System edited: I have completely changed the analog front end of my system. I was given a relatively beaten up LP 12 as a gift and spent the last 6 months refinishing and rebuilding the turntable. I replaced the Valhala power supply and AC motor with a DIY DC controller board and Maxon motor. Entire power supply is now DC / battery powered. Smooth and stable with rotational speed within 0.3% accuracy... craziness. The subchassis was refinished to a stained walnut, platter polished and switching replaced. I also replaced springs and belt The cartridge is a ZU DL103. I added a K&K step up with 20dB gain and set the parallel impedance at matching 13K Ohms... which seems to be best for now

extra_action April 30, 2009 15:32

Bruce30... thanks for the compliments, both on the system and the space. The system has been literally built and re-built over many years and we designed and developed the building a couple of years ago.
And you are right, i do accept the naturally reverberant quality of the space as a by product of the architecture and something that i am willing to live with.
Which probably explains why there has been a shift on my part in the last few years to build more of the gear and enjoy that part of the experience as opposed to chasing that impossible dream of perfect sound.
I think there are limits to what one can expect from a space that no amount of gear tweaks are ever going to correct. Would i like one day to have a dedicated listening room; perhaps, am i willing to make the aesthetic and life style sacrifices (read: sealed off acoustic chamber as opposed to open living space) that it would take, probably not.
The Zu's are naturally mellow sounding so they probably help a lot and i had a tube pre for a while but i got rid of it as i thought it made the sound to dull. I think the tonal balance right now is pretty good and adding the area rug certainly helped.
I have a secondary system : http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vopin&1225073144&view
that is less bright as it is in the bedroom so this fills in if i want a change of pace

extra_action December 25, 2008 18:15

Kudos on the very complicated (detailed) design of your system & gorgeous modern aesthetic! I was just wondering how you combat the seemingly endless series of hard surfaces & slap echoing that must be occurring in there. My room has more carpeting than yours by far & sounds bright as hell. Do you just try & accept it as the natural result of the superior aesthetic or do you have hidden acoustic treatment or perhaps dsp?

bruce30 December 24, 2008 08:49

System edited: I was fed up with the Squeezebox interface, slow and cumbersome. At the same time discovered the Remote app for the iPhone; patched this into an apple TV and hands down the best user interface out there. This coupled withe a hacked 1TB storage for the ATV makes the combo hard to beat. The digital out on the ATV feeds the Benchmark DAC Pre 1. Overall sound has more definition. I needed to loose the tube pre as everything sounded slow and bloated

extra_action December 23, 2008 06:48

Very Nice speaker cabinets. I saw your place SSBS! Do you build the cabinets or does someone else?

Could you send me some info

[email protected]

David

vintagemusic March 14, 2008 05:21

Mingles,
The DAC is a kit supplied by Audio Sector. To finish you need to provide suitable cabling and the chassis.
If you have not dealt with Peter Daniel's yet, i have to say that he is extremely professional, very helpful and sells remarkable products.
The chassis is a custom design; i was interested in trying a 3D CNC milling service. It was fun but don't know whether i would do it again... painfully slow turn around times and tweaky software.
The 834P is sounding superb... got me itching to put in new caps though... perhaps some Mundorfs?

extra_action March 10, 2008 22:07

Neil, tell us more about your custom DAC.
Was it a kit or your own design?

How's the 834P sounding?

mingles March 09, 2008 00:42

Great looking room....Eames, Arne Jacobsen, Le Corbusier..et. al. good taste!

whatjd March 08, 2008 00:15

System edited: Added custom NOS DAC

extra_action March 07, 2008 11:40

System edited: Significant tweaks and improvements on the vinyl side: 1. Added Sumiko Blackbird cartridge 2. Rewired tonearm and added VTF adjustment 3. Added Ear 834P phonosection- glorious and lots of modding potential

extra_action March 03, 2008 04:41

System edited: I have spent the last few months really enjoying this system and occasionally playing with some tweeks. After much deliberation i decided to purchase a F3. I was so impressed with the Zen V9 but disappointed by the slight instability of the JFETS (in my DIY version) that in the end i thought that owning the real deal would be worth the investment. It is rock solid, plays like a dream and so far is far more stable in handling the JFET heat build up. I also fussed around with the turntable, after spending more time rooting through vinyl bins at local stores. I added a Sumiko Blackbird cartridge, totally rewired the tone arm, replaced the sub and platter and added Vibrapods on either side of heavy mass granite plinth. Significant improvement in all aspects of the sound. It is however hindered by a really mediocre phono pre. Not quite sure where to go with this one as i don't want to spend $1k and cant seem to find anything below that would add value over the Pro-ject Phono II that I currently have. I might try to build a 47 Labs clone in the next few months. I built a Hagrerman Bugle which IMHO was far worse than the Pro-ject. Cheers

extra_action February 06, 2008 03:26

Love your space, your furniture, your kit and particularly the Zu - congratulations - you have great taste.

cato February 04, 2008 21:36

Another voter for Zu.Looks like nice rig.I don't think in 15+ years I have ever seen anything like the Zu Druid thing.70% who here buy and love them.the other 30% crap all over them hear and other blogs.NO FENCE SITTERS.I just wish more designs allowed for T type amplification we need more 94 DB designs.I have one a German horn two way but want more outhere that can swing if now flea power 15-30 watts like Druids can.Not sure how much you listen to LP's but the great P3 if replaced with what I concede will require more funds with a nice cartridge would pay off.
Nice rig.
Chazz

chazzbo January 15, 2008 04:27

Bravo! Modern Decor and Sounds!

I love the European style of simplicity systems and living....

cytocycle October 18, 2007 20:40

Beautiful space and decor.

gsm18439 October 18, 2007 18:47

Did I just see your place on HGTV?

evank October 18, 2007 17:30

Love your sense of style and wish I had 1/10th the taste. Unfortunately, bare, unbroken, surfaces can be a system's worst nightmare.

That shiny table has to be causing one hell of a 1st reflection problem when listening to music. (unless you move it for music)

Don't know if it's convenient, but try covering the table with a thick comforter or something acoustically absorbent to see if it makes a difference. Same goes for the bare wall/monitor between the speakers and behind the couch. Just as an experiment - might make a big improvement.

Then again, the Druids may already be super-directional in nearfield listening in which case those reflections do not really matter.

darkmoebius July 09, 2007 00:24

System edited: Pic's of living room and exterior of building have been uploaded. Our apartment building the the modern building on the left

extra_action July 08, 2007 21:05

Simply beautiful. Can you post pics of room?

ottawa_mtnman July 08, 2007 15:53

The V9 is realtivley easy to build, so much so, that when i discovered a fault it was quicker to restuff the boards than to trouble shoot every component.
It is almost identical to the F3. I know the DIY boards for the V9 offer the choice of 4Pole capacitors.
If you are intereested in building an amp I would encourage you to do it, it is a great deal of fun and there is always help available on DIYAudio.com. Nelson Pass has his own section on this forum and he keeps a watchfull eye on the posts offering encouragement and help when he can.
The boards for Nelson Pass's amps can often be purchased from the forums as part of group buy efforts, as well as the required FET's.
As with most Pass amps it is the heat dissipation that can be the most challenging, so it is often the fabrication of the chassis that takes the most time and effort.
If you need and help just ping me and i would be glad to point you in the right direction

extra_action July 06, 2007 14:48

How challenging was the V9 build? Aside from the chassis, is it identical to the F3 circuit and parts selection? Does Nelson offer instructions? Enviable execution of the DIY builds! Cheers ~ Mike

mikemarv July 06, 2007 01:31

Loxodrome,
I think i spot an alto vase with tulips in your system. Gorgeous clean space.
I checked out you website... an architect and modernist too. You might find our office work interesting as well:
www.saitowitz.com

extra_action July 03, 2007 23:16

Thanks for the kind remarks. I have always kind of been a believer of "looks good, sounds good" school of thought. Partially why i started to build my own amps, I am as interested in the chassis design as anything else, and as it turns out, unless you are interested in very esoteric capacitors, it will be where most of your time and money goes.

The Zu's really struggled with the gainclone (LM3886 chip) but really came alive when driven by the Zen's. Something to be said for pure class A power

extra_action July 03, 2007 22:57

Alvar Aalto, so rare among noise loving one-seat individuals who organize unimportant self-indulging digital/analog competitions.

Big big complements about the environment.

Sincerely yours,

loxodrome July 03, 2007 20:04

I too love the eames table and the aalto vase, I have an old clear one in my bathroom that I keep my toothbrushes in, I love his work. Your system looks great, must sound even better.

galeriehughie July 03, 2007 17:42