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: thanks for sharing the pics- how do the pieces stay together- are they bolted? and what's the blue thing sitting on top of one of the woofer cabinets once in your room? Those things look humongous! Looking forward to listening reports as you break them in. Are your Dart monoblocs in place? (sorry, I didn't go back in the thread to see). Best, Bill
Hi Mike, great pictures and I must say very professionally packaged, many loudspeaker manufacturers could learn from this type of packaging. Very reassuring to see from my point of view as a Audio distributor and from word go offers confidence that the audio product will arrive safely to the intended client. Exciting times ahead for you I am sure, happy listening.
the main towers arrived today about 3pm in 6 large wooden crates, which were quickly moved into my garage. i started removing the screws from the bottoms of the crates and my friend Andrew arrived to help. we lifted the tops off the crates, then moved the 6 sections one by one onto a carpet covered piano dolly and rolled them down the hill to my barn and into my room.
then we decided to place the bottom section of each tower in place first, install the spikes and Wave Kinetics 2NS footers and then level them.....thinking this would be easier/better than attaching them all together and tilting them up.....which would make the leveling more difficult. we had a third person coming to assist us and figured with three we could lift the top section on. wrong; we ended up needing a forth helper since the main towers are so tall; 84 inches. with 4 it was quickly done.
these beasts are big, the scale cannot be appreciated in pictures. 84 inches tall plus a couple inches for spikes and 2NS footers. yet, very organic and elegant. perfect fit and finish. wonderful.
my friend Andrew brought a trick laser alignment rig he put together that attached directly to the tweeter bracket with magnets and we did a down and dirty alignment. we listened for 30-40 minutes and went to dinner, came back and listened for awhile and Andrew had to leave. i cleaned up and straigtened up and then went back to listen. i've been listening while messing with these pictures and posting for an hour or so. listened to a few Lps earlier and been doing streaming dsd while typing.
i'll just say even with only the main towers it is pretty amazing, and seems to be changing by the minute so far.
it's now the next morning, sooooo much detail and the view into the music is breathtaking.
Mike, Did you ever mount the MC Anna in the Sirius III? I am just wondering how the weight and compliance of the Anna will mate with my own Rockport. Thanks,
let me guess- Chivas Regal 30 year scotch? i saw a bottle in the liquor store for $150 years ago, but didn't get it. tempting though. the Q7's can't compare with what you're getting, but for me i'm restricted to two cabinets, and they are beautifully designed. Von Schweikerts are all about performance and can look "lumpy" as a result (i.e. VR7 and VR9). i definitely have a weakness for aesthetics and would love to have "modern art" in the living room instead of "huge speaker- stand back!" oh well, "you can't always get what you wa-ahnt..." and in the middle of all this i am trying to assemble a flat-screen tv with stand plus AV components in another room since my trusty Toshiba 14 YO TV set played its last re-run of "Friends" 2 weeks ago. the TV came dead on arrival on Monday so i have to wait until next week to get another one delivered. i only watch maybe 10 hrs a week but perhaps with 3-D glasses i can reach out and "put my arms around" Jennifer Aniston.
Hi Mike, I know actually you are excited waiting for your MM7, but I can give you a feedback concerning Vicoustic panels. They seem to be very neutral on my room. Sound image is more stable on center and the I feel an increment of the 3dimentional spatial perspective. We are talking about very little changes. My system is composed by Berkeley Alpha (USB and DAC) Spectral gears and Avalon Eidolon. Cables are all MIT and Elrod. I use RealTraps in the corner and at the First Reflection point (I have 1 side wall, only, the other side is open on the rest of living room). I think Vicoustic is an honest company whith beautiful (and effective) products. Hope to see soon pictures of your new MM7. Ciao
Mike...thanks for the clarification. Have a great time with the MM7s and let us all know how they sound and the celebratory scotch :-) pans out! I'm headed out for a side trip to Legacy tomorrow after client site presentations in STL to hear the new AERIS and the Whisper models in a non-show environment. 14 crates....wow, what a project!
congrats on getting your VR9's back. have fun getting acquainted again!
the MM7's come in 14 large wooden crates, for a total of around 3500 pounds total shipped. 2100 for the speakers, 1400 for the crates.
i'm only getting 6 of the crates this week for the main towers. it will be 8 crates next week for the bass towers.
i'll have 3 people here to help me; my 'stout' son plus a couple of audio friends. i'm figuring a few pizza's and appropriate other things. since i've unpacked and set up the MM3's already i know the drill.
i do have a $200+ bottle of Scotch (that was given to me as a gift for just this occasion by an audio friend...thanks Mark)) ready for when the bass towers get set up for celebration.
you can have the Q7's, i'm ecstatic with the MM7's.
Hey Mike, i just got my speakers today (the VR-9's). three crates btw. I will get some help (two guys from the local audio store) on friday to set them up. then i have to twist some knobs (all over again i'm afraid) for a couple of weeks to adjust the treble and bass to the mids. should be loads of fun. and just how many crates do the MM-7's ship in? inquiring minds want to know. and, um, how many people are going to be on hand to assemble them? I just hope you have plenty of chips and beer handy....good luck, D. P.S.-Plus NOW i'm longing for Magico Q7's after reading the reviews. too bad they cost more arms and legs then i was born with..
you do make a very good point that nothing be taken for granted to make sure that a quite complicated product like the MM7's really all works properly.
Kevin has been working exclusively on my MM7's since September 17th, and everything has been throughly tested as he has gone along. building and testing the crossover as he went along took almost 3 weeks just by itself. assembling the cabinets and testing each driver is not quite as complicated but also part of the process.
and where it all will come together is that after i have my MM7's in house for a few weeks Kevin will travel up to my home and do the final set-up. at which point any issues can be resolved if necessary. any product can potentially have problems and i'm confident that ultimately i'll have proper 100% performing MM7's.
Mike: That's great news that your MM7s are getting close to being ready finally! Have you considered asking them to hold the shipment of the main towers until the bass towers are assembled and the whole package can be tested and voiced together? This is something I would strongly consider...
Good luck with this massive upgrade; I bet the result will be amazing!
French fries, don't feel so bad. I need two people to move something that does fit in my trunk - a Vibraplane platform - and I have three of them under amps and turntable. I'm about to add 130 lb. ballast plates to pre load them and that will be a two-man, 90 minute exercise. Perhaps we are crazy, but hey, we all want to hear the orchestra (or girl with guitar) in our home. The wait and the fun.
dear Michael, good luck with your speaker project! not to be a know-it-all, but unless you're being facetious, the parts being assembled into your speakers need to be tested one-by-one before they move on to the next part/driver. then of course once they screw the back on, the speakers need to be auditioned at some length to make sure etc etc etc. that's apparently why i had to wait an extra week or two for the Von Schweikert VR-9 upgrade. they test each board and each connection in some pre-determined order. since i am getting new subwoofer amplifiers as well ($4k) they had to modify more "stuff". I am told they will sound "twice as good" as before. Jeez, i just want to get them back and set-up again. i never EVER thought i would end up with a pair of speakers i couldn't put in the trunk and connect them to my amplifier myself. i feel a bit powerless dealing with manufacturers, shippers, and installers just to extract a bit more realism from the "3 B's". What the heXX have i done? am i living in the real world or am i becoming a character out of stereophile letters, searching in vain for happiness by getting equipment so huge and cumbersome that i need two people to move the speaker 2 inches to the left? is there a special place in Hell for people with 500W amplifiers and 400 pound speakers? maybe i should start saying my prayers.... BTW, my speakers shipped yesterday. so i should have them by Friday or Sat.
tonight i got word that the MM7 main tower cabinets were complete and were being 'stuffed' with crossovers, drivers, etc. starting today and over the next couple of days for shipping by Friday assuming all goes well.
if they ship Friday i should have the Main towers at my home by next Thursday. the bass towers to follow 2 weeks after.
isn't waiting a b*tch! i'm getting pretty damn tired of it too. originally my new MM7's were supposed to be here in July, then August, and then.....so on and so on.
and i'm not getting any younger either. whine, whine, whine!
i did get some 'brand new' Von Schweikert Unifield 3's loaned to me back in late June, and brand new they were not cutting it, congested and veiled. but the last few weeks (200-300 hours in) they have finally settled in and are doing pretty good. not close to my MM3's but they make good music and i can enjoy them.
i used the last few months to further burn in all my Evolution Acoustics interconects and speaker cables. i now have 15 days on the Audio Kharma cable cooker on all those really thich heavy cables. previously i had 'only' had 5 'cooking' days on them but had used them for many months listening.
big, big, improvement with the additional 10 days cooking. i can't say where in the additional 10 day period they improved, but only that the additional performance was really dramatic.
anyway; i know you will love your new Mk2 upgrade on your VR9SE's. it will be worth the wait.
tod bad you did not have more time here, tough duty having to go to Italy. :)
sounds like you do hit the audio high spots; i've not been to the Analog Room but would like to sometime i'm down there. don't know the MF or Simaudio phonos but i always find Simaudio to be high value and high performance gear.
enjoy your travels and look me up next time you come around.
i miss my Garrard 301, i'm glad it's in a good home and being enjoyed. i can see myself getting another 301 at some point if i ever have more than one tt again. i loved that tt.
i did go to that Youtube video and it looks like a great idea for WAF for acosutic treatments. in my dedicated room in my barn it's not as big an issue; but for anyone trying to improve a living room system or anywhere where you need stealth treatments i can see the value. thanks for the heads up.
Hope things are well. I'm stilling enjoying the Garrard 301 I got from you. If you're looking for some nice looking wood diffusers go to Youtube and type in MSR acoustics. I saw these at CAS this year, and I'm in the process of trying to arrange for a demo. I saw them up close. Very well made.Not sure of cost though.
hey Mike, guess what...? i am also waiting for my VS-VR9 upgrade to be completed at the same time you are waiting for your new speakers to show up. So are you looking at a big empty space in your room like me, or do you keep a pair of "back-ups" around in the meanwhile? i was hoping to get my speakers a week ago, but... they are still "testing" the crossover boards and burning in the wiring, etc. But i last saw my speakers on 8/23, and i ain't getting any younger... luckily i have a pair of Sonus Fabers in an extra bedroom, and while they are small, they're remarkable substitutes for a big pair of floor standers. Everyone is different, but personally i get used to whatever i am listening to right now- even if it's 4 drivers instead of 14....
