AntonioJ's current setup

[AntonioJ]

Hello everyone,
I'm -at this time- posting some doubts :please: on speakers placement, so I thought I'd better post my pictures first.

Well, this is my listening place: a corner in my living room, music & hardware to one side, full bookshelves on the opposite (not seen).

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8502/8377214151_dc94724fb8_b.jpg

The void space is where the comfy armchair comes in when not in use for listening.
I know you'd guess there's a web of cables on the back of the furniture, but -believe me :rolleyes: - it's quite neat now: I've run the mains cables along the wood legs, leaving an uncluttered space for the signal cables to develop. Yes, those see are some Kimber Silver Streak from the DACs to the amplifier.

Left and right, the Audio Note Ks; from top to bottom, the Audion Sterling ETSE (my lovely 12w british); the Caiman+, the Meier Corda StageDAC (which I alternate every now and then), the Micromega Stage 6 and the NAD 412 tuner, which I keep from the earlier days.

Kimber, XLO and JPS Labs cables, plus a homemade silver interconnect from the tuner to the converter.

I throw in a carpet or two, depending on recordings, in front of the speakers to minimise floor reverb.

Explanation as to the K's placement (180º turn and tilt) is in the general forum.
Thank you for comments !

[jason]

That's a tidy set up Antonio, I like the hi fi stand too very nice.

Jason.

[vouk]

Such a beautiful set-up and a lovely room to boot. Nice one!

[John]

Nice CD collection too

[Thing Fish]

Beautiful room Antonio. I love the wooden floor and the amp stand. It looks like Mango wood? Very nice...:)

[RichB]

That's a lovely room and nice to see all those CD's so proudly displayed. I'm not familiar with your system but if it is as well thought out as your room then it must give you much enjoyment. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Rich

[Rowlf]

Lovely and cosy looking room.

I admire the way you organised your components and furniture. It has added so much ambience; looked very class.

[Tim]

Beautiful room Antonio, I could certainly relax in there and listen to music :)

I love the picture bottom centre with the red border too.

[AntonioJ]

Thank you very much for your kind comments. The stand is made of solid teak wood (quite hefty) the drawings are another of my hobbies: painting (not mine! :D - someone else's).
Cheers,

[Rare Bird]

I have a Micromega Stage upgraded to top spec, great players but unfortoonatully i don't bother with CD anymore hence it be resigned it to thur great store room of CDee players in the sky in my lock up with many high grade players :)..

[jandl100]

I know you'd guess there's a web of cables on the back of the furniture,

:scratch:
Ha! - that looks perfect already - you should see my cable spaghetti!! :doh:

Lovely looking system, I do like AN K speakers. :thumbsup:

Valencia? - a really lovely city - I lived in Spain for 2 years, about 50Km south of Valencia, on the outskirts of a small village called Barxeta, not far from Xativa. A beautiful part of the world. :)

[MartinT]

Nice room, Antonio.

[Haselsh1]

I'm lovin that amplifier. One of my alltime favourites. I adore the EL34 valve and single ended is just sublime. I also love Audio Note speakers which are a match made in heaven.

[AntonioJ]

Thank you !
Jerry, I know the place you mention: Barxeta. Being a railway modeller and enthusiast, this is a nice area where a narrow gauge british-built railway once existed, with a winding track accross the mountains. Nice place, yes!
Regards

[AntonioJ]

Updated. The NAD tuner went in favour of the Cyrus FM7.5 (acquired at a very nice price). Gained neutrality.
The Meier StageDAC is for sale replaced by the Wadia 15. The Caiman+ is on temporary loan to a friend.
Audio Note K's on Target mass-loaded stands.
Two of my venerable LP sleeves hung behind.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8525/8480428308_b9c1946212_c.jpg

Cheers!

[Thing Fish]

I do love your little wooden cabinet Antonio. I look at my black steel monolith and yearn for something similar with a bit of character.

[sirAndy]

Great looking system - the previous arrangement was too. Such a nice, relaxing looking room. :)

[MartinT]

Nicely framed LP sleeves, Antonio. I should do something similar really.

[Tarzan]

:stalks: Lovely looking room there Antonio, big AN fanboy here, the Ks are lovely speakers.:)

[AntonioJ]

Hello all,
don't want to look like a curator, but I've been changing amps recently just to check performance with the Magnepans basically.
Do any of you have some experience to share with this amp topology ? I'm completely ignorant with this...
I recently acquired a valve stage equipped with 2x pentodes 717A (Western Electric) and 2x triodes 1626 (RCA) and their corresponding SE transformers (from Ask Jan First), based in a circuit by Gerd Reinhöfer. 0,75wpc !!

http://i62.tinypic.com/20zsftv.jpg

My speakers are the Audio Note and the Magnepan SMGa, both quite different, both 90dB efficient..., so I dared connect the stage (remember: 3/4 of a watt!) to the Magnepans (I said, "ok, if something has to be damaged, I prefer it to be the Maggies"), using the Wadia 15 as a preamp (digital vol).
The huge surprise was that the rig sounds, and marvelously, I need to add...!!

Sound is BIG, hardly second harmonic distortion traces and not consistently. Clear detailed, SE three-dimensional.., a very confidential sound; real piano tones, nice vocals, sinks into blurr with big orchestral sound..., betters the Audion EL34 in many camps...
...Cosa: Magnepans (smaller) CAN sing with hardly 1 watt at 300€ !!!! Astounding.
Just for your reference: manufacturer: http://www.awiller.de/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=47
Darling documentation in http://www.oocities.org/timessquare/1965/darling.PDF and http://www.roehrentechnik.de/html/darling.html
Greetings,

[agk]

Absolutely lovely.

[AntonioJ]

Hello,
a recent update...: EERA DL2 (Integral), MFA v2, the Lavardin stage (a Pass Aleph 3 is on the way to replace) and the SMGas.
The Audio Note J and Darling are with the second rig.
Greetings,
Antonio

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4580/24920008388_e606c86448_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DY6yi3)