Leonidas crossover. Cross-over cables have been upgraded to Verastarr Illusion Copper Foil and critical cross-over components have been upgraded to Path Audio resistors and Clarity Capacitor CSA caps.
Simon Audio CD5 CD Transport/Player
Using this as a transport only to a DAC. My one and oly input - Redbook CDs.
Mapletree Audio Line 2A SE/ PS 2 Linestage Preamp
NOS 12SN7 Tung-Sol grey T plates; separate power supply; NOS Raytheon JAN-CRP 6X5WGT rectifier; Black Gate filter capacitor. Gains: 10dB, 10dB, and 18dB. Two outputs.
Whammerdyne DGA-1
4.3 Watts stereo amp sporting a pair of NOS Sylvania 2A3 tubes.
Harmonic Technology Pro-9 Plus Speaker Cables
Copper wire, spades.
VH Audio Flavor 4 Power Cords
With Furutech FI-25 Gold connectors for amp and preamp
Brick Wall (Zero Surge) PW8R15AUD
AC Protection & Filter: 15 amp; 8 isolated by duplex receptacles (6 switched, 2 unswitched) for CDP and pre, and also non-system gear (DVD, TV, cable box). Brick Wall is a "private label" customer of Zero Surge.
Star Sound Technologies Audio Points
Points under everything. Had I the scratch I'd set each component on a Sistrum Platform, but for now the Audio Points will do.
GIK Room Treatments
(4) 244 Bass Traps on side walls at first and second reflection points; (2) pairs (double-stacked) Tri-Traps front corners; (2) 6A Alpha Pro Series Bass Trap Diffusor/Absorbers 2D(a) on front wall; (3) Evolution PolyFusors on rear wall.
Silnote Audio Morpheus Reference Classic II Series II S/PDIF Cable and Interconnects
S/PDIF cable for CD transport to DAC, and interconnects for all the rest.
Furutech FPX (Cu) AC Outlet
20 amps - one for amp and one for the Brick Wall/Zero Surge
Going to try Audio Mirror 45 Watt SET monos (pair of 6C33C tubes per) - first tube power amps ever for me! Hopefully they will sound good (of course) and hopefully enough power. Vlad says they put out closer to 55 watts, with peaks to 90 watts. Have never seen measurments for my speakers, but SP has measured Andras, the Fontaines bigger brother.
In the SP Andra review JA states they are, "moderately sensitive", although they did run them with huge amps. However, my Fontaines don't have the 12" Ws the Andras have, only the same TMMs. Since the Fontaines' MMs are run full (not limited, direct to amp) as on the Andras, perhaps I can extract impedance and phase angle from the SP plots of the Andras?
Since I high-pass at 85Hz, I figure I can assume by the time the freq. gets down to 70Hz the load becomes insignificant. Viewing the plots down to 70Hz: min impedance drops to only 7 ohms; phase angle is greatest (+45 deg) at 80Hz, then smooth elongated sinewave, dropping at 4kHz to -25 deg.
Thus, I am hoping that it is acceptable for me to assume that: with one +45 deg phase angle on an overall smooth plot; and since I high-pass am avoiding the lowest impedances, seeing nothing below 7 ohms; that these SETs may likely be a good match.
One person says (paraphrasing) that my Fontaines are not a reactive load up to the tweeter crossover frequency, because they do not use any crossover for the bass/midrange drivers. The drivers are connected directly to the binding posts. With no midrange crossover, a direct connection to the amplifier allows for fast bass/midrange and should love SET amps.
I find this very encouraging and am excited to try my first tube power amp(s). Its hard to believe they'll be better than my current set up, but I don't know what I don't know so I must at least give them a try.
"Done" but not dead. Cash-strapped, mostly. Anyone in Atlantaland with a tube amp interested in lugging it over to my place to hear a pair of Egglestons and/or dual subs? I'll supply the beer (current stock includes: Stone Arrogant Bastard (you are what you eat?); Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon (Hop3 Ale); Dale's Pale Ale; and a 25 oz. bottle of St. Bernardus ABT 12 http://www.specialtybeer.com/beer,index,st._bernardus_abt_12.html).
I find John Martyn is already mixed with heavy bass and heavy rich tube sound - very resonant and pleasant in small doses at lower volumes - personally I would not try to overdo the harmonics but I'd be interested in the results of your experiment.
And although I think my system is as good as it can get I am curious to hear it with an all tube amp. I've never heard it with an all tube amp and would love to. I'm thinking either Quicksilver, Rogue, or CJ. Perhaps some day ...
I gave John Martyn some heavy rotation last night too - along with a nice Whisky to toast him! Delicious sounding. Life is great! I am deeply thankful for so many great musicians and teh recording industry as a whole for bringing such joy to everyone!
Shadorne - Thanks. John Martyn sounded spooky good last night - Solid Air and Bless the Weather. Good stuff. Have not spun Stones since I got it all dialed in to my liking. Thanks for the idea though! Think I'll start with "Now", and then "Exile". Followed by "Jamming with Edward" of course (bwah, hah, hah, hah ... I don't think Bob did that one, eh?). ;^}
I may have finally reached my goal: Andras on the "cheap", albeit with dismembered subs and lower cross-over settings. But hey! Sounds good to me!
Yeah. I'll bet it sounds good. The Rolling Stones shou1d sound close the way Bob Ludwig mastered them (on his Egglestons). Nice choice of gear. How does John Martyn sound with both subs?
Lapierre, thank you. One sub is placed right front, to the right of the right main, and the other is kitty-corner, diagonally across on left behind seating position. Both are set to equal volumes at listening position and equal cross-over, around 65Hz. For my system/room this proved best integration (flattest response) with 85Hz high-pass in-line passive filters on amp input lines. I had one sub at first, but it just did not seem to energize the room enough. By adding the second I was able to flatten a few peaks and nulls in response curve, and also properly energize the room when called upon. My goal for this system all along has been: musical, clear, extended on both ends, and non-fatiguing. I have finally achieved this objective with latest upgrade to tubes in my amp from JJs to Mullards. I am now completely satisfied and thrilled about my system. I am done shopping for gear and will now solely concentrate on pursuing more music.
Second sub now integrated into system. Ended up using the 85Hz filters on my mains and connecting the two subs as stereo. Subs' phases: locked in. Subs' volume levels: equal and locked in. Low-pass settings on the two subs set to approx. 70Hz. All I have left to do is tweak the low-pass settings on the subs for optimal integration. But already the addition of a second for stereo subs sounds fantastic. I may have finally reached my goal: Andras on the "cheap", albeit with dismembered subs and lower cross-over settings. But hey! Sounds good to me!
System edited: Added a second subwoofer! This one also an ACI Titan XL but newer model in Satin Black. (By the way, if anyone wishes to trade out their old style Titan XL in Rose Walnut for my new, fully warranted B-Stock Satin Black just let me know as wife prefers previous model.) Currently breaking in the new one alone. Next step will be to position and connect second sub to experiment and determine if subs will be either two summed (matched) signals to smooth out peaks/valleys in LF response curve, or stereo (Left channel to one and Right to the other). They will be positioned sort of randomly kitty-corner from one another, though not in the corners as I don't have any. Have two sets of ACI passive in-line filters with which to try on the mains as well: 65Hz and 85Hz. So several iterations are required to determine best results. Feel free to comment on which way you think I should go with two subs: summed or stereo, and which filters for which set-up.
System edited: Added pair of ACI 65Hz Passive High-Pass in-line (RCA) filters to relieve mains of some lowest freq. duty. By doing so also cleaned up sound, improved imaging, and widened sounstage. A great cheap tweak!
System edited: Finally addressing my room a bit. Added three GIK Acoustic 244 Panels to the wall behind my head to kill the bass null off the back wall and help with the boominess of sitting near (3') a boundary
For anyone else with the Fontaines and Titan combo, FWIW, I set the cross-over to the lowest possible setting. This gave me the best integration - i.e., you don't realize that there is a sub in the system. And for anyone fretting over getting a sub or not for fear of it messing up your current imaging and cleanliness of detail, fret no mo. It can be done, at least with an ACI sub. Measured (and corrected) response at my listening position for the lower region (without any additional room treatments): 20Hz -7.8dB 25Hz -5.6dB 31.5Hz +1.9dB 40Hz +2dB 50Hz -2.2dB 63Hz +.8dB 80Hz +1.5dB Between 63 and 80Hz the sub no longer has any effect on the response.
Thank you for the (as always) kind words. Every now and then I wake up in a cold sweat (ow! I feeeeel good, knew that I would now), worried that I need to replace my mains and sub for full-rangers. But then I just pop in Mark Murphy, Miles, or Roland Kirk, and I forget all about replacing gear. Ahhh ... the sweet sound of plastic drivers ... (tee-hee)
"This system needs to be moved to "DONE FOR NOW", as I am completely satisfied with its sound. But I don't know how to easily move it, so I guess it will sit here." -Rockadanny
Rockadanny: Dude, you used the "s" word! Not too many audiophiles can do that! Very nice to hear someone saying "satisfied." Thanks for the good news. -Bill
This system needs to be moved to "DONE FOR NOW", as I am completely satisfied with its sound. But I don't know how to easily move it, so I guess it will sit here.
