Wow! Thanks for hosting such a fantastic music 'experience'
You've put together an amazing system... And set it in a little corner of heaven!
What a treat, after seeing your system evolve and (revolve) on audiogon, to finally witness it!
I really admire your dedication to vinyl, and your dedication to 'the best'
Cheers!
If I'm fortunate enough to visit again I know just the record to bring!
The Anna and Durand- sublime.
Have you played with any of the strain gauge carts?
Thanks again!
Harvey

hxt1 December 15, 2014 04:47

Hi Mike - I am really curious about 2 things in ur system?:

1. the Wave Kinetics Turntable - is it better than the Rockport you had?
2. How come you have am emt 948 - how does it stack up in ur pantheon of turntables - u've perhaps had the most dream decks I can ever think of so I guess you should know

thanks

lohanimal December 07, 2014 21:32

How did you find that the Adona Rack improved your system? Did you use spikes to support the rack or the flat feet that Paul recommends?

ON your supports did you stay with the leveling dampers or did you go with spikes facing up under each of the shelf's.

phillyb November 29, 2014 20:07

It's been over TEN YEAR'S since I inadvertainly named "the barn"?.
Wow... How time flies!
It is most admirable that even at the lofty heights you and your systems have attained you admit that there are always imperfections though you have always remained truly supportive and a consummate gentlemen!

Happy Listening rolls on...
Azjake

azjake November 01, 2014 02:15

Hi Mike,

What's your opinion on Zanden 9600 monoblocks, 2000 premium cd, 5000 Dac, 3000 preamplifier, 1200 phono stage?

Michael Moncrief

jehovahjira October 11, 2014 13:21

Hey Mike
Thanks for the great visit last week. The music sure sounds good at the barn. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better..... it did get better.
Take care and thanks for the great time.

rugyboogie August 25, 2014 13:43

Mike,

I need to hear your system again, it's been too long. Maybe the blonde is still serving Pizza at that place under the bridge ?

I'm pleased you are enjoying your system, miss reading your posts about music and updates here as well.

albertporter July 28, 2014 18:38

hi David,

great to hear from you, i sure enjoyed your visit. i am well and trust you are too. sorry for the delay in response, i don't check on Audiogon every day to see what's happening.

glad you like the pictures. those Auralex T-Fusors were in those recesses when you visited last year......they have been there since 2011.....since before i got the MM7's. i have to admit that i've never specifically A/B'd those T-Fusors in those recesses so i cannot say with conviction excatly how much they do. the ones on the side wall definitly tame slap echo without changing the tonality or reducing energy. and they are cheap at $59 retail each.

the Herzan units (the TS-140 under the tt and the TS-150 under the dart pre and the Playback digital) really do the job in my system by lowering the noise floor and virtually eliminating any feedback from the speakers. with 7 foot tall, 750 pound, bass towers 8 feet away from my sources my system does benefit from the ultimate in isolation. the Herzan units replaced the Wave Kinetics passive isolation base for the tt, and the Wave Kinetics A10 U8 footers i was using under the pre and digital.

as far as characterzing the performance improvements it's a few things, all of which become more significant as the SPL's rise and the bass dynamics get crazyier. a level of ease and naturalness gets added, like any lowering of the noise floor you get an expension of the sound stage and ambient clues and get an increase in dynamic contrasts.. instruments and voices get a bit more real. lots of textures immerge previously lost in the noise floor. things like Cello growl, kettle drum texture, and piano note decay go to a whole different level. at low volumes these changes are more subtle although since you have essentially filtered out the ground noise effect there are real benefits at low volume. but the heavy lifting is the ease on musical peaks particulartly with heavy bass involved. the cartridge simply tracks those peaks better. some very husky voices which had caused slight distortion are now crystal clear.

i hope that answers those questions.

take care,

mikelavigne July 26, 2014 00:11

Hi Mike,

Nice to see updated photos of your room. Is it right to think you reintroduced the sound treatment panels in the recesses of the ceiling? When I was there you had removed them. Did you do that when the manufacturer came to voice the MM7s to the room?

Wondering how much improvement you've found with the new vibration isolation units. Would you characterize this just a bit? I don't recall what you previously had for this function.

Hope this finds you well.

Very Best,

David Kellogg

cdk84 July 22, 2014 04:33

I've owned 4 Ekones Stressless chairs, and own one now. I also currently have a great Ekones sofa. the Stressless chair I own now I use in my rec room upstairs for watching sports. and for laying back and putting your feet up and watching TV it's great.

unfortunately for listening, the Stressless 'cups' the sound around the head so does mess with the sound in bad ways. also, when sitting at listening height it is about a '2-hour' chair.....meaning my back can handle about 90 minutes to 2 hours sitting up before it starts to get stiff and sore. at that point I need to constantly move my position around to stay comfortable. which is fine for TV but not for serious listening.

for my listening room I use a zero-gravity chair from The-Relax-The-Back store. the linked picture is from my old room. I've had this chair for 15 years and love it. if you want your feet supported then the challenge is to properly support your back. to do that requires a particular angle of your legs and back to distribute the weight and keep it off your tailbone. the 'zero-gravity' concept was developed by NASA for rocket launches. just google 'zero-gravity'.

if you don't need to support your feet and are sitting up I recommend the Aeron Side Chair. very comfortable with your feet on the floor. I have 2 of these.

since the 'zero-gravity' chair has a high back I move it out of the way when I have visitors and bring in the Cassina K10 Dodo which is very comfortable, and has a headrest and footrest which both retract. unfortunately it is also very expensive.

mikelavigne July 20, 2014 20:18

Stressless.

branislav July 20, 2014 18:29

I'm looking for a small and comfortable chair that can also support your feet any ideas.

jwm July 20, 2014 16:03

pictures of the one-in-the-world pre-production darTZeel NHB-18NS preamp.

front 1
front 2

this pic show the new phono adjustments, with the LED's off.
new cartridge gain and loading LED adjustments-1

here the LED's are on. you move the toggle back and forth to turn on the LED's and then adjust the gain and loading separately. it is quick and easy to do and can be done on-the-fly while listening.
new cartridge gain and loading LED adjustments-2

mikelavigne June 13, 2014 14:01

Spirit, no hurry; when it happens it happens. thanks.

mikelavigne June 12, 2014 23:32

Mike, I'm onto my Uk Entreq rep, who should be able to help w/the US side of things. Give me a little time, it's vacation season.

spiritofmusic June 12, 2014 22:11

how much superior? it's like listening to something thru a doorway with the door openned half way, compared to the wall and door being removed. it sounded really really great and direct without limits with the 108, then goes to another level with the 458's. it's more an experiential thing in where the 458's take you.

Thanks for the reply Mike. I was afraid you were going to say that. :-) Back to the drawing board ... Hmm!

joecasey June 12, 2014 13:47

Spirit,

I'm open to listening to the Entreq if given the opportunity, and if you can push it on your end to make it happen i'll be glad to seriously investigate it. I hope it works out.

thanks in advance for your efforts. I'm always open to learning something new.

mikelavigne June 12, 2014 02:49

Mike, I believe grounding complements balanced power, and I'm somewhat confident it would bring impvts across the board to enhance and advance the EquiTech positives you're already experiencing. My Westwick Audio balanced transformer (in series with a dedicated ring main), is a pro studio grade unit, used in recording studios in london, and at 8kVA is poss the most OTT unit in the UK (EquiTech not distributed across The Pond) - my Entreq Silver Tellus just takes what the Westwick does and enhances it's effects all round. Lloyd here uses a combination of Entreq and Troy, and is ecstatic as to how it's maxxed out his Zanden/CJ/Wilson X1 system.
I don't know about Tripoint Troy, but Entreq in the UK are v.audiophile friendly, happy to do home demos. Would you like me to contact my UK rep and see if he can set up a taster thru the US distributor (which is just being announced)?

spiritofmusic June 12, 2014 00:14

How much $$ for the NHB-18NS upgrade?

Before NHB-458, were you using 2 NHB-108? How did they compare to the NHB-458? NHB-458 is superior but how much superior?

hi Joe,

i have not yet heard about what it will cost to upgrade the current NHB-18NS dart preamp to the new version. i would recommend directly communicating with the darTZeel distributor or your dealer to get the right answer.

as far as the NHB-108 compared to the NHB-458; you are correct that back in 2004-2006 i used a pair of 108's bi-amped into the Von Schweikert VR9SE's....and that was a sweet combo.

i preferred the single 108 into the Evolution Acoustics MM3's (which i used from later 2006-2012) to the pair of 108's into the VR9SE's by a slight margin; both set-ups were very very good. i simply preferred the coherence and transparency of the ceramic mid-range ribbon tweeter of the MM3's to the mid-tweeter of the VR9SE.

the NHB-458 monoblocks are a significant upgrade from a single 108 or pair of 108's. the 458 is simply more refined, more transparent, has more grip, more detailed, and you see farther into the music. the 108 is top notch on all there areas given a reasonable speaker to drive. but the 458 takes all these attributes and raises them up a notch or three.

how much superior? it's like listening to something thru a doorway with the door openned half way, compared to the wall and door being removed. it sounded really really great and direct without limits with the 108, then goes to another level with the 458's. it's more an experiential thing in where the 458's take you.

and the 108 is so wonderful in it's own right that when you are listening to it everything is there and you want for nothing at all.

mikelavigne June 11, 2014 23:56

hi Spirit,

yes; it is likely that i'm at an 'end place' in system development based on my particular view of what i like.

regarding over-the-top grounding products such as the Entreq or Troy, you and i have exchanged our views before. and as before, i have some reasonable curiousity about what one of those products might do.....in other words i'm open minded. OTOH; i don't have enough curosity to spend the dollars to find out for sure.....so i'm not open-checkbooked. my opinion is that with my Equi=tech whole system isolation transformer that any grounding approach which offers more transparency will find minimal opportunity to improve things.

as i've said before; if someone wants to ship me high level Entreq or Troy grounding products i'll try it and see if it can justify it's cost in my particular system.

i'm still a learing audiophile and don't want to give any impression that i know better than someone else about things. yet my money only gets used when i am sufficiently motivated.

mikelavigne June 11, 2014 23:27

Mike, great news re your positive experience w/the current iteration of the Dart pre. I notice on another forum board you say this pretty much announces your destination, reaching full potential of your long journey to ultimate sound quality.
I would really implore you to investigate grounding, whether Tripoint Troy or Entreq Silver Tellus/Atlantis. Everyone it seems incl. me who gets into this area, whether with a more modest system or something more uber, feel that it brings a major extra dimension to the listening experience that can't be achieved by simple component changes.
I humbly predict you'll find this "final frontier" in system augmentation as groundbreaking (or more) as your move to EquiTech balanced power - in my system, my 8kVA balanced transformer has bulked up the solidity and foundation of the sound, and grounding has crystallised the air and serenity of the soundstage.
Apologies if I seem to be trying to spend your money for you (as if!!!), but the effect of Entreq Silver Tellus grounding in my not inauspicious system has been radical to say the least.

spiritofmusic June 11, 2014 22:37

Mikelavigne,

How much $$ for the NHB-18NS upgrade?

Before NHB-458, were you using 2 NHB-108? How did they compare to the NHB-458? NHB-458 is superior but how much superior?

Thanks!

joecasey June 10, 2014 16:49

I ordered it Saturday. I hope my box is within the first 1000 gold foil numbered versions. Once I saw the master tapes were 1/2" 30 ips, I knew it was going to sound spectacular.

i'm at work, but as i recall my number was around 150-160 someplace.....so yours ought to be quite low too.

i have listened to more of it and so far like what i hear.

mikelavigne June 09, 2014 19:34

06-08-14: Mikelavigne

Thanks for the review Mike. I have been on the fence with this box set. I guess I better get off. :-)

yes...you should.

I ordered it Saturday. I hope my box is within the first 1000 gold foil numbered versions. Once I saw the master tapes were 1/2" 30 ips, I knew it was going to sound spectacular.

rockitman June 09, 2014 18:53

Mike, I was up in Redmond for 14 years but never heard your system. We moved down to Portland in December and I'm finally getting around to putting my room together. I know I am going to need(want) some acoustical help with a remodel of my room to make it more isolated from the rest of the house, and improve sonics. Who did you work with and would you go back to them today? (Or recommend a PNW outfit.) Considering you have added diffusion to your walls, are you disappointed the original design did not account for this?

hi Bob,

after 10 years in my room, I am still generally happy with the overall design. I love the designed in diffusion. I don't love that I've ended up removing most of the bass trapping that was in the original plan. originally the designer and I discussed that I might end up removing some of the trapping after living with the original design.....so I would not lay all this on him. but likely some of it was over-kill in retrospect.

as far as the diffusion I've added; I did the sides and ceilings (Auralex T-Fusors) when I removed the bass traps; and that added diffusion was very cheap and easy to do. the front RPG Skylines were to improve the center image; the original wood cylinder did great as far as it went, but the more aggressive Skylines take things a bit further. in the context of the overall design and construction cost these added diffusers are drops in the bucket. the built-in side diffusers, the rear and side media cabinets, the ceiling shape and design, and everything else works well as a design concept and makes the room perform in terms of soundstage and musical bloom and note development in a unique way.

so overall I'm satisfied; but there are areas of frustration. my room was one of the first 'no-holds-bared' 2-channel rooms Rives did, and I'd still recommend my designer, Chris Huston. I don't know any local PNW designers that I have personal experience with.

and even thou you are in Portland, you would be very welcome to visit and listen to my room if you would like.

and best wishes and congrats for a fun, successful room project. it will be worth the trouble.

best regards,

mikelavigne June 08, 2014 23:48