Steve's system

[St3v3]

Hi folks,

Here is my system as of end 2009. As you can see, it's not ideally set up as, yes, I'm having to stay at my in-laws house until enough money is saved for a new place (who would have thought living in London would be so pricey?! ) The system is precariously balanced on a solid dresser at the moment which was once used by my girlfriend as a make-up table. Her mirror has since been relegated to the floor!

First up, my JR149's flanking the system. I've painted the metal grilles black so I can see the speakers better:



Here's my not too shabby Orelle SA-100 and rewired Project Debut on gel wrist rests:



Aaaaaand, a pic. of the PS1 doing the digital honours, with the corner of a Cambridge Audio 640p peeping into shot:



Incidentally, I've used Sorbothane shoe inserts (yes, really) to line the inside of the PS1 to help vibration - my reasoning being that it must be the same as the expensive equipment spikes - and it's really rather good!

The rest of the system includes DNM Reson speaker cables, Merlin Chopin I/C's, and an 80gb Ipod classic connected the old-fashioned way.

I've got two huge upgrades coming in next month, too: the Orelle is to be replaced by an Audio Reseach VSi55 integrated and the PS1 is going to be extensively modded with new power supply etc. I'll upload more pics when they come

[Alex_UK]

Very interesting Steve - I do just love the diversity of systems we get to see here on AoS - and more inmprotantly that everyone accepts that there is more than one one to skin the proverbial cat - and listening to music is the most important thing, not how shiny your widgets are (though I hope they are shiny, of course!)

Is the PS1 connected to a screen, or else how do you see tracks etc? I must admit, I've not heard of a modded PS1 doing digital duties before - is this a popular approach, or something of your own? All very interesing, and look forward to hearing further!

[St3v3]

Hi Alex, thanks for the kind words.

No, the PS1 isn't hooked up to a screen; I had extensive experience of the PS1 in my yoof so I know what the buttons do . I'm not sure if many others have used the PS1 approach before but I discovered this website: http://www.dogbreath.de/ and decided to give it a go. As soon as I got the PS1 delivered and the dampening sorted, I realised that the sound was so musical that I immediately sold my Meridian 206 Delta-Sigma - my baby at the time - in favour of the £20 monster. The profit then went towards new speaker cables. Huzzah!

In terms of upgrading it further, I'm going to send it to BigEarsAudio to get it professionally done; my DIY skills extend to blowing up toasters

[Alex_UK]

Hmmmm... my old PS1 is lurking in the Garage somewhere... wonder if it could slay a Marantz/Caiman combo as well! (I might even have to play Tomb Raider 1 and Gran Turismo too!)

Thanks for the info, certainly interesting!

[Themis]

NIce system Steve.

Btw, what is so special in a PS ? The AKM chip ?

[alb]

The AKM dac is pretty good, considering its only a games machine.
I also have a modified PS1 which needs putting in a case of some sort. The sound is good, but i find it can be a bit laid back and therefore i never got around to finishing it. Its on my winter list of things to do. The inconvenience of using hand controllers without a display screen is another factor. Not a problem if you listen to CDs all the way through, as i tend to do.

The transport is quite good too...it has to be robust to cope with rough handling by kids..
As to how good it is as a CD player, well i'm still undecided. However i can well imagine it being preferable to quite a few decent CD players.

The trouble is that only certain models are deemed suitable for Audiophile use, and they're getting harder to find now.

It's all explained here.
http://dogbreath.de/PS1/index.html

[Jonboy]

Hi Steve,

I have a ps1 somewhere and have seen the Big ears conversions £275 complete with remote control, not to sure about the red one though

Heres a link anyway for those who are also interested,

http://www.bigearsaudio.org.uk/cd_pl...D_players.html

[St3v3]

Thanks Dimitri Yeah, from what I gather, it's the 16bit Delta-Sigma chip in it that does the magic and, forgive me if I'm wrong, it was also used in the higher CDP's from Sony of that era. My guessing is that Sony, having no previous experience of consoles, completely over-estimated the quality of DAC needed in it; hence all subsequent PS1 models after the inital one used lesser quality ones.

[St3v3]

Hi Jon. Yep, that's what I'm after! The red looks awful, though. Haha. That would never pass the WAF test!

[St3v3]

[QUOTE=alb;82616]The AKM dac is pretty good, considering its only a games machine.
I also have a modified PS1 which needs putting in a case of some sort. The sound is good, but i find it can be a bit laid back and therefore i never got around to finishing it. Its on my winter list of things to do. QUOTE]

Yeah, I think the laid-back sound comes from the rolled-off bottom and top end; suits my JR149's fine, though, as they do exactly the same thing!