The room has been fully upgraded now. From the carpet on the floor to the treatments on the ceiling.
I have added extensive room treatments. For example the ceiling treatments consist of multiple layered absorption material mounted between the joists, specifically corning fiberglass ceiling tile, followed by a 3" layer of Roxul "Safe n Sound" insulation and a 1" air gap before the sub floor.
The result is a nice wide sound stage, with great imaging and controled bass.
The system never sound this good. I am extremely happy with the results because I was affraid that the small size of the room would become problematic.
In the coming days I will add more (and better) pictures showing the various details and the DIY absorption panels.
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Currently this system is not about the gear (yet). It is about a room in the basement of our new house (actually 60 year old house, but new to us).
The room was used an office by the previous owners and housed a great slow combustion wood burning stove. That my insurance company refuse to insure (good ridence)
Here are the basics of the room. Here are the rough Dimensions 10' wide by 16' long with a height to the under side of the ceiling joists at 6'-6". I have little more then 7' feet to the underside of the ground level floor panels.
My first task is to rip out the stove, plug the chimney, then rip out the wall to wall desk/shelving unit.
My plan is to locate the system in the room on opposite wall from the stove. I will build out a false wall about 3' wide and 2" to 3" of the existing wall to mount my TV and allow for cables to pass in the wall. This will also allow me to easily run a 20 amp dedicated line straight to the panel located in the next room. I have just enough free space for the new breaker.
Once that is done I will have to sound proof and treat the room.
And finally move in the actual gear (see my system DJ Rig Transform for a list of major compenents).
My goal here is to keep posting a things progress. Some of the work described has already been completed and others stuff still has needs to be done quickly. Moving day is in one week!
The gear listed is actually a second system but it is located in the new room while my prep work is ongoing.
Mid Mono Monoblocks upgraded with with KT88 tubes (Electtro Harmonix)
Audio Research SP-16
Tube pre-amp with MM phono stage. Driven by 6 12AX7 tubes.
Technics SL-1200 mkII
SL-1200 MK2 with modified tonearm. The original arm wand was replaced with a straight carbon fiber wand and rewired with cardas litz wires.
Benz Micro Glider HO
Benz Glider High-out put. Not the S version.
Cambridge 751bd
Universal disk and media player. Plays nearly all formats from blu-ray to streaming 192/24 high res files off my network.
Panasonic TC-P50ST30
Panasonic Viera ST-30 3D plasma TV
Technics SH-AC500D
Old surround processor which was puchased used for next to nothing. Main purpose is to convert the digital dolby signal from the TV to analog stereo.
Lan Rack Fully modded
I got the rack from work after our IT department decided they didn't need it any more. Decided to try and mod it for audio purposes. I am very satisfied with the result. Three 12" x 18" by 2" thk shelves for pre, cdp, and eventual others. Plus one granite 18 x 18 x 1/2" top plinth for the TT.
DIY Mogami 2549
8ft long green Mogami 2549 wire terminated with Canare F09 covered with platinum techflex. Used between pre-amp and power amps.
DIY G6S
Made with Canare G6S guitar cable. The shield was stripped away to expose the inner wire, 18ga stranded OFC lined in a teflon sleeve. Two of these wires were twisted together and held together with a Teflon shrink wrap sleeve and covered with tech-flex. Finally the cable was terminated with gold plated copper spades. Total length 1m or 3ft.
System edited: Added some new interconnects. My old ones were a little short so I made myself a pair 8ft long with Mogami 2549 wire and Canare connectors.
System edited: I finally got around to completing my tonearm modification project on my SL-1200. I replaced the S shaped aluminum arm wand with a carbon fiber straight wand with an integrated head shell. The arm is wired with 33 awg Cardas litz wire from the cartridge clips to the base of the arm. The litz wire is soldered directly to the interconnects. The interconnects are Mogami 2549. The shields are connected to the ground wire and grounded to the preamp chassis and floated at the RCA's. This was a first trial to determine whether the geometry and design in general would be an improvement from the stock arm. My first impressions are, absolutely yes, it is a huge improvement. The biggest gain is on low end, the bass just got a little bit tighter in the lowest frequencies. There is also an improvement in tracking but I am not sure if this is due to the wand or an adjustment in effective length. My previous set-up with the stock arm was set to an effective length of 230mm. Why? I cannot remember, but it was intentional because I still have my alignment template. My remaining challenge is that the arm wand is now too light for the counter weight and with the cartridge in place and an additional head shell weight in place I still do not have sufficient weight to get the correct tracking force (1.8g). I will have to have the counter weight machined down and then the I will significantly change the effective mass of the arm, hopefully for the better. I have learnt a lot about tonearm design and setup with this DIY project, and that was the goal. The fact that there is such a huge improvement in the sound is the icing on the cake. I going back to listening :>)
@Harris, please I do not want to be held responsible for any disputes with your GF ;0).
My system is strictly 2 channel even for movies and assure you, you don't miss the other 3.1. IMO you are better served by spending your time and money on two channels than trying to adapt 5.1 for music.
@JRod, thanks for the kind words about my system, it took me a few years to get here and I am still working on it.
As for the ARC preamp, I love it, it was big step forward compared to what I was using before, especially as a phono stage. It allowed me to use high output MC cartridge.
Yes the MA's shine with the Quicksilver's, they really bring out the speakers full potential.
Just sent your link of your system to my GF. We are moving soon and i want the room similar to yours. I currently have an all inclusive analog/digital system and looking to keep it that way. Although i may seperate my multi channel system from the two channel. Great post, looks like fun.
Your system looks great, it's where I'd hope to be someday.
I bet it sounds great with that equipment and room treatments.
How do you like that Audio Research preamp? I've had some experience with some of their older models and am a fan.
I've found with the Monitor Audio's, they give lots of details and have very good extension in frequency. If anything, they seem to like warm electronics. Bet they sound great with your tube amp.
System edited: Here we go! The long overdue update. I only wanted to add one component the TV. But given today's digital world, TV's no longer have analog outputs. So I was forced to purchase a processor to allow me to listen to broadcast TV through the system. One added feature of the TV is that it was Wifi/DLNA ready. So it is now network with the home computer, and I can use it as a very basic music player, as well as stream video from it. So the processor is needed for that too. Although if I listened to music it will generally be Vinyl. I am using Serviio as my DLNA server software. The next upgrade will be universal disc player, I have it narrowed down to two potential candidates, OPPO BDP-95 or Cambridge BD751. No DLNA on the Cambridge and no fan. Decisions decisions. Finaly thanks for all complements and Milpai, I did build the room treatments myself, a pine frame with filled with roxul safe and sound, covered with fabric from Ikea. Cheap, easy and very effective.
Wow, thanks for the compliments but now I feel bad. I have added my TV but have not yet updated the page. Things look a little different but still sound just as good. New pics will follow in the coming days...
Nick, what a great space! My listening room is essentially the same, in terms of dimensions, but also in terms of having a low-ish ceiling with wood joists. I'm going to learn a lot from your work with this room.
I am planning to also build some room treatments this spring. I'm curious where you found, or designed, the cloth for these - the look great.
System edited: This is a pre-update. I finally got around to adding new center wall "bump out". It is made of 3/4 oak veneered plywood, with cut outs for cables. In the coming weeks I will be installing a TV, adding a BR/multidisc player, and a Dolby processor (no Dave I am not going to switch to 7.1 HT) its because todays TV's no longer have analog audio outputs. So now I need an external device to decode and down mix the dolby signal to analog stereo. More to come...
System edited: My big surprise addition, I aquired a rack, it needed some work. I figured it would look good and the system nice and need. Wow what a surprise! My previous rack (if can call it that) was low and wide. Given the narrowness of the room it created a cubic space behind the speakers and trapped all the bass. As soon as tried the new rack, tall and narrow it oppened the sound up. Finally! the bass made it to the sweet spot. Also my wife, decided to for go the love-seat from upstairs. It makes our living room much more spacious and now I can invite guest into the basement, including my wife.
System edited: Updated the system to reflect the addition of the ARC SP-16 pre-amp. I have also completed the room treatments and moved thing around. New pics will follow soon.
System edited: The work on the room is complete and the gear has been moved. Now I going to enjoy the fruits of my labor... Yeah right! I am sure I will start tweaking as soon as I press continue.
System edited: A lot has happened since my last update. First we moved into our house. So I currently have no system operating, except for my squeeze box radio in the kitchen. The electricians have finished there work. They moved the heater and installed a dedicated 20 amp line. I purchased pair of medical grade outlets (still to be installed). I moved out the wood burning stove, good riddance! I also removed the desk/bookshelf thing at system end of the room. I then patched all the holes left by all the above activities. Finally I painted. Now the room looks like a room. My next task is to build the false wall to wall mount the TV, and hide the cables. This is now underway, I have begun the framing. I have one dilemma, regarding the symmetry of the false wall. The floor joists (of the ground floor, i.e. the ceiling) are offset by 4 relative to side walls. I plan to leave the joists exposed. If I center the false wall relative to the joists I am afraid that it will look odd. However, given the visual impact of the joist, if I center the false wall relative to the side I fear it will even worse. Currently I have it center to the joists, mostly because it easier to build. Your input on this will be appreciated. Once the wall is in I think I will start setting up the gear, even though there still soundproofing and room treatments to go. I really missing my listening time.
you must have had Allstate. I had to fire them too due to ridiculouse demands over my older house. Amazing how they forget whom works for whom... Of course, only but another drop in the bucket of outragousness in corperate America.
