The European Perspective

by elberoth2 on All Out Assault

Description

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.

I have also added an ultra quiet (22dB) A/C.
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Components Toggle details

    • MSB DAC IV Signature Plus
    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.

Comments 310

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Owner
The stats are on loan (in fact I just returned them). From the user point of view they are a nightmare - extremly inefficient (I measured 72dB/W/m !), with extreemly narrow sweet spot (you have to bolt your chair to the floor). From a sonic point of view - they are a revelation, esp. cosidering their modest price.

Utterly coherent, smooth, super fast and ultra transparent, with the palpability of sound that rivals everything I have heard to date. The you-are-there sensation is just uncanny.

Comparing to the Avalons, they lacked soundstage depth and their dynamic capabilities.

I have also had on loan Quad ESL-2805 and Maggies MG 3.6R, but they were no match for Audiostatics.

I may return to them, but first I would like to listen to some more speakers (Avalon Diamonds are one of them).

elberoth2

How are your new stats versus the Avalons?

joey_v

Well done, well done. From the room to the gear. Well done.

glenfihi

Owner
Thanks for all the nice comments guys.

Ctchen -> I did bring home the TacT Millenium mk II at one point. Just like you I missed some warmth to the music, which I find very importand. To my ears TacT is just too dry sounding, ESPECIALLY when you want to pair it with ceramic based speakers, be it Avalons, Kharma or Marten Design.

A friend of mine, from whom I borrowed the TacT, uses it with Sonus Faber speakers, and that combination is much more synergistic with TacT, IMO.

elberoth2

Awesome room!!!! It is nice to see a room with great acoustics, that also looks first rate.



dlanselm

Elberoth2,

whats your experience with the Tact Millenium MK2?
Did you hear them with your Eidolon Visions?
I find them (Tact) very good, extremely detailled , very powerful, but do miss some warmth.
Avalon is one of my favourite, till now I haven`t read about a Tact-Avalon set.

REgards
Chen

ctchen

Very very cool room. I love your listening space and the decor.
I am sure that it sounds great too.
Congrats.

rugyboogie

I love the elegant design, simplicity and quality you European guys put into your space. Your room is absolutely beautiful !

albertporter

Owner
I posted a thread on zerogain with a story of my room and LOTS of pics from all stages of work.

http://www.zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15669

elberoth2

Owner
Yes - at least for now. But I would like to try some tubes in the future.

elberoth2

Are you going to keep the Cary's? I am looking at hi powered ss amps and it is at the top of my list. From your post it sounds like they're on the way out.

streetdaddy

Owner
Shade_of_pale - the best thing to do is to connect all your audio lines to one phase, and all the other stuff in the house to the two remaining phases. This way things like refrigerator, computer, A/C, dimmers etc. will not directly interfere with your audio system.

That is what I did.

Streetdaddy - I have tried many different amps: Lamms M1.2, Krell 700cx, Nagra VPA and PMA, Plinius 102, Classe monos, Ancient Audio GSM 300B 16W SET monos, ICE power and Tripath class-D designs, TacT Millenium mk II and prolly a half of dosen other amps I already forgotten. The Carys where the best transistor amps I tried, but still way behind the Ancient Audio SET monos.

elberoth2

Very nice, your room and system too. I 'am in the same perspective , I live in Europe Portugal, and I my house I have a dedicated room in mind, but not finished yet the construction is in progress. So maybe you can help me in the electrical configuration, my room as 7,50m long, for 5m wide and 2,70m High, the room I have in mind is a A/V configuration, but for now is only audio. You have 2 circuits 20Amp one for analog and one for digital, my house have a 3 fases electrical, so where I´m gonna get 2 circuits? The 2 from the same fase or , hitch one from different fases? Can you give a idea.Thanks

shade_of_pale

Elberoth2,
I was talking to a dealer the other day who sells all kinds of used equiptment. I was looking at a Rowland model 8t. He said if looks are important it is a very good amp. But if going for the best sound the Cary 500mb's were the best. He has heard it all,too. What have you compared them to and how do they rank?

streetdaddy

Owner
System edited: I added new pictures.

elberoth2

Owner
Sdatch - yes. It is Klyne 7LX3.5/B. I borrowed if from a friend, who bought another pre. It sounds MUCH better than the BAT 51SE - the only downside is the stepped attenuator and lack of remote.

I'm looking for a new pre right now. I already bought a passive Plcette RVC (which also betters the BAT) but before making a final decision, I also want to try one of the transformer passive TVC preamps (TAP/Music First/Django).

Cipherjuris - yes I tried different tubes, includng the Siemens CCA. None made the Lamms sing to my ears. In fact, the stock russian tubes turned out to be quite good - better than some NOS I have tried.

elberoth2

Is that a Klyne preamp feeding the Cary Monos?

sdatch

Owner
System edited: I have just replaced my Lamm M1.2 Reference monos with Cary Audio CAD-500MB monos. I just couln't make the Lamms sing. Carys sound better to my ears, they have more full-bodied sound without loosing too much (if anything) in resolution or microdynamics department to the Lamms.

elberoth2

Very nice system you have also, Elberoth!

Have you done any tube rolling with your Lamms? I did and the result was a huge improvement in quality of the sound in every respect. It was my the most improvement for the money I have experienced. I already had the SRA isoBASE so the system was primed to deliver all the resolution of the Amperex NOS tubes.

How do like your Eidolons? I had them on my list, but some have cautioned me that they cannot match the base of the Sophias, which I find hard to believe.

cipherjuris

Hi Elberoth,

I was looking at the room response curve. It seems you have a roughly 10db suckout at around 55 Hz. This is very interesting, as I had a similar issue, with similar speakers.

In my case, we moved the speakers forward a good bit and were able to flaten out the dip. I don't know if that will work for you, buit it may be worth some time to experiment a bit.

Cheers,

Ron

rlips

I had thought so, they are very comfortable. Still, something like an Eames chair would look more in place in a room as beautiful as that.

Jarno

karlssonvanhetdak

Owner
I probably could, but the Ikea chair is so comfortable that I do not really feel the need ...

elberoth2

Looks fantastic!

Certainly though you can afford a nicer chair?

Jarno

karlssonvanhetdak

Owner
System edited: I finally got my new MBL1531 CDP. It brought substantial improvement over my Audio Aero Capotole mk II SE.

elberoth2

Owner
Basicly, those two maple towers you see on the front wall are huge mid-bass traps. As far as I remember, the upper and lower parts are tuned to 180Hz, and the center parts are tuned to 120Hz. The internal volume is divided into two smaller chambers by an MDF plate with lots of small holes in it. So basicly, the sound enters the traps by those front gaps, goes to the first chamber and then through the holes to the next chamber, where it can dissipate in a mineral fiber. I have added a "Custom absorbers" link at the top of this page so you can see how it is built.

elberoth2

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