The New Digs

halo

It took some time but I finally have the 2-channel set up in the new apartment.

There are some big differences between the old place and the new place, that's for sure. The old place had a concrete fire barrier wall which was the front wall for my 2-channel/HT hybrid setup. The old place had 8' ceilings and the room was kind of a rectangle with one wall running at an angle; overall, it was a 1 bedroom with a big living room that had a carpeted floor (the bedroom & bathroom were separate from the living room so the living room was kind of isolated but it did open to a kitchenette in one corner).

The new place is a 1 bedroom in a historic building which was converted to loft apartments back in 2009. We have very high ceilings throughout the apartment and huge windows with exposed brick along one wall. We also have plastic laminate (looks like wood but more durable than Pergo) flooring in the kitchen, living, & dining room (there's carpet in the bedroom only) and the floorplan is pretty much open (there are doorways to the bedroom but no doors). The bathroom is an enclosed space with a door just off to the side of the bedroom. The kitchen opens to the living room/dining room and there's a partition that separates, for lack of a better word, the bedroom from the rest of the apartment. I cannot have a separate TV or stereo in the bedroom because the sound would bleed out into the main listening/living room.

So, what does all that have to do with 2-Channel Audio? lol. Well, I was expecting some issues due to the "hard" floors and vaulted ceilings + the huge windows & the exposed brick on the inside wall. Thankfully, I have no issues with the stereo. I will say that I've moved things around a few times and, if I move the rack and the speakers to be perfectly centered on the front wall, the bass response drops off. However, if I keep it a little to the right of center, the sound quality is far better and it's also better than the last place by a wide margin.

Honestly, the best way for me to describe what I'm hearing is to say that my system can finally breathe. Since it's still an apartment, I can't let it stretch out too much but it sounds really great at modest levels (brief 75 - 80 dB peaks). The biggest differences are in the clearer details on the top end, increased clarity and impact in the midrange, and tighter, cleaner, bass response. I'm pretty stoked that this place is more revealing of differences in small changes like phono cartridges. It's not that there wasn't a difference before, but the difference is easier for me to hear now. I'm getting similar results with tube rolling & swapping out cables. Maybe it's a synergy thing. Whatever it is, I like it. A lot.

I ended up dismantling the HT completely and the TV is now running through the Cary Preamp directly. It's much easier to deal with as the cinema bypass feature on the Cary had to be turned up to 40 with the volume level on the AVR at a similar level to get acceptable sound out of it. Even with that AVR --> 2-Channel pre, there was too much bass for apartment dwelling on movies and TV shows. I think the AVR & Audyssey were augmenting the bottom end a little too much and the dialog was always too quiet. Now, running through the Cary, it sounds balanced. There's still plenty of bottom end when the material provides it (Blade Runner 2049) but I'm not as worried about upsetting any of my neighbors. For the most part, I just cleaned up the cable clutter and minimized what I needed with the proper lengths for a better aesthetic; it's not perfect but it's better than it was and I'm happy with it. I did notice the differences between the cables I'm using as well so that's pretty cool. Every piece does influence the final product and I can hear how the room plays a major part in that.

The transition from Chicago to Saint Louis wasn't (still isn't) the smoothest but I want to give a huge shout out to @KennethSwauger for assisting when one of the S60s was damaged. Polk CS is still the best! I also want to give a big Club Polk high-five to @ALL212 for helping me out, in no small way, by slinging some solder on some serious (to me) projects. Huge thanks Aaron! You totally rock! And thank you to all the good folks on the Polk forum for keeping things interesting around here

verb

How are the new neighbors lovin ya?

BTW I love St Louis! I went to SLU!

ALL212

High 5 back - sweet rig you got there!!

kharp1

Home of Fitz's soda, good stuff. Congrats on getting moves and the new place.

Jaybeez

Looks good, and glad you can get sufficient volume to "wow" you. When it opens (if not already) stop by Ted Drewe's. You'll thank me later. We lived in West County for a couple of years, when I worked for Purina.

Joey_V

That looks good man, I like it.

MrBuhl

Rig looks great - and I love the brick & wood floor combo!

halo

MrBuhl wrote: »

Rig looks great - and I love the brick & wood floor combo!

Thanks Ed! Yes, aesthetically this place looks really nice. You cannot see the exposed wood on the loft ceiling in that photo and the “wall of windows” let’s in a lot of natural light so the apartment is pleasing to the eye.

halo

halo

This is from the bedroom looking out into the living room/dining room. The bathroom is on the left in the bedroom and the kitchen, on the left, is open to the living room/dining room

Jaybeez

Where in STL are you located? I know there were two main areas with lofts when we were there, Washington St. area and the other side of the freeway near Lafayette Park. My buddy lived in the latter area.

txcoastal1

Dude U B STylin'

halo

Jaybeez wrote: »

Where in STL are you located? I know there were two main areas with lofts when we were there, Washington St. area and the other side of the freeway near Lafayette Park. My buddy lived in the latter area.

The latter, as you say, near Lafayette. Soulard is the neighborhood. Farmer's market real close by!

Jaybeez

We loved the Soulard Farmer's Market! Our friends in West County thought we were nuts, but we went there weekly. The former was close to the City Museum, where we had a family pass. If you have kids, or have visitors with kids, take them there. You won't regret it! I love So Cal, but do miss the Lou sometimes.

halo

Jaybeez wrote: »

We loved the Soulard Farmer's Market! Our friends in West County thought we were nuts, but we went there weekly. The former was close to the City Museum, where we had a family pass. If you have kids, or have visitors with kids, take them there. You won't regret it! I love So Cal, but do miss the Lou sometimes.

Yes! We go to the Soulard market every weekend as well. Fresh fruits and veggies, supporting the local economy, all good stuff plus it's le$$ expen$ive than the grocery stores. Very cool info on the museum! Thanks!

Is Lou the official nickname of St. Louis?

lightman1

Sweet abode, Victor! Love those industrial retrofits. My sister lived in one. Retail on the first floor and condos above. There was a bar in it. Made it easy to crash at her place.

steveinaz

As a born & raised Saint Louisan, welcome. Soulard is a STL original.

halo

lightman1 wrote: »

Sweet abode, Victor! Love those industrial retrofits. My sister lived in one. Retail on the first floor and condos above. There was a bar in it. Made it easy to crash at her place.

It's funny you say that Russ, as there's a restaurant with a bar downstairs. The downside is that we can hear them clearly as if they were in our living room. It can get noisy on Saturday nights because they're open really late.

I love the history of the building. It's pretty cool!

halo

steveinaz wrote: »

As a born & raised Saint Louisan, welcome. Soulard is a STL original.

Thanks Steve. Looks like you traded humid heat for dry heat when you moved from MO to AZ. How did you handle the "brutal" summer heat & humidity in MO when you lived there?

steveinaz

The humidity is insane in Mo. We take bi-annual trips to Lake of the Ozarks, you can cut the air with a knife...LOL. On the drive up from Az, you begin to feel it about mid-Texas, then Oklahoma gets progressively worse into Joplin. The good news is, our skin and hair feel so much better with the increased humidity.

All of my 4 siblings are still near/in STL with the exception of my older sister who is in Pacific, near Six Flags.

The area you are living in has come a LONG WAY. Thanks to younger generations moving in, the neighborhoods are getting restored, and it's a great thing to see. I was actually born in downtown STL, but we moved into West county soon after my birth, to the Florissant/Hazelwood area.

Saint Louis is GREAT, with millions of things to do and see. If I were to ever move back to a larger metropolitan, STL would be my only choice.

smglbrth

Congrats on your move, if you like it that is. My oldest brother lives down there with his family, some suburb I can't remember the name of. My oldest son liked it while in college down there. I don't like any big cities however and, yes, I've lived in a few...

recoveryone

It always amazed me how Midwest and East coast homes use wood flooring where temps range from 80's (with 90% humidity) to sub zero. For decades out here in Southern California they been putting carpet everywhere. not until the last housing boom in the early 2k you would see wood floors or Tile. In our climate those floors last for decades as we have such low humidity and the temps are more moderate.

halo

recoveryone wrote: »

It always amazed me how Midwest and East coast homes use wood flooring where temps range from 80's (with 90% humidity) to sub zero. For decades out here in Southern California they been putting carpet everywhere. not until the last housing boom in the early 2k you would see wood floors or Tile. In our climate those floors last for decades as we have such low humidity and the temps are more moderate.

It's not actually a wood floor. It's a plastic compound made to look like wood. They went with this material because it is far more durable than "Pergo." If Pergo gets wet, you have to wipe it up immediately. That's not an issue for the plastic compound.

My brother-in-law is in construction and he likes the material better than the laminate flooring used in the past.

halo

steveinaz wrote: »

The humidity is insane in Mo. We take bi-annual trips to Lake of the Ozarks, you can cut the air with a knife...LOL. On the drive up from Az, you begin to feel it about mid-Texas, then Oklahoma gets progressively worse into Joplin. The good news is, our skin and hair feel so much better with the increased humidity.

All of my 4 siblings are still near/in STL with the exception of my older sister who is in Pacific, near Six Flags.

The area you are living in has come a LONG WAY. Thanks to younger generations moving in, the neighborhoods are getting restored, and it's a great thing to see. I was actually born in downtown STL, but we moved into West county soon after my birth, to the Florissant/Hazelwood area.

Saint Louis is GREAT, with millions of things to do and see. If I were to ever move back to a larger metropolitan, STL would be my only choice.

Well, we're definitely looking for things to do and places to see here since we don't really know anyone. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. You can send them in a PM if you like.

Yes, Soulard has been on an upward trajectory for a little while now

adb3da

Welcome to the Lou! I knew from previous posts that you were moving here, but I forget where you were coming from. Was it Chicago? What brings you to STL?

I live in Sunset Hills. St. Louis is a nice city once you figure out what you are looking for. What kind of suggestions would you like?

halo

adb3da wrote: »

Welcome to the Lou! I knew from previous posts that you were moving here, but I forget where you were coming from. Was it Chicago? What brings you to STL?

I live in Sunset Hills. St. Louis is a nice city once you figure out what you are looking for. What kind of suggestions would you like?

Thanks!

The Lou? Huh. That’s the name of a pizza at Lou Malnati’s in Chicago. Fortunately, the ship those suckers world wide

Yes, moved to Saint Louis from Chicago for a job opportunity my wife received as a post doc at Wash U.

Well, we’re new here so we’re looking for suggestions on places to go, places to eat, things to see. I know, that’s vague. We like cycling but I don’t know how much I’ll be doing once it gets too humid. Probably be checking out museums and air conditioned indoor stuff when it gets sticky outside.

mikeyb128

That’s sweet space! I like the brick, and industrial type ceilings. Looks awesome.

halo

mikeyb128 wrote: »

That’s sweet space! I like the brick, and industrial type ceilings. Looks awesome.

Thanks Mike!

Mike Reeter

Some Sweet Digs Victor! I'm heading your way one day, as soon as I can get away!

halo

Mike Reeter wrote: »

Some Sweet Digs Victor! I'm heading your way one day, as soon as I can get away!

Great! Let us know

adb3da

halo wrote: »

adb3da wrote: »

Welcome to the Lou! I knew from previous posts that you were moving here, but I forget where you were coming from. Was it Chicago? What brings you to STL?

I live in Sunset Hills. St. Louis is a nice city once you figure out what you are looking for. What kind of suggestions would you like?

Thanks!

The Lou? Huh. That’s the name of a pizza at Lou Malnati’s in Chicago. Fortunately, the ship those suckers world wide

Yes, moved to Saint Louis from Chicago for a job opportunity my wife received as a post doc at Wash U.

Well, we’re new here so we’re looking for suggestions on places to go, places to eat, things to see. I know, that’s vague. We like cycling but I don’t know how much I’ll be doing once it gets too humid. Probably be checking out museums and air conditioned indoor stuff when it gets sticky outside.

Right on man, I will send some restaurant recs over PM.