What did you do to your stereo rig today?

skipshot12

Last night I got my last MW driver jb welded, Cabinet area sealed, bh5 installed, sound deadening on the basket & installed the driver.

Whew, 26 drivers on these SDA SRS’… also replaced my SL2000’s with the 194’s.
Took 3 months+ to get to this point.

Today, this morning, I got all the glue removed from my passive radiator. That sucked.
Will install the Armacell for a new gasket tonight.
Seal the passive area cabinet too.

Install the passive tomorrow and enjoy some tunes for a while.
Will shortly get after the Sonicap & Mill upgrades to the crossovers soon.
Will sit back for a while with some frosty beverages and enjoy…..

nooshinjohn

There is tremendous value in used cables. I have full double bi-wire Audioquest Meteor speaker cables that were 15k retail. I grabbed them for 1100.00

skipshot12

nooshinjohn wrote: »

There is tremendous value in used cables. I have full double bi-wire Audioquest Meteor speaker cables that were 15k retail. I grabbed them for 1100.00

Damn nice score John.
Actually, incredible score.

I like the Analysis Plus Oval 9’s.
Used, cause I can’t afford them new.

Would really love to land some Cardas Golden References but, even used their way out of my wife’s allowable price range to going nuclear…. 🤣

newbie308

Just jumped on an incredible deal for a dealer demo, with approximately 20 hours of use, Clearaudio virtuoso ebony cartridge. It may exceed the capabilities of my Technics SL1200 turntable, but the deal was too good to pass up.

xsmi

I think it will elevate the capabilities of your Technics.

newbie308

xsmi wrote: »

I think it will elevate the capabilities of your Technics.

I hope so. I have done significant upgrades to this turntable. KAB bearing, SME arm with Cardas hyperlitz tonearm wire, external transformer, Dynamat dampened plinth, upgraded isolation feet and a sound dampened steel (actually aluminum) platter mat, so it's no slouch. Oh, and I recently replaced the old tonearm cable wires out of necessity, but I'm not sure if that was an improvement. More like a parallel move. The blue LED's don't improve the sound, but they look cool

newbie308

xsmi

Nice setup.

dragon1952

What have I done to my stereo system today? Well today I will have delivered a new pair of KEF R3 bookshelves! This is the 3rd pair of speakers I've bought in the last 2 1/2 months. I will be comparing them to my new BMR Philharmonic monitors, which I've already chosen over the Focal 906's I recently acquired.
Starting 8 months ago I started revising my entire system and have replaced my amp, tube pre, DAC and power conditioner and most cabling. I did a lot of buying and selling in order to demo various components and drove my wife crazy but I think this will be the last face-off as I am satisfied as is.
I'll be pretty surprised if the KEF's oust the BMR's but I if I hadn't demoed the KEF's I'd always be wondering. I got them from Crutchfield so I can return if needed and the BMR's will sell fast I'm sure if that's the way I go. That's what I tell the wife anyway :^ )
Here's a pic of the current setup. The main new stuff is the Hegel integrated, Holo Spring 3 KTE DAC, the BMR's and the PS Audio power conditioner.

jbreezy5

@dragon1952:

Always wanted to hear the BMRs. The R3s are mighty good.

dragon1952

The BMR's sound like a floor stander. Very full and 3 dimensional with nice depth of soundstage whereas the Focals sounded as good but lacked the depth and fullness. I think it's just the limitations of a 2 way vs a 3 way. The R3's should be more similar to the BMR's. One reason I wanted to demo the R3's, besides them being a 3 way like the BMR's, is that they are a narrow directivity speaker and I wanted to see if that was better suited to my room. The Focal's and BMR's are both wide directivity.

newbie308

My new Kimber 12-TC bi-wire speaker cables arrived today. They are replacing some old Monoprice 14ga speakers wire. I'm a believer! Cables definitely make a difference! HOLY COW! THESE SOUND AMAZING!! More clarity, more bass, more detailed vocals, more defined and wider stereo image. Why didn't I do this years ago? 😫 From what I understand, what I'm experiencing will only improve as the cables burn in? Wow...

dragon1952

Monoprice 14 gauge to Kimber 9 gauge....yep that's quite a jump! Congrats! And yes, you should have done this years ago ;^ )

VR3

But it's only wire!!!

Congrats!

jbreezy5

dragon1952 wrote: »

The BMR's sound like a floor stander. Very full and 3 dimensional with nice depth of soundstage whereas the Focals sounded as good but lacked the depth and fullness. I think it's just the limitations of a 2 way vs a 3 way. The R3's should be more similar to the BMR's. One reason I wanted to demo the R3's, besides them being a 3 way like the BMR's, is that they are a narrow directivity speaker and I wanted to see if that was better suited to my room. The Focal's and BMR's are both wide directivity.

I think you’ll find the R3s have a ginormous soundstage.

Either way, you have great options to choose from.

I’m enjoying your journey.

audioluvr

newbie308 wrote: »

My new Kimber 12-TC bi-wire speaker cables arrived today. They are replacing some old Monoprice 14ga speakers wire. I'm a believer! Cables definitely make a difference! HOLY COW! THESE SOUND AMAZING!! More clarity, more bass, more detailed vocals, more defined and wider stereo image. Why didn't I do this years ago? 😫 From what I understand, what I'm experiencing will only improve as the cables burn in? Wow...

Well they sure are pretty!

newbie308

I didn't really do anything to my system today, but I did just score a new in the box Oppo BDP-103 for $300 😁. I will post pictures once it's hooked up. I will be using it strictly for music.

skipshot12

newbie308 wrote: »

I didn't really do anything to my system today, but I did just score a new in the box Oppo BDP-103 for $300 😁. I will post pictures once it's hooked up. I will be using it strictly for music.

Nice score……

gidrah

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Bob Latino ST-120 that I really liked. I had a pair of Snell J/IIIs that I thought would suit this amp until I got the speakers I was trying to get but fell through due to distance and logistics. Today I received a 2nd SVS SB-2000 and decided to try the pair of subs as stands. Yep. It sounds great. I'm running the Snells full range and the subs on another output with a 50Hz crossover.

treitz3

So, yesterday I tried something that I had a feeling would not make any difference at all.....but I tried it anyway. Back when I originally got the Auralic Vega G2 network Audio Player, I went ahead and ordered 2 or 3 different Ethernet cables. My thought process was that it wouldn't change the sound at all but that it might help with the transferring of information at faster/better speeds.....but as mentioned, I wasn't expecting any change at all.

Man, was I wrong. Completely wrong.

I hooked up one of the extra Cat 8 cables I had ordered last year. (I know, they don't even have a standard for that yet but the data transfer rates/speeds they were showing looked promising) After hooking up the new cable, I turned the Vega G2 back on and hit play.

I played the same exact song I had just sat down to listen too 5 minutes before. While expecting absolutely NO difference at all (since it's not part of the audio signal or incoming power). I was very pleasantly surprised at what I was now hearing through the Vega G2.

I hadn't even sat down in the sweet spot yet and I could tell that there was a vast difference between what I had heard before and what I was hearing now. Not quite believing what my own ears were telling me off axis, I immediately sat down in the sweet spot.

I don't think I left the sweet spot for an hour or two after that. Yosi Horikawa's, "Bubbles" easily took on another 10 feet in width to each side of the sound stage. Height perception as well as a drastic increase in depth perception was immediately noticeable. It made it from listening to/following a sound to being able to "see" the image as it moved up and down, back or forth to the point to where you knew exactly where what you were listening to was at. Laser sharp focus now.

While listening to London Grammar's, "Hey Now"? I made the comment in a text to Trey that.....and I quote, "I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like physical music! No way....". This was followed by a text that read, "I am not believing what I am hearing.....I am simply not. The floor beneath me is shaking and the visceral presence is unreal".

All of these aspects were a far cry from what I had been listening to since I got the Auralic Vega G2 up and running. I could always and easily tell when I was listening to the NAP. Now, not so much anymore.

All this over a simple Ethernet cable I thought wouldn't amount to a hill of beans regarding the end result as to what hit my ears.

Who knew?

Tom

Clipdat

All that and you're not going to tell us the brand name of the cable? ARE YOU NEW TO THE HOBBY?

rebelsoul

What cat 8 cable?

treitz3

My bad. I bought them over a year ago and they are just some cheap, no name cables that had better spec's than the normal cables I had laying around. I never installed them because of the issues I kept having getting the Vega G2 to play music (ended up being a wi-fi issue that a mesh network solved).

I had to search through my old Amazon orders to find it. At the time I bought it, if memory serves me correctly, it was around $14 for a 6 foot cable. They are 50% off right now. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QLXC6QR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1



Best $14 I ever spent!

Tom

rebelsoul

Just ordered one and paid a extra 2.99 for between 5 and 7 pm today delivery. Total was like 12 .99. .

Toolfan66

michaeljhsda2 wrote: »

Painted over the ugly Oak end caps and side trim

Missed this, I like the black much better myself as well, goes much better with my room..

michaeljhsda2

Just installed these spikes from Meniscus Audio. Excellent product. https://meniscusaudio.com/product/large-spikes/

Toolfan66

Actually a few days ago but was able to spend some good listening time with them today..

michaeljhsda2

Nice!

rebelsoul

Cat 8 arrived 6 hours after order Amazon same day $2.99 extra , still under $13 dollars . Hope I have same experience tom did.

rebelsoul