Pictures of your speaker system

Well, I've been trolling craigslist daily for a good deal to pop up. I've got some savage medical bills from my time in the states (without insurance) so it had to be a seriously GOOD deal for me to be able to even consider it.

This evening I found some Mackie HR824mk2 for.....$350USD.....for the pair....yeah, a seriously GOOD deal. I've worked a lot with the HR824 both mk1 and mk2 in the past, and used to own a pair of MR8's, so I knew if they were in working condition I had to have them.

I'm still working on placement, but even just throwing them up it sounds great.

inb4 make your bed.



Anyhow, room treatments up next. I know my room is far from ideal, so I'm just going to do the best I can. The plan is some heavy duty curtains to cover the window, and some bathmats on the wall behind me. I've done the bathmats trick before in a studio and it works really well.

As they are active, I'm running my AGD Master 9 as a preamp and the PS Audio Perfectwave mk1->mk2 as my DAC.

Anyhow, for $350USD? I'm so f'ing stoked. They sound so much better than the Klipsch did its insane.

The plan is to stick with these until I can afford something significantly better, and even then I will keep these.

 

Was going to suggest that you might have meant trawling, but, luckily, I google-defined first. You're right, and I'm the one that spends too much time on the internet.

Congratulations. Nice pair of monitors for a super good price. Your listening position is where you are photographing from? Are they a wee bit high?

Do you have a chair, there, or a sofa, or what? I've sat on a few sofas in people's listening rooms, and I usually end up wanting to sit on the floor and lean against the thing. And guess what: I found better sound. All that soft stuff behind me instead of a wall.

Book shelves can help a bit.

 

Maybe he stands when he listens with one arm up high holding the horns while headbanging.

 

I put a different chair in this morning which is pretty high up, so they are right at ear level right now. My plan is to find a comfy chair on craigslist, and if it is lower I have another pair of speaker stands that are lower. I'm still working on positioning but its getting better.

Yup, the bathmat idea for the wall behind me should help a bit, and be super cheap. Reduce reflections....or something..haha.

 

I got a nice lay-z-boy for $5 at Goodwill. Check there.

 

I don't think we have goodwill in Canada, but I'm keeping my eye on the Salvation Army and similar thrift stores. Also craigslist. Nice Lay-Z-Boy for $5? Hell yeah!

 

Pretty sure it was 50% off color tag and that's why it was so cheap, but $10 is cheap too. Also got some other chair that said it was made in Denmark for $8

 

Suggestion for your $5 Lay-Z-Boy chair: Don't shine a black light on it...

 

Arteluthe Cadenza loudspeakers hand made by Robert Gaboury from Gemme Audio fame, now runs Arteluthe. Classic TAD design, with beyma paper woofers, and faital pro compression driver loaded into a classic smith horn design, again, all hand made by Robert himself. It's a two way system, 103db 1w/1m, 180lb each total with horns and stands, and overall lovely sounding. Definite sense of 'thereness' I cannot stress how real everything sounds. Gotta love smith horns. Of course the bottle neck is my room, 10x16... a more ideal size would be 16x25. One day, one day...

Rest of gear I'm sure you're all aware of, Pass Labs XA30.5 amplifier, Pass Labs XP-10 line stage, Schiit Yggdrasil, and an Arcam CD73 player, which I use strictly as a transport. The rack I actually picked up quite recently, its a 4 post walnut rack with a satin laquer finish I ordered custom from Timbernation. Beautiful stuff.

The only things I'd change in my system is (aside from moving into a larger room) is adding some acoustic panels, which are high on the list of things to do, and figure out how to do some more tidy cable management. I have some other long term goals that I'll possibly detail at some point.

If anyone's got questions feel free to ask.

 

I had deja vous when I saw your photo:

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/649426931-arteluthe-cadenza/

 

You could just put up some hooks and hang your bedding on the walls when you're not sleeping. Job done.

 

Sort of settled into the new place. Little tighter than before but it'll have to make-do for now!



Tyler Acoustic Linbrook Floorstanders
PS Audio DirectStream Jr.
Squeezebox Touch
Don Sachs Kootenay 120 Power Amp
APC H15
Dueland 16 AWG hook-up wire

 

Whoa how is that don Sachs amp?

 

A little too early to tell, probably 10-15 hrs max on the amp. Midrange seems a bit lean at the moment but the bass is really tight, it seems like it has an amazing hold on the woofers while extending very low. No sibilance in the top end from what I can tell.

Has Shuguang Golden Voice KT88 output tubes and Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z in the center. The transformers are f'ing heavy lol.

Wait times are getting a bit long, I'd expect at least 4 months, realistically.

 

@msommers

Ah I didn't realize you actually did want to sell you Pass Labs. I thought you were putting yours up for sale just as a passing fancy or to gauge interest. Anyways, question. How many kg does the Don Sachs tick in at, and will you write an extensive (or not so extensive) impression of the new amp?

 

Bit of an update to my system. Sold the Audio Physic floorstanders and have gone with Dynaudio Special Forty stand mounters and a JL Audio E110 sub. Also removed Freya from the chain & now going straight from DAC to CJ Power amp...



DAC & power amp...


These Dynaudios have a unique birch strip finish. Looks bloody lovely in the light with all sorts of reflections. Sadly doesn't come out on camera very well...

 

No it was for real, I think interest check/feeler ads are f'ing horseshit ideaa (pardon me).

Once I get more hours I can try to compare them but it'll be pretty rough at best. The two amps will be heard in two different environments and a couple months apart. The biggest thing so far that has struck me is the bass, I've never heard it hit this hard and low before.

 

My current speaker. DIY as usual



Scan Speak revelator drivers, external crossover, marble front baffle. A bit weird as most of my creations

 

where do you keep the crossover?

 

In external box that match speakers design. And it's a parallel crossover, so that box has 16 binding posts: 8 for output (4 per channel) and 8 for input from amplifier.