Mika K's system

[Mika K]

Thanks. However that is not a lake, it's the northern part of the Atlantic ocean usually called the Norwegian Sea

[Mika K]

The small one a.k.a Audio Zone AMP-1

Today got Audio Zone AMP-1 based to the Gain Card design of Kimura-San from 47th laboratory. The amp is tiny and nicely engineered piece of kit and it has heavy external PSU. Full dual mono with one set of inputs and extremely short signal path. Very simple design in that sense.




Have been listening variety types of music and mostly used my Shindo Aurieges MM as preamp. It seems that compared to my Shindo Montille EL84 porewamp AMP-1 more clinical, transparent and also bit more boring. PJ Harvey and Patti Smith articulate with very clear manner, Stevie Ray Vaughans guitar has more edge and strings at the Barbers Adagio are sharper but also bit too sharp I think.

Shindo has better bass in terms of kick as you can really feel and hear the film of the bass drums as AMP-1 has more drier tone and shows the act in more neutral manner. However when listening some Tool or Soen etc faster music with plenty of kick-drums etc AMP-1 keeps things in slightly better control.



I think I really have to play with the speaker xo's and their levels to realy see how the AMP-1 would fit in to my system. It certainly would make our living room a bit cooler place during the summer as Shindo Montille runs a bit hot *bad excuse I know*

[Mika K]

Room order

Last weekend changed the room order as during summer it is many times easier to go out from the backdoor and naturally the right speaker has blocked the door in its latest position. This was a wish of the Mrs so decided to give it a try



So now the whole set is turned 90 degrees so that it is positioned asymmetrically whole space have available here downstairs. After few days of listening and some rough adjustments for the speaker and listening chair positions have still long way to go for the earlier situation.

However I believe that with careful finetuning I can reach almost the full potential of the system. Have also received permit from Mrs to continue with some room treatment and perhaps also new equipment stand and listening chair, so

[tony trios]

Hi Mika, I am interested in which room treatment you are going to try? I am in the same position at the moment, but am unsure which to try

[MartinT]

Tony - I've had a lot of experience with Acoustic Sciences, having ordered all my room treatment from them. Not cheap, but definitely worth it.

[Mika K]

There are few companies here in Finland that do the same but so far have planned to do some small treatments myself.

Because of the radiation pattern of the horns there is no big need to treat front wall but I have planned replacing the current 120x90x4cm diy-panel with a slightly bigger Sounds of Silence panel with some nice printed image from my photo bank. Was thinking 3 panels of 60x120cm size in parallel. Also will add two white 120x60x3cm panels to the roof to match the possible first reflection points.



The whole back wall is already almost 100% covered with bookshelf filled with LPs and books. This will act nicely as diffusor, just have to do some ordering so that the reflection points from that direction will also be covered as now there are some more or less empty spots there in suitable locations. Perhaps also will consider new, bigger and thicker carpet but that is up to Mrs.

So nothing major actually as have no big problems here when listening normal levels. Have considered some bass traps to the front corners but should first do some measurements as the problems on that front are quite minor. Also tubetraps seem like an interesting option but we'll see. Perhaps for the next house will then do things properly and even consider using professionals. One of my friends did that - not cheap but worth of investment I think.

[tony trios]

Thank you chaps, looking forward to the next trick bit

[Mika K]

Just noticed..

..that have not posted here information considering the new member of the family at all. SO few weeks ago I got me Technics SP-10mkII unit sold locally here. Or actually it is a broadcast model made for YLE (finnish equivalent for BBC). The table has separate electronics board SH-10C with mono/stereo switch and headphone jack, separate internal phonostage board SH-10U, SP-10mkII unit itself and SME series III arm plus Clearaudio Aurum Alpha cartridge.







The first owner after YLE says that this unit has been used at the foyer for the artists waiting their turn to do live performances or heading for the recording studio. That is the reason for the small speaker at the SH-10C unit plus the headphone jack. I know that some years back these were cleared out from YLE with silly low prices and occasionally some unit can be seen at the open markets. One friend acquired one unit with the EPA-100 tonearm. Unfortunately the prices have gone up from those days..

The beast sounds marvelous after checking the mechanics and the tonearm and cartridge adjustments. And this despite of the SME series IIIs arm and Clearaudio Aurum Alpha mkII cartridge. The internal Technics SH-10 series power supply, control unit and phonostage seem to also work as they should. Some weird future plans for this beast are starting to pop to my mind involving something 12" and..

[AlfaGTV]

Moi!

Thats one behemoth of a record player! The Series III is not a bad arm at all, and im sure it sounds lurvely on these mechanics.

Could you describe the acoustic signature? Compared to your beautiful Garrard?

Regards Mike

[Mika K]

Despite of the Loricraft PSU Garrard has, it seems that Technics has better sense of timing. Overall the sound seems to be a bit more transparent and cleaner. However the bass transients are more powerful with the Garrard and the foundation seems more solid in that front. Have to try to add SME V to Technics for more accurate and direct comparisons as now the impact of the lighter arm and MM cart is unknown..