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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mike, I was into photography many many moons ago. Had a Nikon F2 35mm camera, lens ... it's amazing the progress in digital photography especially printer quality.
My experience is with the $60 Audio Magic fuse. At the time, super was not available yet. It's a big improvement over stock and there's a nice bloom in the mid. I think if your system is on the lean or dry side, it should be a good match. For my components/system, I prefer the more neutral HiFi Tuning Supremes.
I will be very interested in your experience with the super.
changing the water in the Audio Desk does vary based on how much i'm using it. i'll change it once a month with normal 5-10 times use a week.
otherwise; i clean it every time i empty the drawer of liners. the drawer holds about 60-65 liners. i always replace the liner when i clean the Lp. this makes it easy for me to keep track. the drawer is under the table-top the Audio Desk sits on.
i also keep a container of distilled water underneath the table for adding when the light flashes for low water. i like to have minimal water levels. i also use minimal amounts of the detergent, typically just a cap full....which minimizes foaming.
when i do empty the Audio Desk i take it back to the sink and make sure i shake to unit somewhat as the last third of water is draining out to suspend any particulate in the water so it will come out with the water....i also tip it over so the corner of the drain hole is the lowest point agin to make sure the maximum water and sludge come out. then i'll refill about a third and shake and empty again.
every third time i change the water i will fill it completely and cycle it a couple of times and then drain it again.
i do remove the foam pad and rinse it very thoroughly under the tap water until it is good and clean. then i pour distilled water thru it and try to squeeze as much out as possible. same with the roller pads occasionally.
in 5 years i've changed the foam pad once and the roller pads once. i'm not sure that i needed to change the foam pad or the roller pads even that once.
Mike--how often are you changing the water in the Audio Desk? Are you rinsing the machine itself with a gallon of water before you put in a fresh batch of water and cleaning fluid? Have you changed the foam pad as well as the rollers?
i've had others recommend the Tripoint grounding products similar to you, in that i've covered pretty much all the other bases. i've not heard them myself but with all the positive comments about them i'm sure they must do something good. i'm just not really too motivated to pursue something like that myself. OTOH; if someone wants to send me some Tripoint gear to try in my system i'm open to that.
thanks. before i built my listening room inside it was a working barn with horses and everything. upstairs was a hayloft.
the two boxes to the left of the Studer A820's are the King Cello tape repro (upper box) and power supply (lower box). you may notice that each headblock on the Studers have a switch and a line the goes back behind the deck. the King Cello is custom output electronics for the Studers to bypass the 70's solid state internal electronics. it upgrades the performance of the Studers quite a bit. so far the best sounding tape decks i've heard.
the King Cello is also a very good phono stage too, with the flip of one switch. if i ever want to have a tt over on that side of the room i already have my phono stage for it.
Hey Mike, just a thought, U might want 2 SERIOUSLY consider looking in 2 "Tripoint Audio" I would CONFIDENTLY SAY that your system is part of the top 1% in the World BEST!!! Tripoint will make the Angels stand up and take notice!!! :o)
okay, 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch, that's what i thought....! and the two boxes are outboard analog circuits bypassing the studer preamps...? exactly what are they all about? or is that "proprietary intel...?
HI Mike, what are those two boxes with round discs in 4 corners to the left of the studer r to r's? one is above the other on an audio rack system. i don't see them in your list of gear/tweaks. why do you have TWO studer a-820's? two different tape widths or ?? thanks, David. P.S. - your "barn" doesn't look much like a 21st century audio haven from the outside- nice disguise me thinks...
i am honored that you have been a member of Audiogon since 2002, yet this is your first post and it's saying such nice things about my system. i really appreciate the comments.
and i could not agree with you more that is a great deal of work and energy to put together a serious system.
I liked the sound of the iPhone ringing in the video ;-)
that was my wife calling. :)
when i showed her the video i apologized to her for not answering. she was understanding. i always tell her it's her system too. she just rolls here eyes and shakes her head. :)
and if you want the music, here you go . that's the Late Beethoven Quartets.
i would likely recommend this one more , since it's the complete set and not just the late ones. i have both the complete set and a separate box of the early and late too. and a couple of single pressings.
you cannot go wrong with Quartetto Italiano. i also have their complete Mozart box set.
try to get the Dutch pressings, the Italian pressings are to be avoided i'm told.
glad you enjoyed the music. i love String Quartets and play them often. my system makes them sound real. so much nuance and tone, and it touches something in my soul, and makes me happy and contented.
and like you, i know nothing about classical music other than what sounds good.
thanks for the kind comments. i'm considering getting a faster focusing 'prime' lens for my D600 for the video that is also lighter than my Nikon 24-70 f2.8 so i can keep it steadier too.
btw; i noticed you also like the Audio Magic fuses. a question; the one's i'm using are the 'Super' which retail for $100; were the one's you spoke of on that thread the 'Premium' or the 'Super'?
it was great connecting with you this weekend and it's great to have you and your wonderful system and energy back active in the hobby. i look forward to you getting things reposted.
Your System is Simply SPECTACULAR !!!! I'm Very Happy For U !! My system cost nothing like this, but I know it's Amazing!!! It takes A TON of VERY HARD WORK, and Patience!!! Thank U 4 sharing!! :o)
