knownothing's Music/Library/Theater System

by knownothing on

Description

Have been working on this system for about 12 years with much advice derived here.  Digital and analog 2 Channel sounds very good now to my ears, much I think has to do with room. 

Room is new construction with rock wool insulation in interior walls and ceiling, and thick fiberglass insulation in exterior walls. Ceiling sheet rock is floated with aluminum spacers. Floor is poured concrete over 300 tons of crushed rock (don't ask). AV equipment is on a dedicated 10AWG line and 20 amp breaker.  Room lights and auxiliary outlets on separate circuit. Book shelves are from IKEA and fit along left wall PERFECTLY.

Room frequency spectrum measures very well with speakers mounted on the long wall. B&W sub and MA speakers, all with aluminum alloy drivers, integrate seemlessly.  Older Arcam AVR400 and Monitor Audio speakers have stood up remarkably well to upgraded sources and continue to reward with excellent sound. Chord DAC and linear power supply in combination with Furutech power and Nanotec IC cables have terrific detail, tone, PRAT, dynamics, and well articulated soundstage in 2-channel.  Latest addition to digital front end is bluesound Node (Gen 3) functioning as a file server connected to SanDisk Extreme SSD drive as source and to the Chord dac via coax cable and iFi SPDIF iPurifier2, which humanizes the Chord’s hyper detailed presentation.  This is the best sounding digital front end I have had in my system to date. The Node provides remarkable performance and function for the price.

Analog front end continues evolving with old Thorens TD 150mkII, Nahaoka MP-500 cartridge and Project phono amp with Swagman SE linear power supply with Gold Lion tubes and Audiomeca power and Nanotec IC cables.  Nanotec #308 power cable supplies Arcam straight from wall outlet, with good effect.

Mapleshade vibration control kit for turntable has taken vintage Thorens to a new level, and Shunyata Venom power strip and HC power cable to feed all but amp - all big improvements and highly recommended.

Blurays and HD soundtracks aren't bad either in 5.1.  Recent addition is Amazon Fire TV Cube which has good sound and picture for little consumer product. Rounding that out with Swagman linear power supply and Furutech power cable that may seem like serious overkill, but it keeps switching power supplies out of system.

Final note, I have replaced some digital cables in my system with DH Labs (USB, toslink and HDMI) because these products seem to offer terrific performance across the board for the cost.  Chord Company Signature Super ARAY coaxial cable on digital front end is a revelation.
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Room Details

Dimensions: 11’ × 18’  Medium
Ceiling: 8’

Components Toggle details

    • Leviton 20 Amp Isolated Ground Duplex Outlet
    Industrial grade AC outlet, firmly grips plugs
    • Nanotec Systems #308 "Wonderful" Power Cable
    Amazing nano particle coated copper 12 gauge power cable. Used from wall outlet directly to Arcam receiver.  Furutech FI-11-N1 (G) IEC and FI-11M-N1 (G) AC connectors.
    • Shunyata Research Venom HC
    Delivers a lot of current to Venom PS8 power strip from wall.  Quiet with good pace and timing.  Long breakin, have patience.
    • Shunyata Research Venom PS8
    Clearly a step up from the Wiremold power strip it replaced.  Everything is much, much better after long breakin period.
    • Shunyata Research Venom Defender
    Plug-in power conditioner. Significantly reduced hum in analog system. Provides blacker backgrounds across the board in system.
    • FURUTECH FP TCS21 cable/Rhodium connector power cord
    This is a great high purity “Triple C” copper 14 AWG cable with Cryo’d Copper/Rhodium connectors from SONARQUEST. Extremely revealing without being analytical.  Connects Bluesound Node to Shunyata Venom power strip. Using Cryo’d C-7 adapter from Voodoo Cable to connect with Node.
    • Bluesound Node (Gen 3)
    Bluesound Node is a remarkable source.  Interface is very good, and sound quality is exceptional for all file formats served from SSD hard and flash drives (but avoid conventional USB hard drives as sound is mediocre to horrible). Streams pretty much any service you choose. The internal DAC in the Node is competent, but less accomplished than the file serving and streaming functions. Combined with the Chord Qutest DAC it’s the best sounding digital source I have had in my system so far. Overall hifi bargain.
    • The Chord Company Signature Super ARAY
    This coax cable is a critical part of my digital front end.  Digs details and timing out of the Bluesound Node and Chord Qutest that are astonishing.  Much, much cleaner bass, but makes everything better.  Worth the investment.
    • iFi Audio iPowerX
    This deluxe wall wart from iFi made a shockingly big difference in the performance of their SPDIF iPurifier2 in my system.  In the same league as the improvements from the custom linear power supplies feeding my DAC and phono preamp.  Well done iFi.
    • iFi audio SPDIF iPurifier2
    Connected via coax cable from the Node to the Qutest at the dac end, this device deserves some discussion.  I was initially having some handshaking problems between the Node and the DAC, and read somewhere that the iFi’s SPIF iPurifer had solved the issue so I decided to try it.  Turns out the handshake problem was the result of a faulty BNC adapter, but there’s something going on with this little device.

    According to iFi audio, the SPDIF iPurifier2 puts the signal through “4 comprehensive stages - isolation, regeneration, a memory buffer and re-clocking.” Whatever.  And iFi claims “The result is a fully-restored SPDIF signal without jitter. The sound quality now has greater warmth, resolution and dynamics.” What I found is that the iPurifier2 added some liquidity and connected musical events together in both time and space such that the paint by numbers hyper detail of the Chord was presented in a more realistic, natural and convincing way without a noticeable loss of dynamics.  It is uncanny, and it is great.  I don’t know if this device is correcting deficiencies in the Node or the Chord, but I’m inclined to think both.  YMMV, but I love it and the little reclocker is staying put.

    ONE CAVEAT: this significant improvement in sound quality was only achieved after replacing the stock iPower wall wart with iFi’s iPowerX, which adds another 100+ bucks to the package. The iPurifier2 performance in my system with the stock power supply was underwhelming, and had I not decided on a whim to try the iPowerX, I probably would have returned the reclocker.
    • FURUTECH FP-S35TC PC-TripleC/Rhodium Power Cord
    This is a great high purity copper 12 gauge cable with Cryo’d Copper/Rhodium connectors. Extremely revealing cable without being analytical.  Connects Linear Power Supply SE feeding Chord DAC to Shunyata Venom power strip.
    • Main Cables R Us Linear Power Supply
    Power supply upgrade for DAC with Rodium AC outlet, Furutech Rhodium fuse and silver DC cable. Major improvement over stock switching supply.
    • Chord Qutest DAC
    New to system.  Still getting handle on what it brings to the table.
    • Nanotec Systems #207 Music Strada IC
    Very neutral and reasonably priced IC.  With Furutech rhodium RCAs from Qutest DAC to Arcam AVR.
    • DH Labs Mirage USB
    Very good sounding silver plated USB cable.
    • Samsung BD-H6500
    Consumer product that works as surprisingly good transport for redbook set to output "raw bitstream" data.  Very good Bluray sound and video performance too.  TG for economies of scale in manufacturing and distribution!
    • DH Labs Glass Master Toslink Digital Optical Cable
    Best sounding optical cable of the four I have tried, including from Chord, Audioquest, other glass cable and something recommended by Steve Nugent, the designer of Empirical Audio Overdrive DACs.  And it’s not really close.  Connects Samsung BD-H6500 to QuteHD.
    • AudioQuest Vodka HDMI
    HDMI cable with excellent sound and video performance.  Samsung BD-H6500 to Arcam receiver.  Noticeable improvement over other cables I’ve tried.
    • Mapleshade Anti-Vibration Kit
    2” Air-Dried Maple Vibration Control Board with low triplepoint brass feet and isoblocks used with Thorens TD-150 mkII.  Increased treble and midrange clarity with more subtle detail, tighter bass, longer decays and better timing for more toe tapping.  OMG!
    • Thorens TD-150 mkII
    Using tonar perspex mat, Mapleshade vibration kit and Ortofon LW 7N headshell leads.  All adds up to enhanced spatial definition, transients and bass.  Shocking presence and jump factor from this old table.
    • Nagaoka MP-500 cartridge
    Good match for Thorens TP13A arm.  Fast, detailed, flat frequency response, good bass and tracking at 33 or 45rpms plus Nagaoka midrange magic.  This cartridge is crazy good - best I’ve had in my system to date.
    • Audiomeca P-90 OCC single crystal copper hifi power cable
    Very good cable.  Improvement over much more expensive cables from Shunyata, Isotek, Furutech and others.  Super well-made audio bargain. Works well both on dac and now for linear supply feeding phono pre.
    • Swagman Lab Signature Edition Linear Power Supply
    This is the upgraded 18V linear power supply for the Pro-Ject Tube Box DS. Ridiculously large improvement over stock switching mode power supply. Quieter, more organic, layered and natural sounding with much better bass. Cleaned up sound of whole system including digital, presumably by eliminating Pro-Ject SMPS.
    • ProJect Audio Systems Tube Box DS
    Coherent and natural sounding phono pre. Excellent with Swagman SE linear power supply, captures subtlty and nuance in midrange along with deep bass and shimmering highs.  Good match with Audio Technica AT 150Sa cartridge.  Rolled pair of Gold Lion ECC83 in for stock tubes.  Wow!  Touch, dynamics, tonal balance and sound stage all improved.  Using with Audio Selections small metal cones on small bamboo board.  Will stick with this pre for a while.
    • Black Shadow RCA Interconnect
    Silver coated mil spec OCC copper wire, Teflon dialectric, with silver plated copper connectors. This is a great cable!  Transparent, fast and neutral RCA cable.  Replaced Nanotec #207 RCAs, which is an excellent affordable RCA.
    • Arcam AVR-400
    Best sounding AV receiver I could find for 2-channel listening under three grand.  Improvements elsewhere in system reinforcing how good and transparent to source this unit really is.  Two channel analog stereo mode with all digital circuits shut down is wonderful.  Good Blurays sound awesome in 5.1.
    • Furutech FP-314Ag-II and NCF Rhodium connecters
    Silver plated OFC alpha processed stranded copper power cable with rhodium connectors. Huge improvement in video clarity. Sharp audio.  Amazing cable makes difference with Fire Box, but it does.  Connects Swagman lps and B&W subwoofer to Shunyata power strip.
    • Bowers & Wilkins PV1D
    Digital subwoofer. Fast and deep. Operates equally well on both line level and hi level inputs, but low, low bass capability requires careful cartridge/arm match.
    • AudioQuest Rocket 44
    21' bulk wire runs from Audio Advisor terminated on both ends with Pangea Xtreme banana connectors.  Well-articulated soundstage and good overall tone.  Faithfully reports what it receives from upstream across frequency spectrum.
    • Monitor Audio Apex 40
    Wall-mounted 2.5 way MTM speakers, times 3. Singing in this set up overall - especially male and female voices.
    • AudioQuest Type 4
    40 foot runs.  Used for rear speakers. Neutral.
    • Monitor Audio Apex 10
    2 way wall-mounted speakers (rear) times 2. Very nice little speakers.
    • Panasonic TC-P55VT30
    This is an awesome Plasma TV.  Will mourn when it wears out.
    • Grado GS1000x
    Good for late night listening. Very nice headphones that report faithfully what’s going on upstream in the recording chain.  Well recorded voices are to die for, but the very deepest bass is on permanent holiday.
    • Swagman Lab Linear Power Supply
    Replaces wall wart for Amazon Fire TV Cube.  Overkill?  Keep switching supplies out of my system. Period.
    • AMAZON Fire TV Cube
    Remarkably good sound and and video performance from this little “smart” device.
    • DH Labs HDMI 2.0B SILVER
    Reasonably priced HDMI cable.  Closest I have tried to Audioquest Vodka which costs significantly more than this.  Picture is nearly identical, sound is very close, a bit warmer than the Audioquest.  Connects Amazon Fire TV Cube to Arcam receiver.

Comments 11

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Owner
Update: I recently made the most significant upgrade to this system to date by replacing the Arcam irDAC with an older Chord QuteHD DAC.  The biggest difference is the level of detail retrieval on tap, followed closely by noticeable improvements in PRAT, speed and dynamics.  The Chord sounds great with the Bluesound Node once they establish a connection, which can take a few tries if changing cables.

This further confirms for me the primary importance of source, and that there is a lot more to digital than just ones and zeros.

knownothing

Owner
Update:  I have replaced most of my digital cables with DH Labs (USB, toslink and HDMI) .  Still using Audioquest Vodka HDMI for critical Blurays, edges out DH Labs for sound by small amount - at much greater cost.

Also experimented with re-inserting Furutech FP-S022N power cable into digital path but with SONARQUEST carbon edition silver plated copper power connectors in place of Furutech FI-28 rhodium connectors to try to liven that cable up a bit.  Wow, bass is so much cleaner and the highs on digital front end are now transfixing - especially with well recorded high resolution files.  Poor recordings are not terrible, but get exposed as such pretty quick.  This cable may not be the final destination, but it is clearly the unicorn in my stable.

DH Labs Red Wave is going to be outfitted with Furutech NCF Rhodium connectors and repurposed for use on the Shunyata PS 8 power strip.  Will report how that works compared to the HC Venom 20 amp cable.

knownothing

Owner
A word about silver plated copper cables - I have become a big fan of this solution.  I had settled on Nanotec cables with gold/silver oil-based nano particle coating over very high quality copper wire, and still like this for certain applications, especially with rhodium plated connectors.  But I tried building a power cable using Furutech bulk wire with a similar design and nanotechnology coating and was frankly disappointed.  The sound was smooth, but also lacking dynamics and jump factor.  I did a direct comparison of this power cable and the Black Shadow silver plated copper power cable, also with rhodium plated connectors, and the Black Shadow trounced the Furutech in nearly every dimension of performance.  I tried Mark Tunis’ silver plated copper rca interconnects and found them to be extremely good, so I am now running all Black Shadow cables on my analog front end.  I have also recently assembled a DH Labs Red Wave silver plated and shielded power cable with rhodium plated Furutech connectors and am quite impressed with this product.  I’m now using this shielded power cable on my digital front end, although the unshielded Black Shadow was excellent there as well.  Really enjoying the open, neutral and fast sound of these silver plated copper cables in my system right now.

knownothing

Owner
Latest additions include Shunyata Venom power delivery system including PS8 power strip and HC supply cable from wall to go with Venom Defender I was already using.  Everything is plugged in here except receiver and sub.  Long break in period, but big improvement to overall clarity, system speed, dynamics and PRAT for everything.

More power delivery improvements include a new home assembled Furutech shielded cable for MCRU power supply to Arcam DAC.  Moved Nanotec #308 power cable to receiver to replace Shunyata Diamondback.  Big Improvements to both devices and overall sound. Tighter and more balanced bass in particular.  See components above for details on Furutech parts used.

Lots of work on analog system too. Added Mapleshade anti vibration kit which made ridiculous improvement to clarity, sustain and decay, especially their brass footers. Not sure why this worked so well on sprung Thorens table, but there you have it.

Added Swagman SE linear power supply for ProJect preamp to replace stock switching unit.  According to manufacturer, SE model is “more audiophile”.  Can verify that, it is “more audiophile” and is in fact awesome.  Added Black Shadow braided power cable purchased on Audiogon for Swagman supply - and its an excellent cable.  Added Audio Selections cones to Project chassis and placed on small bamboo board, better.  Finally, rolled in Gold Lion tubes for stock tubes in ProJect.  Gold Lions are a revelation bordering on hallucinatory, better soundstage, speed, touch and tonal balance.  Not going any where for now.

Overall these changes have made me Very Happy.  This is the sound I was looking for when I started this project.  Only question is whether to listen vinyl or digital.

kn

knownothing

Owner
Replaced Grado PH-1 phono preamp with Project Tube Box DS. Sound has more presence and dimensionality.  Tubes not hiding or glossing over anything, poor recordings sound poor and good recordings sound especially good.  Nice match with Audio Technica AT 150Sa cartridge.

knownothing

Beautiful room, well done!  You should change your moniker to Knowsomething!

pops

Owner
System update, replaced Shelter 201 cartridge with Audio-Technica AT 150Sa.  Much better match for Thorens arm - best sounding cartridge I have had in this system to date. Ruler flat frequency response, good dynamics and bass, excellent tracking.

knownothing

Owner
Typo correction: I meant "Nanotec Systems #308 Wonderful Power Cable"

knownothing

Owner
Thanks, I'm very happy with the way it turned out, the acoustics of the room, or should I say the lack of acoustics, are fantastic.  Very little added color, even in the bass.  I probably listen 75-80% of the time to two channel, 20-25% watch/listen to HD video.  Most TV watching done in different room except big sports events (keen observers will notice paper Cam Chancellor cut out over left front speaker - makes treble sound just so;-)

The Arcam-Monitor Audio pairing has great midrange timbre and tone.  B&W sub is remarkable and versitile. Fast and seamless near upper frequency cut off, while providing subterranean bass when required from either line level special effects or high level analog inputs.

BluRay and HD video downloads are great in 5.1 sent as raw bitstream from Samsung to AVR-400. But two channel digital from files (even 24/96) or CDs through the AVR-400's internal DACs never quite had the same presence as the HI Res video soundtracks. My analog set up had been more musical, better PRAT, touch and soundstage (but bass from all digital sources has always been more convincing).

So I recently put some effort into upgrading my 2-channel digital set up, adding an Arcam irDAC, Main Cables R Us linear power supply for the DAC, and experimenting with several AC cables for the power supply.  Turns out the Neotec Systems #308 "Wonderful" power cable is just that. Everything that was already good about the irDAC like dynamics, PRAT and tone got better with power upgrades, while detail, decay, bass power, and especially soundstage, improved a LOT. Just sounds more like music.

The digital front end now sounds so good I am now loosing sleep.  Have pretty much put record playing aside and spending time running through many digital titles from red book to HD downloads to Tidal.  Need to do some catch up on the vinyl front end!

knownothing

Very cool room!

elem79

Wow....beautiful room and HT system!  Monitor Audio has done some really nice mods on their aesthetic factor of the speakers; they always looked good but these are so much better and sharp looking! Enjoy!

zephyr24069

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