pete_mac Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 (edited) Howdy all, I thought I'd create a brand-spankers thread (moving on from my old thread >>>here<<< ) as I've recently moved into our new house, and this will be the catalyst for much system tweaking, refinement, and general gear-swapping over the coming years. The new room is 3.5m x 5.4m x 2.6m and during construction we added some 'upgraded' Bradford SoundCheck wall insulation. It has helped a bit regarding noise transmission between rooms, but I think I'd need to have gone a bit more hardcore with green glue and double plasterboard and other such things to net a big improvement. I'm happy nonetheless, especially given that the room abuts a large toyroom/spare bedroom and an ensuite/WIR, so this provides additional separation. The door is a 1.2m wide solid core timber door with glass inserts to match our front door. It is nice and heavy and performs much better than the average hollow-core internal door, that's for sure! I will muck around with a discrete seal on the bottom of the door, or will utilise a draught excluder/snake to improve noise transmission under the door. The room is also very 'live' in its current configuration due to the current lack of soft furnishings and wall treatments. There also seems to be a lack of bass at the listening position. However, I get the feeling that the room actually works quite well bass-wise, and that I'm hearing what these standmounts can actually deliver, without any bass boost/room modes due to improper room size, speaker positioning and whatnot. I will work on this over time with further experimentation. I do have some acoustic foam and other noise-absorbing panels to experiment with on the front, side and rear walls to see if I can yield any improvements. Initial mucking around shows a noticeable improvement when adding these to the rear wall, taming reflections and slap echo. The first reflection point on the side walls also seems to respond well to these basic panels. A lounge will also be added to the room in future when it transitioned into combined audio/home theatre room, so this will no doubt help acoustically if done properly. This will be some time away, as funds will be channelled into landscaping (of the outdoor kind, not the listening room kind!) in the immediate future. The current gear in this room includes: Squeezebox Touch with EDO applet audio-gd NFB3(2014) with ES9018 chip, TCXO upgrade and OCC wire upgrade via asynchronous USB to SB Touch Restored Sansui AU-X701, AU-7700 and AU-719 (rotated every now and then) Technics SL1600 with Denon DL-110 HOMC cart JPW Ruby 2 and Usher S520 speakers Atacama 700mm speaker stands (spiked and sand-filled) Custom EBQTRCD (Expectation Bias Quantum Tunnelling Resonance Control Devices) on top of the speakers - the ingredients being a 3.3kg slab of steel on squishy goo on dodgy MDF plinths Audio Principe signal-carrying cables, and left-over Tara Labs speaker cable for the time being I'm looking forward to some speaker experimentation/upgrades/sidegrades, room treatments and gear swapping (with a Sansui BA/CA-F1 combo to be trialled in the near future). A new cabinet/rack for my gear is also on the wish-list, but it will need to be relatively kid-proof, so this presents challenges of its own! Edited June 13, 2014 by pete_mac 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudioGeek Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Congrats Pete. Looks a great space, lots of hours to be spent there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telecine Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Looks great. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves. Enjoy the new home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 Thank you gents! My family and I are certainly enjoying our new home and new location - it is truly the beginning of the rest of our lives. This room is the icing on the cake! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmhf Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Nice looking room Pete. Glad to see you still have the white Ushers. I really like the sound of the JPW speakers as well having heard them before. Once again congrats on the house move and having a dedicated HIFI room. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max054 Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Awesome having a dedicated space! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicprObe Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 Congrats! Looks great. I wish I had insulated between the bathroom and living room but couldn't afford it at the time. Can't retrofit that stuff.............so now I have to live with my regrets! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 Nice looking room Pete. Glad to see you still have the white Ushers. I really like the sound of the JPW speakers as well having heard them before. Once again congrats on the house move and having a dedicated HIFI room. Thanks Victor! The Ushers are such a lot of bang for buck, as are the JPWs. The white Ushers certainly have some sentimental value these days, given their heritage! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebowski Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 looks like a nice room to kick back and enjoy the music in and such a terrific combination of gear. I'm looking forward to watching this space. Enjoy your journey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 (edited) Enjoy your journey! That I am! Some experimentation with speaker toe-in, listening chair position, and panels at the first reflection point on the side walls and the rear walls behind the listening chair have yielded a very large improvement overall IMHO. The bass has returned, and the imaging is far better, with a tighter centre image along with a wider overall sound stage. It would seem that the speakers were initially toed in too far, plus I was sitting right in the middle of the room which was causing the bass to cancel itself out. I am now quite satisfied with the sound quality (let's see how long that lasts eh?) It's amazing what twenty minutes with a measuring tape, some panels and your ears can achieve! Edited April 28, 2014 by pete_mac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinilink Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 (edited) Lovely room where you can sit and chill out while listening to music! Edited April 28, 2014 by vinilink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry218 Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 it looked like AE speakers, glad that it wasnt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundscape Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Great setup. Looking forward to seeing this evolve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blybo Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 I'm glad you can sit and enjoy a dedicated room. Nice minimalist feel too. Unfortunately I can't, I feel isolated so have built my Hi-Fi system in the family room and kept the dedicated room for AV where others can enjoy with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 (edited) I'm glad you can sit and enjoy a dedicated room. Nice minimalist feel too. Unfortunately I can't, I feel isolated so have built my Hi-Fi system in the family room and kept the dedicated room for AV where others can enjoy with me. Thanks mate. I generally listen to my music late in the evening when time permits, so we specifically allocated this space as a multi-purpose audio and AV room (with the AV gear to come at some stage in the next decade when funds permit!) It is located away from the bedrooms so as not to disrupt my wife and young sons whilst they sleep, and this means that we'll be able to watch movies in future without disrupting them at night. The dedicated room keeps my gear away from inquisitive hands which is also a blessing. That said, my eldest boy (nearly 6 years old) was taught how to handle vinyl on the weekend, and he loved the experience. He already has a nice little vintage Kenwood amp with dual power meters, a CD player and some bookshelf speakers ready to be set up in his bedroom soon. I'm teaching him 'the way' nice and young! It's also an aesthetic compromise of sorts - the gear goes in its own specific space, whilst we keep the main living area relatively uncluttered and clean with a smaller hifi setup for background listening purposes, family music and whatnot. My gear was crammed into the sole living area of our rental whilst we built this house, and I won't be going back to that kind of setup in a hurry! I'm definitely keen on developing the look and feel of this room over time so that it develops a bit of 'soul' whilst keeping things relatively simple and uncluttered. We've only been here for two weeks and counting, so I expect that this will take some time to evolve. Edited April 28, 2014 by pete_mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Hey! Gimme me back my door ya bugger! Fantastic you've finished it all Pete and a great result, as you said last year, bar for the frosted glass they are the same door! Isn't it nice closing the door on your room and sitting back, it's the best thing I've ever had in a house. Looking forward to how it evolves over time and it will. WD mate. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 Gee you have great taste in doors mate!! Yep, it's fantastic to be able to sit back, relax and enjoy (particularly with a cold beverage or a glass of red close by). The room will certainly mature over time, especially when it becomes a combined listening room and home theatre room. By this stage, my boys will be able to enjoy it all the more. We're looking at darker paint for the walls in the immediate future, along with some dark textured wall paper on the left hand wall. My wife has chosen some cool-looking wall paper already (which has received my audio-grade seal of approval) so this will be a future project once we get the exterior of the house sorted. Excavation, masonry retaining walls, driveways, landscaping and whatnot will take priority for a while methinks! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fez Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Looking good Pete -- Nice & clean. AU-7700 there too. BA-F1 will be nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 A brief update. Whilst the components themselves have not changed, I realised that my 'old faithful' Atacama SE28 stands were a bit too high for my current low-slung listening position. The stands are 70cm tall and the JPW speakers are quite tall themselves, placing the tweeter too high. I've happened upon some clean Soundstyle Z2 stands, along with an Apollo Mezzo Soprano four shelf rack in crinkle black with smoked glass shelves. The stands desperately need to be sand or lead-filled soon. My Atacamas are much more intert. This new rack has simplified the look of my system and puts the gear front-and-centre for maximum perve factor, rather than being couped-up inside the old child-proof cabinet. Here's hoping that my boys keep their end of the bargain and keep their hands away! I think I will make up some kind of lined fabric cover to keep the gear 'out of sight, out of mind' when I'm not using it. I've also reverted to some uber-high-end solid core 18AWG copper cable courtesy of P.J Bunnings and Sons. I'm quite liking the sound vs your average fine stranded copper cable. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Shmick! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
progladyte Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Noice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telecine Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Muon Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Nice room Pete, love the clean minimalist path Love that X701 too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 Further changes are afoot at Casa Del Mac! As much a I love my JPW Ruby 2s, I wanted to try something else. A bunch of members made some fantastic offers in my 'wanted to buy' ad when I stumbled upon a nice clean pair of PMC GB1i speakers. I figured it couldn't hurt to give them a try, as they ticked the boxes regarding colour, the WAF was high, and I'd never had a pair of PMCs in my system. These feature the same drivers as the DB1i but have a much larger enclosure. The 'advanced transmission line' has a length of 2.4m in this model vs 1.5m in the smaller DB1i. PMC claim a frequency response of 29hz to 25khz for this model, but they specify no limits/tolerances etc and I think they might be a tad 'generous' with this figure. That said, this speaker does offer 'Usher S520-like' bass in that it doesn't appear to have a midbass hump, It certainly digs deeper than the Ushers though - the bass is trim and taut. I've been getting the best balance to the sound when placing the speakers about 20cm from the rear wall, and about 40cm from the side walls. This doesn't sound like much, abut after much experimentation regarding speaker positioning, this offers the best sound regarding bass extension and imaging. They are lovely looking speakers, with excellent build quality and a lovely satin finish cherry veneer. Sound-wise, I find them to be relatively neutral with excellent resolving capabilities. I'm very much looking forward to spending more time with these suckers! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuzzii Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 it looks fantastic Pete.. I'm sure you will start hearing little differences as you play through your music collection with the new speakers. Your room looks great - all clean lined and relaxing.. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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