Post photos of your systems/rooms here! (Part 15)

Nice! Very mad scientist

 

@Baaronj

Extremely nice Altec's!


This is about the most practical design for using A7 styled cabinets in the home. First off you have more bass that is better and deeper, due to dual drivers and a bass reflex cabinet design. I also agree that off the floor is best. these 15" drivers are the perfect sized drivers for the cabinets that you have, for use within the home.

They should couple perfectly at 500-cycles with the 511B horn. Magnificent! Although I have a standard (but modded A7 cabinets, drivers and crossovers), there is no purpose served by having a loaded horn cabinet in the home. It's not that I don't like bass horn designs, but they take up more room and don't serve a practical purpose in home use.

A standard A7 828 cabinet was only designed to play down to about 47-Hz at its -3dB point. Obviously, these will play significantly lower and with more authority to pressurize a room by themselves.

Despite Altec's claim that they are flat to 20k cycles, I have never bought into that. IMO, they start rolling off after 6k - 6.5k. That is why I have chosen a design with added JBL "baby cheeks" super tweeters and a crossover that takes over at 6k, up to 20k+.

Since I don't have that much lower bottom end with the 828 cabinets, I supplement the lower end with a single 15" horn loaded sub-woofer. It is what I need to make the A7's work for most types of music. When there is not sub bass playing, the sub is mostly silent.

Your choice of a 511B horn and driver is one of the best combination for vocals that I have personally encountered.

All tubes are the only way to roll. Never power super efficient speakers with SS amps. It is never a good idea. Only tubes.

Rock on!

S&G

 

Naim players are good performers and well built. However, like all components, Naim gear is system dependent and can sound more exceptional in one system than another. As a caveat, we should always start with the premise that we can't hear through another man's or woman's ears. That said, ...

As I see it, adding a power supply to a player that's designed for it isn't messing with the sound ...as would be, say, having an OPPO player modified for 6SN7 tubes and variants. If the power supply beefs up the player's presentation musically, then it's intended as an upgrade.

I can't speak directly to your CD5 player, but an XPS upgrade is almost a night & day performance enhancement for the CD-X2. Everything opened up, wider soundstage, deeper front back soundstage, more inner detail, and improved analogue-like presentation without being fatiguing over long listening sessions. What sounded good before sounds jaw dropping now.

Based on the brief time I've had with Teddy's redesigned XPS power supply (it isn't even fully broken in yet) my impression is that if compared with Naim's megabuck, large footprint power supplies and $$$ cables TP's products are a bargain in every way.


Cat

 

your not wrong on the roll off. I don't vouch for the quality of the mic used to capture this, but strong roll off below 50hz in stock form. On the high end, these speakers sat for 25 years so i suspect new diaphragms would help out abit there. I've supplemented my A7 with a 10" slim sub mounted in the corner behind the right cabinet to fill it out the bottom abit. id rather have something more substantial, but it gets the job done
.

 

Working on restoring these ADS L2030 speakers. I just had all the drivers rebuilt by Richard So in AZ. I have a new pair of risers in the works. Next up will be refinishing the walnut trim and rebuilding/recovering the grills.

Current system is setup like this:
ADS L2030
Yamaha A-S1000 serving preamp duty
Bettinger restored GAS Ampzilla II
Linn Axis w/ Akito arm and Signet TK7E cartridge
TEAC U-D501 DAC
Yamaha BD-S681 CD/SACD Player
Chromecast Audio for Spotify
Discovery +4 IC's
DIY 12G speaker wire

ADS L2030 by Audio Database, on Flickr

 

Wow. Those ADS L2030 speakers are huge. A very nice rig - thanks for posting.

 

Thanks so much man! These were def a (lack of $$) necessity birthing invention kind of thing.

Believe it or not, they're actually Altec 9844 monitors, so unfortunately 2 x @12" 414z per side + 811b horns.

So they're not as good in the bass dept. as I'd like, but they do the Altec thing super well.

The main problem I have is the lousy room they're in at the moment. Ceilings <7'.

Basically, these were the cheapest point of entry into Altec designs I could come up with. I would love to hear others, like the 604s and A5 and A7.

Here's a pic of what these speakers looked like when I first acquired them. I rebuilt them using the stock cabinets, had the 414z's reconed by GPA, swapped the 806a's for new GPA 802-16gs,
made new baffles and crossovers, etc. I've learned a ton and had a blast doing it.

Thanks again for the kind words!

 

That's right on time. Cool

 

Here are the pics of mine I forget to attach and and an RTA I took the other day at 1 meter. The GPA drivers really help.

I'm using RCF h-3709 horns on this RTA - they have a similar shape as the Altec 32b/c, minus the bend.

EDIT: can't figure out how to post pics. I'll add them when I can.

 

Very cool space. Looks like a room out of an old Hammer film.

 

No doubt! I would think he has the right amp since it's called "ampzilla"!

 

Dig.

(Ringo needs elevating )

 

New additions are the PS Audio DirectStream Memory Player feeding the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC.
Right out of the box the sound is more life-like, detailed and spacious. Burn in just underway.

 

Something new in my life and something new in my system No.1
Ayon CD player and new XLR interconnects (AMP/PreAMP, CD/PreAMP) Marohei cables Maduro XLR.







And most important I got daughter couple month ago, so now mostly I spending time with Stella and playing System No.2

 

Congratulations! Nice rompers

 

Love that 12 year Double Wood! The 17 Double Wood, whoa! Spectacular.

 

Oh, and shame on me for not congratulating you on the most spectacular upgrade of all, that beautiful new daughter!

 

There was a kid in those pictures?

 

Thanks for the pics, I wish I was there to listen.
I'll pour a dram and you can change the diapers

 

I'm a regular reader of this topic, so I throw in some pictures of my listening area :







Accuphase e-213, Hegel HD25 dac, Roksan Kandy II cdp, VPI Scout with Audio Technica oc9/mk3, Trichord Dino mk2 phono preamp, Sonos connect with Spotify Premium, Sony Minidisk (not used anymore)
Sonus Faber Olympica 2
Speaker cable : Van Damme Blue Series Studio Grade 2,5mm.
Interconnects from Deskadel, Supra, Real Cable and RU Connected.

 

1

My first amp was a Yamaha CA-600, oh how I wish I still had it! Oh, and nice system!

 

That Accuphase amp is a nice piece of hardware, have always loved their looks, bet it sounds pretty sweet too. Looks like a well setup system that can also get out of the way and not dominate the room.

 

Haven't had a Balvenie I didn't like! But you are right about that 17!

@BigGame congrats, enjoy this babytime, they grow up so fast!

 

Indeed, when not in use I can close the lid of the purple trunk and the stereo gear is out of sight, apart from the speakers, which are esthetically ok, and the VPI, that “giant ugly insect”, according to my wife, who, unfortunately, doesn’t share my enthusiasm for listening to music.