I used to have the D3 which I bought in NYC for £300 compared to the UK price of £700
I only use mine rarely these days but I cant take it out of the system, it feels wrong if it's not there.:scratch:
Printable View
I used to have the D3 which I bought in NYC for £300 compared to the UK price of £700
I only use mine rarely these days but I cant take it out of the system, it feels wrong if it's not there.:scratch:
http://www.berghofer.com/photos/gear/desk4.jpg
Thank you! In the meantime I cleaned up the mess a little bit. Now I’m really happy with my desk.
My headphone listening location recently has been changed. I added a vintage Sansui SE-7 graphic equalizer which enables me to compensate a slightly different curved auditory canal in my left ear. According to my ear specialist my right ear’s hearing still is around 98 percent, which is quite good for a person of my age (54).
http://www.berghofer.com/photos/gear/library3.jpg
Gear (top, from left to right): Beyerdynamic DT 990/600 Ω headphone, Schiit Valhalla amplifier, MacBook Pro (17"). Bottom: Beresford Caiman+ DAC, Sansui SE-7 graphic equalizer. Signal path: MacBook Pro via Toslink → DAC fixed line-out via RCA cable → equalizer → headphone amplifier → headphone.
If the laptop is not connected directly, the DAC still can be accessed wirelessly via an Airport Express, located below the coffee table. In this case I use the Caiman’s second Toslink input. No matter which connection method I use: the sound is just great, so I fear I have to spend the next two or three months re-discovering my music collection.
Werner.
Looking good, Werner, and top-notch photography as usual! :)
That ol' Sansui is a nice bit of kit (even though I'm not normally a fan of graphic equalisers). However, I realise what you've done, and applaud the lateral thinking you've used to assemble your system and obtain a great sound.
Yer also in not bad nick for 54, dude! You'd probably put some of the 40-year olds here to shame.... :eyebrows:
Marco.
Marco,
me too; I never really understood the need of adding such a device to a good audio chain, but in my case there are really medical reasons for doing so. Two weeks ago I visited my ear specialist, and during this visit a hearing test was performed. I compared the graphs of my left and my right ear, spent three rather sad days without any listening to music – and luckily decided that it was time for action.
Since I really like the haptic appearance of high-quality vintage gear, I found great equalizers on eBay. To my desks audio chain I added a Sony SEQ-411 equalizer, which I could place nearly invisible in the shelf behind my desk. Within the next few weeks I plan to add a Yamaha EQ-550 to my system upstairs in the living room.
The day the Sansui equalizer arrived at my home and was connected to my system, I warned my girlfriend that my headphone seat in the library might look like Kraftwerk’s legendary “Kling Klang” sound studio in the late 1970’s, but the next day we visited the local IKEA shop in Innsbruck and found a matching coffee table which makes everyone happy :-)
http://www.berghofer.com/photos/gear...rk_vocoder.jpg
Early 1970s vocoder, custom built for electronic music band Kraftwerk (source: Wikipedia)
In my left ear some higher frequencies and subtle details are missing, which becomes quite obvious when I turn my headphones around to hear the left channel with the right ear or if I remove the equalizers from the signal path.
Well, thank you, and I’m really glad to still have a good hearing. And thanks also for the compliments regarding the photos I took. My original education and profession was photography.
Werner.
Ian,
the bookshelf speakers have thin rubber feet at their bottoms, and the subwoofer is rested on spikes. I placed small coins between the wooden floor and the spikes. For me the overall sound is quite good, and so far I have not noticed any resonances or disturbing oscillations. Of course I clearly can feel the subwoofer’s rumbling when I place my arms on the desk, but that’s one reason why it is placed there :-)
However, for really intense – and yes, enlightening – listening sessions I prefer to use my headphones. One reason for this is because I think the Schiit Valhalla headamp and the Beyerdynamic DT 990 headphones offer the most outstanding music reproduction performance of my current amplifiers and sound transducers.
Loudspeaker stands would probably improve this setup, but I fear the space in my small office room is too limited to add stands in an aesthetically pleasing way. Like all wives my girlfriend is very critical in matters regarding the room furnishings, even more than usual since her profession is window dresser in four rather expensive fashion shops in the center of Innsbruck.
Werner.
I thought as much, they can't be seen from the pictures. I wish the K702 came with the same stand the K701 comes with.
PS - we had our honeymoon in Austria, Vienna and Salzburg. I have visted Innsbruk and Kitzbuhel as well. Fabulous country.
Join the club - we had our honeymoon in Zell Am See! Yes, love Austria. The beer, food and scenery are fab - but I prefer it in the snow! My wife and I got married on Dec 22nd 1991 :)
It was bloody cold when we got to Austria, but very cosy in our snow-capped hotel ;)
Marco.
Werner, is that Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes on the MacBook Pro?
Fabulous album!