Audio Asylum - Inmate Systems

Robert C. Schult's RSAD Music Room... System
IP Address: 24.12.92.25	Last Update: March 10, 2009 at 03:26:42
Amplifier:	1 pair of Pass Labs Aleph 3 amps modified and used in a vertical bi-amp arrangement. 1 pair of GTA SE40 amps refitted with retempered RCA 5692 Red Base and Sovtek 6N7s for the gain stage and Svetlanta 6550 for the output stage. All tubes are damped with two 45 cent rubber "O" rings strategically placed to break up glass resonances. Also, lots of passive component upgrades. These are great little amps! Jolida JD302 amp rebuilt as a pair of mono blocks, upgraded parts from the one and only Micheal Percy Audio with the circuit being hard wired. This is currently a work in progress. Tubes use the same damping procedure as mentioned above. Adcom 545 MkII amp rebuilt as a pair of mono blocks with beefed up power supplies, output stage enhancements and many passive component replacements or deletions. All compotently engineered amps that just needed a little TLC and an obsessive/compolsive person willing to go over the edge...a little! In the que: 1 pair Luxmann 3045 mono block amps waiting to be rebuilt with upgrades components. Wish list for 2008: Atma-Sphere M60 mono Blocks
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	None...I've never heard a preamplifier I couldn't hear. If carefully done, less is way more.
Speakers:	RSAD's Sason Ltd/Si Granite Loudspeakers. Killer! Ref.3A MM DeCappo i modified with Poiema!!! wire harness and replaced stock cap in X-over with matched tolerance Mundorf 1200v Silver/Oil cap. Nice! Energy C2's with new "Avalon" style cabinetry, outboard crossovers hard wired with new components aquired from the good folks at North Creek Music Systems. I must be sick! Lots of work for a "Budget Speaker" but fun and worth it. These now sound as good as any $2K+ monitor I've auditioned.
Sources:
CD Player/DAC:	Mac Mini feeding an Ultra Fi Music Stream USB DAC GNS Modified RA Opus 21 CDP with further mods by RSAD. Very nice player when mods are applied. Marantz CD63 SE with LClock X02, outboard analog power supply, chasis, transport, passive component and circuit board damping. Also, about 40 hours of other fiddling with capacitors, resistors, ic's etc. good deck made excellent as far as Red Book digital play back goes.
Turntable/Phono Stage:	Custom made turntable and arm...another "Ridge Street" original. Arm is fitted with a Sumiko BPS rebuilt by Van Den Hul with further mods applied by me. Phono amps are again Ridge Street Audio custom built mono block units(those are the thingys you see in some of the pictures in Ridge Street Audio ads) with volume controled by the gain circuit. The circuit has enough gain to drive an amp and by controling the volume via the gain stage, I eliminate a passive or active volume control in the signal path. A neat trick and novel idea if I do say so myself!
Other Accessories/Room/Misc.:
Speaker Cables/Interconnects:	AC Power Cords: Alethias! Signature / RA Opus 21 Exousias PSU Umbilical Interconnects: Alethias! USB Digital Master / Poiema!!! Signature I/Cs Speaker Cables: Alethias! Signature Biwire
Other (Power Conditioner, Racks etc.):	Amps and Digital front end rest on floor isolation stands with neoprene like footers. Analog front end rests on an air suspension 90lb damped table. All stands fabricated form Corian, steel and sand. I'm trying to convince my wife to let me put a 100' windmill in our front yard for good AC. My arguement for it has been " but our coffee will taste better if it's perked with clean AC". So far, my arguement ain't flying.
Tweaks:	Why....yes! I've also been called that. Also, Ridge Street Audio Designs CABLE RISERS to lift cabling off the floor. This is a great little tweak that you ought to try. In a nicely resolute system, the improvements are subtle but important and certainly worth it. Z-der BlocK AC power correction devices
Room Size (LxWxH):	19 x 19 x 7.5
Room Comments/Treatments:	I prefer a room that is a bit lively. First reflections treated on walls, floor and ceiling.
Music Preferences and Comments:
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	I enjoy most genres but have a particular fondness for acoustically recorded material such as smaller chamber works. My favorite instruments to listen to are cello, violin, piano or a combination there of. I also enjoy good rythemic drum kit solos....Terry Bozzio anyone? As far as favorite recordings, I'll mention a few that first come to mind . RCA Living Stereo "Belafonta At Carnigie Hall", Longines Symphonette Society "Remember When" by the Mills Brothers and an old RCA Victor Red Seal mono recording of Mozart piano sonatas performed by Wanda Landowska. These older recordings have real vivacious and spirited performances by the artists that seem to be sorely lacking in most recorded performances today. If these performances don't move you, then it's time to get rid of the Penncrest record player and get a table that can play some music says I. Also, a wonderful recording that simply takes you to the recording venue, on the K, Edition Open Window label "Italienische Violinmusik 1600-1750". The Harmonia Mundi label of Handel's "Water Musick" and "La Folia". Both very playful, charming and spirited performances. This "Water Musick" collection is the best recorded performance I'm aware of in my opinion. "La Folia" is an aquired taste I suppose but is just fun. Very Ambiotic as most of Harmonia Mundi recordings are. Chick Corea's "Eye of the Beholder" has got to be a classic. Talk about an intricate, unpredictable roller coaster ride! These are out of my Vinyl colection. As for CD, I've been spending some time with Dream Theater's new release,"Six Degress of Inner turbulance". I don't much care for the first disc in this two volume set, but the second disc is killer! Very driving, intense and rhythmically propelling. Proggresive avantgarde hard rock at some of it's finest. Metalica? forget it Steve! Dave Weckle's "Transition" is good also. A release from Maschiyak Ministries called "When You're Ready" is a collection of various Christian and non Christian artists with lyrics that I find very heart stirring. Dave Wilcox's "Big Horizons" and "Night Watchman" are also collections that can reach the heart. Dave's a great Lyricist who knows how to communicate the heart and serve it on a silver platter of finely written instrumentation. Well, maybe not a few, but these are some of the music collections I enjoy spending time with.
System Goals/Comments:	Transparency and balance. I hate listening to equipment and, contrary to my personallity, I don't like excess, i.e. impressive low frequency but unmusical bass or attention grabbing treble but etchy hi frequencies. To perhaps establish some credability in place of my apparent lunacy, I will post some pictures soon. Images added 7/14/03
System Strengths:	Very transparent. Imaging and sound staging is pretty good considering the environment. When some of this gear is used in our music room, it's very convincing. Very easy to forget about the play back gear and just be immersed by the music.
System Weaknesses:	Maybe a titch heavy in the bass sometimes. Beyond that, I'm very content.
Video/HT System: Integrated
TV/Projector:	1973 black and white TV set from Sears "scratch & dent" department. $13.50!
Processor/Receiver/Amplifiers:	Built right into the TV!
Speakers (Center, Surrounds, Sub):	Center channel only...again, built right into the TV! And yes, I think it is a "Sub" speaker!
Sources (DVD/VCR):	Beta machine! Remember those!
Other HT Gear:	None
Comments on HT System:	Finally...a place to share my two cents. In terms of fidelity, I can't see Home Theater ever being an accurate, convincing portrayl of the event like say.....a two channel stereo music system! HT can be "impressive" but I've never paricipated in HT system that convinced me of being at the event like.....a two channel stereo music system! After having been spoiled by the illusion a good stereo set can produce, my audio/visual expectations have been set pretty high. I find HT more distracting than anything. Too much conflicting info. A 26" to 48" 2D picture area with a soundscape that can, to some degree, produce a 3D sound image that's three times larger than the visual and usually has bigger than all of life bass. "Impressive" but to me, distracting as my mind tries to reconcile the discrepencies. Like watching a military movie where a helicopter shoots across the screen...the sound starts 20' behind me, goes 10' far right in front and then pans 10' far left and then behind me again. Meanwhile, the image, on a flat screen, pans right to left within a 36" to 48" area! I can't help but think "this ain't right!". What's worse is, with the same senario, you have the audio channels accidentaly reversed. You don't know what the hell to do except completely loose your sense of balance, spill your beverage and fall out of your seat from being completely disoriented. It's actually quit scary and unless you have a strong heart, you could end up in ICU! I suppose I'm kind of going off on this because it seems to me HT is marketed as being so much better and entertaining than a well put together, properly set up two channel music system when really, in my opinion, HT is just a dumbing down of people's audio/visual expectations. Far too many people have never heard an excellent music system that can sweep you away to the performance. Bose radio? forget about it! Come listen to my or any one of the Asylum member's rigs sometime and I bet you'll discover that a two channel music system ROCKS & RULES!
URL Link: http://www.ridgestreetaudiodesigns.com
Other Interests/Hobbies/Occupation:	Percussionist/Guitarist, Home Audio Modifications, Wood Working, Antique Refinishing. Enjoying Great music of any Genre. Proprietor of Ridge Street Audio Designs.