I put most of this system together prior to 2008 when the kids came along. Life happened and finding time to enjoy it was sporadic, but consistent. It wasn't until the COVID lockdown that I had the time and inclination to revisit and upgrade the system.
I added my first turntable in early 2020 and haven't looked back. I did replace the old CD player with an updated transport, but I'm still chasing the vinyl and enjoying every minute of it.
I just reread your answers. Shielding means nothing for speaker cables, as far as I can hear. The Speltz wires, and my ribbon SCs neither have shielding. Shielding of the signal appears to introduce random capacitance. The power cables must be thoroughly shielded though.
Would like to see pic of your system when you can. I too found the need for my sub less so with the addition of the VSA jr's. They are indeed a special speaker.
Congratulations on your room success! How high is the ceiling? Do you have a diffusion strategy?
I had some expensive ICs to audition, Jena, and Cardas Golden Reference. I told you any insulated IC will induce fuzz into the signal. Well, these two pricey wires did not disappoint. The Jena looked to be Home Depot flat woven an heat set. The thin plastic sheathing imparted a zzzzzzzzzz sound I could hear at the ribbons of my speakers. The Cardas, having multiple layers of stuff sounded muddied and frankly unlistenable. The Anti-Cables are unmistakingly superior.
UPDATE: The wait is over. My wife and I built a new house and I have a dedicated ~ 24' x 18' room all to myself. Actually the entire basement is mine. My entire stereo system had been boxed up and put in storage for the past six months as the old house shows much better without a wall full of electronics. Go figure. It's still for sale if anyone is looking :) The new room is still unfinished, but the system sounds better than ever with all that breathing room. It just re-affirms what we all know, but tend to ignore. The room plays such an important part. My entire system is singing beautifully and that's with concrete walls and floor. I hope to post pics at some point.
Muralman1, we have spoken before about the H20. You have mentioned the Anti-Cable's to me as well. I may give them a try considering their pricepoint, but I will have to say the lack of any type of shielding turned me off when everything was in my living room. At this point, I'm one pair of cables away from my goal of all AZ. I've been very happy with them and they strike the right balance of performance and value. The owner/designer is also a nice guy. Right now, my main system is boxed up waiting for our new house to be finished, in late April. I have a ~19x23x10' dedicated room I plan to trick out. Henry Ho and I have traded a few short emails concerning the Fire pre-amp. I need to call him back and see what the backlog for the audition will be. I was surprised to hear about the heat output from the pre that was mentioned in the recent thread. I've never heard comments like that regarding a pre-amp before.
Snipes, I was wondering why the valued support, so I checked in. I'm glad you found value in the H2O. I can assure you, the H2O is transparent to the incoming signal. I'd like to suggest you try the cheap Anti-Cable, and their interconnects. You will be surprised.
A little late in my response, but Sologed my current room is 13x19 and they work fine. What will limit them is how close to the rear wall you will have to put them. If you can move them out 5' or so that's what they like.
Snipes! i've been thinking of buying the VR4jr's but havent decided yet. is there anything you can say about the speakers! my living room is 12x20, do you think that this is going to limit them?
System edited: I swapped out my Kimber 4 TC speakers cables with AZ Hologram II's. As you can image the bass sounds sooo much better. It has much better depth and fullness.
System edited: Replaced my Signal Cable RCA interconnect between my pre and amp with Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II XLR. I'm very happy with the results.
System edited: Replaced the Stratos with an H20 S250 Signature. I picked it up here on Audiogon so it's already nice and broken in. The sonic charecter that hit me first was "effortless" in it's presentation. I picked it up over the weekend and couldn't be happier.
