this room and system is the result of 10 years in High End audio. my
system has been stable for a couple of years (except for transport and
amplifier upgrades within the same brand). the room has been in the
planning stage for about 18 months and i actually moved in a little over
a month ago.
my audio philosphy is to have the system get out
of the way of the event. i like as pure and simple a signal path as
possible and, at this point, prefer passive to active gain stages. i
love all the formats and enjoy having lot's of music.....vinyl is my
favorite but i listen to at least 60% digital. the new room really
reveals the benefits of SACD over redbook.
the system and room
truely allow the event to be recreated before me. i love the way the
speakers disappear and i am transported to another place/time.
i have choosen my cables, sources, amps, speakers to have as little of their own sound as possible.
recently, i upgraded my digtial transport from the modified Philips
SACD 1000 to the new emmlabs CDSD.....this was a significant step upward
in performance.
i have written an article in Positive Feedback regarding my room building experience.....here is a link;
new version of these cables, a big step over the amazing TRSC model i have used for 10 years. fantastic performance.
WADAX SA Reference DAC
Wadax Reference Dac----state of the art dac with 2 separate power supplies. the best dac i have heard by a good margin. below is a link to a thread about my Wadax experience.
WADAX SA Reference Server with Akasa optical interface
ultimate state of the art music server using Roon. includes the Akasa optical interface.
CS Port LFT1 turntable w/arm
air bearing platter and air bearing linear tracking arm; string drive with zero feedback dc motor, low pressure, low flow air system with zero noise air box.
world class musical flow, nuance and delicacy, combined with authority and ease. serves the music completely.
Esoteric T1 Turntable
magnetic drive/rim drive idler turntable with torque adjustment.
https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/t1/top
Esoteric G1X Master Clock
Master Clock Generator for speed improvement for the T1 turntable.
https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g1x/top
Wave Kinetics NVS
direct drive turntable
Durand ---Two Tosca tonearms.
gimbal bearing design. the finest tonearm i have heard.
one Tosca on the Esoteric T1 turntable
one Tosca on the Wave Kinetics NVS turntable
Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
Field Coil Loaded uni-pivot tone arm. with power supply.
amazing natural and very high resolution tone arm. link below.
Experience Music/Intact Audio phono corrector + silver wound MC Trio SUT combo for three different tonearms.
bespoke tubed phono preamplifier. silver wound, with custom dual power supplies.
https://myemia.com/LR.html
LFD -3- Phono Cables DIN to RCA
3 sets of very high performance phono cables. amazing performance. built by Dr. Richard Bews in the UK.
one cable uses a DIN to RCA short Dongle + an RCA to RCA interconnect. the Dongle improves the performance of the DIN connection. details at the link below.
two Etsuro Golds, ---a pair of Reference MC Phono Cartridges.
duraluminim (A7075) body, 24 carat 'Kinpaku' Gold Leaf finish, diamond cantiliver. .3mv output, 4 ohms. these are both special versions of the Etsuro Gold.
one is mounted on the CS Port linear tracker.
one is mounted on the Primary Control FCL arm.
finest cartridge i have heard by a significant margin. WOW!
Audio Technica MC-2022 60th Anniversary cartridge
uses the unified stylus cantilever design. which results in extreme lack of distortion and linearity. maybe the best i've heard at musical truth.
mounted on the Durand Tosca tonearm on the NVS tt.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
Koetsu Azule Platinum Stone Body, boron cantilever
.3 Mv output moving coil cartridge. mounted on the Durand Telos 12" wood arm wand tone arm and NVS turntable.
Miyajima Labs --2--Infinity mono cartridge's.
one Infinity cartridge has 0.7mil stylus for modern narrow groove mono pressings.
one Infinity cartridge has 1.0 mil stylus for early wide groove mono pressings.
https://www.miyajima-lab.com/e-mono.html
DS Audio Ion 001 Vinyl Ionizer
generates positive and negative ions to remove static charge from vinyl records. i use this with my NVS turntable.
https://ds-audio-w.biz/products/181/
CS Port Static Eliminator IME1 (two of them)
An unprecedented accessory focusing on cartridge friction. It suppresses the effects of static electricity and makes records clearer.
one is on the CS Port tt, one on the Esoteric T1 tt.
active isolation under 5 separate components: (1) the NVS turntable, (2) the MSB dac, (3) the darTZeel preamp, (4 + 5) both darTZeel mono block amplifiers. custom modifications by Taiko Audio add a linear power supply plus panzerholtz top layer + Daiza platform to provide full frequency resonance attenuation to each platform.
Taiko Audio Daiza isolation platform--22 used in the system
Panzerholtz Platform with spiral cutouts reducing mid and high frequency resonance while retaining life and energy and not changing tonality.
22 Daiza platforms in the system of various sizes under every piece of the signal path.
Adona Zero GTX rack---3 of them--each 4 shelf.
all three with 27" x 21" turntable top.
solid rack for best direct floor connection.
Evolution Acoustics 'system' power cables
a new version of the TRPC model i used on my darTZeel 468 mono blocks for the last 10 years. a big step up.
Sablon Audio King power cord
used on the Wadax Reference Server.
https://www.sablonaudio.com/power
Absolute Fidelity power interfaces
power cords specifically designed for either motors (tt and tape decks), amplifiers, and components. 11 in the system.
Tripoint Audio Troy Signature
Grounding box for chassis grounding the darTZeel 458 mono block amplifiers + grounding the passive main towers of the Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker system.
Tripoint Audio Elite
Tripoint Elite grounding box. this does chassis grounding for my sources. it uses a a pair of Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference ground cables for my dart preamp and the MSB Select II dac. there are also 4 Signature Silver ground cables to the two arm boards of the NVS tt, the power supply of the NVS tt, and the SGM server.
Equi=tech 10WQ
10kva balanced Isoltion transformer and distribution panel.
Furutech GTX-D NCF Rhodium duplex outlets
10 in the system. used with 10 Furutech covers and frames. uses NCF (nano crystal formula) material to reduce noise by emitting negative ions.
Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers
8 sets-of-4 in the system for individual tuning of each piece of gear.
Auralex T-Fusor diffusers
i use 20 of these. 6 each on the front side walls, and 4 each front ceiling and rear ceiling.
Klaudio Record Cleaning System
automatic record cleaner
Acoustic Revive RL-30 mKIII CD-LP demagnatizer
for demaging any disc.
Furutech DF-2 LP disc flattner
will remove warps from Lps
Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Anniversary Ed.
will cook any cables
Winds ALM-01 Stylus Force Gauge
easy accurate, repeatable, measurments.
i-Tower by Koncept LED floor lamp
(3) are used. best audio light ever. 2 'warm', 1 'cool'.
Quietrock THX 545 drywall
specialized drywall with a 1/4" metal layer. used in my front sidewalls to establish proper room boundaries.
Funny thread about Fremer's review of the Anna. Boy, it is like a lynch mob over there. It is a shame that no one over there has even heard it. Boy would they be acting differently.
Dev: I cannot speak as to why your friend feels the way he does. I can tell you that I have done the comparisons as well and I totally concur with Mike regarding the Reed versus the Talea. To me there was a noticeable improvement with the Talea in virtually every facet of listening.
Thanks again for having us over and putting up with our testing. I really appreciate all the work you had to go through with all the switching of wires. I'm glad it was you not me :)
The room is really sounding great and way better than even the last time I was there. It was the first time I was in your room and nothing caused me to be critical. Music just sounded natural and involving. Congratulations!
Jason: You said "I think it is a bit of personal preferences as to how music sounds in each individuals point of view, that is probably why Mike liked his good friends room Jonathan Tinn`s as the best sounding at the Rocky Mountain music festival. The equipment is this room is probably the closest to what Mike has at his place so this is his reference point as to how music sounds. Other Individuals might have preferred another room as their best sound of the show because it is closer to how they like their music to sound.
I think every one is biassed when it comes to music and how it should sound, is there a "best sound of the show" or is there a preference to favorite sound of the show."
Or... maybe it was just the best sounding room at RMAF. :) The majority of people who came into our room said they thought it was the best sound at the show and most of them do not own anything I sell.
I really think you miss the point of a "personal system thread". It is all about "personal" opinion. I would bet if you heard the room, you would feel the same way as Mike and most of the people who stopped by for a listen.
I really do not understand your point and what your motivation is.
Mike: You stated: "my listening certainly supports the notion that a high torque dd system for tt's has considerable performance advantages....and 'The Beat' (and numerous other dd and idler tt's) should trounce any digital i have heard."
Certainly I heard differently in your house on one vinyl recording in particular that I thought was not as good as the CD. When I switched to the CD, not even an SACD, I believe we all agreed. I am not making this a digital versus analog debate. I am just stating that, IN SOME CASES, it really is software dependent. I would also say that IN SOME CASES, depending on the software, both digital and vinyl could beat a tape.
"Trounce any digital" in my mind is an extreme exaggeration and very much unlike you. Trounce most digital... maybe :)
I am sitting in the sweet spot right now while Mike is behind me on his laptop. This has really been an incredible couple of days so far. The Garrard turntable really has gone up to a totally new level with the changes Steve has made. It is incredible how much more neutral it is sounding without any loss of body. There are no steps backwards in any way. It is truly world class in every way.
The expectations on the Dobbins Technics SP10MK3 (I call it the Sequel III) is higher than the Garrard and justifiably so. It has slightly better pacing (the Garrard is also a marvel in this area) and bottom end control. Also, the clarity is slightly better as well. It never disappoints!
The Rockport, as usual is terrific. On some recordings it is tough to beat, but I have to say that going from one table to the other I never feel like there is any sacrifice. Everything is sounding great.
I feel like since I am one of the owners of Playback Designs that it might be improper for me to talk about how the MPS-5 is sounding. I will leave that to Mike.
I know I was here a little less than a month ago and probably posted some similar thoughts, but the room has been finished and does sound much better. I had to re-adjust the settings on the woofer modules as the room has greatly improved in the area of bass energy retention.
What a nice difference in the room. The sound had great life to it without being slappy. Bass was deeeeeep and tight and the midrange had detail without being etched. There was a wonderful liquidity that was very involving and natural. Everything you played seemed to have more air around the individual instruments, especial;ly human voices.
Thanks for having us over. I have to say the system has never sounded better. I am suffering from barn envy.
I was so impressed by the Garrard that Steve Dobbins made for you. I would totally agree with you that "It is certainly the most listenable turntable I have ever heard." Of course one expects magnificent sound out of the Rockport and it does not disappoint. But on those certain recording, the Dobbins Garrard had me even more excited. It is just an enigma.
I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Dobbins SP10 MK3 once the new cartridge gets mounted. I was incredibly surprised by how good it sounded even when you quickly mounted a cartridge that certainly was not in the league of those on the other turntables. To my ears, that may end up being my favorite of the bunch.
The Music Server Direct MSD-1 was incredibly impressive. The sound of the hi-res files was mind blowing and the interface with the iTouch was the easiest I have ever used with any music server. The fact that your son is making them at such a reasonable price is very incredible.
Did I mention how good the scotch was?
You are a wonderful host and I always have a great deal of fun up at "The Barn." Please thank St. Pam again for us!
Mike: Sorry to correct you, but the "A" version does not have DC compensation and has "unbalanced" XLRs.
The "B" version gives you the ability to engage DC compensation so one does not need to bias the amplifier. With DC comp engaged, you reduce the signal to noise ratio by approximately 10 db, but the amp is more stable. With DC comp off, which is emulating an "A" version, the amp has greater purity but is subject to power fluctuations and may go out of bias temporarily which could require in rare cases fuse replacements. Also, the XLR inputs accept balance connections where the "A" version does not.
Stereotaipei: There is a crossover between the mids and tweeter which is a "constant voltage" type. In this type of crossover, there are no caps or resistors in the signal path.
The woofer uses an active crossover. The active amplifier takes the signal from your main amplifier and boosts that sonic signature to your woofer.
Microstrip: There are no capacitors in the signal path at all with any of the Evolution Acoustics models. For all intensive purposes imagine that there is just wire running from the speaker binding posts to the terminals on the drivers.
Henry: My feelings are on record (NPI). I think digital (DSD) is probably more accurate to the original recording, but I find analog more enjoyable. There is a greater sense of ease, naturalness and immediacy along with greater dynamics with good analog that is hard to beat.
Henry: You have to understand the situation. There were tons of people there and there were certain distractions (me for one :)).
It really was not close and most people were fooled by pops that they thought were analog when in reality, the recorded digital played those pops back at a much more prominent level. Even though I never peeked, I would always whisper which one was analog in a friend's ear and I was correct each time. If it were done again with very few people, I am sure Mike would get it correct each and every time.
While I had a ball meeting everyone and participating, for my taste, it was really an exercise in futility. Sound was great, food was great, company was great!
Joey_v: While the Eames chair is beautiful (I own one but would never use it in the audio room), it is not good as an audio listening chair. Although the headrest might seem to impede the sound, the truth is that if you are taller than 5'9" your head would be way above it and it would be more of a neck rest. The other major factor is you would probably be sitting too low.
Imdoc: I listen with my eyes closed when I am doing serious listening. My feeling is that light and visual distractions causes the brain to work on other things while you are listening. With my eyes closed, I am only focused on the music and it generally sounds better.
Scott: Mike is out of town, so since I know what he bought I will speak on his behalf. He bought a Phonic PAA3 which is a small portable yet seemingly powerful RTA.
I like mine. They are also reasonbly priced at $400.
Audiobugged: I understand your curiosity, but Mike will probably be embarrased by that question.
The answer would be very difficult as he converted a barn to a complete living area. The audio room is the main focuse, but it really was a total build out. Imagine you were building a 1500 - 1800 sq. foot house and you have your answer.
Mike followed me around with a towel cleaning up after me as I drooled all over his room. :)
