I am using the ELATION AES/EBU cables; they have outstanding build quality and tremendously deep, broad and refined soundstage even in their initial break-in period. This AES cable is extremely promising and they've gone over the top to achieve a SOTA AES digital cable!

zephyr24069 July 07, 2012 15:47

System edited: Enjoying the system more and more each time I have a chance to listen be it casually or with a more audiophile focus!

zephyr24069 June 21, 2012 13:18

I'm looking for any good feedback on SOTA digital (AES/EBU 110-ohm digital cables). Does anyone have experience with Stealth Varidig Sextet, Kubala-Sosna Emotion or other top-end AES/EBU cable for use between transport and DAC? Thanks!

zephyr24069 June 03, 2012 13:22

Continuing to sit back and enjoy many different types of music and how this system renders it with a transparency and realism that are making me very happy...I continue to be amazed at what my choice of speaker is also capable of. The Focus SE continue to show themselves as being worth much more than their asking price.

zephyr24069 May 23, 2012 17:48

System edited: Updated several photos and also mention use of Elrod Statement Gold XLR interconnects as stunningly good quality AES/EBU cables...

zephyr24069 April 23, 2012 17:38

Based upon some discussions with users in Italy/Europe I've found that my Elrod Statement Gold interconnects have the capability of yielding great performance and energy and realism when used as AES/EBU cables between my transport and DAC. I had previously used "pure digital" cable designs from various high-end manufacturers with great results and more recently an all-copper adaptation of an analog XLR design with similarly great results. Delivering yet another performance upgrade, the Elrods seem to make the system "pop" no matter where you utilize them! They will be staying in my system as AES cables based upon my recent listening experiences and there will be no looking back!

zephyr24069 April 19, 2012 00:00

I am finding myself going back over many recordings that I've known very well and exploring them again, this time with the added benefits of all that the Elrod PCs and interconnects deliver in terms of soundstaging, micro and macro dynamics, musicality and the added (surprise) of a solid-state system that now has tube-like harmonics and overall presentation. Music listening has taken on a new level of satisfaction and passion...this is why I started down this path in the first place many years ago!

zephyr24069 April 15, 2012 14:27

Zephyr, shoot me an email. :)

douglas_schroeder March 13, 2012 17:54

Duke: Thank you very much for the point to GIK; I do not know their products and will check them out. Do you have a photo of your system showing these panels either posted here or available?

I did not do a full out comparison of AP in-wall wire but did not have the opportunity to trial a length of their 10-gauge heavy duty in-wall conduit. At the time (about 3 years ago), it was about $30/foot and for the 100 feet that I needed from my panel to my room, it did not turn out to be practical however suffice it to say, the construction and power-handling capability of this conduit for first rate and I still wish I'd been able to justify to myself that level of expense versus putting that money elsewhere in the system.

At present however I still have the same OFC 10-gauge conduit that I had my contractor build 'custom' for me by hand-pulling good quality OFC copper through flex conduit and terminating and grounding properly. I also use Cryo'ed Oyaide R1 outlets and run all power into a APS 2000 unit from Pure Power. The APS2000 is the unsung hero in my system so to speak as it does 2 passes of AC curve regeneration prior to storing all regenerated power in a rather large set of battery packs. I would highly recommend you check out this unit as for us audio geeks, there is nothing (IMHO) that approaches the quality of battery-delivered power. Suffice it to say I am very happy.

zephyr24069 February 19, 2012 19:14

Hi Zephyr24069:

I recall seeing an earlier post where you may have compared Analysis Plus in-wall electrical wire v. other wire. If you did, please share your thoughts. In the next month, I plan to put in a dedicated power line for my system.

Also, regarding Kevinzoe's comment about Acoustic panels... I purchased several panels from GIK over a year ago and have been very satisfied. One panel is large with custom artwork based on a photo I sent them. The the panel looks like a painting (high WAF) and it improved the sound in the room.

Thanks,

Duke97

duke97 February 19, 2012 00:26

You're welcome. Feel free to write me back at either my or your system threads.

kevinzoe February 18, 2012 19:34

Kevin,...thank you! It helps alot. I have 9 CD shelving units packed with single and mostly double rows of various type of CD, SACD, DVDA, XRCD, etc....boxes, jewel cases and LP-like covers. The varying depths of the shelves, irregular composition of every shelf's exposed discs gives some measure I believe of what you are referring to above. I have seen your room and will draw some ideas from it and what you've written above. Thank you!

zephyr24069 February 15, 2012 14:09

Hi Zephyr,
Ah yes the WAF issue . . . She would absolutely HATE my room then as it looks more like a recording studio than family room. To each his/her own.

Not all reflections are created equally. The worst offending reflections are those from the front and rear (behind the listening seat) walls. So you might wish to tackle those first.

This curtains with deep pleats and heavy fabric could be strung across your front wall which might ear WAF bonus marks. It would likely deepen your soundstage depth. Hidden behind the curtain you can put bass traps in each of the front wall corners, so hang the drapes a good 12-18" out from the front wall to accommodate the bass trap thickness and 6-8" air space. Better yet buy the (expensive) RFP diaphragmatic bass traps that hang right on a wall and are less thick than resistive-type traps filled with fiberglass. If a curtain won't due, how about a think and large tapestry?

I can't see your back wall so don't know if it's open to the rest of the house or not. Diffusion on the back wall would be better to add an element of "Listener Envelopment." If you can't get away with RPG BAD curved panels or diffractals, then what about architectural columns stained or painted to match/contrast the wall colours? Have you seen my front wall hemi-cylindrical diffuser covered with red oak veneer and stained a deep redish-brown colour? It may not be everyone's cup of tea but some think it looks cool and doubles as a mid/high freq diffuser and bass absorber (as it's interior is filled with OC701 fiberglass). Or, put a CD shelving unit directly behind your chain on the back wall but pull it out from the wall several feet, then put a shelving unit on either side of it pulled out a little less from the wall and repeat the process again so you have 5 (or any odd number) shelving units whose apparent depth varies as seen by an acoustical wave. This will help break up flutter echoes between the front and back walls and while not proper diffusers will scatter sound to some degree, abliet far from optimized, and it might pass the WAV test.

GIK (and others) offer absorption panels with paintings on it. I think if you send them your picture they have a way of transfering it to the panel fabric if you want a picture to double as an absorption panel. Just be sure to use their 6" thick panels as anythink less acts like a low-pass filter and skews the reflections.

Lastly, you can put RPG Skylines that come in a white colour on your ceiling, which if white, helps to blend in. However, anything that looks like a stalactite in a domestic room is likely to be noticed, regardless of its colour . . .

Hope this helps some.

kevinzoe February 15, 2012 03:53

Kevin...forget to mention; I am in the northwest corner of S.C. a little over an hour south of Charlotte (NC) on Rt-85S

zephyr24069 February 13, 2012 13:36

Kevin,...thank you very much for responding and the tools recommendation. Power and system components (sans a fully separate sub-panel I'd like to put in) are taken care of; the overbuilt dedidcated circuit I have is at least the first one off the main after I had the panel completely reordered. More details on the conduit and other things I used for the circuit if you want it...

To the ears, I do not seem to get much if any bass "pile-up" or dips/unsavory peaks at any frequency from the mid-bass on done, the lower midrange seems to also be fine; the room however is quite lively even with all 9K disc loaded on the shelves. Depth, height and width of image and soundstage are definitely not suffering however there are clearly frequencies from the midrange on up that could use a bit of work from the room point of view (1st order reflections, etc...). I've been advised by a friend who is an RPG fan that I could benefit from a few of the BAD panels and/or the Diffractal treatments as I need a bit of both type of treatment. I'll take a look at the tools you mention above and see where I stand in reality. Due to a heavy WAF potential objection, anything I use should meld into the room decor and not look like a 'recording studio'. I had a house like that when 2nd "W" and I met and she thought I was insane and it was cool but a funny things happen when you marry; all of a sudden, 'insane' and "cool" turn into "not in this house...." LOL!

I could probably get away with 3 Skyline diffusor profile tuning treatments from RFG in the center-line position but that is about it. The best end result would be room treatments that look more like fabric-covered panels and that are painted/dyed to match the paint color or a complimentary/contrasting color. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
Any recommendations

zephyr24069 February 13, 2012 13:32

Hi Zephyr,
Over on my system thread you asked where I'm located - I'm in Toronto, ON. And you?

Are you interested in sound proofing or room acoustical treatments, or both? Let me know so I can comment appropriately.

Regarding acoustic treatments, I would first recommend education on the topic. Dr. Floyd Toole's book (available on amazon) and the text book by F. Alton Everest are your go-to sources for starters. The other thing I'd recommend is a high resolution acoustical measurement tool like the Dayton Audio OmniMic, or REW. The tool helps to capture your baseline or starting point and can measure pre- and post-changes when adding a treatment or moving it to a different location. There are goals for stereo reproduction for the frequency and time domains that you can compare your baseline measurements to.

Any particular issue with the sound that is not to your liking?

kevinzoe February 12, 2012 20:46

BTW Kevinzoe...you have one hell of a nice setup and room; I'd like to hear details of how you built it out and customized the room as I'm still scheming for the future :-) and have not done anything for my room per se...

zephyr24069 February 12, 2012 16:01

I've thought about it as 20-25+ years down the road some of the discs will be outside the period of time where they are supposed to hold together (physically) but I have not yet heard playback from any storage & streaming setup that rivals the best physical disk setup. I may not have heard enough units so I am open to recommendations. That stated, I love the process of choosing from 'the library', reading the paper inserts and holding the physical disc in my hand. I still like to read real leather-bound and hardback books too so I can guess I'm 'out of sync' with today's society LOL!

zephyr24069 February 12, 2012 16:00

Fantastic gear Zephyr! Top notch across all the components. Any plans to move your CD's to hard drives and computer-based playback so you don't have to keep walking back and forth to your 9 CD shelving units? :)

kevinzoe February 09, 2012 01:07

Thanks for the feedback...I could not agree more! The ears are the final determining factor to be sure and they have been very happy with the journey and the transformation over the years. Next step is to tune the room a bit while still achieving WAF :-)

zephyr24069 February 02, 2012 12:01

Rentless approach helps Zep.

You have to be open and continue to learn and relearn ensuring you improve in terms of musicality, imaging, micro details and instrument placement. In addition, new components or products must explain and describe any innovation material, manufacturing process or design that significantly improves a component.

lapierre February 01, 2012 03:47

The system has definitely matured to the level I was always hoping for in terms of musicality, imaging, inner detail, pacing, and so many other attributes. I am having great fun listening to many discs and hearing things in ways, or that I've never heard play this well before. The amazing side benefit of all this is that with this combination of components, cabling, etc...I've been able to achieve something I did not think was possible namely a SS system with all the most desirable attributes of a system with a tube pre and tube amp. A buddy of mine and I were listening several weeks ago and were both marveling at the overall transformation of the system over the years in this and many respects.

zephyr24069 January 31, 2012 23:25

Let me know what you wind up doing with the panels and if they work acoustically. I have a similar problem and need to solve it in a WAF-friendly way!

zephyr24069 January 12, 2012 22:49

Hey Zeph,

No recent interest in the Hallographs. Will have to circle back on that product.

I've been researching room treatments, mainly acoustic panels. Interesting stuff. DIY diffusers similar to Skyline has me curious. I could design and build 4 2x2 panels in wood with scatter rate of 50%.

Still long way to go on the new room.

lapierre January 10, 2012 17:30

Looks great Zeph!

A very nice large room to boot.

Good that you have raised the cables from the floor. A cheap tweak.

darthlaker January 10, 2012 07:59