My 2019 Update Thread - My final system I think.

[Barry]

The wood in my room is quite varied both in source and colour, though most of it is mid-tone in shade.

[Gazjam]

Just looking around my room now I see 6 different colours of wood. Never occurred to me before.

Although I have been meaning to paint all the built-in wooden stuff gloss white - for about the last 28 years....

It's mahogany stained right now - it was the Seventies (Buckaroo!).

Suppose I could make a start on that now I have the time.

[rednose66]

@User211 what effect does the paneling have on your sound? I see it for sale in Spain and I like the look of it although if I used it for one wall in my living room I would have to smooth plaster the other three - rough Spanish walls. It is marketed as "acoustic panelling" but it doesn't look that effective?

[User211]

@User211 what effect does the paneling have on your sound? I see it for sale in Spain and I like the look of it although if I used it for one wall in my living room I would have to smooth plaster the other three - rough Spanish walls. It is marketed as "acoustic panelling" but it doesn't look that effective?

It is very effective basically because it covers the entire front wall. Apogees are dipoles and generate sound in both directions.

Essentially it calms the sound down quite a lot. There's noticeably less echo in the room, too, post install. That's probably the main effect that cleans up the sound. Less echo.

So essentially the sound becomes more relaxed and refined with better imaging. That said, it's a 35 foot long room and what you hear depends very much on were you sit. At 12 foot the system just provides incredible resolution beyond what most people are accustomed to dealing with. Information overload, in other words. At 20 foot things are appreciably more normal and homogenised, if you like. I choose one of those two locations depending on mood. That's just a product of insane speakers, really, more than anything else.

I can't claim it would be as effective if not using dipoles and TBH I suspect not. But if your room has appreciable echo and not much in the way of soft furnishings it's probably worth it.

I had a couple of carpenters put it in and it took them a day.

https://www.thewoodveneerhub.co.uk/?...EaAmQ7EALw_wcB

[Gazjam]

Good info Justin.

Putting up the Turntable wall shelf and getting everything put back together today.
Its just finding the time.





4 M8 concrete anchor bolts into a solid wall, turntable setups a heavy thing at about 21KG, so taking no chances!

With the extra rack in the system I'm taking the opportunity to rejig where everything is, tidy up cables at the back, that kinda stuff.

Also,
My Preamps been out of use for an few weeks now?
One of the 2 valve input stage boards had had gotten noisy and one channel was very hissy.
Think something on it had drifted out of spec in the 8 years Ive had the amp.

PS Audio to the rescue,
Contacted Customer Support and they shipped a replacement board to the UK Dealer for me to swap out.
Its a daughter board that slots into the main PCB, a 5 minute job.



£50 delivered from the US, Im happy with that.
Happy to get my Preamp back, the dac sounds great direct to my power amp, but the seperate Pre adds the special sauce.

That said,
Been lazy casual listening to music through the new soundbar, it's pretty great.
Having 'ambience' added from the back speakers seems to just open up the soundstsge and that sense of being 'in' the music?
I dial the rear speakers back using the app when listening to music, but back to normal for movies.

It really works well, can tweak the levels from your seat.

[Gazjam]

Bob on

Happy with that.

[Pigmy Pony]

Those levels can't be trusted 100% - play something by Level 42, that'll tell you whether everything's right Don't bother with The Levellers, their music always sounds a bit wonky.

[User211]

Those levels can't be trusted 100% - play something by Level 42, that'll tell you whether everything's right Don't bother with The Levellers, their music always sounds a bit wonky.

Wonky when Orbital is on, obviously.

[User211]

Gave up trying to delete a double post.

[Macca]

As long as there's no Jah Wobble it'll be fine.