Updated - current system as of August 2016. Items that are gone are labeled SOLD.

mantis007 August 31, 2016 13:45

System edited: just a few changes - I updated items no longer used with SOLD. Added: Luxman M600-A amps(keeping JM Sound), PS Audio Direct Stream DAC, HiDiamond D8 speaker cables.

mantis007 August 13, 2015 22:30

System edited: just a few changes and new pics. Replaced the High Fidelity CT1 IC with HiDiamond D9 - added HiDiamond power cables to pre and amps.

mantis007 July 30, 2014 19:49

Hi, man I don't check this often. Yes, Peter builds a nice speaker. Funny I don't even think about upgrading anymore :) My wife likes that very much LOL

mantis007 July 25, 2014 00:01

Very nice setup. Peter does know how to work his magic.

I use to own the little brother setup to your system (BSI Model 3, Canary CA-339 MK-II and CA-906).

bryans April 16, 2014 03:05

Hello Piere,

If you are looking for a CA906 I have two of them on the shelf looking for a new home, Yours ?

Good Listening

Peter

pbnaudio April 12, 2014 04:06

Thanks Pierre. The 906 has NOS RCA 5Y3 & 6SL7, the 6V6 are JJ - the 6SN7 are NOS RCA from the mid 50's. I bought it second hand and it came with these - I don't know what factory tubes it comes with. I will add pictures later on.

mantis007 April 11, 2014 16:23

Congrats on the CA-906 preamp. Beast!

IMO the 2 chassis preamp with external power supply and two chokes is a great move. Tough to beat that external power supply weighing in at 35 lbs. Really lowers the noise performance.

Do you know what brand vacuum tubes (1 x 5Y3, 1 x 6SL7 and 2 x 6V6) incorporated with a newly design circuit ?

What about the line stage utilizing four military grade 6SN7 vacuum tube?

Surprised only RCA inputs.

lapierre April 11, 2014 15:49

System edited: added a Canary Audio CA-906 2 chassis preamp. It was upgraded with Mundorf silver/gold caps and a Furutech gold IEC. Great match for the amps.

mantis007 April 11, 2014 14:05

Pierre - yes I certainly do but it also costs 2x more than the others. The last few I owned were the Mytek 192, BMC PureDac, ExaSound e20 MK II with Kingrex PS, Teac 501, PS Audio PWD MK II w/bridge. With each of those I found something lacking or excessive - either they were boring or bright or 2 dimensional etc.. I have had the Lux for a few months now and find nothing about it I don't like - it's never causes irritation where I want to turn the system off, its always engaging, smooth, luxurious sounding and has great resolution without being too technical sounding. I haven't looked or even thought about another DAC since I got the Lux. One thing I've been thinking about is trying some Furutech fuses on it but it uses 6 IIRC so $$$. It does have a mechanical relay sound when changing between resolutions but so did a couple of the other DACs but no big deal.

mantis007 April 11, 2014 14:01

Kevin,

For an example, a single 8.2 Ohm 25 W Xicon resistor measures about 106uH inductance. Four in parallel, 2 one direction 2 in the opposite direction, measures 3uH and one ends up with a 2.05 Ohm 100W resistor with almost no inductance.

Good Listening

Peter

pbnaudio April 10, 2014 18:20

Why do you think Luxman is better than the other DACs you had in previous systems?

lapierre April 10, 2014 02:25

I’d also like to thank PBN for their answer. It makes a lot of sense. The only point I might take issue with is the paralleling of two resistors in opposite directions to make them non-inductive. For this to actually occur, the coils would have to be in direct and complete contact with one another—coil to coil with zero separation between them. If not, there’s a reduction of inductivity, not an elimination of it. But when used as shunts for the mid-woofers as they are here, as the designer points out, it doesn’t really matter.

kevinkwann March 19, 2014 15:56

Peter, thanks for the detailed explanation.

mantis007 March 13, 2014 13:12

Kevinkwann, and Tony,

The resistors in the crossover are used as shunts for the two mid woofers and have high power handling which I view as far more important than using some fancy butique resistor with zero power handling.

Further more the only culprit in a sand cast resistor is that it is slightly inductive. This however can be eliminated by paralleling two resistors making sure that they reoriented so that the coils in them are oriented in opposite direction. A non inductive resistor, like a Mills for an example, is made that way. Its still a wire wound resistor but with a low power handling, Now take 2 ea. 25 W resistors and orient them that way and you'll have a 50W resistor that's induction free, use 4 ea. and your will have a 100W resistor that's induction free.

As Always Good Listening

Peter

PS Tony what an impressive system you have put together

pbnaudio March 11, 2014 15:48

It does make some sense for that singular purpose. Thanks Tony!

kevinkwann March 11, 2014 00:56

I asked that too and they are only used for bass shunt - if Peter from PBN sees this maybe he can explain.

mantis007 March 10, 2014 18:37

PBN combines Jantzen silver caps with inexpensive sand-cast resistors...what kind of sense does that make?

kevinkwann March 09, 2014 17:05

Hi, yes they are but they I can move them around pretty easy without the Eden spikes. The CAPS works great - I also use JRiver on the Control PC and convert everything to DSD128 - the CAPS 3 doesn't have any problem with it.

Yes, the 8th Nerve are from years ago and were OOB back in 07 or 8 I think - they still work great ;)

mantis007 March 05, 2014 15:46

Those are some massive speakers! Good to see another user of Audiophile Optimizer and Windows Server. I am planning to build a CAPS soon.

I also see you have some 8th Nerve products? You must have bought those a looong time ago as I believe the company is out of business? I still have of their stuff in the box in the garage that I never got around to using.

tboooe March 05, 2014 15:27