Upgraded to this from a VPI Scoutmaster. What an upgrade!!!
Tri-planar Mk VII
Great tonearm.
Dynavector XV-1s
Nice and detailed.
Tron Seven (phono stage)
Built in England for my cartridge.
Berkeley Alpha DAC
Series 1. Wonderful sounding DAC, sounds great direct to amps as well.
Berkeley Alpha USB
Companion piece to the Alpha DAC, this converts USB to digital and does a wonderful job.
Lamm Industries L2 Reference
Two piece hybrid preamplifier. Power supply unit is tubed while the control unit is solid state. I switch between this and the XP-10 as my mood dictates.
Pass Labs XP-10
Very happy with this. Great ergonomics & aesthetics and wonderfully detailed elegant sound. I switch between this and the Lamm L2 Reference preamp to suit my mood.
Purist Audio Design Proteus Provectus
Praesto Revision, used between phono stage and preamp.
Madfloyd, I find Transparent Audio speaker cable improves bass without compromising the mids and tops. I use Ttansparent Audio reference speaker cable and interconnect
Hooray for you. How were you able to take over two rooms in your home? The result is stellar, nice room and great gear. Life is just a little sweeter when you have a comfy place to listen to some tunes.
The home theater is 15x26 with a 7.5' ceiling and the walls and ceilings are iso-damped (ASC sound proofing product). Sophia 2's worked OK in there but the Sasha did not. Not only was the bass a big issue but so were the highs - they would drive you out of the room on a lot of material. So I think the overall wider and taller family room made the most difference.
As for Antelope vs Berkely, the biggest differences were in driving the amps directly where the Berkeley sounded very good (and the Antelope very dry and sterile). I didn't do that much a/b when going through a preamp; my hunch is that they were a lot closer than when going direct.
Hi, Congrats on realizing a better sound from the family room. What do you attribute the better sound? Was the other room smaller or were there too many or few treatments? I'm curious.
On a separate note, how would you compare the sound differences between the Antelope and Berkeley DACs? With both running through a preamp, is one much better sounding than the other? Thanks in advance.
System edited: System edited: It's been a while since my last update and I've now added some photos and deleted/added components (preamp and DACs have changed).
I did not like the antelope direct to the amps. The sound was very sterile and ergonomically the 5db increments (or whatever they were) was very inconvenient.
I have switched to a Berkeley Alpha DAC and that sounds very good direct to the amps and remote control is great.
Angryfloyd, whoops I mean Madfloyd, Nice use of acoustical treatments. Like you I also use GIK D1 diffusers and RPG's Skylines for my ceiling. What are you doing to absorb bass or are you depending solely on the RIVES PEQ to tame bass axial mode peaks?
I'm interested in hearing more about your system. What size room do you have? How does the bass sound with the Ref5? Before I had my Sashas I had Sophia 2s and Pass or BAT amps and had tried the Ref5 and thought the bass was too tubey and soft sounding. I am curious how it would sound with the Lamms and Sashas. I bet the mids and highs are gorgeous!
I have the Sashas with Lamm M1.2s but run them thru the ARC Ref5. I'll be posting some pics of my system soon, but have to say yours is gorgeous. I wouldn't like to compare pics with your room anytime soon!
