Thanks for the kind words. I try not to make too much out of assisting with her care, as tens of millions of people have done the same thing. My post was more about not having to sit in the hot seat to enjoy two channel audio, but in my situation the two topics are inexorably connected. Lol. Interestingly, the music that gets the strongest reaction out of her is that of her younger brother. All you Motown fans will appreciate this. Her brother is the now deceased Freddie Perren. A Google search turns up quite a bit of info on him. Even though she is in the advanced stages of the disease, hearing her brother's greatest hits makes a noticeable connection every time I play them. It will be a sad day when those songs no longer make her smile. M. M.
For good or bad, the ARC SP17 has arrived. From another thread, it was a down to the wire decision between this and a Parasound Halo P 6. The price difference was negligible. I'll let it sit for a while, then check the seating of the tubes and then away we go. I don't expect it to be as "tubey" as my Bottlehead FP III and not as "solid state" as my Kenwood Basic C1. We shall see.
Favorite accessory is your Devo Energy Dome. Awesome Bring those speakers out into the room a bit. They have a rear port...Go ahead, you may be surprised...
You sir, are a gentleman of exquisite taste! I saw them live in 1980. One of my favorite concerts. “Every man, woman and mutant on this planet shall know the truth about De-Evolution”
Running out of space, so I added an old Ikea shelf atop a 2x4 Kallax. Not only did it raise the turntable to a better cueing height, it seems that having the top shelf (which is 12 inches longer than a Kallax) offset has damped or decoupled what little footfall vibrations there were. The Okki Nokki, like Harry Potter, usually lives in a closet under the stairs, but it's also nice to have room to clean records here. As always, apologies for my potato camera.
Update of the set : In the centre the new Lavardin IT integrated. A major (and probably ultimate) upgrade On the left : the white Myzic headphone amp
Just put this beast of a transcription tonearm, the Sorane ZA12, on my 301. It’s magnificent with a Miyajima Infinity mono cartridge.
Here is my updated listening room / living room. The room is 11x17, it is rectangular and not treated, at first I had positioned the hi-fi the other way around ( longer side of the room ) where I had 8-9 feet distance from the speakers with another 5 feet behind me. It wasn't the optimal setup, everything sounded thin and bright, no midrange or bottom end, so I tried positioning everything back to how it was with my previous setup the way you see it in these photos. Now I sit 7 feet distance from the speakers, I guess you can consider this near field. I decided to sell the B&W CM5 speakers and the Musical Fidelity A300 integrated amp that I previously had and decided to ''downgrade'' to the Kef LS50s and Musical Fidelity M2si integrated amp. With the CM5 speakers I would get a very loud and boomy sound, listening fatigue would present itself after 30min. With the LS50's I get a beautiful neutral sound not too bright and not too dark, it's like they were meant to be positioned the way I have positioned them in my given space. They are sitting 1.5ft away from the back wall and my listening couch is situated in front of a wall with 3 large windows, positioned this way I more than enough bottom end that is realistic and not boomy. The Musical Fidelity A300 was putting out 150 WPC which was too loud in this given space. Replacing it is the Musical Fidelity M2SI rated 60 WPC into 8ohm ( according to the manual ) but to my surprise they must be giving out at least 90 WPC or even more! I have more than enough power for the LS50's. That's what leads me to think that when people talk about the the LS50 needing power only is subjective to how big the room is, if the room is treated and how loud someone listens... In conclusion, I really believe that the LS50s are ideal for small rooms with a listening distance of 7-8feet. They really benefit from being 1-2feet away from the wall if you want to get a good amount of bass from them. System: KEF LS50 Musical Fidelity M2SI Integrated Amplifier Oppo BDP-105 MacMini Technics SL-1200mk2 Ortofon 2m Bronze Van Den Hul D102 mkIII Interconnect Audioquest Golden Gate Interconnect Mogami W3103 Speaker Cable - home made with Audioquest and Deltron banana connectors
@Phono Groove Great! But those speaker cables would drive me crazy. I would dress them nicely tucked behind the stands.
Not under the stands, but running them vertical behind a post down onto the floor and then as is now ...
All good things must come to an end. Wife pulled the plug on staging in the livingroom. So I bought hmmmm, maybe I can repurpose my daughters room. After I remove 90% of her stuff since she went to college. I have a fresh palette to work with and a few great ideal with movable (on rails) sound panels, bookshelf’s and a nice area for the stereo location.
New turntable! VPI Scout 1.1 with JMW-9T tonearm. Found a killer deal on Craigslist. Currently running the cart I was using previously, a Shure M97xE with the LP Gear ViVid Line stylus, however I'm planning on purchasing either a Nagaoka MP-150 or the Soundsmith Otello for her soon.
Here are some photos I snapped a couple weeks ago of my home stereo and entertainment system. While I would love to upgrade nearly everything, like all happily obsessed audiophiles, I am quite happy with what I have and enjoy playing music and watching Blu-Ray movies. The turntable is a Sony PS-X600 Biotracer. Phono cartridge is a Denon DL-110. Phono stage is a Pro-Ject Tube Box SE II with a pair of Mullard 12AX7 tubes (reissues). Stereo receiver is a Marantz 2235B, which was recapped and restored 7-8 years ago. Speakers are Pioneer SP-FS52, the budget brand designed by Andrew Jones. The television is a Sony Bravia HDTV (I have a 13" Trinitron CRT in the bedroom for classic video games). Blu-Ray player is also a Sony. The record shelf was bought at Ikea. We have music on LP, CD and cassette, although I haven't had a cassette player for a couple years (they break down too easily due to age). The CDs are either played on the Blu-Ray player or ripped to iPhone, but I would really like to purchase a Marantz CD6006 one of these years. But I want to upgrade the phono cartridge before that happens, and all of these things require, ya know, money. You guys could buy my books so that I could afford all these nice toys. Hint, hint.