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ajax@shasta.com's dave's stereos System |
| Last Update: March 16, 2002 at 03:20:00 | IP Address: 66.42.93.60 |
| Amplifier: | Home: Mesa Baron (5881 OT version)(mains) Marantz MA 500 monoblocks (subs) Office: Dynaco MK IIIs W/ Ned at Triode's driver board & PS mods Bedroom: Homebrew 6BQ5, but ever-changing |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | Home: McCormack ALD-1 (running passive) Nakamichi EL-100 xover & PS-100 power supply Office: Wright Audio LGP-1 Bedroom:Dynaco PAS3, but ever-changing |
| Speakers: | Home: (mains)Newform Research R645s, w/ SonicCraft KSU mod ("B" version) Subs: still shopping (prob. either Parts Express passive Titanic, or some Velodyne servo model or other[and then get rid of the Marantz's]Hard to say. Office: Magnapan SMGas Bedroom: Ever-changing series of DIY projects |
| Sources: | |
| CD Player/DAC: | Home: AMC cd6b w/ 5404a tube output option Office: Pathetic old bitstream Yamaha Bedroom: Parasound C/DP 1000, but that system is always subject to change |
| Turntable/Phono Stage: | Home: Still shopping (prob. Rega P3, Music Hall 5 or Pro-Ject MR-3, though); dpa (that stands for "Deltech Precision Audio," I think) |
| Other Source(s): | Home: HH Scott 350B tube tuner Office: Sony ES model (forgot model #) Bedroom: Dynaco tube tuner, but subject to change at my whim, luck, breakdowns, whatever |
| Other Accessories/Room/Misc.: | |
| Speaker Cables/Interconnects: | Home Main System:DH Labs Silver Sonic Q-10 biwire DH Labs Air Matrix I/Cs Ultralink Performance I/Cs Some Blue Monster Cable I/Cs and some even worse shit, like those clear things they used t give away with Adcom Components! Office and bedroom: crap not worth mentioning, unless you want to make fun of me.
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| Other (Power Conditioner, Racks etc.): | Adcom ACE 515 ac enhancer (2) Powervar 3 stage toroidal power conditioner w/ common mode pi-filter (whatever that is) |
| Tweaks: | Mods, mods, mods. |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | 30 x 18 x 9 |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | Those are approximate measurments, and I really don't plan to do much with the room, as I'm renting, but plan to buy a house in the fall. Also, at this point, my video gear (DVD [cheap Apex], VHS [Sony SLV-585 HF]and dish receiver [RCA, I think] is hooked up to the main stereo. A priority for my new digs will be seperate rooms for 1)stereo/library, and 2)HT/living room, the latter using some sort of a multi-channel receiver and probably a cd player for non-critical listening & entertaining guests unworthy of the inner sanctum. |
| Music Preferences and Comments: | |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Classic R&B; 60s & 70s Soul; Reggae; Jazz; Classical; World; Presently, I'm on a big Afropop kick that has yet to run it's course. Really, I like everyhing except 1)Country and Western [all forms, including Bluegrass], 2)Dixieland, and 3)Klezmer, all of which I consider to be secretly related variations of an extraterrestrial, ultra-twerp-retard-space-goon genre, the rhythmic tradition for which is, historically speaking, probably derived from the pace and tempo of a drunk, stuffed head first into an aluminum ash can, tumbling down a flight of cement stairs. But, hey, that's just my opinion. (Although I've long suspected there are others!) |
| System Goals/Comments: | See above. The bedroom system is, and will continue to be, a sort of work in progress/playground, where, until I grow weary of this hobby (I mean the building and tweaking part, that is; I'll always want to listen through high quality gear. But I'm not an engineer by any stretch, and even Algebra scars the bejesus out of me)for my dicking around with old Dynacos, building speakers, etc. I bought the parasound cd because its supposed to be a transport of reasonable quality and price, so that I can play around with DACs.(I actually do like to listen in bed, though.) The office system offers other potentials. The SMGas, the "last true ribbon" Magnapan made, has a sweet as hwll midrange, but it rolls off at something like 16K, and has "one note bass." I got them because they are sympathetic to the human voice. I'm a criminal defense lawyer, and I have to listen to lots of poor quality tapes of witnesses, confessions, etc. But I also like nice music while I work. So I'm considering a number of things there, like 1) an interface/dsp software package to clean up the tares via my laptop, 2) some kind of [lightwieght--the neighbors!] subwoofer, and 3)tweaking the xover [maybe adding bi wire/amp capability] and adding a super tweer of some sort. |
| System Strengths: | The bg one? Well, it's not complete yet, but so far, great clearity, detail, soundstaging, dynamic wham. Soon, the low bass will be of equal quality. And I'm looking forward to my reaquaintence with vinyl. Although I'm having a little trouble with the cd player (tube stage cuts out now and then) and the Baron (problem with the meter "balance" function on one side), I expect easy fixes for both. And th cd player (2 Burr Brown 96/24 coverters per side and a 12AU7-based class A output) is the sweetest thing I've heard in anywhere near it's price range (list=$900).And the Baron is the most versitile amp I've ever even heard of, and the detail,soundstaging and dynamics are almost obscene for the price. Also, great bass control for a tube amp. the McCormack is also super versitile, passive or active, coupled or uncoupled, etc. But the Newforms, especially with the mod, seem to match perfectly.Although the Baron would probably work well with almost any speaker (although my knowlege of the real exotics is almost nonexistant) |
| System Weaknesses: | We're talking main system I assume, right? Well shit, I don't know. A lot of my stuff is new and/or newly modified. It is , on one hand, ceratainly beter then anything I've had before (prior best: a lot of the same gear, but with Paradigm Studio Monitors, passively biamped with the Marantz's and a Hafler XL 280). It kicks the cheese out of that lineup, in just about every subtelty you can think of [except low bass, but the soon-to-be-added subs will more than cure that!]One the other, it doesn't have quite the soundstaging or, what?, the integraty of a $30,000 all McIntosh/B&W 801 system that I heard last week. I don't know. It's pretty new to me and I'm still pretty enamoured. Ask me later, after I'm more used to the bitch, and have strted taking her for granted. |
| Video/HT System: Integrated | |
| TV/Projector: | Sony 27" trintron, like 10 years old. |
| Processor/Receiver/Amplifiers: | Not yet. I like the McIntosh stuff, but who am I kidding? Unless a secretly wealthy relative, who loves me more than I know, dies soon, I'll have to settle for some kind of 5, 6 (or however many channel they have by then) single unit receiver. Maybe an Outlaw. They look kinda cool in the ads. Who knows. |
| Speakers (Center, Surrounds, Sub): | not yet |
| Sources (DVD/VCR): | see above |
| Other HT Gear: | Ditto. I do have an Adcom pro logic processor/3 channel amp combo. About ten years old. Worked ok for a couple years, but now, besides being obsolete, it intermittantly distorts on one side in back. On the whole, it sucks ass, and hs been religated to the garage until I find someone that I detest enough to give it to. |
| Comments on HT System: | Weak. Waiting until I move. |
| URL Link: http://nah. | |
| Other Interests/Hobbies/Occupation: | Hobbies:Playing the Bass, Backpacking, Shooting, Fishing, Cooking, Constant Reading Driving my new Subaru WRX (which, by the by, has a Bitchin\' stereo, even an amp with a tube driver stage), used to do Karate, but I\'ve gottem way too lazy for that. In |