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;
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The room does look amazing. Out of curiosity, does your wife share your passion? Have you identified anything you might do differently with the room, now that it is all done? At one point I recall you mentioned changing your phono stage, connoisseur I thought was discussed. All the best, use it in good health
Lee, Tim, Slipknot, and Santiago.....you would all be most welcome anytime. Tim....we have talked about a visit from you many times....hopefully soon it will happen.
Lee, when i first learned about the Rives Audio approach i didn't agree with it as my experience had been in my small room where i was trying to keep the SPL's from overwhelming it. as i considered the whole picture i decieded that of all the approaches i had seen it made the most sense. so i had Rives do everything that they felt was necessary and i built it exactly to their specs.
i'm glad i did. it is interesting how my intuition about room acoustics has changed by this process. it was facinating to listen to my system as they finished one acoustical element and then another. it allowed me to really see cause and effect.
Interesting; I had not considered LEDE a function of room size. Makes sense when I reflect upon it (sorry for the pun). Thanks for the link to the article.
I will say your room appears to be a perfect recital hall, which would be my summation of the article you linked me to. Thus, the Kharma's are the performers. It would be interesting to record in your room as well.
Anyway, I would love to hear your room one day with different recording mixes and hear the result.
Mike- Amazing, its the only thing that comes to mind. If I ever make it to the north west I am sure you'll be seeing me with Jonathan in tow :o) Enjoy the music, you've earned it!
Mprime, here is an article written by my room designer that explains why the whole "live-end-dead-end" approach is not ideal. i can tell you that the result of that hardwood behind the speakers is very positive when used with other diffusive surfaces.
i did use the 'live-end/dead-end' approach in my old room......but i had huge speakers in a 12 foot wide room. absorbtion has it's place but is best minimized.
I do have one observation and question; the area behind the speakers appears quite live (hardwood floor, no signifcant absorption): why did you make that design choice?
(as contrasted against a dead behind-the-speaker-zone)
System edited: well.....the room is done....the pictures are updated. the only gear changes are the emmlabs modified Philips SACD 1000 changed to the emmlabs CDSD and the Tenor OTL's to the Tenor Hybrid 300 watt monoblocks. there is much to tell about the room....for now i will say it must be heard to be appreciated.
Dave, i am just a hard working guy with a passion. it has taken 10 years to aquire and pay for my set-up. the room was part of the anticipated home expense when i moved last year.
you would be most welcome to visit. one thing i've really missed in the last year was the frequent listening sessions with fellow music lovers/audiophiles. send me an e-mail and we can set it up.
thanks Skip and Slipknot1 for the kind comments.....the tt is set-up and it sounds glorious (tt pics in the room are on the picture gallery).
Mprime, i loved my CD-12. it is still the most singularly elegant piece of audio gear i've ever seen/owned. when i first recieved the emmlabs gear i slightly preferred the CD-12 on redbook. i had both in my system for about 2 months.
after i had the modified Philips SACD 1000 for about a month i sent it back to Meitner for an upgrade to a chip (evidently the software of the SACD 1000 was only outputing 15 of the 16 bits). after this free mod the DAC6/SACD 1000 went to another level on redbook slightly beyond the CD-12. the Meitner combo now matches the CD-12 on detail, microdynamic snap, and naturalness......but the Meitner exceeds the CD-12 in the areas of dynamic slam, soundstage body, and a lower noise floor that approaches closer to my tt performance.
the CD-12 is still one of the very best Redbook players.
Congratulations on a job well done (soon)! Thesaurus does not have enough supperlatives to describe your work of art - it's sight & sonic beauty, I'm sure! I would love the opportunity to come see & hear your room and audio gear in all it's splendor someday.
Please, after all the tweeks and full evaluation by you & Rives, post an in depth review.
Outstanding setup Mike, your dedication to sound quality is only matched by your pocket-book it would seem. You either make more than you need or/and, your wife is the best wife in the world and you are deeply in debt but happy none the less.
Love your system and room, Should be on the cover of Stereophile for everything done right.
or if you want to see more pictures click here and scroll down (top pictures are from my old room.....bottom pictures are from the construction of the new room);
Flying, i have no experience with the new Graham or Triplanar but would expect that the Colibri would/should be outstanding on either assuming your Colibri is spec'd for the arm by Mr. vdH.
the Colibri was certainly excellent with my Graham 2.2.
Thanks for your reponse. I think I am going to go for a xcp. Thinking of mounting it on the new graham phantom or triplanar. Any special synergy on either of these arm? I have heard that colibri is very sensitve to VTA. As for turntable, I have Linn at the moment, but will leave it and buy a new setup. Probably Oracle delphiV.
the XCP (copper windings, polycarbonite body) has .85mv.....the XGW (gold windings, myrtlewood body) has .65mv. there is no myrtlwood body XCP (the 'P' means polycarbonite body).
Mr. vdH will make the Colibri with any body material you want and any output you want. the gold coils have fewer turns therefore less output than the copper. he makes copper coils up to 1mv output.
the XGW 6.5mv is not as dynamically alive and not as explosive as the XCP 8.5mv. the XGW 6.5mv is slightly smoother and more forgiving (a little darker) than the extremely immediate and totally open XCP. overall, i prefer the XCP in my particular system. i also own the Koetsu RSP II......which is waaay more laid back than either Colibri and has a wonderful color.
i had the Clearaudio Insider Gold for a couple of years and i believe that the Colibri's do improve on all the strengths of the Insider Gold and have none of the limitations. OTOH the Insider Gold was a less difficult cartridge to set up and will work easily with more arms. the 'nude' Colibri's can be a little intimidating to mount and are kinda fragile.
