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Until now, over the 25+ years I have been involved in this hobby, all the room treatments I have used were purchased and placed by me without any professional assistance or analysis. While I have to say that the end results were satisfying, I always wondered what would happen if a proper computer model of my room was created and the specified treatments installed. Enter Mike at Suncoast Audio and Vicoustics. As you can see from the pictures, the result of the project was aesthetically very satisfying. While I haven't fired up the system yet, I couldn't wait to give a shout out to Vicoustics for their very detailed proposal and measurements and to the Suncoast team for their installation efforts. The install was a grueling task that took place over four days. Every treatment was precisely positioned and expertly mounted. I'm very happy with the result. More on the actual sound in the next few days. I can say even without any critical listening that the ever present slap echo I've suffered with in the room for years has vanished. I have high expectations for the sound.
Slightly off topic, but significant: I live in Florida and was plagued with power outages from the local utility company. The Wadax server and DAC don't like outages and require reboots that are extremely annoying any time there is an outage (usual one or two every week, varying from momentary to 2-3 hours). I cringe when they happen especially the utility's patented on/off/on/off for hours. I wondered how long it would be before my gear had to go back to Europe for a repair.
Mike at Suncoast listened to my complaints and recommended a StromTank 2500 power supply for my pre-amp, DAC and Server. This is a genius device that consists of batteries and control software/circuitry. It operates in two selectable modes. The first (On Grid) charges the batteries from your utility while battery power is available to your gear. This makes the StromTank a very capable UPS. I use this mode for all times when I am not listening to music as I leave my gear on / in standby all the time. Power interrupts are now invisible to the delicate parts of my system.
The second mode (Off Grid) isolates the gear from the grid and feeds your system (minus sub woofers and power amp) with pure battery power. The stored energy will last for hours without the need to recharge.
The design reminds me of Dan D'Agostino's amplifiers with a steam punk gage on the front panel showing mode (in color) and the charge status. I understand that Dan is the US distributor for the StromTank which is manufactured in Germany. After seeing the front gage, I just wonder how much Dan contributed to the design. I have owned several Krell/D'Agostino amps so if he was involved, it is just one more reason to embrace this technology.
Pics of the install below. Many thanks to Mike, Little Mike and Matt at Suncoast and the entire team at Vicoustics. Hello Nirvana.
Eric
Slightly off topic, but significant: I live in Florida and was plagued with power outages from the local utility company. The Wadax server and DAC don't like outages and require reboots that are extremely annoying any time there is an outage (usual one or two every week, varying from momentary to 2-3 hours). I cringe when they happen especially the utility's patented on/off/on/off for hours. I wondered how long it would be before my gear had to go back to Europe for a repair.
Mike at Suncoast listened to my complaints and recommended a StromTank 2500 power supply for my pre-amp, DAC and Server. This is a genius device that consists of batteries and control software/circuitry. It operates in two selectable modes. The first (On Grid) charges the batteries from your utility while battery power is available to your gear. This makes the StromTank a very capable UPS. I use this mode for all times when I am not listening to music as I leave my gear on / in standby all the time. Power interrupts are now invisible to the delicate parts of my system.
The second mode (Off Grid) isolates the gear from the grid and feeds your system (minus sub woofers and power amp) with pure battery power. The stored energy will last for hours without the need to recharge.
The design reminds me of Dan D'Agostino's amplifiers with a steam punk gage on the front panel showing mode (in color) and the charge status. I understand that Dan is the US distributor for the StromTank which is manufactured in Germany. After seeing the front gage, I just wonder how much Dan contributed to the design. I have owned several Krell/D'Agostino amps so if he was involved, it is just one more reason to embrace this technology.
Pics of the install below. Many thanks to Mike, Little Mike and Matt at Suncoast and the entire team at Vicoustics. Hello Nirvana.
Eric
