New listening space.. new system

[nyhifihead]

small update, my bedroom is completed, sheetrock still needs to go up on the rest of the listening room, then spackling...

I dry fitted my 18" subwoofer, everything fits. the box with the sub in it is approaching 150lbs... dual 3/4 MDF braced heavily with 2x4s. internal volume is 6.09 cu ft sealed, for a fs of 27hz.

I cant even fit the box in my WRX. I tried using a family member's larger big body lexus and it doesnt fit in that either!! my friend with the pickup truck will have to hand deliver it haha

response is going to be flat 25hz-80hz

 

[nyhifihead]

bump.. room is finished being sheetrocked. the resilient channel and 5/8 sheetrock as well as the dual 5/8 on the ceiling makes the noise floor very low.. I need to get a spl meter

you can't hear any of the HVAC stuff even though the condenser is right next the room outside, and on the opposing wall the air handler/boiler etc

room is going to be spackled and we'll finish all the electrical and lighting by thursday. the ceiling will be painted, rest of the room will have to wait.

I took pictures from each corner of the room, its 24 x 16 x 8. I also need to get a heavy duty door to help seal in the sound.

 

[70'sAudio]

That's Very Cool, I'm guessing you have dedicated outlets for your system.........

,Mike.

*(just reread earlier post where your using Dedicated Outlets)

 

[nyhifihead]

bump, listening room is spackled and ready for paint but that won't be for another few months, this project went over budget real quick

Moved stuff in with friends last night taking some good pics now, will upload asap! Initial impressions have blown me away.

 

[asilker]

bump, listening room is spackled and ready for paint but that won't be for another few months, this project went over budget real quick

Moved stuff in with friends last night taking some good pics now, will upload asap! Initial impressions have blown me away.

cannot wait to see. I think you're fulfilling a group fantasy here.

 

[nyhifihead]

my phones camera lens was pretty dirty so sorry for the grainy pics

also excuse the wire mess, I was super excited to just put the system together and hear it.

NHT 3.3 horizontal bi amped
Onkyo Integra M504 165wpc mids/highs
hafler P7000 350wpc for lows
van den hul MC magnum mid/highs/ monoprice 12ga OFC lows speaker cable

PC foobar/JRiver feeding pre/pro lossless FLAC
gustard u12 w. cap mod digital interface
Integra Research RDC 7.1 pre/pro
2 20amp 10guage dedicated lines with hubbel hospital outlets for power amps, 1 20amp 12 guage dedicated for preamps, and a seperate 15 amp for PC and TV
panamax m5100ex power conditioner for interface and pre/pro
mogami star quad XLR / Magnan Vi Reference RCA
stereo integrity ds4 18" subwoofer in a 6cu sealed box powered by bridged biamp t1000 1300 rms @ 4 ohm

NHT 3.3 xover @ 60hz to the 18", going to experiment with this

no active room treatments, I will try open source room correction software when I get my omni microphone and go from there whether I want to buy minidsp etc

the room's bass is extremely tight due to the large surface area of woofer cones. It's not the bass most people are used to, nothing shakes its true room pressurization.

mids/highs are super revealing and very neutral. timbre is insanely real, instrument separation is amazing. soundstage is super wide and tall

speakers are 15' apart and about 2" off the front wall, these speakers are designed to be placed like so. the couches are 21' back, the sweet spot is very rewarding but off axis doesnt sound too bad.

pretty much just playing through every song I have, and seeing how the room responds, it's very fun and I recommend anyone looking for true bass to go with an 18" driver, nothing comes close.

 

[djnagle]

Looking good NY. Time for your wife to step in and decorate

 

[nyhifihead]

Looking good NY. Time for your wife to step in and decorate

Thanks, I'm not sure what direction I want to go with the room, there probably won't be much decoration added until its painted

 

[djnagle]

Paint is part of the decor.

 

[70'sAudio]

Looks like Everything is Coming together just Fine......

,Mike.

 

[nyhifihead]

so far my system has been excellent. Anything dynamic is effortless, music fills the room very well.

I found the stereo integrity ds4 sounds best crossed over at 100hz, its the cleanest bass I've ever heard outside of Wilson and legacy loudspeakers.

I had a half day today so experimenting with my new RBH 641se, using the hafler p4000 275w @ the rbh's 4 ohm load right now. Will biamp soon I just need to move around some cables.. Which is a PITA since the 3.3s at only 2" from the front wall- placed perfectly


Immediate impressions of the RBH are that they dissapear instantly- reminds me of the first time I heard totem speakers. Sound stage is very wide and midrange is crystal clear. They are more warm than my 3.3s even if only by a hair.

RBH is serious business though, easily the most under the radar speaker company. These speakers are damn impressive

Its unfortunate the RBH are so hard to drive, (4 ohm 85db sensitivity) because I think they would sound very good with tube amp.

I need some more furniture in the room to remove a subtle echo, but it sounds SOO much better than the concrete before.. I need to deal with reflection points and some of the midrange resonance will be cured

 

[nyhifihead]

so I'm experimenting the subwoofer placement and phase issues, I go to my biamp t1000 which I was using 1300w bridged @ 4 ohm to power my stereo integrity ds4 18" rated at 1500wrms, and I turn the amp off and switch the banana plugs to invert the phase, I turn amp back on it trips the breaker and doesn't turn on. the 20a fuse is done too.

replace fuse, the amp turns on for .5s I hear the massive ferrite power supply mechanical noise, then it blows the fuse and is dead. This thing is an old school monster after I turned off I assume there was still some current flowing and I messed something up by sloppily changing the banana plugs. RIP. no burning smell it went out silently, I will check on it later.

So when I was looking for power amps for the subwoofer I had this crest audio vs1500 in mind, but the guy never responded so while I need a new amp I figure I give this guy a call, sure enough he still has it and is wiling to part with it for $200. I picked it up 2 hrs later

I know the amp is rated for sustained 2ohm operation, its a serious workhorse. 400/750/1000w RMS into 8/4/2ohm stereo. 2000w RMS into 4 ohm bridged! this thing pulls 21amp max current!!!

there was no pics of guts online so I was a bit skeptical of the build quality... it was a pleasant surprise to find really nice electrical components and an excellent cooling system.

needless to say it really makes the woofer move.. seriously impressive. its on its own dedicated 20a line. only issue is the 120mm is quite loud, I will install a silent fan from the PC scene.


biamp t1000 vs crest audio vs1500 size

transformer size is insane.. that what makes this thing weight like 50lbs. shoes is size 13 for reference lol

an insane amount of transistors per channel... the amp runs ice cold even hitting xmax on my 18"!!!

plitron ~1900va torodial- this thing sells for like $500 itself

I'd estimate like 60k uf of capacitance

it's very fun to pressurize the room with test tones around 20hz, this woofer moves!! 27mm xmax

 

[nyhifihead]

I've slowly been rotating through my power amps and speakers as I clean up the storage side of the basement.

I forgot I even had this jim croft designed carver av405 power. Amazing power amp I stopped using it in my apt because the torodial would suck up all the power irregularities and make terrible noises. This house has clean power and my stereo has 4 dedicated lines.. So it truly sings

I just broke out my epi 100v which I refoamed and recapped last year. I have a pair of 120c as well with the larger 10" woofer I could maybe stack tweet to tweet.

Its cool to see how nice these vintage epi speakers play with current high end equipment, they really do impress still! Highs are rolled off and there is some inconsistent upper midrange, but damn do they sound nice with jazz!

not many hobbies can you mate 40 year old equipment with current day equipment and expect good results

 

[nyhifihead]

back to using the 3.3s. the RBHs sound damn nice but who am I kidding they can't compete with the fullness and huge soundstage the 3.3s throw

I'm experimenting with my ultra fi iRoc TDA1543 r2r based DAC, its very pleasing to the ears and quite analog sounding, perhaps missing some details compared to the balanced PCM1704's in the integra research RDC7.1

current amplification

Onkyo M504 165@8ohm on mids/highs
Hafler P4000 275@4ohm on lows

and the Hafler P7000 1100wpc bridged for the 18". the crest audio really moves the subwoofer but until I swap out the fan its WAY too loud. the thing pulls like 21 amps peak so I'm not surprised it sounds like a vaccuum trying to cool off the transistors haha

also that desk is just their temporary.. moving stuff around atm

 

[asilker]

Looks great. Still envious of the square footage you've got there.

My current DAC is a 1543 based design as well. I felt the spacial cues were more dramatic

 

[nyhifihead]

Looks great. Still envious of the square footage you've got there.

My current DAC is a 1543 based design as well. I felt the spacial cues were more dramatic

what dac were you using before? is this your first NOS?

in other news I traded my pair of Tannoy concentric system 8 for a krell KAV-250/3. 250wpc in 8 ohm, 500wpc into 4 ohm!!

this thing is a literal tank.. now obviously its not krell's KSA pure class A line with the massive heatsinks and backbreaking weight, but this amp has many favorable reviews compared to amps I was looking at, bryston/anthem/mccormack and I got a pretty good deal trading 1:1.

It's in pretty good shape and everything works flawlessly. I will rewire my system tomorrow to run the 3.3s off the krell full range.

listening to it right now on the mids/highs with a hafler p4000 on the lows, will report back

 

[highend64]

Really like your setup. Had a Hafler DH-200 and like it. I've gone thru a alot of systemsfrom integrated amps to seprerates. Even had a Adcom 5802, thing was a beast!

 

[asilker]

what dac were you using before? is this your first NOS?

in other news I traded my pair of Tannoy concentric system 8 for a krell KAV-250/3. 250wpc in 8 ohm, 500wpc into 4 ohm!!

this thing is a literal tank.. now obviously its not krell's KSA pure class A line with the massive heatsinks and backbreaking weight, but this amp has many favorable reviews compared to amps I was looking at, bryston/anthem/mccormack and I got a pretty good deal trading 1:1.

It's in pretty good shape and everything works flawlessly. I will rewire my system tomorrow to run the 3.3s off the krell full range.

listening to it right now on the mids/highs with a hafler p4000 on the lows, will report back

My first DAC was a Schiit Modi. It's definitely a design shift. I haven't owned many DAC's, but I've been able to hear a number of them. I'm sure I'll be rotating more in and out eventually.

That Krell is a beast. You're a power junkie dude

 

[nyhifihead]

My first DAC was a Schiit Modi. It's definitely a design shift. I haven't owned many DAC's, but I've been able to hear a number of them. I'm sure I'll be rotating more in and out eventually.

That Krell is a beast. You're a power junkie dude

yea most peoples first DAC is the modi, which is great for the price point.

Its actually pretty nuts how you can still enjoy music 100% with a DAC that may be "lesser", its nothing like using an inferior speaker or amp. The DACs nowadays are damn good

IME the nicer DACs have much more robust power supplies and better jitter and digital noise control, and even then its always a subtle change. I swear by the r2r DACs.

I wish I had the electrical engineering background to be able to identify design flaws or where they cheaped out. Modifying DACs can be a cost effective way to really bring the music out of your system.

 

[asilker]

yea most peoples first DAC is the modi, which is great for the price point.

Its actually pretty nuts how you can still enjoy music 100% with a DAC that may be "lesser", its nothing like using an inferior speaker or amp. The DACs nowadays are damn good

IME the nicer DACs have much more robust power supplies and better jitter and digital noise control, and even then its always a subtle change. I swear by the r2r DACs.

I wish I had the electrical engineering background to be able to identify design flaws or where they cheaped out. Modifying DACs can be a cost effective way to really bring the music out of your system.

Me too. I keep saying that one day of like to get a community college education in electronics.

One reviewer said, regarding DAC's "as far as giant killers these days it's a crowd of David's". That seems about right. I also have trouble investing lots of cash in a DAC because the market evolves so fast. Part of the reason I went with the 1543