Description

This multichannel system is built around a great-sounding 2-channel system. I love large-scale Classical and film music, and this system does that VERY well. It's big, spacious, warm, very-well extended, etc. The c-j preamp's Ambience Recovery Mode 'recovers' out-of-phase information from two-channel sources and adds a subtle-but-audible sense of space to two-channel recordings. (The ARM also does very well at creating a center dialog channel from 2-channel TV broadcasts.) SACDs and DVD-As can sound goose-bumpingly real.
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Components Toggle details

    • Oppo BDP-83SE
    Multidisc player that plays Blu-ray, SACD, DVD-A, and CDs. I use the multichannel analog outputs, 6 channels into the 6-channel preamp inputs, and the stereo outputs into the CD inputs of the c-j preamp.
    • Conrad Johnson MET1
    Vacuumtubed 6-channel line-stage preamp. It sounded very good before, and it's better after replacing the front-2-channels' coupling caps with SoniCap Platinums and some powersupply-bypass caps with Jupiter HTs and SC Platinums.
    • Sanus (unknown model); 6 shelves
    This is a semi-DIY project. It began as a mid-level, 6-shelf, hollow-frame unit. I replaced 2 shelves with pairs of steel straps to support the preamp and Oppo '83SE. I added strips of SoundCoat to the bottoms of the steel strips, and the 2 units sit on Herbies' TenderFeet. I then glued the 4 loose shelves into 2 double-thick shelves for the 2nd disc player and the cable box. The hollow left- and right-hand hand vertical frames are fillable from the bottoms; the former owner had filled them with lead shot, which I got with the stand. I drilled half-inch holes in the tops of the large-section front-back bottom tubes and the 2 smaller front-back tubes supporting the steel straps and filled them with lead shot since the empty tubes rang a good bit. My friend and I painted all the metal pieces Porche Arctic Silver, the same color as my car. The shelf faces are custom-sized-and-finished cocobollo and are truly gorgeous in person. The stand is spiked to my concrete floor.
    • Marantz MA-24
    These are the hi-end members of Marantz's hi-end MusicLink series introduced in 1991. They're rated at 30WPC into 8 and 60 into 4. All stages are biased full Class-A, and they run rather hot. I've improved some parts, mostly in the powersupplies, and they sound VERY good biamping the 5As. Here's more info. http://www.dutchaudioclassics.nl/?strPage=Info&strBrand=Marantz&strType=Marantz_MA-22_Music_Link_power_amplifier&blnSefURL=true
    • Vandersteen 5A
    A true-full-range system that sounds very relaxed and natural.
    • Marantz MA-22
    I bought a pair of these to drive my former speakers, Audio Physic Avanti IIIs. They too are part of Marantz's MusicLink series introduced in 1991. I've improved some parts in them and currently use one to drive my centerchannel speaker. It has a 70Hz hi-pass filter to replace the centerchannel speaker's hi-pass filter.
    • Marantz MA-500
    I own five of these and currently use two in this MC system, driving the surrounds.
    • Vandersteen VCC-1
    This is the best AND least-expensive CC speaker I've ever owned. Tuned to present dialog clearly, it's bandwidth-limited in the bass so as not to make voice sound thick. I've upgraded parts in the crossover inlcuding removing the inexpensive 'lytic caps. The bass-limiting filter is now in the poweramp.
    • DIY SuperSubs JB4-12
    These are my homemade subwoofers, and the brandname I picked describes them very well. Each channel's enclosure is made of 3/4- and one-inch MDF with a 12-cubic-foot volume. That's split into two 6CF enclosures which contain two Sonic Craft SCC-300 12-inch woofers. All 4 drivers are wired in parallel for a 2-Ohm load. These systems have useful output to about 15Hz and sound EXCELLENT.
    • Crown International CDi2000
    This Crown amp drives the SuperSubs' 2-Ohm and is rated at a KiloWatt into that load.
    • DIY surrounds DIY
    I built these using a 10-inch bass driver and Bay Audio in-wall 'full-range' systems. They're passively equalized to have great bass response. Each is driven in parallel with small systems mounted on the back of the beam visible in the pic; together they produce the diffuse sound that I prefer from surround channels.
    • Audioquest and Neotec IC
    Both source-to-preamp L/R pairs are still AQ silver-conductor Niagara, but preamp-to-poweramps main pair is now Neotec NEI-3001 (with 4 UPOCC-copper conductors) cable with Xhadow RCAs, custom-assembled by Sonic Craft. This pair has TWO outlet-RCAs per channel to feed the two Marantz MA-24s per channel with no jumpers or additional mechanical connectors. The centerchannel cable is now Neotec NEI-3004 with Xhadow RCAs. I use lower-price AQ cable in the surround and subwoofer channels.

Comments 13

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That is one amazing screen!

Regards,

metralla