System #204 (Vantage)

[FOUNTAIN]

Hi Glen, well put '... sing to me rather than scream at me.'

A well treated room like you're putting together will lead to a more relaxing and accurate reproduction.

The room sure looks cool!

Thank you Jonathan. If you have any pointers for some minor changes concerning the acoustic panels, please don't hesitate to share. Any input you may have would be appreciated. Thanks again and I look forward to seeing what you have planned for this next year.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Here are a few updated pictures with the new Ayre preamp and some other shots. I will be adding a pillar bass trap from GIK in the back corner sometime this week or next. Hopefully that will cure some of the bloated bass in the back of the room.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

And a few more:

 

[FOUNTAIN]

The picture above with the cables are the new balanced Audioquest cables that I recently acquired. I also have a pair going from the cd player to the preamp. Going balanced has really paid off for me. Also, not shown in the pictures are some new lights (nothing fancy) that I installed in the room last Saturday due to my track lighting going out a while back. Since that was installed I also put in a Lutron dimmer with remote control after seeing how nice it was to have at JonFo's place.:bowdown: Usually dimmers cause noise but this one has been dead silent so far. It really has enhanced the mood.

Oops. Forgot to mention that the rear speakers that you see hanging on the wall are not being used. They are left over from when my home theater was in there. I probably should take them down, but I've been too lazy.

 

[twich54]

Nicely done Glenn ! I like your color choices, now if I could just get myself motivated to re-carpet my room !!!

 

[Brad225]

Very nice, one room, one chair, one table to hold beverage of choice and 2 ML's. Looks like the perfect combination.

How is the sound different that when it was also your HT also.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Nicely done Glenn ! I like your color choices, now if I could just get myself motivated to re-carpet my room !!!

Thanks Dave for the kind words. It has been fun, but as you know it has also been alot of hardwork. Good luck on the carpet adventure, I'm sure it will look great once the motivation kicks in.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Very nice, one room, one chair, one table to hold beverage of choice and 2 ML's. Looks like the perfect combination.

How is the sound different that when it was also your HT also.

Hello Brad,

When the HT was down there it was setup a little different. There were three hometheater chairs and none of the acoustic panels that are on the wall now. I had a few auralex foam panels hanging but it was not done right in retrospect. Also, the T.V. was a 58" widescreen pioneer elite RPTV which sat where my componets are now located. As for the equipment, it is located in a closet outside of the room with all of the wires ran through the wall. Movies were pretty good, but for music it was not so good. All of the speakers were Klipsch, but I believe I got spoiled on ML causing me to be disatisfied with the music reproduction. Now I've got all this hometheater stuff sitting in storage and I don't even miss it.:music: I'm sure if I were to put the HT back with ML's in place it probably wouldn't be that bad since the addition of all of the acoustic panels, but I really like the way the system sounds too much to try. Anyway, thank you kindly for the compliment.

 

[JonFo]

Hi Glen,

Congrats on the new preamp!

It’s looking really good, and I must say, you are much better photographer than I am, those are great pics.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Hi Glen,

Congrats on the new preamp!

It’s looking really good, and I must say, you are much better photographer than I am, those are great pics.

Thanks Jonathan, I wish I could take credit for them but my wife is the photographer in our house. Although I don't think you have anything to be ashamed of with the pictures of your room. They are absolutely stunning to these eyes.:rocker:

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Update

Over the past couple of months I have been doing some upgrading and needed to update my pictures. If you go to the first page you will see my updated system. Things that changed were:

1. Ayre V-5xe from a McIntosh MC-275 (Really nice change. Much more dynamic and 3D like. Several have suggested that I demo a good SS amp to compare, and all I can say is WOW! Thanks for the guidance guys.)

2. Well Tempered Amadeus TT from a VPI Scoutmaster with all the accessories. Read my review of this if you like: http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8962 In short, an excellent performer at any price range.

3. GIK Monster Bass Traps (Front corners) and Elite Pillar Bass Trap (Back corner.) Evened out some bass nodes that have been giving me fits. Works really well and fairly simple to install.

4. VPI 16.5 from a Nitty Gritty 1.0. This is a great buy for what it does and easier to use than my previous NG. Highly recommend giving this a try if you are in to vinyl. A good way to do this is go to your local dealer (assuming you have one) and try out their machine on 4 or 5 of your own records. Then go back home and listen to the difference. You will be amazed at how good this works.

5. DH Lab power cables throughout along with two dedicated 20 amp circuits. Not sure if there was any appreciable difference here, but its there just in case.

6. This is not something new per se, but rather a perk to going to the Ayre amp: Fully balanced (except TT). While I do not have golden ears, there does seem to be a quietness in between notes that was not there before. Of course going from tubes to SS probably attributed to this as well, but this isn't my first rodeo with SS either. A fully balanced system does really seem to make a contribution to retrieving that last little bit of information.

Thanks for looking:

Glen
P.S.
If my pictures look too dark please PM me please. Especially the first one on the front page. I adjusted these at home and it looked fine there. But after getting to work and seeing them on their monitor, it appears to be somewhat dark. Not sure which screen is correct. Thanks.

 

[Audioseduction]

Very clean and schweeeet looking setup. Also I bet it performs as well. :music:

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Very clean and schweeeet looking setup. Also I bet it performs as well. :music:

Thank you George for the kind words. I have definitely been enjoying music more lately with all the new changes. Hopefully I will be able to resist changing too much in the future for my bank accounts sake.

Glen

 

[JonFo]

Glen, looking real good there my freind! :bowdown:

I told 'ya, an SS amp would add something

I feeel a road trip comming on ....

 

[repman]

Nice setup Glen I hope you enjoy the new Amp, looks sweet

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Glen, looking real good there my freind! :bowdown:

I told 'ya, an SS amp would add something

I feeel a road trip comming on ....

Anytime Jonathan, you and your wife are always welcome to drop in. In fact if you ever get real bored and want to critique my system, whether by ear or instrument, I would love to hear how it could be improved. And yes you were right about the SS amp making a very definite improvement in overall control and scale of the music. I'm beginning to wonder if the MC-275 was just not up to the task of driving my Vantage's to louder levels or even revealing some of the smaller nuances. Until I put the SS amp into my system it was hard to believe I was missing something, but it was very apparent once the music started. I enjoyed my journey with the Mac, but I'm glad where I have ended up. Thanks alot for the compliment, there are still areas that need to be addressed, but with each step I feel it keeps getting more musical and involving. I love this hobby!!!!:music:

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Nice setup Glen I hope you enjoy the new Amp, looks sweet

Thank you for the kind words. And yes, the amp has been quite a surprise as to how much more realistic my system now sounds. Of course there are still weak spots that I need to figure out, but as far as equipment the Ayre stuff has really opened my ears up alot. Thanks again and hopefully the southeast can get together this year so we can all meet each other. :rocker:

 

[nmh]

Try to replace the standard power cord to the speakers with an audiograde PC such as Kimber PK14 or PK10. The hi will be more transparant and the mid will be richer. I've replaced mine.

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Try to replace the standard power cord to the speakers with an audiograde PC such as Kimber PK14 or PK10. The hi will be more transparant and the mid will be richer. I've replaced mine.

Thanks for the advice. A while back I replaced all of my power cords with DH Labs including the ones connected to the speakers. They are also on a 20 amp dedicated circuit which I believe made a nice difference. If you haven't done this then it may be worth the effort.

Glen

 

[FOUNTAIN]

Here are a few updates of my system without the rack in the middle. My TT though is on the opposite side of the audio rack now for vibration purposes. This was a benefit that I had not planned on since no matter where it was located before, left or right side, it was still somewhat near the Vantages'. Also, my cd player which is out for the update, Ayre C-7xe, to get the MP upgrade will be sitting on top of the rack as well. I have to say that getting the rack out from between the speakers has been a tremendous difference and I could not recommend it enough. Everytime I put on a lp it just makes me shake my head as to why I didn't do this sooner.

Glen