Succinct, if not particularly erudite or informative! :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
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Succinct, if not particularly erudite or informative! :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Lol - we'll chat about it next time we speak :)
Marco.
Few mins after the midnight
Friday we arranged local hifi enthusiasts bbq-evening at my place. Everyone brought something to drink and eat and music flowed all the time. There were nine guests plus few kids also playing around.
After the things settled down me and three close friends stayed until the 1AM and listened music having some quality whisky and beer. The kids and MRs were already sleeping upstairs so kept the volumes relatively quiet. Here OP is enjoying the "easy lover" performed by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins little after the midnight.. :)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7...7e5d043e_c.jpg
As you can see Technics was not connected and the Garrard 401/SME V/T'fig Phoenix II combo handled most of the music when not using the bits.
Mika, nice room full of vinyl and nice to know the Techy is on the subs bench, important from a fellow 401/SME IV/Lp Ebony user POV. :D
Special mention on the bike (big bike fan me), what make is your Titanium bike?, is it a Litespeed? love the Campagnolo groupset and wheelset, whatever it is,
it's a class steed. :cool:
wii.
Hi wii, always nice to hear that someone else loves bikes too :) The bike is indeed titanium and made by italian Gianni Motta in the 90's. Have had it few years after it retired from the duties of winter training bike of one Elite-series racer. Brilliant bike and like a glove.
Unfortunately last Monday noticed a crack at the frames chainstay http://theartofsound.net/forum/showp...6&postcount=11. Most likely repair is not possible but will still investigate that. Also looking for a new frame with similar dimensions and most likely going to order semi-custom steel from one british frame builder but we'll see..
Mika, hadn't notice your bike post you linked, :rolleyes: i too use a Ti bike (Airborne Corsair MTB) but use a Fondriest with Dedacciai tubing(possibly fancy name for Columbus)with carbon forks on my race bike, see what you're saying about Titanium's unrepairability, thats why Ti parts and bikes are so expensive,one wee mistake and it's scrap, maybe it's time to treat yourself to a full carbon frame. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
wii.
I don't know about carbon as it's bit like giving up vinyl and starting to listen all your music from NAS or some other form of zeros and ones :) However titanium is still at my list as Van Nicholas (the company that used to the called Airborne) still has some nice Ti frames around that you do not have to give your other arm:and leg for..
Todays effort..
..was to install my new GIK Tri-trap acoustic panels (bought 2nd hand) to the corner of the listening room. Also added my other smaller DIY rack constructed of Ikea Lack tables to my system to give more air to the Shindo amps that are running quite hot during the summer season.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7...5d4d588a_c.jpg
Jury is still out there but the GIK products seem to have impact to overall performance of my system (including the room). Might have to do some fine tuning for the speaker positioning and then make the final judgement. More information of the GIK Tri-traps can be found from http://gikacoustics.com/gik_tri_trap.html.
Lovely looking speakers, Mika.
Yes, I can imagine those being the biz!! :respect:
Marco.
Thanks. Perhaps you should come to visit to the northern playground here in Finland sometimes :)
Forgot to mention yesterday that also acquired a nice cartridge from a friend - Dynavector XX-1 with some low hours. I think being high output design it will be nice match to my Techy and it's internal SH-10U phonostage. Have been checking Dynavectors for ages and it seems this will be my first real encounter with one in my own system.
http://pic5.audiogon.com/i/c/f/1260289198.jpg
Will still have to figure out what to do with the tonearm section as the SME III is not one of my favorites have to admit and atleast by paper it is not a very good match for the Dynavector..
I used to run a Dynavector 20A2 in an SME III, but agree that it is not the best match. A Jelco 750D would be a good entry level, although a nice used Fidelity Research would be fab :)
Glad your getting/enjoying a hot summer season, jealous.....!!!!
You have the most insane system, brother! And quite a collection of good music from the looks of things. Well done.
Thanks! I guess.. :D
Mika,
I am intrigued to what kind of sound emerges from them big horn,big bass and big cabs, i guess American west coast maybe,
you know...wide open 'in yer face' from the horn projection,loud and brash from that 15'incher and with ''attitude'',
imagine dude with Ray Ban's, Halley D. thundering away into the panoramic desert twilight, magnificient. :D
Andy, you might be fairly close to reality.
However the sound is not so big and bold that most might expect and that might be more because of the system overall. I guess to fully unleash the potential of the speakers would need larger and acoustically better room and use some serious amplification. The drive units are designed to PA use after all.. :)
Cable guy
During the last week have been testing some interconnects. Had some Zu and Analysis Plus interconnects loan from a friend with my mixed cable dressing from Chord and Isoda. Was not very impressed so continued the search.
Next stop was to have a home demo for the three pairs of Tellurium Q Blacks. These cables were really something and had huge impact to the sound, the dynamics, openness and resolution was improved clearly without any drawbacks at the prat section. For some reason especially the analogue side of my system seemed to have a huge improvement. However as the cables were quite costly decided still to investigate some other choices despite of the love :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8457/7...19400f88_c.jpg
By the recommendation of a friend I found a german handler manufacturing interconnect from vintage NOS Western Electric cable and decent RCA plugs. Could get 3 pairs with the price of one TQ interconnects so took a risk and ordered the cables.
After some break-in can say that these cables are not bad at all. The midrange is wonderfully stuctured and they're almost every way better than my old ones but are still missing some qualities I loved using the TQ interconnects. The bass section is bit boomy and would need some more resolution as well as the highs lack the sparkle I know should be there.
So staying for WE interconnects for a while but most likely in future will still try some other interconnect. At least the Auditorium 23 ones are high on my shortlist if do not take the easy way out and go for TQs. In the meantime will have some other interesting things to try out I think.. :)
I accidentally speakers..
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/7...051ffca5_c.jpg
..but just because had suitable stands already at my possession. Atleast that's my explanation to Mrs when she'll notice coming home from the evening shift :)
The speakers are Tannoy Dovers with model 2558 10" DC drivers. They have some marks and scuffs in it with few corners badly damaged. The speakers were not dirty cheap but technically they are mint and sound quite nice indeed. The sealed cabinet holds the bottom end in good grip and especially when listening a bit closer and bit off-axis the balance is surprisingly good despite of the small familiar Tannoy "honk". These will be nice 2nd speakers for my set.
http://www.libidohifi.com/zbxe/files...09/dover12.jpg
Back in the days I owned larger Tannoy Turberrys with bit modern 10" DC driver for several years. Sold them when decided fully to change my system for some stupid reason. Sometimes I wonder why I did even sell those as have been doing now for some time.. :)
Nice find Mika, the one pictured looks very nice indeed :)
Enjoy, as I'm sure you no doubt will...
Thanks.
Have been playing around with the positioning of the Tannoys and they seem to work surprisingly well even far far away from the room boundaries. Would be interesting to try the difference positioning the sepakers closer to the wall. The equipment rack and Altecs are taking the space fully, so perhaps that is not possible as don't want to move those around after getting their places right :)
One of my favourite finnish jazz artist released his new album lately. Some years back I wrote short reviews of interesting finnish albums to Naim forums. Perhaps might try that also here someday as it is always nice to shre some nice albums to people who most likely haven't heard about those at all..
Lovely speakers Mika, really like the over all blonde finish and cork like effect of the baffle.
Yes, be interested in your reviews of Scandinavian jazz astists, went to the Fife Jazz Festival and saw some good scandic jazzers there.
P.S. check PM, secret to tell.:)
Yes in Scandinavia the jazz has been in a hot spot some years and you can really tell this from the quality of some young talents. However it's not too modern, so most of the artists have huge respect to the tradition and when listening you can really tell. Really impressive stuff there to enjoy. The old posts I've written to Naim forum can be found from http://forums.naimaudio.com/displayF...66878605822057, so perhaps you start there :)
And the front baffle of Tannoys really is cork, so not only a effect there :) Checked also PM's, nice secret you have there. I'll try to keep it and will provide some thoughts this evening the latest..
mika, sorry i'm a newcomer here and i can't find info on how you drive your altecs. is it just a shindo EL84 amp or you have another amp for bass.
i'm asking cause i'm also interested in this kind of onken-derived cab for altecs however afaik hiraga and others from paris horn mafia all drove it with SS amps for best results (in fact hiraga 20 or 30 amps).
I'm having custom made passive XO so using only one amp at the time. Sometimes I use my Shindo Montille EL84 (2x13W push-pull) and sometimes my other am, which is Audio Zone AMP-1 (2x50W chip amp).
The Altecs are quite efficient, so both amps can drive them way too loud if necessary. However they both have they pros and cons, so I'm bit undecided with this matter. Even haven't tried any, I'm pretty sure Hiragas amps even the monster one are suitable for Altecs. However have tried some other SS amps and think that with Altecs are quite demanding speakers in that sense, so perhaps I have to disagree with the french mafia at least a bit.. :D
thanks, my experience with onkens is limited, just listened to a few semi successful boxes. there was lots of hiraga writings in french on subject of onken crossovers and onken aplification but afaik his advice was always low power class A (in fact hiraga 20).Quote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
anyway, congratulation for the most interesting system there. is your crossover a proprietary design or there's a schematic somewhere?
Thanks for the compliment.
The XOs are made by Werner Jagusch from Germany who is also the man behind the Jabo horns. The proprietary design for the XO is his own I believe and my units have some additional customization for the crossover frequency and also for possibility to use 8/16ohm drivers.
Thought that will put this shot from last night also here as it seems to quite well sum up the joy in our home when listening music and doing stuff with the kids at the same time. Like drawing something with that Fisher-Price thingie and listening some progressive rock.. :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8450/7...ef45bb4b_c.jpg
Great photo!
You have competition, Alex!
Thanks guys.. :D
Mika, you have lovely system, a lovely home and a lovely child. Enjoy:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
^Thanks.
Let's still put another one for a display as yesterday enjoyed a small concert at our living room while Mrs.Mrok had to work at evening shift at the hospital. The highly skilled and energetic guitar duo played mostly Fröbelin Palikat and Hevisaurus, which are finnish rock bands for kids.. :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8038/8...0446cfc2_c.jpg
Fantastic photoQuote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
Really great photo, Mika. Well cool...
No wonder he has a smile on his face :stalks:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
Spotted the Transcendent grounded grid pre-amp on the rack, anybody had experience of this unit?
Cheers, Alan
Yeah and that looks like a series whest phono stage as well :eek:
You have sharp eyes both of you :) My friend indeed has modified Transcendent grounded grid preamp and also 3 pairs of power amps. And Whest phonoamp of course for his Michell deck with Origin Live tonearm and Lyra cartridge.
Have actually compared that preamp to to my Shindo Aurieges MM and my other friends Airtight preamp. Bit more robust and lush sounding I think but considering the price point very strong performer. Have heard that those things have been modded quite a bit with some good results..
During the past weeks have been planning some acoustic treatment to my room which you can see above. This is because have found out the GIK Tri-traps to be very useful at the room corners and have visited few dedicated listening rooms with some convincing treatments and sounds.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
Thinking of hanging some acoustic panels to the room with some air behind them to absorb general reflections and to minimize the measured echo time for the room. Already ordered these few days back and think can start the installation during the weekend of next week the latest. Also planning to build some bigger QRD diffusor panels to replace the the acoustic panel hanging behind the set but this might take bit longer :D
As my back wall already has wall wide and tall shelves filled with LPs, books and boardgames think these actions will be enough and raise the performance of my system to a whole new level. At least I think they should what have been discussing with few acoustics gurus here in Finland. Will report when have some progress.
Yes, it certainly is.Quote:
Originally Posted by REXTON
Room treatment - stage one
Yesterday took down old acoustic panels from my walls after new ones arrived. The new ones are made by finnish company Ecophon and the model is Master SQ in size 120 x 60 x 4 cm.
I started by installing two panels to the ceiling of my room with 6cm air behind them. The idea was to locate these approx. to the middle of the roon to absorb the early reflections coming from the ceiling and by first listening this solution seems to work pretty well.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8...cae7a602_z.jpg
Continued already to prepare three panels to the main wall behind the speakers. Will put these in three segments also with some air behind them to improve their qualities and plan also to add some diffusive elements on top of them. Hopefully I will have time to do this during the weekend.. :)
Those ceiling panels would look particularly groovy with some subtle, pastel shaded mood lighting behind them Mika ;)
I knew that someone is going to point that out.. :)
Yesterday put the three panels to the main wall behind the system and now the room feels a bit too damped one, so the music and the presentation does not open up anymore. Bit too clinical for my liking have to say.
I guess the original plans to use some diffusive elements at the main wall were more than correct ones. Luckily I have already plans to add some hard surfaced diffusive panels on top of the current ones as that should give the room more natural environment to present the music in effortless way.Also noticed now when listening music with little louder levels that the bass department of the Onken cabs have some small timing issues and boom. I guess after finishing the room treatment will have to continue to planning the internal support matrix inside the cabs as well as the back support to the bass driver..
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8...9cfbe27f_c.jpg
Well, now back to the Paul Gonsalvez jazz album from 1st pressing and my glass of hot whiskey to cure the minor flue. Here is the recipe http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink323.html. Didn't have any Irish whiskey so had to use some Islay malt instead. Wondering is this enough to sen to the hot and nasty place after my short and miserable life.. :D :D :D
Room treatment - stage two
Today have stayed at home and not commuted to the office. Some call it sick leave as have a good old flue but have still done some work related tasks remotely. Stupid me :)
Luckily this gave me a change to continue the room treatment project as yesterday received a small parcel from Thomann containing some 25mm Auralex DST-R diffuser panels (36 pieces to be more exact) plus some adhesive compound. So during the afternoon finalized the three Ecophon Master SQ panels in size 120 x 60 x 4 cm already hanging at the main wall with these. I had planned to paint these Auralex panels and also add wooden frame to these three main panels but they do look surprisingly good without any additional work. As Mrs agrees decided to leave it like this at least for a while.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8331/8...03966dc9_c.jpg
Before with the two plain panels at the roof and the three plain panels at the main wall felt that had too much absorptive material and the sound became bit too "lean" with decrease in spacial information and airiness with damped mids and highs. Now when the three plain panels at the main wall are covered with reflective diffuser panels everything seems to be in order. Got back the missing spacial information and airiness with the mids and higs without any negatives and at the same time the pros from absorption panels still remain to lower frequencies.
Overall I'm really pleased to the room and system performance at the moment. The balance is very close to what I expected and even when listening music with louder levels the room does not interact that much and the reflections from the main room boundaries seem to be nicely in control. Perhaps will still do some minor work with the leftovers but most likely for a living room this starts to be wrapped up :D
Hi Mika
Your system looks absolutely superb. Congratulations.
David :)
[QUOTE=Mika K;374022]Yesterday put the three panels to the main wall behind the system and now the room feels a bit too damped one, so the music and the presentation does not open up anymore. Bit too clinical for my liking have to say.
Room treatments in my experience tend to be blunt instruments. You don't only lose the bits you want to lose but others that you wished to keep. Better underdamped than overdamped in my opinion
Kind regards
David :)
Thanks!
Wise words. During the years I have noticed the same with several bigger treatments at the palces where visited. Many prefer pretty damp room acoustics but usually that takes the life out from the music. So better to be careful.. ;)
You're probably right, but it helps to be able to easily change it. My TubeTraps adjust by rotating them (one side is deflection, the other absorption). The flutter echo in my empty room was pretty horrible and I've ended up with maximal damping. I like it that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by tannoyman
It's accepted wisdom to place absorption behind the system, at first reflection points and behind the listening position; however it's not always the best thing to do, as you have found out. I favour using diffusion behind the system and at the first reflection points, with careful use of absorption behind the listening position. In most listening rooms (except those that are very large), there is a limit to the amount of total absorption that the room will tolerate (before it becomes pretty much anechoic) and domestic furnishings go most of the way towards controlling reverberation anyway. Bass is always a more difficult thing to control, so this is where Martin's bass traps come in, but most of us do not have listening rooms large enough to accommodate the sheer bulk of an effective bass trap.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mika K
Your Auralex diffusive panels do look rather good!
Techie again
Few days ago received this Techie SL-120mkII with some extras (Rega and SME arm boards, upgraded feet, clamp etc) bought from AoS and it's looking rather nice (please note the nice Islay supports for the deck ;) )
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7132/8...f49d88e8_c.jpg
The YLE Broadcast deck I have it's just so big that it needs to go as do not really have place for it. It's a shame but on the other this was good decision as do not have the heart to modify that historical piece. This Techie is somewhat of replacement for that as living with only one deck seems too hard thing to do. Also now do not need to change my signature so that's added bonus :)
Have planned to do some minor mods to Techie like adding the Oyaide platter mat and then get a tonearm that is suitable for Denon DL-103 and its heavier variants. Perhaps could also try what my SME V and T'fig cart says about this deck compared to my heavy Garrard. Not planning to do any PSU upgrades at this point but perhaps bearing will have to be changed. We'll see what will happen..