Description

My system has indeed evolved over the past several years. I tend to keep components and cables that I like, rather than sell them when I get an itch to make a change.

Now I run two systems side-by-side, and just swap components or cables when I want a fresh experience.

I do get a a terrific level of musical and sonic enjoyment from the system.

My room also has great acoustics. Moderately damped, but retains quite good imaging and liveliness. No room treatments other than the furniture.

I have a soft spot for Soliloquy speakers, Monarchy electronics, and Nordost and Mapleshade cabling.
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Components Toggle details

    • Soliloquy 5.0
    2003 cabinets with 2004 drivers.
    • Audio Electronics (Cary Audio) AE-3 Mk II
    Very nice. Good bass and treble extension. Very good tonal color. Outfitted with Sophia Electric tubes. Substantial difference in solidity of sound.
    • Monarchy Audio SM-70 Pro (pair)
    Zero global feedback. Class A. Only 24 watts/ch in stereo mode, but a very nice sounding amp. Currently running each amp in stereo mode, but biamping into the Soliloquy 5.3 speakers.
    • Audio Refinement Complete CD Player Alpha Version
    smooth sounding player, helped immensely by better power cords.
    • Audience Au24
    two 1-meter pairs
    • Nordost Heimdall
    A great sounding interconnect. I have two pair. Good bass, accurate and warm midrange with good tone, very sweet and resolved high end.
    • Mapleshade Golden Helix
    Most satisfying speaker cable that I've tried. It sounds like hell right after uncoiling, but mellows after that to give fantastic detail, brightly lit colors, fast and full bass, and a smooth midrange. Great clarity also.
    • Soundstring PC digital
    A good $40 cable purchased from Venus HiFi. Quite acceptable on my CD Player. Held up well in my tests of several other cords.
    • Audience Maestro Interconnect
    This is a good sounding cable. Its balance is slightly warmer than the Au24. Currently used on my tuner.
    • Dedicated Line Furutech 15a Gold Outlet
    I had a dedicated line installed, 12 gauge Romex, with a Furutech 15a Gold Plated outlet. A nice change. Not stunning, but over time I've noticed my system sounds consistently clean, where before I would get some "grime" on higher notes and voices.
    • Marantz DV 6001
    Universal Player. Quite excellent for the price. Very refined sounding, bright with good tonal color.
    • Bang & Olufsen Beogram TX
    Aquired in January 2010. It works and sounds pretty good for a 25 year old table! MMC-2 cartridge.
    • Hagerman Bugle
    Inexpensive battery powered phono pre-amp. Sounds pretty good for what it is.
    • Morrow Audio MA-2
    Two pairs. Wonderful sounding interconnect. It honestly gets me closer to the music. Extremely high resolution midrange coupled with a slightly laid back delivery. I really like it.
    • Apple TV Series 1
    160 gb version. Works great as an inexpensive music server. Outputs to a second input to my computer monitor.
    • Musical Fidelity V-dac
    A great sounding DAC and a good value. Warm and expressive.
    • Mapleshade Golden Helix Plus
    Bought a 2nd pair of these great cables for the new amp which only works with banana connectors.
    • Tortuga LDR3x Passive
    A light dependent resistor design. Remote control. Fantastic sounding preamp which I will switch in and out with my tube unit. Very good bass heft and balance which I did not find with other passives that I tried.
    • Furutech e-TP80 Conditioner
    One of the few units that did not color the sound. Using it mainly for a power strip and surge protection.
    • Musical Fidelity V-90
    Just getting to know it, but appears to be better in every way than my V-dac, which I like alot.
    • Kef 101
    Reference Series from the mid 1980's. Still sounds wonderful!
    • Monarchy Audio SM-70
    Mark II version. Purchased this model after I discovered that CC Poon was shutting down the brand. These amps are among the most transparent I have heard.

Comments 75

Owner
System edited: Added some vintage KEF speakers and the latest Monarchy SM70 amp version before Monarchy is gone.

ssglx

Owner
System edited: Just documenting several recent changes to the system. Sold my beloved Soliloquy 5.3i speakers to simplify. I miss them alot, but they went to a good home and will be enjoyed I think. Also upgraded to a MF V90 dac which I think is pretty fantastic.

ssglx

Owner
Hi Devilboy. I have 2pair of the Golden Helix cables. Would love to try the Double. I love mine. I find them to be terrific. Most transparent cables I've tried without a doubt. They also excell at transient response and bass impact. Explosive but also delicate and natural sounding when paired with complementary cables and components. I never tire of them.
I will say that my Morrow SP2's have a bit more natural timber but at the expense of openess and impact. Both are fun

ssglx

Hi,
I'm thinking about trying the Mapleshade Double Helix speaker cables. I guess you are still using them? May I ask what they replaced? I don't want cables that sound "hifi"ish. Cables that exaggerate highs and lows just to "wow" you in a ten minute demo. I like three dimensional, holographic soundstaging. Natural timbre and warmth are important. Thanks.

devilboy

Owner
System edited: Updated system pictures.

ssglx

Owner
Uhh...actually back up with two systems again. Grin...the exposure amp is pretty awesome. Amazing how much clean thrust i can get out of 5 1/4 inch woofers; and the speed beats the pee out of the floorstanders.

ssglx

Ok, so it's definitely time for a new room pic. I'd like to see how it looks now that you've simplified things.

timrhu

Owner
System edited: Added my new integrated amp (Exposure 2010-S2) and uploaded some pics for documentation. Loving the new amp. Very powerful sounding.

ssglx

Owner
System edited: I'm down to one system temporarily. Sold the Audio Refinement amp and tuner. Might put the CD player up for sale too.

ssglx

Nice system times two. When one has the room, two systems in the same space makes for a nice indulgence. Happy listening.

glenfihi

Owner
YeeHaw! Just put in a new pair of Sophia Electric 6SN7 tubes. Ran a few hours with no signal to burn them in a bit. But right away nom they sound big bold and vivid. I though the Chinese tubes were ok for my use but I REALLY LIKE THESE.

ssglx

Owner
About 3 weeks ago I replaced the V-dac's wall-wart power supply with a standalone model from Pyramid. It made a significant difference, mainly in bass drive and definition. well worth it.

ssglx

Tim,

Thanks for your comparison of the Sat5 vs. 5.0. As I understand it they use the same drivers w/ the difference being x-over and cabinet design.

After Chris and your raves about the 5.0, I rewired the internals w/ Kimber Kable and re-dampened the inside w/ egg crate foam. The dampening opened the Sat5 up, removing the congestion and hollow sound. Replacing the existing rubber insulated heavy gauge wire with Kimber cabling added air, extension, clarity, & bass articulation. They are not the same speaker sonically. Next to redo x-over and build the larger ported cabinet. Thanks again for your comparisons.

mjcmt

This thread prompted me to remove the Shearwater Hot Rods and pop the 5.0s back in my system. I can officially say these are my favorite speakers, and I have tried A LOT of speakers.
In fact I just sold a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.3SEs. The Dynaudio speakers are an "audiophile" type speaker. They reveal everything in the recording. So why did I sell them? Because they reveal everything, but not in a good way. They were tiresome to listen to for more than an hour. The 5.0s I can listen to for hours, and I keep turning them up.

timrhu

Owner
Thanks for stepping in Timrhu. I enjoy the dialog. Oddly enough, for some things they do the 5.0 may have been the best speaker in their line.
The 5.3 floorstanders have more midrange fullness and accuracy and go deeper in the bass, but they don't have the extreme quickness and bass timing and heft that the 5.0's do. The little monitors rock, while the 5.3's can't quite keep up.

ssglx

Ssglx, hope you don't mind me stepping in on your system thread but I have also owned both the Sat5s as well as the 5.0s. I agree the Sat5s aren't in the same league as the 5.0s; not even close. What I notice with my 5.0s in the system is I keep turning the volume up as the night goes on. Not that they don't sound good at low volume, they do, it's just that they are so much fun to listen to and they never irritate my ears.
If you come across a pair of 5.0's at a good price, you should snap them up, if nothing else you will then have spare drivers for both.
The 5.0s are a ridiculous bargain at the used price now. If you find a pair in good sonic condition, buy them.

timrhu

Thanks. After listening now the Sat5s sound a bit hollow, thin, and bright, though airy, so I will keep them for rears (if I build up a HT system) or save for the extra drivers since they were their own design. I will keep an eye out for the 5.0s.

mjcmt

Owner
Mjcmt,

Yes I am a large fan of Soliloquy speakers. I only heard the Sat5's once. They sounded pretty good, but somewhat congested when compared to the 5.0's when placed well out in a room.
If you come across a pair of 5.0's at a good price, you should snap them up, if nothing else you will then have spare drivers for both.
The 5.0's are an incredibly lively speaker if you give them room to breath and don't fall into to the heavy damping/high mass trap.

ssglx

I see your a big Soliloquy fan. Can you comment on Soliloquy speakers?

I just traded some Mission monitors for the smallest Soliloquy Sat5 speakers. I hope I did good. As I understand it the Sat5s have the same drivers as your 5.0s, but in a smaller sealed non-ported box - clean tight bass to 60hz as I've read. I listen to Jazz mostly so it should be ok. I'm going to try it w/ my AE Super Amp MkII tubed power amp with a direct feed from the variable output of a vintage Yamaha CDP.

mjcmt

Owner
Thanks for the proper term Mjcmt. Its sometimes difficult to describe to others the configuration. It definitely sounds good.
I'm now just waiting for the wife and kids to be gone for a period when I can really crank it to find the upper limit.

ssglx

How you have them configured is referred to as vertical bi-amping (one amp per speaker). There is a reason it sounds better than horizontal bi-amping (one amp for lows and one amp for highs).

In all but a true dual mono amps, the single power supply of a stereo amp only has to drive one current hungry bass driver and one easy to drive tweeter. You will experience a greater ease of music flow with less chance of clipping at higher volumes.

mjcmt

Owner
System edited: Very pleased with the latest reconfiguration to my Monarchy amps. I had been running just a single amp in stereo mode because I didn't like the sound of the amps in bridged configuration at higher volumes. In stereo mode that amp seems to retain its sweetness up to its maximum for some reason. Yesterday I switched to both amps in stereo mode, biamping the floorstanding Soliloquys. With one amp running the tweeter terminals and one running low end I got a hum or oscilation. On the suggestion of an amp building friend I re-configured to one amp per speaker, but in stereo mode bi-amping the speaker. Well it sounds wonderful. All the high purity sound, but now more powerful. Very pleased with the change.

ssglx

Thanks, that is some good information.
That is what I liked about the Benchmark DAC. It sounded natural yet you could here deep into the recesses of a recording. A few have felt it thin in some systems. It never did for me, but I was using the AES Superamp II tube amp w/ the Benchmark DAC variable output.

mjcmt

Owner
I felt like the Dac Magic probably had more information present. On some program material it sounded pretty fantastic, but often-times the next cut on shuffle play would sound oddly electronic, like extra processing or something. Couldn't live with it.

ssglx

That is very useful info. I'm thinking of the Apple TV for music and movies.

Thanks for sharing the benefit from an external DAC w/ the A-TV. You say the vDAC is smoother than the CA DAC. Is everything else equal like detail, macro and micro dynamics, distortion, soundstage, etc.? I'm looking for a budget DAC, after having the Benchmark DAC a year ago I have seen the benefits of a good DAC.

mjcmt

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