- Thread Author
- #1
Hi everyone. I thought I'd post my latest revamp, which is pretty much a total revamp. I tend to keep my equipment for a long time(years vs. months), so there is vested interest in making sure that I get the best for me and the almighty budget. The only thing left to do is cabling and some acoustic diffusion.
Anyways, on to the photos:
Magnepan 20.7's. My wife and I had gone thru some of our local stereo shops, looking at and listening to the Tannoy's, Vienna Acoustics, B &W and eventually decided on the Planars. There to me is something about the ribbon/quasi-ribbon technology that brings out the music that we both love. It was definitely a co-op effort in determining the speakers however, and one listen followed by more repeated listens finalized our choice.
Sanders Magtech Monoblocks. I knew from the outset the Magnepans would need some serious solid state power. I had the Audio Research Ref 150, but knew they wouldn't be able to drive the planars sufficiently to my sound level preferences. I also knew that to get high output tube amplifiers would require a budget I couldn't afford. It was a toss up between Bryston, and Sanders.
Sources are Project Xtension 10 with carbon fiber 10.5" tonearm and Ortofon Cadenza Red MC cartridge. Teamed up with the Zestos Andros PS1 phonostage.
Preamp is also the Sanders Sound Pre, I chose this to get a perfect match with the amplifiers. The Pre also includes, the SS phono section, but I prefer the Zestos over extended listening.
Lastly, the Bryston BDP-2 and Bryston BDA-2 for Digital source. I have my music saved on a QNAP NAS, having ripped it with DBPoweramp in lossless FLAC(zero compression). I can readily say that my disc spinning days are over, except for the fact of ripping any new silver discs when purchasing. There is definitely an ease of use factor here. I have purchased some Hi Rez albums and they definitely approach or sometimes supersede vinyl IMO. I still for some reason enjoy vinyl though and it is nice to have choices. The line conditioner is from Bluecircle. It has separate outlets to isolate between amp, digital, phono sections.
The rack itself is a clone Rixrax. My brother-in-law welded the metal which is sand-filled. My former neighbor built the shelving which has an MDF core, with solid maple wood finish. The isolation pads are from Skylan stands. The amp pads are DIY. I have a variety of different branded cabling, but I have been wanting to try a full re-wire with one brand to see if I can get synergy from it.
The photos below show even though this space is dedicated to my stereo, it is not a dedicated room. The stereo area dimension are 16' Width by 18' length and 9' ceiling. The speakers definitely see much more volume with the open concept area.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking.
Anyways, on to the photos:
Magnepan 20.7's. My wife and I had gone thru some of our local stereo shops, looking at and listening to the Tannoy's, Vienna Acoustics, B &W and eventually decided on the Planars. There to me is something about the ribbon/quasi-ribbon technology that brings out the music that we both love. It was definitely a co-op effort in determining the speakers however, and one listen followed by more repeated listens finalized our choice.
Sanders Magtech Monoblocks. I knew from the outset the Magnepans would need some serious solid state power. I had the Audio Research Ref 150, but knew they wouldn't be able to drive the planars sufficiently to my sound level preferences. I also knew that to get high output tube amplifiers would require a budget I couldn't afford. It was a toss up between Bryston, and Sanders.
Sources are Project Xtension 10 with carbon fiber 10.5" tonearm and Ortofon Cadenza Red MC cartridge. Teamed up with the Zestos Andros PS1 phonostage.
Preamp is also the Sanders Sound Pre, I chose this to get a perfect match with the amplifiers. The Pre also includes, the SS phono section, but I prefer the Zestos over extended listening.
Lastly, the Bryston BDP-2 and Bryston BDA-2 for Digital source. I have my music saved on a QNAP NAS, having ripped it with DBPoweramp in lossless FLAC(zero compression). I can readily say that my disc spinning days are over, except for the fact of ripping any new silver discs when purchasing. There is definitely an ease of use factor here. I have purchased some Hi Rez albums and they definitely approach or sometimes supersede vinyl IMO. I still for some reason enjoy vinyl though and it is nice to have choices. The line conditioner is from Bluecircle. It has separate outlets to isolate between amp, digital, phono sections.
The rack itself is a clone Rixrax. My brother-in-law welded the metal which is sand-filled. My former neighbor built the shelving which has an MDF core, with solid maple wood finish. The isolation pads are from Skylan stands. The amp pads are DIY. I have a variety of different branded cabling, but I have been wanting to try a full re-wire with one brand to see if I can get synergy from it.
The photos below show even though this space is dedicated to my stereo, it is not a dedicated room. The stereo area dimension are 16' Width by 18' length and 9' ceiling. The speakers definitely see much more volume with the open concept area.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking.
