Mike Lavigne's System

by mikelavigne on All Out Assault
the big rig.
left rear corner view--note the ceiling treatment
note the cloth surface treatment on the ceiling.
view from behind the speakers
sources +
84" tall, 575 pound main towers and 87" tall, 600 pound bass towers.
bass towers are powered and adjustable, main towers passive.
rear of the room.....
amps sitting on Taiko Tana active isolation platforms
NHB-468 sound amazing......liquid and amazing musical flow and texture.
meters on the 468's
new Massif Audio racks, plus Nordost footers.
2 turntables, and the Taiko Tana active device under the Esoteric T1, made a solid improvement in the performance.
Wadax Reference Dac and Power Supplies with RevOpod footers
Wadax Reference Server and Ref Power Supply with RevOpods
darTZeel NHB-18NS w/ 2 phono stages (new 2016 version)
Ampex ATR-102's + Ampex MR-70 preamps, on new Massif Audio racks, boosted performance.
Esoteric T1 power supply & Esoteric G1X Clock
1/2" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded
Ampex MR-70 tape pre hot rodded by ATR Service INC
Wadax Akasa optical (yellow) and power supply (red) cables.
1/4" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded
air box for CS Port tt; dead quiet.
Etsuro Gold MC cartridge
Etsuro Gold MC cartridge
DaVa Reference Field Coil phono cartridge
Audio Technica MC-2022 phono cartridge
CS Port linear tracking tone arm with air bearing
Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
Durand gimbal bearing tone arm
Durand Tosca gimbal bearing tone arm
Glanz MH1200S tone arm + Sumile Mono cartridge.
power supplies for the DaVa field coil cartridge and field coil FCL tone arm.
Massif Audio Design Snakewood record weight.
love my new Massif Audio design racks.
Evolution Acoustics bass tower interface and adjustments
cables and various cable decoupling strategies.
Tripoint Audio Elite grounding box for sources.
Tripoint Audio Troy Signature for amps
Entreq Poseidon + Atlantic Minimus + Everest knobs
linear power supply for the Taiko Tana active platform under amp
3 linear power supplies for Taiko Tana active under sources
Equi=Tech 10WQ wall panel A/C transformer with door open
Klaudio RCM + Equi=Tech with door closed.
the audio barn

Description

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;

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/lavigneroom.htm
Read more...

Room Details

Dimensions: 29’ × 21’  X large
Ceiling: 11’

Components Toggle details

    • Evolution Acoustics MM7's
    twin towers, 600 pounds each, main passive tower, 82 inches tall, active bass tower, 84 inches tall.

    passive main tower, 97db, 7 ohms, so easy load. active bass tower has 4 analog adjustments for ideal room integration.
    • darTZeel NHB-468
    Mono block Amplifiers. amazing first watt, transparent and rich tonality. great match for my speakers.
    • darTZeel NHB-18NS with 2 internal phono stages.
    battery powered preamp with 2 separate phono stages. uses BNC 'zeel' cables between pre and amps.
    • Evolution Acoustics 7.5 meter 'Zeel'
    7.5 meter pair of BNC cables from preamp to amps.
    • Evolution Acoustics 'System' speaker cables--10 feet
    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.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-reference-dac-and-server-arrive.34173/#post-771357
    • WADAX SA Reference Server with Akasa optical interface
    ultimate state of the art music server using Roon. includes the Akasa optical interface.
    • WADAX SA Reference Server power supply
    additional chassis power supply to improve the Wadax server performance.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-server-psu-unit-has-now-arrived.36722/page-6#post-948318
    • WADAX SA Akasa DC cables (3)
    replaces the standard DC cables. takes the performance of the Wadax Reference system to 'Level 4' for ultimate performance. Red in color.

    https://wadax.eu/akasa/

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-server-psu-unit-has-now-arrived.36722/page-9#post-971100
    • Arya RevOpod isolation footer (32 used under the 5 Wadax Chassis).
    height and tension adjustable. the Wadax dac, server, and server power supply chassis all use 8 footers, so it's critical to be able to adjust height and tension to have an even support for optimal performance. RevOpod's are unique in those attributes making them ideal for this use.

    https://www.arya-audio.com/revopod
    • 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.

    with the deletion of my NVS turntable, i was able to move the Taiko Tana active isolation shelf to under the Esoteric T1. this has upgraded the performance of the T1 significantly. objectively small changes, but musically quite profound up tics in realism and immersion. more nuance, greater music focus, better bass articulation. 

    https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/t1/top
    • Esoteric G1X Master Clock
    Master Clock Generator for speed improvement for the T1 turntable. significant improvement in music realism.

    https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g1x/top
    • Durand --Tosca tonearm.
    gimbal bearing design. Tosca is on the Esoteric T1 turntable
    • Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
    Field Coil Loaded uni-pivot tone arm. with power supply. mounted on the Esoteric T1 turntable. amazing natural and very high resolution tone arm. link below.

    https://www.primarycontrol.nl/Field_Coil_Loaded_Unipivot_Tonearm.html
    • Glanz MH-1200S 12" tone arm
    12 inch tonearm, stainless steel. used for the Sumile mono cartridge.

    https://glanz.tech/e/collection/mh1200s1000s900s/
    • 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.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/lfd-cables-phono-and-i-c-from-the-uk-cables-as-components.31243/
    • DaVa Reference cartridge
    field coil cartridge. with tube power supply.
    • 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. remarkable neutrality and ability to dig out detail and keep it natural and musical.

    https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
    • Murasakino Sumile Mono phono cartridge
    MC cartridge for mono records, .04mv output. tracking force 3gms. finest monaural cartridge i have heard. competes on musical refinement with the top stereo cartridges. 

    https://murasakino.audio/en/products/sumile-mono.html

    Mounted on the Glanz MH-1200S tonearm. mounted on the Esoteric T1 turntable.
    • DS Audio Ion 001 Vinyl Ionizer
    generates positive and negative ions to remove static charge from vinyl records. 

    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.

    https://www.csport.audio/products/products-ime1-en.html
    • Stage III Concepts 1.5 meter XLR set of Gorgon interconnects.
    high performance interconnects. used from the Wadax Reference dac to the darTZeel preamp.

    http://aaudioimports.com/ShowProduct.asp?hProduct=283
    • Ampex twin ATR-102----one 1/4" and one 1/2" reel to reel master recorder
    hot rodded by ATR Service Inc----Andrew Kosobutsky. significant upgrades over stock. each interfacing with hot rodded Ampex MR-70 preamps. the new tape deck performance standard in my opinion.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/ak-hot-rodded-ampex-atr-102s-w-mr-70-preamps-replaces-my-studers.36288/
    • Kosobutsky 1.5 meter set of RCA interconnects + 8 meter set of XLR interconnects.
    1.5 meter set of RCA interconnects are used between the EMIA phono corrector and the darTZeel preamp.

    8 meter set is used between the Ampex MR 70 tape preamps and the darTZeel preamp.
    • Nordost QRT QNET network switch
    Network switch, with Nordost Qsource power supply.

    https://www.nordost.com/qrt-audio-enhancers.php
    • Synology 30 Terabyte NAS (a pair = 60 TB) music file storage
    mirroring music storage for my music files.
    • Massif Audio Design Audio Racks, solid wood
    2--double wide 3 shelf racks for sources

    1 single wide rack 4 shelf rack for Ampex MR-70 tape preamp chassis.

    https://www.massifaudiodesign.com/racks
    • Nordost Sort Fut rack footers (3 sets of 4)
    mechanically tuned resonance control device. supporting the three Massif racks.

    https://www.nordost.com/sort-systems/sort-fut.php
    • Taiko Tana (5 of them) Herzan TS-150 (2) + TS-140 (3)
    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.
    • 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 power supply.

    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.
    • Barn.... ......room is....
    ....most of the ground floor. 29' x 21' x 11'.

Comments 3405

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Owner
hi Chris,

nice to hear from you.

i'm doing great. my new speakers and new amps have mostly broken in and i have dialed them in to a degree, my vinyl set-up is 'out of this world' good, i'm enjoying lots of dsd and hirez PCM files from my server and dac, and things are really sounding wonderful.

and yes; i have heard the big Goto Horns. back in 2008 at VSAC (Vacuum Tube State of the Art Conference) in Vancouver, Washington State. scroll down a little on this link.

Jeffrey Jackson designed the huge time-aligned horn system while Ming Su was on hand as importer of the Goto Unit compression drivers used by Jeffrey

i was impressed by what i heard in many ways; it was very dynamic and lively. it was 5 years ago now so other than 'i liked it' i can't remember the details of that expereince. i don't recall that it was enough to cause me to want to go that way.....but i did enjoy it.

mikelavigne

Hi Mike, how are you doing? I would like to ask you about the following.
A few months ago I got the change to listen to a G.I.K. Western Electric/Goto horn system in The Netherlands (where I live).
I must say it was definitively an impressive experience. The impact of such a system is immense. Although the sound was loud, there was also a feeling of genuineness, something which is almost real.
Have you ever considered such a system? Have you heard a G.I.K. or vintage Western Electric set up?

Best Regards,
Chris Hie (Netherlands)
[email protected]

dazzdax

Owner
System edited: added picture and a listing for the second Durand Telos tonearm (replacing the Durand Talea 2) and added a picture for the Sapphire cartridge plate for my original Telos.

mikelavigne

Owner
Madness, well lock me up in Mike's room and throw away the key!

i call that a 'fine madness'.....where the world only exists in the music in the room. you get lost in it.

unfortunately....typically then the phone vibrates.

yes Honey??? trust me, after 40 years of marriage i have my prioties correct.

:-)

mikelavigne

Owner
hi Peter,

it was a pleasure to meet David last week, we had a fun session. great music and a very fun and knowledgable guy to spend time with. too bad you were not here too.....maybe another time. i hope so. i was also disappointed that my Telos was not in-house that night so David could hear it as i think my vinyl gets most into the soul of the music and the real heart of my system. we were stuck with only mono vinyl, hirez digital, and that crummy 15ips 1/4" tape. we muddled through anyway.

best regards and enjoy the music!

mikelavigne

Madness, well lock me up in Mike's room and throw away the key!

philb7777

Well Mike, it's a good thing that for those who have been lucky enough to hear your system, you do indeed take the system, room and set up seriously. I know you enjoy too.

peterayer

Owner
You must have gone MAD to have such a systems.

i suppose one man's "bliss" is another man's "gone MAD". i'm just trying to have fun, enjoy the music, and not take myself too seriously.

cheers.

mikelavigne

You must have gone MAD to have such a systems.

aprica88

Owner
last Saturday Joel Durand brought over my second Telos tonearm for my Miyajima Labs Premium Be mono cartridge and installed it. it replaced my Durand Talea II which i sold.

2 Telos's

a month or so previously i had purchased a Sapphire cartridge plate for my original Telos where i have my stereo cartridge, the Ortofon MC Anna.

the standard cartridge plate is metal, not sure exactly what metal. the cartridge is attached to the plate and then one screw attaches it to the tonearm. so the cartridge arm interface is this plate.

it turns out that (at least with the Telos) Sapphire sounds better than metal, the sound is cleaner, more detail, more ease, there is more snap to transients, more solidity to the soundstage, more bass slam and articulation. when you think about it this cartridge plate has a similar function to the bearing in that it's a link in the chain. and it's the link which is closest to the cartridge. and Sapphire is what the bearing is made out of. likely Sapphire has less resonance than metal (i'm making a SWAG here.....i don't really know about such things).

i did not purchase the Sapphire cartridge plate for the mono Telos yet.

i am very very happy with my tonearms.

mikelavigne

Owner
hi Norm,

sorry for the delay in my response.

i enjoyed meeting you and Bev. thank you for your very nice comments. i have to agree with you about what we heard on Saturday, my reference has been changed too. i guess it was not just me.

i hope that next time you are down in the area we can get together again.

best regards,

mikelavigne

Owner
hi Dario,

sorry for the delay in my response, but i was traveling all day Sunday and then been in continual meetings. finally this afternoon i have some time to catch up on things.

it was a pleasure to meet you and i humbly thank you for the kind words about the system. i respect that you have heard many systems over the years so your comments are all the more appreciated. i'm glad you enjoyed the listening.

it was a fun session on Saturday and i could not agree more with you about the Telos. it is really sounding quite beyond my ability to find words to describe.....better for someone to hear it rather than me attempt a description.

hopefully you can visit again when we both have more time.

best regards,

mikelavigne

Owner
It even sounds good, too. When are you coming to visit?

Jacob,

i'd love to visit your room. next time i travel near you i'll see if we can work out something. not sure when that might be.

and your visit to my room was so long ago it was to my 'other' room, so you need to come out here sometime too.

mikelavigne

Mike thanks for the opportunity to hear your system today. It's the closest rendition of a live performance I've ever heard after 30+ years in this hobby. It's beautifully balanced across the audio spectrum and excelled on all genres of music from intimate string quartet, sultry female vocals to full on orchestra. I was also impressed with it's ability to satisfy both my technical and emotional listening appetites. Most systems do one or the other but it's very rare they do both.

I could not detect a single weakness which is a remarkable feat. Of course watching Joel setup his newly developed telos tone arm and hearing it on your system further added to the enjoyment. The telos is so leading edge it could arguably be the pinnacle of tone arm design and perhaps the best tone arm in existence.

Great job!

Cheers
Dario

djkiwi0

Hi Mike, your sound room is aesthetically WAY more speculator in reality than in “Virtual Systems”. Your..... Telos with the Anna cartridge is truly special. The dynamics and scale we heard coming from your system, I didn't think was ever possible in reproduced sound, until now. Thanks for the experience. Congratulations!

norm

Mike thanks for the opportunity to hear your system today. It's the closest rendition of a live performance I've ever heard after 30+ years in this hobby. It's beautifully balanced across the audio spectrum and excelled on all genres of music from intimate string quartet, sultry female vocals to full on orchestra. I was also impressed with it's ability to satisfy both my technical and emotional listening appetites. Most systems do one or the other but it's very rare they do both.

I could not detect a single weakness which is a remarkable feat. Of course watching Joel setup his newly developed telos tone arm and hearing it on your system further added to the enjoyment. The telos is so leading edge it could arguably be the pinnacle of tone arm design and perhaps the best tone arm in existence.

Great job!

Cheers
Dario

djkiwi0

It even sounds good, too. When are you coming to visit?

gladstone

Owner
David,

thank you for the kind words.

best regards,

mikelavigne

Mike, Thanks for sharing the Video. Your room and passion are a true inspiration for anyone involved in this great hobby, David

davidmag

Owner
hi Steve,

glad you and your family enjoyed the video.

thanks for nudging me toward getting it done. my next video efforts should hopefully be better. i got a smaller, lighter lens and a chest stabilizer mount which ought to allow me to eliminate much of the shake.

i was happy with the sonic results from this practice run. some of the sonic magic does manage to come thru.

fine tuning a system does take time and an open mind, but it's those little things which seem to provide that last little bit which captures the magic. you can have all the elements of the music but bringing it all together is more challenging.

cheers,

mikelavigne

Owner
Jacob,

the Audio Desk sure makes playing clean Lps much more enjoyable. more music, less hassle.

i'm happy it's working out for you.

btw; the pics of your room are quite magnificent. congrats!

mikelavigne

Owner
Hey Joe,

nice to hear from you. glad you like the video.

best regards,

mikelavigne

Owner
King,

i can't say about the tonal shift of the 'Super' compared to the 'Premuim'. since i'm only using it on the amps inside my active subwoofer towers it's only a guess whether it's adding 'bloom' relative to other custom fuses. i don't percieve a tonal shift in the system, and don't view where i was as lean or dry in any way, but who knows. i'm not planning on any 'fuse shootout' to find out.

i do plan on trying these fuses in my preamp, digital, and tape repro when i get around to ordering them. we'll see where that takes me. maybe when i do that i'll also order the HiFi Tuning Supremes so i can A/B them. thanks for your thoughts on this.

mikelavigne

Hi Mike,

Myself and the family enjoyed the video so much. Judging by the supportive components I think there is consensus that it was a good idea. Even with the recording conversion the good sound beams through like a shining light.

I have some brass cartridge screws and cartridge top plate so am in the process of fine tuning to get the best result. I have internal silver fuses and can vouch to their effectiveness over stock.

You have given us all a wonderful insight.

Thank you.

Steve

cyclopse

Thanks, Mike, I just procured one. Works like a charm.

gladstone

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