As discussed in the greatest issue facing audiophiles thread, here is a thread where I am providing the details of my two channel system in my living room which is my primary audio system. I also have a 7.1 channel theatre system in the house and two inexpensive setups in other rooms for convenience.
If you would like to provide thoughts or comments on what I may be able to do to tweak or improve the system that would be great. Or if you have questions or thoughts.
Here is the equipment list and in nauseating detail with a brief explanation roughly in the order the units appear in the photo album shown below-
Revel Performa3 M105s - selected due to the expected unorthodox speaker placement. These speakers perform extremely well off axis compared to their peers in price. Due to the tight proximity to the wall, I do have the port bungs inserted. The center of the tweeter is 14" below the ceiling and they are angled down toward my primary listening position.
Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP Preamp - I listened to a bunch of units and this one delivers deep, enveloping sound with a monstrous soundstage.
Carver TX-8 AM/FM Tuner - wonderful little unit that I have had for more than 20 years, features Carver's Sonic Holography which again, delivers an awesome soundstage.
Rogue Audio Hydra Power Amp - Class D Hybrid, I picked it because of a stellar review at The Absolute Sound, a recommendation from Needledoctor and now that it is in the system, wow is this an awesome power amp for the money.
Marantz NA7004 DAC/Network Player - purchased on clearance at an absurd price. I like the sound of Marantz's DACs in general, it has a killer feature set including Apple Airplay and is connected to the network and my iMac via an ethernet cable.
Marantz C4003 5 Disc CD Changer - I like the convenience of the changer and have it connected to the DAC via a Toslink cable. I rarely listen to CDs as most I have converted most music to ALAC files which are sitting on the MAC in the room.
Sunfire Tru SuperJunior Sub - 1500w sealed sub featuring Bob Carvers Tracking Downconverter. I intended to buy and HRS8 when this got discontinued and I was able to pick it up for $150 less than the HRS8.
Rega RP3 with an Exact2 Cartridge - I also have a P3-24 with an Elys2 in my home theatre. I really like Rega's sound and that Exact2 delivers clean, clear bass.
Vincent PHO-8 Phono Stage - recommended to me by Needle Doctor. A darn nice unit that I can't say enough good things about.
I am currently using Monoprice balanced cables to connect the preamp to the tuner. I Monoprice single end to balanced cables to connect the tuner to the preamp due to the limited # of inputs on the Ayre.
I am currently using Monster THX Certified RCA cables to connect the Vincent and the Marantz DAC. I have a few Audioquest Cables that I used in prior systems that won't work with the Ayre because the right and left single ended connecters are really far apart and the Audioquest cables won't spread apart very far.
The subwoofer is connected via speaker wire directly from the back of the Rogue amp.
The speaker wire was a premium, shielded wire that I got from Radio Shack. It was a step above the white shielded Monster shielded cable that Radio Shack carries.
I am using a $30 Toslink cable I also picked up at Radioshack. i do not recall the brand.
The rack is a Sanus unit purchased from Needle Doctor.
in the attached link, you will find an album that show my extremely unorthodox setup.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137366829@N04/sets/72157659497675493
The speakers are sitting on top of bookshelves that are 6' high. The center of the tweeters are 14" below the ceiling and I have the speakers angled down and toed toward the primary listing location. The subwoofer is along the wall about 6' in front of the speakers angled against a cabinet. Sunfire recommends the angle and I have tried it horizontally.
Other than what I have described, I have no other room tuning elements included. I currently do not use any tweaks and all of the equipment is plug & play. I primarily listen to vinyl or ALAC files streamed off the iMac using the Remote app via an iPad or iPhone.
I listen to Classical, Blues, Jazz, Psychedelic, Punk, Metal & Progressive Rock. In now way shape or form have I altered my musical tastes due to what why system does well. I have focused on making adjustments to my system to ensure that it plays the music I like. I have two recording that I can think of that I listen to moderately frequently that sound awful but I believe they are bad recordings - specifically Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which sounds flat and lacking in bass and the digital version of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of the Seventh Son which I think the slave used to make the copy was just too far from the original master as the vinyl version of the record that I just got sounds great but was recorded from the original master or more likely, a slave directly from the original master (pardon me if I mangled the proper language) but you should get the gist.
I am really happy with the sound I am getting from this system. I have altered the setup in this room dramatically including setting things up optimally with my recliner about 10' away from the Revel speakers spaced about 8' apart on MDF stands. Ignoring the fact that this was not convenient and bordered on hazardous, I found the "optimal" setup underperforms my unorthodox approach.
I was convinced I needed to get a new phono stage and DAC for the longest time but the more I listen to this( I am a few months into the Ayre and Rogue), I am less and less convinced. I may opt for a new DAC/network player to get a different feature set or I may opt for a new phono stage, particularly one that lacks an on/off switch to make it easier for my wife but those will be for technical reasons, not because I think I will get better sound. In fact I am nervous about upgrading simply because I don't want to degrade my sound.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or comments.
As discussed in the greatest issue facing audiophiles thread, here is a thread where I am providing the details of my two channel system in my living room which is my primary audio system. I also have a 7.1 channel theatre system in the house and two inexpensive setups in other rooms for convenience.
If you would like to provide thoughts or comments on what I may be able to do to tweak or improve the system that would be great. Or if you have questions or thoughts.
Here is the equipment list and in nauseating detail with a brief explanation roughly in the order the units appear in the photo album shown below-
Revel Performa3 M105s - selected due to the expected unorthodox speaker placement. These speakers perform extremely well off axis compared to their peers in price. Due to the tight proximity to the wall, I do have the port bungs inserted. The center of the tweeter is 14" below the ceiling and they are angled down toward my primary listening position.
Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP Preamp - I listened to a bunch of units and this one delivers deep, enveloping sound with a monstrous soundstage.
Carver TX-8 AM/FM Tuner - wonderful little unit that I have had for more than 20 years, features Carver's Sonic Holography which again, delivers an awesome soundstage.
Rogue Audio Hydra Power Amp - Class D Hybrid, I picked it because of a stellar review at The Absolute Sound, a recommendation from Needledoctor and now that it is in the system, wow is this an awesome power amp for the money.
Marantz NA7004 DAC/Network Player - purchased on clearance at an absurd price. I like the sound of Marantz's DACs in general, it has a killer feature set including Apple Airplay and is connected to the network and my iMac via an ethernet cable.
Marantz C4003 5 Disc CD Changer - I like the convenience of the changer and have it connected to the DAC via a Toslink cable. I rarely listen to CDs as most I have converted most music to ALAC files which are sitting on the MAC in the room.
Sunfire Tru SuperJunior Sub - 1500w sealed sub featuring Bob Carvers Tracking Downconverter. I intended to buy and HRS8 when this got discontinued and I was able to pick it up for $150 less than the HRS8.
Rega RP3 with an Exact2 Cartridge - I also have a P3-24 with an Elys2 in my home theatre. I really like Rega's sound and that Exact2 delivers clean, clear bass.
Vincent PHO-8 Phono Stage - recommended to me by Needle Doctor. A darn nice unit that I can't say enough good things about.
I am currently using Monoprice balanced cables to connect the preamp to the tuner. I Monoprice single end to balanced cables to connect the tuner to the preamp due to the limited # of inputs on the Ayre.
I am currently using Monster THX Certified RCA cables to connect the Vincent and the Marantz DAC. I have a few Audioquest Cables that I used in prior systems that won't work with the Ayre because the right and left single ended connecters are really far apart and the Audioquest cables won't spread apart very far.
The subwoofer is connected via speaker wire directly from the back of the Rogue amp.
The speaker wire was a premium, shielded wire that I got from Radio Shack. It was a step above the white shielded Monster shielded cable that Radio Shack carries.
I am using a $30 Toslink cable I also picked up at Radioshack. i do not recall the brand.
The rack is a Sanus unit purchased from Needle Doctor.
in the attached link, you will find an album that show my extremely unorthodox setup.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137366829@N04/sets/72157659497675493
The speakers are sitting on top of bookshelves that are 6' high. The center of the tweeters are 14" below the ceiling and I have the speakers angled down and toed toward the primary listing location. The subwoofer is along the wall about 6' in front of the speakers angled against a cabinet. Sunfire recommends the angle and I have tried it horizontally.
Other than what I have described, I have no other room tuning elements included. I currently do not use any tweaks and all of the equipment is plug & play. I primarily listen to vinyl or ALAC files streamed off the iMac using the Remote app via an iPad or iPhone.
I listen to Classical, Blues, Jazz, Psychedelic, Punk, Metal & Progressive Rock. In now way shape or form have I altered my musical tastes due to what why system does well. I have focused on making adjustments to my system to ensure that it plays the music I like. I have two recording that I can think of that I listen to moderately frequently that sound awful but I believe they are bad recordings - specifically Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which sounds flat and lacking in bass and the digital version of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of the Seventh Son which I think the slave used to make the copy was just too far from the original master as the vinyl version of the record that I just got sounds great but was recorded from the original master or more likely, a slave directly from the original master (pardon me if I mangled the proper language) but you should get the gist.
I am really happy with the sound I am getting from this system. I have altered the setup in this room dramatically including setting things up optimally with my recliner about 10' away from the Revel speakers spaced about 8' apart on MDF stands. Ignoring the fact that this was not convenient and bordered on hazardous, I found the "optimal" setup underperforms my unorthodox approach.
I was convinced I needed to get a new phono stage and DAC for the longest time but the more I listen to this( I am a few months into the Ayre and Rogue), I am less and less convinced. I may opt for a new DAC/network player to get a different feature set or I may opt for a new phono stage, particularly one that lacks an on/off switch to make it easier for my wife but those will be for technical reasons, not because I think I will get better sound. In fact I am nervous about upgrading simply because I don't want to degrade my sound.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts or comments.