steve u Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Beautiful. The difference between the first post and the last picture is quite amazing, you've done a great job. Thank you. Going to keep chipping away at it, giving the speakers a bit of space has been the biggest sound improvement, but visually the canvases have made this room a lot more welcoming for its intended purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren69 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Very nice and it gives me ideas for my own joint. For eg, having some components to the side. You wouldn't want any more wood grain in there, not saying there's too much now, it looks very nice and naturally warm. Congrats man, very tasteful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Very nice and it gives me ideas for my own joint. For eg, having some components to the side. You wouldn't want any more wood grain in there, not saying there's too much now, it looks very nice and naturally warm. Congrats man, very tasteful. Yep you are right Darren, there is plenty of wood down there. There is a fireplace to the right of the red chair, so I tend to burn a bit of the extra wood, if it ever gets cool enough to do that in Brisbane. Thanks for all the constructive comments. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CryptiK Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Looking great really well done. Any difference audible with the bass trap/TV stand? I find it so hard to match or contrast wood colours/grains. Becomes basically impossible unless you redo your entire setup in one go and that's not happening for most of us I think. Still looks really nice with the different woods and I'm a massive fan of your entertainment unit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Looking great really well done. Any difference audible with the bass trap/TV stand? I find it so hard to match or contrast wood colours/grains. Becomes basically impossible unless you redo your entire setup in one go and that's not happening for most of us I think. Still looks really nice with the different woods and I'm a massive fan of your entertainment unit. I'm still trying to train my ears to pick up the differences and hopefully those differences are improvements. And then if my ears are not deceiving me, then I may not have the words to communicate what I am finding. The TV stand/bass trap, I think has helped, but I have some new power cables in there as well and have given the Druids a bit of space. What I am finding now is that the whole musical presentation is clearer and more defined. I am able to pick up on details that were not apparent before. Little rasps or scrapes are more distinct in recordings that must have been there before, but were just sort of jumbled in and I tended to like that old smooth sound. But this is different and I find the room improvements with the new speakers are just making it more engaging for me. I don't have the technical skills or words to pin point exact places of improvement, but I am enjoying the discoveries. As far as the wood tones and textures it definitely is a real hodge podge of colours and grains, but it is very welcoming and relaxing to sit in. Still working on tidying things up and haven't really settled on racks yet and final positioning. The new amps will determine the final out come I think. I really appreciate everyone's comments, the more I hang around this forum the more I learn and hopefully less mistakes I make. Cheers, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Your room looks lovely ,I really like the diffusor ,now I'm thinking of doing the same around the tv . Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Your room looks lovely ,I really like the diffusor ,now I'm thinking of doing the same around the tv . Cheers Thanks, it literally is the centre piece and I am very happy with the concept and how it worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicester Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 looks superb. agree on the before and after transformation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 looks superb. agree on the before and after transformation. Thanks J, making small changes, bit by bit and the sound is getting better each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Nice set-up and a great thread. What happened to the VAF's and what difference has the Druids brought to the room? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Nice set-up and a great thread. What happened to the VAF's and what difference has the Druids brought to the room? Thanks Grumpy, the Vaf's are moving on to my sons house, where no doubt they will be given a thorough work out. They were version 1's and had new tweeters fitted some time ago. They were beautiful speakers and delivered a warm, sweet as honey sound with the SE valve amp that drove them for about 13 years. When I started trialing different speakers, the main difference was in the highs, where even a valve amp didn't disguise a graininess of the Vaf's that became more apparent the more I tried different setups. I would have liked to have waited to try the new DC 63's, but was I too impatient and Brisbane isn't the easiest place to try Vaf products. The Druids have a dynamic punch and live music feel and delivery. The Radian tweeter delivers highs to die for and the bass while not as low as the DC-X's is a lot firmer. There is a level of detail that I have not experienced before and it was a little disarming at first, but as the speakers "break in" I am more used to that now and I am enjoying playing my old favourites again. Cheers, Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Just been given the nod that this will be finished this week. Don't want to give too much away, until it arrives, but...... Here is a sneak peek of my next addition, have been waiting a while for this, not too many sleeps to go. Cheers, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max054 Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Wow great looking system and room and oh hope you get some sleep (I know what the waiting game is like) Max 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 The Weston Acoustics Touchstone mono blocks have touched down and I love them. Earle is a very busy guy but the rebuild he did with these amps to suit the Druids is sensational. These are my first 300B amps and they a a lot different to what I had been using. I've also been working on some racks and am slowly seeing the benefits of my labour there. Still fine tuning the speaker placement as I move them backward and forwards. Cheers, Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereophilus Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Fantastic system Steve. Congratulations on the new amps. I may have to pay you a visit one day for a listen... Assuming you accept SNA members into your home. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 You will always be welcome @@Stereophilus and I think I threatened you with a bottle of Queensland red, so let me know if you are up this way. Cheers, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 The room has undergone some changes over the last few months. It is becoming more comfortable and more enjoyable to sit and relax down there as equipment burns in and we make everything a little more accessible. Sorting cables and slowly tidying things up and hiding other things makes the better half a lot happier with all the changes as well. Looking to sort out some CD storage on the right hand side and fine tune the lighting and a dedicated power line. Cheers, Steve 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren69 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Very classy Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Hi Steve Congrats on the new monos ,are they push pull if so plenty of juice for the Druids . You have such a inviting room :-) . Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 Thanks Darren. Thanks Malcolm. They are parallel single ended only 16W, but with 8 and 16ohm taps to match the Zu's. They have tamed the Druids a bit, but I'm ok with that, I'm loving the sound down there now. Cheers, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAMO 1147 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 This is pretty close to a dream set up in my books- Zu druid V with earl amps and lovey set kit on the side. I am really looking forward to setting up a session. Have pm'd you Steve if your free. cheers Damo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted May 9, 2014 Author Share Posted May 9, 2014 Just a quick update, since I have a small GTG planned for next weekend. David from Caxton Audio did me a terrific deal on a Conrad Johnson ET5, that I couldn't say no to. The difference between the ET3-SE and the ET5 is like night and day. Conrad Johnson, it just sounds right. Concentrating on a few cable upgrades now and spending some of the hard earned on some more vinyl. Cheers, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcamry Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 That looks so warm and inviting , I would be happy sitting there even without music, ( for a little while anyway ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve u Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Haven't added to this for a while but there have been significant changes. I had a yearning to try and do something for myself, based on a horn loaded system, but didn't really know what to do and where to start. Firstly I started talking to @@atilsley , way back in April about some horn based speaker systems and I thought I might be able to add something to the room to compliment the Druids. Some bass horn speakers to accentuate the lower end. Andrew and I had many discussions and he suggested a few things that were based around complete systems and that I would be "blown" away by what a well integrated horn system would sound like. So we started with some bass horns and I tried to start learning about this side of speakers and hifi in general. The more I tried to pick up, the more I realised that I had no idea. @@atilsley is a gentlemen and has a lot of patience and he made suggestions as to what would be the best way to move forward with a horn based system. I went and had a listen to @@Full Range 's system and liked what i heard and thought well this could be a great project. We decided upon a gamma based bass horn with some vintage Altec drivers. For the mids it would have been cheaper to go with an Azura or a Iwata horn, but because of my room and I hoped to end up with something that my wife would like I decided to go with some Yuichi horns made by Andrew from birch ply. These are a very significant build and way out of my DIY capability so Andrew took over. We discussed drivers and Andrew basically left that to me, but said which ones would suit. In the end I decided to go with the Radian 2 inch Be compression drivers, mainly because they deliver the goods in the zone where I tend to listen, the style of music that I like. In hindsight the non Be version would probably have got the job done, but these ones are about the best you can get. Enter @@henry218 another gentlemen and someone who not only really knows his stuff, but he has a great sense of humour and is honest in his opinions and is i think, blessed with a pretty good set of ears. You see the crossover duties were going to be handles by mini DSP and we were hoping that good drivers would make a good 2 way horn system. Good ears are one thing, but you really do need to measure. And Henry is a good friend of Andrew's and he was asked to come in and take some measurements and fine tune the system. Well that was good and bad.... but mainly good. Because Henry found that the yuichi was rolling off around the 12khz mark and for the system to have the balance and deliver something special, we would have to add a tweeter. Easily said, but initial experiments were hindered by what was thought to be an under performing Selinium compression driver and changes and more measurements were made and finally we decided on a 1 inch Faital Pro and Andrew's specially turned "mens shed" wooden tweeters. A fibre glass tweeter would have done, but it wouldn't have had the looks that i was hoping for. So in the end there are very, very good drivers about 100 kilograms of Canadian birch ply per side and Henry's special cross overs. And I have really no understanding of the science or the parts that went into the cross overs, but Henry does. And he takes a lot of care and asks a lot of questions to hopefully end up with a package that the listener, me, loves. And he did. These things sound fantastic. They are very substantial and Andrew's fine wood working skills and his ability to communicate with me and Henry and have a vision for the end product is to be commended. I would personally like to thank this whole community because without it I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know these blokes and to be able to use their skills and I think become friends in the long run. I cannot recommend both Andrew and Henry highly enough and would add that both of them are a pleasure to deal with and they both have very interesting projects happening in the future and their are opportunities for other Members to get involved with them. With horns like these there is a bit of fine tuning to do and that will happen and i hope to have Henry up here soon. A few pics. I chose to finish the cabinets myself and I am looking into different finishes now and hope that I will be able to shut them down long enough to make that happen. Honestly my wife was a little bit shocked by the size of these at first, but after a day, she now realizes how special these speakers are and that we will be able to finish them in a way that they will look incredible in our little room. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 (edited) WOW! Steve, that's fantastic, they look bloody awesome. One question(ok two) Do you drink durif, when is the gtg? Edit: don't be fooled by Steve's self deprecation...this is a big room which can amply accommodate these speakers, if he turned the camera around you'd see how big but then you might catch him at his bar...did I mention his well stocked and proportioned bar? Edited November 8, 2014 by Luc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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