Mike Lavigne's System

by mikelavigne on All Out Assault

the big rig, where you will find me.

the big rig, where you will find me.

i prefer dim lighting for listening.

i prefer dim lighting for listening.

view from the speaker end

view from the speaker end

notice the cloth ceiling and wall treatments.....

notice the cloth ceiling and wall treatments.....

.....strategically placed over a 9 month period....

.....strategically placed over a 9 month period....

.....of trial and error.

.....of trial and error.

just simple cloth attached with thumb tacks.

just simple cloth attached with thumb tacks.

three turntables, 5 tonearms

three turntables, 5 tonearms

letting the music wash over me.

letting the music wash over me.

84" tall, 575 pound main towers and 87" tall, 600 pound bass towers.

84" tall, 575 pound main towers and 87" tall, 600 pound bass towers.

bass towers are powered and adjustable, main towers passive.

bass towers are powered and adjustable, main towers passive.

amps sitting on Taiko Tana active isolation platforms

amps sitting on Taiko Tana active isolation platforms

NHB-468 sound amazing......liquid and amazing musical flow and texture.

NHB-468 sound amazing......liquid and amazing musical flow and texture.

meters on the 468's

meters on the 468's

darTZeel NHB-18NS w/ 2 phono stages (new 2016 version)

darTZeel NHB-18NS w/ 2 phono stages (new 2016 version)

right side racks

right side racks

left side rack

left side rack

side view of turntables

side view of turntables

Ampex ATR-102's and Ampex MR 70's

Ampex ATR-102's and Ampex MR 70's

one of 4 MR 70 single channel tape repro's

one of 4 MR 70 single channel tape repro's

1/2" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded

1/2" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded

1/4" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded

1/4" playback only ATR-102 hot rodded

side view of Ampex decks and MR 70's

side view of Ampex decks and MR 70's

Esoteric T1 turntable

Esoteric T1 turntable

CS Port LFT1 turntable

CS Port LFT1 turntable

air box for CS Port tt; dead quiet.

air box for CS Port tt; dead quiet.

Wave Kinetics NVS direct drive turntable

Wave Kinetics NVS direct drive turntable

Etsuro Gold MC cartridge

Etsuro Gold MC cartridge

Etsuro Gold MC cartridge

Etsuro Gold MC cartridge

Miyajima Labs Infinity mono cartridge

Miyajima Labs Infinity mono cartridge

DaVa Reference Field Coil phono cartridge

DaVa Reference Field Coil phono cartridge

Audio Technica MC-2022 phono cartridge

Audio Technica MC-2022 phono cartridge

Koetsu Azule Platinum MC stone body

Koetsu Azule Platinum MC stone body

CS Port linear tracking tone arm with air bearing

CS Port linear tracking tone arm with air bearing

Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm

Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm

Durand gimbal bearing tone arm

Durand gimbal bearing tone arm

Durand 12" Telos wood arm wand

Durand 12" Telos wood arm wand

Durand Tosca gimbal bearing tone arm

Durand Tosca gimbal bearing tone arm

Evolution Acoustics bass tower interface and adjustments

Evolution Acoustics bass tower interface and adjustments

cables and various cable decoupling strategies.

cables and various cable decoupling strategies.

Tripoint Audio Elite grounding box for sources.

Tripoint Audio Elite grounding box for sources.

Tripoint Audio Troy Signature for amps

Tripoint Audio Troy Signature for amps

Entreq Poseidon + Atlantic Minimus + Everest knobs

Entreq Poseidon + Atlantic Minimus + Everest knobs

3 of the 5 Taiko Tana active platforms

3 of the 5 Taiko Tana active platforms

3 linear power supplies for Taiko Tana active under sources

3 linear power supplies for Taiko Tana active under sources

linear power supply for the Taiko Tana active platform under amp

linear power supply for the Taiko Tana active platform under amp

Equi=Tech 10WQ wall panel A/C transformer with door open

Equi=Tech 10WQ wall panel A/C transformer with door open

Klaudio RCM + Equi=Tech with door closed.

Klaudio RCM + Equi=Tech with door closed.

the audio barn

the audio barn

Description

this room and system is the result of 10 years in High End audio. my system has been stable for a couple of years (except for transport and amplifier upgrades within the same brand). the room has been in the planning stage for about 18 months and i actually moved in a little over a month ago.

my audio philosphy is to have the system get out of the way of the event. i like as pure and simple a signal path as possible and, at this point, prefer passive to active gain stages. i love all the formats and enjoy having lot's of music.....vinyl is my favorite but i listen to at least 60% digital. the new room really reveals the benefits of SACD over redbook.

the system and room truely allow the event to be recreated before me. i love the way the speakers disappear and i am transported to another place/time.

i have choosen my cables, sources, amps, speakers to have as little of their own sound as possible.

recently, i upgraded my digtial transport from the modified Philips SACD 1000 to the new emmlabs CDSD.....this was a significant step upward in performance.

i have written an article in Positive Feedback regarding my room building experience.....here is a link;

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/lavigneroom.htm
Read more...

Room Details

Dimensions: 29’ × 21’  X large
Ceiling: 11’

Components Toggle details

    • Evolution Acoustics MM7's
    twin towers, main tower, 82
    • darTZeel NHB-468
    Mono block Amplifiers. 

    traded in my 458 amplifiers for the new version, the 468.
    • darTZeel NHB-18NS with 2 internal phono stages.
    battery powered preamp with 2 separate phono stages. uses BNC 'zeel' cables between pre and amps.
    • Evolution Acoustics 7.5 meter 'Zeel'
    7.5 meter pair of BNC cables from preamp to amps.
    • Evolution Acoustics 'System' speaker cables--10 feet
    new version of these cables, a big step over the amazing TRSC model i have used for 10 years. fantastic performance.
    • WADAX SA Reference DAC
    Wadax Reference Dac----state of the art dac with 2 separate power supplies. the best dac i have heard by a good margin. below is a link to a thread about my Wadax experience.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-reference-dac-and-server-arrive.34173/#post-771357
    • WADAX SA Reference Server with Akasa optical interface
    ultimate state of the art music server using Roon. includes the Akasa optical interface.
    • CS Port LFT1 turntable w/arm
    air bearing platter and air bearing linear tracking arm; string drive with zero feedback dc motor, low pressure, low flow air system with zero noise air box.

    world class musical flow, nuance and delicacy, combined with authority and ease. serves the music completely.
    • Esoteric T1 Turntable
    magnetic drive/rim drive idler turntable with torque adjustment.

    https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/t1/top
    • Esoteric G1X Master Clock
    Master Clock Generator for speed improvement for the T1 turntable.

    https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g1x/top
    • Wave Kinetics NVS
    direct drive turntable
    • Durand ---Two Tosca tonearms.
    gimbal bearing design. the finest tonearm i have heard.

    one Tosca on the Esoteric T1 turntable

    one Tosca on the Wave Kinetics NVS turntable
    • Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
    Field Coil Loaded uni-pivot tone arm. with power supply.

    amazing natural and very high resolution tone arm. link below.

    https://www.primarycontrol.nl/Field_Coil_Loaded_Unipivot_Tonearm.html
    • Durand Tonearms 12" Telos, wood arm wand
    12" tone arm, uni pivot.
    • Experience Music/Intact Audio phono corrector + silver wound MC Trio SUT combo for three different tonearms.
    bespoke tubed phono preamplifier. silver wound, with custom dual power supplies.

    https://myemia.com/LR.html
    • LFD -3- Phono Cables DIN to RCA
    3 sets of very high performance phono cables. amazing performance. built by Dr. Richard Bews in the UK.

    one cable uses a DIN to RCA short Dongle + an RCA to RCA interconnect. the Dongle improves the performance of the DIN connection. details at the link below.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/lfd-cables-phono-and-i-c-from-the-uk-cables-as-components.31243/
    • DaVa Reference cartridge
    field coil cartridge. with tube power supply.
    • two Etsuro Golds, ---a pair of Reference MC Phono Cartridges.
    duraluminim (A7075) body, 24 carat 'Kinpaku' Gold Leaf finish, diamond cantiliver. .3mv output, 4 ohms. these are both special versions of the Etsuro Gold.

    one is mounted on the CS Port linear tracker.

    one is mounted on the Primary Control FCL arm.

    finest cartridge i have heard by a significant margin. WOW!
    • Audio Technica MC-2022 60th Anniversary cartridge
    uses the unified stylus cantilever design. which results in extreme lack of distortion and linearity. maybe the best i've heard at musical truth.

    mounted on the Durand Tosca tonearm on the NVS tt.

    https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
    • Koetsu Azule Platinum Stone Body, boron cantilever
    .3 Mv output moving coil cartridge. mounted on the Durand Telos 12" wood arm wand tone arm and NVS turntable.
    • Miyajima Labs --2--Infinity mono cartridge's.
    one Infinity cartridge has 0.7mil stylus for modern narrow groove mono pressings.

    one Infinity cartridge has 1.0 mil stylus for early wide groove mono pressings.

    https://www.miyajima-lab.com/e-mono.html
    • DS Audio Ion 001 Vinyl Ionizer
    generates positive and negative ions to remove static charge from vinyl records. i use this with my NVS turntable.

    https://ds-audio-w.biz/products/181/
    • CS Port Static Eliminator IME1 (two of them)
    An unprecedented accessory focusing on cartridge friction. It suppresses the effects of static electricity and makes records clearer.

    one is on the CS Port tt, one on the Esoteric T1 tt.

    https://www.csport.audio/products/products-ime1-en.html
    • Stage III Concepts 1.5 meter XLR set of Gorgon interconnects.
    high performance interconnects. used from the Wadax Reference dac to the darTZeel preamp.

    http://aaudioimports.com/ShowProduct.asp?hProduct=283
    • Ampex twin ATR-102----one 1/4" and one 1/2" reel to reel master recorder
    hot rodded by ATR Service Inc----Andrew Kosobutsky. significant upgrades over stock. each interfacing with hot rodded Ampex MR-70 preamps.

    https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/ak-hot-rodded-ampex-atr-102s-w-mr-70-preamps-replaces-my-studers.36288/
    • Kosobutsky 1.5 meter set of RCA interconnects + 8 meter set of XLR interconnects.
    1.5 meter set of RCA interconnects are used between the EMIA phono corrector and the darTZeel preamp.

    8 meter set is used between the Ampex MR 70 tape preamps and the darTZeel preamp.
    • Nordost QRT QNET network switch
    Network switch, with Nordost Qsource power supply.

    https://www.nordost.com/qrt-audio-enhancers.php
    • Synology 30 Terabyte NAS (a pair = 60 TB) music file storage
    mirroring music storage for my music files.
    • Taiko Tana (5 of them) Herzan TS-150 (2) + TS-140 (3)
    active isolation under 5 separate components: (1) the NVS turntable, (2) the MSB dac, (3) the darTZeel preamp, (4 + 5) both darTZeel mono block amplifiers. custom modifications by Taiko Audio add a linear power supply plus panzerholtz top layer + Daiza platform to provide full frequency resonance attenuation to each platform.
    • Taiko Audio Daiza isolation platform--22 used in the system
    Panzerholtz Platform with spiral cutouts reducing mid and high frequency resonance while retaining life and energy and not changing tonality.

    22 Daiza platforms in the system of various sizes under every piece of the signal path.
    • Adona Zero GTX rack---3 of them--each 4 shelf.
    all three with 27" x 21" turntable top.

    solid rack for best direct floor connection.
    • Evolution Acoustics 'system' power cables
    a new version of the TRPC model i used on my darTZeel 468 mono blocks for the last 10 years. a big step up.
    • Sablon Audio King power cord
    used on the Wadax Reference Server.

    https://www.sablonaudio.com/power
    • Absolute Fidelity power interfaces
    power cords specifically designed for either motors (tt and tape decks), amplifiers, and components. 11 in the system.
    • Tripoint Audio Troy Signature
    Grounding box for chassis grounding the darTZeel 458 mono block amplifiers + grounding the passive main towers of the Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker system.
    • Tripoint Audio Elite
    Tripoint Elite grounding box. this does chassis grounding for my sources. it uses a a pair of Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference ground cables for my dart preamp and the MSB Select II dac. there are also 4 Signature Silver ground cables to the two arm boards of the NVS tt, the power supply of the NVS tt, and the SGM server.
    • Equi=tech 10WQ
    10kva balanced Isoltion transformer and distribution panel.
    • Furutech GTX-D NCF Rhodium duplex outlets
    10 in the system. used with 10 Furutech covers and frames. uses NCF (nano crystal formula) material to reduce noise by emitting negative ions.
    • Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers
    8 sets-of-4 in the system for individual tuning of each piece of gear.
    • Auralex T-Fusor diffusers
    i use 20 of these. 6 each on the front side walls, and 4 each front ceiling and rear ceiling.
    • Klaudio Record Cleaning System
    automatic record cleaner
    • Acoustic Revive RL-30 mKIII CD-LP demagnatizer
    for demaging any disc.
    • Furutech DF-2 LP disc flattner
    will remove warps from Lps
    • Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Anniversary Ed.
    will cook any cables
    • Winds ALM-01 Stylus Force Gauge
    easy accurate, repeatable, measurments.
    • i-Tower by Koncept LED floor lamp
    (3) are used. best audio light ever. 2 'warm', 1 'cool'.
    • Quietrock THX 545 drywall
    specialized drywall with a 1/4" metal layer. used in my front sidewalls to establish proper room boundaries.
    • view...... what i look at...
    ...while listening. Rattlesnake Ridge.
    • Barn.... ......room is....
    ....most of the ground floor. 29' x 21' x 11'.

Comments 3389

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Hi there stranger!

Long time no speak Mike!!

Seriously Michael, after fourteen years you have GOT to get a hobby...:-)

Things look beautiful at the Barn these days... You seem to have dived in the DEEP end of the analog pool!
When did you get even more turntable's???
The room acoustics you put together seem to have served you well both cosmetically and sonically and with all you have it is a wonder you ever leave that room!

...And to those nasty early posts you received...Let them gaze upon your THREE ROWS of seating!...:-)

Seriously, i hope all is well with you and the family and when you get a minute to write PLEASE tell me about that EMT 948 and custom plinth...She's a beauty!

Best regards,
Jake [Azjake]

azjake

It's been over TEN YEAR'S since I inadvertainly named "the barn"?.
Wow... How time flies!
It is most admirable that even at the lofty heights you and your systems have attained you admit that there are always imperfections though you have always remained truly supportive and a consummate gentlemen!

Happy Listening rolls on...
Azjake

azjake

Evening Mike,
Like always it seems great things are always evolving at the "barn"!

I am most curious as to how you have found the new monoblocks for the last three months I have them on short list for my Focal stella utopias...

As for the durand tonearms i am currently using a 10.5 and 12" Reed which is quite easy to set up and holds it;s mark but i have heard such stellar reviews on the durands that i would like your opinion for them on my Steve Dobbins "beat" tt please...
Lastly my Esoteric digital [po1.do1.gorb clock etc] are champs at resolving minute ambient information with great resolve but seems to leave the music without a tonal vibrancy due to it's analitical preferences leaving behind a chalky whitening of the textures which i find fatiguing, any recomondations?

Thanks as always and a healthy and happy new years and a safe family Christmas to you and yours!!

Azjake

azjake

Mike,

I keep writing in thinking i'll be the 1 lucky "incoming" and win the free car from your dealership...LOL

Seriously, thanks for saving me and steering me toward Equi-Tech and the kind and gentle man named Martin who truly seems to have this passion coming out of his pores!

Balance power indeed!
The same great attention to detail fro delivery to set-up and OH the changes this model makes!!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Years and thanks Mike for your generosity of spirit...

Azjake

azjake

Many thanks Mike for an honest evaluation based on the entire musical chain!I too was anxious for the 2nd gen Talea but the price increase from $6500.00 to $8400.00 in the blink of an eye [or maybe in a three day show!] made it out of reach for me.

I am truly glad to hear that the BEAT got you to the point of totally immersing yourself in the pleasure of this hobby and away from the technical "what if's"...

It is indeed an impressive sonic checklist you've noticed but , reading between the lines, it sounds like the BEAT has exactly what it was named for!

Best regards,

Jake

azjake

Hi Mike!

Wondered if enough time had developed for your initial reaction to that beautiful table from Steve Dobbins?
He feels that it well might be the last table for HIS home too!...:-)
How has it responded with different arms and carts?

As always....thanks Mike.

Best regards,
Jake
P.s. A very unusual color plinth!

azjake

Mike,

May i ask what you did to your outboard psu for the technics tt you have?
Did you replace all caps, diodes,rectifiers etc. as that can be quite expensive ,and that's not including chips and an iec!

Would love to know which direction you went...

Thanks for your time and Happy New Years to you and the family!

Jake

azjake

Wise idea!

I just remembered that you had children [you told me when we spoke on the phone along about the time you moved into your latest digs and i suggested the name "music barn" for your dedicated palace...:)]
I hope your kids have enjoyed the constant parade of jewels that have come through your space and that they have a fine appreciation of music and the fact that they're dad is truly inspired with his "hobby" while inspiring others ,always with a helpful hand.
As always, kudos to that marvelous wife of yours for her support along the "never ending road"
be well,

Jake

azjake

Mike,

Have enjoyed and been educated by your threads for years but it's late and the thought just hit me...DO YOU HAVE KIDS AND,IF SO, HOW'S ALL YOUR STUFF GONNA BE DIVIDED??? [home theater, 2 channel+ room, den system etc.]

Yeah, it's late but the things i think of...:)
Hope all is well in the great northwest!

Regards,

Jake

azjake

Rhirsch,Don't waste your time, this person can't even form sentences!
That's why Mike does not lower himself
"F-1 cars and girl's"......Yah ,maybe when he returns the keys to them after they run it through the carwash! :)
His mentor is probabely Romy the cat...

azjake

Mike,
All i can say is that i vote for your wife to attain "sainthood" while here on earth!
She must be patient,understanding, supportive and be happy just knowing your happy in this hobby...
Surely the one "component" you could never replace:)
Hope all is well up north!
Warmly,
Azjake

azjake

MIKE,
LAST MAY AT HES I WAS SURPRISED BY THE QUALITY OF SOUND JOHNATHAN COAXED FROM THE VR-9'S IN A VERY SMALL AND CROWDED ROOM!
THOUGH CERTAINLY NOT THE LAST WORD IN ANY OF THE AREAS YOU'VE TOUCHED ON, THEY WERE ABLE TO CONVEY A PROMISE OF THEY'RE POTENTIAL...
MY QUESTION TO YOU, IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR MOST RECENT CONVERSATION; DO YOU FEEL THE VR9'S CAN DELIVER SIMILAR QUALITIES TO THE KHARMA 1D-DE'S IN A MEDIUM TO SMALL LISTENING ENVIORMENT?
IF YOU WERE TO HAVE THE DEMENSIONS OF YOUR ORIGINAL LISTENING ROOM,WOULD THE KHARMAS THEN BE BETTER OVERALL IYO?
THANKS ,
AZJAKE

azjake

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