I just finished building a dedicated listening room in my new apartment. It took me one year and a half to complete, but it was well worth the wait. I simply love it.
The room size is 14 x 19 x 8 feet.
The room was designed by a company that specialises in acoustic design. Not the popular Rives Audio, since I live in Europe and that would increase the costs of the Level 3 project well past $10k mark, but a reputable local company.
The room acoustics was was first designed in a digital domain and then improved upon with the real world measurements taken during all stages of construction work.
The room is soundproof and - among other things - features soundproof windows, double doors and 11" thick double walls. The measured noise level inside the room is 26dB during the day (measured during rush hours, at 16:00), so it is almost dead quiet.
The room has two dedicated lines, each rated 20A @ 230V, one for analog and one for digital gear. All cables, circuit breakers and mains outlets are of audiophile quality.
MSB DAC IV Signature with Diamond Power Base - replaced the dCS Scarlatti, which served me as my reference for the past 3 yaers.
MSB S200
Fully balanced 200 Watt stereo amplifier. Class A, Zero Negative Feedback design. Fluid, palpable, a bit on the warm side of things. An amazing piece.
Magico S5
New addition to the system. Replaced Wilson Sasha speakers.
MUSA S21T USB
Computer based transport with SOtM PCIe USB card, SOtM sata filter, fanless PSU, fanless i5 CPU, SSD, 8GB RAM and Synology 2x2TB NAS. Running Win 7/64 with Jriver and Jplay.
AudioQuest WEL Signature
Replaced Tara Labs The RS-1 interconnects.
AudioQuest Diamond USB
USB cable.
Shunyata Anaconda Z-Tron
A new model from Shunyata. Replaced van den Tara Labs RS-1 cable.
Shunyata Anaconda CX
I have two of those, powering Dart and dCS.
Pure Power 2000
Battery powered AC Regenerator.
Finite Elemente Pagode Master Reference HD09
Top of the range component stand from Finite Elemente, with their resonator technology (3 used). I favour those over a 4-tier Pagode rack, since they do not interfere with soundstage when placed between the speakers.
Finite Elemente Ceraballs
I have two sets placed under my speaker cables. Very unussual location, I agree, but works a treat.
Finite Elemente Cerapuc
I have two sets placed under my speakers. A simply stunning improvement in low-level detail retrival and microdynamics. Worth every penny !
HMS Energia SSDB mains outlets
Two of those finish off my two, 230V/20A, dedicated power lines.
AHP Klangmodul 3+
Audiophile circuit breakers. Gold plated, solid copper contacts. Each of the two dedicated power lines has his own breaker.
ACS Diffusors
Diffusors made by german company Acoustic Control Systems. I have 3 sets of those, one on the rear wall and two on the side walls. As you can see on the pic, the whole part of the rear wall, to which the diffusor is attached, pertrudes 12" into the room.
Custom absorbers
The whole room is fitted with custom absorbers, tuned to specific frequencies. The pic shows one of the six absorbers fitted to the front wall. If you look carefully, you wil notice, that there is an MDF plate with lots of small holes fitted inside, which divides the internal volume of the absorber into two smaller chambers. The sound enters the traps by the front gaps, goes to the first empty chamber and then through the holes to the next chamber, where it can dissipate in a mineral fiber (not fitted on this pic).
Custom diffusors
Set of 5 custom diffusors fitted over the listener's head.
RT-60 curve
This is the RT-60 curve of my room. Black trace is our target curve, blue one is base curve (empty room, no acoustic treatment, no floor), red curve shows how the room responded after ACS diffusors, wooden floor and sand stone were added. Green curve is the most recent one. It is still not perfect, but we are working on it.
Room Frequency Response curve
Room Frequency response. Quite nice if you ask me :-)
Daikin ultra quiet A/C unit
Daikin A/C split system replaced McQuay unit. The difference in noise levels generated by those two units is staggering. Daikin is so quiet (22dB) that you can barely hear it from the listening chair. There are CD-players that generate more noise than this ! The other outstanding feature of this unit is that it can work when outside temp drops to 10'F - so it can be used during winter too.
Are you connecting the output of the Scarlatti directly to the DartZeel XLR input? BTW, I recently listened to the DartZeel integrated with my inefficient SoundLabs and was really impressed.
Can you play loud transients such as the finale of a Shostakovitch symphony or a test CD of the drum track of the Burmester CD III without fear of blowing the Dart fuses?
I loved the amplifier, but hated changing the fuses!
Are you still using the Dartzeel amplifier without preamplifier? BTW, I also like a lot the van den Hul Revelation. Did you try the matching The Second interconnects?
Elberoth2, If you want to try the DaTZzeel in your system you should also borrow the NHB18NS preamplifier and 50 ohm cables. I also have a Reference 3, that has a special synergy with the CD8, but when using the Dartzeel amplifier I prefer by a wide margin the NHB18NS - when you mix the two preamps there is a lack of fluidity in the sound. If you match the preamplifier with the respective amplifier you feel much less there it is an electronic coloration in your system. This does not mean that the ARC Reference does not sound good with the Dart - before the NHB18NS was developed I have lived with them!
Elberoth2, I have seen complete sets of used DCS Verdi la Scala, Verona and Elgar Plus going for less than a Puccini. Do you consider that the Puccini will be better than the combo set?
Since you are referring Shunyata products, have you tried their Orion and Antares cables? I have them and they sound great with Audio Research electronics. BTW, can I ask you what type of acoustic treatment you are using in the back corners? PS - in my system after a long hesitation the CD-7 won the final battle ...
As I have posted elsewhere, I currently own a Nagra CDP and an Audio Research CD7. Both are excellent CD players, the Nagra is more detailed and stereoscopic, the Audio Research is more musical and has a larger soundstage. Choice will depend on individual preferences and preamplifier when using the Audio Research ref3 I prefer the CD7, with a Conrad Johnson ACT2 the Nagra is my choice. I agree with Elberoth2 words both CD players took more than 500 hours before sounding their best. Before owning the CDP I had a CDC the day I replaced my fully broken in CDC with a never played CDP was a disaster!
