AudiogoN Forums: Renamed: Adventures in modding

Renamed: Adventures in modding

listening room 011	art audio, revox	birch plywood 005
listening room 013	birch plywood 003	aluminum plate 012

Renamed: Adventures in modding

  VPI Industries Aries 200 pic
  VPI Industries JMW 10.5i pic
  Thorens TD-160b mkII pic
  Rega RB-250 Tonearm
  Dynavector 20XL Cartridge
  Denon DL-103r Cartridge
  Cayin Phono-One with Auricaps pic
  Cayin Phono-One with Vcaps pic
  Cayin Phono-One with Jantzen Z-Superior Tube preamp pic
  Joule Electra LA-100 mkIII pic
  Joule Electra LA-100 mkIII Tube preamp pic
  Art Audio Carissa Signature pic
  Merlin Music Systems VSM millennium
  Merlin SBAM with Deulund VSF pic
  N.E.W. DCA 66 Amplifier pic
  Levinson No 37
  Proceed CDD pic
  Perpetual Technologies P-1a DA converter
  Perpetual Technologies P-3a pic
  Perpetual Technologies P-3a DA converter pic
  Revox A-77 mkIV pic
  Carver TX-2 Tuner
  BPT 3.5 Signature pic
  Cardas, Golden Reference, PAD Dominus Interconnect
  Cardas Golden Reference Speaker cable
  Room Treatments DIY tube traps,RPG, Echobusters Tweak
  Dedicated 20amp AC lines house wiring Tweak
  VH Audio, Shunyata, Black Sand Power Cords Tweak
  Aurios, BDR, Final Labs, Herbies, Finite Elemente, Mapleshade
  Birch plywood sandboxes DIY pic
  Bright Star Big Rocks, Little Rocks
  Various various Stand
  VPI HW-16.5 Tweak
  Herbies tube dampers Tweak
  450 lb. concrete slab DIY
  DIY Aluminum top plate Stand pic
  DIY Aluminum top plate Stand pic
  DIY Aluminum top plate Stand pic

Renamed: Adventures in modding
I finally decided to list system after some requests in discussion forums.

Its amazing how big this system sounds, performers are life sized, lots of air and space around images. Soundstaging and imaging are very important to me, getting these right gives one the illusion of performers in the room.

Its taken tons of work to get the tonal balance just right, very time consuming work here. Maximizing bass extension and fullness, while retaining articulation is the most difficult juggling act of all. I cannot stand resonant, boomy type bass. Mids must be full, sweet and naturally balanced, smooth frequency response is critical here. Maximizing treble extension, a nice shimmer on top, while retaining liquidity and smoothness finishes off everything nicely. Put all these together, and you have maximum coherence. Merlins inherently excell in this department, one of the most coherent speakers I've ever heard. Bobby Palkovic's ability to closely match 2 drivers through insistent tweaking is heroic, this is truly a speaker that speaks with 'one voice'.

Resolution and transparency are wonderful as well. Long listening sessions are a tough test for a system. I have listening sessions that go well into the morning hours, often up to 8 hours in length, no listener fatigue, definite passing grade for musicality.

I listen very contendly to digital, still tweaking in the lp setup.

Sns (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

07-22-08

Responses (1-63 of 63)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

08-06-08 There is just another there from there. maybe it's" i'm ... Samhar

08-08-08 Thanks samhar. yes, my one cat (cat in the picture) is my li ... Sns

08-08-08 This may be heresey around here, but i still enjoy my digita ... Sns

08-23-08 Evaluating recent istallation of bybee quantam purifiers int ... Sns

08-25-08 I've stayed away from analog for dust issues and the money r ... Samhar

08-26-08 Attempting to get 'live' sound is not my focus as well. firs ... Sns

08-29-08 Bybees have been removed from amp. as with every other power ... Sns

08-29-08 Have begun experimenting with coupling capacitors in cayin p ... Sns

08-31-08 A few more days of stabilization and burn in of the auricaps ... Sns

09-07-08 Further listening with auricaps in cayin. the auricaps have ... Sns

09-07-08 I'll be sending my raysonic 168 over soon for moding!!! Samhar

09-07-08 Burning in the v-caps for the merlin crossovers. using a met ... Sns

09-14-08 Burned in cayin phono stage with auricaps installed a furthe ... Sns

09-14-08 Also installed 25' of cryo'd romex (10 ga) butt connected to ... Sns

09-16-08 Renamed system adventures in modding, as this seems to be al ... Sns

09-19-08 First listening session with vcaps in cayin, 100 hours of bu ... Sns

09-26-08 Listening to mundorf silver/oil .47uf as coupling caps in my ... Sns

09-30-08 Just added .1uf v-caps as coupling caps in cayin phono stage ... Sns

10-01-08 I admire your determination with the capacitor upgrades! i k ... Mingles

10-01-08 Welcome to the wonderful world of pseudo-modding. i call it ... Ptmconsulting

10-05-08 Update on mundorf silver/oils in dac. now up to around 210 h ... Sns

10-05-08 Update on v-caps in cayin, 150 hours on .47ufs, 50 hours on ... Sns

10-05-08 In the process of getting my thorens td160 up and running ag ... Sns

10-05-08 Since you're blowing out the cayin with v-caps, it would be ... Dgarretson

10-05-08 Dave, the only problem is fitting them in, i will have to di ... Sns

10-05-08 Hi, i'm getting the coupling cap bug like you.....i have a ... Wavetrader

10-12-08 Update on cayin, thorens and mundorfs in dac. another 150 h ... Sns

10-12-08 Sns.....i just received my upgraded p300 accuphase back from ... Wavetrader

10-19-08: Sns
So much for leaving digital in the dust, I need to quit the hyperbole!

I was supposed to swap out the Mundorfs in the DAC for V-Caps, a delay in shipping meant the Mundorfs stayed for another week. Now around 450 hours burn in. I am reassessing my decision to remove Mundorfs. Last night's listening session is perhaps the 4th or 5th time these caps started sounding really nice aprox. 1 1/2 hours into a listening session. It seems they are still evolving, mids continue to fill out and relax, really pretty close to optimum at this point. Still a bit of brightness on top, I think this could be the one long term issue with these caps. There is no doubt there is a rising response on top with these caps, top notch resolution because of this added presence. Only time will tell if it is too much.

Finished the DIY birch plywood sandboxes for Scoutmaster, Cayin and Thorens. Not entirely happy with the tonal balance of these, I suspect the birch top plate is resonating back into equipment. Sound is a bit harder and not as resolving as the Bright Stars. I ordered 1/4" and 1/2" thick aluminum plates with 2 1/2" angled brackets which will attach to top plate and act like absorption sinks into sand. This idea came from the Galibier turntable website. If aluminum plate doesn't work will try to replicate the Bright Star top plate, it's not MDF, rather some kind of lower density fiberboard.
Sns (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

10-26-08 Finished up aluminum top plates and angled bracket absorptio ... Sns

11-09-08 Burned in jantzen z-superior caps 127 hours, .47uf v-caps up ... Sns

11-09-08 Two listening session with v-caps in dac, 102 hours burn in. ... Sns

11-10-08 With those changes the system probably sounds like $100k by ... Dgarretson

11-10-08 Dave, i have a few of these ft3's lying around and was wond ... Ptmconsulting

11-10-08 Dave, based on your experience, i will try the russian cap ... Sns

11-10-08 Bob, try adding ft-3 to bypass pretty much any existing filt ... Dgarretson

11-11-08 Vpi, merlins, and a carissa. a class act all the way. Chashmal

11-12-08 Thanks chashmal, i see you own the carissa as well, yes, t ... Sns

11-14-08 I have always thought your merlins were like a big brother t ... Chashmal

11-15-08 The old, the new and the beautifull. nice to see, someone st ... Glenfihi

11-16-08 Had my first f----k up moment in modding. last night's liste ... Sns

11-18-08 Added duelund vsf caps to merlin sbam (picture added). finis ... Sns

11-22-08 Initial listening session with duelunds, 100 hours burn in. ... Sns

11-29-08 Installed jantzen z-superior caps in joule, 5 hours and a re ... Sns

11-30-08 Well done!! you have to give some love to the revox with ar ... Lapierre

11-30-08 Thanks, lapierre, yes, the merlins are so much more 'natura ... Sns

11-30-08 Sounds like a good plan with the duelunds and upgrading the ... Lapierre

11-30-08 I haven't decided on the finish for the sandboxes, perhaps j ... Sns

12-01-08 Cryo-treated hovlands in my vsm-mx were easily surpassed by ... Dgarretson

02-14-09 You were right the joules are sweeeeet! i'm still working on ... Samhar

02-23-09 After many hours of listening i'm prepared to make some defi ... Sns

02-23-09 Almost forgot. have hexfred bridge rectifiers for cayin powe ... Sns

03-07-09 Second set of duelund caps in merlin sbam, filtering positio ... Sns

04-04-09 Sns glad to hear the duelund's are working for you. it was a ... Volleyguy

04-07-09 Volleyguy, i've been somewhat following your cap journey in ... Sns

06-22-09 I agree with your assessment of the duelund vsf copper caps. ... Sherod

06-22-09 Sherod glad to hear it. yes the cast are better but not a f ... Volleyguy

08-19-09 Do you find yourself using the on the fly vta adjustment of ... Samhar

01-18-10 Samhar, sorry for the wait on response. yes, i do find mysel ... Sns

01-19-10 Hello sns, just came across your system and believe that it ... C1ferrari

09-06-10 Hi sns, i read in an old thread that you were thinking abou ... Mordante

03-07-13 Hello sns, i see you have much in common with d garretson, ... Islandmandan

05-16-13 Just checking in to see what's happening at mod city and loo ... Samhar