Doug's Audio Den

by douglas_schroeder on All Out Assault

Description

You're looking at a different kind of "All Out Assault", this one based on utilizing a fuller expression of current excellent technology, as opposed to a limited expression of such. Some go for a cost-no-object expression of one technology. I have chosen to pursue a superb expression of different technologies. I have derived far more pleasure doing so than seeking one rig to satisfy my longings to hear beautiful systems. 

Photos represent some of the speakers, components and cables I have reviewed over the years. I have spent time predominantly with four technologies in speakers; Full range hybrid dyanamic, Full range ESL, and Omnidirectional hybrid. I have branched out to horn hybrid as well. 

I have moved to file and streaming playback exclusively utilizing Tidal and ROON. However, I maintain CD as backup source. I find a shocking disparity in performance of digital based systems. 

This is a dedicated room, built by myself and tuned for two channel, but wired for 7.1 surround. I listen to 2 ch. audio approx. 95-98% of time. The surround and video compliment is not noteworthy, as a result. I upgrade them only every several years. 

Source, amplification and speakers have all been reviewed and are highly recommended. The sound quality of the system is moving steadily toward SOTA.

System listing updated September, 2022
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Room Details

Dimensions: 23’ × 13’  Medium
Ceiling: 7’

Components Toggle details

    • Aspen Acoustics Grand Aspen Speaker
    Continuing development of Scott Kindt's DLT (Disproportionately Large Tweeter; my term) designs. The Grand Aspen is the new flagship, extension of the Capella (previously called the Lagrange L5 MkII, seen below). 

    The Grand Aspen is a six-way speaker with built in active, oppositional, slot loaded subwoofer. I will be giving this speaker an owner's review to appear at Dagogo.com
    • Legacy Audio Whisper DSW Clarity Edition
    Bill Dudleston realized my concept of a fully configurable speaker able to be employed as both passive and active. The result is what I call a "crossover speaker," which can be configured; 1. Fully passive, with as little as one stereo amp and three sets of speaker cables; 2. Hybrid active/passive, using the Legacy processor for the bass and the Mid/Treble passive, and 3: Fully active, using six channels of outboard amplification. 

    The speaker has been retrofitted for a review of upgrade internal cabling and capacitors. The result is the Whisper DSW, which Bill Dudleston of Legacy measured a 2 dB improvement on the Bass! 
    • PureAudioProject Trio15 PAP Horn 1
    Wonderful two-way hybrid horn reviewed for Dagogo.com. I enjoy the flexibility of the speaker in the crossover and "internal" wiring. My special utilization of the speaker is in Landscape mode, the realization of a dream for an alternative sound which I have pursued for about five years. The Horn 1 in Landscape impressed the entire audio group of which I am a member; they all placed it among the very best systems I have made. It truly is a stunning application of an affordable speaker with high end sensibility.
    • PureAudioProject Trio15 Horn 1 Landscape Orientation
    Alternative application of using Sound Anchor custom stands to hold speakers sideways. This results in a far wider soundstage superlative for live music recordings. Note that the orientation of the horn of the Horn 1 speaker is normally horizontal, so the Landscape mode/application results in the speaker's horn turned vertical, similar to large horn speakers such as the Volti Audio Alura.
    • PureAudioProject Quintet15 Horn1
    Largest of PureAudioProject (PAP) offerings, this one outfitted with the horn driver. Features upgradable crossover components (cap, resistor) and "internal" wiring. 

    This speaker is especially beautiful sounding with the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra Amplifier. Both products reviewed for Dagogo.com 
    • King Sound King III
    The King III is a full range ESL with a performance which takes back seat to no magnetic planar speakers. With subwoofers they are a formidable ESL experience.
    • Aspen Acoustics Capella Speaker
    Craft speaker made by a Colorado physics teacher. This is the pre-production model. Uses what I term the unique DLT (Disproportionately Large Tweeter) configuration. It has the punch of a dynamic speaker with the generosity of a panel speaker. 

    A more formidable model, the Grand Aspen, is under construction and will be replacing the pair of Capella speakers in my possession. The Grand Aspen features an enhanced DLT array, as seen on the Aspen Acoustics website. 

    See review of smaller model, L5 MkII at Dagogo.com 
    • Kings Audio Kingsound King Tower
    Omnidirectional hybrid dynamic/ribbon speaker system not available in N. America. and perhaps entirely disconintued by Kings Audio. Added to my collection as an expression of Omnidirectional speaker technology.
    • Perlisten D212s Subwoofers
    Pair of Perlisten Audio D212s Subwoofers as reviewed by myself for Dagogo.com 

    I enjoyed the Legacy Audio XTREME XD Subs for ten years. Perlisten incorporates room correction in the subs, allowing me to maximize different genres of speakers used in reviewing. These are impressive devices. 
    • Exogal Comet DAC and Ion PowerDAC
    This is an unusual combination of a DAC (Comet) with an additional complementary extended DAC with integrated true digital amp (Ion). Together, they include everything needed in the front end of a system except for the source. The Comet can stand alone, but the Ion is dependent upon the Comet, it cannot be used separately. 

    This combination is thrilling in its performance to cost ratio. One of the most outstanding products I have reviewed in ten years! The digital amplification is especially notable for its ability at 100wpc to drive more difficult speakers to listening levels of about 88-90dB. 
    • Eastern Electric Minimax DSD DAC Supreme
    Latest EE DAC featuring DSD and continues to offer opportunity to roll in discrete opamps. Allows contouring system to any selection of components.
    • Discrete Opamps Staccato, Burson, Sonic Imagery, Sparkos Lab
    Discrete opamps rolled into Eastern Electric Minimax DACs and Kinki Studio EX-M1+ Integrated Amplifier
    • Iconoclast Cables and BAV Power Cords Iconoclast/Belden
    Current reference cable line. See review at Dagogo.com
    • Owned/Reviewed Spkr Cables Various
    Have owned: Audioquest, Harmonic Technology, XLO, etc; Reviewed cables for Dagogo.com include: Iconoclast, TEO Audio, Clarity Cable, Silnote Audio, Snake River Audio,  Wire World. etc.
    • Outlaw 950 Surround Processor
    Has nice variety of surround settings, 2 component in, plenty of other inputs... Only thing I wished it did was to convert s video to component.
    • Rotel RB-976
    A lovely little workhorse amp! Configurable from 3-6 channels; a wonderful flexibility for surround applications.
    • Magnepan MGM W
    Very affordable planars for surround. They only play down to about 100khz, but acceptable for surround. Awesome feature - they can be mounted upside down (will sound the same) to accomodate wiring near top of room.
    • Legacy Audio Silver Screen
    Black piano finish; complementary driver set to Focus HD; dual 7" bass, 4" planar mid, 1" tweet
    • Tice Audio Solo/Solo High Current
    I'm using two Solos, and one is High Current for power amps. Gotta have someting like this to open up the system's sound...but price might be a bit steep for some people. I will accept an offer of $1,000,000.00 though.
    • Furutech GTX-D (G)
    Audiophile grade outlet featuring copper internals and gold plated sockets for power cord pins
    • Plateau AV 42
    Wonderfully solid, black for AV use. Affordable. Nice to have on casters when you have to move it.
    • Panasonic PTL-500U
    Upgrade from PTL-330U; this unit has high def capabilities.
    • Auralex Propannel 2x4'
    Room tuning sound absorbing pannels. Made a shockingly huge difference in my two channel listening! Some of best audio $ I ever spent!

Comments 397

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As you know Doug I am using Antipodes DX which will be updated to latest pedigree very shortly.  It is an alarmingly good server.  I am currently using PS Audio with Yale installed and in the next few weeks will be updating to there new software.  We'll see... Lastly around June should be receiving my new Vapor Joules.  I think you should petition Antipodes for a DX to review and Lapizator for one of their Dacs...

eugene2

I might try the Finite Elemente since the Nordost work well, the Finite's look like the Nordost on steroids

eugene2

I believe the height change is slightly less than a 1/2 inch, I too believe the separation of the sat from the bass module is giving a greater illusion of depth.  Ryan indicated he is looking into creating his own cones, so he must sense something also with soundstage height.  The Verastarr silver has been nothing short of a revelation.  I have some veneer issues with my satellites that Ryan has promised to fix, we'll see...

eugene2

In case it is not clear how I used the pulsar points, I removed the Herbies that rest between the monitor and top of the bass cabinet and inserted the pulsar points three in total.  The points raise the monitor and seem to level the front.  I also replaced the Dayton footers on the bottom of the bass cabinet with the Nordost Pulsar Points.

eugene2

I haven't visited this site in a while, lots of great conversations!  I recently posted on Audiocircle some of the upgrades to my system.  Since posting here I have been using Klaus's fantastic Kismet extremes and hybrid preamp with outboard power supply.  I then added the Antipodes Fantastic DX music server. PS Audio's latest firmware and Verastarr's solid silver biwire cables to the Joule.  These changes have taken the system a solid step forward in performance.  Then I removed the Herbies and replaced them with Nordost Pulsar points, the soundstage now has the correct height and miraculously much more depth and presence.  The sound is astonishingly good, I am wondering what would happen if I used "better" cones.  I believe the increase in the height of the front of the monitor is the assist the speaker needed as well as using them on the bass cabinet.

eugene2

No not discontent actually had some veneer issues so Ryan is building a new cabinet so we're upgrading the ribbon, the small ribbon is terrific, just figured might as well get the full Monty 😀. With the new outlet feeding the system and the Yale upgrade on the PS Audio DS and upgrading to the Antipodes DX I am getting there...

eugene2

No not discontent actually had some veneer issues so Ryan is building a new cabinet so we're upgrading the ribbon, the small ribbon is terrific, just figured might as well get the full Monty 😀. With the new outlet feeding the system and the Yale upgrade on the PS Audio DS and upgrading to the Antipodes DX I am getting there...

eugene2

No not discontent actually had some veneer issues so Ryan is building a new cabinet so we're upgrading the ribbon, the small ribbon is terrific, just figured might as well get the full Monty 😀. With the new outlet feeding the system and the Yale upgrade on the PS Audio DS and upgrading to the Antipodes DX I am getting there...

eugene2

No not discontent actually had some veneer issues so Ryan is building a new cabinet so we're upgrading the ribbon, the small ribbon is terrific, just figured might as well get the full Monty 😀. With the new outlet feeding the system and the Yale upgrade on the PS Audio DS and upgrading to the Antipodes DX I am getting there...

eugene2

Doug your last two post have once again transformed my system. Earlier this year I purchased a modded Surge X power conditioner with Furutech GTX receptacles and an fi 33 inlet, what a phenomenal difference it made, but... I never paid any attention to my wall outlet, I just changed it to a GTX gold and it has made an extremely noticeable difference to align with the conditioner! Then a week later PS Audio released the Yale update for its DS Dac which I installed and my system has stepped up to a level I have never before witnessed in my home.
I think my last stop is Ryan is building a new top for my Joule's with the larger tweeter and I may switch to the ceramic midrange and go with all Dueland RS caps (we'll see) then I should be finished...

eugene2

They were close to being a very good speaker, I had intention of upgrading the crossover with better caps, coils and internal wiring. They also sound better with the powered subwoofer disconnected and just using the eight mids and eight ribbons as a line source (after tightening all the screws). Imaging was very good for such a large speaker. I sold them to fund the Vapor's. I felt the design was incomplete.
On another note Mike from Verastarr told me he wouldn't mind sending you one of his USB cables to compare

eugene2

Shunyata Python, PS Audio, Nordost Brahma were some of the cords I used, I also had a couple of Elrod cables. I met Mike from Verastarr at CES and really like his series two signature stuff. Also the ZenWave power conditioner seems to make a solid difference in noise reduction Albert Von Schweikert recommended it thats why I tried it out.

eugene2

This is such a great and informative blog, and Dagogo has become one of my favorite reads. I am very interested in trying the Clarity USB and Paul Pangs USB, they both seem to be getting some very good reviews lately. It will be interesting to see how they fare against the very good Verastarr USB I have been testing. My system continues to evolve I am waiting for two new components to arrive my Antipodes DX and my upgraded Odyssey Audio Kismet pre and mono amps. I also added a ZenWave Surge X and some Nordost Quantum QK 1 and QV2 devices. I upgraded my power cables to Verastarr silver foil and it has made a vast difference. I have used a Nuforce IDA 16 integrated to burn in my Vapor Audio speakers i was told the Dueland caps have a long break in period. So when everything is in should be a special night. The Nuforce is very clean but very clinical and thin sounding to my ears. We'll see...

eugene2

Sounds like you are getting closer and closer to that satisfying just sit there and listen moment... I'm pretty happy now but still attempting to improve things... I might move to Antipodes DX top level server. The upgraded Cirrus to Joule with Dueland RS caps has amazing musical presentation, the mid and is off the charts, I just upgraded my PS Audio DSD DAC to their Pikes Peak release, added some Akiko tuning sticks and their triple ac stick, also I live around the corner from Mike Powell who owns Verastarr cable and use his a mix of his copper and all silver ac cables. He also has allowed me to test his new USB cable. I wholeheartedly agree with you I had formerly used an IFI cable and a Cardas cable, the Verastarr has made a considerable difference. Next I am going to try one of Audioquest Ethernet cables

eugene2

What about dedicated music server instead of the Mac mini, Ryan, Mike from Verastarr and I all have an Antipodes it has worked magically in my system.

eugene2

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