What's your rig?
As of 21.43 hrs on 31/12/10 my system consists of...
Rega P7 & Thorens TD150 turntables
TD150 has a non-imp 3009
Audio Note IQ3/Stilton P77/Grado Prestige Black 1 cartridges
Squeezebox 3/Pioneer DV444 (as transport)/MacBook into CA Dacmagic
Inca Tech Claymore
Royd Merlins
Cables - interconnects by yours truly; Klotz audio/guitar cables with Neutrik plugs.
Digi cables - Maplin optical
Speaker cable - Talk 3 (highly recommended - especially at £3.99/metre!).
Picture now added.
Rega P7 & Thorens TD150 turntables
TD150 has a non-imp 3009
Audio Note IQ3/Stilton P77/Grado Prestige Black 1 cartridges
Squeezebox 3/Pioneer DV444 (as transport)/MacBook into CA Dacmagic
Inca Tech Claymore
Royd Merlins
Cables - interconnects by yours truly; Klotz audio/guitar cables with Neutrik plugs.
Digi cables - Maplin optical
Speaker cable - Talk 3 (highly recommended - especially at £3.99/metre!).
Picture now added.
Comments
Garrard 401 in Torlyte plinth
Rebuilt RB250 arm and upgraded Decca Maroon
Lenco L75 with Terminator 2 air powered parallel tracking arm and Denon 103 MC
Musical Fidelity LPs Phono Stage
MM/MC switchable
Musical Fidelity Valve X-Pre
Leak Stereo 20 chassis - rebuilt to 6SN7 and 807 in PP
Lowther EX4's and Eminence 15" Betas in an Open Baffle
Cables are a mixture of Kimber and DIY solid silver
Also for convenience a laptop running into a DAC Magic II
It's making noises I like. Although due to the very cold weather lately the vinyl getting less use as it sounds a bit hard and strained - mechanical parts don't like the cold. So the digital side is getting a hammering.
Voyd/Alphason HR100S/Shelter 901 turntable
Tribute Audio MC step up
Audio Innovations P2 phono stage
CEC TL53Z CD player
Audio Note Japan (Kondo) M7 line stage
New Audio Frontiers 845SE power amp
Living Voice OBX-R2 loudspeakers
Cables by Kondo and Audio Note (all silver litz)
I hope we get some reel 2 reel users next! It's good to see this place grow, and there is some serious kit being used here! We must be an upper class forum...(how did I get in?!)
My rig with Twix the schnauzer guarding it !
[IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t220/scottyhammer/P1020265.jpg[/IMG]
Which Voyd is that you're using?
3 motor "The Voyd" (later split phase psu model), Reference Lexan platter and Reference bearing.
Very, very nice!
I'm hatching a cunning plan to create a 3 motor TT using Rega motors and the trough and arm outrigger from Townsend. If I can get it all to work it'll be a bloody miracle! I'm just hunting for the 3rd motor, got all the bits apart from that.
I've never heard a 3 motor Voyd. I've heard the Audio Note 2 motor and I've heard Les' 2 motor Genesis. Both sounded very good with plenty of torque and grip almost to idler levels. I reckon the 3 motor would tip it over.
Mind you Les W is adamant the 3 motors is wholly wrong, so what do I know?
I've also heard an uber LP12 with a heavy duty Papst motor and an extra idler a la the Funk boys (although done at least 5 years before). It has also had its subchassis and armboard replaced with ones made from carbon fibre. Extremely good indeed.
A Voyd/Rock hybrid - now that would be interesting! Would love to hear that!
BTW if you're ever near Milton Keynes you're welcome to pop in if you wanna hear a 3 motor Voyd.
I was very impressed with the Dacmagoc, but Si's hot-rodded 840C has been a revelation; so much more natural (no artificial edge to vocals for example now). More dynamic contrast, more weight, authority and just soooo much more listenable. Great bit of kit.
The 150's in place because the PL71's arm is away being re-wired - the SME will then go off for the same treatment. Re-did the counterweight de-coupling rubber on the 3009 the other day and it's made a significant difference to the arm's sound, tightening up things no end, and I just love the sound of the little Thorens. That's not to say I wouldn't like a TD124 at some point though.
The 840 makes for a great dac - a decent, and very worthwhile improvement over the already good Dacmagic.
How many other inputs are there on the 840C?
The 840 has 2 other inputs, one co-ax, the other optical which is just about enough for my needs. I really enjoyed my old, standard, 840c but this one's on another level - a fair few 'haven't heard that before' moments.
One is used for the Macbook, the other I have the Humax playing into so I can listen to Radio 3 through the hifi.
Whitesnake - Greatest Hits
The Incredibles Soundtrack
Shostakovich String Quartets
Yellowjackets - Altered State
and now...JS Bach 48 preludes & fugues.
Taken all that lot in its stride - the Whitesnake's meaty, powerful, the JSB is delicate and full of shape and colour. Si reckoned the mods to the 840c alone cost itro 300 quid.
Yes, it's a big old beastie - not so much width/height but it goes back a long way in the rack. Weighs a ton too. Makes the Claymore look even tinier!!
Our little Emma (6 months) and a Royd...(think about it)
I recognise that Inca Tech amp'!
I have one powering my "second system" (behind my drum kit in the roof space), It sounds pretty nifty with my iphone into some JPWs. Keeps a nice clear grip even at stupid volumes. But, I've never really given it a proper run out in a proper listening situation. May be I should bring it down into the house...
:-?
Spent a while on Sunday rearranging things so that the new TFS had somewhere proper to sit.
Also, moving the TFS closer to the P90SA enabled me to use the lovely SSPs to make the link.
I continue to be very happy with my first voyage into computer audio, even better with all SSP ICs. Thanks Jason!
Most pleasingly, I managed to dismantle and reassemble the whole rig without breaking a single thing. Not even an SSP connection...! (I think 4 pairs in total. Is that a new world record...?)
The large gap above the TFS is to allow for a bit of ventilation - as advised by Jason.
I suppose all I need now is the NVA T-shirt... X_X
Jeepers creepers that photo is terrible. @-)
I'll try again with a real camera later...
I am a 57 yr old semi-retired software exec in NE Ohio, USA.
I am a veteran of audio forums, and am creator/moderator of Audio
Circle’s HiRez Music forum. I am a DAC aholic, having demo’d inhouse
over a dozen hirez DACs in the past year. That being said, I am needing
to redo some of that evaluation since my room acoustic makeover this
past winter.
I am also a huge multichannel fan, and have invested heavily in every
surround format since day one, with a complete full range ITU setup. My
plebian Oppo BDp-83 SE is either my ninth or tenth universal player,
which has included modded ones, Sony’s earliest SACD flagships, etc.
One reason m y listening environment has involved so much work and room
treatments is due to the fact that I am successfully marrying a
dedicated 5.1 surround signal path with a great dedicated 2.0 stereo
listening space (I also run 7.1 with dipole surrounds but that’s for
movies only and is separately amplified, etc).
The core of my space is my speaker setup, a set of largely unknown SP
Tech Revelation MR-1 mk 2 speakers (with custom external Mundorf
crossovers and Aether Audio magic boxes). Bob Smith is the genius
behind SP tech 9now Aether Audio) and I’ve become very close to Bob
throughout the years. Although a huge favorite of reviewers like Jim
Merod, Bob needs one big break to make it to the brand awareness levels
of Devore, etc. I own Bob’s full range Revelations, and three full
range Continuums (center, music surrounds) which are the MTM portion of
the Revs (without the t-line).
Sources:
Macbook SSD with external USB/FW music (16/44 through DXD 24/384)
Weiss DAC2 (firewire, etc)) DAC
M2Tech Young (USB, etc) DAC (on loan)
Antelope Zodiac plus (USB, etc) (on loan as of this week)
Rega P5/Rega/Dynavector vinyl (seldom used)
Oppo BDP 83 SE (SACD/DVD-A multichannel, BluRay)
Atlona HD570 HDMi de-embedder (for 2 channel SACD and blURay decoding to 24/192)
Amplification:
Concert Fidelity CF-080 tube hybrid stereo preamp
Modwright KWA-150 monoblock amplifiers
McCormack DNA surround amplification (various)
Cabling:
ASI Liveline (sources to pre)
Furutech Reference III (pre to amps)
ASI liveline speaker cabling
Cardas/ASI/Kaplan power cords
Audience Adept Response AR12 power conditioner
UberbUss power conditioner
whole house ground and RF products from EPNA
The room is also home to side and rear Alon movie surrounds, a DLP
projector, Stewart 130 screen, and some movie amplification. My room is
heavily treated with over twenty (22+) of Ethan’s wonderful Realtraps,
Mondo Traps, Minitraps, Difffusors and RFZ’s. I am one of Ethan’s
monthly Stereophile testimonial ads, as I love his products and their
value prop. I also have two GIK art panels, and of course the whole
room centers around the room acoustic system designed by Jeff Hedback
(HDAcoustics) and completed last month. I have discovered that the room
is everything; it is more significant than any piece of gear, even
$100k speakers. And once it is “fixed” the value of you audio
investments skyrockets, literally.
My listening is eclectic. Beatles to Beck. Radiohead to Rickie Lee.
Cassandra Wilson to Cowboy Junkies to Charlie Haden. Steely Dan to
Suzanne Vega to Shostakovich. Miles to Monkees (just kidding, hoping
you’ve read this far).
More about the Hedback remodel project:
Jeff Hedback (http://www.hedbackdesignedacoustics.com/)
is a musician and expert acoustical engineer who designed and developed
the changes we implemented, including the large ceiling diffusor cloud,
side wall diffusor systems and the 400 lb MAT tuned membrane "floating
wall" (behind the screen)..
We installed the large ceiling diffusor/trap in January and the
sound of the room is transformational...a qualitative shift in
everything...tonality, image specificity, detail, naturalness,
soundstage depth. It's as if I told the room to "settle down and let me
listen" and a whole new world opened up. Hell, it will probably force
me to relook speaker positioning, etc...except it's all so good right now. (Edit: I did in fact point the waveguides more direct on to my ears. The fact that they are above my ear level helps to eliminate any beaming or brightness that direct on axis would normally invoke).
Thanks to Jeff, my local craftsman extraordinaire Doug Carpenter (yes, that's his real last name
All told, the major changes were:
* front corner traps, floor to ceiling, custom made. Allowed me to
repurpose the Realtrap Mondo corners to the back sloped area.
* a 400 lb tuned membrane "floating wall" on the front wall, behind the
screen assembly, which brought about amazing soundstage and balance
(fewer nulls, etc) improvements by itself
* side wall diffusors and tetrahedral treatments that open up the room and improve even surround high rez imaging.
* the piece de resistance, a large ceiling cloud, hanging from
acoustical clips, made up of wood diffusors and 4 inches of bass
trapping foam insulation. (There is light roping installed but it shows
up very slightly....no big deal, the roping set me back $12.). The
energy held up in that ceiling area was quite high, caused mostly by my
sloped ceiling design when we built the house. it was a good idea at
the time!
All of the Realtrap products and GIK art panels continue
to do their jobs (in many cases re-positioned), and work in tandem with
the Hedback Design custom built foundation.
(Pictures have darkening window treatments recessed/rolled up to show natural
light for the photos, but I never listen/watch that way.
cleared of RFZ trap for same reason, to let light in).
:O