My system, some updates....

[Frazeur1]

I thought that I would put a new system thread down, as my old one contained my previous system of Naim Uniti and Larsen or Shahinian speakers that I had for almost six years. Roughly a bit over a year ago, I started thinking about the future and where I wanted to more or less end up system wise. This started me on a journey listening to quite a few systems, mainly at dealers, or being able to borrow pieces to see how it would sound in my own living space.

After several really nice systems were listened to, evaluated, I ended up here. Certainly not the average system one will see often, if at all, but I kind of like it, it is unique, it is me, it is “my-fi” to coin a phrase from my friend Oscar, which is how it should be!

The first photo is of the system about a month or more ago, now TV has been banished, and I am working with some Impression Series acoustic diffuser/absorber panels from GIK. Still experimenting with panel placement, how many, etc., so still in progress.

With the TV gone, my top shelf is now available and I am considering moving my Holbo Air-Bearing turntable over along with my still yet purchased(and still unknown at the moment)phono stage. Again, all a work in progress, little by little. I am pleased so far. More to come! 2452524526

[hornucopia]

For a long time I've been interested in the Dueval speakers. I seem to like 'off-beam' things!
Citroens.....klipschorns.....Zotl amps.....LDR.....

[Frazeur1]

I am a bit that way myself, hence, Duevel! Amongst some of the other bits too for that matter! I kind of always have been this way, wanting things that were a bit different, not just for difference sake of course, but....

The Duevel are very good, probably sound a bit different than most people who have never heard them might think. I enjoy them very much!

[Mike Reed]

Those speakers are very different, Timothy. They do look very elegant; monolithic, almost ! I presume they're non directional like the Shahinians (sp?). Just a thought; if your t/t is heavy ( like a Verdier, maybe), I do wonder about the viability of your ex TV shelving, if only on sonic grounds. I suppose you could build it up with alternate layers of absorbency and wood or whatever, assuming the shelf is 18mm or so thick.

[Frazeur1]

Thanks Mike, yes, the Venus are totally omnidirectional like Shahinian. I used to have Obelisk a few years ago, and typically I do like what omnis bring to the table in my room.

The TT is not real heavy, about 35 pounds tops. The stand shelf is perfectly capable of handling the weight, it has good bracing underneath that you cannot see. I am going to put a BASE isolation platform(one of my photos somewhere shows this platform) under the table when I move it. It works fantastically with the table, and almost like they were made for each other. It will of course be a work in progress. Will try various things as I go along.

[hornucopia]

This might help.....https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/duevel-venus-loudspeakers/
How hard was that?

[Frazeur1]

Finally things going here! Croft Micro 25 pre/phono with Croft Series 7 amplifier driving my Duevel Venus speakers. Some fine tuning to do here, have a little low level rumble issue I need to work on, otherwise, sounding good!

Spinning some Joe Jackson-Night and Day, like jumping in a teleportation unit and setting the dial back to the early 80’s! Analog and tubes, ahhhh!

[hornucopia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJwt2dxx9yg
One of the great riffs!

I think valves (tubes) are 50s/60s though!

[Frazeur1]

Yes, it certainly is, I was more referring to the Joe Jackson album, but indeed, it all goes back a good deal further!

Steppin’ Out has always been a great tune for me! Another good album of his, one you won’t see often, is the soundtrack from the movie, Mike’s Murder, has several choice tunes there. Of course many of Joes albums are good, providing you like him to begin with!

[Frazeur1]

Finally got my pair of diffusion/absorber panels installed today, am still debating on moving the turntable and phono preamplifier over to the top shelf of the rack. More to come I am sure....

[Macca]

Do you close the curtains when you listen Tim?

[Frazeur1]

Martin, it has very little if any change on the sound, drapes or blinds opened or closed, subtle at best. The Omni nature of the Venus is pretty interesting in how it lays out the stage of music. The diffuser and slight absorption panels made more of a difference all around, especially once I moved the TV to the other room and that wall was bare.

[Macca]

That's interesting. I have a window behind me when listening and closing the curtains makes a noticeable improvement. I was surprised. But I demonstrated the effect to Oliver (Bigman80) when he was over here and he agreed. However I'm not using omnis and your windows are on the opposite wall...

[Frazeur1]

Yes, a lot of these things are certainly room and speaker dependent, placement, many things. The blinds strangely affected my Larsens that were located right up against the wall on either side of the same equipment stand, and the Larsen had a more of a 45 degree angle slightly upwards and out from those cabinets. Funny how things interact. That is why trying out various things is well worth the effort.

I spent almost three weeks on the panel placement, also two versus three across the wall, height, etc., I finally arrived at this after some playing. Nothing is ever perfect, but we do our best!

[walpurgis]

That's interesting. I have a window behind me when listening and closing the curtains makes a noticeable improvement..

When I was last decorating the bathroom I noticed how reverberant it was if I clapped my hands, so as an experiment I hung a large towel on one of the rails and the reverb had now gone when I clapped hands. Small things can have big effects.

[Frazeur1]

Does your singing in the shower now seem to be much improved, Geoff? Haha, yes indeed, some of the simplest of things can have great affect.

My room here is kind of odd, but in general it has been a good room for the stereo system. I have plenty of long wall, open space, and about 4-5 feet of open space behind my head/listening position. It all has worked out quite well, especially for omnis.

[Macca]

. Funny how things interact. That is why trying out various things is well worth the effort.
!

Very true. Until I discovered it I always wondered why my system sounded worse in the summer months when it's light outside during listening hours.


The panels look very classy btw.

[Frazeur1]

Thanks Martin, I looked at several, and even played with a few different ones. These are from GIK Acoustics, their Impression Series, I believe. Reasonable cost too overall. I have two left as they only sell them by box of four in that configuration.

I have also been playing around a bit with the two extras as floor standing panels, have tried moving them around to various positions behind the Venus or off to the sides slightly, certainly differences there to presentation and stage, but I find what I have right now to be the best balance.

[hornucopia]

Can't believe that Geoff posted that his.....tiled/hard-surfaced Bathroom was...reverberant!
Shocked! (-:

[Frazeur1]

:lol: Yeah, but funny in that weird way!

[Frazeur1]

248162481724818

I decided to go ahead and move the Holbo TT and Croft pre/phono over to my main rack versus off to the side. It cleaned my front room up a bit, plus I got rid of a little bit of noise in the phono stage circuit, probably from the longer interconnects. Am loving the Croft MM stage, really nice.

Next step will be getting a TT cover made and then will probably upgrade the Nag MP-110 to one of the upper range Nags, or something else, will see. This cheap MP-110 is pretty good though for such little outlay, and seems to work really well with the Croft.

[jandl100]

Only just seen this thread.
Duevel speakers, I do like omnis.

Quite a few years ago someone had a very similar looking pair at the Wigwam show, they sounded amazingly good!

I find that with my MBL omnis it's easy to overdo the room treatment. A little goes a long way, and the benefits of the omni presentation can be diluted by too much absorption.
I found it good to have a 'sanity check' every now and then and remove some just to make sure it really is an improvement!

Lovely looking room you have there, as well. :thumbsup:

[Jimbo]

Nice to see your system Tim. :)

[Frazeur1]

Thanks Jerry and Jimbo, sorry for the crap photos, someday I swear...Jerry, yes, you are right on wall/room treatments with omnis, there does need to be some care in that. My panels are the lowest on the absorption end of things on this type of panel. Once I removed the TV from the top of the rack, I found that the blank wall created a bit too much brightness and slap, these panels proved to be just right. I played around with placement and also quantity of the panels, as I have four of them. I ended up with just two, and am very pleased with the results. It has been a fun little exercise of sorts!

[jandl100]

Interesting what you say about removing the TV screen causing some issues.
I've a 42 inch plasma screen in about the same position between the speakers. And whilst I haven't tried removing it completely I have experimented with absorbent covers to shield it when playing music-only (which is most of the time). To my surprise I preferred the sound without the cover on. Although, even more weirdly perhaps, I have settled on a 4x2 foot GIK absorbent panel placed horizontally against the wall behind the plasma screen.
You just can't predict these things sometimes!

[Frazeur1]

No, you sure can’t predict those types of things, experiment and listen for what works best! I did have a 55” flat screen in that position, and I also tried various covers over it, never felt I had the perfect solution there, yet it didn’t bother the sound all that much, as the panel sat back from the plane of the speakers. Again, omnis are a different thing, as it seemed I had more issues to deal with when I moved the TV screen out!

I am happy with the results though with the GIK panels, just right in my opinion. I think for me, the TV screen was more of a distraction more than anything else. These panels seemed like a distraction as well when I first put them up there, but now they just seem to kind of melt into the wall visually, yet do their thing, while providing a little artistic flair to it all.

I have had several Omni or Omni types of speakers in this room, and I have gotten on really well with almost every one of them, the Shahinian Obelisk being the hardest one to get right, which I never quite did unfortunately, as they had a wonderful midrange and upper end to them that was fantastic. I shouldn’t complain though, the Duevel Venus are doing quite nicely here. I would love to hear your MBL in here Jerry!