System #467 (Electromotion)

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Larry

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l. Member Name: Larry Hardin

2.Location: Syracuse, NY

3. ML Model: Electromotion ESL

4. Year Purchased: 2013

5. No mods

6. Associated Components: Adcom preamp, Classe´ CA 100 power amp, Meridian 200 CD player and 203 DAC, Magnum Dynalab FM tuner, Rane THX 22 equalizer, Hsu “tube” subwoofer with amp. Rear ambiance provided by Lexicon synthesizer, Canon minispeakers and Adcom power amp (overkill). Cables are Belden wire decently terminated. The Classe´ amp is in the basement, connected to the ML speakers by 14 gauge zip. The entire system is on a dedicated power circuit.

7. Comments: My two-channel system is, at best, the low end of the high end. All of the associated components date back to the 1990s, a few years after I decided to overcome my audio nervosa and keep things simple. In the process I shed my vinyl collection and tube gear. Some of it sounded lovely, but maintaining it properly required too much fussing around. It was in the 1990s that I bought a pair of Aerius speakers to replace the Infinity Servostatiks that had in turn replaced a pair of the original Quads. In each case, the panels deteriorated with time. I’m happy to say that the new ESL hybrids sound at least as good as any of their predecessors in their prime. It’s pure pleasure to have that airy ESL sound back again!

I’m posting the system not to strut my very ordinary gear but to show how my sculptor wife and I have tried to handle the sometimes conflicting requirements of agreeable living arrangements and agreeably reproduced music. The room consists of kitchen, dining room, and living areas with a 9-foot window and a12-foot half-cathedral ceiling. It occupies almost half of our 1300 square-foot house. It has its acoustic plusses and minuses and an average domestic RT despite the high ceiling (covered with acoustical tiles) and large undraped window. The components sit on rolling racks surrounded by a structure of old barn wood beams that also encloses a firewood box and a set of drawers holding our CD collection. Comments, suggestions and questions from the group would be most welcome.
 

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Also, after re-reading your description above, I think your components should not be on anything that rolls. Direct, solid, immovable support to the floor is important, IMO, in resolving and removing spurious vibrations.
 
Projectormovielover, it is an Adcom 750.

Scotty, the component shelves do roll, but not easily. There's substantial weight there. The tube amplifiers, when I had them, were in the basement mostly because of heat, but partly so there would be no tube microphonics. The CD player is well insulated acoustically as far as I can tell. Do vibrations really count for much with solid-state stuff? I'm willing to be instructed on this point.

As far as the speaker positions are concerned, I've had ESLs (Quad, Infinity, ML Aerius) in those very spots for the last 40 plus years or so. There are plenty of hard surfaces behind them, but reflections from them are diffused and time-delayed (without echoes!). This adds ambience, along with the small concealed speakers high on the back wall that are fed by a delay line and a low-level signal. I'm a classical music fan, and I like this small sense of being in an acoustically larger space (it's of course a fake). Overall sense of depth is very good as is imaging. This isn't a dedicated listening room, so my acoustic treatment options are severely limited. I am thus obliged to listen to my room, but I have tried to make this as agreeable as possible. It's taking lemons and making lemonade.
 
Pierre, at Mapleshade, has opened my eyes (actually, my ears) to this. The first time I tried one of platforms and set of footers, it was beneath a s/s amp, a Cary 200.2, and I was astounded at the difference. Here are some of his brief summaries from their web site:

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=96
http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/products.asp?dept=1
http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=1
http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=46

Plus, there is more throughout his site.

Scotty

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?14619-System-461-(Theos)
 
The CD's they produce are some of the finest recordings I have heard as well. They sent me one of their samplers, and I started ordering them. They're priced pretty well if you buy I think it's 4 at once. I'm a jazz person, and some are amazing.
 
Larry..watch out for projectormovie lover, he may try to buy your Adcom (maybe some of the wine, plants, bowls lol)
 

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