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.
The one's I have are awesome. Should have cost $3500, not what they do. I am guessing they work really well on the DarTZeel's as you really want that sonic signature to remain intact.
i've been listening to the preproduction NHB-458 monoblocks on and off for three weeks between periods of construction. since the room was changing i did not really try to form particular impressions of the monos other than to marvel and enjoy.
they are spectacular sounding in every way. unfortunately; they will be picked up Monday and be on their way to Europe. over the next few days i will be focusing on the amps and specific impressions. i will post more pictures of them. i will go back and forth between them and the NHB-108 stereo dart.
if you want to see construction piuctures to see how the bass traps were installed and what the stud wall looked like here is a link to my picture gallery on audioasylum which has some shots of that.
Extended listening sessions of your room/system are my current reference of a resolving system that does not fatigue the listener.
I vividly recall our visit to Bruce's mastering studio and how I quipped what he was doing/had done to some files "was no fair"! :-)
now comes the process of listening and getting some feedback; then measuring again and then moving the speakers around in the 'new' environment to see where the most ideal spot might be.
I realize this might take some time...when you think you're there - let us know...I have something for you :-)
i'm not sure i am wordsmith enough to describe how different it is now compared to your visit right after Christmas. maybe if you remember what Bruce's studio did that my room did not, added to what my room did do; but imagine that in a bigger room with deeper bass and more space, that would give you a sense of it.
for those who did hear the Evolution/darTZeel room in Las Vegas at T.H.E. Show this year, that same sound but with much greater space and bass decay in a larger room. compared to that room/system; i'm using the MM3's. one advantage to the room at T.H.E. Show is that it had the new Evolution 'zeel' style BNC cables between the pre and amp as well as between the Playbacks and the pre. my system only has those cables between the Playbacks and the pre. the other ones are on order. those cables, unfortunately, make a significant difference.
in the next couple of days i will post some pictures.
i did clean up last night and listen for 3 hours. to begin with i tried to just listen and enjoy but it turned into a search for something wrong.....any little issue. i pushed the bass limits last night but it held together no matter what (the mono's could dish out).
so far the only thing is that i have 2 of my recessed light fixtures that get excited by certain low frequencies. i had dealt with most of those years ago but the new bass energy in the room has revealed more. i have some foam i spray behind them that eliminates any resonance.....which i will do this weekend.
it's early to make any profound statements; but to say i'm thrilled and very happy would be an understatement. now comes the process of listening and getting some feedback; then measuring again and then moving the speakers around in the 'new' environment to see where the most ideal spot might be.
i don't hear anything that obviously needs fixing but my mind is open to what can be improved.
the installation of the 3/4" maple plywood paneling over the Quietrock is complete.
tomorrow a couple small trim pieces will be installed along with the window inserts (a layer of maple ply over the Quietrock framed with handles for easy install and removal...they will be quite heavy). tomorrow night i'll clean the room and re-install the system.
hopefully i'll be good to go. at this point i don't expect to need any diffusion.
not sure on the Mono's, every day they are here is a bonus. i suppose a few more weeks.
my contractor was able to complete installation of the maple plywood on the long wall on each side on Friday (looks great!) so only the front corner and window wall is remaining. last night i cleaned the room and set the system up and have been listening. the bass is tighter than before, so the 3/4" maple ply has had a positive effect.
hopefully my room will be complete by mid-week so i can do some critical listening to the monos and compare them to the Stereo. you sure you want to hear the mono's? they are addictive :-) and expensive.
i would love your take on my room changes; to me it's profound.....like having a new room.
i'm not surprised that you are enjoying the darTZeel, it has that 'something special' that rises above sounding like electronics to sounding like music.
i'll be around so whenever you find the time to get down here you are welcome.
thanks for the kind words, and thanks for driving down from B.C. (sorry about your border event), it was fun spending the time listening with you...let's do it again. the other guys, Don and Pat, had been there since noon, so they listened for 11 hours straight. time did fly by. the system is now so alive, listenable and natural sounding. and i was playing things pretty loud for the most part.
Microstrip; i will try to come up with a 'play list' tonight that i will post. we did play both kinds of music 'country' and 'western' :-)
i too liked the Vandersteen Model 7's. it seemed to be very refined and uncolored. but i was sitting in the back left and it was a brief listen. it was great having Joe Harley talk about the Music Matters Blue Note 45rpm series in a venue such as that.
i left after only listening to 2 rooms, the other one i listened to was the Wilson Sasha/ARC room with Fremer and Peter Montcrief. the sound in that room was not bad; but i was sitting in the front row right side. Mikey and Peter were fun as always, i enjoyed the test pressing of the soon to be released Nat King Cole 45rpm test pressing from Chad.
it was just too many people for any meaningful listening experience; but it was nice to see 250-300 people show up for a audio only 2-channel event. more a social thing than anything. and kudos to Definitive for going to the trouble to do it. they still set the standard for the best 'Brick and Mortar' high end place anywhere.
I beleive I saw you at Music Matters last night, I wanted to hear your thougths on the different systems. I was very impressed with the Vandersteen Model 7, to my ears they were making the best sound last night. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.
Sdrsdrsdr: Insightful reflection...neither did I sustain fatigue upon listening to Mike's system/room at length. Indeed, that's one of the finest compliments I can offer...enchanting :-)
Congrats, Mike! p.s. I sent you an e-mail on your .net account.
Hi Mike, That was one amazing listening session on Saturday. For me it was eight hours and only a couple short bathroom breaks. I never thought I could go that long and not suffer listening fatigue. It was exciting to see all that took part having such excitement for the music. Also, much of your musical choices were much the same as I would likely pick. I have too say that this system is the best that I have heard so far. But, most importantly, 'good pick on the tunes'. Steve.
got home, room is now under seige until further notice with construction. should be done maybe by Friday, but more likely a week from Friday.
i guess those 15 Blue Ray movies i've bought but not watched will get played.....and a few books to read. maybe in the am i'll start working out again.
ahhhhh. life without a music room. gotta keep my swerve on....
