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.
Jfrech, my post from above on March 18th describes my initial experience last week with the new record cleaner, the Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner.
5 days and approx 60 more Lp washes later; i am astonished by both the competency of the unit and the improvement in Lp sound.
i have found one Lp out of 75 that was very thin and required that i 'help' it to spin to get a complete wash cycle. other than that Lp, which might be the only one that thin that i own out of 10,000, every Lp went smoothly thru the wash cycles with zero drama.
my perspective is that this machine simply improves the whole vinyl playing experience so well it's a no-brainer.
i agree with jtinn that in some ways digital (through the Playback Designs) has risen to the point of no longer causing us to want get 'back to analog'. it no longer has that 'etched' signature, it now does space and depth, i can listen all day to digital. we can mix digital with analog and not feel like we've left the music behind when doing the digital. all good things.
but....in my system very good vinyl still goes much farther down those roads than digital IMHO. maybe jtinn feels the gap is not as big as i do.
my enthusiasm for vinyl at the moment is maybe due to the fact that i just got a new record cleaning machine. in the last 3 or 4 days i've gone thru and cleaned my 75 most played (favorite) Lps....and then played them on my Rockport with the now fully broken in A90. these records sound better (by a good margin) than they ever have before. i'm mainlineing on all this fantastic vinyl so my posts reflect that 'glow'. frankly; the vinyl i've been listening to does 'trounce' any digital....but it is the cream of the crop sounding as good as it can possibly sound.
Mike, Funny that the analog/digital debate rears it's ugly head once again. I read a report of a listener in your room as to how he preferred your Garrard on Brubeck's Take Five. Not having listened to this for a while I dug out all my different copies from a well loved original to a Japanese pressing that is so bright it makes my eyes hurt. I have not yet acquired the Classic records version. I love analog, my CD player hasn't been turned on for weeks, but even so the SACD version of Take Five was clearly better than the other half dozen I listened to. Which just goes to show that the particular software can have a bigger effect than the medium. I still don't believe I sat and listened to an entire SACD!
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'm going to Syracuse N.Y. to watch my UW Huskies play the West Virginia Mountaineers on Thursday night in the Sweet 16, hoping against the odds to stay to watch them play Kentucky (or Cornell) on Saturday in the Elite 8. if they play like they played against New Mexico they'll have a chance against anyone.
i wonder if there are any good audio shops or used vinyl shops in Syracuse.....as i'll 'hopefully' have all day Friday to investigate them.
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.
i don't really have much experience with linear trackers other than my Rockport Sirius III (and the Sirius II i owned prior for a year). i've heard the Kuzma and various Clearaudio's at shows, but i've never lived with them. i can't say that direct drive and linear tracking have any particular connection.....other than they both 'potentially' have the most potential to sound 'ideal'.
sorry i can't be of more help.
i did love the sound of the Reed 2P arm on 'The Beat' and that's the way i'm going.
Elescher; the short answer is that i do not hear any change between before painting the T-Fusors and after painting the T-Fusors. the raw thermoplastic surface of the unpainted T-Fusors is shiney, whereas the painted surface is a dull matte finish. i would guess that at some frequency there is likely a touch of absorbtion going on that the raw surface reflects; but my aurial memory is not quite good enough to pick up on it. maybe if i had 2 sets of T-Fusors, one raw and one painted, and could quickly change them back and forth, it's possible that a difference could be heard.
my gut is that considering the distance of my walls to my speakers and the degree of multiple reflections happening with that area of my room, that any actual diffierence in tonal characterisitics between painted and unpainted T-Fusors becomes insignificant.
i've been told that any standard paint on a flat surface will have the same mid to high frequency reflective/absorbtive qualities as any other.
i always assume that everything matters; but not every change can be heard.
Mike, thanks for you contacting Steve on my behalf. I'm pretty sure high torque direct drive is the way to go to re-establish superiority of vinyl over cd in my system. Out of interest, do you believe that a linear tracking arm is of equal priority to direct drive to extract neutrality and trasparency from vinyl or does a well matched pivoted arm with high torque direct drive tick enough of the correct boxes? I ask this because there is a linear tracker made in england that is well regarded' is reasonably inexpensive and it's design ethos seems to be on a par with that of direct drive. Regards.
Diva, if you can direct me to a source for that vocalist i'm happy to buy it; in any case thanks.
regarding my Auralex T-Fusors. my T-Fusors are 'empty', without anything inside, intentionally. this post explains it. basically i needed some diffusion but as little absorbtion as possible. anything that is added to the thermoplastic shell of the T-Fusors will act as absorbtion and change the tonal balance of the music. in my case i loved the tonal balance but needed to tame some of the 'busyness' and lack of image focus of the bare walls. the 'naked' T-Fusors accomplished that as you heard.
Mike: I have an LP by the same Chinese vocalist. I will see if I can get hold another copy. If I do, I will send it to you as a gift.
Regarding the auralex reflectors, I forgot to ask you what are they stuffed with. I have been using other kind of auralex diffusors on my side walls and front wall ( see my system side walls http://cgim.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/vs.pl?vaslt&1066703453&viewitem&o8) but I am interested in trying the reflectors you are using. I think they better be stuffed, otherwise they can affect bass.
i don't really know the 501, so i can't comment about that.
i have heard the Monaco quite a few times; excellent tt, direct drive, beautifully built. i prefer the overall sound of either my Dobbins-Garrard 301 or my Dobbins-Technics SP-10 Mk3 to the Monaco; mostly just from a greater sense of foundation and weight. the Monaco is still wonderful in it's own right.
'The Beat' is another step up beyond my Mk3 and 301....with a slightly more refined sound yet also even more a sense of drive and thunderous bass...an amazing tt.
i've only seen and heard the beautiful Saskia once, at 2008 RMAF.....and that was only briefly. it's very detailed, refined and balanced sounding. i did not hear the level of energy i hear from my Mk3 or 301, let alone 'The Beat'.....but in such a brief listen i can't say it does not have that. i highly recommend the Saskia.
sometimes Steve is slow to answer e-mails (he should be working on my new 'The Beat'). e-mail me i will be glad to make sure Steve gets it and responds to you.
Hi Mike, new to audiogon posting, and have greatly enjoyed the development of your system. Here in England we don't have much new to choose from in terms of direct drive/idler drive turntables except for the Garrard 501 Inspiration, and the Grand Prix Monaco which i will be auditioning with a Triplanar arm and Lyra cartridge. I haven't seen you discuss the Monaco very much: do you have any experience or opinions, especially in comparison to the Dobbins 'The Beat"? Also have you come across the Saskia which in terms of aesthetics at least is the most "to die for" turntable out there yet? Btw, I have emailed Steve Dobbins twice at [email protected], but no reply. Regards
Mike , I will be watching the Huskies today at 420. I think the Zags can beat Fla State and it would not be impossible to beat Syracuse if their big man is still out. Probably wishful thinking. We will be attending most of the games across the street. Have a great weekend.
Cyrus, i'm not thinking past 4:20pm PDT today....and i hope the Huskies aren't either. agree that New Mexico State is for the taking if they get that far. OTOH WVU is likely the 'end' of even wishful thinking at the Sweet 16.....which would be great if it happens.
last night my Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl cleaner, Lp cleaning machine arrived. i went down to the grocery store and purchased 2 gallons of distilled water. i poured one gallon into the machine, along with a small bottle of cleaning fluid....set-up complete.
i placed my first Lp into the top slot and pressed 'start'. 5 minutes later i had a perfectly clean, dry Lp.
i listened to vinyl for 3 hours last night and cleaned 14 Lps front and back perfectly. the machine is on a table in the hallway outside my room. i could listen to one Lp while the next one was being cleaned and could only hear the machine when no music was playing....and then only during the drying cycle. i guess during quiet passages i did hear a slight amount of the drying cycle....but the trade-off was very minor.
about 2/3rds of the Lps had a drip or two on them when i pulled them out of the machine which i dabbed with a paper towel. these drips were not on the music grooves; typically they were either on the dead wax or the lead-in grooves. no big deal.
how did it clean? the Lps looked great. the one's i did last night were my most played and most familiar Lps. they sounded better than when i used my Loricraft; for some reason the 45rpm Lps i cleaned last night had a larger degree of consistent improvement than the 33's. i could hear farther into the music; like the overall noise floor dropped. kinda spooky to a degree.
i'm very happy with my purchase. it's simple to use, works great, makes your Lps sound better, and has a small footprint and is nicely made.....and best of all.....i can listen to more Lps instead of taking my time cleaning records.
no, my heart will be in San Jose following my Dawgs, and i'll also be pulling for the Zags in Buffalo (who'd you guys piss off?), but no NCAA sub-regional in Spokane for me this year. maybe next time. it would be fun to hang with you next time they are in River City.
have fun crossing the street to the NCAA's and go Zags!
