| Last Update: May 11, 2004 at 12:02:42 | IP Address: 208.177.163.234 |
| Amplifier: | Rega Mira - '99
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| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | n/a |
| Speakers: | North Creek Rhythms. Mahogany veneer, 1/2" poplar edges with roundover, finished with linseed oil and marine varnish.
ACI Titan II subwoofer. Built it from one of the closeout kits.
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| Sources: | |
| CD Player/DAC: | Rega Planet - '99 (late model with solar remote)
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| Turntable/Phono Stage: | VPI HW19 Jr. Rega RB300 arm. Denon DL-103D MC cartridge. Sowter 6864 1:12.5 High Z Cartridge Transfomers in a Hammond ABS project box. MM phono stage in my Mira. Sumiko Alchemist high output MC cartridge. 1.7 MV output. Came with the table. (currently on stand by) Grado Black MM cartridge (on stand by)
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| Other Source(s): | Marantz Model 112 tuner with wood case - a real beauty
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| Other Accessories/Room/Misc.: | |
| Speaker Cables/Interconnects: | Speaker cable: Radio Shack 18 ga. solid core hookup wire. I rearranged the room and needed some stealth 30' cables. These sound pretty good and are practically invisible. Stereophile approved! Heh. (On standby: Chris VH 27 pr. speaker cables.) Homegrown Audio Super Silver II (Planet -> Mira).
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| Other (Power Conditioner, Racks etc.): | VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine - this thing rocks.
Salamander Synergy S40 Six Shelf Audio Rack (cherry wood, no sides or back) Signet sonic stylus cleaner. Signet stylus treatment. Signet velvet cleaning brush (lint brush style) Audioquest carbon fiber cleaning brush. |
| Tweaks: | See description of absorber/diffuser sound panels below re: Room/Treatments. |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | 20 x 13 x 7.5 |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | The stereo is set up in my family room. It's a sunken room, connected to the living room through french doors. There's wall-to-wall gray shag carpeting on the floor and my listening chair is an overstuffed sofa pulled about 1 foot away from the long wall. The speakers are oriented along the opposite long wall. There are sliding glass doors at the far end of the room, to the right of the right speaker. The right speaker is located according to the Cardas golden ratio method for speakers oriented along a short wall. The speaker was then rotated 90 degrees to face the long wall. The left speaker is oriented so as to be symmetrical to the right from the center of the sofa. When I first arranged the speakers this way, I noticed some upper midrange glare and lyrics were slightly unintelligible. Removing the large glass-framed print which was directly between the speakers helped reduce this slightly, but not entirely. I wound up building two absorber/diffuser panels. They are 2’x3’ boxes made from 4” cedar planks, with ½” styrofoam in the back and ½” grid metal screening in front. They are lightly stuffed with pink fiberglass insulation and wrapped with $3/yd gray suit material from walmart. I didn’t want them absorbing a particular frequency, I just wanted them to be poor reflectors of sound. They are mounted on the wall behind and between the speakers, with a 8” gap between the panels. They seem to work pretty well – no glare, no harsh highs, music and lyrics are intelligible and engaging. The panels also look extremely cool. The gray suit material was a good choice. Pics are from my camera phone, sorry for the bad quality.
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| Music Preferences and Comments: | |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | 25% jazz (a lot of early 70's CTI and early jazz-funk fusion), 20% classic rock/funk/soul, 25% acoustic folk/instrumental/bluegrass, 20% electronica/ambient, and 10% classical. |
| System Goals/Comments: | Seeking a holographic musical experience while maintaining visual aesthetics. |
| System Strengths: | Musically satisfying. Visually pleasing. The Rhythms came out really well - good sense of accomplishment on the DIY front. |
| System Weaknesses: | The Titan II sounds great .. very smooth and substantial . . but I still need to spend some time positioning it and tweaking the crossover and phase settings to match the Rhythms.
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| Video/HT System: None | |
| Other Interests/Hobbies/Occupation: | Music, travel, gardening, woodworking, knives. Corporate Attorney |
