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No more "High End" for me...Back to Reality Audio

After a 3 year roller coaster ride with so called "Audiophile High End" Tube Amps,/Tube Preamps, multi thousand dollar DAC's, Speakers of all shapes and sizes, and several DIY mods. I've settled on what will be my "forever system" and stop chasing a Dragon that I'll never catch. There's more important things in life to worry about. Plus HIgh End crap can be very fickle at times. It has taught me though what sounds good and how to get there and of course how much it will cost new or slightly used.

For the first time, I'm building a system around the Speakers. I'm an electronics Geek so that has ALWAYS come first. I've always done DIY Speakers as well form High School to College to married life (my Wife puts up with A LOT).

My Bose 901 "passion" will be with me forever. I will defend those Sealed Box odd shaped boxes till I do. Any old Geezer will be told off wherever they knock that Brand down. I did it last last week.

Anyways, the list :

  • Klipsch Cornwall IV's driven by a pair of resto modded McIntosh MC50's
  • Sony UBP-X1000ES (gotta get some more before they and the 1100ES become as rare as the overpriced Oppo crap) with my mods to the Analog Output boards
  • Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifers x6 (I'm getting near the end of hand buiding/soldering the 6 pcb's)
  • Stax SRM-007tA with Koss 95/X Electrostatics
  • Surround Speakers will be 4x Series I/II Speakers with two on Tulip Stands and two more hung from the ceiling (what the Wife can see sitting down but can hear is always a good thing)
  • Center Channel with be two Heresy's resting horizontally angled up towards the screen slightly
  • two double stacked 12" H-Frame Subwoofers on the back wall 
  • All the Electronics will be mounted in the wall giving lots of space for the Cornwall to do their "thang"

To those still chasing the Dragon. Enjoy !

 

 

rajugsw
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 

You are very right our journey is specific to ourself...Thanks to remind me that, i need it sometimes being a bit too passionnate and centered on myself...

But a remark:

The audio  journey is defined by precise acoustical and psycho-acoustical criteria of experience, TIMBRE being one of the most important, dynamic, imaging and soundstaging, listener envelopment and some other one; all these factors are perfectly defined SCIENTIFIC  acoustic experience on which we can increase our control with acoustic experiments OR NOT...

Playing by changing components for the sake of changing components is fun yes but could not replace the power of transformation of acoustic experiments...

I dont enjoy myself the difference but i prefer to enjoy at the end music toself, BUT  with no frustation about any aspect of sound in my room/system... Then i dont need any change ....

My best to you....

In my opinion,all things regarding sound reproduction matter. Especially the room. Why did you think I was only speaking about gear? I enjoy trying different ways to couple,decouple, isolate components. Therefore,until I stop enjoying the differences these things make,I will probably not reach my destination. Have you reached yours? Are you done experimenting with different ideas? If someone has reached their endgame,that’s awesome. This is a hobby. Something to be enjoyable,and bring some pleasure in this life. People have different experiences and different goals.
Enjoy the music,

Ray

 

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rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 

Here’s an honest look at myself: I appreciate good sound. I don’t have any kind of engineering background. Some acoustic things I understand,however,many I don’t. I can hear the end result,but I can’t tell you how to achieve that. You on the other hand, understand the technical aspects of sound. How one thing effects another. You can apply that knowledge and fabricate devices to work towards better acoustics. Sometimes,people like me have to pull out the old wallet to get there. Others are content with everything around them. That’s kool and the gang! I always looked at audio as a hobby, good music,good sound. Some jump into a rabbit hole,some don’t.
I look at this like hi performance cars. All the horsepower in the world is useless,if you can’t put it to the ground. I’m getting to the point where I’m trying to put that power to the ground,but I’ll probably always be chasing more.

asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,392 posts
 

...speaking of Reality, check this gentlemans' version:

OoooKay.... ;)

avanti1960
1,425 posts
 

congrats to you.

you lost me at Sony UBP-X1000ES and surround speakers.

personally i am thinking about the same topic, selling off and simplifying.  smaller speakers, integrated tube amp, ditching the subwoofers.  

rajugsw OP
202 posts
 

I just returned my friends KEF R3’s and in turn he lent me a pair of PMC TB2’s while I wait to payoff the Gentleman with the Cornwall IV’s and pick them up in 3 weeks.

Anyone who says nearfield Studio Monitors can’t be repurposed as Home Speakers is f.o.s. It’s just Speaker drivers and a crossover in a box ! In these little boxes, there’s a Transmission Line. So Bass is limited by design and I actually had to add a mild boost above 10kHz and a large boost below 100Hz.  They sound very very three dimensional but lack the Bass extension of the R3’s.

”I like Big Bass and I cannot lie”

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