After 20+ years with Avanrgarde Duos I made th eswitch to Voxativ field coils. The Duos were and still are superb. The FC are slightly more cohesive and smoother and I might have just been itching to change. Could happily live with either
completely gone through and upgraded. Stainless steel platter and brass bearing from Peak Audio UK. Motor serviced with new bearings, and just about everything else that can be replaced/upgraded including a DIY plinth. Very happy. This is an end game turntable.
Sorane SA-12 with My Sonic Lab Eminent Solo
Kuzma 4 point 14 with Jan Allaerts MkII
EMIA LR phono corrector with silver SUT
wow, just wow
Star Sound Technologies sp4 Sistrum rack
Voxativ AC-X field coils w/ 16 foot DIY basshorns
These replaced my Avantgarde Duo Omegas. I built the 16 foot horns to cover 30-180Hz and replace stock AG woofers.
Eighth Nerve room treatments
These things really work.
GIK Acoustics Acoustic Panels
I have a very lively room with brick walls and plaster ceiling. These have tamed it. my RT60 time is almost ideal
Seymour 160" theater screen 2.35
JVC NZ8 laser projector
4K projector
Crown XLS1000
Six 2 channel power amps for height, wides, surrounds
A friend of mine made that. He put his face in a bowl of plaster or something while he breathed through a straw. When it set he had a mold of his face and filled it to make the mask. My walls in the basement are rough cut stone so I hung the mask and plastered around the edges so it blends into the wall and then painted it to match the wall. Most people don't notice it.
Herman, your system looks excellent, except for one thing...........the built in shelves with the LP's are WAY too overcrowded.
Being the upstanding citizen that I am, I'm willing to travel to your place, sort through all that excess music and carry off (FOR FREE -no shipping) any of those excess pieces of music necessary to make the setting look really tidy!
Jeffrey is a great guy to work with. He will listen to what you are trying to accomplish and then design and build a piece to do the job. I would encourage you to contact him and see for yourself. Being a one man operation and raising a family his time is at a premium, but if he has time perhaps he will invite you over for a listen.
System edited: I just got the custom built phono stage I commissioned from Experience music. http://experiencemusic.net/ After playing around for many years with commercial gear it has become obvious to me that the only way to get true satisfaction is with custom gear from a custom builder or DIY if you are capable. This stage is a simple design using the highest quality parts. It is by far the best I've had. Big, open, dynamic, great resolution and tonal balance.
Hmmm, Im not sure how much more $$, since I dont recall what the HD's go for, or what you might be able to get used reference cables for...On the opther hand, the CDs# is am amazing player, so I can relate to your thinking....Art
Hi ArtG, how much extra $$ are we talking about here? I have 2 pair of 1M interconnects, a 3M pair of speaker cables, and 4 pair of 1M speaker cables as jumpers.
I'm thinking I could buy a pair of Trios or get a Naim CDS3 for the extra cash?
I like it a lot. Tubed amplification into horns, Naim digital and stereovox cables.
One thought: I have the reference stereovox's (both IC and speaker cables) and you would be AMAZED at the improvement you might hear, esp. with your relatively warm tubed amp/preamp and sensitive speaker set-up. I think its worth the extra $$.
it's nice to see a system where the music is the most important factor and not the "gear" or the room. Just music and nothing but music. I know the feeling that you know that it can be better but not willing to change because it sounds just right!! Congrats,
Advantgarde said any speakers that require 40 or 50 watts to get em going can't possibly reveal all the details music has to offer, I agree! Excellent system above!
Great system, Herman. And i totally agree with you - horns simply do sound amazing if set up properly! Most of the times i just can't stop listening ... :)
I do have a dedicated 20A line to my system, but I live in an older home with 100A service so I wonder how that affects things.
The difference with the batteries is subtle yet significant. When I have audiophile friends over they can consistently pick which is which. The Naim player is excellent in stock form and from what I understand significantly better with the XPS2 power supply even though I have never heard it, but I can't choke down another $4,500 at this point so I went with about $500 worth of NiCad batteries and a deluxe charger/discharger.
I would say that with batteries the sound is smoother with a darker background and a richer harmonic structure. With the batteries on a plucked acoustic guitar string you hear the string and the body of the guitar in better balance, and with AC less of the body and more string. Vocals sound more natural with the batteries and low bass strings sound rounder and fuller. On first listen it would be easy to say the batteries are softer but I think it is because they introduce less harshness. I'm not saying the stock player is harsh, it is excellent. The batteries just raise it up a notch.
It is a bit of a pain to maintain the charge on the batteries. They need to go through a proper discharge/charge cycle once a month which requires a good (read $150) charger but still takes some time. The life of the NiCad is reduced significantly with improper maintenance, but so far I would say it is worth it.
Very nice. I'd love to hear this. I especially like the idea of using battery packs for serious listening with your Naim. I'm curious, how great is the difference over your regular lines (and are these dedicated)?
Herman, the fact that you show your music collection first and your system 2nd speaks volumes on your Duo's! A friend of mine has Duohorns, all I can say as that the German Hornspeaker technology is on a different scale then it is here. They think live music factor and dynamics is the most important part of sound. All I can do is sit back and listen to the music and agree!
