I have a small handful of more rooms I plan to write about including photos, but please be patient while I keep my day job going in order to support this wonderful audiophile hobby of ours and my blog!
Cheers.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
CA Audio Show - Tannoy and Linn Room
I spent an enjoyable Saturday at the 2011 California Audio Show, hosted by Dagogo. Tracy and I met up at 8am at the local coffee shop, headed over around 8:30, and were in full swing with badges and program booklets by 9am sharp. Eight hours later, I stumbled out of the Crowne Plaza hotel, tired but excited about all the great gear I'd seen as well as some of the cool people I had either re-acquanited myself with or met for the first time.
The first room I'd like to mention was hosted by Steven Lester, who was making music through a Tannoy Definition DC-8 ($3600) "monitor" speakers sitting on Pangea stands which in turn rested on budget stone slabs to keep the whole kit steady on the hotel room carpet. All electronics were Linn Akurate, including the Akurate 2200 power amp ($5200) which in turn was being controlled by the Akurate Kontrol pre-amplifier ($6500). Feeding the preamp was an Akurate DS ($6990), which is a digital music server and DAC all in one box. A Qnap NAS drive was linked digitally into the Akurate DS, and a iPad running Plugplayer provided the user interface for track selection. Cabling was mostly mid-level MIT. He also had Linn Akurate speakers hooked up, but I didn't hear them.
I thought the Tannoy/Linn room setup was well thought out, with the speakers located against the long wall to the left of the room entrance, and a handful of chairs facing them and located a foot or two away from the rear wall. Almost all other rooms were arranged with the speakers shooting down the long wall at the listener as you entered the room. I felt the Tannoy/Linn room arrangement allowed for enough spacing behind the speakers while letting them breathe to the left and right. In any case, the Tannoy Definition DC8's demonstrated surprising bass extension which was well articulated, controlled and tuneful. On one electronic music track, the deep synthesizer notes moved quickly and powerfully along. One other track featured a male singer whose voice was deep and the system captured its texture and power very well. To these ears, the system sounded overall smooth and surprisingly punchy considering the size of the speakers (though they do have an 8" woofer cone). I felt good PRAT as my foot naturally bounced along to a few tracks. The high frequencies were nicely extended as far as I could tell. Overall it was a fun and enjoyable room!
I also had the pleasure to meet Jason Victor Serinus while listening to music in this room, and we adjourned to the hallway for a brief but interesting chat about this and that audio. What a nice guy.
The first room I'd like to mention was hosted by Steven Lester, who was making music through a Tannoy Definition DC-8 ($3600) "monitor" speakers sitting on Pangea stands which in turn rested on budget stone slabs to keep the whole kit steady on the hotel room carpet. All electronics were Linn Akurate, including the Akurate 2200 power amp ($5200) which in turn was being controlled by the Akurate Kontrol pre-amplifier ($6500). Feeding the preamp was an Akurate DS ($6990), which is a digital music server and DAC all in one box. A Qnap NAS drive was linked digitally into the Akurate DS, and a iPad running Plugplayer provided the user interface for track selection. Cabling was mostly mid-level MIT. He also had Linn Akurate speakers hooked up, but I didn't hear them.
I thought the Tannoy/Linn room setup was well thought out, with the speakers located against the long wall to the left of the room entrance, and a handful of chairs facing them and located a foot or two away from the rear wall. Almost all other rooms were arranged with the speakers shooting down the long wall at the listener as you entered the room. I felt the Tannoy/Linn room arrangement allowed for enough spacing behind the speakers while letting them breathe to the left and right. In any case, the Tannoy Definition DC8's demonstrated surprising bass extension which was well articulated, controlled and tuneful. On one electronic music track, the deep synthesizer notes moved quickly and powerfully along. One other track featured a male singer whose voice was deep and the system captured its texture and power very well. To these ears, the system sounded overall smooth and surprisingly punchy considering the size of the speakers (though they do have an 8" woofer cone). I felt good PRAT as my foot naturally bounced along to a few tracks. The high frequencies were nicely extended as far as I could tell. Overall it was a fun and enjoyable room!
I also had the pleasure to meet Jason Victor Serinus while listening to music in this room, and we adjourned to the hallway for a brief but interesting chat about this and that audio. What a nice guy.
Friday, July 15, 2011
A High Resolution Room for Your Consideration
Recently I skipped out of work early on a sunny Friday afternoon, and made my over to my audiophile buddy's room for a listen to his most recent setup. He has high-end equipment that he was eager to share with me, and the good fortune of having a dedicated room that he can setup exactly as he pleases, or I should say as his system dictates. I have been to his room before, when he had a similar setup as he has today, except that previously he owned Salk HT3 speakers in a superb black ash finish. In fact, it was through the common touchstone of Salk speakers (I own the HT1-TL in case you missed that) that we originally connected. Anyway, here's a quick rundown of his current equipment along with a photo of his pad.
The digital bits are decoded by a Sony SCD-1 VSE-modded Level 7, which is connected to a Joule-Electra LA-450ME preamp, on to Spectron Musician III Mk. II monoblocks, and ending with the eFicion F300 speakers.
Synergistic Research is used to connect almost all components - interconnects and speaker cables are from the Apex line. Power cords are Hologram D connected to the CD player, with a pair of T-3 cords connected to the monoblocks. The exception to the all-SR lineup is an Elrod Silver Statement power cord attached to the preamp. All power cords hook into a SR Powercell 10SE. The speaker cables are connected via SR Speakercells, and SR Galileo MPCs are employed on all interconnects. All of his cables have been "cooked" using an Audiodharma Cable Cooker 3.0. Various acoustic panels and bass traps are strategically employed to help counteract the usual trouble spots of corner loading and first and second order reflection points, and the floor is covered with a large plush rug. The room is fairly large, with speakers and listening chair placed in what I believe is an equilateral triangle configuration spaced roughly ten feet per side. Speakers are distanced about five feet from either sidewall and the front wall. The back wall behind the listening chair is at least ten feet away. Such was the state of the system as I settled into the Captain's chair (the ONLY chair in this room!) for a listen to my demo CD, which included the following tracks:
From a technical standpoint, one of the first qualities that struck me, even awed me, was the razor quick transients - for example, drum shots were filled with tremendous energy and snappy-ness. To my ears, there was little-to-no rounding of transient information, neither was there pre- or post-ringing in the notes. This was a fun and exciting experience! Interestingly, this did not seem to translate to a strong sense of PRAT. While some songs had me swaying in time which was good, none really set my toes to bouncing along to the music as I would have liked. Another characteristic that was impressive was the extremely black background, which I believe helped contribute to this system's sense of dynamic snap. I believe that the physical separation of the electronics, as well as their high build quality and electrical design, were major contributors, as was the sonically black room. By contrast, in my much smaller space which employs a few key room treatments (due to domestic considerations, as my room is also our living room), where the TacT RCS2.0 shoulders most of the "treatment" duties, my listening couch is situated against the back wall, and the system is asymmetrically placed, I can detect the room interfering with the music in a way I was not as aware of until after this recent visit.
Instruments and musicians were readily identifiable within the soundstage, their locations well articulated. The soundstage was rendered as nicely as the recording allowed, which means in some cases the acoustic images were constrained to between the speakers, while at other times they pushed far outside to the left and right, and also expanded high and low in height. In the depth direction, the sound reached out as if trying to touch my nose, while it did not extend nearly as far back behind the speakers. In sum, the system generated a large soundstage box with a center of gravity positioned well forward of the speaker plane. While I would have ultimately preferred more depth behind the speaker plane, overall this was an expansive, layered soundstage presentation that was thoroughly enjoyable.
Powerful and articulate, well-defined bass was present when the recording included it, which is one of my favorite parts. High frequencies were nicely extended with copious air. I thought that the midrange was a touch more forward in the frequency spectrum and at times ever-so-slightly less clear compared with the completely clear remainder of the spectrum. This prompted a discussion during a pause in the music, and my friend mentioned that his speaker manufacturer has a new upper-unit crossover circuit that will be installed in the near future. Perhaps a return visit will help this listener understand what differences, dare I say improvements, the new circuitry may have.
Technical aspects dispensed with, let's discuss the arguably (for some) more important musical side. Jazz, acoustic, vocal, and what little classical music we listened to, were very well represented. When I put on some of my "rock" recordings (admittedly, and in particular with the American music, these tracks are fairly compressed) the system did its utmost to reveal every detail in the recording. Unfortunately, this rendered some of my more favorite musical selections less interesting to listen to than at my home. My friend confirmed his preference for technically well-recorded jazz, classical, and the like - with that music, his system sings. My preferences are to other musical genres which unfortunately usually include the standard recording flaws, and in that regard his system was not as gracious to those recordings. Nonetheless, some of my rock recordings, particularly the World Music selections, were tremendous fun to listen to, with solid dynamics, punchiness, and deep bass slam. Later at home, listening to the demo tracks in familiar surroundings, I understand some of why this may be true - namely, my system's bass response is slightly elevated below about 150Hz (intentionally, per my TacT correction curve) and there is a small hump between 200-700Hz (part of my natural room/speaker interactions), which together seem to give compressed music a little more life but which are artificial in the sense that the frequency response of my system is not entirely flat (but who's is?). I wager that my friend's system would measure flatter in it's overall frequency response, or at least in these areas of the frequency spectrum. In his system, music had life and breath and let me hear what the musician was communicating, but it was presented in a straightforward way - no bells and whistles, just the facts, ma'am. The soul and swing of the music, the subtle shifts of the musical rhythms, were also there but not conveyed as strongly as I would prefer.
During three hours we listened and chatted, traded music selections, and generally BS'd about equipment and audio in general. Given what I heard that day, he has progressed down his stated audiophile path admirably and it has opened my eyes to the heights of resolution and purity to which our audiophile hobby aspires. I understand he will be making some key component changes in the upcoming weeks and months, and I am looking forward to a return visit soon. I also look forward to the day when I have a larger dedicated room to spread out my electronics, optimize speaker locations, and apply some more treatment!
The digital bits are decoded by a Sony SCD-1 VSE-modded Level 7, which is connected to a Joule-Electra LA-450ME preamp, on to Spectron Musician III Mk. II monoblocks, and ending with the eFicion F300 speakers.
Synergistic Research is used to connect almost all components - interconnects and speaker cables are from the Apex line. Power cords are Hologram D connected to the CD player, with a pair of T-3 cords connected to the monoblocks. The exception to the all-SR lineup is an Elrod Silver Statement power cord attached to the preamp. All power cords hook into a SR Powercell 10SE. The speaker cables are connected via SR Speakercells, and SR Galileo MPCs are employed on all interconnects. All of his cables have been "cooked" using an Audiodharma Cable Cooker 3.0. Various acoustic panels and bass traps are strategically employed to help counteract the usual trouble spots of corner loading and first and second order reflection points, and the floor is covered with a large plush rug. The room is fairly large, with speakers and listening chair placed in what I believe is an equilateral triangle configuration spaced roughly ten feet per side. Speakers are distanced about five feet from either sidewall and the front wall. The back wall behind the listening chair is at least ten feet away. Such was the state of the system as I settled into the Captain's chair (the ONLY chair in this room!) for a listen to my demo CD, which included the following tracks:
- Damien Rice, "Then Go", from Live From The Union Chapel
- Pink Martini, "Amado Mio", from Sympathique
- Rodrigo y Gabriella, "Master Maqui", from 11:11
- MIDIval PunditZ, "Electric Universe (Acoustic)", from Hello Hello
- CeU, "Lenda", from CeU
- Adele, "Set Fire To The Rain", from 21
- Adele, "He Won't Go", from 21
- Wild Beasts, "Albatross", from Smother
- Si*Se, "Mariposa En Havana", from More Shine
- Ojos De Brujo, "No Somos Maquinas", from Techari
- Ojos De Brujo, "Respira", from Techari
- Massive Attack, "Paradise Circus", from Heligoland
From a technical standpoint, one of the first qualities that struck me, even awed me, was the razor quick transients - for example, drum shots were filled with tremendous energy and snappy-ness. To my ears, there was little-to-no rounding of transient information, neither was there pre- or post-ringing in the notes. This was a fun and exciting experience! Interestingly, this did not seem to translate to a strong sense of PRAT. While some songs had me swaying in time which was good, none really set my toes to bouncing along to the music as I would have liked. Another characteristic that was impressive was the extremely black background, which I believe helped contribute to this system's sense of dynamic snap. I believe that the physical separation of the electronics, as well as their high build quality and electrical design, were major contributors, as was the sonically black room. By contrast, in my much smaller space which employs a few key room treatments (due to domestic considerations, as my room is also our living room), where the TacT RCS2.0 shoulders most of the "treatment" duties, my listening couch is situated against the back wall, and the system is asymmetrically placed, I can detect the room interfering with the music in a way I was not as aware of until after this recent visit.
Instruments and musicians were readily identifiable within the soundstage, their locations well articulated. The soundstage was rendered as nicely as the recording allowed, which means in some cases the acoustic images were constrained to between the speakers, while at other times they pushed far outside to the left and right, and also expanded high and low in height. In the depth direction, the sound reached out as if trying to touch my nose, while it did not extend nearly as far back behind the speakers. In sum, the system generated a large soundstage box with a center of gravity positioned well forward of the speaker plane. While I would have ultimately preferred more depth behind the speaker plane, overall this was an expansive, layered soundstage presentation that was thoroughly enjoyable.
Powerful and articulate, well-defined bass was present when the recording included it, which is one of my favorite parts. High frequencies were nicely extended with copious air. I thought that the midrange was a touch more forward in the frequency spectrum and at times ever-so-slightly less clear compared with the completely clear remainder of the spectrum. This prompted a discussion during a pause in the music, and my friend mentioned that his speaker manufacturer has a new upper-unit crossover circuit that will be installed in the near future. Perhaps a return visit will help this listener understand what differences, dare I say improvements, the new circuitry may have.
Technical aspects dispensed with, let's discuss the arguably (for some) more important musical side. Jazz, acoustic, vocal, and what little classical music we listened to, were very well represented. When I put on some of my "rock" recordings (admittedly, and in particular with the American music, these tracks are fairly compressed) the system did its utmost to reveal every detail in the recording. Unfortunately, this rendered some of my more favorite musical selections less interesting to listen to than at my home. My friend confirmed his preference for technically well-recorded jazz, classical, and the like - with that music, his system sings. My preferences are to other musical genres which unfortunately usually include the standard recording flaws, and in that regard his system was not as gracious to those recordings. Nonetheless, some of my rock recordings, particularly the World Music selections, were tremendous fun to listen to, with solid dynamics, punchiness, and deep bass slam. Later at home, listening to the demo tracks in familiar surroundings, I understand some of why this may be true - namely, my system's bass response is slightly elevated below about 150Hz (intentionally, per my TacT correction curve) and there is a small hump between 200-700Hz (part of my natural room/speaker interactions), which together seem to give compressed music a little more life but which are artificial in the sense that the frequency response of my system is not entirely flat (but who's is?). I wager that my friend's system would measure flatter in it's overall frequency response, or at least in these areas of the frequency spectrum. In his system, music had life and breath and let me hear what the musician was communicating, but it was presented in a straightforward way - no bells and whistles, just the facts, ma'am. The soul and swing of the music, the subtle shifts of the musical rhythms, were also there but not conveyed as strongly as I would prefer.
During three hours we listened and chatted, traded music selections, and generally BS'd about equipment and audio in general. Given what I heard that day, he has progressed down his stated audiophile path admirably and it has opened my eyes to the heights of resolution and purity to which our audiophile hobby aspires. I understand he will be making some key component changes in the upcoming weeks and months, and I am looking forward to a return visit soon. I also look forward to the day when I have a larger dedicated room to spread out my electronics, optimize speaker locations, and apply some more treatment!
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