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AUDIO FORUMS >> Member's Systems Picture Gallery >> beowulf's system ...
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Message started by beowulf on 06/06/14 at 02:46:23

Title: beowulf's system ...
Post by beowulf on 06/06/14 at 02:46:23

I thought I would post a few photos since this will be my main system for a good while (other than room treatment mods and maybe some power cable tweaks, etc.)

Amplifier: Decware Taboo MK II (Cherry base) with Herbie's Ultrasonic Rx Tube Dampers and Synergistic Research's MiGs (for the Taboo Mk II Base) from the excellent dude here on the forums known as Pale Rider.

Preamplifier: McIntosh C220 Tube Preamp with Hfi Tuning Silver Fuses and Gold Lion ECC83 12AX7s.

Speakers: (a) Omega RS7 (with Walnut veneer), single driver (no crossovers) with 95dB @ 8 ohms, (b) AudioEngine S8 Subwoofer.

Sources: (a) Rega RP6 TT with Exact 2 Phono Cartridge, (b) Rega DAC with Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 USB to SPDIF Converter.

Digital Playback: (a) Asus VivoPC with Windows 8.1 and JRiver Media Center 19, (b) WD MyCloud Network Attached Storage.

Cables: (a) Lonely Raven Speaker Cables with Naked terminations, (b) Decware Silver Reference RCA Interconnects, (c) Rega Couple 2 RCA Interconnects, (d) Wireworld UltraViolet USB and SPDIF Coax, (e) Bolder Cable Power Cable (used on the Taboo).

Media Cabinets: (a) Ikea Besta for the A/V Components, (b) Ikea Expedit for Vinyl Storage.

That's all I can think of for now! ;D

Sweet Spot:

Sweet Spot (again):

Amp 1:

Amp 2:

Preamp 1:

Preamp 2 (you can barely see the Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 behind the Asus VivoPC on the lower shelf):

Turntable 1:

Turntable 2:

Speakers:

Overview 1:

Overview 2 with Tube Glow ;D (Rega DAC, Asus VivoPC and Cable box on lower shelves):

Overview 3 with JRiver MC19 shown on the HDTV, Rega Brio-R (prior to C220 purchase), Omega drivers (sans grills), here you can also see the WD MyCloud NAS and Network Switch (which have now been moved behind one of the sliding doors):

Vinyl Storage and Subwoofer (not my entire collection as I have so many that they are spread out in other bedrooms, etc., but this is what I'm currently listening to most often):

Rest of Room Angle 1:

Rest of Room Angle 2:

What's behind door number 1 ;D (taken prior to C220 purchase (a) Rega TT Powersupply, (b) Rega Fono MM, and (c) Monster Power Center HTS3600):

Well that's about it and sorry for all the crappy cell phone pics, but I hope you enjoy! ;)

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Lon on 06/06/14 at 05:45:21

NIIIIIIIIICE! :)

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Lonely Raven on 06/06/14 at 12:50:49

What a beautiful setup! The whole room looks like something from a magazine! Nice job!

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by JD on 06/06/14 at 16:12:46

now that is a great listening room

well done

JD

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by beowulf on 06/06/14 at 16:36:22

Thanks for all the nice compliments!

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by marky on 06/06/14 at 19:54:36

NICE pad !

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Guillaume Bougard on 08/07/15 at 14:26:01

Wicked looking setup, wich I could have a listening room like yours!

Forgive my crass ignorance, but what are those rings around your tubes?

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by beowulf on 08/10/15 at 04:34:08

Hi Guillaume Bougard, thank you for the compliments and your inquiry is not crass at all. Those are called Tube Dampers and those specific ones are from Herbie's Audio Labs who sells all kinds of tweeks for micro-vibration and microphonics control of audio systems. There is a lot of love for Herbie's around here and the Audio Circle forums as well.

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Fireblade on 08/10/15 at 11:26:18

Excellent setup, beowulf! Good things come to those who are patient and make an informed choice ...

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Palomino on 08/10/15 at 15:02:18

Yes, very nice setup.

How has that Ikea cabinet worked out for you? It might be a bit wide for me, but worth looking into.

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by beowulf on 08/11/15 at 03:17:12

Thanks Pal and FB ...

It's a pretty good piece of furniture and interestingly enough it only cost me about $170 and I constantly get compliments on it. ;D

Yes, it is a tad wide, but I needed to go horizontal since I only have one room for both listening and watching movies, etc. and I like how low it is as I like to mount my TV as low as possible so we don't have to tilt our heads back at all when watching so it fits the bill nicely. Just out of luck I really like my speakers spread out about 10' apart as they image really well for me despite my room not being optimum as it is an L shape and open to the kitchen area.

It's actually 2 cabinet pieces screwed together ... the first piece is double wide and the other piece is a single wide, then I screwed both pieces together and put a piece of frosted glass (from Ikea also) on top of it that makes it very solid, but yet still seems to release energy somewhat.

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by beowulf on 08/11/15 at 03:36:04

I actually changed a couple things, (1) I added a McIntosh D100 DAC (shown on second shelf below) which is better than my Rega DAC, so the Rega shown in the original post above is now residing in my bedroom system, and (2) almost all of my cables are now ZenWave OCC copper as well.

In the picture below I was also experimenting with Surge-X that was hot rod'ed out by ZenWave Audio wherein Dave does some nice upgrades to it which includes his own wiring, upgraded caps and Furutech outlets, etc. and he is now making some pretty sweet power cables as well (show below).

Note in this picture you can see that he left one bank of outlets standard (yellow ones) so you can compare them to the upgraded Furutechs. This particular unit was on an Audio Circle tour and I got to play with it for a couple of weeks. It's got passive filtration tech and the best surge protection that I know of.

Note the Mad Scientist Black disc on my other power cable. :D Not to mention the HUGE difference in plugs compared to a stock cable and the Furutech.

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Fireblade on 08/11/15 at 11:42:20

beowulf,

Any special reason behind the Zen Wave brand choice? What spec IC did you get? Thanks for any inputs.

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by beowulf on 08/12/15 at 00:24:39

Fireblade wrote on 08/11/15 at 11:42:20:

beowulf,

Any special reason behind the Zen Wave brand choice? What spec IC did you get? Thanks for any inputs.

Hi FB, last year I went through extensive listening tests for both interconnects and speaker cables. It was the first time that I ever tried such a thing because I was in the "cables don't make that big of a difference state of mind". But I started listening so intently that I finally started being able to tell them apart in such a way that ZenWave kept coming up as the best sounding and most reasonably priced. Once I actually learned to listen for certain attributes within the music ~ that's when things started popping for me and I call it my "Lon" moment :D because Lon is always talking about the differences in the sounds of cables, but I could never hear much until I took the time to really get into it.

For ZenWave, IMO the price is pretty good for the quality of metallurgy and connectors that you get. Interestingly I don't use all the same model of ZenWave interconnects throughout my entire system though.

I found that with the Mac DAC although very musical and revelaing (and I love all that detail), it is a tad on the forward side and found that the ZenWave DD interconnects (which are Dueland silver with oil in silk) really brought a richness to it that still allowed all that detail to get through but without the forwardness. I call the DD's "tone monsters" in that there is a harmonic richness and vibrancy to it that I find very special. that said it could be too much of a good thing on a more laid back component, so experimenting is suggested.

The ZenWave D3's on the other hand are IMO the sweetspot in the lineup and has a blend of OCC silver/gold alloy. Compared to the Dueland they are more nuetral and accurate. OCC silver has a lot of great attributes, yet I find OCC silver by itself a little thin sounding, but with gold added into the mix - it brings a really litup/sparkly full bodied presentation and realistic tone ... so it has all the great attributes of silver without any of the drawbacks when used by itself. I use these particular D3 inteconnects from my Mac preamp to the Decware Taboo.

Next up will be some extensive listening tests for power cables. Although I have heard the ZenWave PCs there are a few more that I want to compare them too. I'm slowly gathering a few different brands and already have the Decware, Bolder and a couple others and then I'm going to add some Shunyata and WireWorld to the mix and do a shoot out.

Sometimes Dave from ZenWave has demo cables lying around in his shop and if you are interested in trying a pair of interconnects out he'll send you a set to demo for a week (you just pay shipping) to see if they jive in your system ... you can't beat that. 8-)

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Fireblade on 08/12/15 at 11:25:29

beowulf,

Thanks so much for that very interesting description. It is amazing how much every link in the chain counts when the gear foundation has the right resolution ... With testimonies like yours, one starts to believe in the potential differences across metal alloys, twisting patterns and the quality of the connectors as these impact end sound.

Great research job, congrats!

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by Milspec1 on 10/20/18 at 05:28:39

What a great room and an even better looking system

Title: Re: beowulf's system ...
Post by ossidian on 11/27/18 at 20:58:27

Amazing room and nice choice on DAC.

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