Rockport Technologies Aquila pic
Gryphon Mirage pic
Gryphon Antileon Signature Monoblocks pic
Playback Designs MPS-5 pic
TW Acustic Raven AC-1 pic
Graham Engineering Phantom II B-44 pic
Dynavector Karat 17D3 Cartridge
Ortofon A90 pic
ASR Basis Exclusive 2010 pic
Argento Flow Interconnect
Jorma Origo Interconnect
Transparent Reference Speaker cable
Classic Rockport + Gryphon
The goal of this system, like many others, is to re-recreate the illusion of "live" - i.e that sense of space, ambience, dynamics, and the right amount of tonal colors/reverberation.
I'm a huge fan of the Rockports as the title says. I just love the combination of extreme build quality, carbon fiber cones on Audiotechnology drivers, soft dome tweeter, and of course the sexy curves! One day I hope I can upgrade to the Arrakis if I ever build a dedicated room big enough for them.
For my system, I know I'm limited by my living room. It's an open floor plan, measuring about 14mx5.5mx2.8m (LxWxH) and the speakers must align on the long wall. Second, the drivers fire into a floor-to-ceiling glass wall behind my couch (but I do have curtains which close during serious listening sessions).
After a lot of adjustments I must say the system is coming together. I've listened to Aquila's in 3 different rooms before I purchased, and was extremely happy each time. In my room with no sidewalls, however, I think the sense of envelopement isn't quite as strong as the 3 treated shoebox rooms, but I'm now quite happy with what I have. Big improvements were made when I pulled the speakers out further than what I had first anticipated, along with adding diffusion on the front wall. In the pictures the speakers are pretty close to the front wall, but during more serious listening sessions I pull them out about another foot into the room. The big TV is also covered.
I really wish I had a dedicated music room! Unfortunately where I live, space is a huge premium.
Adding the Gryphon Mirage preamp to mate with the Gryphon monoblocks was quite a transformation in transparency, size of the sound stage, sense of ease & natural-ness, etc etc. I was using a temporary Orpheus which just didn't match.
Next up will probably be a music server to play 192/24. |
