Post photos of your systems/rooms here! (Part 14)

Opened early this year. Small but beautiful. In the inner mission. And they also play records.

 

A few (Bad, iPhone) pics of a lazy Sunday afternoon...equipment in profile.

 

What type of cable do you use between the iPad and the DAC?

 

Very nice. iPhone Photo tip: When you are taking a photo, tap the screen and dark areas will lighten up if you tap there. You can keep tapping areas on the phone screen and the exposure will adjust so you won't have really dark areas. Where the front of your cabinet is dark, if you do this, you can open that part up so we can view it better. But close the curtains since that is very bright light coming in and you''ll over expose everything. iPhones don't need lots of light so if the room is fairly bright on it's own, you don't want or need all that window fill light coming on directly at you.

Just a suggestion from experience.

 

Very true, Mazzy. People forget that the light meter in any camera is gonna be totally influenced by the large body of strong light it sees. -- there is no camera made that can equalize the two, light and dark, the way our own two eyes do.

 

I usually hesitate to post about photography like this but I am a frequent image poster around the web and do think about the lighting in a room or outside. Plus there are several apps plus the edit button in the photos album on an iPhone that is handy and easy to use. Also my profession is a commercial photography agent representing amazing photographers. I'm not a pro myself , but doing this for 29 years really has given me a pretty good eye and creating the best image possible is something I strive for too. But I don't take it to Photoshop extremes with an iPhone, but there are great, even cheap apps to make your images better.

But I guess this is more for a photography thread but most music people don't go looking there. Mobile phones can take amazing pictures these days but it's still important to train your eye IMHO.

 

Right ... I won't dwell on the photography aspect further here, either - other than to say I'm AMAZED at what these iPhones and others, can do now! I miss my Hasselblads, Nikons and others, and an array of lenses for them - and 4 x 5 also. Now, i just use a simple Nikon digital camera, but am contemplating an iphone or Android for my next phone.
Cheers!

 

Same here.

 

Very cool, those are something special. I've heard the SCM100s but not the 150s. I was impressed by the 100s.

I dunno if you know, but the US distributor of ATC demoed for us in the Las Vegas Audio Club back in Dec. of '13.

http://lasvegasaudioclub.blogspot.com/2013/12/our-fifth-meeting.html

 

These are the speakers I want for my future second system when we settle on a house...how do you like them?

 

I use a Black Rhodium Beam Optical Cable - I think the DAC and the phono stage are good, but I will be looking to replace both in the new year. Just feel that the amp isn't getting fed the best signals it can be...

 

System 1 (The Toddler Free Room)







Which also feeds system 2 via a long optical cable. I've had the Cyrus 1 and Meridian 203 since 1989 and they owe me nothing!

 

Assuming you mean the JansZens, I like them very much. They have an impressive clarity, are detailed without being harsh, and the controlled directivity works well in my smallish basement room.

 

I am totally digging the vintage Garrard and Tannoys! Classic UK hifi.
(Only a little British kid would have a toy bus like that one, LOL!)

I just yesterday added a new toy to my own vintage collection, a circa 1955 Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr. L-34 with Model 160 16" tonearm:





Last night I did some preliminary servicing. I cleaned off the drive pulleys, did as much as I could with the dried-out old idler tires, cleaned the platter rim, cleaned out and re-oiled the bearing well, etc. In other words, just enough work so that I could get it running and evaluate things. Dialing in correct and consistent pitch for both speeds was not a problem.

I mounted a Denon DL-102 mono HOMC cartridge on the looong Model 160 transcription arm (which is wired for mono) and gave it a listen. Ah, that cart sounds much better on that big, heavy arm than on the medium mass AR arm I had been test-driving it on for the past couple of days. I am definitely hearing the potential this table has, particularly that classic idler-drive fatness and PRaT.

As expected, it is pretty rumble-y (but a lot less so than before I cleaned off the drive system and bearing), but even at this point the rumble is only audible between songs and it is not obtrusive. The rumble is more of a pulse than a low growl, which makes me think that most of the noise is coming from the motor, therefore my approach to the restoration will follow this order:

1.) Replace motor mount grommets
2.) Have idlers re-rubbered (by either Terry Witt or Ed Crockett)
3.) Make a new, high-mass plinth

Ah, the plinth... The one that it came with looks very nice, but it is basically a big, hollow plywood box. I'm going to eventually have to get or make something with more mass. Unfortunately my woodworking skills are pretty much nil, but I'm not afraid of a challenge, and I think I might have enough tools here to do it. (My wife is a metalsmith, and has a drill press.) But that's a project for later, after I address the immediate mechanical issues.

I guess I have a 'thing' for vintage idler-drive tables... besides the ROK, I also have a Thorens TD-124 (the crown jewel), a restored Dual 1219, and a Dual 1019 awaiting restoration.

Ironically, two mornings ago, while I was driving my daughter to school, I spied something interesting sitting out with the neighbor's trash, a c.1955-56 Dynakit MK II mono amp! (It even has a Mullard EL-84 inside!) So I guess I have the beginnings of a mono system now. I hope to work on it next week.

It looks pretty much the same as this one:

 

Cheers. I'll try and get a pic of System 3 once I get back to Wales. More British Classics in the shape of Quad...

You'd think so - although technically he's a tri-national British-German-Australian.

 

Thanks!

 

I really do LOVE this thread - so many fantastic rooms/systems.
I have been working on this space for some time and there still is work to complete.
It's a small dedicated space for nothing else but music - humble space and system but provides much joy!!

....but I thought I would post a single pic for now just to take part here!

 

Very nice, can we see more please?

 

Kind of you - thanks!
I hesitate to post any more till things are complete - meaning the new rack is built and in place.
But I also want you honour your polite request, so here are two more showing a bit more of the room.

Cheers from Central Canada!

 

Thank you - look forward to seeing it with the new rack.

 

You find some good s**t around your place! I only seem to find the bad s**t when I look around my neighbors' trash!

Did you read Art Dudley's Stereophile articles about restoring an old Rek-o-Kut and building a plinth for it?

 

Love the turntables and the HiLo... nice! How do you get on with the HiLo?

 

One of the benefits to being a scavenger in an affluent town... good junk!

I did... that will prove to be an invaluable resource!

 

It's awesome. I bought it for the flexibility of the signal routing, but sonically it's the business. In theory, I could run a third system from it, since the Monitor and Line Outs use independent DACs. Pro-audio is the way forward!