Audio Altar

by zmanastronomy on Budget Minded

Description

This is my humble listening room where I spend many hours before the Audio Altar. I have made my own acoustic room treatments from DuctBoard. The same thing as Corning rigid fibreglass but it has a black finish already on it. I done the whole room for $150. That included the 6inch bass traps in the corner and there's two treatments behind the curtains. After the room treatments where added the imaging was increadible. It was the best improvement I've ever heard. I didn't know that room treatments could make such a huge difference. I've also run a dedicated power supply for my CD player. The depth and width of the stage grew quite alot after that. So far I've been blessed with this system and with a friend that is an audiophile guru and bring over ICs and power cords to test out. It has so far saved me alot of time and money with searching for the right upgrades. I hope you enjoy the photos. zmanastronomy
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Components Toggle details

    • Custom 2024 Tripath
    No expense was spared in the building of this amp.
    24v battery power, Cardas binding posts, Fururtech RCA inputs. Very lively and neutral.
    • PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC

    I've heard DSD for the first time without resampling on my system today with this DAC.

    Sounds a lot better than I expected.

    • JW Audio Cryo Nova
    These are a great upgrade to my system.
    • JW Audio Reference
    These are a great improvement in my system.
    • JW Audio The Rock
    I built this rack myself. It turned out much better than I expected.
    • Gallo TR3d
    The Gallo sub is one of the only subs that can sound better than a floor standing speaker. It is so fast and clean, it's hard to make it sound bad. Integration with stand mounted speakers is too easy.
    • Elrod EPS-2 Signature
    I now have 4 Elrod signature PC's in my system. They have done wonders to my system.
    • Signal Transformer DU-2 (2000va)
    I have this isolation transformer wired in balanced mode. The noise floor droped considerably.
    I built this box to hide it.
    • Signal Transformer DU-5 (5KVA)
    I've added a second balanced transformer to my system. It's for my amp. Words can't describe the improvement it made. I am stunned.
    • William Schaefer Audio Design 4 column
    This is one very heavy duty stand. Filled with lead and sand, they weigh in at 105lbs each.
    • My Room Treatments
    Finnaly there's the treated room. THE biggest sonic upgrade I ever made. I didn't realize what I was missing until I added treatments. The imaging got so good I couldn't believe what I was hearing. If you've got a mega bucks system and don't have a treated room you're only tapping into 50% of the systems potential. I'm glad I took the step and treated my room. My meager system sounds the best it can now. I hope you enjoy the system photos and my attempt to write something. Thanks. zman
    • PorterPort Cryo treated AC outlet
    I use a dedicated AC line with a a PorterPort that Albert sent to me from Here at AG. The improvments in my system was a great leap forward. Without this outlet, I could have never accomplished what I have.
    • Custom LDR Tortuga
    Wonderfully transparent.
    • Sonus Faber Venere

    I just bought these based on reviews and I am very glad I did.

    They sound as good as they look. They didn't overwhelm my small room either. I've learned that front ported speakers are much better for a small room than rear ported.

    • Fanless PC for Server
    I've taken the plunge into Computer Audio. I'm running JRiver on my PC and have about 6tb of music to enjoy.

Comments 129

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Zman how's that second sub sounding?

lapierre

Owner
I don't know how far the moderators will let me discuss my cables, but if you look up JW Audio here, you can research my IC's.
Thank you for your kind words.

zmanastronomy

Very nice system! Are you at liberty to describe your IC's?

douger

Congrats on the second Velodyne Zman.

Can you describe the main difference in adding the second sub?

lapierre

Owner
System edited: Added a second Velodyne Optimum-8 to my system.

zmanastronomy

Cool looking room.

tmsorosk

Owner
System edited: I have added a third Elrod power cord to my system. I've replaced the EPS-2 signature going from my balanced power conditioner to my amp with a EPS-3. The swap out was a positive move.
But when I took the EPS-2 that was left over and added it to my CD Player..... Incredible!!

zmanastronomy

Will you build me some of the wall treatments? I need as many as you have and black is fine. Let me know how much.

hifimaniac

Owner
Mapman, I've wired both transformer balanced and it drops the noise floor a lot. It opens up the soundstage and gives a much more 3-dimensional image.
It' was a great improvement when I put one on my cd player, but when I put the second on my amp... it was stunning. Bigger improvements than adding better components.

zmanastronomy

Zman,

What does the transformer do that improves the sound?

Thanks.

mapman

Owner
System edited: I've added a second Elrod EPS-2 Signature power cord to my system. It goes between my amp and my Signal DU-5 transformer. What a great product. Taking care of the AC Power is much more beneficial than I thought. I'm pretty much done with my system. Now I'll start devoting my funds to music and try to sit back and enjoy.

zmanastronomy

Owner
System edited: I have added a second balanced transformer to my system. I use it for my amp. I was not prepaired for the giant leap forward it made to my system.

zmanastronomy

Owner
Thanks Highend.
I do listen to jazz, but I also listen to heavy rock (Tool, Disturbed, Queensryche,etc..) I like it all.

zmanastronomy

Very nice room Zmanastronomy. I really like your setup. Do you listen to Jazz only?

highend64

Owner
System edited: I've added a Elrod EPS-2 Signature power cord between my ballanced transformer and my tube output stage on the Modwright Sony 999es. The improvements were a more natural soundstage and better drive and energy. I'm to the point that addressing my power supply and cords are the final tweeks in this system. I saved these tweeks for last. The improvements are not small.

zmanastronomy

Owner
System edited: I have added a Modwright Sony NS999ES with Platinum Level Signature mods. I never knew how good digital could sound. I am very impressed.

zmanastronomy

Hello Zman,

I enjoyed looking at your photos, your room is very nicely done, it has to be a great pleasure to relax and just listen. I like the simplicity of your system, as well as the hands-on aspect of your own contributions, that makes it all the better.

I'm going to check out that Almarro amp, it looks like it's a real bargain.

Regards,
Dan

islandmandan

Owner
System edited: I have added a Atoll CD-200 cd player to my system. I guess the more money spent on the source,the better it sounds. It truely has a beautiful sound to it.

zmanastronomy

I would go with tube amps in general with the Triangles all else aside.

SS certainly works well and some may take to that better, depending.

The TAD hibachi SS pseudo tube hybrid amps I use are a perfect match to the Titus'. I acquired them specifically for a more tubelike sound with out going for a true tube amp and they have worked out perfectly and very affordable to boot.

mapman

Owner
The Triangle line is definately upstream dependent.
I would be afraid of a solid state amp in front of them.
But when you get it right, it's stunning.

zmanastronomy

I love this hobby and the choices that each of us has. I had auditioned a Triangle floorstander at Audio Vision SF and for me it was "too forward". At the same time, they made me listen to Dali Euphonia. I loved the Dalis, but they were completely out of my budget.
Congratulations on the Triangle Comete ES 25th Anniversary Limited Edition speaker!!

milpai

Owner
Hi Albert, and thank you.
They are quite impressive in the mids and highs. The bass is not an issue, the Velodyne takes care of that.
The imaging focus is extraodinary. I put your outlet in the balance tranformer and it is superb.
The XLR's are on there way. And thank you.

zmanastronomy

The image of the Triangle Comete ES 25th looks nice. I've not heard them but other Triangle speakers at audio shows did some extraordinary things in the midrange and highs.

albertporter

Owner
System edited: I've also added the Triangle Comete ES 25th Anniversary Limited Edition speaker to my system. I like the original so much, I picked up the 25th because of the high gloss burled walnut finnish. Just Beautiful.

zmanastronomy

Owner
System edited: I've added a Signal DU-2 (2000va) tranformer to my system. I've wired it in balanced mode for my source. I wired it with my cryo treated 12awg solid core speaker wire and the noise floor droped dramitcally. Soundstage grew even more. (width and depth) Imaging is still pin-point. A very worthwhile upgrade.

zmanastronomy

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