AKFest SMAC Rooms Equipment

jmathers

Super Member
As you know by now, SMAC will be hosting two rooms at AKFest 09. :banana:

Please use this thread to post any equipment you'd like to bring to complete systems for the two rooms.

To begin simply list anything you could bring and then we'll narrow down the choices to come up with some sort of system synergy. We can certainly have more than two systems.

In fact, if you bring something and volunteer to staff the room you can certainly setup an entirely separate system for your time in the room. Personally I think this would be a total hassle but, hey, it's really your room. Plus I like the idea of each system in each room being a GROUP effort.

It would be nice to have a fairly constant system in one of the rooms - that we could maybe alternate sources with. This would give folks a clear picture of what SMAC can do as a group. It would also limit the confusion of setting up equipment during volunteer shift changes and enable guests to revisit the room and come back to something similar each time.

But again, I'm open to ideas.

The categories are (as if you didn't know already):

Turntables/Cartridges
Rega P9 with Benz MC3 cart - Wojciech
Music Hall MMF5 - Drybasement
Denon DP-57M Turntable - fdwaller

Phono Stages
Bottlehead Seduction - DryBasement
Octal Hagerman Cornet - djnagle
Musical Surroundings Phenomena w/ battery pack - olson_jr
Jolida JD9 - jmathers

CD/SACD Players
Marantz SA8001 - dmax99
Jolida JD100 - dmax99
Musical Fidelity A5 CDP - olson_jr
Harmon/Kardon CDR2 CD Player/recorder - fdwaller

Tuners
Sansui TU 217 - jmathers
Yamaha CT7000 (Terry Dewick updates) - Dan M.

Preamps
Juicy Music Blueberry - dmax99
DIY Pre - Terry C.
Audible Illusions M3A - jmathers

Amplifiers
Diytube ST35 (Push-pull EL84 in triode mode; approx. 9W/Ch) - Ashok
John Hogan 300B - djnagle
NOS Valves VRD monoblocks - dmax99
NOS Valves Stereo Amp - NOSValves

Integrated Amps
Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated - olson_jr
Musical Fidelity A308 Integrated - olson_jr
Primaluna Prologue 2 6550 tubed Integrated - olson_jr
Pioneer Elite receiver - fdwaller
Luxman LV-105u Hybrid tube/solid state integrated amp - fdwaller

Speakers
Hawthorne Audio Performance Grade Silver Iris (15" Co-ax; 95 dB/W/m) - Ashok
AVI ADM9.1 powered speakers with DAC and preamp (for computer system?) - Mike Reed
Totem Rainmakers w/ stands - olson_jr
DCM-10 Speakers - fdwaller
Pinnacle Classic Gold Tower Speakers - fdwaller

Other (things like tapedecks, DACs, tube buffers, computer music servers, etc.)
DAC-Keces DA131.1 (Co-ax and optical inputs, bit depth up to 24 bits, up to 192kHz sampling frequency)-Ashok
Mac Mini (for computer system?) - Mike Reed
Kenwood KX-7030 3-head cassette deck - fdwaller

Cables
Blue Heaven speaker cables and ICs - olson_jr
Kimber 8TC and 4TC speaker cables - olson_jr
Kimber Hero ICs - olson_jr
Linn K400 speaker cables - olson_jr
DH Labs T8 speaker cables - olson_jr
PNF 8' biwire spades - dlwask
Zu Julians 6' spades - w/6" jumpers - dlwask
AQ diamondback 3' interconnects RCA - dlwask
Jena Labs Trio 3' interconnects 3' XLR - dlwask
Two Furman power strips - Mike Reed

Racks/Stands
Salamander Synergy Rack - dlwask
Quadraspire speaker stands - Mike Reed
DIY speaker stands 28" high - Terry C.
Equip Rack - dbear

Please also visit the AKFest SMAC Rooms Volunteers thread to volunteer to staff these rooms.

Jeff
 
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Amplifier: Diytube ST35 (Push-pull EL84 in triode mode; approx. 9W/Ch)

Speakers: Hawthorne Audio Performance Grade Silver Iris (15" Co-ax; 95 dB/W/m)

DAC: Keces DA131.1 (Co-ax and optical inputs, bit depth up to 24 bits, up to 192kHz sampling frequency).
 
I'd like to bring my John Hogan 300B, my Octal Hagarman phono pre, and, if I get it done by then, 807 PP amp. I don't really care if they are used in a system, I just want to show them off. Cheers.
 
I can bring:
NOS Valves VRD Monos

JM Blueberry Pre

Marantz Sa 8001 SACD player

Jolida JD100 CD player
 
No wonder my wife says I have too much STUFF !

Jeff,

I could bring a Musical Surroundings Phonomena with Battery Pack that should be adjustable to match any cartridges gain or loading needed, Musical Fidelity A5 CDP and A5 Integrated, Musical Fidelity A308 Integrated, Primaluna Prologue 2 6550 tubed IA, a pair of Totem Rainmakers with stands, various Blue Heaven speaker and IC's, Kimber 8TC and 4TC speaker and Hero IC's, Linn K400 and DH Labs T8 speaker cables, etc.

Might be a good idea to come up with a suitable rack, mine is pretty crappy.
 
Might be a good idea to come up with a suitable rack, mine is pretty crappy.

Yep, I completely forgot that we'll need some sort of rack for equipment. And speaker stands for some of the speakers. And cabling. Thanks.:thmbsp:

Jeff
 
Don't forget power cables/power strips.

Any remotes for any devices.

Cd's and Lp's.
 
Looks like each room can have one s/s and one tube setup. And it looks like there's four pairs of speakers to accomodate the 4 systems. Each room can have it's own tt, phono pre and cd player.

Or, we could have one room as an all s/s setup while the other room is all tube including using dmax's Jolida as the cd source.

This should be interesting.
 
Nice looking list we have here folks!

It would be nice to have each room able to accomodate CD/LP playback.
 
I have the following which I can bring:\

Pinnacle Clasic Gold Tower Speakers
Pioneer Elite receiver
Luxman LV-105u Hybrid tube/solid state integrated amp
Denon DP-57M Turntable
Kenwood KX-7030 3-head cassette deck
DCM-10 Speakers
Harmon/Kardon CDR2 CD Player/recorder
 
I have the following which I can bring:\

Pinnacle Clasic Gold Tower Speakers
Pioneer Elite receiver
Luxman LV-105u Hybrid tube/solid state integrated amp
Denon DP-57M Turntable
Kenwood KX-7030 3-head cassette deck
DCM-10 Speakers
Harmon/Kardon CDR2 CD Player/recorder

Thanks. Added to the list.

Jeff
 
Let the selecting begin already

Well, as far as speakers....I'd like to hear and have in the rooms every speaker listed here, except for the DCM10s (sorry fdwaller no offense meant).

The Pinnacles and the Hawthornes should be efficient enough to run with any of the listed tube amps, plus some flea powered ones if any happen to appear.

The Totems may require a little more ummmmpf to get them to sound their best, so maybe solid state would work better. (Please correct me if I'm wrong).

And it may be nice to put the AVIs in the same room for a little compare and contrast.

So I vote for 4 sets - the Hawthornes and Pinnacles in one room; the AVIs and the Totems in another. Sort of a big speaker, little speaker thang. I'm open to harsh criticsm and lambasting of course:D Mixing little and big in each room may also work.

Jeff
 
Given that
  • there are two SMAC rooms
  • two days
  • no breaks except at the end of the day

Would it make sense to come up with 4 systems? The basic rule could be that there will be a whole-sale system change at the end of the day.

During the day, it will be up to the volunteer to decide if a cable or a source or whatever needs to be changed. Please feel free to critique the idea.

Each system would consist of
  • Turntable
  • Tuner
  • A digital source
  • A computer source
  • DAC
  • Phono Preamp
  • Preamp
  • Amp or Integrated
  • Speakers
  • ??
 
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I could bring a NEC CD-rom drive that I would love to compare to a conventional CD transport.
 
Room size ?

SMAC brothers,

Anyone know or remember how big these rooms are?

The Rainmakers work well with a 35 watt tube amp in a 12X11X8 room but would most likely require more juice in a larger room.

I just picked up a used pair of PSB Image 6T's (which I have not even had a chance to listen to yet) but they are supposedly pretty efficient, and with three bass drivers, might might fill a bigger room better than the Rainmakers. Esp with R&R music.

Not sure about doing a wholesale change Sat night, how would I be able to compare my listening notes with the Sunday SMAC hosts if we change everything??
 
My $0.02...

*Floorstander room / monitor room - makes for easy set up changes
*A NOS Valves amp in each room
*AI pre in one room / Juicy Music pre in the other
*Could us a MF integrated in each room for SS option
*MF A5 CDP in one room / Marantz SA8001 in the other
*The Rega P9/Benz and Jolida JD9 in Room 2...cause thats the room I'm in :)

Cables and accessories will most likely will float between rooms, and lets not forget enough music to spin for 2 hours.
 
SMAC brothers,

Anyone know or remember how big these rooms are?

The Rainmakers work well with a 35 watt tube amp in a 12X11X8 room but would most likely require more juice in a larger room.

I just picked up a used pair of PSB Image 6T's (which I have not even had a chance to listen to yet) but they are supposedly pretty efficient, and with three bass drivers, might might fill a bigger room better than the Rainmakers. Esp with R&R music.

Not sure about doing a wholesale change Sat night, how would I be able to compare my listening notes with the Sunday SMAC hosts if we change everything??

Rooms I believe are roughly 13x16x8.

Well, now you got me really interested. I'd like to hear both the Rainmakers and the PSBs:D I suppose if it was one or the other I'd rather have the PSBs since they are a tad more amp friendly and would have better low freq extension.

I agree on the wholesale change out. Not to say, no changes at all but I'd rather have a couple sets of speakers available just to play with to optimize the system. Also, there should be no law against a volunteer changing speakers in the middle of the day. Hate to put someone in a room for two hours who despises the sound of a certain pair of speakers. Two sets would make this possible.

Just a thought..

Jeff
 
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