| neolith's The Carriage House System | ||||
| IP Address: 67.172.199.48 | Last Update: November 15, 2008 at 09:43:43 | |||
| Amplifier: | Bryston 4BST (bass) & PS Audio HCA-2 (mid-treble) | |||
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | Music Reference RM-5 Preamp Marchand XM-44 Active Crossover (2-way)  | |||
| Speakers: | Magnepan IIIA's with DIY stands. Rel Strata III subwoofer Grado SR-60 Headphone with Grado RA-1 headphone amplifier. Also Sennheiser 280's (closed design) for air travel and when the wife is in the room (blocks her out and she doesn't complain about being able to hear the Grado Phones - talk about low WAF). | |||
| Sources: | ||||
| CD Player/DAC: | Heart CD-6000 with Amperex PQ 6922
Herbie's Grungebuster CD Mat. | |||
| Turntable/Phono Stage: | 1)Linn Sondek (Valhalla) with Magnepan Unitrac I tone arm and Grado Red and Herbie's Excellent Turntable Mat. 2) Denon DP-55K with Unitrac I tonearm and DV Karat 17D2 MkII. Lundahl Step-up Transformer Kit (LL9206) from K&K Audio.   | |||
| Other Source(s): | Sansui TU-919 AM/FM tuner | |||
| Other Accessories/Room/Misc.: | ||||
| Speaker Cables/Interconnects: | Belden 89259 IC'S with Eichmann's from Heartland Cables . Speaker cables: Speltz's Anti-cables. | |||
| Other (Power Conditioner, Racks etc.): | Dedicated 20 amp Main for the amps and two dedicated 15 amp Mains for rest of equipment. Marinco outlets. | |||
| Tweaks: | MG-IIIa's are modified with the mid-bass panels reversed (magnets in back) and the internal XO, fuses, jumpers removed. Rewired with magnet wire. Internal Crossover externalized and rebuilt with Obliggato caps and Alphacore 14G coils. The xo point is lowered to ~2500 Hz and the Q's are closer to 0.5 on both the high and low pass filters. Replaced the Magnepan steel jacks with Connex 5-way posts.
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| Room Size (LxWxH): | 20' x 20' x 7 to 8' | |||
| Room Comments/Treatments: | The room is ~20'x26' with a 6' by 8' bathrom in the right front corner making it L-shaped The floor is carpeted. DIY corner bass traps using Roxul Rockboard 60 (not shown in pictures). This is a dedicated room, separate from the house, and has its own bath and kitchen (sort of a studio apartment). The power supply comes directly from the transformer (app. 30' away) and is a steady 120v.
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| Music Preferences and Comments: | ||||
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Classical, including 20th century and lots of baroque, jazz (especially Charles Mingus) but also some Blue Grass (Doc Watson, etc.) and a limited amount of rock. | |||
| System Goals/Comments: | Wide sound stage with proper imaging and depth. Warmth and musicality. | |||
| System Strengths: | Sound stage is deep and imaging is precise. The bass is solid and firm (not muddy). | |||
| System Weaknesses: | Low WAF and I need more vinyl and CD's. None of these is a resolvable problem. | |||
| Video/HT System: None | ||||
| TV/Projector: | 32" LCD between the speakers (no choice) so I can listen to Mozart while watching MASCAR | |||
| Other Interests/Hobbies/Occupation: | Surf Fishing, bicycle riding, photography, NASCAR, violin (this is more like torturing the cat than making music), woodworking (turning perfectly good wood into sawdust). | |||
