Description

new system that I put together with much trial and error ;) My previous system was Cary 211 AE amps, Cary SLP-05 pre, Vandersteen 5A's - Bolder Cables Squeezebox etc.. I then went with Innersound Kaya's and Lamm M1.2 amps - many preamps tried too.
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Components Toggle details

    • Modwright Transporter
    Slimdevices Transporter with Modwright Truth Mods
    • Usher BE-20
    wonderful full range speaker
    • JPS Superconductor 3
    spades on both ends
    • Adona Nemisis amp stands
    cherry/marble
    • JPS Superconductor 3 Jumpers
    used to jumper bass on Usher's
    • Boston Audio tuning blocks
    with tungsten ball - used under Transporter and Jaco
    • 20 amp dedicated outlets
    Jaco plugged into one - each 210 amp into it's own 20 amp circuit
    • Mapleshade heavyhats
    used on everything to dampen chassis
    • Porter Outlet
    used on 3 20 amps circuits
    • 8th Nerve corners and seams
    acoustical treatments
    • GIK 6 Tri-traps/2 Monster/2 242
    acoustical treatments
    • GR Research Usher BE-20 crossovers
    installed new xovers that were built with top quality parts. The improvement in sound quality is incredible. Very much worth the $$ and effort.
    • ASR Emitter II Exclusive w/gold boards
    replaced ARC 210's and BAT VK-52SE

Comments 28

Owner
yes, the 210's are gone along with the BAT VK-52SE. Both very excellent sounding pieces but your right - the heat just became a problem. My audio room faces west and with all the windows it gets a little warm in there during the mid/late afternoons. The AC is outside the left window behind the speaker - although I have it blocked off with a vinyl fence to redirect the sound(works pretty good) - the added heat from the tubes makes the AC run a bit more - then it gets too cold for my wife... Another thing is tube replacement cost was pretty significant with all the tubes - especially with ARC factory tubes. I didn't like having to think about tube life etc.. In all I think I made a very good choice - I don't regret it at all. Everything that's been written about the ASR has proved true in my system and room. It runs very cool - it's DEAD quiet - I can put my ear to the tweeter with the volume up - it's like it's unplugged and the sound is just fabulous ;-)

mantis007

Dumping the ARC 210's. Tell me it's not true. Too much heat and fan noise?

Go from three components to one...that sounds like a plan. Wonder what the trade offs are?

What other one solution components did you investigate?

lapierre

Owner
System edited: replaced my ARC 210's and BAT VK-52SE with the ASR. Still getting used to the different sound but WOW - everything that's been written about this piece is accurate - not SS or tube sounding - just musical. Sold the RSA Jaco too since the Transporter is the only piece needing conditioning. Will be using a Kaplan conditioning cord for the MW Transporter. More latter..

mantis007

Owner
Pierre, nope, I didn't even think of that. I kinda like to keep it simple.

Tony

mantis007

Did you consider outboard XOs from GR?

lapierre

Owner
System edited: new crossovers from GR Research using top quality parts. The new xover's totally transformed these speakers! No more bloated bass and phase issues. The xover's took about 7.5 hrs to install but well worth it!

mantis007

Thanks!

mmike84

Owner
mmike84: responded to you offline.

mantis007

Tony-

Can you compare the 5a's and Be-20s?

I think I read you were going to biamp them. Did you ever pull that off?

How low powered would you go on the Usher's w/ a tube amp?

mmike84

No reason Tony.

I was posting to different threads on SR and thought you might find this article of interests. I could not remember if you had dedicated lines for the AR Ref 210 amps and BAT preamp. But I thought it was interesting because of the testing methods.

Not that you needed to add another component on the famous Yamamoto.

lapierre

Owner
Hey Pierre, why do you want me to check out the powercell??

mantis007

For you reading pleasure Tony an Article on the PowerCell...

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/synergistic/powercell.html

lapierre

Wonderful looking system! I recently auditioned
the ARC Ref 210 monoblock amps. Although they sounded
very good I couldn't get over that fan noise. What
brand and type of fan did you replace the stock fan with?
Is this something a consumer can do or would you
recommend a technician? Thanks.
Vmk

vmk

Hi Tony,

Thanks much for your response. I'll have to look into the PW4s then.

You have a great system by the way.

Best regards,

Luc

kenk168

Owner
Kenobi: I was using the Boston tuning blocks with tungsten ball under the BAT - I compared them with the PW4's and heard no difference so I sold the more expensive Tuning Blocks. I didn't have anything under the amps other than the Adona amp stands. The PW4's made a nice improvement in bass definition and tightness. Very noticeable. I had the Ceraballs a while back and replaced them with the Boston blocks.

Pierre, no sir I don't. I get MUCH more emotionally involved with the system I have now.

mantis007



So....you missing the Vandys 5A and Cary 211C?

lapierre

Hi Tony,

Curious if the Hifi Pyon PW4 you have replaced any previous name brand isolation cones/footers. Please advise as I am contemplating if these will surpass the Finite Element Ceraballs or not.

Thanks in advance,

Kenobi

kenk168

Owner
yeap, thats all I use.

mantis007

So the interface to all music is the Transporter?

lapierre

Owner
Pierre, I don't have a NAS - I just have a bunch of drives for my FLAC music. The drives are in my office which is behind the left wall. I use an ethernet cable instead of wireless. No Itunes.

mantis007

Tony I see the Transporter on the Yamamoto. Where is the network-attached storage (NAS) media server in conjunction with the new two channel system? Coat closet. Uh...laundry room with cat litter box.

Can you summarize please.

Also, are you running iTunes as well?

Cheers

lapierre

Owner
System edited: changed out Speltz jumpers with JPS Superconductor 3 jumpers. Very nice improvement in bass definition - removed the bass bloat the Speltz created - very balanced bass now. I also added the Hifi Pyon Pw4 Highend Resonance control feet under the ARC amps and the BAT - again a very nice improvement with the ARC's - much better bass definition.

mantis007

Owner
Elberoth2: the first thing I noticed was that the soundstage is huge with the 210's - it extends to both side walls. I rarely got that with the Lamm's - they produced a soundstage mostly between the speakers. Another thing is that the 210's imaging is farther behind the speakers - it's like a vortex that sucks me in, heheh.. The Lamm's were much more forward sounding and had less depth. The 210's seem to breath better - the music ebb's and flows as if alive ;) The 210's are so much quieter - both in mechanical hum(after I put new fans in) and noise heard from the tweeter. The Lamms always had a layer of hiss. The 210's are dead quiet hiss wise. The 210's have better bass extension - I discovered that I had to reposition the speakers about 1' more from the front wall and about 10" from the side walls - I also moved my chair closer by about 1.5'. The Lamm's did have a little better bass control but the 210's sound more natural. The 210's have better extension high and low. The power reserve of the 210's is very abundant - I never get a feeling that I'm hitting their power limit - with the 100wpc less powerful Lamm's I did. Overall the 210's sound much better in my system than the Lamm's did. I find myself drawn to listen every day - I didn't get that feeling with the Lamm's.
YMMV ;)

mantis007

Just curious (as an ex-Lamm M1.2 owner and current owner of ARC Ref 110) - how does the Lamm compare to ARC monos ?

elberoth2

Owner
Hi Pierre, no I didn't listen to the 110's first. I had the Lamm M1.2's when I bought the 210's. I have a few of the Yellowjacket CD's - good stuff ;)

mantis007

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