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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Dear Elberoth2,

Very inviting atmosphere...I particularly appreciate the lighting - it helps establish ambience! I recognize the effort and resources you've dedicated to integrating sound and sight...my congratulations!

Best,
Sam

c1ferrari

Owner
Nolitan - I already had the Lamms M1.2R ... sold them rather quickly.

Madfloyd - I have them well into the room - 2-3 feet from the back of the speaker to the wall. No problems in my room. This is a trully great all around speaker.

elberoth2

I would also recommend the Lamms!! They are amongst the best i heard so far.

nolitan

Can you tell me the positioning of your Sophias? My room is similar (14 x 25 x 7.5) and I have been having problems finding good positioning for mine. It seems I have to have them very close to the back wall to get any body - unless I pull them very far out into the room, but if I do the latter I have to have them only 7 feet apart or I get crazy bass from the sidewalls.

Thx.

madfloyd

Owner
Yes, at least for the time beeing. I'm thinking of upgrading to Wilsons Sasha though.

elberoth2

Are you keeping the Sophias and the CD8 with the Darts?

microstrip

Owner
Broederen - no, I did not have a chance.

Bstefano - I ended up with Dartzeel. I just sent the poweramp to Dartzeel for upgrade - they are gonna instal their very last - not even officially announced - darTZeel SCNP network (designed for all NHB-108 versions). This device is implemented in the local negative feedback, and provides much greater DC output stability versus temperature, without harming the sound, at the contrary improving the all global performance (deeper, tighter bass, and even smoother medium and highs). The price for the SCNP is CHF 1,575.00, plus labor CHF 300.00.

Plus, they are gonna remove AC socket and speakers crimp connectors, and directly silver soldering wires to the corresponding leads. The cost for this operation is CHF 250.00 (mainly labor costs).

elberoth2

Hi.What amps did you end up with?

bstefano

Hi Elberoth,

Did you audition KR-Kronzilla tight bass, seducing mids and glorious highs)

broederen

Owner
I think it is one of the sacrifices you have to make, unfortunately. I wish Sophias offered a bi-wiring option - you could put Ongaku on top, which would give you a glorous midrange and HF, and some potent solid state amp to feed LF.

Having said that, Ongaku's bass is not THAT bad at all. If you are not a bass freak, and you do not listen a lot to the material with lots of LF content (like rock music), you will be perfectly fine.

And the first time you hear the glorius midrange, the uncanny you-are-there sensation only Ongaku can give, you will quickly forget its limitations.

elberoth2

elberoth, how's the ongaku do in maintaining the midbass slam of the wilsons? does it peeter out? or is it just another of those "sacrifices" we've got to make if we want to go SET?
thx

rhyno

Owner
Broederen,

Thanks for the info. The amp he is selling is a 100V unit ... needs a step down transformer. Plus, it also a bit different from all the Ongaku integrateds I have seen - it lacks the source selector and volume knob.

elberoth2

Hi Elberoth,

Johan Grissen has an Ongaku for sale
www.highend-broker.com

broederen

Nice misuse of my name, so original and mature. I won't further use Elberoth's system profile for our discourse, but you can't possibly know what sounds best to another individual can you? There is only what sounds best to you in a very subjective hobby. To assert your opinion over another in a thread specifically meant to showcase his system is just bad form IMO. We can agree to disagree, but let's let it go here.

Sorry Elberoth, my bad.

arthursmuck

"Dude, it's his system profile, he's entitled to say whatever he wants about what he thinks sounds best in his system."

I agree with you to a point Arthurschmuck. But what if you knew that what the poster thought sounds best in actuality did not?

Let's look at this another way. Say I thought that a Buick outhandled a Ferrari around a race track and that I posted this opinion in a Buick forum. What if you were a professional race driver and came across a post like that. Would you say, "Dude, it's his car and he's entitled to say whatever he wants about it..."?

malcolmmonfort

06-16-09: Malcolmmonfort
I know the ARC combo, the Dart combo, the Ongaku and the Sophia 2. You may think the Ongaku is the best you’ve heard with the Sophias and that's fine, but I prefer the ARC combo and the Dart combo and by a significant margin.

Dude, it's his system profile, he's entitled to say whatever he wants about what he thinks sounds best in his system. You could do the same in yours, if you had one, you don't need to be rude in someone else's system profile.

Elberoth, congrats on the new pieces! It sounds as if you've found a very pleasing combo for yourself. I was very impressed with the DCS when I had it in for audition!

arthursmuck

Owner
I'm using DCS. Sounds better with the Ongaku, thanks to the very low output impedance. Ongaku is basicly a poweramp with an added passive volume control, which isn't the easiest load to drive for tube based sources. Same happens with Audio Note DACs - if you want to use one with Ongaku, you need a preamp or otherwise bass and dynamics will suffer.

Puccini is happy without a preamp.

elberoth2

You are using the CD8 or the DCS Puccini with the Ongaku?

microstrip

I know the ARC combo, the Dart combo, the Ongaku and the Sophia 2. You may think the Ongaku is the best you’ve heard with the Sophias and that's fine, but I prefer the ARC combo and the Dart combo and by a significant margin.

malcolmmonfort

Owner
I have been listening to the Ongaku for the past couple of days. Quite simply - this is the best amp I have heard with the Sophias. Better than ARC Ref 3/ref 110, better than Pass X-350.5, and better than $50k Dartzel pre/power combo. Too bad it costs $110k in retail ... need to find one used.

elberoth2

Owner
Gpgr4blu - my conclusion is no different than initial thoughts posted on 03-25-09 in reply to Arthursmuck question.

Right now I have Audio Note Japan (Kondo) Ongaku amp in my system, but still haven't decided which CDP is better.

Two very different sounding players - using Teejay's "flavor" grading (see reference DACs thread for full explanation), dCS is a Flavor 1 and ARC CD-8 is Flavor 2.

Mordante - yes, the room is already finished.

elberoth2

Nice to see some Europeans here. I live in the Netherlands. Is the room completly finished now?

mordante

Imagine that---a site for music lovers instead of gear lovers.

gpgr4blu

Elberoth must be enjoying the music!

tuboo

We anxiously await your final conclusion on Puccini vs ARC cd 8. You must be having too much fun getting there.

gpgr4blu

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