She is done after 7 years!

[Florian]

Hello everyone,

many many years ago i started in this forum. 7 years ago i bought a troubled super speaker which needed some loving. After 7 years, she is finally done and here is the result. List of equipment and pics. Enjoy :biggrin5:


Apogee Acoustics Grand (New TW, MRT, BASS Ribbons)
NAT Utopia Single Ended Triode Preamp; No Feedback
Custom Developed CAP Coupler
Monarchy Audio NM24 Tube DAC (Tesla 6922)
Monarchy Audio DIP (Jitter Killer & Masterclock)
PS Audio P1000 Powerstation
NAT Phono Signature (Battery Powered; Single Ended Triode; No Feedback)
SME 20/2A (SME V Gold ARM; All NEW Suspension and OIL)
Ortofon Statement (Low output MC System)
2 Mono NAT Audio SE3 Midrange AMP (Single Ended Triode; VT4C Based; 54 Watt Class A)
2 Mono NAT Audio SE2 Midbass AMP (Single Ended Triode; VT4C Based, 52 Watt Class A)
2 Mono NAT Audio SE1 Tweeter Amp (Single Ended Triode; VT4C Based, 15.4 Watt Class A)
Six Custom Developed DC and Distortion Watchers with Emergency driver shut off function
Virtual Dynamics cabling for electronics (power and interconnects)
Behringer Ultracurve DSP (Digital only) adjustment to lower subwoofer output
Hales Transcendence 8 (With Beryllium Tweeters) for Movies

95059506950795089509

[Hyfi]

Awesome setup. Thanks for sharing the pics.

[JoeE SP9]

Looking very good there Florian. I'm sure it sounds even better than it looks. If I'm ever in the neighborhood I'll stop by.

[blackraven]

Florian, will you adopt me so I can play with your gear daily. I would love to hear those Apogee's.

[Florian]

Thank you guys! If you are ever in Germany or Switzerland let me know and you can hear it. I am always open to adopt rich people which can help me save for a house :-)

[harley .guy07]

I can only wish some day I can attain a system that looks that cool. I am sure not only 7 years for the speakers but it has taken you a long time to acquire that much audio goodness in one system. I would have to have a long talk with my wife though because I don't think she would go for all of that in one room!!

[JohnMichael]

Florian your system is impressive! It has been fun through the years watching it come to fruition. Now that the system is complete you might have some spare time to tell us about the choices you have made putting the system together.

[Florian]

Hello John,

you are right of course. I think a good approach is to tell everyone that although you must earn a good salary to afford this, you can, like me start slow and trade your way up over some years. This system i shared is worth a lot of money, well over 300K, but it came a long way. Below you can find, from memory my system history:


Onkyo THX F-2 Front Speaker
Onkyo THX System One (Surround Speaker)
Magnepan MG 0.5
Magnepan 1.6
Magnepan 3.6
VMPS VM30RM
VMPS 626
Magnepan 3.6SE
Apogee Scintilla
Apogee DIVA
Acoustat Spectra 11
Apogee Caliper Signature (Second System)
Apogee Grand
Apogee Stage (Third System)
Apogee Fullrange (Opportunity)


Power amplifier history


Onkyo TX-DS555
Onkyo TX-SV919THX
Onkyo TX-DS939THX
Harman Kardon AVR7000
Marantz SR5400
Marantz SR7200
Cambridge Audio C500 & P500 (First separate components)
Cambridge Azur 540R
Pathos Acoustics Classic One
Krell KSA150
Sphinx Project 14 (3 pairs)
Koran Acoustics Monoblocks (Tube)
Ampzilla 2000 Monoblocks
Ampzilla 2000 Stereo Amp
Krell KSA250
Krell KSA100
Krell KRS200 (2 Monoblock)
Krell KRS200 (Another 2 Monoblocks)
CAT JL2 Stereo Amp
NAT Audio SE2SE (2 Monoblocks)
NAT Audio SE2 (2 Monoblocks)
NAT Audio SE1SE (2 Monoblocks)
NAT Audio SE1 (2 Monoblocks)
NAT Audio SE3 (2 Monoblocks)


Preamplifier history


Jolida 300b
Krell KCT
TACT RCS 2.0
TACT RCS 2.2XP
CAT SL1
NAT Audio Plasma
NAT Audio Utopia


Stay tuned for my system philosophy ;-)

[TheHills44060]

For the love of all that is good and decent I am worshiping those Hales!

[thekid]

Flo

Congrats!
It looks like you found the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow!

[Florian]

For the love of all that is good and decent I am worshiping those Hales!

That was my first and only good box speaker, at least to my ears, which i really liked. I heard them back when i was 17 and found them again almost 13 years later and had to get them. The original tweeter (not that good) fails on most of them. These have the ScanSpeak Illuminator Beryllium Tweeters.

Cheers

PS: Since you like em, here goes a pic during my Grand restauration.

9510

[Florian]

Flo

Congrats!
It looks like you found the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow!

Oh yes, but it was a lot of struggle. I had to rebuild them twice due to incompetence of the German installer. My NAT Amps are also modified and tested. Now i am working on placement, which is not that easy as my room is a tad too small. But big rooms can create big problems as well.

[Feanor]

That's one awesome crap load of stuff, Flo. Congratulations!

What's next? ('cause there's always a 'next')

[E-Stat]

After 7 years, she is finally done and here is the result.
Cool! So, what "transport" feeds the DAC? I see a monitor. I gather you have a music server?

[Florian]

Hi there, my main source is Analog but for digital i use an Apple TV which hosts none compressed music. Then i feed it to the Monarchy DIP which removes jitter and has a masterclock for signal regeneration. Cheers

[Florian]

That's one awesome crap load of stuff, Flo. Congratulations!

What's next? ('cause there's always a 'next')

Hi Feanor,

good question. Next steps are to build a house. I am 30 now and the HIFI is sort of done. I havent heard something i liked better, so for now i am content.

Cheers

[frenchmon]

That's the magic word...content!

[kevinc666]

WOW, just WOW!

[Brian Beck]

Florian, Didn't I see your Grands for sale on Audiogon a short time ago?

Happy here with my Apogee Divas driven in bi-amplified mode by big ARC tube amps. The best sound I have had in my home, by far, in my 40-year hi-fi journey...

[hifitommy]

being familiar with the sound of the grands, i am envious but then my system sounds prety much OK. its a real commitment to put together and keep running a nice system but ever so rewarding.

its great to see you are enjoying your rewards.

[Florian]

Hello Brian,

i used to have DIVA`s as well on tube amps :-) In fact it was my second Apogee after the Scintillas. The speakers on Audiogon were mine before i decided to rebuilt the speaker from the ground up. Now that she is done, i had the ad removed because i did not find anything i liked more.

Cheers :-)

[Florian]

being familiar with the sound of the grands, i am envious but then my system sounds prety much OK. its a real commitment to put together and keep running a nice system but ever so rewarding.

its great to see you are enjoying your rewards.

Send you a PM ;-)