After quite a while focusing on home theater and movies I got XM radio in a new car.It caused me to get back into seriously listening to music again. I decided to do an audio upgrade and eventually decided not to use the same system for music and HT. None of the multichannel stuff I had bought impressed me so a 2-channel system was it.
During the first half of 2005 I moved out of my bedroom and setup the system you see here. Quite a bit of the gear was bought here at Audiogon. While "the hunt" was somewhat fun I'm glad it's over. It's much nicer, and less stressfull, to sit back and enjoy the music.
The room is 17x13x10 but the front ceiling starts at 7.5ft and rises to 10ft in the first 4 feet at the front of the room. The speakers are basically setup using the "rule of thirds" - they're a a little over 5 feet from the front of the room. I put up the thick curtains as a temporary measure but they are still there. :) I also have some Symposium Sveltes to go under the speakers but I haven't gotten around to ordering some low-rise speaker stands/platforms for the Sveltes.
Needless to say I'm very happy with what I hear. I never knew how good my CDs could sound.
Note: I listed the GA-Zero's but I just won them on an auction here. They will be replacing a pair of GA-2 interconnects I also bought here.
I'd save another few hundred and get a good USB converter on agon or wait until u have enough for a new one. For computer audio the USB converter and associated digital cabling are crucial (and it's difficult to do it without investing some money). Dac's become less critical if u address the digital signal and power you feed them. I had the Havana dac for a time and paired it to my offramp turbo3 converter. Mhdt makes great dacs, just wish they had built in analog preamps too.
System edited: Just added a Ayre QB-9 a few weeks ago. It's nice being able to select any song and not have to get up and down to change the disc and still keep the excellent fidelity of a standalone player. Now I just have to re-rip all my CDs....
Are you still enjoying the Snappers? I came across your system while doing some research on them. I have been thinking about a pair to use with my Dali Helicon 800s.
Hi Larry, I replaced my GA-0's and SC Silver Resolution with Paul Speltz's anti ic's. I just wanted to try them because they were affordable and thought if they did not work out I would just use them on the HT side and not the two channel side. They are more open and detailed than the other two without compromising the bass that you get with the GA-0's. The bass is more accurate than the AM GA-0's. I am using Nuforce 9.02 mono's with JM Labs Electra 936 speakers and a couple of upgraded players. Marantz SA-12 and a Denon 2900. I stumbled across your system looking for a picture or comments on the snappers. A friend is getting the snappers to go along with a new pair of Merlin VSM MM speakers. Just an FYI on the ic's.
Hi J, I never really sat down and tried to see if I could hear a difference with or without the buster in the center. I put it there after I found a good deal a used ASC tube trap that could absorb some lower freqs. In theory it should help by catching anything moving through the center, probably more so from reflections hitting it coming from the back wall. The buster is about 18" from the wall.
Larry, Nice rig! I use the echo busters and bass busters also and enjoy the results but I never thought of using one of the bass busters in the middle, how does it sound? Iv'e always done the LEDE approach and with my room as this seems to give me the best sound but I'll have to try the bass buster in the middle. Happy Listening!
Hi Ray, Most of the setup was suggested by the folks at Echo Busters who take your room measurements and make suggestions. The setup basically tries to kill first reflections and keep bass resonance to a minimum. Also, what you don't see is the Double Busters behind the seat and the ASC tube trap in one rear corner and a Bass Buster in the other. The center/front Bass Buster serves double duty to absorb/reflect and hide the power outlet. :) My room is on the second floor with plywood under rug flooring which makes it almost impossible to make the floor more stable. After setting up the treatments it was quite obvious that most, if not all, "ringing" was tamed. The last time I did a db reading with my RS meter and frequency sweep discs there were still some "hot spots" but much less after the treatments. Since then I've found a response curve for my speakers but I haven't gone back to see how the room matches. Besides the treatments, I think the other biggest factor in make system sound good is being able to place the speakers where they belong - something that's no always possible without a dedicated room.
Hello Larry,Very nice system!It looks like you spent time to tune your room!Could you tell me a little about how you went about setting up your room treatments and the improvement it has made.Thanks,Ray
