| Author | Message | ||
     Steveford |
By overwhelming(?) demand, this will kick off the Stereo Thread. Here's the downstairs system which works pretty well.  This changes a fair amount but what we've got are Magnepan 3.7 speakers, an SVS subwoofer over to the left, VTL MB 250 monoblocks, a Sherwood tube tuner, a deHavilland UltraVerve3 preamp, a Well Tempered turntable w/ an Ortofon 2M Black cartridge and a Jolida phono preamp, a Harman Kardon CD player used as a transport with a Pacific Valve DAC. The speakers are kind of obvious, I'll see if I don't have any close ups of the more interesting components. | ||
| Steveford |
 deHavilland UltraVerve 3 which is a really nice sounding preamp, very smooth, warm and detailed.  Arm detail of the Well Tempered which is really a brilliant design - the arm and platter float in goo so there are no bearings to rumble and create havoc with the sound quality. Bill Firebaugh, the creator, is kind of like the Erik Buell of turntables. And finally, one of the VTL 250s which sound tremendous. No shortage of power and they have a great 3D soundstage to them. I've had these for around 5 years now and I've never felt the need to look for better amplifiers.  | ||
| Oldog |
Are the two columns at each end your speakers?, whats the story on those. | ||
| Steveford |
Yes, they're the speakers - big planar dipoles (the sound comes from both sides) which is a stroke of genius. There is no box, the room is the box. It's a sheet of mylar with thin strips of aluminum foil glued to it and the thin section, inboard of the wood trim, are where the ribbon tweeters are. Another Erik Buell like design, just so clever and unconventional. They're only about 2 1/2" wide and weigh around 60 pounds each and the sound is very lifelike and addicting. They're made up in Minnesota. I've owned their top of the line speaker (20.7) and while the sound was the best I've ever heard they were simply too large and bass-heavy for my living room so off they went. | ||
| Steveford |
3.7 side  rear of speaker showing a portion of the ribbon tweeter  | ||
| Hootowl |
Which svs is that? | ||
| 86129squids |
Funky! Are those electrostatic speakers? Looked up my fave Cars song for its relevance, found a pretty entertaining video, here ya go... hopefully you can catch the audio on the hi-fi! | ||
| Petethekiller |
I am currently gathering up a bunch of old Paradigm Speakers to be powered by a pile of old Adcom GFA-545 amps for my shop rig. Also building a 36"x36" horn loaded subwoofer should be good for 140db down to 20hz       x5! | ||
| Ceejay |
Curse you guys! I was perfectly happy with my little polk floor standers sitting in the corners of my LR until I saw those magnepans…  | ||
| Steveford |
With 5 of those Adcoms you should be able to drown out a Force exhaust system on an X1! The SVS is not one of the better ones, I think it's a PSB12 which I got for $400 years ago. The seller was able to squeeze it into a Cooper Mini but just barely. The cylindrical SVS I use upstairs is a better piece but I'm too lazy to lug this crap around to make the switch. The Magnepans aren't electrostatics, you can find info on their technology at www.magnepan.com if you're interested. | ||
| Court |
These are the Electrostatic I am familiar with . . they were "locally made" when I was living in Kansas and doing lots of business with Kief's Audio. Funniest story is that I went to get a turntable one day and left with an XR-1000. Stuff happens. http://www.martinlogan.com/product-list.php | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Steve, that's a damn nice system. Squids, The Magnipane' are not electrostatic. They have permanent magnets behind the mylar (or something like that) "diaphragm". They are really open and airy sounding. A good friend still has a set from way back. The new ones may have some of the bugs worked out. They didn't have much on the bottom and were really directional on the vertical axis. If you stood up they really fell off. Horizontal was better though. Really great sounding though. Court the Logans are really nice sounding.. Not for someone on a budget though. My rig? Pretty pedestrian really, an old set of Canton CT1000's driven by an Yamaha amp (300 a side if memory serves.), the pre is an old school Yamaha receiver, a 12" Yamaha sub rounds out the bottom end. Keeping my eyes out for a semi decent tube amp and pre though. (Message edited by bluzm2 on November 29, 2014) | ||
| 1313 |
Funniest story is that I went to get a turntable one day and left with an XR-1000. Sorry for the analogy, but that reminds me of the H-D TV commercial a few years back... Sportster or dinette set, Sportster or dinette set, Sportster or dinette set? Humor break over - back to your normal thread, 1313 | ||
| Buellish |
I do need a dinette set to go with the Frigidaire and Sunbeam toaster,a Sporster,not so much. My system,a Denon ARV3805,Yamaha YPB4 turntable and various Polk and Klipsch speakers. | ||
| Steveford |
If I had the dough a set of those Martin Logan CLX speakers would be sitting in my living room. Winning lottery ticket, where art thou? | ||
| Fb1 |
Late last century I'm in the market for some tunes for my truck. My ride? A beater '70 Chev pickup, with about four zillion miles on it, and not a straight body panel to be found. At the time it was the nicest vehicle I owned, and the only thing it was missing was a decent set of tunes. No it didn't deserve a truly fine mega-watt, multi-speaker stereo, nor did I have the money for such, but that didn't stop me from going into the poshest, ritziest "tunes emporium" in Kitsap County, Washington and kicking some speakers. This place had a reputation for being VERY high-end, and the owner was reputed to be a mite "eccentric" in an aging-hippy sort of way. There was NO way this place had a radio/cassette deck for my POS truck, but it was a great excuse to go in and pretend I was a high roller for a couple of minutes. So I'm checking out a wall-full of car tunes, and a fellow comes up behind me and asks if he can show me anything. Turns out it's the owner (wish I could remember his name), and he's a cool as everyone said he was. I laughed and told him I had a budget of about a hundred bucks, and really only came in just to drool on stuff. He laughed in reply, and said, "C'mon, let me show you my listening room." I said, "Man, thanks, but I really don't want to take up your time, I'm just window shopping." He says, "No worries, I understand, but c'mon anyway, I think you'll dig it." So his listening room turns out to be downstairs (this place was in a small shopping mall, and I had no idea there was even a downstairs). At the bottom of the stairs he opened a door and we walked into, in essence, a couple thousand-square foot living room, beautifully lit and exquisitely furnished, fine art on the walls, high-end furniture placed here and there just so, and one wall of this room was filled with the kind of stuff y'all are talking about above. The whole set-up - room and gear - took my breath away. The fellow talked me through some of the gear, brands, specs, etc., all of which was way over my head, and then we listened to some music, classical I think, through several different combinations of pre-amps, amps, tuners, speakers, and other assorted audiophile stuff that I cannot even begin to remember, much less describe. As he switched between systems, he would describe the effect on the music much the same way a wine connoisseur might describe the effect the grapes had on a particular vintage because of which hillside in the vineyard they grew. Dang, this was high-zoot. As he exercised the various gear he told me he'd just gotten back from installing a system for a businessman in Tokyo. Some of the speakers, he said, were so big they couldn't get 'em up to the guy's penthouse apartment the conventional way, so they had to block off a street, bring in a crane, remove some windows from the dude's apartment, and hoist the speakers up with the crane and bring 'em in through the windows. •••• me a runnin.' It was a delightful visit. The guy was cool, wasn't trying to be snooty, knew for a FACT that I wasn't gonna buy anything, but he also knew that I could appreciate the subtle nuances of what we were listening to. It was an unexpected little adventure that I just happened to fall into because I wasn't afraid to go into this guy's place and dream a little bit. I'm still dreaming. My "system" these days is a well-used portable Bose Wave unit. Decent sound, considering the overall size, and the beauty of it is that the tunes can go anywhere an extension cord will reach. Up on the roof to pull some maintenance? Sure. Out in the back yard while we work on the landscaping or fire off a campfire and BBQ? Absolutely. Out in the garage while I'm rubbing on the fleet? You bet. Y'all make my heart ache talking about this stuff and showin' off your pix. Please don't stop. FB | ||
| 86129squids |
"As he switched between systems, he would describe the effect on the music much the same way a wine connoisseur might describe the effect the grapes had on a particular vintage because of which hillside in the vineyard they grew." Spot-on. My first "hi-fi" experience was when I was getting to know a kid who would become a best buddy, back in early grade school. He and his parents had lived in the Nashville area for a while, then moved to CA, then moved back. They bought what had been a boathouse on Old Hickory lake, overlooking the main channel, and built a super-sweet bungalow type house. Dad AND mom had motorcycles, mom's was a Seca 550, dad's was a Wes Cooley 1978 GS1000S! They had a serious hi-fi system with some Altec Lansing speakers almost as big as we were. They were also the first peeps to get cable TV, even learned how to stick the index card in the top of the box and get (steal) all the channels they weren't paying for. I learned about so many types of coolness there... to this day I'd LOVE to buy that house, but I've not won a lottery yet either. "Hearing, the ear, is the truest of the senses." Soren Kierkegaard | ||
| Steveford |
Keep 'em coming? Okay, here's the upstairs system. Same basic deal as the downstairs but with Magnepan 1.7 speakers and a Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 preamp and a better SVS subwoofer (sub not pictured). Right now it's dead as I had to sell the amplifiers to buy that Martin guitar but fear not, I'll get some big VTL monoblocks sooner or later. This has a different sound - it's not a laid back, lush tube sound; it's a razor sharp, rock and roll system. Blast your ears off for an hour or two and then you're done for the day as it's kind of sensory overload.  Here's the passive SVS sub which I found for $50 and then bought a Dayton 500W plate amp for it.  The Marshall makes a bit of noise, too! | ||
| Jeepinbueller |
Okay, the pool of drool on my keyboard has evaporated so I guess I can use it now! All your guys' gear looks incredible! At 29, I've always been into music, but only recently realized what I really enjoyed about it was the fidelity and resolution of a good system and its ability to reproduce the timbre of actual instruments. How clean a studio sound can be--how ambient and visceral a good live recording can be. The difference between a speaker playing AT you, and a system performing for you. I play acoustic guitar and any instrument I can get my hands on (mostly any kind of drum or percussion, bass guitar, learning banjo), so that differentiation is important to me. At some point in the late 90s, my father purchased a set of B&W floorstanders (I think they are monopole ported or TL TMWs, with the yellow Kevlar mid and a passive-radiator) and Rotel components (tuner, receiver, amplifier, and CD player). That system opened my ears at 12 years old, and they've been wide open ever since. My modest system is a Pioneer VSX-820 5.1 receiver (100 W) running stereo to two homemade towers. For sources, I use my laptop with an HDMI output running foobar2000 to play FLAC files, or iTunes for 320 Kbps MP3s. I also have a Dual 1009 turntable I'm slowly working back into service.  The AviaTrix, designed by Curt Campbell, is a floorstanding Mass-Loaded Transmission Line (MLTL) in a Midwoofer-Tweeter-Midwoofer (MTM) configuration. They sound very, very nice, though I'm working on adjusting the crossover components slightly to bring the baffle step compensation down a tad: the bass is slightly boomy/muddy due to the port being floor-loaded and having the speakers right up on the wall. Too much bass reinforcement--need to bring it down. With room loading, these do not need a subwoofer and have an f3 of 40 Hz and f6 of 30 Hz (at 40 Hz and 30 Hz, the frequency response will be -3 dB and -6 dB below reference, respectively). I can vouch for that, definitely. Some subwoofer help is needed to reproduce some electronic music cleanly, but that's just for that genre and home theater use. Soldered and assembled the crossover, which is always fun trying to get the layout right.  The construction is 3/4" MDF with two window braces and a Purpleheart baffle. The MDF + Purpleheart gives me a total baffle thickness of 1.5", plus the braces: these things are stout.  In-room but unfinished until it warms up enough to paint outside.  I really want to flush-mount the midwoofers, but the rebate will only be 1/8" due to a very thin frame and I'm afraid of splintering/chunking the dense-as-holy-hell Purpleheart. You might see some missing mounting hardware for the midwoofers... snapped my wood screws right off, even predrilled to 80%. All of the edges of the Purpleheart, except the very top and bottom horizontal edges, will get 1/2" or 3/4" roundover treatments, as well.  I'd put these, minus the boomy bass at the moment, right up there with the B&Ws ... or any other speaker in the $600-800 range. With a raw materials cost of about $400, it's a check in the win column. I'm biased, of course, but after some 3rd party listening sessions I'm--and my friends--are convinced. I'll post more build pics, but only if you guys want. I don't want to bugger up the thread with DIY pics when we're trying to keep it to system pics. (Message edited by jeepinbueller on January 08, 2015) | ||
| Jeepinbueller |
I forgot to ask: Steveford, how do you like the switchable triode/tetrode on the VTLs? I've never heard a switchable tube amp before--or owned any tube amp myself, yet--but I've heard the difference is audible ... mostly that the triode mode is warmer with pronounced midrange, and that the tetrode mode gives a bit more bite and bass with a little more feedback. Thoughts? (Message edited by jeepinbueller on January 08, 2015) | ||
| 86129squids |
Funny how life works aside for youn's... Tuesday night, working (I wait tables at a high-end dinner restaurant), overheard a co-worker talking with his table about our new bakery that's about to open this week... I decided to add to the comments he'd told his table. They were two couples, retirement age, super nice- in conversation they told me that one of the couples were from Nashville, so I said that's where I'm from, yadda yadda, then I looked more closely at the Nashville people- suddenly I froze, said "I know you people." They were the parents of my best buddy growing up that I'd mentioned in my post above! They looked great considering I'd not seen them for the better part of 30 years, said my old bud, their son, was doing well, and so forth... Small world, eh? | ||
| Steveford |
Jeepinbueller, Of the 4 VTLs I've owned (MB250s and MB300s) neither one had the switch from triode to tetrode so I can't comment on the difference. I can say that the discontinued Ei tubes sounded better than the (now) discontinued Winged C tubes I'm currently using. | ||
| New12r |
Jeepin, you are correct on the tetrode/triode. When I sold vtl amps they were all switchable. | ||
| Desertdan |
Love the tube amps / preamps , Court not so funny story , went to buy a turntable and came home with a turntable and a PAIR of CS99A pioneer speakers on the back of a 70 Sportster with a 18" over front forks and a 48" Sissy bar ! and Yes I did get pulled over by the El Cajon Police department wondering what the F was wrong with Me :-) | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
I'll ask this here, seems fitting: Im looking for a record player. Crosley is too cheap, but not trying to spend a thousand either. Speakers do not need to be very large/powerful, the room it'll be in is only 10x15 or so Not trying to have the best thing ever, but better than the suitcase ones that Ive had before (just sold a crosley, and while it was good for the price and I liked that I could move it, Im looking for something stationary and higher quality) thank you. | ||
| Desertdan |
I have owned several turntables and for the money the Pioneer Pl 550 direct drive turn table is hard to beat , Quarts Lock and manual speed adjustment knob so you can get the most accurate record speed , no motor hum , no belts to replace , there is better but not in my price range. | ||
| Steveford |
New12R, Tell us about your audio career, please. | ||
| K12pilot |
No big blue eyes out there??  M136 Processor Sony X777 CD 2705 feeds Front, Center, & Rear M352 feeds 2 channel Kef Rosewood 105/3's 2 channel Kef Rosewood 102/2's Front Kef C 200 Center Carver Sunfire sub Monster Audio 2000 & 7000 Power Conditioners  The police have been called several times  | ||
| 86129squids |
 The GF gets worked up when I REALLY crank things up- she doesn't realize that (a) our neighbors to the left can't hear us due to age and orientation of their house versus ours, (b) we have no neighbors to the front or right! Color me jealous of that giant Macintosh rig!  | ||
| Jeepinbueller |
New12r, thanks for the feedback. One day I hope to have the space and priority to run an all-tube rig and be able to recognize their draw. I'd love to hear about your audio retailing days. Steveford, that SVS subwoofer you have there looks a lot like the DIY "Sonotube" subwoofers I see everyone whipping up. How's the Dayton plate amp drive it? One-note wonder or is that bad boy musical? I've always thought of giving one of the designs a shot because it seems to save a lot of useable space to get you the internal volume necessary for a sealed design. I'm finding it more interesting as time goes on to see how the listening area is treated - the gear is always nice to oggle, but as I'm getting to the point where gear is what I have and room is what I need, I realize that it doesn't matter if your speakers can recreate 20-20k Hz ±1 dB if your room is throwing modes all over the place (at your listening position) - the speakers are the performers, but the room is the hidden duet behind the curtain that can mar or polish a piece. I want to see that stuff too, guys! (Message edited by jeepinbueller on January 13, 2015) |
