Stereo sounds so good now.

BlueFox

I have done quite a few upgrades over the last year, and the last two upgrades were adding a Pass Labs XP-20 preamp, and two Pass Labs X600.5 amps. I chose the pre based on comments I read on this site, along with reviews in magazines and other sites. I felt my previous pre (Cambridge-Audio 840E) was the weakest link in my electronics at the time. Another factor was price. I wanted the upgrade to be around $5K, and the Pass dealer made an offer on a piece a demo gear that was only a bit higher. So, I bought it, and was pleased with the result. A month later, after too much beer on the 4th of July, I decided I needed to upgrade my amps to go with the pre. Once again, the dealer made me an offer on demo amps that was $8K off list. This made the Pass amps only slightly more expensive than my mental $12K budget for two amps.

Anyway, it appears the new gear has burnt in, and is working/sounding just freaking great.

Since May 2012 I have upgraded my speakers, DAC, rack, power cables, interconnects, pre, and amps. Now as I sit here listening to the system I realize everything has come together, and is working as a team. I used to wonder what people meant when they say "the speakers disappear", and now I know. There is sound in front of, and all around the stereo, as if it just appears. It isn't from the speakers. It is just there in the air. A wide, tall, and deep soundstage, and it just sounds so good, clear, and precise. I cannot describe how pleasurable this is, and I really have no desire at this point to try and make it better. Everything is just working fine. Whether as background music to calm the mind while trying to program, or doing critical listening at each note, or just being blasted by pounding rock, this system is close enough to perfect for me.

The funny part is I have felt that way about every iteration of stereo I have had, so I know at some point I will start going "What if I upgraded the ......" But for now I am very, very happy, and am not to worried about upgrading.

Gear

Mapleshade Samson V.3 maple four shelf rack
Mapleshade Micropoint brass footers under preamp, DAC, SACD, and power conditioner
Aerial Acoustics 7T speakers
Mapleshade 4" maple speaker plinths
Sony XA-5400ES SACD
Bryston BDP-1 digital file player
Bryston BDA-2 DAC
Pass Labs XP-20 preamp
Pass Labs X600.5 amps
Dedicated 20 amp circuit
Shunyata SR-71 AC outlet
Shunyata Triton power conditioner
Shunyata Zytron Anaconda from wall to Triton
Shunyata Zytron Python from Triton to amps
Shunyata Zytron Cobra from Triton to pre, SACD, DAC, and BDP-1
Shunyata Zytron Python digital cable from BDP-1 to BDA-2
Shunyata Zytron Anaconda speaker cables

The Shunyata gear is a very big reason why the rest of the gear is working at its potential.

nspindel

Never mind.

nspindel

Great looking system. Now go get some room treatments. Or, you know, you're really not hearing what your system is capable of! :evil: :evil: :evil:

tonyb

Lookin' good bro, you sure sunk some coin into that puppy it better sound good. BTW, how you digging those 7t's ? I managed an ear on some 10t's about 7 years ago, fantastic speakers. I hear the 20t's are just monsters.

BlueFox

nspindel wrote: »

Great looking system. Now go get some room treatments. Or, you know, you're really not hearing what your system is capable of! :evil: :evil: :evil:

The room is pretty good without major treatments. It is in the front part of the house, which is the living room on the left, and the kitchen, dining area on the right. This is approximately 32' long and 16' deep. The stereo is against the wall separating the front from the back. At that point, the ceiling is 12' high, and it slopes to 8' high in the front. There is an exposed ceiling support beam at the first reflection point on the ceiling, the living room floor is carpeted, and full of furniture. I do have a 2' x 2' piece of Auralex acoustic foam on the wall behind the speaker to tame the highs. All in all, the room is fine. I did do a lot of room treatment for the HT, but that is a different situation.

F1nut

I really have no desire at this point to try and make it better.

It's a great place to be.

tonyb

So what your saying is.....your just going to sit back and enjoy the tunes ? HA !!:biggrin:

BlueFox

tonyb wrote: »

Lookin' good bro, you sure sunk some coin into that puppy it better sound good. BTW, how you digging those 7t's ? I managed an ear on some 10t's about 7 years ago, fantastic speakers. I hear the 20t's are just monsters.

Thanks. It did take a bite out of my savings, but is worth it. At least as long as it doesn't break.


The 7T speakers are great. I did a lot of research before buying, since this was a blind purchase, and they have exceeded my expectations. Believe me, I have cranked them with these amps, and they sound great. I am surprised they did not melt. Of course, they are perfect at low and more reasonable levels.


One point I forgot was I am using Shunyata Zytron XLR Anaconda interconnects between all gear.

nspindel

BlueFox wrote: »

The room is pretty good without major treatments. It is in the front part of the house, which is the living room on the left, and the kitchen, dining area on the right. This is approximately 32' long and 16' deep. The stereo is against the wall separating the front from the back. At that point, the ceiling is 12' high, and it slopes to 8' high in the front. There is an exposed ceiling support beam at the first reflection point on the ceiling, the living room floor is carpeted, and full of furniture. I do have a 2' x 2' piece of Auralex acoustic foam on the wall behind the speaker to tame the highs. All in all, the room is fine. I did do a lot of room treatment for the HT, but that is a different situation.

That's great. Hope you enjoy the setup for many years to come!

WLDock

Well, you seem to have no reservations about dropping the $ sign based on this post and others. So I will come right out and ask....but help me out here as my math is bad.....what does your system total? Actual cost...$60K? More, Less?

Wow, more power to you brother....Literally! Enjoy it.

drumminman

Outstanding! Congrats on achieving your goal. It's fun when your system causes you to hear the music more than the equipment.

zane77

Like everyone else has said, that is a totally awesome system that you have put together. I have never seen or heard a system in that price range, one of these days maybe. Enjoy that great system!

Moose68Bash

Well done, Bluefox!

Enjoy in good health for many years!

Ducati Guy

Hey Bluefox,

sounds like you're done, a forever system.
Post a few pics for the rest of us.

BlueFox

WLDock wrote: »

Well, you seem to have no reservations about dropping the $ sign based on this post and others. So I will come right out and ask....but help me out here as my math is bad.....what does your system total? Actual cost...$60K? More, Less.

It is true this stuff adds up, and that is just sticking your toe into the world of better gear. I think your estimate is high, even if you use list price. However, other than the Bryston gear, rack and speakers, everything else was a bit less than list.

Of course, someone else might think a fancy car is how they should spend their money, but to me, that is a waste of money. Most of the time it just sits in the garage doing nothing, and it costs a lot just to operate. A stereo on the other hand can be used 24/7 if desired, and only costs whatever electricity it uses.

While I am not made of money, and this came out of my retirement savings, my rationalization is I can enjoy this now, and in the future when I have no income for this type of thing.


One point is a few years ago I read in one of the stereo magazines an article pointing out we waste money in this hobby by going the upgrade route The gist being a person would be better off just buying a high-end system right from the start instead of buying it after countless other purchases. I know I would have been since I have a dining room and garage full of old gear. The problem with this concept is it assumes you know where you want to end up, and for me it was more of an evolution based on my amazement at how much music I was getting out of my previous gear by doing power and cable upgrades.

I give Shunyata full credit for how good this thing sounds. They say their cables outperform cables costing 10-20 times more, and I believe it. Since their most expensive cable is the Zytron Anaconda at $4K, we are looking at performance equal to $40K cables from other vendors.

DarqueKnight

BlueFox wrote: »

One point is a few years ago I read in one of the stereo magazines an article pointing out we waste money in this hobby by going the upgrade route. The gist being a person would be better off just buying a high-end system right from the start instead of buying it after countless other purchases.

That's as stupid as saying a person beginning to learn a musical instrument should invest in a pro quality instrument or a beginning golfer should get a $30,000 set of pro clubs.

Unfortunately a lot of people don't understand that, for the serious listener, listening ability and being able to perceive differences in gear performance is something that is developed over time...like any other serious hobby. You can't fully appreciate, and utilize, something advanced until you have appropriate experience at lower levels.

Congrats on everything coming together.

WLDock

Thanks for the response. You have a dream system, enjoy it!

Of course we all know a wealthy entrepreneur or maybe that 2% in the over $200K club can find a way to buy that $25K-$50K system. However the average working man is going to have to really work hard to put together a modest high value $5K-$10K system. It’s interesting to see how some do it because once one gets hooked on something priorities change and the amount one will spend goes up. Those that I know that are into audio could easily spend or have spent $5k-$10K on gear if they could find a way to free up some "play money."

To be honest, I started going into the "high end" audio stores in the 90's and felt out of place at times. Some of the sales guys could read right through you and blow you off if you had shallow pockets. Then there were the extremely high prices. But, every now and then there would be a guy that would give you hope and let you listen to everything in the store and actually take the time and talk. Then years later I met some guys from a local MI audio society including Tom Nousaine from Stereo Review/Car Stereo Review at the time and they were the nicest bunch of audiophiles one could hope to meet. Tom talked my ear off and let me listen to everything and was interesting in what I was into and trying to get in to.

I think for me, after hearing a high end rig....I knew I wanted to own a serious system at some point in my life and always said maybe around the age 30-40 I would be in a better place. So, I went the way of car audio in my 20's and desired to compete in SQ competitions. Over a year or two I spent $5K on gear, had my still clean lil' Bimmer hatch, and I was in full installation of trying to create something special. Once that project fell through and everything was sold off, I still spent a lot of cash over the years on other systems but never that much. Now, I have left car audio for now the quest to put together a nice home system is just as hard as I remember as life, a wife, and two kids really drains the pockets. I will get there, it just will take longer....and if I don't hurry in the next few years....50's will have to become the new 40's.

Anyway, I hope to get to that point that you are at someday where I'm satisfied with my rig. Right now, I have only scratched the surface of where I want to go....and I do plan to build something at some point...I won't be satisfied until I do so.

I still want the fancy car as well. Maybe in 10 years I can afford the 2013 Audi A7 or S7 that I think is the sweetest car on the planet. LOL! Champagne taste, Beer money...

Walt

tonyb

DarqueKnight wrote: »

That's as stupid as saying a person beginning to learn a musical instrument should invest in a pro quality instrument or a beginning golfer should get a $30,000 set of pro clubs.

Unfortunately a lot of people don't understand that, for the serious listener, listening ability and being able to perceive differences in gear performance is something that is developed over time...like any other serious hobby. You can't fully appreciate, and utilize, something advanced until you have appropriate experience at lower levels.

Congrats on everything coming together.

This ^^^^^

Spot on

pitdogg2

DarqueKnight wrote: »

Unfortunately a lot of people don't understand that, for the serious listener, listening ability and being able to perceive differences in gear performance is something that is developed over time...like any other serious hobby. You can't fully appreciate, and utilize, something advanced until you have appropriate experience at lower levels.

1000% agree
To me it's like the rich kids in school that had the best of everything and NEVER LEARNED to appreciate what they had.

megasat16

Congrats! Glad you made such a big leap towards awesome setup with Pass gears.

I have a question though. I know Bigger is Better in General Terms and I do have Bigger Power Amps, but I found I never needed more than 40-50W of power from any amp is needed with my 88dB speakers.

So, why did you choose 600W amp and looked passed some real nice Pass Class A amp given the coin you spend?

I for one hope to hear the new Pass SIT amps. I know Reno HiFi offers in home demo but I don't want the trouble of shipping it back right now.

steveinaz

Impressive system for sure, I'd love a Pass amp in the future. Enjoy!

BlueFox

megasat16 wrote: »

So, why did you choose 600W amp and looked passed some real nice Pass Class A amp given the coin you spend?

Most of the time I listen to classical string quartet type music at low volume, so a few watts at class A is sufficient. However, some times on Friday and Saturday night I want it loud to rock. My previous amps were 800W/ch into 4 ohms, and didn't quite have the oomph for late night. However, they were great at low levels with the classical. So, I wanted a bit more power. The Pass is 1200W/ch at 4 ohm, and seems to be all I need. They run in class A up to around 90W, and that is fine for 99% of the time.

megasat16

BlueFox wrote: »

Most of the time I listen to classical string quartet type music at low volume, so a few watts at class A is sufficient. However, some times on Friday and Saturday night I want it loud to rock. My previous amps were 800W/ch into 4 ohms, and didn't quite have the oomph for late night. However, they were great at low levels with the classical. So, I wanted a bit more power. The Pass is 1200W/ch at 4 ohm, and seems to be all I need. They run in class A up to around 90W, and that is fine for 99% of the time.

Good Choice going with the X600.5. But I think XA like 160.5 or 200.5 could come your way in the future. Those Class A watts you said between the two series does not sound the same.

If I become your neighbor, remind me not to be home on the Friday's and Saturday's nights. lol

yyz67

BlueFox wrote: »

The 7T speakers are great. I did a lot of research before buying, since this was a blind purchase, and they have exceeded my expectations. Believe me, I have cranked them with these amps, and they sound great. I am surprised they did not melt. Of course, they are perfect at low and more reasonable levels.

Hi,

I've been trying to track down impressions of the 7Ts possibly compared to other speakers. I think I read you moved from PSB Synchrony Ones and the 7Ts were a step up? Could you expand on what aspects improved?

I'm debating my next speaker purchase and there are a lot of "neutral" high-end speakers in the $5-10k range, the Ones and 7Ts being a couple of them. While I generally like a neutral/balanced speaker, sometimes they can be unnaturally forward/piercing so I wonder how they Ones and 7Ts fared in that regard in your experience.

Thanks!

cnh

It "better" sound GOOD after all that! lol

Enjoy the new system!

cnh

jacks2start

congrats, if your happy with the upgrade than thats all that matters ,, sure it sounds great

Weber

Turn it up and sit back and enjoy it.Big money systems always seem a bit much to me.I have been going this for 30+ yrs. I have spent way to much.

madmax

BlueFox wrote: »

But for now I am very, very happy, and am not to worried about upgrading.

I give it 57 days.

BlueFox

madmax wrote: »

I give it 57 days.

Wrong. That would be sometime in last November. I did add a second 20 amp line for the amps in December, and I at home today waiting for Fed-Ex to deliver my new Auralic Vega DAC. That will be an upgrade for the Bryston BDA-2 DAC.

Thorton

OK, you lasted longer than 57 days. But you still upgraded. Gotta love this hobby. Lol.

doctorcilantro

BlueFox wrote: »

Wrong. That would be sometime in last November. I did add a second 20 amp line for the amps in December, and I at home today waiting for Fed-Ex to deliver my new Auralic Vega DAC. That will be an upgrade for the Bryston BDA-2 DAC.

Cool, I have had one for 3 months. It's an excellent piece of kit.