Best hardware acquisition of 2017

Firmly in budget territory, but the Angle Audio MM phono stage has been a revelation. Terrific company to deal with, units built to order. Small, unassuming, but beautifully built box. Has lifted my vinyl replay out from under a blanket.

 

For 2017 I got a very nice Denon DL-S1 MC Cartridge as well as a very nice set of OCC solid silver tonearm cables.

 

Schiit Loki equalizer. Works great, and lots of fun. "5 Stars"!

 

Work in progress -- just got the panels as a gift at Christmas and still experimenting and haven't taken any measurements yet but here goes: I just got a single box of GIK GridFusor panels which consist of four 2X2 panels each of which is two mirror image 13-root QRD diffusor arrays six inched deep at the max for bascially HF diffusion, the lowest frequency they diffuse is 600 Hz, with the usual scattering but not true diffusion to an octave below that. In the end I think I'm going to need several more panels for this part of the room and possibly more for another part of the room where I have some stuff up now to combat flutter echo that's just absorbing at HFs.

My listening room is pretty much perfectly rectangular, around 23' X 12.5' X 8', except for space the behind the listening position where the rectangle narrows considerably because of a closet that juts into the room. I have two of the diffusion panels, oriented for horizontal diffusing, a couple of feet apart, at the points that the speakers directly aim at along that back wall (measured with a laser). That is around 7 feet behind my listening position.

At present, I'm using another two of the panels on the side walls in that rear space, oriented at more or less the same height as the back wall diffusors, but oriented for vertical diffusion. Like I said I've done no measuring yet, but based on listening this set up, with this minimum number of panels, has given me the widest soundstage that's equally wide on both sides, the maximum HF sparkle on both sides (the way cymbals hand in space and the improved separation between multiple different cymbals is outstanding) and most centered and stable. I suspect some other panels on the rear wall itself -- and there are corner bass traps on that wall that might do well faced with some diffusions too based on my playing around with that so far -- would also be good, but with just four 2 X 2 panels to work with, this array has given me the best results so far based on just listening tests.

One of the side wall panels is on the door of the closet that narrows that back room. I suspect the side wall panels are helping make that narrowing space behind me sound bigger and that's very good, but that panel as a result winds up a little close to my years at just a hair under 5 feet (although, with the lowest diffusion frequency at 600 Hz or 1.9 feet, I'm still sitting 2.5X feet from the panel relative to the length of the lowest difffused frequency, and with the panel on the side wall -- so really diffusing the diffused and bouncing sound off the rear wall panels -- and oriented to diffuse up and down ve. towards my ears, I've noticed no weird phasey or cupped hands kind of effects, which I did notice with some experimental positions).

Lengthy, and a big off a de-rail, but that's my experience so far, limited, but promising enough to mention here.

 

Custom made Mccormack DNA-1, still breaking it in and adjusting my system but really impressive detail and soundstage.

 

Your setup looks absolutely phenominal - and I'm sure the sound is amazing. I'm curious as to where you got your furniture - particularly the vertical record storage in the back. I'm in the process of building a house and am on the lookout for furniture I can use for my a/v stuff and storage.

 

Thanks!
The cabinet is something I made myself, with the help of a friend. I couldn't find what I wanted, so I designed something myself. I still have the plans somewhere if you're interested.
The record storage is from Ikea (Kallax series): KALLAX Open kast - wit gelazuurd eikeneffect - IKEA
The Kallax series is just the right size for records. I have the 1x4 you can see in the photo, and I also have a 4x4. They also have a 5x5 but that was a little too big for me.

 

Wires. Or, as two of my favorite radio engineers from my past would say..."whars"...

November - 14 months after I'd bought the house! - I FINALLY got the improvements I'd wanted to have done since before I moved-in! And only 4 electricians/handymen later!

The project seemed simple enough: two separate 20A circuits, one to the basement system and one to the computer room, then Cat6 LAN cable fromthe computer/FiOS head-in room to both my upstairs TV setup and the basement system.

My (new) neighbor suggested the guy who'd been doing all the handy-manning for the last owner: he, and this neighbor-guy were fellow Marines, and he did repairs on the side, besides working at an electricians' company. Lived just around the corner, and was motivated to take on more projects, with a baby on the way. I walked him through the project, he seemed to understand...and instead of the estimate he promised me...he calls back and says he can't get to it for about 4 months...'cause he has a baby on the way (you'd be working right around the corner, dude-!).

Next I approach my whiz-kid net connectivity expert whose father used to manage IT installations for Adelphia. His first (and frankly, obsessive compulsion to change my mind on this) insistence was, "why install cables, when I would GIVE you all the wireless equipment to enhance your WiFi". And, "who needs extra electricity for a computer! You have a plug right there already!" I finally had to cut him off every time he would bring it up in conversation. Which was every time he'd come over.

Next I approached a real live electrical contractor, who came over, looked at the project. Tells me the basement ceiling tiles will be a problem, because if one come out they'll all come down (just what the previous owner, as well as his handyman-electrician told me); but I'd prepared for this, and had two alternative paths figured out. So this guy, the electrical contractor who had his own company and did this for a living, promised me an estimate, and I said cost didn't matter, I just wanted it done...never called back.

Then a neighbor suggest their handyman-who-did-good-electrical-work-for-them, he looked the job over, also worried about the basement tiles, but promised an estimate...and never called back.

Then another neighbor suggested a good guy he knew from church, needed the work, knew his stuff, so I called him, he sounded a bit rattled over the phone, appeared to comprehend my needs when he came over, helped me get a TV hung in the meanwhile, left his tape measure here, promised an estimate in a couple of days...and never called back.

So then the first neighbor suggested another guy, retired, who lived an hour away, promised to look at it, but first we needed locksmithing on a more immediate matter, he helped us with that, my wife had more pressing concerns with some simpler electrical work, he did that...but instead of offering an estimate on my job, couldn't promise to finish but offered me an hourly rate, and couldn't start for a couple weeks. But, HE DID. Got to the ceiling tiles, and showed me by yanking one out, this ceiling had every individual tile NAILED to a latticework up there and they COULDN'T come down as the previous owner, his friend, the electrical contractor, AND the first handyman had fretted about! Also, he knew exactly what he was doing: even though he was retired, he was part-timing for an IT company, installing, guess what, ethernet systems! and three days later my work was finished perfectly, with some other rewiring done to boot...and about a third of what I was expecting to pay.

He's also a drummer, with his own PA setup for weekend gigs...and a new friend: THIS GUY!

In a nutshell, my best hardware acquisition in 2017 was..."whars".

 

I only bought the Nagaoka MP-110 last year and I'm very happy with the cartridge's performance.

 

Thanks for the details! What surprises me is that adding HF diffusers behind you improved the soundstage in front of you. I'd never have expected that to happen.

Since I replaced the cork floor in my audio room with carpet and a thick pad, the room (about the same size as yours but with a 7-ft ceiling) seems a little overdamped at HF. I'm considering more diffusion. The Gridfusors seem like a good and economical product.

 

Oh yeah, because that room behind me narrows and and the sound is bouncing directly off the wall and doors and CD shelves along that back wall to my ears and there's comb filtering particularly audible on HF stuff like cymbals and on center image when I move my head around, and that more or less disappears with the diffusion and with the appropriate source material I'm getting the illusion of sound beyond the outer edge of the speakers vs. between the speakers, that was not so much the case before the diffusion. It really helps the speakers disappear as apparent sound sources without creating too soft a focus.

I know the walls behind the speakers are popular places for diffusion but really, unless you have dipoles, I'm not sure that's the best place to start. Diffusion is always going to be most effective when the sound directly impinges on the diffusors. I guess it's just that in a lot of rooms people don't have seven or 10 feet or something behind them to the listening position. In an an audio control room, diffusion behind the desk/sitting position, is pretty common.

 

As you implied, with the type of diffuser you're using (and similarly for 2D "skyline" ones), a little less distance seems OK. In my room , I had three 2×4 ft panels of skylines on the front wall. After replacing two with GIK A6 panels and putting those skylines on the side walls behind the listening seat, the presentation seems better. I don't know whether that's because of added bass absorption, changing to 1D from 2D diffusion on the front wall, adding diffusion behind me, or all three. But IME breaking up flutter echo always helps tonality and imaging, and you can never get rid of too many hard reflective surfaces -- as long you don't use pure absorption to do it.

And I do understand how the narrowing behind you, untreated, could cause problems.

 

My humble 2017 acquisition is ....... a CD player! (Remember them?)
It's the Yamaha S300 which plays all my CDs and CD-Rs and even the CD-RWs.
(It's surprising how many present-day CD players are picky about different discs. I have a fine TEAC player which turns up its nose at most CD-Rs, of which I have far too many.)

Also this Yamaha model can play MP3s from an iPod or a flash drive. And I'm now at the age (just into the 70s) when I can just about tell the difference between MP3 and CD (depending on the recording).

It's a mixed blessing but it means I can now concentrate on the music.

 

sweet looking cartridge slippers!

 

Thank you!

 

A week into 2018 and I already bought a set of HD380Pro headphones to replace an old set of Logitech at work. I'm hopeless...

 

I haven't heard of that cartridge. Looks like a modern classic How would you describe the sound?

 

Only one major change in 2017, that being a VPI Scout Jr. Which I think if I had done a bunch of changes it would possibly qualify as the best one. It's been a significant improvement and this is likely the best records have sounded in my system since I got back into playing them.

 

Avanti1960.....This has been Denon's top reference cartridge for a long time. Retails about $1000. Discontinued about a year ago...and I've seen the remaining stock as high as $1600. Its a very low output cart at .15mV. Lots of cats give up on it because the numbers are weird.....Denon made a SUT just for this cart that retails close to $2k. My Musical Surroundings couldn't hang with it...luckily I had a Creek phono amp that can get 80 db. And if you ask me I believe I really need a SUT, but with the Creek its sounding absolutely fabulous. With a good SUT I believe it will go a notch or two better. I've had a few pairs of tonearm cables mated with the Denon, and each time I was able to get better sound than before...so I believe tonearm cables also play a very important role in how a cart sounds and how dynamic it can be. So the cart sounded a little different each step of the way.

I could have easily lived with either of these phono cables, but I really wanted to see if going up would greatly affect what a great cart would do.....the answer...yes. I believe some of these nice carts I see that we have, costing say, $700 and up, aren't giving us all that that cart is able to do because we don't spend good money on cables. We simply aren't hearing our music at its best due to not spending on cables. Not saying one has to spend what I spent, but we do the cart no justice if we spend good money on a cart and then throw low ball money on the cable.

I used Analysis Plus Low Mass Oval Phono cables ($500) and the cart was very nice sounding...a little warmish due to Analysis Plus being a warmish cable but man....it was really a very nice presentation. This cable is pure silver over a stabilizing strand of OFC copper. I got a little curious at how much better the cart could sound. I also used these cables with the 2M Black and the Denon right off the bat put the 2M Black to shame. And you know how good the 2M Black can be. So I switched to Wireworld Phono cables, Silver Eclipse 7 phono cables that were a little more expensive than the A+ cables...sound was even better, Not as warm as the A+ cable but even more dynamic and transparent than the A+. This cable is constructed of OCC silver Clad over copper. The Denon began to show that it could be lively and still maintain that all important balance and still remain true to the recording without trying to draw the attention to its self like I felt the 2M Black would do at times. Then I got a lucky chance at the Wireworld Platinum tonearm cable. . The Denon was actually sounding much more natural in what it was doing before. It was like the Wireworld Platinum pulled back layers of fabric I never even knew was there. Avanti, you know how it is....you never knew what you where missing until you try something new. I never knew the Denon could sound like this and didn't even know it could sound any better...at least not this much better! Music was like ultra transparent, super real type of music....I mean living music in a venue type of stuff... The sound became so much real and personable.....it was that much more romantic in that the music would touch you on the insides. I mean a good song can make you cry! That's how great the music is. It wasn't about being analytical and trying to listen for the bass or the drum line...yes I could do those things with ease, but the Denon became about enjoying the music and getting lost in it. That's how good the Denon/Platinum 7 became. These cables are OCC solid Silver and cost $1400 for a reason. They simply take your cartridge/music to the place the manufacturer meant it to go. I've learned a valuable less with these three cables and a reference phono cartridge. A Reference Cartridge has a lot to offer...its simply how much of the technology do we want to unlock.

I know I will be made fun of....but some of the cats out there know what i'm talking about because they have been there done that. So you asked how the cart sounds? In my set up it sounds like its giving me music up close and personal. Yes I can follow each note of every instrument if I want....I have that front to back depth, the tone of each instrument is spot on...the sound stage is wide and deep...I have my dynamics...no surface noise...no ear bleeding highs, nice cymbal taps, rim shots and notes linger in the air...bass is tight and nice and can be felt when need be...and the mid section is really lush at times when called for.

But what I really like about the Denon DL-S1....it lets me get lost in the music and forget all about how it sounds. At my age, I like a lot of ballads...and then the Denon becomes emotional and romantic to me. No one can do a Ballad Like Shirley Horn, Or Billie Holiday. Or a nice slow tune that's played with emotion like the Modern Jazz Quartet....Or a nice passionate and emotional sax like Paul Desmond....or a nice soulful sax like Gene Ammons...How about some skillful fingers picken of Bud Powell or a nice skillful and emotional Piano like Bill Evans...or get me and wife in the groove like some Luther Vandross or Teddy Pendergrass..or even take me back to some Bluesy days like Robert Johnson or Lightnin Hopkins? The Denon simply lets me forget about how it sounds and lets me get involved with the music on the inside. That's what I love about the Denon...it sounds like music, the way its was meant to sound and do to the soul who loves music.

I also have a Denon DL-301 MK2 in the closet. Tho its not a reference cart, I have been meaning to try it out with the WW Platinum to see how much is locked up in her and to see what I was really missing with that cart. But the DL-S1 has me not wanting to touch a thing...its that good.

Thanks for asking.

 

Didn't you at one point have that table with the golf ball? I forgot what the name of it was, but I thought you had one a few years back when we where at AK forum.... unless I've you mixed up? How does the VPI stack up to that?

 

Awesome....clearly you love this cart!!!

I run a DL-301MKII on my table....not a DL-S1 by any stretch but it's the best I will ever own and I like it a lot....as many who recommended the 301 to me a few years ago it punches above its price point. Now I bought 2 when they were had for $225 Canadian shipped to my door so I'm pleased.

Enjoy Sir!!

 

Hi....Yes I love the DL-S1. And my DL-301MK2 is a fine cart as well. A few years ago there was a thread over at Vinylengine.com were this guy started a thread about midrange drop out with the 301MK2. Other guys also said they experienced it as well. I had none of that. I've always ran the DL-301MK2 with the Analysis Plus Low Mass Oval Cables and my Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ phono amp.

I put the 301MK2 up against my 2M Black in a shoot-out. The 2M black beat it in every way, but musicality. The Black cost almost twice as much so it better beat the 301MK. But for enjoyment the 2M Black couldn't hang with the 301 MK2 in emotion and romance. Yes the 2M Black can be romantic, but it cant do it like the 301 MK2 which isn't as analytical and dynamic as the 2M Black.

 

My Apple TV 4K and my Oppo UDP 203.

 

I bought three items in 2017. The best piece is the Audio Note M3 Phono Balanced Preamp. The improvement in the phono replay is astounding and the full range breath of life there. The M6 is better but almost double the price at $20k so..


But I also bought one of the best bargains I have heard in audio in the KingKo KA 101 which is an integrated amplifier, a Headphone amplifier, and serving me now as a power amplifier. $800 well made - 25lbs, meters, autobias, and really really quiet - no noise hiss or other maladies that sometimes creep into less expensive tube amps.



I picked up the silver front plate to match my AN preamp preamp and dac and LM 215 CD player.

And lastly the Audio Note DAC 0.1x ($1,450) for a NOS filterless DAC that has replaced my Line Magnetic 502CA and frankly any upsampling/oversampling player. It's a bit fussy as to what it will work with so reading the owner's manual before buying is a must. It uses an unusual tube type and Audio Note prefers that you leave it on all the time. It has an expected tube life of more than 100,000 hours or over 11 years 24/7 play. It's a very plain Jane looking box with two inputs - USB and Coax with a button to select. And that's it.

 

I am about to become a owner of a gently used LS-100, what preamp did it replace or better? Any tube suggestions for phono stage (if you have one)?

My other 2017 purchase was the OPPO Sonica with a mod update from EVS EVS Homepage I think it sounds amazingly better.