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hifinutt
13-12-2009, 21:58
haven`t got all my system on pictures yet but this is my new silver passive pre amp [music first] just freshly converted to remote version by Mf with superb service. it sounds just so transparent

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture039.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture040.jpg

using a leema antila on top of magnificent sonority design shelf with valhalla mains

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture164.jpg

everything else is on these which are brilliant

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/low_cones.jpg

except the passive which is on ceraballs as rolls around otherwise

these have also made a big difference to my modded sigmas [furutech schuko

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture006.jpg

not finished yet as hope to try a vertex jeya passive filter for which i would value opinions on as i did have a thread on it but it dissappeared !!!

Rare Bird
13-12-2009, 22:38
Leema yum yum

hifinutt
14-12-2009, 20:59
yes, its a brilliant cd player, very fast loading and just superb. putting the sonority design undernaeth made a MASSIVE improvement [having previously used stillpoints and others] bass was huge .

jandl100
17-12-2009, 10:22
Nice. I'd love to try some Leema electronics - I had a pair of their Xavier speakers for quite a while - wonderful things!

What speakers are you using?

hifinutt
17-12-2009, 11:43
hi jerry , yes i read all about your experience with the xaviers and they sound good. i am using B&w 804s on sonority speaker stands which are just brilliant but of course you always want better, if those wilson audio sophia in silver at midland audio wern`t 72kg`s i reckon that would be good but high up on a more practical side would be the new focal 1028 which is more domestically friendly or the aspara hl6

hifinutt
03-06-2010, 18:40
well i managed to get some lovely 1028be which are rather nice , they sound very detailed and natural and extremely controlled bass .
the 804 were fantastic tho and could happily go back to them if i was pushed

i have bunged the back port as unfortunately as you will notice they are a little nearer the wall than ideal

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture029.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture027.jpg

the bel canto refs [modded] are still sounding fantastic but hoping to try some belles soon altho it will take some doing to part from these extremely quiet , practical and powerful amps

i am using a full mains loom of valhalla and comparing to coherant
i also use coherant 4d rca pre power which is a very balanced cable

DSJR
03-06-2010, 22:11
...and your cabinet is on CASTORS??????????????????????????????????????????? ????????

Marco
03-06-2010, 22:28
Hi Phil,

Nice pics! :)

What a lovely system full of top-notch components, *but* it's crying out for a properly designed equipment support.......!

I'm shocked that someone who obviously knows what they're doing in terms of system building hasn't attended to this all-important area of set-up :eek:

The Sonority isolation stuff you're using at the moment will certainly help, but until you invest in a dedicated equipment support, dude, the performance of your (superb) system will simply be at 'half-mast'.

Excellent as it as now, there is MUCH more still to come from it - trust me! :cool:

Marco.

Rare Bird
04-06-2010, 13:02
...and your cabinet is on CASTORS??????????????????????????????????????????? ????????

Take the castors off wont make a blind bit of difference :)

Ali Tait
04-06-2010, 13:27
Agreed!

Marco
04-06-2010, 13:45
I also agree - but it won't make the cabinet into any more of an effective equipment support ;)

He needs to lose the cabinet altogether - castors and all!

......And then buy a properly designed equipment support like this:


http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9495/0192rk.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/i/0192rk.jpg/)


Or something else in a similar vein which isolates his (superb) equipment from the effects of microphony. Then Phil will hear exactly what his system is capable of :)

Marco.

Primalsea
04-06-2010, 16:34
Perhaps he's a mobile DJ at weekends!

hifinutt
04-06-2010, 17:43
all very good points . the reason for the casters is to get access to the multiple cables at the back . also each item is on springs, then the cd is on its own sonority shelf to isolate , the pre amp is on ceraballs , the sigmas is on pp , the amps are on sonority design cones .

i notice some of the equipment in the photo above is on the floor which may also be a problem . i use a cabinet to hide most of the gear from prying onlookers as i am on a main road and also so i don`t have to bend down all the time . i am afraid ergonomics comes first and the mrs would have a fit if all that shelf was in the front room !

still sounds stunning tho

mr c is round next week so i am sure he will have something to say too !!!!

Rare Bird
04-06-2010, 18:37
On the other hand you get people that think specialist stands are nothing but a load of Bull Poo (Dave R tought me that wurd :lolsign: ) well they are arnt they ;)

Marco
04-06-2010, 22:23
Hi Phil,


all very good points . the reason for the casters is to get access to the multiple cables at the back . also each item is on springs, then the cd is on its own sonority shelf to isolate , the pre amp is on ceraballs , the sigmas is on pp , the amps are on sonority design cones .

i notice some of the equipment in the photo above is on the floor which may also be a problem . i use a cabinet to hide most of the gear from prying onlookers as i am on a main road and also so i don`t have to bend down all the time . i am afraid ergonomics comes first and the mrs would have a fit if all that shelf was in the front room !


That's fair enough :)

The equipment in the above photo though is not on the floor, but rather on Stillpoints supports (which in the photo look like part of the equipment, which they're not).


still sounds stunning tho

mr c is round next week so i am sure he will have something to say too !!!!

No doubt it does sound very good. You'd have to work pretty hard to make kit like that sound bad! :eyebrows:

Anyway, Tony'll keep you right ;)

Marco.

Primalsea
05-06-2010, 07:48
I think that a lot of so called properly designed hifi supports are just designed to look fancy and are based on romanticised ideas on vibration reduction. It is by chance, trail, error and listening tests that the final design gets approved. Whether this makes them less valid, I personally dont think so. On that point just because someone doesn't have their gear on what is considered a proper hifi unit doesn't mean that what they do have it on doesn't work well. I guess the main thing is that they are non resonant unlike the Garrard 301 & 401 plinths of old. It was those crappy plinths that really ruined the TT's reputation for years.

Marco
05-06-2010, 09:47
Absolutely, Paul. The most important thing is that Phil's happy with his system - it's not as if he's struggling to get a good sound.

I was just wondering why since he was using isolation devices under his kit, he hadn't gone the whole hog with a dedicated equipment support, but he's explained that now :)

Marco.

Rare Bird
05-06-2010, 10:54
I'm gonna say this once more. specialised racks are bollox.. Hifi snobbery is getting in the way of things once again, no body is looking dudes only your eyes.

Ali Tait
05-06-2010, 11:40
Mine is just piled up on top of each other.Sounds great to me.

Rare Bird
05-06-2010, 12:23
My CD play sits on a Turntable wall shelf with granite platform, only cos i dont use turntable anymore & dont wanna leave holes in the wall if i took it down to bin it. The granite is just for asthetic purposes cos i hated the glass platform that came with the thing.

Amp sits on an oak sideboard with a piece of granite underneith again to look pretty, no other reason.

Other stuff just chucked on a cheap old Target turntable table under the sideboard as i have no more space. I'll probably replace this with something else but only for visual purposes nothing else.
Speakers are just plonked on DIY floor stands (Having some made to look pretty) on two pieces of granite i bought. Not for sound purpose but just because i have neighbours underneith.

Cables are cheap Chord speaker cable & cheap QED interconnects

All sounds great.. Nice to see you live in the real world Ali ;)

Primalsea
05-06-2010, 13:33
Stacking equipment on each other isn't a bad thing as the item above tends to help dampen the item below.

Marco
05-06-2010, 13:57
Apart from of course having PSUs with transformers inside way to close to the circuitry in source components (and the sonically detrimental effect that has on music reproduced)! :doh:

Properly built equipment shouldn't need 'dampened'. It just needs isolated from the effects of the surrounding environment, which of course is where a properly designed equipment support comes in....... :ner:

Remember what AOS stands for!

;)

Marco.

Rare Bird
05-06-2010, 14:17
Remember what AOS stands for!



Do as we do or else?

Ali Tait
05-06-2010, 14:40
I used to have a stand I built myself.Don't bother with it any more,all the kit is piled up next to the telly on an Ikea "Lack" tv stand.I'll probably get round to making a copy of the revo acrylic stand sometime,more for something that looks good than any other reason.Not a priority at the moment.

Joe
05-06-2010, 14:46
Remember what AOS stands for!

;)

Marco.

Aardvarks On Speed!

Ali Tait
05-06-2010, 15:08
Naah,Anteaters!

Marco
05-06-2010, 15:18
:lolsign:

Marco.

hifinutt
05-06-2010, 18:12
some great debate here . its all about balance and domestic harmony , some like marco are lucky enough to have a superb isolation and i bet it sounds fab .
one eason i have the casters as i say is access to the back. i regularly change cables . last week i had a 100% valhalla mains loom , this week the coherant 3d is back on the cd and what a superb fit the furutech is compared to the oyaide i had there.

last year i had all massive heavy virtual dynamics mains loom which had to be supported on this cupboard otherwise it would pull the equipment off the shelf!!!

so now i have more flexible cables so the rack can go closer to the wall and i can still get at it for cleaning every 6 months to optimise the sound

hifinutt
08-06-2010, 21:47
interstingly i just spotted a quadraspire rack with casters!

http://www.customelectronicdesign.co.uk/special-offers#

Marco
08-06-2010, 22:07
LOL - buy it and retire the cabinet! :eyebrows:

Marco.

P.S It's 'castors' ;)

hifinutt
09-06-2010, 18:33
nice thought but a few black ravioli bigfeet or similar under the equipment just as good as a posh rack [imho] and today we had to move the rack loads of times trying out various stuff and having it on wheels was a real bonus , sounded magic

electric beach
09-06-2010, 19:02
not finished yet as hope to try a vertex jeya passive filter for which i would value opinions on as i did have a thread on it but it dissappeared !!!

Hi Phil,

I have the Vertex Jaya and wouldn't be without it!

I bought the Vertex Taga distribution block which although effective, I don't consider to be the performance/price essential that the Jaya is. Get a used one and it's an absolute bargain!

The effectiveness of the Jaya depends on where you put it and it's worth a bit of experimenting. It also depends on the other attention paid to the "system", but with the support feet and power loom that you have, I would suspect you would hear a worthwhile jump in natural tone and a cohesion to the sound, building on the foundation you've laid.

I use granite platforms and RDC cones with Mark Grant mains leads for my system but even if I plug the Jaya next to the TV plug I can see a drastic change in both picture and sound quality.

DSJR
09-06-2010, 19:56
Has anyone cut open the black ravioli to see what grade of foam is inside?

Marco
09-06-2010, 20:29
Hi Phil,


nice thought but a few black ravioli bigfeet or similar under the equipment just as good as a posh rack [imho] and today we had to move the rack loads of times trying out various stuff and having it on wheels was a real bonus , sounded magic

Yes, you'll think that until eventually one day you hear what a "posh rack" does ;)

I do appreciate though why you find the convenience of castors handy. At the end of the day, using a hi-fi system in a shared space has to be practical as well as sound good :)

Marco.

Joe
09-06-2010, 20:35
Has anyone cut open the black ravioli to see what grade of foam is inside?

What, and risk the magic ju-ju leaking out? That's crazy talk!

hifinutt
10-06-2010, 08:10
Hi Phil,



Yes, you'll think that until eventually one day you hear what a "posh rack" does ;)

I do appreciate though why you find the convenience of castors handy. At the end of the day, using a hi-fi system in a shared space has to be practical as well as sound good :)

Marco.

thanks marco
hopefully yes one day i can try one of the townshend racks or similar
certainly isolation and effective dealing with energy is devastatinlg effective.

putting the sonority design platform under my cd [antila ] improved it massively .

hifinutt
28-08-2010, 19:27
well made some lovely changes and photos to follow

the mfa has been upgraded to the silver mk2 transformers and made a tremendous difference. more holographic and detailed .

altho the modded refs sounded marvellous with the mfa they have now been replaced with silver belles MB 200 monoblocks

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg160/phil125/Picture031.jpg

these were the black demo pair mr c kindly lent me to see if compatible

the interconnect between pre and monoblocks is now a rather nice jps superconductor 3 and the sigmas has a valhalla mains lead running into it.

the system sounds very transparent and so natural , oh i forgot adding some black ravioli under the speakers ontop of the sonority design improved the sound more by taking off a very slight hard edge

DSJR
29-08-2010, 12:53
Your audio pilgrimage really is becoming a religious experience - whew...:)

hifinutt
29-08-2010, 19:19
thanks dave, hopefully not , i try not to get 2 obsessed with it as other things take more priority but i have just come back from another visit to mr c !!!