Showroom 3 Archives - Page 7 of 9

October 31, 2006 by Michael

All four systems are up and running….

… but tomorrow’s systems configuration may not be the same as today’s configurations. 🙂

Acapella Triolon Excalibur loudspeakers, Edge Reference amps, Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player / linestage.

In a few months the Marten Design Coltrane Supreme loudspeaker system will be moved here. But for now we get to learn about how the Supremes sound in a mostly enclosed room with a 8 foot ceiling.

Marten Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers, Lamm ML2.1 amps, Lamm L2 preamp and Audio Note CDT Three transprt and 4.1x Balanced DAC.

Eventually, this is where the Marten Coltrane and larger Kharma loudspeakers will live.

Soundlab Ultimate loudspeakers, Edge Signature One amps, Audio Note M10 preamp, Emmlabs Signature Edtions CDSD transport and DCC2 DAC.

The Soundlab Ultimate loudspeakers will live here for awhile. It is good to put these big guys somewhere where they do not block the Winter-time sun. They kick butt being driven by the Audio Note M10 preamp in this system at this time, but then again, so does everything else.

The Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers are here getting ready for a number of auditions for people who want to hear them in a large room. Wish we had another room here – and we are trying to think of ways….

Marten Coltrane loudspeakers , Audio Note Kegonn amps, Audio Aero Capitole CD player / linestage

The Marten Coltrane loudspeakers are here for both us and customers who want to hear how they do in a small 10.5 x 20 x 9 foot tall room. This is where the Audio Note speakers, smaller Kharma and Marten speakers and Adagio will live.

October 25, 2006 by Michael

We are a mess

We appologize that it is taking us so long to get up and running (and finish the show report). We’ve had a few industry reps over (we don’t care if THEY don’t get the full impact of hearing all four of our systems running on all cylindars – the Acapella Triolon speaker, Edge reference ‘pyramid’ amp and Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player system IS, however, up and running), but, well, here is Mike & Neli’s October exercise program:

Step One: carry 2000 lbs of equipment down the stairs
Step Two: carry 3000 lbs of equipment up the stairs
Step Three: survive step one and step two 🙂

Listening room number three’s mess

Listening room number two South side mess.

Look Ma, no TV! Yes, it is true, no video with high-end audio for Mike until we get a front projector (90% chance it will be the Sony Ruby).

This is where the Marten Coltrane Supremes will go. You can’t tell it from this picture, but the view out the windows is very nice – the same view as our main room, but a little more intimate because it is closer to the ground and the trees block more of the view.

Putting the Coltane Supreme loudspeakers here will allow us to learn about how to setup these puppies in a more-or-less reasonably sized room (15 x 27 x 8 feet tall). The SoundLab Ultimate loudspeakers you see here are going to be moved to the North side of listening room #2.

Listening room number two’s North side mess. These crates are the crates for the Coltrane Supremes. Yay, we got them up the 30+ steps up from the garage to this lower level – and by just the two of us (with an extra push from an industry rep who shall remain namesless for the time being – it was great seeing you guys!).

Now comes the hard part, picking which racks to put where and which components to set things up with initially.

I want to put the double-wide RixRax here on the North side, but instead of in the normal configuration (which would trap a lot of space behind the rack because it is a doublewide and the wall is shapped like the end of a octagon) I want to position it so that it sticks out into the room – so that there is easy access to both the front (i.e. what would not be the left side) and the back (which would now be the right side). But Neli thinks I am crazy – especially now that I have proposed this non-standard orientation for the rack.

Anyone else think this is a good idea? All of you who do not post an opinion, I will try and convince Neli that you all think it is a good idea too……

…..yeah, I know, she won’t believe me even for a second…

As of last night, the proposed allocation of components to speakers goes like this:

Coltrane Supremes:
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Audio Note CDT Three transport and DAC 4.1x Balanced
Lamm L2 linestage
Lamm LP2 phono stage
Walker Proscenium Gold Signature turntable
Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers
[This system sounded so AWESOME on the smaller Coltrane loudspeakers – we are hoping this awesomeness transfers to the big boys].

Soundlab Ultimate 1 (with guest stars: the Kharma Mini Exquisites and Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspekaers)
—————————
Emmlabs CDSD Signature transport and DCC2 Signature DAC digital source
Audio Note M10 preamplifier
Edge Signature One amplifiers

[We used this system to break in the M10, but it sounded so wonderful – the Soundlabs really sounding organic and warm enough to compete with speakers costing a heckuva lot more than the $31K that these go for].

Audio Note AN/E SEC Silver Signature (with guest star the Marten Coltrane loudspeakers):
————————————————-

Brinkmann Balance turntable
Audio Note M8 full-function preamp
Audio Aero Capitole CD player
Audio Note Kegon amplifiers

[We want to try a turntable on the Audio Note spekaers and we want to hear how the Coltranes sound in this small, 10.5 x 20 x 9 feet tall room]

Of course, all this could change today as we move stuff around.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / RMAF 2006 / Show Reports / Showroom 1 / Showroom 2 / Showroom 3 / Showroom 4 3 comments

October 16, 2006 by Michael

The Worl'd Gone Topsy Turvy or…

or “Round ’em up, Head ’em out”

or “We’re just going to pieces”

or “Break in Two Systems, Two Systems, Two Systems in one”

Breaking in Sound Lab Ultimate loudspeakers and Audio Note M10 preamplifier together – using the EDGE Signature One amps and Audio Aero Capitole CD player driving them over on the floor to the right [Oh, you can’t see it in this picture, but you can see the Nordost Valhalla interconnects snaking across the floor there].

This is all just a temporary setup. We are breaking in each notch on the M10 volume control. We got up to ‘5’ yesterday, but that was driving the little Kegons pretty hard – and the Coltranes were getting pretty loud.

But over here, on the still somewhat inefficient Sound Lab speakers – with a solid state amp… we are doing ‘6’ today and will do notch ‘7’ tomorrow. That ‘should’ be enough, the Marten Coltrane Supremes (which made it through customs, yay!) are much more efficient than even the Coltranes, so notch ‘7’ should be plenty loud enough for the show…?

Every time we up the volume a notch, the M10 sound is bright and annoying for several hours and the pre lets off another waft of New Electronic Component Smell [Yummmmmm. Is this the only reason we buy TVs and computers and $50K preamps, to be able to experience this smell? Nahhhhhh].

This M10 + Sound Lab speaker-centered system sounds surprisingly good. The Sound Labs really like upstream equipment that errs on the warm side (as opposed to the more icey Parasound or Pass Labs soild-state amps, the former is usually shown witht eh SoundLabs at CES and the latter is to be at this RMAF show in the IsoMike room), and even warmish cables help – like the Pranawire Cosmos speaker cables.

The latest Sound Lab upgrade did seem to tighten the bass quite a bit and increase the midrange dynamics as well – adding perhaps 3dB? of efficiency. Still breaking in, but I noticed that the unfamiliar bluring of images in the soundstage that I heard when we first starting playing the SoundLabs after their upgrade has almost completely gone away.

The old Marten Coltrane system, going to pieces Time to box up most of this system, and move the Marten Design Coltrane loudspeakers to listening room 3. The Sound Labs are going to go over here, next, after the show – and how we get around them when we go up and down the steps is still to be determined.

The current state of listening room 3. Most of the system proper is going to the show, including the Acoustic Dreams rack.

We want to put the Marten Coltranes in here after the show – but they sound best with the Lamm ML2.1 amps and the HRS MXR rack. But the Kharma Mini Exquisites sound best with the EDGE amps… it will be hard to build a system that is optimized for two different speakers like this… not to mention the Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers.

And then there is the HRS MXR equipment rack problem, or rather lack of problem: we want a double wide on the Coltrane Supreme speaker system in listening room #2,and another one upstairs so we can play a turntable in listening room #1 (it is the only thing that will work on our very bouncy floor) – but we currently only have one rack….

So little time (and money) and such a long Wish List.

in Audio Note / Edge / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Show Reports / Showroom 1 / Showroom 2 / Showroom 3 / Showroom 4 / Soundlab 0 comments

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