I'm done! The coolest 2-channel stereo I've ever owned

nspindel

dcmeigs wrote: »

Is the NAD 2200 a common ground amp? Or have you worked around that issue?

It's common ground, works like a charm with SDA. Can't run two of them bridged, of course, at least not without an AI-1, but for the size room I've got this in, I'm not even coming close to pushing the 2200 to it's potential, so I'm not concerned about bridging. I'm very impressed with the 2200, but chances are if you were to grab an old one on fleebay it might need some work. The relays they used were known to have bad solder joints from the factory, that's one of the fixes in the $155 mod package I posted about. Very common to have issues with them, my amp did. All fixed now though.

heiney9

dcmeigs wrote: »

First, I think your display is way cool. I think the squeeze box is a better product than the lynksys because of that and I like the idea of the independent streaming rhapsody angle.

I read about the boulder mods, but I don't think I understand the need. I'm sure they are everything they say they are, but why not just use a digital optical cable to either an D/A converter or a preamp with an optical input and let it do the deed .

I do realize that is not your plan- with no switching preamp- but for the rest of us with big stacks of already paid for boxes and wives who are by now resigned to living with gobs of wires, WTF? It seems to me that the problems they are solving are all in the analog section and somebody has already invented the wheel here with quality D/A converters for much less money. Am I missing something here?

Obtuse Dave

Generally using the Squeezbox with an outboard DAC is going to give you better results. I have held my tongue a bit because he is loving his system, but I've never been impressed with the stock Squeezebox and I think the mods, while an improvement, are very pricey for what you get.

Of course this is just my opinion but you can only "polish a **** so much" is the thought process. For about $500 or less you can get a stellar used outboard DAC that will out perform any mods done to the Squeezebox.

Nspindel, rock on you have an awesome system and don't take my comments personally. I would never spend money to upgrade the Squeezebox nor would I run it on it's own. I am in the process of moving into a computer server feeding a Squeezebox but using my current outboard DAC.

H9

nspindel

Hmmmm, it'd be an interesting comparison, that's for sure. Too bad you're in Illinois and I'm in Connecticut.

As for the Squeezebox, you'd be surprised how much better an unmodded Squeezebox sounds if you just use a real power supply. I built my power supply and got rid of the $3 pos they give you before I did any of the Bolder mods, and that alone brought a lot more out of it. On the mods side, they rip out the whole analog side and replace the internal dac with a pretty well reviewed Burr Brown. There's no more opamps in the analog path. It pretty much goes Burr Brown -> Sonicap Platinum -> Cardas RCA's and into my preamp.

There are a few threads on the Slimdevices forums comparing the analog side of the Bolder modded SB3 to the stock Transporter, many seem to feel the modded SB3 sounds better.

Of course you have much more flexibility if you use a dac, as the dac can service other sources besides the SB3. I thought long and hard over the decision to mod vs. go with a dac, but in my case, where this is the only source I have for my 2-channel setup, I decided to try the modded SB3 out. If I wasn't happy with it, the modded SB3 sells quite well used, I'd be able to recoup almost all of the cost if I decided I'd changed my mind and wanted to go with a dac. Not necessary though, it sounds beautiful as is.

Marty913

dcmeigs wrote: »

Your rig is sweet. I wouldn't suggest otherwise.

My thoughts were about adding the squeezebox to my setup. It's all about me, damnit.

I too am sceptical about the mods to the digital section. One of the things they do is change the optical connector to accomodate the high end optical cables they are peddling, but I'm not buying into that crap. I buy my optical cables at Frys for $10 and, like you say, ones and zeros and that's it; I think quality is not an issue until the music stops.

I'm using a modern Yamaha XM Radio receiver with a good selection of optical inputs and a good D/A converter as a preamp, and I just bought a Rotel 200 watt 2 ch power amp to satisfy my hungry SDA2Bs. This allows me to process unadulterated digital signals using optical cables (which are only about $10 at frys) and still have adequate power. The cool thing is that any gadget with optical outputs is fair game for experimentation. without concern for the quality of the analog section.

It's a brave new world! Rhapsody, Jango, media player, itunes all wirelessly streaming from PC's; what's next?

I don't know Dave, you might want to reconsider that Monster Ultra THX Certified optical cable. I was reading on their website that their ones and zeros are "more clear" than others. They probably figured out a way to make them larger. Normally I would think that would make them more prone to bump into one another :eek: but Monster claims to have solved the resultant vibration problem. I'm assuming they probably developed some sort of electrical "bumper field" around the ones or zeros (maybe both):cool:. Or you could go with the $580 RCA cables at Boulder.

nspindel

I've actually got a spare glass toslink if you wanted to grab it off me. It's short though, I think it's only 1.5 feet. Nice cable though. I think I paid $30 for it, I'd part with it for $20 shipped.

dcmeigs

Marty913 wrote: »

I don't know Dave, you might want to reconsider that Monster Ultra THX Certified optical cable. I was reading on their website that their ones and zeros are "more clear" than others. They probably figured out a way to make them larger. Normally I would think that would make them more prone to bump into one another :eek: but Monster claims to have solved the resultant vibration problem. I'm assuming they probably developed some sort of electrical "bumper field" around the ones or zeros (maybe both):cool:. Or you could go with the $580 RCA cables at Boulder.

Monster has figured out a way to CAPITALIZE the ones and zeros. They really get the attention of the DAC where as the regular ones and zeros have become sort of mundane and are easily ignored.

This is ground breaking stuff. Watch their web site carefully.

nspindel

Monster could figure out how to capitalize on selling ice to eskimos....

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

Hmmmm, it'd be an interesting comparison, that's for sure. Too bad you're in Illinois and I'm in Connecticut.

Yes it would be. I'm always up for checking out a fellow Polkie's set-up.

Gaara

heiney9 wrote: »

Of course this is just my opinion but you can only "polish a **** so much" is the thought process. For about $500 or less you can get a stellar used outboard DAC that will out perform any mods done to the Squeezebox.

I felt the same way until I tried it. I compared my RWA analog modded SB3 to a modded MHDT Paradisea and ended up selling the Paradisea. The analog mods do make a drastic difference to the sound, and the Bolder ones are supposed to be even better.

As for the digital mods, unless you are using it with a 1k+ DAC they are way over priced. They make a difference, but it is slight, at least it was with my $500 Paradisea.

Ns, whereabouts in CT?

nspindel

Stamford. You?

Gaara

Other end of the state, Suffield which is right near Six Flags New England.

nspindel

Ah, you're up there in Red Sox territory. That's ok, you and I should be good as long as we keep talking audio. If the conversation turns to baseball it could get ugly though!

dcmeigs

This is really getting way off topic, but since we had that ones-and-zeros is ones-and-zeros discussion, I stumbled across the article. This would generally be received with hoots of derision but the author has some creed. These guys may have out monstered monster; the Margio 3D Mat: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_12_3/marigo-labs-signature-3d-mat-7-2005.html

But wait, wait if you call in the next 10 minutes...

nspindel

Ugh. I couldn't even make it through 1/4 of that page without wanting to puke (and I've been drinking really good Scotch tonight, so I don't want to puke!)

This reminds me of some bs product that the sales guy tried to work over on me when I bought my first set of SDA's 19 years ago. They were these rubber rings with an adhesive backing that you were supposed to attach to the top of your cd's. Imagine a Life Saver mint the size of a cd and about 1/2" thick. You paste these onto the outer edge of your cds, and the added weight around the perimeter was supposed to increase the centripital force that the cd exerted when spun, decreasing the overall vibration of a spinning disc. This, of course, VASTLY improved the sound quality. *cough* ****!!!! *cough* It's a beautiful product if you own the company that makes them, though. The more cd's you buy, the more of their snake oil you need to buy.

This is why I love the Squeezebox. Pull the bloody ones and zero's off the cd ONCE!!!! Use something like EAC, which has crazy-good error detection, then combine that with the Acurate Rip database, so you know that you've optically captured the ones and zeros perfectly. Once that's done, you never need to think about it any more. From there on in you're not worried about extracting those little bits of digital data correctly any more, you know you've got them right. After that, it's tcp/ip delivering the data, not 30-year old optical scanning technology.

I love the Squeezebox more and more every time I read something like that, thanks for the entertainment value dcmeigs!

nspindel

I've just brought this system up to a whole new level!

Tweaks amaze me. They really do. I knew I was splurging on speaker cables when I built my own out of the Monster Z2. I knoew it was a budget decision. At a buck and change per foot, it was a no-brainer to try it out. The terminators weren't cheap, they cost $40 for the pair of speaker wires, so $60ish bucks for the materials and I had a pair of 6-foot cables.

Tbh, I thought I was kind of impressed by the Z2. It was definitely a step up from the spooled Monster stuff, nicely braided, well shielded. It's a nice looking wire. And I appreciated that the banana terminators didn't need to be soldered, they just screw down and crimp on.

So I don't know if the terminators are the weak link, the lack of solder, or the Z2 wire itself, but let me tell you....

I just bought a pair of Signal Ultra speaker cables off of SolidSqual. I mentioned early on in this thread that I'd been so impressed with the power cables and interconnects I bought, that if I'd known about Signal before I started buying the Monster stuff to make my own, I would have bought their speaker cables as well. When I saw SolidSqual's sale, I said wtf.

These new speaker cables have taken this system to whole different level. SOOOO much different. Much more open and airy, much finer detail, wider soundstage, better separation, more clarity, deeper bass, just a hands-down winner right out of the gate. I thought the difference would be noticeable but subtle. This was not a subtle difference at all. The Signals just blow away the Monster. No contest.

Wow.

Now I'm going to have to get Frank to do up a custom SDA-interconnect for me, so I can get rid of the last of the Monster cable. I think I'll be selling those terminations on ebay soon, and eating the cost of the cable...

ben62670

Monster sucks, and they are dirt bags!
Boycott Monster





Go Sox:eek:

RuSsMaN

Pics?

nspindel

ben62670 wrote: »

Monster sucks, and they are dirt bags!
Boycott Monster

Ben, tell us how you really feel

nspindel

Haven't take any of them hooked up to my speakers, but here's Squal's thread:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67931

RuSsMaN wrote: »

Pics?

ben62670

nspindel wrote: »

Ben, tell us how you really feel

My shrink told me to draw a picture.
I drew a picture of a large cable company stabbing smaller cable companies, and other companies using the word monster in the back with teams of lawyers:mad:
We had a meeting.
Mom cried:(
Now I draw pictures of rainbows.
We don't have meetings about rainbows:)

nspindel

Yeah, I'm glad to be done with their stuff. I just love these new cables. I need to call Frank and tell him how impressed I am.

DarqueKnight

Nice!! Congrats.

rayslifecycle

Congrats-

I'm drooling

nspindel

Ben, you'll be happy. I am now completely monster-less in the setup. The only remaining monster stuff was the Z2 sda interconnect. Good ole' Frank hooked me up with a Signal Ultra speaker cable, terminated with a spade and a banana at each end. So I just may be the first one on here to have a Signal Cable SDA interconnect...

treitz3

Tweaks are cool. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the rig.