I recently completed a new audio room. This room will be used for home theater only going forward. The big Wilson's have moved to the new room and Sophia 2s now grace the theater. Will update page when time permits. The new audio room is the result of a year's search for the ideal amplification and preampfification for my tastes. Stay tuned.

bflowers November 04, 2015 04:48

System edited: System updated

bflowers September 22, 2014 04:05

TheSaint: I use MIT digital cables only. They were much more extended than the transparent digital, also adjustable. I jumped the gun posting that I was keeping the MIT interconnect. I ended up sending it back. The Odin ended up being better once I found the right settings on the Vivaldi DAC and Upsampler. The Odin ended up being more transparent.

Icorem: I use the upsampler to stream from my computer source.

bflowers September 22, 2014 04:02

I never tried transparent power cables. I am a big fan of Tara labs. I have tried many others and have preferred Tara cobalts to all others. I recently had a full suite of shunyata power products for an extended audition and found the Tara to be a better match in my system.

bflowers September 03, 2014 04:27

It is indeed. That's where I heard it the first time. It's quite good of course. I will say that it made me appreciate the Boulder DAC. That DAC is >90% of the Vivaldi and was 10+ year old technology. I've had several highly regarded digital front ends in my room, and only the Vivaldi was better.

bflowers August 24, 2014 05:16

System edited: Photos added. Some changes have been made since last post

bflowers August 23, 2014 03:50

Haven't posted anything in a while, but I need to now because I have reached a level I wasn't sure was possible. I started in this hobby about 4 years ago, and like many others have worked hard trying to optimize my system. I have had very good sound for a long time, but never have gotten to a place where I experienced "goosebumps" with every session. Ultimately the improvement was due to some advice I received to convert my Boulder 2060 amp to 240V. I had heard that the amp sounded better on 240V before, but it was never strongly emphasized until recently. I decided to give it a try. I learned that the amp draws 43amps on 120V (thus 21.5A on 240V). I was running the amp on a 20A breaker, thus it was not capable of drawing full spec. I now have it on a 30A breaker, hence plenty of headroom. Boulder gear always has excellent clarity, now it has even greater clarity, with effortless highs and a dead black background. I'm not sure of all the reasons, but I am thrilled.
I have recently had 2 different digital sources in for demo, the Emm Labs xds1 and the Boulder 1021. Both had their strengths, but ultimately the best synergy was with my MBL 1621A transport feeding the Boulder 2020 DAC. The Boulder 2020 DAC retrieves more information from a disc than any other digital source I have tried. I am thankful to be in a great place.

bflowers October 17, 2010 05:09

THe JL subs replaced a REL studio III. They are incredibly good and easy to integrate into a 2 channel system, where they receive most of their use. I have them on the floor and they perform well. A platform is an interesting idea. I will look into it.

bflowers June 17, 2010 23:14

System edited: new photos

bflowers December 31, 2009 21:58

Oneobgyn,
How does one know if one needs a buffer? I have a similar set up to you, running parallel loads from my pre amp.

bflowers December 10, 2009 21:43

System edited: Hven't updated things in a while. Of note, I recently had an extensive demo with the new Tara Omega Gold speaker cables. They were wonderful at many things, soundstaging, detail retrieval, image separation, but ultimately I found them to be too forward in the upper midrange and treble for my taste and system. I love the Tara cables as I think they are detailed like Valhalla, but more full bodied and musical. These cables will go well for someone who is searching for more detail, but find Valhalla to be too thin for their taste.

bflowers August 30, 2009 23:24

Oneobgyn,
It all makes a difference, as I have heard you say before. I get your point, however. Spent some time at Marty's the other day, and he has his system the best it's been...and that's saying something! You may have talked to him already.

bflowers June 22, 2009 21:05

I have had 150 plus hours on the Tara Omega Gold speaker cables. In summary they are somewhere between the original Omegas and Valhalla. Much more detail, air, hall ambience, etc versus the original Omegas. Right now they are a bit edgy on strings. My system was tuned for the original Omegas, so I will try some modifications to see if I can get rid of that.
A few months ago I went through some power conditioner demos. I had the Audience AR6-T on the Maxx's and loved it. It wasn't the best on the Alexandrias. The sound was a bit "woolen". The audience seemed to lack extension. I tried the Synergistic Tesla, which I also liked. VERY black background, but seemed to not quite deliver the music with dynamics and ease. I also tried the Running Springs D'Mitri. This one was in second place for me. It was nearly a toss up between that and the Sound Application. I have had many Running Springs pieces in the past and loved then. They are very organic, but could be overly so blurring the images. The D'Mitri improves on these characteristics materially, but I picked the Sound Application because it seemed more precise at detail retrieval and image localization and seperation. I may have made the wrong choice as it relates to the new Omega Golds. I will get another D'Mitri next week and see if that makes the difference.

bflowers June 20, 2009 19:33

I think you are right about the X2.2. I wonder how close the Maxx 3's are. The top end is sooo different. I have mentioned these in previous posts. As far as new equipment is concerned, I'm on hold for now.

bflowers June 13, 2009 19:01

Oneobgyn
That seems like the most interesting, but least practical alternative. Isn't there a limitation on source material?

bflowers June 13, 2009 02:04

Dgad
I am debating PC audio versus Vinyl as my next move. One is much cheaper than the other. However, my current CD set-up is really fantastic. I have heard SACD on world class systems and wouldn't expect it to be head and shoulders above what I currently have. Analog possibly could be. I would be interested in your thoughts on the PC audio once you get it going. The Golds aren't broken in yet, and I have not had any prolonged listening sessions so far, but from what I have heard so far they are more than a small improvement.

bflowers June 12, 2009 16:02

Just plugged in the new Tara Labs Omega Gold speaker cables (unterminated). Anxious to see how they compare to the originals after break in. The first 10 minutes was pretty good:-)

bflowers June 10, 2009 19:08

A deal showed up that I couldn't resist...I guess that's impulse! The thing is, everything is better. The top end is more relaxed, without giving up any detail. The midrange is warm and realistic. The bass is just...right. I thought I had room issues with bass that could barely be tamed with traps. In retrospect, it was the speaker. Also, the Maxx II treble is hot by comparison to the Alexandria. Much like the Watt Puppy (7 anyway) is hot compared to the Maxx II. It's easy to mistake that for detail, and I tended to favor conditioning/cables that brought that down a bit (may not be as noticeable with tubes). From what I have heard, I think you may get much of the same top end benefits with the Maxx 3 but I presume the bass improvement requires the Alexandria. Finally, the ability to adjust the time delay on the drivers is a HUGE benefit. It's almost like being able to EQ the speaker. For example, I recently added a Tara Cobalt 20 amp cable to my power conditioner. It is an incredibly organic cable. Much the way the Zero provides an organic sound, without losing detail, but to a greater effect in my opinion. After the change, I loved everything except the midrange was a bit "too" present. No problem, just move the midrange driver one detent back and voila, perfect.

bflowers May 12, 2009 23:35

The tweaking continues. Of note, I have become a believer in Wilson's "group delay" concept. This is likely not news to some, but the effect was quite interesting to me. I would love to hear other's comments on this. In short, some of the Wilson models allow the user to position each driver (forward or back) in relation to one another. They provide a standard guide based on ear height and distance from the speaker. Mine was set at the recommended points, but minor adjustments forward and back had a significant effect on the sound. e.g. If it sounds a little thin, move the midrange driver one detent closer and now it's lush and full. It was surprising to me how much effect this has. Almost like an EQ. It makes one think that fixed designs have potential limitations. I suspect that many of the cable and power conditioner changes I (and likely many others) have made, reflect which frequencies are being reinforced or diminished by said product.

bflowers April 28, 2009 16:00

That is correct. The interconnects from the theater processor are connected to the preamp and those outputs are set to unity gain/theater mode. That's all you need to do.

bflowers March 06, 2009 22:21

It is fairly reflective fabric, but fabric nonetheless. When the fabric was taken down and acoustic treatments were being put on the sheetrock, the room was dramatically more lively. When they recovered it with the fabric, it became more damped than I expected.
You are correct in than it is a synergy issue. The preamp is likely wrong for the Lamm. The tara cables were nearly unlistenable with the Lamm. In the end I may have been able to take a step forward, but it would have taken quite a bit of retooling (At the very least, all Valhalla and a new preamp not to mention power cables, etc, etc.). At this point I don't have the time or money to do that. As you might expect, just to audition this amp took easily 50+ hours over a period of 4 weeks. I will look forward to listening to your system later this year. I hope it doesn't make me want to go down that road:). BTW, I really love the way my system sounds now anyway.

bflowers February 26, 2009 23:25

Had a chance to extensively audition the Lamm ML 2.1 SET amplifier in my system. Many view it as an excellent match for the Wilson Alexandria. I ultimately decided to stay with the Boulder amplifier for a variety of reasons. First of all, my room has a complete acoustic treatment package that we covered with a fairly reflective fabric. Nonetheless, the room is more to the damped side than live side. Secondly, my room (or me) does not like uncontrolled bass. These issues I believe posed challenges to the Lamm. Notably, I like the tube sound in general. Who wouldn't really! I however wouldn't describe the Lamm as tubey. It was pretty neutral overall. In many ways more similar to the Boulder than I would have expected. The problems were that initially I was clipping the amp with the standard Wilson woofer resistor. When I changed that resistor to the one specified for tube amps, I could still clip it, but only by exceeding my normal listening volume by 10-15%. I probably wouldn't do that often, but on an occasional bass track I might want to hear the system thump a little. If the room was more lively, the volume might never get to that level. Secondly, because the bass was slightly "looser" than with the Boulder, there was a tad of overhang that muddied of the image. I would say that there is plenty of bass present, it was just not quite as tight. Everything else about the amp was great, timbre, voices, etc. I also noticed that the amp performed much better with Valhalla than with the Tara. I suppose I could have made the amp work, but I likely would have had to recable my whole system and maybe even change the preamp. I'm just not up for that. I often thought (as many suggest) that if I had gotten my speakers first, then the amp, then matching the rest would have worked out well. Anyway, I love the way my system sounds today (more details on that later) and am glad I got a chance to hear one of the world's finest amplifiers in my system.

bflowers February 26, 2009 19:37

OneOBGYN:

What taps are you using on the amp? Wilson recommended the 8 OHM tap. Have you played around with that at all?

bflowers February 01, 2009 19:42

Spent some quality time with Marty this evening. I am fortunate to have such a resource. Things are still clearly evolving. It is definitely better today vs yesterday, but still not to where I would commit to them. You should give Marty a call to get his impressions. There is some question as to whether we are clipping them. What power cords have you used on them?

bflowers February 01, 2009 06:52

They are obviously not completely broken in yet. I expected them to be much more "different" than they are compared to the Boulder. I would describe them as pretty neutral. I expected a bit more "lushness" than they are producing at the moment. That is not a criticism, just an observation. There is still a bit of congestion to the sound, thus the soundstaging is not correct as yet. Marty is coming over tonight, so we can bias the amps. I also will have him bring some Valhalla over as I expect that to be a better match with this amp. I did solve the ground loop issue. My theater stuff is on it's own circuit and goes to a different subpanel, versus the three circuits that serve the 2 channel. I tried cheater plugs first, which helped, but did not solve the problem. When I unplugged the interconnects from the preamp that come from my prepro and serve the right and left channel on unity gain, the hum went away. I have left them unplugged for the moment, but will have to figure out a long term solution for that.

bflowers January 31, 2009 19:07

Just put the Lamm ML 2.1 SET in play 48hrs ago. Many believe these and the Alexandrias are a match made in heaven. I am anxious to find out. So far I am surprised at how similar (not the same!) it sounds to the Boulder 2060. I guess they are both just good amps. Stay tuned.

bflowers January 31, 2009 15:50

Rugyboogie,
Thanks for you comments. They are really starting to lock in now. They are truly wonderful speakers. Delicate, yet powerful. Compared to the Maxx's, the most notable differences are the top end is smoother and the bass is improved. I've admired your system on many occasions. I even tried the ASR Emitter which I thought was a very nice amp.

bflowers January 12, 2009 17:27

The distance from tweeter to tweeter is 116 in and to listening chair 140 in. BTW, sounding better every day.

bflowers January 03, 2009 23:53

System edited: New pics

bflowers January 01, 2009 16:29

I may not have the language to express things properly, but here is what I noticed. I initially moved the speakers further back, then slowly moved them more and more forward until they ended up about 3-5 inches further forward than the initial placement. Bass loading, in the L corner especially, was a problem. There was a zone where I would also get a "warbling" or "ringing" with female and some male voices. Generally timbre was not right. Things sounded flat, congested, and less detailed. Also soundstage depth was non existant. All of these problems were worse the further back the speakers were, except for the warbling voices which would disappear, reappear, and then disappear again as I moved the speaker out from the corner. We were very meticulous about getting the speakers the EXACT same distance to the listening chair. I think this paid more dividends than I would have expected. The whole process took about 4 hours. We found after spiking initially that one speaker was off by an inch, so we had to jack it up, put the wheels back on, move it, and respike it. As you know, no simple task on this behemoth of a speaker. Would be worse if Wilson didn't provide such an excellent tool set. Marty still feels like there is some more break in to go. At this point it is orders of magnitude better than with the Maxx's.

bflowers December 23, 2008 18:51

System edited: Added some new photos. Had to change the name of the system From "Building Around Wilson Maxx 2" to something else since I no longer own the speakers. Sorry, but that's the best I could come up with. I suppose we ultimately build around whatever speakers we have. I finally spiked the speakers today with the help of a very knowledgeable audiophile friend (Marty again). I realized that they were too close to the rear wall and I was getting some funky interactions. I got them pretty close over the weekend, and we dialed them in enough today to spike them. The speakers are still evolving, but now I'm getting some Holy S#@! moments. More later.

bflowers December 23, 2008 05:14

The sub is crossed over at 23 Hz The lowest crossover setting is 22Hz. Interestingly, the speakers were initially "bass shy", but I still hear each element of the speaker evolving. The bass is no longer lacking but is not quite as tight as I would like it. It seems to be a room and placement issue to me thus far.

bflowers December 21, 2008 01:22

As a point of clarification.
1. I like tubes! Not sure where the idea comes from that I do not. They are a bit more of a hassle, but I would get them again if they sound materially better than my current set up.

2. I don't buy equipment for how it looks! I do notice how it looks because in my setup I am staring at it. I do not think audio research stuff looks very good, but as I think I said in my last post and on many other occasions, that wouldn't stop me from getting an ARC piece if I liked the way it sounded. I think we have some misunderstanding there.

3. My system sounds great. Like all, I suppose, it could be better. I do have some room related issues I am still working through. We all have certain things that irk us. For me it's bass overhang and images that are too large or blend into each other. It took me a long time to get my speakers and traps positioned to deal with these issues with my previous speakers. I had hoped I would be able to plop these speakers in the same spot, but no luck there. I am close, but when I get the bass right, I mess up the image a bit. I really had my first meaningful time tweaking and listening last night. Perhaps, that's part of me not getting to Wow, yet. Maybe also too much of a perfectionist, but I imagine many on this site have that affliction.

4. I would love to get out to hear your system. I will be in the Bay Area in 2009 on at least one occasion. These days it is tough for me to get away because I have 3 kids under 5...enough said.

5. I have tried to get a Lamm to demo in the past based on your (oneobgyn) recommendation. I was unsuccessful. I was focused on upgrading the front end at that time anyway. I tried the Emm CDSA and liked the Boulder front end better. Whether I will find the same result with the amps remains to be seen. I have a likely source for a Lamm in the works now. I actually think the pictures of it look pretty cool. :-) I always keep an open mind about gear, but do like to proceed in a methodical fashion. I'll keep you posted.

I live in the DFW area.

bflowers December 20, 2008 21:10

I will kindly disregard your "eye candy" comment because it borders on insulting and I am sure that was not your intent. You have been saying that ever since I disparaged the pedestrian looks of the ref 3. I never said I wouldn't own one, just that it would be tough to look at. I have had tubes and liked them. My comments regarding tubes are based on my experience with the previous amp. My current amp is better than my previous tube amp, however. I am in no way wedded to any component in my room (other than perhaps these speakers that I just paid a fortune for). I expect to give the Lamm's a try and have already looked into getting a demo pair now that I have these highly sensitive speakers. I may like them better. Be careful what you wish for, I may ask you come to Texas once a year to bias them:-)

bflowers December 20, 2008 03:28

Dev
I made the decision to buy these speakers based on the highly rational emotion called "Impulse"! Of course I had the system sounding absolutely great and I should have learned from past experience to quit when I was happy. However, I did feel like I had reached the full potential of the Maxx's. I do believe that the speaker is the ultimate limit to where one can go. I like the wilson sound. I considered going for the Maxx 3, but a favorable deal came up on these so I took the plunge. I had never heard them before (but that would be difficult in that it is a new speaker and no one locally has one to listen to). The Boulder stuff is great in that it is dead neutral and very detailed. I do think the components take some effort to create synergies. For example when I upgraded the DAC and preamp, my previous MBL 1521A could not keep up. When I got the 1621A, it showed what a performance gap existed between the two transports. What is interesting is that it does open up some different options for amplification. I like the tube sound, but not the tube issues. I am not a tinkerer. I have small kids and little free time. I hate out of control bass and my room can get warm. Many reasons to avoid tubes. That said, the speakers continue to break in and improve. I am getting closer on the placement. I am really having a lot of fun with them. I'll post some pictures soon

bflowers December 19, 2008 22:50

Dev
I don't know if "refreshing" is the word:-). Make no mistake, they sound great already. I can't pick one thing that stands out, as they are better in all respects than the Maxx's. The midrange and treble are much better. I thought I had room related bass problems (I guess we all do to some extent), but the bass is smoother with no boom. It could be tighter though I expect. According to others with these speakers I still have significant break in time remaining. The overall presentation is more at ease that the Maxx's as well. My main issues now have to do with ultimate placement. I know it's not right yet because I can hear the speakers (they haven't dissapeared yet as the Maxx's had). I also used to run my sub in 2 channel crossed over at 23Hz. I haven't figured that part out yet either. Should have a little time to play with it over the weekend.

I have never heard Oneobgyn's system. With all the pressure to use tubes, he may force me to experiment with that...later!

bflowers December 18, 2008 15:13

There better be some "Holy something" as much as these speakers cost:-)

bflowers December 17, 2008 21:53

The speakers were installed monday night. The dealers did their best to get them in position yesterday. Marty was nice enough to come by and assist them. Marty is one of the most knowlegable audiophiles out there and I am grateful for his help. When I got home from work, the speakers already sounded differently than on day one (and I liked them on day one after about 45 minutes). They still have some breaking in to do, and the final positioning will need some work. Marty told me that you felt like it took at least 4 days for them to open up. I can see that process unfolding. They are already better in each category I could name than the Maxx's. I'm still waiting for the Holy Cr#$! moment. I will report the progress as they break in more. Those are some giant speakers! They look great in Aspen Silver with the black grilles

bflowers December 17, 2008 20:55

I'll find out if those tubes are necessary in about a week. Had some good listening time last night and it was sublime:-). Gotta love those times when everything is just "right". Also, it never ceases to amaze me how every little thing matters. When I got the second equipment rack and placed it next to the other in the center of the room, it really threw things off. I subsequently moved them as far back as possible and it got a little better. It wasn't until I moved one of the tube traps about 6 inches that things returned to how they were. I am giving the abbreviated version of what I actually did. It took about 2 weeks to figure that all out! I would imagine that the uninitiated would read that and think it absurd. Clearly room acoustic issues are huge.

bflowers December 06, 2008 16:04

Dec 15. Two weeks from today. Sounds great now. Will be interesting to see how much better it can get.

bflowers December 01, 2008 14:17

System edited: Pics of new stuff.

bflowers December 01, 2008 00:12

Working on it.

bflowers November 10, 2008 04:42

System edited: Got the upgrade bug a few months ago and decided to try some new equipment. FOUR months later I achieved the improvement I was looking for! Too much information to go through in detail, but I will try to summarize how I got where I am now and lessons learned. I assumed (more or less) that plugging in higher level components of the same brand I was already using would yield a similar, yet better, sound. Not so fast! At first it was better, but not worth the cost of the upgrade. The Boulder DAC and PRE exposed my transport as not being up to the task. Changing to the 1621A made a huge difference in the quality of the sound. Throughout I noticed these components were highly sensitive to power cables and interconnects. I could almost make the system sound however I liked by just swapping in and out different types of cables. I could get things to be very good, but not satisfactory until I added 2 more ASC tube traps behind the main speakers. I already had one trap behind each speaker, but the second pair made the speakers finally totally disappear. I was almost there. On a lark I tried 2 new power conditioners, The Running Springs Dmitri and the Adept Response AR6-T. Both were great, but the adept response was the best match for my system. The sound application was an amazing addition to my system when I got it, but not the best with the different components. Now I'm thrilled with the sound. It's has detail like crazy but is musical and realistic. Nothing is perfect, but now I just listen for hours to familiar discs and just let them play all the way through enjoying the music.

bflowers November 09, 2008 22:39

System edited: After hearing repeated emphasis on the importance of "the room", I decided to try to optimize my listening environment. I met with an acoustic consultant, and we spent several months reviewing plans, taking measurements, etc. Previously my room was designed with home theater in mind. At the time I had no knowlege of room acoustics as it related to audio. Thus I had the standard padded fabric walls. The room was on the "dead" side of the spectrum. I ultimately had the acoustic treatments installed a few months ago. We basically took all of the fabric off of the side walls and removed the padding. Then we placed a custom designed series of absorption up front and diffusors toward the rear. Then we recovered the treatments with the same type of fabric on a fabric track system. Thus the pictures of the room look no different from before. We added fabric covered diffusors on the ceiling at the first reflection point and at the rear wall. The result is a room that sounds more even/neutral than before. I would still say that it leans more to the damped side because of the quantity of fabric (which is fairly reflective), carpet, and types of furnishings. However, it is unlikely that I will change anything at this point. I have made quite a few equipment changes lately that I will post later.

bflowers October 15, 2008 17:09

The 0.8 is flexible. I have the digital and the interconnect. The digital is more flexible than the analog interconnect. I have some extra Tara cable if you are loking for some.

bflowers May 20, 2008 20:17

Chris,
I can't say that I have tried as many cables (or anything else) as most of you guys have, but the addition of the Zero interconnect was pretty impressive.

bflowers December 13, 2007 19:21

System edited: Had to rearrange the components to use the very short Tara interconnects. I would have saved a lot of money had I thought of this configuration in the first place! Live and learn.

bflowers December 11, 2007 04:23

Oneobgyn

Thanks for your comments. I have learned quite a bit since we first met. Sometimes I wonder why you didn't talk me out of this pursuit:-). I do get a great deal of pleasure when I get the chance to do some late night long duration listening. I think you are correct about the speaker position. I imagine that they need to be toed out a hare and perhaps moved ever so slightly forward. I will wait for my final room treatments before I have this done professionally. My wife quit volunteering to help me move the speakers a long time ago. I imagine you and Marty had a great time listening to some excellent systems here in Dallas. Next time I may join you on your tour of the town.

bflowers December 11, 2007 04:11

System edited: Inserted the Tara Labs The Zero interconnects between the pre-amp and amplifier. WOW these are as good as described. Bass is remarkably tighter and all instruments have a greater sense of "realism" compared to an already excellent sound. I have only had them for a few days but they will likely remain in place for the forseeable future. I have been working with an acoustical consultant to (hopefully) finally optimize the room. These changes will be forthcoming. I am very excited about the direction things are going. I can finally move this to the "all out assault" category with no remorse:-)

bflowers November 13, 2007 07:34

System edited: Recently I have been having an issue with sibilance and "thinness" on recordings that were not of the highest quality. This occurred only after I added the room treatments. I have been very perplexed by this and have been tinkering around with things to try to find a solution. A few days ago I decided to unplug the Boulder 2060 from the power conditioner and plug it directly into the wall (dedicated 20A circuit). Problem solved! A roundness returned to vocals and instruments, especially cymbals that had been a little "tizzy", now sound natural. What is somewhat surprising about this is that when I first plugged the amp into the power conditioner (prior to the room treatments) I noticed ZERO effect! Maybe the noisefloor lowered a bit, but otherwise nada! I have had bad experiences with power conditioners on power amps before, so I was reticent to put it on there in the first place. I listened very carefully for deliterious effects initially and there were none discernable. Go figure.

bflowers August 30, 2007 14:32

I have only used one other "pre amp" in this room, and that was the Theta casablanca that I now use for theater only. The 1012 is more neutral and detailed. I think that is the sonic signature of Boulder gear. I can see if some one prefers a more "lush" sound choosing something different.

bflowers June 15, 2007 16:06

If you look at the picture of the rear of the room you can see 3 half round 16" ASC tube traps on the ceiling. The rear and side walls all have partially reflective fabric with 1" dacron/rayon padding underneath. The Pic next to "ASC Tube Traps" in the equipment column shows the custom floor to ceiling bass trap in the right corner of the room. There is a rectangular sound plank that covers a large hole that leads to a partially fiberglass filled cavity that goes from floor to ceiling.

bflowers June 12, 2007 18:10

System edited: Might be ready to move this into "Done for now" (yeah right) or "All out assault" (on my wallet):-) . Most of the changes concern room treatment. I have added several ASC products to the room with a surprising improvement in sound quality. Things are really "right" now. Also have paid a great deal of attention to speaker placement. Both of these issues paid huge benefits. It's amazing and humbling how long it takes to get a systemm to a very high level. If I had known how much work this was, I'm not sure I would have signed up for it. This really is a full fledged hobby, much more than just cobbling together a few items from the stereo shop and having SOTA sound. If you are reading this you probably realize that!

bflowers June 10, 2007 01:24

Thanks for your suggestion Carl. Having Rives evaluate the room is one of the plans that is on the table.

bflowers January 15, 2007 08:41

I am in the process of tweaking the Wasp system now. As is stands now I sit about 14 ft from the Maxx's and they are no more than 4ft off the rear wall. I think they could probably come out a bit more. My chair is about 3 ft from the rear wall. I have "padded" walls everywhere you see blue in the photo except the ceiling. The room is pretty lively, and I thnk it helps with the first reflection. My biggest issue is bass coming out of the front corners. My plan is to put ASC tube traps in the front corners, and corner busters in the rear corners. Questions I would have for you are:
1. Any thoughts about seating positon relative to rear wall?
2. I would like to get the speakers further forward, but how close is too close to the Maxx's?
3. Would you do one ASC tube trap in the front corners or stack 2?
4. Would you do anything (traps?) to deal with first reflection in the center of the room keeping in mind the asthetics of the room and WAF?
5. What do you think of TACT and the like?
Thanks,

bflowers January 14, 2007 01:07

Before the Tara I had transparent reference speaker cable and kimber interconnects. The transparent was good cable. The omega exceeds it in detail, soundstage, and bass control. I wouldn't say it was an enormous change however. The 0.8 was an enormous improvement over the low level kimber I had. I must say that I never got a chance to do a direct compaison with my current setup so I am making these statements based on my old amps and front end. As you may have noticed, many things have changed lately, and I'm likely done for a while on the equipment side. I do have some room issues to finalize.

bflowers December 19, 2006 01:45

Hi to you Hic! I am using the mongoose with the Jaco and the Dukes. I am using Tara The One AC on the transport and pre amp. The Boulder 2060 comes with a proprietary power cord. On the theater stuff I am using Tara RSC Air AC. I am running the MBL digitally to the Boulder 1012 and using it's DAC. I used the 2060 for a while with the old front end (Theta and Lexicon). The sound was markedly improved as it relates to bass control and detail, but I was missing a bit of the "texture", "soul", "life" that I had become accustomed to. Once I put in place the MBL and 1012, that life returned. I have heard that MBL will provide a bit of warmth, so I presume the transport more that the pre amp is responsible. But that would be nothing more than a guess. I am still likely in the tail end break-in process (120 hrs at least so far), so we'll see where things go. I must say that I am VERY happy where things are now.

bflowers November 26, 2006 20:02

System edited: New Pictures

bflowers November 26, 2006 19:49

System edited: The updates continue. Have just about broken in the Boulder 2060 stereo amp. There is one word that comes to mind to desribe this amplifier so far...control! Out are the occasional bad notes and questionable bass. I was concerened that a solid state amp could prove bright. This one is not at all bright, very natural without leaning one way or the other. I have not been at this hobby for an extremely long time, have not heard every piece of equipment, and don't have all of the flowery terms to describe gear. I will say that I do not plan on auditioning any amplifiers any time soon.

bflowers November 17, 2006 19:01

I scared to even post this reply, but here goes. The only room treatment thus far is that all 4 side walls have fabric and sound dampening beneath. The room is double sheetrocked and foam insulated, and 3 of the walls are exterior walls. My audiophile friend who got me into this mess agreed that the room was appropriately "alive" as we left the ceiling and some of the front wall untreated. One thing that may not be evident from the photos is that the screen is recessed 2 ft, and thus there is cabinet space underneath the screen. That is where the dedicated lines come in. Also, there is a floor to ceiling cavity along side the screen. In my folly, (once again at the suggestion of this friend of mine) I had the fabric taken down, cut holes in the sheetrock, and filled the cavity with fiberglass insulation. A homemade basetrap! Who knows what frequency I'm trapping, but it seemed like a good idea at the time:) Anyway, I noticed a small decrease in bass bloom afterwards.

Currently I am rack mounted (not ideal) but have the universal player on symposium rollerblocks. I have coming in next week a Boulder 1012 pre amp and Boulder 2060 stereo amp. The preamp will sit on a Finite Element master reference stand. Not sure if that stand benefits from any other coupling device, or whether the components will perform best on their own feet. See...I told you I was losing it! Anyway, an MBL transport will feed the preamp, and there you have it. It's a bit complicated how I arrived at all this, but I will have to work out the synergies as things all arrive. Any input appreciated as always.

bflowers November 04, 2006 17:56

System edited: It was evident that I needed an improvement in my cabling in general. It was difficult to demo interconnects as my run is very long. After much counseling and many phone calls I was able to get some long runs to demo. I settled on Tara Labs. I also decided to use their speaker cable and digital interconnect as well. Of the other contenders, it came down to Tara versus Nordost Valhalla. I felt like the Nordost was a bit thin for my taste. The Tara was just more musical in my system. As mentioned earlier, I am about to add a 2 channel preamp, CD transport, and demoing a new amplifier for the main speakers. Hopefully I will still feel the same way after the changes. More to come:o)

bflowers November 04, 2006 06:33

System edited: As this is a relatively new house and a lot of the contractors are still around, I had the electricians add 3 dedicated 20 amp circuits for the amps and sub. This was the least expensive thing I've done (by far!) and has yielded an enormous improvement in "presence" and quieted the background even further. I am still playing with amps and conditioners, but every amp I've used so far sounds better in the wall now than they did before and better than through any conditioner.

bflowers November 01, 2006 15:43

System edited: The most noticable change to my system so far. I liked the shunyata, but in my system, there were plusses and minuses with the Hydra. The running springs made the soundstage explode in all dimensions. Clarity in treble, midrange and bass was improved. My bass immediately began to sound more like musical notes vs a single mushy note. This one's a keeper. I am in the middle of some pretty drastic changes with new power amp, cables, 2 channel linestage and transport on the way. I'll post more as they come in.

bflowers October 22, 2006 06:20