TerryO Posted June 16, 2019 Author Share Posted June 16, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, Kaynin said: Bit boring mate, what else you got? Yeah your right, sorry I don’t have to much else apart from what’s in the tv room, does that count? Edited June 16, 2019 by TerryO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 9 hours ago, TerryO said: Yeah your right, sorry I don’t have to much else apart from what’s in the tv room, does that count? Lol, yeah that counts alright, two beautiful set-ups. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Thank you Kaynin for providing the inspirational comments for me to update this info. ... The second system has changed quite a bit since we first moved in, the Weston Time Machine is gone, but missed, and has been replaced with Mystere CA21 Pre-amp and PA-21 Power-amp, I have not rolled any tubes in either yet as they sound fine for now. The Oppo 205 has moved down the list and become the second CDP with the revalved PrimaLuna CDP now being the player of choice. I loaned the Lenehan Foil-Flex speaker cables to another SNA member recently which worked really well in this system, but the US made Cullen Cables I had do a very good job considering their price point but not quite up to the Foil-Flex's. I finally plugged the Bluesound Node2 back in after it sitting in a box since we moved last year and the flexibility it provides to this system to try new music is a real bonus. . Denon DP-60L direct drive turn table with Hana SH cart. . A Tron SEVEN handles the Phono stage duties. . The Mystere Pre-amp is a very nice bit of gear and shares its time in the main room when I decide to listen to the MF Superchargers as mono-blocks rather than inline boosters. . The PrimaLuna Prologue CDP started off as a nice sounding CDP but went up several levels once all the tubes were rolled for various NOS versions. it now has Mullard Box Plate CV4004's, Haltron Tilburg 12au7's, CVC GZ34's. This now is the best sounding CDP I have. The Mystere PA-21 is a more than capable power amp that when combined with the CA-21 Pre-amp provides that really smooth easy listening musical tube sound that my other tube amp in my main system doesn't. When I purchased the Mystere's the PA-21 came with KT150's fitted, even though it is basically a el34/KT88 optioned amp. Having tried both the KT88's and the KT150's back to back again the difference in sq to my ears with the KT150's is worth the investment. The only issue I reckon many people would find annoying with these Pentode tube amps is they take about 30 minutes to sound their best after being turned on, but to be frank from what I have witnessed so far all tubes amps sound better once warmed up, it just depends on how long each amp takes. The speakers are Vienna Acoustic Beethoven Baby Grands which I reckon punch well above their weight sq wise for what you can buy them for, especially second hand, matched in the right system they sound quite excellent and would be at the top of my list of components to keep if I had to downsize. Needless to say this is still a journey in motion so chances are there will be more changes in the future as budget and my better half will put up with. cheers Terry Edited June 20, 2019 by TerryO 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Very, very nice TerryO. The Denon TT looks beautiful and I also love the sound of those VA's. They have been on my wish list for a long time! Is the Oppo 205 getting used for any digital sourcing at all? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Kaynin said: Very, very nice TerryO. The Denon TT looks beautiful and I also love the sound of those VA's. They have been on my wish list for a long time! Is the Oppo 205 getting used for any digital sourcing at all? Thanks Kaynin, and yes the Denon TT is a real find, thanks to Hensa I have this one and again for the money they are exceptional value. At present the Oppo is just sitting there unless I want to play a SACD, which very occasionally the PrimaLuna has issues reading for some reason. It will be used more for the HT side of the system when the Yamaha AVR comes back that I recently loaned to a friend while he waits for the right amp to turn up to buy. cheers Terry Edited June 17, 2019 by TerryO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wimbo Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 19 hours ago, TerryO said: thanks to Hensa I was around his place the other day picking up some LP's that he bought for me, literally. Wish I had an outside building like his. Very relaxing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted June 22, 2019 Author Share Posted June 22, 2019 On 18/06/2019 at 9:56 AM, Wimbo said: I was around his place the other day picking up some LP's that he bought for me, literally. Wish I had an outside building like his. Very relaxing. Yes Greg has a very nice set up that sounds stunning, I could spend hours just checking out his various turntables. cheers Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 (edited) When the acoustics guy who measured my room split the upgrade into three stages and told me that first off I should do the Bass traps and front wall I decided that I knew better and would do stage two and some of stage three being the side walls and ceiling. Anyway last weekend I bought some Viacoustic Bass traps from Kelossus that he recently advertised for a very reasonable price in the classifieds. Well now having installed the Bass traps I have to admit that I should have listened to young Mr Corsini the acoustics guy in the first place because the improvement caused by the bass traps on their own out weighs the side walls treatment. ... One interesting outcome from the Bass traps installation again comes down to system and room synergy. I have spent several days swapping and trying out different combinations of components and my preferred sounding PrimaLuna cdp in this room now doesn’t sound quite as good as the Droplet does, that is providing I swap out the Aurealis 12g Dueland cables for the Osborne speaker cables between the Superchargers and the speakers. With the PL cdp installed the Aurealis cables work much better than the Osborne cables. Go figure! Edited July 4, 2019 by TerryO 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 1 hour ago, TerryO said: Well now having installed the Bass traps I have to admit that I should have listened to young Mr Corsini the acoustics guy in the first place because the improvement caused by the bass traps on their own out weighs the side walls treatment. ... It ended well in the end... Often getting the bass right is enough, the rest is just icing. But it is the hardest part to do, especially in a non dedicated room. Hence, people focus on the easier higher frequencies first. Hopefully, people will heed what you have posted and focus on the bass first. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pops110 Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 Very nice mate, that room is looking spectacular. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 (edited) 11 hours ago, Snoopy8 said: It ended well in the end... Often getting the bass right is enough, the rest is just icing. But it is the hardest part to do, especially in a non dedicated room. Hence, people focus on the easier higher frequencies first. Hopefully, people will heed what you have posted and focus on the bass first. Thanks Snoop, The thing that has blown us away is not only the improvement in the bass but across the whole spectrum, it all sounds so much tighter and precise, especially in voicing and instruments like acoustic guitar, piano and other often solo played instruments, we are hearing bits of music in some recordings we have never heard before. I always though my system was very resolving but now it’s at a whole new level after fitting these bass traps. But as I said earlier I had to mix and match components and cables to make the most of it, the upgraded PrimaLuna CDP which previously delivered music in a more musical and dynamic manner to the Droplet now sounds almost bloated and a little harsh, but again that also comes down to matching the right speaker cables and interconnects with components. Lucky for me the PL CDP works better in our second room anyway so it can be moved there. Again, to me anyway, it all comes down to system and room synergy and I think we are finally getting the mix just about right. cheers Terry Edited July 4, 2019 by TerryO 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, TerryO said: The thing that has blown us away is not only the improvement in the bass but across the whole spectrum, it all sounds so much tighter and precise, especially in voicing and instruments like acoustic guitar, piano and other often solo played instruments, we are hearing bits of music in some recordings we have never heard before. You have hit it on the nail. Getting the bass right affects the whole spectrum and everything else sounds better. Edited July 5, 2019 by Snoopy8 Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joz Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said: You have hit it on the nail. Getting the bass right affects the whole spectrum and everything else sounds better even. Absolutely, if your going to go into the deep end you've got to get it right. The funny thing is when you hear sub bass played on it's own it just sounds like a flubbering mess, add the rest of the FR and it all makes sense. It's like the bass carries the rest of the audio spectrum. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satanica Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, joz said: The funny thing is when you hear sub bass played on it's own it just sounds like a flubbering mess, add the rest of the FR and it all makes sense. It's like the bass carries the rest of the audio spectrum. And with an active setup doing the opposite (switching off your bass modules) it sounds worse than a cheap portable speaker. Edited July 5, 2019 by Satanica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunno77 Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) Famous. Does this Facebook page ask before they use photos though? Edited July 5, 2019 by Bunno77 . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazzzy Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 10 hours ago, joz said: The funny thing is when you hear sub bass played on it's own it just sounds like a flubbering mess, add the rest of the FR and it all makes sense. It's like the bass carries the rest of the audio spectrum. Sorry, a bit off track from TerryO's stuff. I have been playing with a sub lately and a flubbering mess is what I heard coming from the sub with the main speakers off so I switched it off thinking it has a problem or I am doing something wrong!! Nice room TerryO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awayward Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 31 minutes ago, Hazzzy said: Sorry, a bit off track from TerryO's stuff. I have been playing with a sub lately and a flubbering mess is what I heard coming from the sub with the main speakers off so I switched it off thinking it has a problem or I am doing something wrong!! Nice room TerryO A sub should be integrated with the main speakers with everything on. Ideally the main speakers should be setup on there own first, then integrate the sub/s to get the right balance of bass and overall sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joz Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 7 hours ago, Satanica said: And with an active setup doing the opposite (switching off your bass modules) it sounds worse than a cheap portable speaker. An AM one at that. its kind of interesting, having an active 4way. I can switch of different drivers. Very interesting results. In my case I’d miss my subs more than my tweeters, that is if I had to live without one or the other. then listening to just the tweeters it makes you wonder what they are actually adding. But of course when they play together, magic happens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) The guys who designed and built the stunning Heschl HAL-350 integrated amp have been at it again, this time they have literally just finished building two days ago a new prototype 300w power amp and stand alone DAC which is a very impressive bit of gear.. The amp and DAC had no more than five hours on it when we fired it up last night. To top it off they also bought over some speakers Rod had designed and built for himself. For those of you who are coming to the QAC meeting this Saturday both the HAL-350 and the new 300w amp and DAC will be set up and taking their turns running alongside my tube amps and the Music Fidelity Superchargers. My apologies for the usual crappy pictures. . Edited February 20, 2020 by TerryO 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wimbo Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 17 minutes ago, TerryO said: The guys who designed and built the stunning Heschl HAL-350 integrated amp have been at it again, this time they have literally just finished building two days ago a new prototype 300w power amp and stand alone DAC which is a very impressive bit of gear.. The amp and DAC had no more than five hours on it when we fired it up last night. To top it off they also bought over some speakers Rod had designed and built for himself. For those of you who are coming to the QAC meeting this Saturday both the HAL-350 and the new 300w amp and DAC will be set up and taking their turns running alongside my tube amps and the Music Fidelity Superchargers. My apologies for the usual crappy pictures. . The Tweeter placement is interesting. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Wimbo said: The Tweeter placement is interesting. Yes and they are bottom ported so can be placed close to the wall, in real life the build quality is far more impressive then in my crappy pics. Rod is one of those rare guys who can do most anything in HiFi and it comes out sounding great. Shame your not up here Wimbo, tomorrow should be a good day, plus there will be lots of red vino flowing to assist in the intake of antioxidants which is important for the continued health and wellbeing of all of us old bastards. cheers, Terry Edited February 20, 2020 by TerryO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wimbo Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 3 hours ago, TerryO said: Yes and they are bottom ported so can be placed close to the wall, in real life the build quality is far more impressive then in my crappy pics. Rod is one of those rare guys who can do most anything in HiFi and it comes out sounding great. Shame your not up here Wimbo, tomorrow should be a good day, plus there will be lots of red vino flowing to assist in the intake of antioxidants which is important for the continued health and wellbeing of all of us old bastards. cheers, Terry In around 2 years mate,I'' be moving to around Bundall or Benowa Waters. My wife has just come back from the GC after looking after her mum for four and a half years. She much prefers the GC to Sydney, so thats where we are heading. I'll catch up then and share a few with you. Although I'm starting up a new Hobbie. Model trains 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) Big day at my place today with the Feb QAC meeting taking place, started off with Droplet CDP supplying music to the Mystere CA21 Pre which was plugged in to the Icon mono blocks, which in turn are connected to the MF Superchargers powering the VA Beethoven’s. I’m preferring the ICON’s to the PL at present. Then after lunch plugged in the brand new Heschl 300 power amp and R2R DAC with zero’s and ones supplied by a laptop, given the DAC and the AMP were only a few hours old this combination sounded bloody excellent, a few records later plugged the laptop in to the HAL-350 Integrated and the sq lifted again. Very impressive these Heschl amps and DACS most of the people in attendance spent a lot of time listening to these two amp combinations. a few more preferred the 350 Integrated to the 300, I suspect a few more hours up on the 300 might see that change. I must admit it’s very disconcerting when a laptop can produce such fine music, to be frank I can see why many have sold up their record and cd collections and are now using servers or laptops. Edited February 22, 2020 by TerryO 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Some more pics from Saturday’s QAC gtg, most of these were taken early in the day when the Icon’s and the Superchargers were delivering volume before the Heschl’s were hooked up after lunch. Given theses pics look ok it’s not hard to tell that I didn’t take them. First pic is of some old ugly blokes. Edited February 23, 2020 by TerryO 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryO Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Trying out some PrimaLuna KT120’s for the first time and must admit so far they sound pretty damn good. It’s the first time in a couple of years that the tube cover has fitted on. The KT120’s are not as tall as the KT150’s. Edited March 11, 2020 by TerryO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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