M1 DAC

Coda Technologies Continuum No. 8 amp

Cardas Audio Clear

Cardas Audio Clear

Purist Audio Design speaker cables Venustas Tri-wired set

BMI Whale Elite

Shunyata Research Sigma USB

ADD-POWR Wizard

ADD-POWR Symphony I/O

Aurender X100L

Cardas Audio Clear

Puritan Audio Labs PSM156 Studio Master Power Purifier

Core Power Technologies Core Power Technologies Deep 1800 AC Power Line Conditioner

Comments 39

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