Show us your home setup

Discussion in 'Home Audio Gear Chat Area' started by TooCooL4, Dec 10, 2016.

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  1. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Like I said before, I get things correct in the first place. I listen to things at my dealers then I usually borrow them to take home and use in my environment, that way I know it works in my room with the rest of my system before I buy.

    Like I said before I don’t change often, so no need to change up. I would rather spend my time enjoying my music than keep swapping kit in and out. So if i get it correct in the first place and don’t change every 5 minutes, I don’t feel like I have lost any money. Not sure how old my current speakers are but I think I have had them more than 6 years now, so I guess I have got my money's worth out of them.
     
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  2. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    it's ok,
    everybody got it's own audio voyage.
    after all, audio has to make you smile
     
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  3. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    I was just playing with those McIntosh Amps (in the video) at the local electronics store, they have a huge VU display and they crank out 1200 watts each. I think the speakers were B&W and they had one of the new McIntosh TT's on top. I didn't catch the name of the cabinet but it was similar to the four-wheel cabinets we had back in the old days with an industrial looking door. Personally I think someone saw one of my posts, I have two really cool metal computer cabinets that make perfect stereo cabinets, especially for rough conditions. The doors are tinted glass and the quality is nop-notch, they can fit about 24" of width so my semi-big stuff looks perfect in them.
     
  4. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Hey 19lexicon78 I just added a few more acoustic panels in my room last night, wow I hear things I have never picked up on before. What I realised here is, I don’t need new speakers yet as I am not at the full potential of my current speakers.
    I am beginning to hear that holographic effect I have been hankering after for years, plus the tiny little details that get lost in the mix are now showing up.

    I think slowly improving the room I am getting X times what it would cost me in speakers / gear to get at a fraction of the gear cost, that is always a good thing. So when I do get new speakers, I will get more benefit as the room would have been optimised to reveal the difference. :delighted:
     

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  5. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Finally reached a state of equilibrium with my room treatment, the only thing that will make my system sound better now is a new room.
    The panels in front of the window are moveable so I can move them out of the way when not needed, but I have to say I really don’t move them out of the way.

    Now I can sit down and enjoy the music. :delighted:

    I had a non-audiophile friend come round for a listen, he was amazed that he could not hear the speakers as he just heard the music on a stage behind the speakers. I said to him if everything is done properly you should not hear the speakers.

    One of the things that surprised him the most was the tape deck, he could not hear hiss and I told him I was not using Dolby either just music recorded from the record player on to metal cassettes. I was surprised that he was more taken by the tape deck than the record player, the tape deck is only a fraction of the cost of the record player. He knew the record player would sound good, but was not expecting a tape deck to be that good.:noway:
     

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  6. walkman archive

    walkman archive Administrator Staff Member

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    I wonder if I ever could travel to UK and hear them by myself, sir. :applause
     
  7. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    Looks great, did you have a "first song" on the system cued up?
     
  8. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    If you are ever in the UK, you are most welcome to come and have a listen. :delighted:
     
  9. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    I tend to just grab the first thing that comes to hand and on this occasion it was The Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up and Omar - There's nothing like this

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Ball000

    Ball000 Member

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    When I dream of a room to play and listen to my stuff, it can look like yours, TooCool4.

    And my wife allows me to dream.
     
  11. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Ball000 one of my friends has a deal with his wife, which allows him to have what he wants. The deal is, he can spend money on whatever he wants as long as she gets the same amount to spend on whatever she wants.
    Do a deal like this with your wife and I’m sure your dream can come true.:nwink:
     
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  12. Ball000

    Ball000 Member

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    ;-) yes about the money I suppose the deal is already like your friend's or about (not as if there were a lot of it, and we both still want to be able to travel during the holidays, and with three children even...)
    But as far as the use of the rooms in the house is concerned, and especially their "decoration" and "furniture", I feel that I still need to improve my diplomatic skills, or else I must have missed something about the value of my "tastes"... :crazy
     
  13. 19lexicon78

    19lexicon78 Active Member

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    holy sjit toocool, that's some expensive $$$$. your TT looks nice.. well, your nak-deck we all know is one of the best.
    i was lucky and not. 2000-2005 was the time to buy the best pro-audio for pennies. didn't bought very good deals, because i didn't need more stuff.. well, you know, walkman those days dc2/dd9 costs 50 euro for a good one. also emt/nagra stuff was 2000 euro or less. i bought some emt, didn't buy the nagra, gee. sony pro TT was 200 or a philips lhh2000 for 200 euro or less. yep, i was the only one who was interested. but these days the fun is gone. everybody knows the prices. i miss those days. i miss the pioneer days, just like walkman. nobody knew the dc2 was one of the best, to me the most fun walkman. everybody focussed on the boodoo. you know those years.... later it the dd9 was the holy grail, naahhh. it was good, but not dc2.. i was the only one in the netherlands which knew. i missed S2G were a select few, in the beginning less than 5 persons who knew. ach ja, those days. these days, t i love to see good equipment, and you have a great TT nak deck. i don't know about your amps.
     
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  14. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    @TooCooL4 ..... it is not the $$$ points up to our belts, but also the heartburns our Bosses push onto us!!! How in Heaven did you manage to pull your room to yourself??? Respect, my friend! Your Boss is better than mine o_O
     
  15. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    A colleague had a deal with his wife, where he was allowed to spend whatever he earned in overtime on his hobbies. That wouldn't work with me though as I haven't earned overtime for twenty years despite going in on a Saturday a couple of times when working to deadlines.
    A friend told me his wife world let him buy anything he wanted "providing it was smaller than the item it was replacing". I guess that was how he managed to buy a brand new Land Rover Defender to replace his Land Rover Discovery.:nodding: I don't think it would work very well with HiFi though.
     
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  16. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Hi 19lexicon78 & Joge thanks for the complements. The setup is not bad, they synergise very nicely. I spent a lot of time at the dealers and bringing things home to listen to in my system before I buy anything.

    I have always gone for the best music reproduction equipment I could afford, I have never been a collector of anything. Hence I only ever have just what I need, rather than buying everything I see because it looks cool or I have always wanted it. So I buy one really good unit, instead of 10 mediocre units. You know some people will have 10 mediocre tape decks instead of 1 really good unit. Also I think if you have 1 really good unit, you can afford to keep it in top condition. As an example my CR-7 goes into Bowers & Wilkins Nakamichi every 2 – 3 years for a full service.

    With regard to the Sony DD9, it’s over rated I take the D6C and DC2 over the DD9 any day.
    I have been enjoying my system more and more since the lockdown, my listening room is now my office :delighted:. I have improved the sound without spending any money but just tweaking bits. I have moved the speakers further into the room, it now sits over 2 meters into the room. Sounds amazing and the sound stage is very deep.

    Oh by the way 19lexicon78 the Pre / Power amp are Spectral Audio, you should look them up. If you get to hear them, you will wont one. :nwink:
     
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  17. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Oh i don't know, i like small speakers :nwink:
     
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  18. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    Same for me! Since you cannot reproduce pipe organ at home ((I am still waiting for some response to this Q I posted at Audiogon, some members there spent more on their stereos than I have ever earned)) monitors are the best to my ears also. Even my beloved Naim SBLs were just a two-way monitors loaded into a ‘stand’
    But your foam absorbers: those wouldn’t fly with my Boss, I know because I tried... and almost got kicked out of my own house:( Even ‘skyline’ diffusers had to be returned...:mad:
    Once again, congrats on the room treatment: you are a Man, you did it!!:)
     
  19. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    You can reproduce pipe organ at home, a friend of mine told me he has. He use to have the TAD Reference One speakers, crazy bottom end on this speakers. The TAD Reference One are one serious speaker.

    But still he was not 100% happy, he has sold the TAD’s and now has a Legacy Audio Caliber XD, Legacy Audio Subs. He says this combination goes down to the teens Hz. I have not had a chance to listen to this combination yet.
     
  20. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

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    You caught me red-handed! What I meant was that I personally never had a chance to hear a realistic, to my ears, reproduction of a pipe organ sound outside of a Cathedral. Even the one installed at the Moscow Conservatory Hall sounded to me as just another instrument of the orchestra

    The best sound from the 'canned' music that I had a chance to experience was coming through Von Schweikert Ultras. Never once had any awe-inspiring moments with top-shelf Wilson Audio or B&W, although they go easily into infrasound. At the more realistic price-points I probably agree with your friend, during recent visit to local Naim Audio dealer my favorite sound was made by ATCs in active mode.
     

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