milpai's system

by milpai on AccuphaseT+A DAC200MazdaRaytheonhq playerSignalystPuronCAT5StreacomSiemensClear DayTvcQuadParasoundCullen CablesGikBrickwallHerbie's AudioOppoPuresonicAurisProAcUDP-205D48RBackert LabsRhumba 1.3InakustikFurutechIsoAcousticsGaiaReferenzLS-2404 AIRUSBStreamingNF-2404 AIRISO-puck miniAudioQuest Fog Lifters
New
Rearranged Rack
Old
Back of room, listening position
Doorway to enter nirvana!
ProAc Profile
MTM Configuration
Ribbon Tweeter
Accuphase A-48S
Rhumba 1.3
T+A DAC 200
Audio Server
Control Center
Inakustik AC-3500P ON (blue)
Inakustik AC-3500P OFF (white)
Inakustik AC-3500P back
Power cable management
Bi-wire config
AIR Referenz
Matches the loudspeakers
Inakustik NF-2404 Air
USB cable
Cable Management
Inakustik 2502F power cord
Furutech connectors
Ceiling treatment
Puron filter
Gaia II
Gaia II closeup
AQ FogLifters

Description

February 
Added Siemens 12AU7 to the collection.

December 2025
Replaced the Parasound A21 with the Accuphase A-48S

December 2024
Replaced the Oppo UDP-205 with the T+A DAC 200

April 2024
Moved the GIK Monster Bass traps from back wall to front of the room to control bass. This tightened the bass as well as opened up the mid-range and treble notes. Did not realize that the change would be so profound. Should have done this years ago.

Feb-2024
Added another Puron filter

Jan-2024
Added a Puron filter

Oct-2022
Added the Mazda 1960s grey plates 12AU7 to the Rhumba. They opened my eyes (and ears) as to why people are ready to pay so much for NOS tubes.

Aug-2022
Added Isoacoustic mini-pucks beneath the Inakustik and audio server.
Added a custom built audio server to replace the aging Asus laptop. I did not realize how much profound effect a dedicated server has on the quality of the sound.

Oct-2021
Added the ISO-puck mini under the Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3 and Oppo UDP-205.
Added Isoacoustic Carpet spikes for Gaia II.

Aug-2021
Added the AudioQuest Foglifters. Initially added for "looks" and cable dressing. But found that it adds finesse and delicacy to instruments in the music. My guess is the contact area of the cable from the original wooden raisers has reduced more than 90% and that might be the reason. I am happy.

July-2021
Added the GIK 242 ceiling panel that balanced the sound from the left speaker, that was getting missed due to the unavoidable soffit in the room. So much to learn from your own experience.

Dec-2020
Purchased the Fidelizer PRO. This has immensely changed the listening experience. Folks using a Windows machine should certainly give a shot to the free version. You have nothing to loose except 5 minutes. The best part of free version is it is an exe files that you run and not install. So if you don't like it, just delete the .exe.

Oct-2020
Upgraded Asus K52 with a Asus S400CA, 8GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Again, this is an older laptop repurposed for audio. Also added a NAS server and all audio files are on that server. Connection to this server is via ethernet and not wifi. Evaluating the free version of Fidelizer which makes very audible, positive change in my system.

Jul-2020
Repurposed an old laptop for streaming Spotify/Qobuz and also digital files. The laptop was upgraded from 3GB to 8GB RAM and from 250GB HDD to 1TB SSD for DSD and FLAC files. Installed Foobar2000 with Eole skin on the laptop to play the digital files. Using an old iPad mini 2 tablet with MonkeyMote to control this laptop remotely. Love this app!
Installed the Inakustik Reference High Speed USB between the laptop and Oppo 205, which is now used as a DAC.

Jun-2020
Added Inakustik NF-2404 XLRs between Oppo-Backert and Backert-Parasound.
Will try to find some time to do a mini review of these cables, if I find time. These cables pull you into the music way too much.

Mar-2020
Added Inakustik LS-2404 AIR biwire loudspeaker cables

Nov-2019
Added the IsoAcoustics Gaia II footers to the ProAcs

Jun-2019
Added the Inakustik AC-3500p power conditioner in the system.

Nov-2018
Replaced the Promitheus Reference C-core TVC with Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3 preamplifier

Jan-2018
Replaced the Quad 21L with the ProAc D48R in Ebony.

October-2017
Replaced the Teac CD-1000 SACD player with Oppo UDP-205 universal disc player.

September-2015
Replaced the Marantz SACD player with Teac CD-1000.

May-2015
New room finished in April. Room is 19 X 15 X 8. Three walls were already in place (concrete). Had the 4th wall built with double drywalls inside/outside and using GreenGlue. 2 dedicated 10gauge 20 amp lines for amps and electronics. Speakers are 4 feet from back wall and 3 feet from side wall. Placement of speakers, chair, panels etc are within 1/8th inch tolerance. Replaced Signal Cable power cables with Cullen Cables Crossover Series power cords, because I needed longer and flexible cables.

Feb-2015
Replaced Signal Cable Silver Resolution RCAs between Marantz and TVC with Clear Day's RCA cables.

Sep-2014
Replaced Signal Cable Silver Resolution XLR between TVC and amp with Clear Day's XLR cables.

Aug-2014
Replaced the Signal Cable Silver Resolution bi-wires with Clear Day Double Shotguns and jumpers between HF and LF speaker terminals.

04-Dec-2013:
Replaced original wooden footers under TVCs with Ebony footers. Simply unbelievable - what they did.

February 2012 - September 2012:
Been exited to have a dedicated room for this "passion". This word was emphasized by a female family friend. She was amazed by how passionately I could go on and on about this hobby. She likes classical music. Soon after we moved into our first home, I did post some questions on this forum about french doors. Those are in place now and I am happy with their looks. Per my wife (touch wood), I need to place something on the door panels for preventing reflections and maintaining privacy. Her support for me in this hobby has been outstanding and I would not have reached this far, if not for her. So, that treatment on the door will come sometimes later this year. This is a small room with 13.5'X12.5'X9' dimensions. I painted this room myself (first time, never did this before). The speakers are placed along the shorter wall. They are 40" from front wall and about 30" from side walls. They are about 7' apart with some toe-in. I sit slightly more than 7' away. All measurements are within 1/10" error. Finding the optimum position for speaker took me about 24 to 30 man hours. Though this is painful, the outcome of this exercise is mind-boggling. Got some granite to go between the floor and speakers. These are 18"X18"X1.5". This has tightened the bass and has provided necessary isolation from the wooden floor below. At the same time, added Herbie Audio Lab's Extra Thick Hush Puckies under the speaker spikes and the granite. This causes the speaker to not "ring" and provides stability to the speakers, because of the dBNeutralizer base. Since this is my own space, I added some treatments from GIK. Bryan Pape at GIK was very helpful and actually told me to go easy on the treatments. We started with 2 Tri-traps on the corners and 2 Monster Panels on the back wall directly behind the listening position. I liked the way the bass tightened up. Bryan suggested the 244 instead of 242s on the first reflection panels to take care of any phase issues as well. And that has turned pretty nice. Also got the terminations on the speaker wires changed from spades to BFA bananas. I am totally sold on the BFAs. Superb contact and fit. Some of you advised me to move the equipments from between the speakers. Though I could not do it 100%, what I did was, to disassemble the rack and use the shelfs on the floor directly. But the resulting change in the sound staging is simply fantastic. I never imagined that a rack placed between 2 speakers can mess the soundstage. With all this in place I did miss some "meat" in my system. But I thought it was the size of the room that was causing the nulls and there was probably nothing I could do. What finally brought "life" in my system was the new XLRs between the preamp (TVC) and the amp. The move from RCA to XLR in my system was nothing short of drastic. I have mentioned this on this site as well as a forum dedicated to Parasound Halo products. Apparently, there was not enough gain in my system and so the "meat" was missing on the bones, if you will. This was not so obvious in the previous apartment room, since it was small and the speakers used to be closer to the walls. In the near future, I would like to add 3 242 GIK panels on the front wall, behind the speakers. Will first experiment with the existing Monster Panels on the front wall.


March 2010:
The Parasound amp has changed my system profoundly. I cannot believe the transparency and expansiveness it has brought into my system. And it seems a very good match for my TVC as I set the TVC volume to lower levels than my previous amp.

April 2009: Added the Promitheus TVC, which took my system to an altogether different level. I did not imagine of such a performance from my system. Looking for a good power amp now. Want a power amp with high sensitivity and power - to match the TVC and also in case I upgrade my speakers at a later time.

August-2005
It took many listening sessions, forums, mags, etc to build this starter system. Was worth every minute spent for building it. Started with recommended components list - but ended with what my ears liked.
Read more...

Room Details

Dimensions: 19’ × 15’  Medium
Ceiling: 8’

Components Toggle details

    • ProAc Response D48R Loudspeakers
    Ebony with Ribbon tweeter.
    • Accuphase Laboratory, Inc A-48S
    Class A power amp. 50 watts X 2 at 8 ohms.
    • Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3
    Tube preamplifier with 2 X 12AU7 tubes
    • T+A DAC 200
    True 1-bit converter - processes DSD files in their native form
    Uses 4 32-bit Burr-Brown converters per channel for PCM processing
    • Custom build Audio Server Audio Server
    Custom built audio server for streaming FLAC/DSD files and also other streaming services. Based on Streacom FC10 Alpha chassis. Running HQ Player for converting files to DSD 512
    • Signalyst HQ Player
    High quality file processor/player for converting FLAC files to 512 DSD
    • Inakustik Reference Power Station AC-3500P
    Power Conditioner
    • Inakustik LS-2404 Air
    Bi-wire speaker cables
    • Inakustik NF-2404 Air
    XLR Cables
    • Inakustik Reference High Speed USB
    USB cable
    • Inakustik 2502F
    Power Cord
    • Furutech FI-28(R)/FI-32(R)
    • Cullen Cables Crossover Series 10 AWG
    Amplifier Power Cord
    • Cullen Cables Crossover Series 12 AWG
    SACD player power cord
    • IsoAcoustics Gaia II
    Isolation footers for loudspeakers
    • IsoAcoustics Gaia II Carpet Spikes
    Carpet Spikes for the Gaia II
    • IsoAcoustics ISO-puck mini
    Footers under the preamp and DAC
    • AudioQuest Fog Lifters
    Cable dressers and system enhancers.
    • World Market Kendall Chair
    Very comfortable chair. Suede. No support directly behind the head which means sound is not distorted. I was searching for something like this for quite some time. I looked at some LC2 and LC3 knock-offs. But they were all leather that could reflect sound. Chocolate color which also matches the GIK panels.
    • GIK Acoustics Tri-Trap
    For front corners behind the speakers, in coffee color.
    • GIK Acoustics Monster Bass Trap
    Mounted on the wall behind listening seat.
    • GIK Acoustics 244 Bass Trap
    Absorption panel in Coffee color, mounted at first reflection points, that also takes care of phase related issues. Plan to get 2 more to go in the center of the room behind the speakers.
    • GIK Acoustics 242 broadband panel
    2' X 2' absorption panel
    • Porterhouse Audio Porter Ports
    • Puron
    Power filter
    • Apple iPad Gen 9
    iPad 9th generation for controlling Foobar2000 using MonkeyMote, Spotify and Oppo UDP-205 remote.

Comments 324

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Owner
I picked up the Jappling ottoman today.

milpai

Picking up asecond poang chair and footrest today for $35 that matches the poang chair and footrest I already have perfectly. Same exact colors! Anyways, I'm sure my girl will be happy because she won't have to sit on the ground anymore ;-)

b_limo

Good observation.

Will keep Jappling in mind for my new room.

lapierre

Owner
Lapierre,
It surely is comfortable. But it is different from the previous Poang that I had. The Poang is in the sleepy comfort zone. If you are the person who likes to listen to music and wants to fall asleep, then Poang is the one for you. But if you are the person who wants to be attentive during the listening session, then Jappling is the one for you. I liked the Ekenas at Ikea too, but the color I liked was not in stock. Besides, the Jappling had a big WAF.

milpai

Looks comfortable.

lapierre

Owner
System edited: Picked up a new chair from IKEA. It is a Jappling chair. Was almost tempted to pick another Poang with the new material, but wife wanted a change. This, I believe is a closeout chair, but it matched most of my criteria, as it matched my height requirement as well as the panels. Set it up last night and it is pretty nice. Unlike the Poang, I do not have a headrest now. But that is fine. And surprise of surprises - this chair is MADE IN THE USA!! Please see the system pics for the label. Though you cannot find this chair on IKEA site, you can find it here: http://www.overmaninternational.com/livingroom/jappling/

milpai

Wow 300 watts?! I guess that's one approach to ensure you never leave Class A bias lol. Based on what I'm hearing, I would go up to 16 x 16 without any reservations.

nd4speed

Owner
Yes Samhar. I am glad that I chose HAL for the isolation. I did read your post. You have done a lot of experimentation with the treatments. I have ordered 2 244 panels that will go on the wall behind the speakers. Since my room is small, this will help stabilize the image. This would be broadband absorption and I am thinking that this will provide some "clarity" to the sound image.

milpai

Owner
Nd4speed,
Thanks. Yes the Quads are nice speakers. But I like the looks of Rethm much more. I am really surprised (in a good way) what you have done with your room. It's practically same size as mine, but looking at it, I thought it was probably 14 X 17 or larger. BTW, I got a response from Jacon from Rethm and he feels that the Trishnas are the right size for our rooms. Apparently Rethms also do well with solid state amps. Jacob mentioned that one Chicago dealer plays the Rethms with 300Wpc Clayton amps!

milpai

Milpai,
Glad to see you purchased isolation devices for your equipment, well worth the investment!!
I posted a response to your questions on my system page.

samhar

Lovely speakers! I got a chance to hear these locally and wanted to pick them up, but I didn't have suitable amplification for them at the time.

nd4speed

Owner
System edited: I needed some isolation devices and went with Herbie's Audio Labs. HAL's products successfully removed most of the hash that I was experiencing in my system, despite the careful speaker placement and room treatments. I am well aware that I need some more panels to make the music sound better, but I am pretty happy with HAL products. Very higly recommended. And special recommendations on the Hush Puckies. I have not seen people use them so much, as compared to the TenderFoot. But I will recommend these over the plain metal footer cups. The dBNeutralizer base does it's job of stopping the vibrations while stabilizing the speakers.

milpai

Owner
Bjensen,
Thank you for the post and sharing your experience on 8260 upgrade. The Marantz in my system will be the next upgrade for me. I have been thinking about the SA-11S3 recently. I am surprised to hear your upgrade made such a difference. I can only imagine what the S3 would sound. I am also looking into a dac that can do DSD, besides the regular PCM stuff. I simply love SACD and would like a DAC that can accept DSD over hdmi, which obviously means, I have to have a transport with hdmi out.

milpai

Great system... Reiterating one other post ... I loved my marantz sa8260
but started not to read sacd any more ... Tried to fix it but in the end got sa8001 my jaw dropped the first time I heard it in my system plus has a nice dac so I can hook iPhone up and listen to pandora for causal listening

bjensen

Got the silgnal cable silver resolution xlr's in and even out of the box, after about four hours of listening spread out over three days, I love them and will eventually be changing out all of my other cords to signal cables! Hey Milpai, shoot me an e-mail so I don't continue to clutter up your wall. [email protected]

b_limo

Owner
You are welcome, B_limo. I think you are in for a pleasant surprise with the Signal Cable XLRs. 2 feet should work fine in a closet setup. You are on the right upgrade path with the Brickwall. One thing I fotgot to mention that, with the Brickwall, make sure that you plug the CDP in one of the 6 available filtered outlets. You will hear slight improvement in the playback -much quieter background. Sorry to hear about your bro's misfortune.
Once you are all setup, do post some pics. Eager to see them :-)

milpai

Thanks Milpai! Good advice on the lenghts; I never thought about going a bit longer in order to snake them around. I went with short 2 foot xlr's so hopefully I don't regret it later. I should be getting them monday or tuesday. Slight delay in shipping due to the storm. I think I'm going to get the brickwall next so I can stuff my Equipment in the closet, out of sight, and I also like the idea of unplugging one plug vs. seven in thunderstorms, which we get alot of in Colorado. All of my brothers electrical stuff got fried last summrr. Stove, micro, tv, stereo, everything.

b_limo

Owner
B_limo,
Thank You.
I plug all my components into the brickwall. I cannot really give a shotreview of this. But one thing I must say that when I connected the amp "direct to the wall" Vs "to the always-on outlet" on the Brickwall, there is no difference in the sound. This is a solid surge protector that provides me peace of mind. I did not purchase the Brickwall for cleaning up the power - not sure if it does that. For power cords, I think you should have at least 4 feet. That way you can "snake" the cables around so that they do not touch/cross other cables and you have component placement flexibility.
I am eager to know your experience with the Signal cable XLRs. I can see your excitement to make some nice equipment purchases. This is a crazy hobby. But love it. Make sure that you enjoy your music everyday :-)

milpai

Milpai, talk to me about the brickwall! Is everything plugged into it? Give me a short review of it, and is there something you've found that you like better? I really like the idea of cleaning up my powera bit, and I also like the idea of cleaning up cabling a bit in the process. something else I like this would also allow me to run reallg short powercords into one box (do you think that is a good idea, short power cords?) Thanks bro! I'm liking your set-up more everyday and am following in your footsteps in a few ways, so thanks again! Ordered the xlr's yesterday, and will probably pull the trigger on thd p.c.'s next, but maybe I'll get the brickwall first and run short p.c.'s :-)

b_limo

Owner
B_limo,
Good to know that you experimented with the speaker positions. It is a painful task, but very rewarding. I am not a DIY person like you. Zman has done some nice work on acoustic treatment:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vbudg&1267991000
Signal Cable's products are "value for money". You would have to pay significantly higher to surpass their performance.
As for the 2 CDPs - the Marantz is the primary one. I do not play any "unknown" or "CDRs" on the Marantz. All those go into the cheap Sony DVD-player. None of the CDs that I put in the Sony are "dirty". Unknown CDs include the CDs that I have not purchased or belong to someone else. The issue with such CDs is that they "may" have multiple scratches on them which may miss-align the SACD laser. Library CDs are full of such. If a unknown CD is dirty, I simply wipe them clean with a clean soft moist cloth. No special cleaners, since they are not mine. And (touch wood) none of my CDs get touched on the flat surfaces. I handle my personal CDs as carefully as possible, only on the edges.

milpai

Owner
Sam,
Hope you setup your equipment soon and post some pics. I would be eager to see your new room. I would guess for this move that would be one of your consideration and hence the new room would be a step-up over the previous one.
I have posted a comment on your system page with couple of questions for you.
BTW, I am looking at Herbie's Audio products for component isolation.

milpai

Samhar, damn buddy, nice set-up!
Milpai, hey there bro! So I've been playing around with speaker placement again only to end up moving it rightback to where it was based on your dimensions, but only this time they ended up there soley based on my listening impressions. It seems like we are in similiar places on this audio journey, as I am now going to be building and applying acoustic panels and looking for a chair. Alot of people said I should look into the ikea poaing (sp.?). Is that the one you are currently using? I'll be buying those Xlr's you recommended this weekend and will probably eventually switch all my cables to signal cables too. They are priced really reasonably.
So, whats up with the two cd players? I've been wondering lately if dirty cd's muck up the laser on my player...
Do you use any cleaning product on your cd's?

b_limo

Milpai
Thanks for the comments !! I have only used the Herbie's UltraSonic tube dampeners and thought they worked very well. I mentioned the dots and pucks because they are inexpensive to try and are a good starting point to discover how much hash can be eliminated. You can then tune with other devices and/or combinations of devices under the shelves and the equipment to your liking. I have Simms pucks under the Black Diamond Racing Shelves and BDR cones under the CDP, it's just a matter of trying many combinations over time. After listening to my system for a period of time, weeks or months, I hear some area of the sound I'm not happy with, similar to your not hearing clearly deep into the background or a certain instrument not sounding "right" to my ears. This is when I start working on that area until I'm satisfied, this can take days or weeks and possibly $$$ !!!! This keeps repeating itself through the system/room until you reach "good enough" and stop worrying about it!!!
I have moved but my system isn't up and running, as for the dedicated room I don't think that can happen here!!!
I chose the EDS isolators because I prefer foam over ceramic and the foam is stackable in tight areas plus it's cheaper if you buy the special price seconds !!!!

Look at the middle picture of my room in each corner on top and sitting slightly diagonal on the record cases is a 244 trap. I tried these in the corners behind the speakers then replaced them with 16" ASC super tube traps which I preferred by a large margin. I tried many materials in front of the stone fireplace and preferred the 242's. The 242's were replaced on the side walls by Real Traps Mondo Traps, three went to the front wall one to the back wall behind the listening position.

samhar

Owner
Samhar,
Thank You for the kind words and the suggestions on the sorbothane isolation pods provided. Do you know if Herbie's Audio Lab has any comparable product? I am pretty impressed by their Hush Puckies.
Have you moved into your new home? I am curious - have you built a dedicated room for your system? You have a awesome system, which totally justifies a custom built dedicated room. Can you throw some light on why you chose Cable Isolators ESD over the ceramic ones for cable isolation? This is one more thing I need to look at. I went though your system and saw that you are using GIK 242 on the wall behind your system. Why did you decide on these and not 2 panels on 244? I am undecided on this part.

milpai

Hello Milpai
I would try putting Simms pucks, if you can find them, or sorbothane isolation pods under you equipment shelving and/or equipment. You can find the sorbogel at "dang good stuff" on ebay, get the 2" 50 D, $26.95 for 4. You could do everything at a reasonable cost. I think you will find these help reduce the "hash" that is bothering you. I currently use Simms pucks but have used sorbogel in the past. Grand Prix Audio uses sorbothane between the rack and shelving!!!!! I think this will clean up the mids and highs and for a very reasonable price you can find out.
You are doing a good job with your system/room, very nice!!

Sam

samhar

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