bonsai
Well-Known Member
I joined Audiokarma about 3 years ago. It was around the time Randy the Macho Man Savage died. I was a big fan when I was a kid. Thus my Avatar. Antron Manthou is a nick name.
I have never posted my overall system in the Members System forum. I didn’t really have a system. I’ve been gathering components over the past 3 years and I now have a system… Or a lot of parts that happen to sound pretty good the way they are running now ;-) If I had the money back and could do it all over again I’d probably do some things different.. Oh well!
I have a system that does real well as a 2 way home theater, great in my opinion for music and great for general TV and other use. It has excellent mid-range and dynamics and has some serious bass when I want it. Solid all-around performance that I’m happy with.
I’ll give some detail on parts later.. For now a summary
Speakers:
-Modified Wayne Parham 4 PI speakers I built (Taller with dual round ports) Main Speakers
-Troels Gravesen – 3 Way Classics I built (Seas Drivers) Secondary Speakers
-DIY JBL 4645C I built with a JBL 2242H 18” – Main Sub
-DIY Sub built with a Morel Ultimate UW1258 12”- Secondary Sub
- Boston Acoustics 6” sub I run in the ceiling
System.
-The main system speakers are driven by a pair of McIntosh MC75 60th anniversary amps.
-The secondary speakers are driven by a Bob Latino ST120 Amp I built from Bobs kit.
-Purity Audio Buffer – This has a pair of XLR outs that run to the MC75s and a pair of RCA outs I run to a Subwoofer preamp/buffer I built. The Purity Audio Buffer is a nice front end to the MC75s and is real easy to drive impedance wise and can run the MC75s and sub pre with ease and sounds great in the process.
-DCB1 I built. I have the Subwoofers running off of this. It is a real nice buffer/passive preamp that is built on the Nelson Pass B1 buffer circuit with a real nice regulated robust power supply. I’d highly recommend this is a preamp to anyone. I run this with a nice attenuator so I can control the overall Bass of the subwoofers. Works pretty well! If you are thinking of doing a Pass B1 I’d look at this as an option
-Maple Tree audio Passive preamp – Lloyd Peppard built this for me with a with a Bent Audio/DACT remote control Stepped Attenuator and a 4 source DACT selector. Nice little passive pre. This has 2 outputs and the outputs go to the Purity Audio Buffer and the ST120 amp
4 sources:
-Comcast Motorola Comcast digital box. This sounds pretty good. I run this into a DECWARE ZSTAGE (12AT7 or 12AU7 tube in pentode/Triode modes) that is a buffer with some gain. Running this with a bit of gain is nice. It is basically like having a nice output stage on the Comcast box.
-Samsung BD-D7000 Blue Ray. I use this as BlueRay,DVD,CD. This is a decent small size player. I run this into a ECOFAN Sound BOOST-IT. I love the Boost it. This adds a nice gain/buffer that rocks. This was built with quite some effort and parts in New Zealand. Great people at Ecofan and I’d love to hear some of the amps they make. I run the Blue Ray into the Boost it over to the passive pre
-Pioneer TX7500 AM/FM tuner. I like this. It is not the best but it was rebuilt by Terry Dewick 14 mo. Ago and sound excellent to me. It has a line out and then a line out with a vol. control that when turned up over 50% has some gain added. I like the thing at 60% or so as the slight gain helps front load the passive a little I think.
-VPI Traveler turntable that runs to an Audio Research LP1. I can’t say enough about this combo. The pair is the newest addition and if I had known how much I love it I’d have done this a long time ago… The only problem is the $$ I spent I don’t have much to spend on LPs. Great turntable and the house sound of the LP1 is nice. The LP1 has a solid state gain stage ran into a 6H30 buffer on the way out. This seems to bode well with the passive pre.
Room:
I have some Acoustic Foam panels I built hanging from the ceiling and then the basement walls have some acoustic foam and packing foam on the walls.. Some sheets then on the walls. Pretty silent room but it could be better.
I have never posted my overall system in the Members System forum. I didn’t really have a system. I’ve been gathering components over the past 3 years and I now have a system… Or a lot of parts that happen to sound pretty good the way they are running now ;-) If I had the money back and could do it all over again I’d probably do some things different.. Oh well!
I have a system that does real well as a 2 way home theater, great in my opinion for music and great for general TV and other use. It has excellent mid-range and dynamics and has some serious bass when I want it. Solid all-around performance that I’m happy with.
I’ll give some detail on parts later.. For now a summary
Speakers:
-Modified Wayne Parham 4 PI speakers I built (Taller with dual round ports) Main Speakers
-Troels Gravesen – 3 Way Classics I built (Seas Drivers) Secondary Speakers
-DIY JBL 4645C I built with a JBL 2242H 18” – Main Sub
-DIY Sub built with a Morel Ultimate UW1258 12”- Secondary Sub
- Boston Acoustics 6” sub I run in the ceiling
System.
-The main system speakers are driven by a pair of McIntosh MC75 60th anniversary amps.
-The secondary speakers are driven by a Bob Latino ST120 Amp I built from Bobs kit.
-Purity Audio Buffer – This has a pair of XLR outs that run to the MC75s and a pair of RCA outs I run to a Subwoofer preamp/buffer I built. The Purity Audio Buffer is a nice front end to the MC75s and is real easy to drive impedance wise and can run the MC75s and sub pre with ease and sounds great in the process.
-DCB1 I built. I have the Subwoofers running off of this. It is a real nice buffer/passive preamp that is built on the Nelson Pass B1 buffer circuit with a real nice regulated robust power supply. I’d highly recommend this is a preamp to anyone. I run this with a nice attenuator so I can control the overall Bass of the subwoofers. Works pretty well! If you are thinking of doing a Pass B1 I’d look at this as an option
-Maple Tree audio Passive preamp – Lloyd Peppard built this for me with a with a Bent Audio/DACT remote control Stepped Attenuator and a 4 source DACT selector. Nice little passive pre. This has 2 outputs and the outputs go to the Purity Audio Buffer and the ST120 amp
4 sources:
-Comcast Motorola Comcast digital box. This sounds pretty good. I run this into a DECWARE ZSTAGE (12AT7 or 12AU7 tube in pentode/Triode modes) that is a buffer with some gain. Running this with a bit of gain is nice. It is basically like having a nice output stage on the Comcast box.
-Samsung BD-D7000 Blue Ray. I use this as BlueRay,DVD,CD. This is a decent small size player. I run this into a ECOFAN Sound BOOST-IT. I love the Boost it. This adds a nice gain/buffer that rocks. This was built with quite some effort and parts in New Zealand. Great people at Ecofan and I’d love to hear some of the amps they make. I run the Blue Ray into the Boost it over to the passive pre
-Pioneer TX7500 AM/FM tuner. I like this. It is not the best but it was rebuilt by Terry Dewick 14 mo. Ago and sound excellent to me. It has a line out and then a line out with a vol. control that when turned up over 50% has some gain added. I like the thing at 60% or so as the slight gain helps front load the passive a little I think.
-VPI Traveler turntable that runs to an Audio Research LP1. I can’t say enough about this combo. The pair is the newest addition and if I had known how much I love it I’d have done this a long time ago… The only problem is the $$ I spent I don’t have much to spend on LPs. Great turntable and the house sound of the LP1 is nice. The LP1 has a solid state gain stage ran into a 6H30 buffer on the way out. This seems to bode well with the passive pre.
Room:
I have some Acoustic Foam panels I built hanging from the ceiling and then the basement walls have some acoustic foam and packing foam on the walls.. Some sheets then on the walls. Pretty silent room but it could be better.
