Chops' Current System Pics ....

chops said:
Have been spending a lot of time lately tweaking subwoofer and loudspeaker placement, as well as tweaking the settings one the subs at the same time. I think this current arrangement might just be the ticket. A lot more even and defined bass, cohesively blended with the Heresy's. And the Heresy's being pulled slightly further apart, pulled out about an inch more into the room as well as toed out quite a bit more than I originally had them. All in all, a much wider and deeper sound stage with better imaging, more open and spacious, and a locked in center image.

If I can those darn cork/rubber isolation pads of mine (who knows where they are after the move), I'll try putting them under the Klipsch and see how that sounds, or possibly just try them in the front to tilt the speakers back a touch, again to see how it sounds. I still have to get some proper stands built for the Heresy's as well.

I'm still quite surprised how "audiophile" these little Klipsch Heresy III's sound. Very refined and articulate, not harsh and honky like Klipsch of old.

And this Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC... Such a wise investment. It truly does have a more organic, analog sound to it. Larger stage width and depth, not to mention the ability to pull more information out of the signal.


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I like this room very much , it looks inviting and relaxing


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A little change to the system yesterday...

The Bluesound Node 2 has been moved to the bedroom system, and in its place in the main system, I purchased a Raspberry Pi 4 (2 Gb model) with a 32 Gb micro SD card that I installed RoPieeeXL on, and installed the Pi 4 in a neat little aluminum Flirc case which lowered the processor's temp by 7*C (14.6*F) as the case is the heat sink. Pretty impressive.

Naturally, I have the Pi 4 receiving its signal via WiFi which works flawlessly. Using one of the 4 USB ports, the digital signal is being sent to a Wyred 4 Sound Recovery with the included 6" USB cable that Wyred supplied with the unit. From there, it passes through yet another 6" long USB cable, this time a Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 into the Unison USB input on the Schiit Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC.

From the testing/trial state...
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To the final/complete/proven state...
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I can't sleep, so I'm sitting here listening to the system, playing Stevie Wonder's "In Square Circle" album on Qobuz. At peaks of about 58 to 60 dB, it is totally involving listening to it at these quiet volume levels displaying these kind of dynamics while everyone else in the house is asleep. Hearing little, distant musical cues typically buried in the background are clear and present. Very subtle details and textures within the sound of various instruments are quite palpable. Currently listening to "Overjoyed", and there's a water droplet sound just barely right of center, and it has a certain dimension and heft to it which I've never heard before. I mean, I've heard the droplet sound, but not with that dimension and heft. It actually sound wet! And speaking of dimension and heft, even the bass at these low listening levels are balanced, solid and extended. Naturally, you can't "feel" it, but you can definitely hear it.

I just listened to this same exact album last week around this same time and volume when I got home from work, and it was rather bland sounding in comparison. I remember thinking how "average" this album sounded. I couldn't believe that Qobuz had this album in 192/24 and it sounding this blah. It's obvious to me now that it wasn't the album at all, but the Bluesound Node 2 not being able to deliver the goods to the Bifrost DAC. I'm finding myself re-listening to albums I recently played prior to the Pi 4, and getting new enjoyment and excitement out of them.

Who says you have to play music at high levels to enjoy it?!
 
And now back to ole' faithful, with their fully upgraded crossovers thanks to Danny Richie of course. Man, I love these speakers. I don't know why I keep putting them away and going with other speakers all the time. Literally nothing I have tried over the years compare to these X-Statik hybrid open baffle speakers. They are just THAT good.

Temp setup with microfiber towels under them until I get the positioning just right, then the spikes and little footers will go on.

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Finally got these X-Statik's dialed in and installed the spikes. It's simply amazing how these speakers continually amaze and shock me every time I sit down and listen to them, especially with recordings that I'm very familiar with. They even make new music very exciting to listen to for the first time. They do so much right and completely disappear with the right recordings.

I plan on eventually upgrading to GR Research's latest and greatest NX-Treme's, which I can't even begin to imagine how much better those things are going to sound. They use the same woofers as the X-Statik's, but 16 ohm versions, and eight of them per channel, plus two very similar 6.5" mids and a ribbon tweeter, all open baffle from top to bottom. Oh, did I mention that they stand 7 feet tall?!

Now I just need to sell off those recently purchased Klipsch Heresy III's and the pair of JL Audio e110 subs that I have sitting in the closet.

Anyway, here's some pics taken a couple days ago right after installing the spikes on the X-Statik's...


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Added some LED accent lighting today. Adds a nice effect.


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Don't mind the kitty pillows and toys on the floor.
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Added my father's mint, barely used Panasonic SV-3700 to the mix... Been listening to the tapes we made of our 19 rank pipe organ that we built in our house years ago. Sounds like they were just made yesterday!

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A little project that's been brewing for a bit... The analog stack.


This is only a temporary solution until I either find a rack or build a custom "flexi-rack" to accommodate the massive Nakamichi 582. That thing is 19.5" wide! Not to mention on top of it all, I need room for a nice RTR. It will be a really pleasant corner of the room when I'm done with it.


Only power is connected for now. I need to get some kind of line driver to convert to balanced and run signal cables to the front of the room to the system. Something like the Rane BB 22 I used a bunch of years ago.


And of course, a dbx 200x or 400x.


From top to bottom...


Nak DR-1
Nak 582
Yamaha K-1020
JVC KD-A8
Monster Power HTS 5000


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Just daisy-chained the decks together minus the JVC at the moment, just to get some action shots and have some lights (and needles) bouncing around. I can't wait until I get the rest of the gear to get these linked into the system.


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Went ahead and added my dbx 224 to the stack. I purchased this first about 11 years ago when I had the Teac A-3300SX, then shortly after purchased the 224x. Sold the 224x when I sold the Teac.


As you can see, especially in the close up shot, this unit (like all of my gear) is absolutely mint. You may also notice the pile of Pig Hog XLR cables sitting up top, waiting for the Rane Balance Buddy to show up later this week along with the dbx 400x. I'll finally be able to start listening to these decks again.


Very nice, beefy and flexible cables I might add. They also make regular RCA cables, which I'll get eventually to wire all of the decks as the four cables I'm using now are rather stiff.


Anywho...


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And another little update... Introducing the Rane Balance Buddy BB 88x (44x upgraded to 88x) and the first of two dbx 400x units.


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