My nerd cave. Happy to talk merits and limitations of system. Always thinking about better sound, without lamenting the way things are now. New room in 2023 with 2 sheets of 5/8" sheetorck with Green Glue in between, suspended off of rubber connectors to aluminum hat channel, plus 2 layers of rock wool. All outlets sealed with putty. 10/2 line to power amp, dedicated circuit for electronics.
The most recent addition was the Pass X150, to complement the Pass X1 pre. I'm waiting to reno the larger basement room before making any structural upgrades. I may splurge for a Yggdrasil DAC, and ultimately get Tekton Double Impacts or used Vandersteen Treos.
Congrats on your downsizing. Digital conversion is so good now that vinyl is not essential. Fun, but no longer essential.
System edited: I built some bass traps and absorption panels to help with the room reflections. The bass is better and the spike in the upper midrange has evened out a lot.
The cool thing is babies works so well and strange shaped rooms. Johnny Rutan of audio connection reads and posts on this forum. He is more than willing to help anybody get the most out of them.
Hi Jeff. The Vandersteeens are used, early 2000s Signatures. They are different sounding, that's for sure. The soundstage and imaging within that vertical window are amazing. The midrange sounds a bit forward and slightly distorted, distorted is perhaps too strong a word. I think this is probably a function of the 11x16 room more than the speakers, though there is more distortion with first-order crossovers. I may build some room treatments to take care of first reflections and see if that helps.
I am listening to my collection all over again, hearing things I never heard before. However, on listening to familiar music certain frequency ranges sound more prominent than on my former loudspeakers, the Mirage Frx-7s. To take a popular example, on Jumpin' Jack Flash, Billy Preston's organ lead-out at the end of the song seems way buried in the mix, almost inaudible, whereas the guitar is huge. These idiosyncrasies are too infrequent and specific to be a bum driver or burnt out crossover, so I'm going to work with the room to see what I can do. Overall, I am very very happy with the speakers, and would say that you don't need a huge room for them to sound good.
Ctsooner, congrats on the Treo's. Some day, some day...
I will say that classical and jazz sound incredible, holographic. Happy listening!
Hi Shosugi. The room is weird, technically 11x16, stone floor (basement), wood-panel-covered heating duct comes down another foot from the 8' ceiling, but only over the left speaker. The wall behind the listener is uneven, coming out in a V to accommodate the door to a bathroom. I have tons of books on shelves, not to mention the vinyl, which act as nice diffusers I imagine. I am thinking of making a couple of panels with solid Roxul or Owens Corning 703 to see if it makes a difference.
I probably have more vinyl at this point, which I had preferred to my digital. But since getting the Vandersteens, I am enjoying both immensely.
He has upgrades for the 3's to Signatures. It's not cheap and it's only for original over I believe, but it's a whole new speaker. Not even close. It's got the woven midrange that's FAST and it just sounds right. Has lower bass than my Treo's, but not as controlled. Still they are an amazing speaker, especially in that price range. Personally I went for the Treo's as they are basically the Quattro's without the built in sub. I can now listen all day long and not get fatigued.
Ctsooner - are you talking to me? (Paulburnett has 2CEs in the posted system) If RV offers a carbon component upgrade path for the Vandersteen 3 chassis, then I will consider. We can continue the discussion on my system thread, if you wish.
Room treatments, if necessary, may provide the best bang for the buck. I use GIK422s and Eight Nerve triangles - you can get the same results with DIY recipes, too.
What are your room dimensions? Make sure you have tried all of the loudspeaker placement combinations before getting any new hardware.
What do you have more for software? Vinyl/tape or digital? That will help folks guide you in hardware suggestions, too.
