Description

The aim is to enjoy music and film together with ample separation between the two systems. Music still takes higher priority, however.

The digital PCM output of the Ayre D-1X CD/DVD transport is fed to the Accuphase DG-28 Digital Voicing EQ before D to A Convertion. The Accuphase DG-28 corrects for room frequency response in the digital domain before digital audio is converted to analog. The MSB Platinum Plus DAC then does the D to A convertion after room correction by the Accuphase DG-28.

Preamplification is handled by the Krell KCT and feeds the Krell Full Power Balanced Amps via CAST cables. Signal is fed to the Power Amps in the Current Domain as opposed to the usual Voltage Domain. The Eggleston Andra's are connected via Au24 cables to the amp.

The same Ayre D-1X is also a superb DVD player. It has been upgraded to feature the new DVI output. DVI is a digital video feed as opposed to analogs like Component and RGB-HV. That way there is no intermediate D to A video convertion, keeping the video in pristine digital form until it comes out of the projection lens.

Now, talk about being there! You listen and watch. You delight two senses instead of just one (by just listening). Seeing the artist perform actually enhances the listening pleasure .

The Home Theater Processor is turned off. No Center Channel, no Surrounds,No Multichannel, No Subwoofer.

JUST PURE STEREO! PURE MUSIC!!

MOVIES? The KCT Stereo preamp switches out of the way in a by-pass mode and the Krell Showcase Processor takes over! The same Stereo pair of Eggleston Andra II Speakers now become Front Left and Right. The same Krell FPB 300Cx power amps powers the Front Left and Right as now fed by the Theater Processor. A matching Eggleston Andra Center Channel fills the Center. One channel of the Krell 3250 Three Channel amp powers the Andra Center.

It's a 7.1 system with KEF TDM-34 THX dipoles doing surround and back channel duties.

It will probably make some audiophiles twitch but computers can be made to sound very, very good! . Inside the PC is a comprehensive collection of High Definition musical performances The digital ouput of the best soundcard in the world, the Lynx, is connected via AES/EBU. D to A convertion is all done outside the PC.

No MP3's played here!

Bass is clean, tight and powerful! There are two subs. The lower 30 Hz and below (to 15 Hz!) are handled by a Servodrive ContraBass and upper 30Hz to 80 Hz are handled by Servodrive B-Deap.

The subwoofer output of the Krell Showcase Processor is split by a QSC DSP-4 and room correction algorithm is also done via this DSP engine. A Crown K2 amplifier then drives the two subs after EQ by the QSC DSP-4. These are very powerful beasts of subs and you need the DSP to tame these beasts.

The subs make a whole of differerence when watching a movie (even though the main speakers [Andra II] can run full range and have plenty of bass). It puts you inside the movie not just watching the movie.!

Stereo Signal Chain:

1.)Ayre D-1X CD/DVD Transport.

2.)Audience Au24 AES/BU Cable.

3.)Accuphase DG-28 Digital Voicing Equalizer

4.)Siltech AES/BU cable

5.)MSB Platinum Plus DAC

6.)Siltech SQ88B XLR interconnects

7.)Krell KCT Pre-Amp

8.)Krell CAST cables 5 Meters

9.)Krell FPB 300Cx

10.) Audience AU24 Speaker Cables.

11.)Eggleston Andra II.

Video Display:

1.)DWIN Transvision 3 DLP Projector.

2.)Stewart Studiotek 130 92 inch Diagonal 16:9 Luxus Deluxe Velux.

Home Theater Sources:

1.) Ayre D-1X DVD Transport updated with DVI Ouput.

2.)JVC HM-DH30000U D-Theater HD-VHS

3.)Motorola DCT-6200 HDTV Cable Box.

4.)DIY HTPCAMD Athlon 64 FX-,Coolermaster Aquagate Mini R80, Asus AN-8SLI Motherboard ,Two 34 GB 10,000 RPM Raptor SATA Drives RAID 0 (for OS and Program Files), DUAL Nvidia 6800 Ultra PCI Express Video Cards in SLI Mode,Thermaltake Bigwater Water Cooling System, Two Koolance VID-NV2-L06 to water-cool the two video cards, Two 300 GB Each SATA Drives RAID 0, 2 300GB SATA Drive Single's , 2 GB PC3200RAM, Fusion Gold -T HDTV Card, Lynx Audio TWO-B Sound Card AES/EBU output, Sony DVD DRU-720 Dual Layer DVD+-R/RW drive., Windows XP Professional , Cooler Master Stacker PC Case

5.)Monarchy Audio 24/96 Digital Interface Processor (DIP) for jitter reduction.

Home Theater Electronics:

1.)Krell Showcase Processor

2.)Krell 3250 Three-Channel Ampsfor Center/Surrounds Amplification.

3.)Chiro/Kinergetics C-200 to drive Back Channels.

Speakers for Home Theater:

1.)Eggleston Andra Center.

2.)KEF TDM-34 (Two Pairs).

Subwoofers and Subwoofer Controls:

1.) Servodrive ContraBass Subwoofer (15Hz-30Hz).

2.)Servodrive B-Deap Sub (30Hz- 80Hz).

3.)Crown K-2 Amps for the Bass.

4.)QSC-DSP-4 Processor.

Electrical Power Conditioning:

1.)IsoClean PT-3030G Isolation Transformer. X2

2.)IsoClean AV-50A3 Power Line Filter

3.)PS Audio Ultimate Outlet.

Acoustic Treatments:

1.)Auralex Elite

Lighting and Control.

1.)Lutron Grafik Eye.

2.)Marantz RC-9200 Color LCD Remote
Read more...

Components Toggle details

    • Ayre D-1x
    CD/DVD Transport with DVI Output
    • Eggleston Works Andra mkII
    I will keep these for very long!
    • Krell FPB-300Cx
    CAST Amp Full Power Balanced
    • Halcro SSP-100
    Surround / Home Theater Processor. Dead during Stereo platback
    • Accuphase DG-28
    In Between Transport and DAC
    • MSB Technology Platinum PS-1
    MSB Platinum Plus
    • Sony Qualia 004
    SXRD
    • Stewart Studiotek 130
    100" Luxus Delux Velux Screen
    • JVC HM-DH30000U
    D-Theater HD VHS Deck
    • Eggleston Works Andra center
    Matching Center for the Andra
    • Krell KAV-3250
    Drives Center Channel and Surrounds
    • Kef TDM-34ds
    Two Pairs Surround and Back THX Dipoles
    • Servodrive ContraBass
    Killer Sub- Killed my Velodyne HGS-18
    • Servodrive B-DEAP
    Cover removed to show Contra Bass inside it's custom cavity
    • Crown International K2
    Drives the Two Subwoofers
    • QSC DSP-4
    For Subwoofer Duties
    • Audience AU-24
    Speaker Cables
    • Siltech SQ-88B
    From DAC to Pre-amp
    • PS Audio Ultimate Outlet
    Added AC Conditioner
    • Chiro C-200
    Drives Back Speakers
    • Monarchy Audio DIP 24/96
    Jitter Reduction Device for HTPC Output
    • HTPC-Home Theater Computer DIY
    Custom Built:
    AMD Athlon 64 FX-,Coolermaster Aquagate Mini R80, Asus AN-8SLI Motherboard ,Two 34 GB 10,000 RPM Raptor SATA Drives RAID 0 (for OS and Program Files), DUAL Nvidia 6800 Ultra PCI Express Video Cards in SLI Mode,Thermaltake Bigwater Water Cooling System, Two Koolance VID-NV2-L06 to water-cool the two video cards, Two 300 GB Each SATA Drives RAID 0, 2 300GB SATA Drive Single's , 2 GB PC3200RAM, Fusion Gold -T HDTV Card, Lynx Audio TWO-B Sound Card AES/EBU output, Sony DVD DRU-720 Dual Layer DVD+-R/RW drive., Windows XP Professional , Cooler Master Stacker PC Case
    • IsoClean PT-3030G
    Isolation transformer. I use two in parallel
    • IsoClean AV-50A3
    Power Line Filter

Comments 32

Showing all comments by tonet.

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Owner
Kpaul,

Yeah, I have to change the write up to reflect current equipment. Thanks for reminding me.

The Krell 300Cx is very good but then the Pass X600 is better. Pass costs more though.

tonet

Owner
Ozy,

Before the Isoclean, I had EQuitech balanced Power System. Very good, and very low noise floor, clean video.

But Isoclean took it a lot further, the video just snapped into tighter focus (without focus adjustments), and colors just came to being just right there!

The sound just went into a tighter focus too and each instrument delineated vividly within the soundspace.

I have freind who is a Hong Kong businessman.

PM me, I'll ask him.

tonet

Owner
Krell FPB300Cx has been replaced by Pass Labs X600 monoblocks.

Will update pictures

tonet

Owner
Hmm, an upgrade on the rug?

Have not been paying much attention to that yet. That's my wife's area but I'm sure she'll be thrilled at doing her own tweaks.

Thanks for the input

tonet

Owner
System edited: Home Theater PC Updated

tonet

Owner
A higher ceiling would, of course, give you more sense of height.

I love high ceilings when you are playing orchestral music! My friend has 13 ft ceiling in his music room and wow- the scale of the band really shows!

tonet

Owner
Mitch,

Room is 16' wide X 23' Deep and only 7' high.

tonet

Owner
Radiob,

Exactly what do you mean?

tonet

Owner
Ozfly,

Thank you for your very nice remark. Yes, it was years of work and it's not over yet!

I am using a Crown K-2 amplifier to drive the Bass for Home Theater duties. I use a Krell KCT pre-amp for music and a Krell Showcase Processor for Home Theater.

There is built in oak cabinet (sure is not audiophile grade rack but very high WAF) to the side which hides the equipment. An Infra-Red repeater system controls them behind closed doors. If you click on the Krell KCT, Krell Showcase and Accuphase pictures, you'll see what I mean.

tonet

Owner
Stenersr,

These are just your standard raw oak floors-sanded, finished, stained and varnished.

Not good acoustically but I like the way it looks. Add a big rug to help the acoustics.

tonet

Owner
Budburma,

Thank you for the kind remark. About the Equitech, funny you asked.

I did find the Equitech to be of great help BUT I found something better.

Two Isolation Transformers the PT-3030G and one Filter the AV-50A3 replaced the Equitech.

Result= the music just bloomed with greater separation between instruments and voices. Layering just happened especially with orchestral works and big choir pieces!

tonet

Owner
System edited: Equitech 1.5Q Power Conditioner replaced by little known brand of Power Filter and Isolation Transformer from Hong Kong. Highly recommended component! Video just snapped into sharp 3-Dimensionality. Music just bloomed with more distinct separation between voices and instruments.

tonet

Owner
System edited: Picture updated with upgraded Andra II

tonet

Owner
Kuniken,

The link below explains the operation of the DG-28:

http://www.accuphase.com/dg-28_es.htm.

I listened to the Eggleston side by side with the likes of Wilson's, Avalon's, Thiel's, Martin Logan's, Magnepan's and B&W's, in the same approximate price range. All these speakers are very, very good. My personal favorite however is the Eggleston.

I basically concur with a lot of reviews that they have a phenomenal midrange.

Please try to give them a listen and let me know your opinion.

tonet

Owner
Aisip,

I didn't mean to elicit that kind of emotion but I hope that means you like it.

I don't owe you money, right? He, he!

tonet

Owner
Stehno,

Thanks for the suggestions. I really would like to do that but my wife loves the way it looks now.

As we all hardcore married audophiles know, the most important aspect of a set-up is the WAF- wife acceptance factor.

I did include a few well placed Auralex Elite treatments and the addition of the Accuphase DG-28 Voicing EQ is a BIG, BIG plus!

Vvrinc,

I got my Marantz RC9200 macro-programmed to play music set the mood lights via the Lutron Grafikeye and start the Popcorn machine!

tonet