Bob's Office System

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31-12-2011, 16:03
morris_minor

Bob's Office System
Every so often I have a change round of my office, and this latest one was prompted by an eBay purchase of a pair of Harbeth Xpression! DPM1 active monitors. Though not totally ideal, these are mounted on small shelves above the main desk.

As my living room system has gradually morphed into an AV system (albeit with a nice little "stereo subsystem" of turntable/Squeezebox Transporter/Sugden Headmaster), my office system has grown into a "proper" stereo system to compensate :eyebrows: . I admit the wiring could be neater - but you should have seen it before :lol:.

Comments, where needed, are along with the pictures below:
(please excuse rubbish pictures . . .)

http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/general.jpg

Below: Printer and Windows 7 PC on the left.
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/left.jpg

Below: Clearaudio Smart Matrix record cleaning machine, a couple of NAS drives, and an Acer box running Windows Home Server - serving up audio from Squeezecenter to six players around the house, and DVD rips to Boxee running on a Mac Mini in the living room.
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/smartm-server.jpg

http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/desktop.jpg

Below: Mac Mini with SSD (best upgrade EVER!), Iomega firewire drive, and DVD writer (a fraction of the cost of replacing the Mini's defunct drive). Audio out from the Mac (and the PC) goes to the pre-amp.
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/mac.jpg

Below: The TT is a Technics SL-QL1 - an eBay purchase a short while ago. Fully serviced by Richard at Vantage Audio, it'll be returned to him when he brings up my SL7 (which is for the living room) and given a thorough upgrade with external PS, improved bearing, copper-bonded platter and additional damping. (New feet are already fitted). A Jico SAS stylus arrived for my P22 recently, so I'm hoping for good results to get even better. :)
Behind the TT:
- Graham Slee Solo SRGII headphone amp
- Pro-ject Pre Box SE
- M-Audio Transit USB (a 96/24 ADC for digitising vinyl)
- Logitech Squeezebox Receiver, on top of
- Sonifex Redbook DAC1
- Graham Slee Era V Gold phono amp
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/hifi-square.jpg

Below: also seen, a Magic Eraser pad, an antistatic brush and an original Zerostat (at least 25 years old . . .)
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/hifi-diag.jpg

Below: Harbeth Xpression! DPM1 active studio monitors
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/dpm.jpg

http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/dpm1.jpg

While I was setting this up a couple of days ago, a nice little parcel arrived from Metrum in the Netherlands - which I hoped was the NOS MiniDac Octave bought to replace the Sonifex RB-DAC1. Unfortunately the parcel just contained the circuit board for the DAC - no casework, no power supply. A quick exchange of emails with Cees Ruijtenberg who runs Metrum uncovered a switch of orders. So I'm sending this back (they've already refunded my costs) and waiting for my unit to arrive. What is interesting about this little tale, is that my order was mixed up with an OEM. Which prompts the question: which manufacturer is fitting Octave DAC boards into their products?? :scratch: :rolleyes:
31-12-2011, 16:09
Tim

Very nice Bob and thanks for sharing . . . question is, how much work do you get done in there with all those toys! ;)
31-12-2011, 16:17
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim

Very nice Bob and thanks for sharing . . . question is, how much work do you get done in there with all those toys! ;)

Er - not a lot, truth be told :lol: Though I do try, honest :rolleyes:

BTW the Sennheiser 595s that are in one of the pics are going back to Sennheiser after you kindly tipped us off about their out of warranty repair. One side has cracked right through. I'd be happy just to get them repaired, but after your experience being sent a new set of 650s, I'm hoping for a new pair of something similar (595s maybe in cream and wood) :cool:.
31-12-2011, 16:22
Tim

Quote:

Originally Posted by morris_minor

Er - not a lot, truth be told :lol: Though I do try, honest :rolleyes:

BTW the Sennheiser 595s that are in one of the pics are going back to Sennheiser after you kindly tipped us off about their out of warranty repair. One side has cracked right through. I'd be happy just to get them repaired, but after your experience being sent a new set of 650s, I'm hoping for a new pair of something similar (595s maybe in cream and wood) :cool:.

Well I hope so, but don't hold me to ransom if you just get a repair. I think the fact I have quite a lot of their headphones already and sent a covering letter may have tipped the balance, but hopefully you will get just as good service :) I have heard previous good reports about their customer service too, part of the reason I remain loyal to them and I like the 'house' sound of Sennheiser too.
31-12-2011, 16:30
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim

Well I hope so, but don't hold me to ransom if you just get a repair. I think the fact I have quite a lot of their headphones already and sent a covering letter may have tipped the balance, but hopefully you will get just as good service :) I have heard previous good reports about their customer service too, part of the reason I remain loyal to them and I like the 'house' sound of Sennheiser too.

Well I've got three other Sennheiser pairs in the house, including a 650, and have had Sennys since the original 414 back in 1980. So you can imagine my covering letter. :eyebrows:

But, no, I won't hold you to ransome, don't worry! :)
31-12-2011, 19:39
jason

Nice office set up Bob....
31-12-2011, 20:12
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason

Nice office set up Bob....

Thanks Jason :)
31-12-2011, 20:18
Reid Malenfant

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason

Nice office set up Bob....

:scratch: Nice? How about exceptional :eyebrows: I have never in my life seen an office with an RCM :rfl:

Oh man, I'd love to work where you do :) The Harbeth actives look very interesting to, they'll probably sound it as well :D

Lovely stuff Bob, bests to you & yours for 2012 chap. I'm sure you'll have a good time at work though :eyebrows:
31-12-2011, 22:40
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reid Malenfant

:scratch: Nice? How about exceptional :eyebrows: I have never in my life seen an office with an RCM :rfl:

Oh man, I'd love to work where you do :) The Harbeth actives look very interesting to, they'll probably sound it as well :D

Lovely stuff Bob, bests to you & yours for 2012 chap. I'm sure you'll have a good time at work though :eyebrows:

Thanks! Got to put the RCM somewhere :D. The Harbeths are very neutral and just seem to take on the character of what's playing (as I suppose studio monitors should), but it's very early days for me with them. Wind the volume up and they really sing :)

Happy New Year to all :cool:
31-12-2011, 23:47
DSJR

I believe the speakers were HHB models made for them by Harbeth and short-lived I think because they didn't go loud enough for bedroom DJ's/muzik makers... I'm told by those that know that they sounded very good.
01-01-2012, 00:10
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSJR

I believe the speakers were HHB models made for them by Harbeth and short-lived I think because they didn't go loud enough for bedroom DJ's/muzik makers... I'm told by those that know that they sounded very good.

You're right about the link between Harbeth and HHB. These DPM1s started out as Xpression! speakers which were a brand Harbeth used for a short while. They then made them for branding by HHB with an uprated amplifier (120 watt rather than 70 watt, I think). When Paul White reviewed the Harbeth model for Sound on Sound magazine he commented on the lack of power for some people but noted that if you monitored at levels any louder your hearing would be shot so the detailed presentation would be largely academic anyway. :lol:

They go plenty loud enough for me! :)
03-01-2012, 22:55
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim

Well I hope so, but don't hold me to ransom if you just get a repair. I think the fact I have quite a lot of their headphones already and sent a covering letter may have tipped the balance, but hopefully you will get just as good service :) I have heard previous good reports about their customer service too, part of the reason I remain loyal to them and I like the 'house' sound of Sennheiser too.

My sennys are being posted back to them tomorrow along with a list of every Sennheiser set I've ever owned, from the HD414s in 1980; about 10 in total. Fingers crossed! :eyebrows:
03-01-2012, 23:13
Tim

Quote:

Originally Posted by morris_minor

Fingers crossed!

Me too ;)
05-06-2012, 18:08
morris_minor

Major changes to the office system

Out goes:

Squeezebox Receiver
Sonifex RB DAC1
Graham Slee Era Gold V (redeployed here)

In comes:

Squeezebox Touch (with TT3 and EDO)
Audio-gd Digital Interface
Metrum Octave NOS DAC
Graham Slee Reflex M phono amp
Denon AH-D7000 headphones
SRM/Tech support for turntable

Upgraded:

Graham Slee Solo headphone amp: SRGII to Ultra Linear DE
Technics SL-QL1 with Vantage mods (external power supply, copper-bonded platter, upgraded bearing, new feet and connectors, extra damping)

Staying the same:

Pro-ject Pre Box SE
M-Audio Transit USB audio interface
Harbeth !Xpression DPM1 Pro active speakers
Sennheiser HD650

Cables - mostly Mark Grant

Coming soon:

Paul Hynes power supply for the Touch

-------------------------------------------

Denon AH-D7000, Mac Mini (behind screen), SB Touch
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/office1.jpg

SB Touch, Graham Slee Solo UL, Pro-ject Pre Box SE, Graham Slee Reflex M
(underneath): Audio-gd Digital Interface and power supply, M-Audio Transit USB, Metrum Octave DAC and power supply
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/office2.jpg

Harbeth DPM1 speaker, HD650, Technics SL-QL1
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/office3.jpg

Technics SL-QL1 and SRM/Tech support
http://www.revalia.co.uk/office/office4.jpg
08-06-2012, 12:51
zoldar

Great Stuff!

I like all the Graham Slee UL line! And nice to see some SRM Tech an Metrum there too :cool:
08-06-2012, 13:55
morris_minor

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoldar

Great Stuff!

I like all the Graham Slee UL line! And nice to see some SRM Tech an Metrum there too :cool:

Yes, Graham's kit performs exceptionally well! As does the Metrum - this is a DAC I could imagine Graham making. Actually he is making his own, along with mono block amps and a pre-amp. More stuff to spend money on!
08-06-2012, 15:43
zoldar

he could do a great job on a dac. His work on a line stage would be great. The DAC and filtering he could outsource.

The Metrum Octave sounded very clear, clean and punchy when I auditioned one. No romance but very nice music making.