What did you do to your stereo rig today?

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  • agfrost
    agfrost Posts: 2,430
    Your shrubbery will, at the very least.
    Jay
    SDA 2BTL * Musical Fidelity A5cr amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
    Micro Seiki DQ-50 * Hagerman Cornet 2 Phono * A hodgepodge of cabling * Belkin PF60
    Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0
  • JayCee
    JayCee Posts: 1,500
    DividedSky wrote: »
    I also felt I could get some improved performance- I'm happy to say it was actually a much bigger leap than I expected. It improved imaging quite a bit (? in part due to smaller overall size and less vertical slabs of wood between my speakers) and it notably "relaxed" my high end and seemed to bring more overall resolution and depth/solidity of low end as well.

    Nice looking setup. I DIY'd a similar rack design and experienced the same improvements you describe by eliminating what were, essentially, walls on the side of my old rack and between the speakers. Congrats and happy listening!
    Speakers: Polk1.2tl's (Uber Mods) Pre/Amp/DAC: PS Audio BHK Signature & 250, DirectStream Cables/IC's: MIT S1Bi-Wire/S1 Balanced +Avel Lindberg 1000VA "Dreadnought" Power Conditioner: PS Audio P15 Power Plant Power Cords: Core Power Technologies Gold, DH Labs Power Plus DIY w/Neotech NC-P301 & P311ends Streaming: Roon ROCK on wifi'd NUC, TP-Link WAP, & Uptone EtherREGEN, AfterDark, Emperor Double Crown Clock, Black Modernize LPS, PS Audio AirLens⟿Ω☯☥☮⟿🔊♩♪♫♬♩♪♫♬♩♪♫♬
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    JayCee wrote: »
    DividedSky wrote: »
    I also felt I could get some improved performance- I'm happy to say it was actually a much bigger leap than I expected. It improved imaging quite a bit (? in part due to smaller overall size and less vertical slabs of wood between my speakers) and it notably "relaxed" my high end and seemed to bring more overall resolution and depth/solidity of low end as well.

    Nice looking setup. I DIY'd a similar rack design and experienced the same improvements you describe by eliminating what were, essentially, walls on the side of my old rack and between the speakers. Congrats and happy listening!

    Nice. My imaging was really good prior, but I had my fingers crossed it would jump up a level and I'm so glad it did. My next move is to bite the bullet on 5 meter interconnects and move the rack out from between the speakers. I am doing that primarily to allow a retractable screen to come down in the space for movies/sports but I think it will be even another notch up in imaging and sound stage.
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,949
    Pics of the holes in the wood?
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    eg58u8lyuyfc.jpeg
    cjzdewcwj1ir.jpeg

    A couple of examples here
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • Mike Reeter
    Mike Reeter Posts: 4,315
    DividedSky wrote: »
    JayCee wrote: »
    DividedSky wrote: »
    I also felt I could get some improved performance- I'm happy to say it was actually a much bigger leap than I expected. It improved imaging quite a bit (? in part due to smaller overall size and less vertical slabs of wood between my speakers) and it notably "relaxed" my high end and seemed to bring more overall resolution and depth/solidity of low end as well.

    Nice looking setup. I DIY'd a similar rack design and experienced the same improvements you describe by eliminating what were, essentially, walls on the side of my old rack and between the speakers. Congrats and happy listening!

    Nice. My imaging was really good prior, but I had my fingers crossed it would jump up a level and I'm so glad it did. My next move is to bite the bullet on 5 meter interconnects and move the rack out from between the speakers. I am doing that primarily to allow a retractable screen to come down in the space for movies/sports but I think it will be even another notch up in imaging and sound stage.

    That's a great looking Rack full of Gear B) I think the worm holes add a little character.

    I also use 5 meter I/C's after moving the Rack to the side wall. Single Ended, with no signal loss that I can discern and the center image has improved as well.

    yzx6wd83ubqf.png



  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,647
    Only downside, is the maple slabs have some small holes here and there- don't know if it would be from termite exposure during their long curing process or what.
    That's not termite damage. It's from one of the many types wood borers that would have been active when the tree was alive. It would have been nice for Mapleshade to have filled the holes before finishing the boards.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,446
    DividedSky wrote: »
    eg58u8lyuyfc.jpeg
    cjzdewcwj1ir.jpeg

    A couple of examples here

    They are there to give character to the wood... and they enhance the sound quality by eliminating plank noise. :D:p
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

    “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    .

    That's a great looking Rack full of Gear B) I think the worm holes add a little character.

    I also use 5 meter I/C's after moving the Rack to the side wall. Single Ended, with no signal loss that I can discern and the center image has improved as well.
    [/quote]


    Wow- really love your set up there as well. Great to hear about your experience bouncing things outside. The toughest part about 5m of good interconnects (mine will be balanced to monoblocks) is that the cost would allow me to go quite a bit up the food chain if the lengths were shorter. The Music Room gave me a good price on Audioquest Earth, so will see how that goes.

    Thanks everyone for the wormhole intel. Seems appropriate given my love for psychedelic rock. I don’t really mind them but agree it would have been nice for them to be filled or maybe mentioned by mapleshade. In addition to the performance improvement, I’m really happy with how well built it is and the ability to easily adjust and level each shelf was fantastic.
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • jumpindick
    jumpindick Posts: 428
    DividedSky wrote: »
    Last weekend I assembled and installed a Mapleshade Samson V.5 3 shelf rack. Prior setup was a beautiful Danish solid rosewood console, but it wouldn't hold everything and I also got tired of working blind with preamp, phono stage and CD player enclosed on 3 sides.

    I also felt I could get some improved performance- I'm happy to say it was actually a much bigger leap than I expected. It improved imaging quite a bit (? in part due to smaller overall size and less vertical slabs of wood between my speakers) and it notably "relaxed" my high end and seemed to bring more overall resolution and depth/solidity of low end as well.

    Since both this and my prior console sit on slab concrete in a basement listening area, I wasn't convinced there would be this much to gain. My turntable sits on an HRS M3X isolation platform, so I didn't think there would be a lot of isolation gains there but I was clearly very wrong. I am a happy camper!

    Only downside, is the maple slabs have some small holes here and there- don't know if it would be from termite exposure during their long curing process or what. I have reached out to Mapleshade about that issue today.

    adlg2e1zurbt.jpg
    ijwdfma8y1yl.jpg

    Looks really nice. Enjoy!
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    edited March 2022

    That's a great looking Rack full of Gear B) I think the worm holes add a little character.

    I also use 5 meter I/C's after moving the Rack to the side wall. Single Ended, with no signal loss that I can discern and the center image has improved as well.

    yzx6wd83ubqf.png



    Love your set up as well and glad to hear that bouncing your gear to the outside was a positive change. 5m interconnects can be eyewatering, especially when you compare to what you could get in shorter length. The music room gave me good pricing on audioquest earth so I’m looking forward to trying those.

    Appreciate the intel on the wormholes. Given my love for psychedelic space jams, it seems appropriate 🤣. Overall I’m so happy with it and I don’t really mind them but I do agree it would’ve been nice for them to have been filled or perhaps mentioned by MapleShade
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    DividedSky wrote: »
    eg58u8lyuyfc.jpeg
    cjzdewcwj1ir.jpeg

    A couple of examples here

    They are there to give character to the wood... and they enhance the sound quality by eliminating plank noise. :D:p

    Plank noise is the only thing worse than standing waves!
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,124
    Are there worm holes on the opposite side and if not can the slab be turned around? Nice system you have.
    Home Theater
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  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    Good question. Since the rack is assembled by the owner, it can be turned over. However, after disassembling the rack it would be very irritating if the other side also had the holes. My four shelf Mapleshade rack is worm hole free, but the bottom shelf is beat up from dealing with the amps on the bottom.

    609v2vtjdtdo.jpeg
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
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    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    Each side has a fairly similar number of worm holes.
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,446
    DividedSky wrote: »
    Each side has a fairly similar number of worm holes.
    Get out your tricorder and check for traces of tachyons or gamma particles, as these could be a sign that the Borg are attempting to use those wormholes as a conduit from the Delta Quadrant...
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

    “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
  • motorstereo
    motorstereo Posts: 2,144
    DividedSky wrote: »
    Each side has a fairly similar number of worm holes.

    If it was me Mapleshade would be getting a call as I'm sure that rack wasn't cheap. I can't help but wonder what their explanation is going to be. A small issue getting by quality control is one thing but those holes had to be seen by multiple employees.
  • Clipdat
    Clipdat Posts: 12,949
    I'm also curious to hear what they say.
  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,077
    edited March 2022
    Jesus, now I know why I don’t visit this thread.

    My self esteem is in negative territory now.

    I think my dingus shrunk at least half the distance to the goal line.
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
  • maxward
    maxward Posts: 1,582
    The Amish people who craft their maple slabs don’t believe in modern devices, including wood filler.
  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,743
    Honestly I think the holes add character... But that's just me
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,142
    VR3 wrote: »
    Honestly I think the holes add character... But that's just me

    Trey, you and I may be in the minority on this one but I just so happen to agree. It's part of the history (story) of the wood itself.

    Tom
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    edited March 2022
    DividedSky wrote: »
    Each side has a fairly similar number of worm holes.

    If it was me Mapleshade would be getting a call as I'm sure that rack wasn't cheap. I can't help but wonder what their explanation is going to be. A small issue getting by quality control is one thing but those holes had to be seen by multiple employees.

    I put in an email to them late morning on Friday and didn’t hear back yet but I imagine I will hear from them in the week ahead. Of course I don’t know what their process is for inspection but I do know that the wood slabs and finish are done by an Amish subcontractor and packaged by them. It’s really only noticeable on the top slab- primarily because I just have one component up top.

    Regardless, I tend to agree with the viewpoint that it’s a pricey rack and they probably shouldn’t be there… or at least should be fewer in number. But I also agree with Tom and Trey that they add a little bit of character. To me these slabs should be considered B stock so I am hoping it can be priced out as such with a partial refund. I would certainly consider that a reasonable resolution and I definitely want to keep the rack based on both performance and looks.
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    edited March 2022
    DividedSky wrote: »
    Each side has a fairly similar number of worm holes.
    Get out your tricorder and check for traces of tachyons or gamma particles, as these could be a sign that the Borg are attempting to use those wormholes as a conduit from the Delta Quadrant...

    🤣🤣🤯🤯
    I wish this response had been my 100th post John (making me officially legal/eligible to have bought your Goldfinger)!!!

    💥Frank
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,743
    I dunno about b stock. Wood is a naturally occurring product with all kinds of knots, splits, cracks, etc. Most manufactures have disclaimers on their site spelling out as such.
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
  • DividedSky
    DividedSky Posts: 108
    VR3 wrote: »
    I dunno about b stock. Wood is a naturally occurring product with all kinds of knots, splits, cracks, etc. Most manufactures have disclaimers on their site spelling out as such.

    Fair enough. Gauging everyone’s thoughts on this is helpful to me in determining what is reasonable, so I appreciate your perspective on this.
    Primary: Doshi V3.0 pre and phonostage, Vandersteen M5-HPA, Vandersteen Quatro CT, AMG viella, Goldfinger Statement, AQ Niagara 5000, AQ IC and power cords, Mapleshade Samson V.5

    Secondary: Nakamichi PA7, Nak CA5, Polk LS90, Sota Sapphire, Sumiko MDC800, Van den hul Crimson
  • maxward
    maxward Posts: 1,582
    I’m in the “they add character” camp, but perhaps Mapleshade should have let you know about the possible imperfections.
  • jbreezy5
    jbreezy5 Posts: 1,141
    Just wanted to share a photo, even though this isn’t in my rig:

    8rq8w3r249sw.jpeg

    Tandberg TR3030 Stereo Receiver. Not something one comes across everyday.
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