MY Place sbayne

by sbayne on Ever Evolving

Description

High priority on tone, soundstage and overall balance of sound.
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Components Toggle details

    • Aerial Acoustics 20T V2
    These speakers are version 2 of Aerial Acoustics' pinnacle speaker design. The workmanship is outstanding. They have 2" thick cabinet walls with heavy cherry veneer. The wiring and components are all premium grade. They use a 4" ribbon tweeter and proprietary Scan-Speak drivers. A true 20HZ to 20,000HZ speaker that is very musical.
    • Line Magnetic LM-845 Premium

    The LM-845 Premium is a SET integrated amp that uses massive output transformers and a massive separate power supply. The driver tubes are 300B and output tubes are 845. I've upgraded the tubes to Western Electric. The authority, richness and soundstage this amp provides is outstanding. With the Aerial 20T V2 speakers it presents a huge soundstage that is silky smooth and powerful.

    • Eversolo Play & Gustard A26 streamer/DAC combo
    This is Eversolo's all-in-one component which I have found makes an excellent stand alone streamer. I'm feeding it to a Gustard A26 DAC that combines two AK4499EX DAC chips with one AK4191 modulator from Asahi Kasei Microdevices. With independent power supplies and grounding for each channel when run fully balanced it makes a huge, natural soundstage and very realistic presentation of the music. 
    • ModWright Signature Truth SCD XA5400ES
    ModWright Signature Truth SCD XA5400ES with external tube rectified power supply. I've added Sophia Electric blue 6SN7 tubes to the output stage. I still have a significant CD collection. Overall, great analog type sound.
    • AR-ES1, SME, Origin Live, Hagerman Labs and LTA analog system
    Heavy modified custom AR-ES1 with Origin Live speed box and SME 309 tonearm. Phono preamp is a Hagerman Labs Trumpet MC with LTA power supply. Very high value and excellent performing analog system.
    • Audioquest Dragon Interconnects, Power Cables and Speaker Cables
    Expensive but worth it if you want the absolute best out of your system.
    • Synergistic Research Black Box

    The Black Box is a Low Frequency Resonator Array that works in conjunction with the Atmospheres and FEQ X4 to solve bass node issues.  

    • Synergistic Research ART System
    This is Synergistic Research's older acoustic system that's based on resonators. It works very well with their current UEF system and provides excellent results. Complete ART systems are getting hard to find.
    • Synergistic Research: Atmosphere XL-4, Atmosphere, Mini-Atmosphere, FEQ X4 (2), UEF Dots, UEF Panels, ECT and GCT
    The UEF Panels, UEF Dots, Black Box, ECT and GCT are all types of sound resonators. I use an Atmosphere XL-4 (green ATM), Atmosphere (red ATM), FEQ X4 (2) (red ATMs) and Mini-Atmosphere (green ATM) - when used with the Synergistic Research control software they generate various frequencies of Schumann Resonances around the room.
    • Synergistic Research Tranquility Pod
    The Tranquility Pod has powered UEF and SR grounding technology.  It works with the SR Atmospheres that I have distributed around the room. Very effective with digital sources.
    • Electric Bamboo, ADD-Powr Sorcer and ElectraClear EAU-1
    The Electric Bamboo is an excellent but very rare line conditioner. Hand-built around a massive transformer thats wired and grounded in the classic star configuration.  The ADD-Powr and ElectraClear devices add electromagnetics (EM) to the AC line using an active circuit and algorithm. Contrary to popular belief not all EM is bad for sound quality in stereo systems.
    • Vera-Fi Audio MainStream, SnubWay and Puron AC Line Conditioners
    I use these conditioners as additives to my power conditioner. They give a more realistic presentation/soundstage and reveal more texture and impact to the overall sound especially in the bass.
    • Stein H2 Harmonizer system
    I have 4 Stein H2s in my system.I went with one in each of corner of the room with a Stein stone on each and a Stein diamond on the ceiling in the center of the room. They add layers and layers of depth with each vocalist/instrument being in their own separate but integrated spaces.
    • Akiko Audio Tuning Stick; Kemp QA Plug (2) and Zero One (2)
    The Akiko Audio tuning stick is another grounding product that works with internal crystals.  The Kemp and Zero One products keep  the electrons spinning around the electronic signals as uniform as possible and add a more standard frequency Schumann Resonance as compared to the Synergistic Research products which have variable Schumann frequencies.
    • Audio Magic Pulsed Electron Alignment
    The PEAs are battery powered and affect Spintronics: electrons spinning around electronic signals. The goal of the PEA devices its to get the electrons spinning as uniformly as possible. It opens up the sound and makes subtle cues in the music even more real.
    • Perfect Path Technologies Total Contact, RCA caps, Stop-It duplex plugs, E-Mats & E-Cards
    This company has now closed because the owner has passed away. These products work to achieve a uniform and consistent RF/EMI and electron treatment around components.
    • Timbernation Stand and Platforms
    Solid maple platforms stained cherry.

Comments 595

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Owner
jond - Thanks. Same to you!

sbayne

@sbayne I see Bill's work that is very cool indeed and those are some awesome caps! I am stunned he sold his speakers so fast but also cool his wife actually wanted a pair of speakers. I am sure your system sounds more and more amazing as it breaks in I had a cap upgrade done to my amp years ago and it was utterly transformative. Cheers and happy listening!

jond

Owner
Thanks jond. I've added some pictures of the updated equipment. My amp is now a 30 watt triode thats been heavily modded with Duelund CAST caps and a Bybee music rail. The preamp is a Decware CSP3 with the Jupiter cap upgraded. I've got well over 100 hours on each of them now so the sound is really coming together and will get even better with more hours. Grannyring heavily modded my Impact Monitors earlier in the year. The change in sound quality was so good I decided I wanted a preamp and amp with similar upgrades. It was much cheaper to find equipment that already had what I was looking for than have my existing equipment professionally modified with Jupiters or especially Duelunds. Some may think the cost of these caps is crazy (and yes they are expensive) but the proof is in the listening.

sbayne

Sbayne cool looking system but that's not current? What are your new amps and preamps?

jond

Owner
I’ve changed out my preamp and amps. The equipment I had before was very good and I was a little nervous to let it go. I’ll  be posting soon on my new equipment but for now I will just say it seems crazy when the caps in the component cost more than the component!  But I’m learning it’s not crazy at all..........

sbayne

Owner
Agreed. Let us know.

sbayne

The T+A is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. I have never had a component of that calibre and pedigree in my system. I's hard to imagine how the sound quality can improve but I continued to be surprised. I'm one of the few going the SS route, so this will be a very interesting audition. I will post once I have a grip on it.

david_ten

Owner
Thanks @david_ten. Yeah, professional musicians obviously have very good ears and know what live acoustic music should sound like. It was really interesting talking with them about my system. That T+A PA 3100 HV you are demoing is a very nice piece and should go well with your DI SE. I'm sticking with tube gear for the time being but good SS is always an option.

sbayne

Wonderful and special that you were able to get professional confirmatory feedback. Sounds like a great evening as well!

david_ten

Owner
We had a great collection of professional musicians over last night. The group included a conductor, a concertmaster, a composer and various orchestra members. After dinner, drinks, piano playing and conversation we ended-up in my listening room. I've had a few of these people over before but the majority had never heard my system. They were truly shocked that this level of reproduced music was possible. They understood immediately why attention to every little detail in a system is important. Much like how a musical instrument is made, setup and played. 

The consensus was dynamics and soundstage were limited as a compared to a live orchestra (this is undoubtedly true) but the overall tone and emotion of the music was spot-on - which I took as a big compliment. It was simply a great evening!

sbayne

Owner
After weeks of 24/7 break-in of the upgraded crossovers I inserted my Impact Monitors back into my main system. These speakers have been transformed! They were excellent before but now they are simply amazing! There is layer after layer of textured natural sounding music. They remind me of the Shindo Latours. The music "breathes" meaning dynamics are effortless, there is no specific soundstaging or defined treble/mids/bass there is just music! Its like the speakers aren't even there.

sbayne

Owner
Well, the saga of break-in continues. I'm guessing I have about 200 hours on the new crossovers and they have taken a step back again - I think. Problem is my music server stopped at some point so I'm not exactly sure how much signal passed through the crossovers. Also, this pure Class A amp I'm using for this task I'm pretty sure wasn't fully broken-in so its been going through sonic changes. Finally, I've added some Western Electric wire that Bill recommended which is also breaking-in. I'm going to let everything keep cooking and then finally insert the speakers back into my main system. I probably should have done this differently but that's where I'm at for now.

sbayne

Owner
It's been a wild ride as these upgraded crossovers break-in. The caps are obviously huge, there is 18 meters of new Duelund wire and lots of new soldier joints. When I first got them back from Bill they sounded spectacular but around the 48 hour mark (I've been playing them 24/7) the soundstage constricted and the highs became edgey. This went on for at least another 2 days. Now, I've got about 130 hours on them and they are back to sounding glorious. 

Bill told me this would happen and indicated they will be most of the way at the 300 mark but not fully broken-in until 500 hours or so. I, of course, have not been using my tube amps for this so when I put those back-in the sound will, hopefully, be even better. I've been using a 25 watt pure Class A amp and I'm starting to think that amp wasn't even fully broken-in!.....so, it's been a fun but tedious process - with much more to come!


sbayne

Owner
As some of you may know, Grannyring (Bill) did some extensive upgrading of the crossovers in his pair of Double Impacts. After talking to him about those upgrades and seeing pictures of the quality of his work I asked him to upgrade the crossovers in my Impact Monitors. He graciously agreed. I've added a picture of a completed crossover in my system photos. He was able to use the excellent (but huge) Jupiter VT caps. I'm still in the break-in phase but I can say they are improved on all levels. I'll update this page as the break-in period proceeds. All I really have to say at this point is: Wow and thank you Bill!

sbayne

Owner
I've now added Iso-Pucks under the F8s - another improvement in sound quality. The big news, however, is yet to come. I'm convinced there is even more sound quality to squeeze out of this system. This change is not in place yet, but if it doesn't take it to another level I'll be shocked!

sbayne

Owner

Yep, not surprised they responded well to the Aurio Pros. This speaker really reveals changes in your system whether good or bad. Regards.

sbayne

I installed the Aurio Pro's and had very similar results as you. Low price for a huge improvement in sound. Great tweak for people that feel uncomfortable upgrading drivers, caps and wire.

aniwolfe

Owner
Well, the Iso-Pucks are keepers! Pretty much every area of sound quality was improved. I'll probably get some for under my F8s or some other IsoAcoustics product if the F8s are too heavy for the Iso-Pucks.

sbayne

Owner
@aniwolfe - I've been reading over on the Double Impact boards that IsoAcoustics are becoming popular with that crowd. I found a pretty good deal on a set of IsoAcoustics Iso-Pucks so I'm going to try those under my Monitors. Probably similar to what the Aurios will do for the sound. Should be interesting comparing notes with you.

sbayne

Owner
I updated my system pics to show the recent changes.

sbayne

Owner

Thanks @aniwolfe! 

I use Herbie's Iso-Cups under my Impact Monitors and have added some weight on the top of the monitors to stabilize/couple them to the Iso-Cups. It did make a very nice improvement. I haven't tried the Aurios or Rollerblocks. Please let us know how they work-out. With these speakers you can hear every change you make to your system!

sbayne

Looks great! I bet it sounds amazing. I love my Electrons. Have you ever tried using decoupling devices like Aurios or Rollerblocks under your speakers? I hear they make a huge impact on speakers. BTW I just order 2 sets of Aurios MIB Pro's for my Electrons should have them Friday.

aniwolfe

Owner
Well the maple blocks and the bigger Tranquility Bases are now under the amps. To my surprise, everything has "relaxed" even more and the soundstage is spooky good. I can't say the soundstage expanded but its just more real.  Hard to believe such things make a difference but they definitely do!

sbayne

Owner
I'm waiting for stain to dry on some maple blocks for my amps. I'm also going to bigger Tranquility Bases for the amps. Previously, I had the Tranquility Bases on the floor. I'm thinking the maple blocks should clear-up the sound even more.

sbayne

Owner
Thanks Bon. I think you'll like the Rythmik. Since the Impact Monitor is vented you will have to mess with the phase/delay to integrate it the best. I suppose placement in the room also makes a difference. Enjoy!

sbayne

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