View Full Version : My Office System
Ammonite Audio
09-07-2013, 10:02
The new and very small garden office is finally (eg more or less) finished, and furnished with my second system based around refurbished Quad 34/306/FM4 and Avalon NP2.0 speakers. DAC is a Cambridge DacMagic 100. It sounds pretty decent, considering the size constraints of the room. Radio via the FM4 is rather good.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s301/hugocass/IMG-20130709-00008_zpsf73cd00b.jpg
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s301/hugocass/IMG-20130709-00009_zpsb0d8d16d.jpg
David at MCRU made me up a great little 3-headed mains lead for the Quads - a really superb job that is as neat as can be!
That's a lovely little system Hugo, how are you getting along with the 306? I recently installed one into my own system and it has been a complete revelation, they are a cracking little amp ;)
Ammonite Audio
10-07-2013, 20:49
That's a lovely little system Hugo, how are you getting along with the 306? I recently installed one into my own system and it has been a complete revelation, they are a cracking little amp ;)
It's early days since this is the first time the Quad 34/306/FM4 gear has been in use since it all came back from Quad Service some months ago. I can see where the Quad 'Pipe and Slippers' reputation comes from, but it is rather musical and just the thing for an office system. That's me hearing the 34 preamp as well as the 306, of course.
It's early days since this is the first time the Quad 34/306/FM4 gear has been in use since it all came back from Quad Service some months ago. I can see where the Quad 'Pipe and Slippers' reputation comes from, but it is rather musical and just the thing for an office system. That's me hearing the 34 preamp as well as the 306, of course.
If you can, try it with another pre Hugo. Hooked up to my DR5 there's not a hint of tartan slipperness nor a whiff of Old Holborn from the 306 :D
Ammonite Audio
10-07-2013, 21:19
If you can, try it with another pre Hugo. Hooked up to my DR5 there's not a hint of tartan slipperness nor a whiff of Old Holborn from the 306 :D
It's not intended to be a substitute for the main system (see signature below), which is still packed away in boxes and should be in a different league . It will be a treat to get the Lyngdorf and Quad ESL57s together again, particularly since the latter have been One-Thinged!
kenworthy100
10-07-2013, 21:22
Lovely system, I will always have a soft spot for the later 34/306/FM4, a real classic design.
Ammonite Audio
12-07-2013, 14:51
The more I listen to this system, seated at my desk with back to the speakers, the happier I get. It is most certainly not 'HiFi' in that there are no sonic fireworks, but it is so listenable and (to my ears) natural sounding and musical. This despite my house having pretty awful mains, as I discovered earlier today when setting up the main system - the P5's incoming mains waveform display was not at all pretty, being completely flat-topped. I am also re-discovering the benefit of having a balance control!
I could play around with linear PSUs for the DacMagic 100, but in his recent review of it, Martin Colloms found the standard wall-wart to result in a more engaging sound than with a linear PSU (type not specified). I think I'll leave things just as they are. Mains cabling is from MCRU, interconnects between the FM4/34 and 306 are Kimber Silver Streak; cable from DacMagic100 to 34 is DH Labs Silver Sonic terminated with Eichmann copper plugs; speaker cable is MIT AVTS1. MCRU mains cable aside, all of this stuff has been rattling around in my spare bits box for years.
Both the 34 AND the 306 invert the absolute phase, which may have some bearing on the overall perception of the sound if used independantly of each other (no problem if used together obviously). Dada Electronics do some sensible updates should they be necessary. The 34 supply caps can leak all over the circuit board and the FM4's will have lost their memories at least once by now as the batteries age and fail. Fortunately, we have excellent service available on these and more modern speakers with easier loads can breathe fresh air into these amps I believe. I still prefer the late 44/405-2 or 606 for the sort of bassy and percussive stuff I play, but for acoustic or orchestral/choral stuff at modest levels, the 34/306 is superb. They still look great though, don't they? :)
Hugo,
What is your Garden office made out of?
P.
Ammonite Audio
13-07-2013, 15:39
Hugo,
What is your Garden office made out of?
P.
It's timber, faced with Stirling board and Tyvek membrane, with pressure-treated black shiplap board on the outside. Inside, it's fully insulated with Jablite supplemented with a later of foil faced bubble wrap insulation, with plasterboard on top. The floor is timber on concrete, also insulated, with Wickes cheapo oak-effect laminate. French door and window are Wickes UPVC. The slightly sloping roof is covered with Firestone rubber roofing sheet. Power is fed from the house via an armoured cable.
It's not designed to keep noise in, but does well enough. Its thermal performance feels good, being cool in the day and nicely warm at night. It has a nice feel and I'm pleased with it, even though the cost soared to around £4k at the end.
The structure is only a little over 3x3m inside, dictated by the width of a small Victorian terrace house garden. It could have been deeper, but when the concrete pad was laid, I did not realise that government planning criteria for 'permitted development' of outbuildings had been relaxed considerably. You can now build over 50% of available space around the property, with certain stated conditions etc.
It's timber, faced with Stirling board and Tyvek membrane, with pressure-treated black shiplap board on the outside. Inside, it's fully insulated with Jablite supplemented with a later of foil faced bubble wrap insulation, with plasterboard on top. The floor is timber on concrete, also insulated, with Wickes cheapo oak-effect laminate. French door and window are Wickes UPVC. The slightly sloping roof is covered with Firestone rubber roofing sheet. Power is fed from the house via an armoured cable.
It's not designed to keep noise in, but does well enough. Its thermal performance feels good, being cool in the day and nicely warm at night. It has a nice feel and I'm pleased with it, even though the cost soared to around £4k at the end.
The structure is only a little over 3x3m inside, dictated by the width of a small Victorian terrace house garden. It could have been deeper, but when the concrete pad was laid, I did not realise that government planning criteria for 'permitted development' of outbuildings had been relaxed considerably. You can now build over 50% of available space around the property, with certain stated conditions etc.
Wow sounds like a great room, know wonder the system works so well :)
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