Oh more changes I just got a new amp a NAT SE2SE a tube mono block SET with 2 ---211 tubes push pull per amp 70 watts of power. This ended a 8 month search for a new amp i looked at solid state but in the end i am glad i went with tubes . I had a UltraFi 845 mono block amp after the VTL amps were sold the 845 amp was wonderful just loved it but 18 watts was never enough power for my speakers .

lake513 September 25, 2011 14:49

The record racks came from a company called Per Madson design they have ads in stereophile but I think they are going to stop making record racks at the end of the month retirement I think.

lake513 May 08, 2009 05:38

I have used Theta - CAL - and about a dozen others I have taken home from stores or other people. The Ultrafi Musicstream has ended my search along with the Ridge Street Audio Poiema USB cable. I now have about 24300 songs most AIFF and some Apple lossless I just love this stuff. I have about 3800 records and cd's total in the collection and want more folk , country , blues , jazz and rock music you can never have too much music. I am really looking to add more folk music old and new and 70's - 2009 rock and some independent newer stuff.

lake513 March 20, 2009 05:16

The computer music server has been upgraded with a bigger hard drive [ 1 TB ] and is loaded with 2000 cd's now . I also upgraded the DAC to a Larry Moore Ultra Fi Systems Musicstream USB DAC . This DAC has ended My search for a DAC it is the best sounding most analog like DAC I have ever listened to. The cable a USB cable from Ridge Street Audio a Poiema works just wonderful with the Musicstream it is a perfect match .I think a USB cable like the Poiema makes a huge difference in the sound I get from the Mini Mac / Musicstream DAC . I still love My analog setup but the music server is getting a lot of use as of late. The biggest change is I listen to more music for longer periods of time now many late nights getting lost in the music- a good thing. Marc

lake513 January 30, 2009 15:52

Well here I am about a month with the Mac Mini and I have about 450 -475 CD'S loaded on a external hard drive. This computer music server thing can really suck you in I like it . I know a new D/A is in my future maybe a new PS Audio D/A when the new one comes out or the Ultra Systems D/A both look very nice. I really like the shuffle on I Tunes it keeps me playing music all day and the I touch for remote so cool. How many of you use a external drive to rip music to the hard drive or just use the one on the Mac Mini any difference ? What settings do you use in the MIDI utility I use AIFF to encode My music what setting in I tunes for importing ? I have fooled around a bit with the midi settings and it seems what sounds best depends on what CD I am playing some sound better at 16 / 44.1 some at 20 /44.1 or 24 / 44.1 or 24 / 96 ..... so many choices just trying to sort it all out ? My D/A can take 24 bit 96 Khz so I can play around with the settings in the MIDI utility input / output . Marc

lake513 August 10, 2008 18:19

Thanks for the comments Rbstehno and Mapman; I am looking at the Van Den Hul optical cable the jitter idea is good but have to wait for funds someday. The Nipper was a great find at a store in Oakley I like it also. I now have about 250 CD'S loaded in the computer I have a new firewire La Cie 750 Gb external hard drive for storage should hold a few more songs. The hot days around here are good for sitting in the basement loading CD'S in the computer and playing music like I need a excuse for that ! I have about 100 more to load in the Mac that will keep me busy for a little bit . I think the sound is good for what I have done so far but sure it could be better there is always things to upgrade. Marc

lake513 July 19, 2008 21:24

Ah ; The next step in a ongoing journey just picked up a new Mac Mini computer and Samsung 19 inch flat panel display.I am just starting the adventure in to computer music thought I would jump in with both feet. I have the CAL Alpha digital to analog converter with a factory 24 / 96 mod done to it. The CAL has AES/EBU , coax and a toslink input the Mac Mini has toslink output so I am using a toslink cable 20 $ from the Apple store for now. I am just a dummy when it comes to I Tunes and this computer stuff but I must say it is fun. I have only put 10 CD'S in to I Tunes so far but it seemed to go ok so far, getting the covers of the CD'S to display in front row is cool. I think my CAL Alpha / Delta sounds a little better right now but a better toslink cable may change that ? I think it sounds good for a first effort I have been using AIFF as the code but will try Apple lossless later and see what I like. The first few steps in a ongoing journey remote control will sure spoil you I will update as I learn more. I see a couple of external hard drives and maybe some more ram for the computer in the future . I have 1 Gig of ram just sitting around so a trip to the Apple store to have it put in sometime in the next few weeks that will max out the Mini at 2 Gig. Marc

lake513 July 12, 2008 05:37

Homerphd ; Thanks , The Kitty Kats and Catamonts WOW great combo would like to have a chance to hear both they look very interesting. I have never had a chance to hear any of the other speakers George makes and would like to. The Pegasas speaker is one I truly wanted a chance to see and hear that looked very interesting , the Manifest is a full range speaker and that is why I went with that kit. I had owned electrostatic and planer speakers in the past and liked what they did well but also knew there short comings. I over the years have listened to several speakers with ribbons and liked the air and speed a good ribbon could display. When I saw the Manifest with two ribbons one front ,one on the back I liked the idea because the Alon 5's I own is also a dipole in the mid and highs and I very much like the Alon's . The fact that the Manifest is a two way also attracted me to the design simple crossover. I had before I ordered the kit from North Creek upgraded the crossover in My Alon 5 speaker with parts from North Creek and thought it was a big step up in sound quality. I did not change any parts value or design just moved the crossover to a box outside the speaker with the better parts from North Creek so I was getting familiar with the quality of George's parts. When I saw George was about to exit the kit business I ordered the Manifest kit after looking at as many kits as I could find on the internet and thought his looked like one of the best I could find. The speakers took a long time to break in the woofers were tight at first so the tweeters sounded bright at first. The addition of bi wire speaker cable from Ridge Street the Poiema was a match made in heaven. George uses this speaker cable and after a long break in the speakers really started to sing. I guess like all speakers they are sensitive to room placement and room treatment and room size that took a lot of work. I can now say they are more than I could of ever hoped for they are magical . Building a kit was a lot of work [ cabinets see above ] but they are so much better in every way than anything I could afford by a long shot. I am sure your Catamounts and Kitty Kats sound great do you have the Scan Speak tweeters in both speakers or George's D28 tweeter ? I think it is unfortunate that only 12 Manifest kits were ever sold a lot of people missed a great speaker for not a huge amount of money. Have you had a chance to experiment with the port tuning much it makes a big difference I think. Marc

lake513 July 09, 2008 15:29

The Sasons look like a fantastic speaker I hope to hear them soon. I had already ordered the Manifest from North Creek before the Sasons were ready to be sold and I discovered Ridge Street after talking with George Short of North Creek. I already had the North Creek speakers than I discovered Ridge Street cables and after that the speakers. The Ridge Street cables are used by North Creek and that is where I became aware of them . I believe but do not know for sure but I think some of the parts used in the Sasons { drivers and or crossover parts ] may have come from North Creek and Ridge Street did there own mods for there own use. I know that George Short does supply drivers and crossover parts to over 100 speaker manufactures and does crossover design work for many company's . Robert and his team are very talented as are the people at North Creek the Sasons look great and I am sure sound great and well worth the money. Marc

lake513 July 02, 2008 01:10

I was first made aware of Ridge Street by the George Short of North Creek who made My speakers. George used the Poiema speaker cables for himself on his speakers so I started looking around. I saw a ad on audiogon for a pair of Poiema biwire speaker cables just what George has so I grabbed them . I loved the sound and saw Robert at Ridge Street had ongoing sale's of his cables so over the next few months I picked up IC's and power cords each cable purchase allowed Me to get closer to the music they seem to build on each other . I now have everything Ridge Street except the digital AES/EBU cable [ Nordost Moonglow ] and the power cables to the digital they are old TG power cables . I am looking forward to changing the power cables to Poiema as funds become available . The last cable I upgraded was the phono cable and that made the Graham IC 30 cable sound grainy and muddy . The cables have allowed Me to get closer to the music and forget about the Eq. yes I like them and Robert is a great person to deal with.They do take some break in time and some settling in time also ask Robert He loves to talk to customers new or potential .

lake513 June 29, 2008 16:20

A little info on My speakers they are a kit from North Creek Music Systems they only made 12 of these speakers. The speakers the Manifest are still on the web site so info can be seen at the North Creek site just look around for it. The company no longer offers this kit as they stopped making almost all kits and crossover parts for the public. They do supply parts [ drivers and crossover parts ] to about 100 OEM company's they must do something right. The drivers are Scan speak 8545 woofers matched and modified by North Creek and a Aurum Cantus G1 ribbon and a Aurum Cantus G 2si ribbon mounted on the back of the cabinet all drivers are hand matched to 1 % of each other and crossover parts are matched to > .5 % . The cabinet was made by a local craft's man a woodworker and cabinet maker of very high end stuff. The wood is waterfall Bubinga on the sides and top and Pommel Bubinga on the fascia a very beautiful wood. I built the room for the speakers as they need about 3000 cubic feet of space to really sing . Marc

lake513 June 10, 2008 14:44

James; Yes I do plan to host a get together but due to very limited parking I would like to have people carpool or only 2 to 4 people. I welcome a visit from any of our group just e mail Me and we can pick a time. The cabinets were built by a cabinet maker in Milford He teaches cabinet and woodworking at a college and does custom work some very high end work. I can give you his name and phone # if you are looking to have some work done just e mail Me. The cabinets came out better than I could of hoped for I did the sanding and finish 5 coats of gloss poly what a pain .

lake513 May 31, 2008 16:37

Hi ; The classical collection came from My parents along with a lot of folk music. I collected most of the rock over the last 40 years from many sources I lived in the Chicago area till 1996 them moved here. The Grateful Dead I have followed for a long time having seen 94 show's all over the country and there last show in Chicago before Jerry passed away. I am not much of a jazz fan and indie music I do not know that much about some I like . I buy some records off Audiogon and many online sources and used plus some given to Me from friends. I am not a big blues fan except when I see it live so not a lot of blues in the collection. I do not see a lot of shows lately but when I was younger just about every week I saw live music of some kind now just to busy and big shows to much money. Marc

lake513 May 27, 2008 17:37

Hi Dusty; I live in Northern Kentucky so I have a Phil's Records nearby in Erlanger / Elsmere . I have not been to Shake It Records in a long time I will have to make a trip up there, what;s the name of that record store on Montgomery Ave . I go there sometimes but the name escapes Me right now, I also go to Columbus every few years and hit the used record stores and stop by Progressive Audio to dream a little. Marc

lake513 May 27, 2008 14:53

chadnliz and reubent Thanks for the nice words living close to a used record store is trouble but I love it. Tom you are welcome anytime bring some music just let Me know.

lake513 May 26, 2008 03:17

System edited: Folk music is My first love but rock , classical, some country ,a little bluegrass, female singers and the grateful dead round out the collection. I also like a lot of Tori Amos don't know where that fit in but I like it, not much of a jazz fan but ok when I see it live same for the blues .

lake513 May 25, 2008 16:12

System edited: Folk music is My first love but rock , classical, some country ,a little bluegrass, female singers and the grateful dead round out the collection. I also like a lot of Tori Amos don't know where that fit in but I like it, not much of a jazz fan but ok when I see it live same for the blues .

lake513 May 25, 2008 16:11