New listening space.. new system

some good news & bad news

one of the channels is out with the krell, somehow some van den hul wire I had shorted out.

the other channel is fine. amp is not in protect. The externally accessible fuse tested good, I believe its the internal rail fuse that blew. Nothing looks burned or damaged it happaned when no music was playing. I know this is going to be expensive for a krell

good news I have an opportunity to grab a Mark Levinson LNC-2L active crossover & original external PSU this weekend, as well as a ML-3 that is reportedly broken
 
a friend of mine I may or may not have brought down into our rabbit hole "cut to the chase" as far as his digital chain.

He picked up a schiit yggdrisil and the singxer SU-1 digital interface. Upgrading from a TDA1541 based dac

I lent him gear before so it was understood when he bought cool shiny things he would let me test them in my system

we tested few sets of loudspeakers (Infinity Kappa 6.1 and RBH 641se) and switched between the differential pcm1704s in the integra and the yggy, digital signals coming from AES out of the superb xu208 based SU-1

the yggdrisil's instrument separation and timbre is what blew me away. width and depth of soundstage was best I've experienced in my system. low end is so clear overall resolution is just better straight up than the pcm1704.

it was a pleasure to run it through the Kappa 6.1s, they delivered a resolution I didn't know they were capable of. Since I have 2 18"s to cover the low end I found the midbass exceptionally clear once the IMG woofers were relieved above 80hz. Percussion was insanely real and midrange was great.

The RBH 641se sounded great as well, the silk dome is a tad smoother than the emit-r but not rolled off at all. the cabinets are so inert on these things they really give you a solid center image as they dissapear. They have an extremely complex xover with the 1" silk dome 4" midrange and 2x 6.5 woofers. It makes this speaker 85 db sensitivity and 4 ohm nominal. Talk about a brutal load, good thing the 9505 is meant for that kind of load. The RBH are tight and articulate and separation of instruments was even better than the Infinitys

I really like these speakers I would love to hear RBH's other offerings I have yet to find a dealer with them on the floor though, or willing to open packaging without money down.

The yggdrisil does live up to the hype and I think its price is actually reasonable for the sonic upgrade. which is insane to me

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room is currently being worked on, I'm running another 2 20amp dedicated lines for network devices and another for my WIP bedroom system

I am also painting.. sad it's taken this long but itll be a good use of my time indoors this time of year, then new carpet after.
 
I revisited this thread to visualize the timeline of my hifi addiction, crazy its been over 2 yrs at this location. Sorry for lack of updates been crazy busy! I haven't even bought any kind of audio gear in about a year... 50% being content with the current system 50% no time

I got some exciting updates I will unveil after the weekend.. everyone have a great memorial day
 
So I hit 160k on my subie and I noticed it was pushing coolant, immanent head gasket failure after the coolant tested positive for exhaust fumes

I wasn't planning on doing a full rebuild until at least like 180-190k but it is what it is.

I've been running a bigger turbo for a while, I will use upgraded ARP headstuds along with a upgraded oil pickup and other peace of mind parts this time around

Needless to say the hifi has been put on the ULTRA backburner, this is going to cost just under 6k, but basically for a brand new block.

oem shortblock from subaru and the heads will be machined and clean, clutch grips good and I already upgraded a good amount of the brakes/suspension/fuel system
 
Well it's been 7 months. How did things come along with the Subie? Any idea on the amount of power you're pushing now? How about the home system? Still running those sweet NHT 3.3's?

I've kind of slowed down on the car mods lately. With my 370Z, I'm currently pushing almost 340 hp at the wheels, so nearly 400 hp at the crank. I already have upgraded big brakes, fully adjustable coil overs, just about every bolt-on minus headers (stock manifolds are equal length tubular design), match ported/polished upper and lower intake manifolds, bored out throttle bodies (60mm to 65mm), full exhaust, test pipes, and tune. The only things left to do is a billet oil pump so I can bump up my rev limiter to around 8500 rpm, headers maybe, and a set of exhaust cams. Those cams are only $760 for the pair, but installation is a beast, probably more than $2k! But, they're good for a solid, dyno'd 30 hp and 30 ft lbs across the board (370+ hp & 310+ ft lbs at the wheels!). That will come much later after I pay down some bills.

The main reason for posting here is because you're the only person I know of that's running the NHT 3.3's. If you remember, I have the baby brothers, the 2.9's which I haven't used in 6+ years due to lousy apartment living. But that's about to change in a couple of months as we will be moving into a house finally! And to top it off, I have full control over the main listening/family room, which is somewhat on the small side (11.5' x 15.5' w/ 8' ceiling), but it's symmetrical and can be completely closed off from the kitchen, hallway and mudroom via nice solid wood doors. So because of you and your 3.3's, and my near life-long lust of the 2.9's (and 3.3's), I am bringing my 2.9's out of moth balls when we move into the house and I will pair them up with my dual JL e110 subs. Power won't be a problem since the 2.9's are rated at 6 ohms but actually hover around 4 ohms 99% of the time, so my PS Audio M700 monoblocks will be supplying a healthy 700 watts to each 2.9. Nothing like excellent clean headroom!

Anyway, I just wanted to share that and see how things are coming along with you and your projects. Hope to hear from you soon!
 
Speaking of Nht 2.9's.....I got mine about 3 weeks ago along with a rev a gold McCormack deluxe.ive been working on tweeking, inconnects,power cords you know the drill.worked on the toe in and out to find the sweet spot,I love the sound
About 75 hours break end on the interconnects and power cords.thought about bi amping these with my McCormack on top and the B&k on bottom.
 
Speaking of Nht 2.9's.....I got mine about 3 weeks ago along with a rev a gold McCormack deluxe.ive been working on tweeking, inconnects,power cords you know the drill.worked on the toe in and out to find the sweet spot,I love the sound
About 75 hours break end on the interconnects and power cords.thought about bi amping these with my McCormack on top and the B&k on bottom.

Yes they love bi amp, that woofer is 4 ohm nominal load so it needs a good amount of current. Great to hear you got the sweet spot. These speakers deliver once you have them set up.

@cube-tube I ended up getting a new shirt lock from Subaru and used 2618 forged Pistons. Heads got sent out to be machined and after 3k without boost she's fully worn in and pulling like a champ.

I will update my system tonight. The 3.3s are still kicking

Crazy how time flies..
 
Yes they love bi amp, that woofer is 4 ohm nominal load so it needs a good amount of current. Great to hear you got the sweet spot. These speakers deliver once you have them set up.

@cube-tube I ended up getting a new shirt lock from Subaru and used 2618 forged Pistons. Heads got sent out to be machined and after 3k without boost she's fully worn in and pulling like a champ.

I will update my system tonight. The 3.3s are still kicking

Crazy how time flies..

I have a Schitt yggdrsil for sale if you interested pm me
 
@cube-tube I ended up getting a new shirt lock from Subaru and used 2618 forged Pistons. Heads got sent out to be machined and after 3k without boost she's fully worn in and pulling like a champ.

I will update my system tonight. The 3.3s are still kicking

Crazy how time flies..

Well, oddly enough, after getting the car I always wanted, and doing the mods I wanted and really getting the car to where I wanted it, I am now in the process of selling it.

Long story short, my left knee and hip are all kinds of messed up from silly (but pretty darn cool) bicycle stunts as a kid. Stomping the clutch is no problem. It's the getting in and out of the Z that's the issue, especially the getting out part.

So... Once the Z sells, I'll be picking up a near mint 2001 Lexus LS430. I know, it's no Z, but it's still a nice car and has plenty of balls. It's a factory built sleeper! A two owner car (two family members - not my family that is), ALL of the records since new, garage kept. And it'll be instantly paid for once the Z is sold.

Also, 2 more weeks away until we move into the house and I get the 2.9's back up and running!
 
revisited classifieds for a new ergonomic chair, after getting a human scale freedom for a steal the deals just kept piling up.. irresistible

Due to multiple floods in 2021, most of my gear is in storage, small price to pay for the peace of mind when the house gets re-waterproofed, partially paid by the sprinkler company. (long story). My dedicated room is currently storage LOL, slowly but surely getting my ducks in their place.

Most of my listening is now done in my office, which is basically near field fed by a bunch of retired equipment. What really threw me back down the rabbit hole was a pair of PSB alphas I picked up while funriture shopping for a friends new place. I quickly repaired them and tried to get the best sound possible with cabinet mods etc. Fun speakers, especially when you have a 18" subwoofer to augment 80hz down

Eventually I gave the alphas to a friend and swapped back in my Monitor audio gold 700s. Unfortunately the hafler supernova'd and blew one side transistors and the drivers on one of the monitors. Cue craigslist consuming WAY too much for a few days.

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pictured:
monitor gold PMC700
b&k avr202 receiver
hafler P4000 200wpc mosfet power amp
crest audio vs1500 bridged @ 2000w 4ohm hooked up to a stereo integrity DS4 subwoofer
 
Now as for things to come, got some really cool stuff over the weekend I will be implementing. Having a lot of fun with my umik-1 and REW as well , exploring upper frequency correction as well now. Everything is on the table

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Will update with great photos If I have the chance tonight or tomorrow. (DSLR neophyte)
 
having fun... road trips mean thrift stores & craigslist searching late at night lol

got some nice stands with adjustable height to give me a +/- 1inch distance from tweeter , a lil more room treatments.

also grabbed a nice lil power amp otw back to LI. seems to be a mid 90s VSP labs trans mos power amp, I ran it for a few hours on ceiling speaker load before I hooked up my ushers- I had not tested when I bought.

really nice sound, very similar to my hafler p4000 but def warmer without losing details. Will report back tomorrow with measurements and how it sounds full tilt lol

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sorry to ruin the surprise but those were polk RTi A5 in the back of my subie 2 posts up.. They sounded great but needed more room than allotted in my current space, and they are clearly not taking over the 3.3s when they are reinstalled, so I sold to a friend.

honestly phenomenal speakers with very impressive low end and non resonant cabinet design.

keeping it real I disregard most brands that gravitate towards majority of their sales being at a best buy magnolia...

Remove the polk logo I bet most would not be able to identify them, great speakers. I am 100% keeping my eye out for the RTi A7/9

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