Wadia 16 CD Player
Dell C521 Transport pic
VPI Industries Aries pic
VPI Industries JMW Memorial Tonearm
Benz Micro Glider Cartridge
van den Hul MC-One Cartridge
Audio Research LS-5 mkIII Tube preamp
Audio Research VT-200 Tube amp pic
Magnepan MG-3.5r Speaker pic
Vandersteen 2wq
Kimber KCTG and KCAG Interconnect
Audioquest Emerald Interconnect
Audio Research PH-3 Tube preamp
Audioquest Clear Speaker cable
Kimber 8TC Speaker cable
Kimber Homemade Power cord
Audio Power 116 AC filter
Audio Power PE-1 AC filter
Black Diamond Shelves and Cones
Townshend Seismic Sink Tweak
Sound Anchor VT200
Ensemble Tube Sox Tweak
Panasonic TH-58PZ800U pic
ASC & RPG Various Tweak
ASC Sound Planks Plasma Treatment pic
Nixie Clock and Single Malts Various pic
Sanctum Sanctorum
System Updated: I added a pc-based music server, something I had been contemplating for the past year or so. The opportunity presented itself when a friend was preparing to scrap a Dell C521 low-profile desktop computer. I fitted it out with a a 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 x2 processor, 2 GB RAM, Windows XP Pro, iTunes 9, USB 2.0, Musiland Monitor 01 USD and Blue Jeans Cable BNC/BNC digital cable. Digital bitstream is fed to the S/PDIF in on my Wadia 16. I shuffled a few things around and have sited my ARC LS5 Mk. III on a Black Diamond Racing Shelf with two sets of #4 cones and placed the PC on the Towhshend Seismic Sink. Things sound just a little tighter, with greater impact and more image specificity. This move supplements the tweak I implemented recently, fabbing an acoustic treatment which hangs from the plasma screen in my listening room. The treatment employs three ASC Sound Planks, which are oriented horizontally. Otherwise, I've had the same audio system for going on 12 years and made only minor adjustments to it. This system, more than any I have owned before (and there have been a few) communicates the emotion and magic of the music. The system is situated in a lower level dedicated listening room. Walls were constructed using two layers of 5/8" drywall on 16" stud centers. Floor is concrete slab and is covered with the best fiber-based padding I could find and wool carpet. There are four dedicated 20-amp circuits on isolated grounds, as well as one separate 15-amp circuit for non-audio ancillaries. Room dimesions are the closest I could get to golden-rule proportions. The room is prewired for a future plasma screen and Magnepan 5.1 surround system, however, I'm a two-channel guy at heart. The room is treated with RPG abfusers (side walls), RPG bass traps (front corners), ASC tube traps (rear corners) and ASC Sound planks (front wall). Measured performance of the room/system combination is really pretty good (up 5 db at 80 Hz is the only real anomaly). A non-audio feature of the room is an ultra-quiet vent fan situated above the hot seat, which I installed so I can smoke the occasional cigar. Make-up air is supplied by a large thru-wall return vent. It was a nice idea but I have only smoked one cigar in the room so far. The fan is effective for venting heat generated by the tube amp, however. Overall, I'm pleased on this, my third and hopefully last, dedicated listening room adventure. |
