In process of revising virtual system thread... information below needs to be updated...
After selling my system several years ago, I have been rebuilding and finally assembled a very satisfying system. Upgrades have been more frequent than recommended however, improvement with system synergy in mind is always welcome.
The system goals are to accurately portray lifelike music reproduction - vocals, harmonics, timbre, tonal textures, decay, etc. first and foremost... With that in mind, I want a full range, musical presentation with lifelike dynamic impact, both micro and macro.
We have recently moved into a new home, in which my loving wife allowed me to dedicate the 2nd floor bonus room (16'W x 22'L x 9'H) into a listening room. We had the rear wall configured with built in bookshelves for the vinyl albums, as well as pull out drawers for cd storage. Exposed beam coffered ceiling to help break up standing waves, as well as a double stagger stud wall behind the speakers (shared wall with master bedroom). There is also info in this thread about the "rebuild" of that entire wall...
With the excitement and joy of a dedicated listening room, came the room anomalies that plagued the music reproduction. A great pair of speakers (Meadowlark Audio Blue Heron 2's) were displaced in an attempt to move to a speaker with adjustable bass (Martin Logan Summit). As the Martin Logan's were on order - I became aware that adjustable bass will help, yet not fix the problem... thus started the "wall renovation project." As luck would have it, the room response was improved, however I had been struggling with placement of the Martin Logan Summits. Once finally "dialed in" when you would listen at moderate volumes, you would over excite the room a bit... I tried (for months) to get "permission" to hang drapes behind the Summits - the same ones on the side wall... but no green light. Alas, it was a festering concern that the room wasn't treated properly for the Summits to perform optimally. If they couldn't be allowed to perform their best, the search began for their replacements, and the Summits went up for sale.
As of a couple of weeks ago, I received delivery of the Salk Sound HT3's. They are currently breaking in, and I will be working on room placement and positioning in the upcoming weeks. I am looking forward to getting the system back to a "stable" point!
This is the system "snapshot" as of early September 2006.
Top of the line 3 chassis unit offered by Emmanuel.
JPS Labs Aluminata - 1.5m Interconnect
1.5 meter from preamp to mono blocks
Fusion Audio Enchanter Power Cord
One on each H2o Audio M250 SE monoblock
H2o Audio M250SE (Special Edition Monoblocks)
The absolute latest from the mind of Henry Ho. This takes the former top of the line M250 Signature and improves upon it. Details to follow. This is the latest top of the line set of monoblocks from H2o Audio... the M 250 Special Edition.
JPS Labs Aluminata 10 ft. Speaker Cable
10 foot pair, used with Aluminata Jumpers
Meadowlark Audio Blue Heron 2
Pommele Sapele sides and rear, Honduran Mahogany front baffle with dual offset Red Heart stringers. A phenominal 1st order, time & phase aligned, transmission line speaker. Have tried many other speakers that fail to produce music they way these speakers do.
Sistrum SP-101
One under each Meadowlark Audio Blue Heron 2 speaker
Sony STR-DA5200ES
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=STRDA5200ES&INT=sstyle-homeaudiocomponents-tophero-7channel_receiver Used in Home Theater for center channel, and rear surrounds. Upconverts analog video to 1080p
http://www.stewartfilmscreen.com/ Firehawk SST - optimized for Sony VPL-VW50 1080p projector - Luxus Deluxe
JL Audio Fathom 113's (x 2)
http://home.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?prod_id=371 Pair of these 130 lb. each monsters... Used in HT
Onix Rocket - RSC200
http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=100.1 Center channel speaker - used in HT
Onix Rocket - RSS300's
http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=7.1 Rear surround speakers. Used in HT
StudioTech U-22T RW/B
Component Stand - 67" W x 22" H
Eighth Nerve Room Pack
Accoustic room treatment
--- Room Renovation --- (listed below)
pics attached
Room Reno - Room Prep - Rear Wall
Pic of the rear wall. Everything was removed and the shelving for the vinyl was tarped and taped. Furniture that was not moved out of the room was also tarped over.
Room Reno - Front Wall - Before
Pic of the front wall before renovation commenced.
Room Reno - Drywall Removal
Pic of the start... drywall cut above and below metal furring strips in horizontal rows to allow for removal of drywall
Room Reno - Drywall Removal continues
Pic taken after 8 solid hours of work. The metal furring strips were spaced 12" apart. Screws had to be removed from the strips as well as all of the blown insulation.
Room Reno - Furring Strips
This pic shows how poorly the furring strips were installed in some of the areas.
Room Reno - Front Wall - drywall mostly down
Pic of the front wall with most of the drywall removed. There are still some metal furring strips up to be removed.
Room Reno - Front Corner - Drywall Removal
Pic of front corner, most of the drywall removed, metal furring strips yet to be removed.
Room Reno - Front Corner - Progress
Pic of the drywall removed, metal furring strips removed, and insullation removed. Some original studs are removed and laying on the floor.
Room Reno - Studs
stack of studs ready to be installed...
Room Reno - Front Wall - New Stud Installation
Pic of the new studs being installed
Room Reno - Front Wall - New Stud CloseUp
pic close up... studs were glued with Liquid Nails, and screwed together with 3" drywall screws. Spacing was roughly on 9" centers.
Room Reno - Front Wall - New Studs Complete
Pic of the front wall... studs are complete, and insulation installed.
Room Reno - Front Wall - Plywood Begins
Pic of the front wall... 3/4" tongue & groove plywood being installed. Liquid Nails and 3" drywall screws.
Room Reno - Front Corner - Plywood Continues
Pic of the front corner, plywood installation continues
Room Reno - Front Wall - Plywood Complete
Pic of all the plywood up. All Liquid Nailed and screwed with 3" drywall screws. The white lines in seams and around outlets is acoustical sealant caulk.
Room Reno - Front Wall - First Layer Drywall
Pic of the first layer of drywall going up.
Room Reno - Front Wall - First Layer Drywall Up
Pic of the first layer of drywall up. Audio Alloy's "Green Glue" was used between drywall and plywood. First layer was mudded prior to second layer going up. Yes, one piece of drywall is backwards, as the Green Glue was applied before it was realized...
Room Reno - Front Wall - Layer Two Drywall Up
Pic of the front wall, second layer of drywall up and initial mudding
Room Reno - Front Corner - Second Layer Drywall
Pic of the second layer of drywall up and initial mudding
Room Reno - Front Wall - Semi Final Mudding
Pic of the front wall - semi final mudding
Room Reno - Front Corner - Semi Final Mudding
Pic of the front corner - semi final mudding
Room Reno - Front Wall - Primer Application
Pic of the coat of primer being apllied - before final mudding and sanding then final paint
Room Reno - Front Corner - Final Paint
Pic of the front corner, final coat of paint
Room Reno - Front Wall - Finished
Pic of front wall - finished and ready for system to be put back together.
Room Reno - Front Corner - Finished
Pic of the front corner, finished and ready to have system moved back into the room and set up.
Hi Kirk, no unfortunately my spreadsheet cannot speedup breakin process, it can only make predictions on probable completion date. . . quite neat, and a real bear to debug, but very short of magical. G.
Yesterday received delivery of my Jade Audio Vermeil Bi Wire Speaker Cables. They are inserted into the system and being broken in. I am awaiting delivery of a couple sets of the Hybrid Interconnects. After being fully broken in the decision will be made upon whether they stay or are returned with the manufacturer's 30 day satisfaction guarantee.
Also delivered yesterday was the Jeff Rowland Capri preamp. I will dutifully log hours on the unit and compare/evaluate its sonic merits with my current preamp of choice, the Dodd Audio Battery powered preamp.
Just a quick update... the H2o Special Edition Mono's have right around 400 hours on them at this point.
This should be around "half" way through break in - if the same amount of time is required as my old pair of H2o Sig Mono's.
I lost some time as we just returned from a two week vacation in which the system was shut down.
I can state with confidence the Special Edition Monoblocks sound much better, with less break in time than the previous Signature monoblocks in my past. I recall the older version had a slight midrange recession until close to 800 hours or so. That has not been the case at all during this break in.
Well, the system is back up and running and break in continues.
Potentially a few other tweaks to the system upcoming as well.
As for some of the changes in the H2o Special Edition Mono's versus the Signature...
The Signature used a 800vA transformer per monoblock. The Special Edition is upgraded to a 1KvA transformer per mono.
Henry states both the quantity & quality of input caps, input coupling caps, output caps, and output coupling caps are all improved... all voiced per Henry, as for type and sizes of capacitors; this information was requested to be kept proprietary...
Internal wiring and other tweaks and modifications are also proprietary upgrades.
That is about all the info on the Special Edition improvements over the Signature mono's.
As for NOS, yes my AMR CD-77 does utilize NOS (New Old Stock) tubes as what NOS is commonly referred to.
However, I have a feeling you meant non over sampling as NOS... If so, yes, the AMR CD-77 has several options with filtering and you can hear them all by switching through them on the fly via the remote. As the company prefers & recommends, I use mine without up/over sampling. I feel this closest represents the sonics achieved by a good turntable or vinyl.
Yes Vince - I do recall all of the grueling time required for break in on my old H2o Sig. monos. I have already started the amps playing, and hopefully 6 weeks or so from now will have a good barometer where things stand sonically.
Interesting. I was wondering about your source, fearing the worst. I was relieved to see you have a player that not only gives you a choice between NOS and OS, but also varying degrees of filtering in between. Very cool.
Every OS CDP brought my way, no matter price, failed miserably against my NOS gear. There is a lot of room for source improvement, but at least I know which players to look to.
I know you must have played intensively with the various filtering modes. What are your findings?
Oh, maybe that question is premature. Your H2O amps need a lot of breaking in, as if you don't remember. All of my discussion is meant conveyed in context with the H2O.
No Vince, no Fire on the way. I auditioned it a couple years back and it wasn't my cup of tea. It may not have been the production model, so my thoughts may not relate to the current Fire being offered.
I will try to get the details from Henry. I know he used bypass caps on the input section as well as the output section. I also think the types of caps were different in the respect to what sonic quality Henry was trying to achieve in each section of the monoblocks...
I do have the Art Audio Alana preamp here on demo as well as my Dodd Audio preamp.
I am also comparing some top of the line interconnects and speaker cables in the upcoming weeks.
Oh you dirty dog you Kirk. It must be a bigger box, no? Is there a Fire in the coming? The two together really blows me away. What are the bypass caps?
System edited: New amplifiers have arrived and inserted into the system. They are beginning the long break in process. Amplifiers are the latest top of the line, all out effort from Henry Ho of H2o Audio. These are the M250SE - Special Edition monoblocks in which he improves upon the former top of the line M250SA - Signature monoblocks. There were several improvements/changes Henry has implimented, larger transformers, higher quality caps, wiring, etc. I don't have all the specifics. More to follow.
Hi Kirk. I hope you are well. I was thinking that it might be time for you to give us an update on your system and especially how that new CD-77 player is sounding. Anything new with the power cord situation? I was curious if you'd had a chance to do some comparing of the Fusion cords with the new Synergistic Research Tesla cords.
The player has been breaking in for almost 48 hours as of now...
The sound remains effortless, organic, liquid, expansive...
I was told the unit may have 200-300 hours of burn in on it prior to shipping from the factory as they are burning units in for 2-3 weeks while doing QC on them...
Thus far, I am very satisfied. Will update as things progress...
Tommy - you know the door is open for you to stop by for a listen, cotton balls not necessary however. :)
audiofankj...you are my hero!! As soon as I get the cotton out of my ears I would love to hear that AMR! Congrats and I am sure we will be talking soon.
Thanks Vince, my oversight... as I didn't realize I failed to mention what the "boat anchor" is...
Today the AMR CD-77 which was ordered back in late May was delivered. The shipping weight was 106 pounds... thus was fun to lug upstairs to the listening room... also the reason for the affectionate term of "boat anchor."
The unit is now running with about 9 hours on it, and is extremely promising with the sonic landscape that is being portrayed at this point.
Hi Kirk..... It's Sonicap Platinum bypass caps for sure, and very thing wide short ribbons for my speaker cables. Don't know how to make anything better now.
great looking room I have a pair of meadowlark herons original with the petral center and the room rocks shame the company went under ,its going to be hard to find drivers for these but excellent room I hope it sounds as good as it looks.
Very nice job! my compliments, I am with you on the subs I have 2 JL f113 myself, how do you like them for music? I have only had my about 2 weeks, but I love them.
I also have a Stewart Firehawk 110" screen- what do you think of it? Do you ever notice something like tiny little white dots, about the size of a oin whole?
Nice project looks like you did a very good job Thanks for sharing
I don't visit your system for a couple of months and this is what I arrive to?? Wow!
Nice man!
I never understood why you sold the Salks so quickly though, was there something you didn't like about the Salks that made you go back to your prior and original speakers?
I hope all is well with you. Fusion Audio is a relatively new company, whose distributor is nearby my home. I have had the luxury of beta testing some of their power cords prior to their finalizing the product line. Since then, I have had every one of their power cords swapped in and out of my system. As of now, I don't think they have a website up yet. The performance to price ratio on these cords is phenominal. Shoot me an email if you want more specific details, ie. comparison versus other power cords etc.
