2 channel audio guys come in *Pics*(56k no no!)

[docutech 10+ year member]

Today, I had the great pleasure of seeing and hearing something that most people will never experience. Scott, one of the members of the Gateway Audio Society here in Saint Louis, invited me to his home to see and hear a wide variety of equipment. Scott writes reviews for http://www.enjoythemusic.com website and is very fortunate to get his hands on a lot of cool stuff. He is very knowledgeable in the world of audio and is one heck of a nice guy!

Scott’s house has 3 main rooms set up for 2 channel audio and one room for Home Theater (which I won’t mention in this post but it was like…WHOA!).

The Blue Room is his main reference setup it consists of:

• Digital Source Bolder Modified Squeezebox 3 (digital and analog mods) feeding an MHDT Paradisea tube DAC Analog Source

• Opera LP-5, Dynavector 507 MkII arm with a Dynavector DV-20XH cartridge, VDH modified Spectral LOMC. All this feeds a Graham Slee Jazz Club Phono Stage and the Slee Elevator head amp.

• Arcam 8se feeding Paradisea, Sony 595 SACD Player

• Signal Processors Active Crossovers - Pioneer SF 850 (modified),

• Audio Research EC-3 (modified)(tubed) Preamp

• Heavily Modified Korato KVP10 (tubed) Power Amp

• Welborne DRD 300b monoblocks with TJ meshplates

• AKSA 55N+ Speakers Modified Basszilla-

• Lowther PM2A's with the Ticonal magnets in an open baffle.

• 2 Vintage Lafayette Goodman SK-111 15" woofers in a 5 cu ft vented enclosure.

The subs are OLD!! We are talking about 1950’s folks. And they sound GREAT!

Here are a few shots:

Shot from the sweet spot

The phono stage: Opera LP-5. Does any one care to guess what one of these babies costs??? (Let me give you a hint: Current year Ford Taurus)

3 inches of pure acrylic for the turntable, the shelves are pure marble and the whole thing weighs as much as me!

I have always perceived vinyl as harsh and scratchy. Let me tell ya, not anymore. This thing sounded amazing. NIN absolutely ROCKED! Scott had some different color albums and it was neat how the acrylic would change colors when a colored record was placed on the turntable.Neat.

The front stage blew me away. They are open baffled, single Lowther PM2a’s. They are driven with the Welborne DRD 300b mono blocks delivering a WHOPPING 8 yes, EIGHT WATTS!!! They got LOUD.

The album dividers you see taped to the board are for experimental purposes only as Scott is working on a DIY cabinet design. I was amazed at the frequency range these drivers produced. Wow, just wow!

The Logitech Squeezebox delivered the tunes as I browsed the FLAC files on the laptop.

Behind the listening area is Scott’s record collection. He even has the very first album his mother bought him back in 1964. There is a headphone listening area here as well complete with a tube and digital amp and 2 pairs of headphones: Grado RS80's and 60's

Click to read more...

 

[docutech 10+ year member]

The Red Room:

The Altec's horns jump out at you as soon as you enter the room. They are being driven by the Consonance Cyber 10 USB amp. It's a KT88 wired single ended. It puts out a monster 12wpc in pentode mode (8 in triode). Very nice sounding and did I mention LOUD?

There is also a factory modified JoLida 102b amp driving the Aperion Audio 632LR monitors. Nice little medium powered combo. The sources are the Bolder SB3 the Constantine DAC, Arcam 8se and the Audio Note TT-1 turntable.

Very nice sounding setup.

The Grape Room:

This room is sponsored by Odyssey Audio and is composed of a preamp and amp pushing a set of Epiphony speakers. Sorry, I forgot to get the model numbers for the components. One drawback to this system is no remote. You have to get up and turn the volume knob…lol. The speakers sounded amazing! They had a very big soundstage and great bass extension. Notice in the picture how they are set up with a slight “toe out” it makes them sound better (supposedly). Total cost for this system: $1,575.00!

 

[docutech 10+ year member]

If you were paying attention to the pics, you may have noticed a set of Teresonic Ingeniums sitting to the side of the main listening room:

These were sent to Scott by the manufacturer for review which can be found here. They are beautiful and boast the 8-inch Lowther DX3 driver. Very nice speakers but a little too steep for my wallet.

The visit has definitely opened my eyes into the world of tubes and vinyl and made me realize how much more there is out there audio wise. Now if I only knew in February what I know today, my home setup would be a LOT different. I hope you all enjoyed the show.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

too long.

i like pictures, but the rooms are pretty messy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

i will read some of it now. lol.

// edit

i feel dumb, because the only things i can even tell you that i recognized were the grado cans :'(

im sure that is some amazing equipment. just wish it all was cleaner.

 

[hempy 10+ year member]

For having so much money for audio gear, the guy from the first set sure buys a lot of Ikea stuff.

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

Great post, i'm curious to see what B&W says.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

First of all I want to say WOW... Those are some very very very nice setups. Docutech I am truly jealous of your experience there.

Second, isn't amazing what some setups can get with 8 Watts... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Systems like this prove that you don't have to have the biggest and baddest design with the newest technology to sound amazing. Those old Altec Horns are amazing. 2 Watts will make them sing. I actually wish I had some of the older Altec stuff my dad and grandfather used to use for PA. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

too long.
i like pictures, but the rooms are pretty messy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

i will read some of it now. lol.

// edit

i feel dumb, because the only things i can even tell you that i recognized were the grado cans :'(

im sure that is some amazing equipment. just wish it all was cleaner.

The rooms have to be messy...

A clean empty room, like people love to see, actually has terrible acoustics (unless you use deadening but I still think STUFF makes the best sound deadening).

Great post, i'm curious to see what B&W says.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wave.gif.002382ce7d7c19757ab945cc69819de1.gif

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

Wow.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Indeed...

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wow.gif.23d729408e9177caa2a0ed6a2ba6588e.gif, thats some nice a** stuff

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I want to hear the Lowther system...

 

[docutech 10+ year member]

Man that setup sounded soo good. I tell ya, Scott turned the volume up a bit and things got VERY loud in there, he had to kick it down a notch. Those drivers didn't even flinch. Anything he threw at them sounded good. Next time you are in the Lou let me know and I will arrange a session with Scott for ya.

Now about the "messy room"... As joetama mentioned above, a lot of it is for acoustical reasons. Even the glove on the floor serves a purpose, foreal! There were a couple of other guys there too. Chris, the owner of BPT (Ballanced Power Technologies) You can see one of his power conditioners on the floor next to the turntable (with the CD sleeves on it) on the left sub behind the Lowther. Bryan from GIK Acoustics was also there.

So things may have been a bit messy as we were doing "stuff".

Here are a few more pictures taken by another member who was attending.

STP on purple vinyl:

Yellow Brick Road on yellow vinyl:

 

[Mr. C 10+ year member]

Very nice and some very impressive equipment. I'm a bit jealous of the vinyl collection.

Love to hear different set-up with various gear. I'd mostly love to know about the mods that a number of audiophiles make to various equipment to get better sq. My current receiver has been modded and the difference in clarity and tonality is night and day. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Wished I could have been there.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Modding equipment can be a very interesting venture...

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

I recently just modded on a pause button to my cd player.