Listening Space update

[thekid]

Eye

Welcome to AR!
While I am pleased with the sound (a little better than the Aiwa I once owned..... ) I am trying to convince the wife that things need to be moved around.

I agree with you on the Optimus series from that era and hated to see the Optimus 5's leave the main line up but the KLH 5's are just a notch better. I have 3 pairs of Optimus series speakers 2's, 5's and 27's. The 2's and 5's are early 70's and are competitive with alot of speakers of the era. The 27's are later but sound surprisingly good and have a unique narrow foot print. I have plans to for a "Realistic Garage" set-up so stay tuned........

[thekid]

Thought I'd "clean up" my act since getting the Polk's.
But don't worry the vintage gear is getting moved to another room.

[poppachubby]

Thought I'd "clean up" my act since getting the Polk's.
But don't worry the vintage gear is getting moved to another room.

Duuuuuuuuuuude! With the wood finish all around it's a class act. Your wife must be thrilled. I have to say kid, it looks way sleeker and "modern". I love it!!

How are you enjoying the Polks? I am searching for some Genesis speaks, they have the passive rads too. Been in touch with this fine gent, an old school audiophile, the best type.

http://london.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-se...QAdIdZ42369733

Would love your input kid. I think his price is good for the work he's had done and the condition. He says the caps could use some work too but will leave it to the new owner. Notice they are oak veneer, these were very valuable when they first came out vs. the typical vinyl finish.

[thekid]

Duuuuuuuuuuude! With the wood finish all around it's a class act. Your wife must be thrilled. I have to say kid, it looks way sleeker and "modern". I love it!!

How are you enjoying the Polks? I am searching for some Genesis speaks, they have the passive rads too. Been in touch with this fine gent, an old school audiophile, the best type.

http://london.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-se...QAdIdZ42369733

Would love your input kid. I think his price is good for the work he's had done and the condition. He says the caps could use some work too but will leave it to the new owner. Notice they are oak veneer, these were very valuable when they first came out vs. the typical vinyl finish.

Poppa

Thanks for your comments. The new set-up does have a higher WAF value than the previous set-up. It was hard choice to break up the vintage rack but the Polks are worth it IMO. I am still working on arranging where/how the older gear is going to be used but at this point it looks like the Marantz 2245 is going to be used in my my vinyl recording set up with a pair of EPI 100's. The SX-850 will be running with a Denon DCD-1500 and the KLH 5's. The Advents are going to go into my son's 2-channel set-up.

As for those Genesis speakers they do look good. I have a pair of Genesis 1's and Genesis 10's and am very happy with both. Unfortunately I fried the tweeters in both pairs. The tweeters are a bit fragile but produce very clear highs without being shrill. Even though mine only had a single 8" woofer they produced good bass so I would think the pair you are looking at should do pretty well since that looks like a 10" woofer. original Genesis speakers had a green foam surround so these have been re-foamed which is a plus if it was done right. Price wise if they still have the original caps in them I'd say he might be a little on the high side. I think $125-$150 might be closer to the mark IMO. You might already be familiar with this site if you Genesis speakers but it might help.

http://www.humanspeakers.com/genesis/gen2.htm

[E-Stat]

Thought I'd "clean up" my act since getting the Polk's.

Nice rack, but I'm gonna make some suggestions you might try.

1. Move the CD towers away from the speakers. They are causing diffraction.
2. Put the power amp on the lowest level. One advantage of using a separate preamp and power amp is the ability to get the preamp away from the power amp's transformer. You can also use shorter speaker leads. There will still be plenty of cooling space above.
3. Move the sources to the top level for convenience and the preamp to the mid-deck.

rw

[thekid]

Nice rack, but I'm gonna make some suggestions you might try.

1. Move the CD towers away from the speakers. They are causing diffraction.
2. Put the power amp on the lowest level. One advantage of using a separate preamp and power amp is the ability to get the preamp away from the power amp's transformer. You can also use shorter speaker leads. There will still be plenty of cooling space above.
3. Move the sources to the top level for convenience and the preamp to the mid-deck.

rw

E

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I have another shelf I need to put in as soon as I find some shelf pegs. I should be able to put the transport on top followed by the tuner/DAC then the pre and on the bottom put the amp as you suggest.

I currently have all of the units plugged into the pre-amp for ease of use but should I plug them in separately to a power strip?

[E-Stat]

Thank you very much for your suggestions.

No problemo. There is no best way to arrange stuff, but my suggestion minimizes cable lengths required and maximizes isolation from the amp.

I currently have all of the units plugged into the pre-amp for ease of use but should I plug them in separately to a power strip?

Ideally, you would plug the power amp directly in the wall and everything else into a basic power conditioner like a Furman or Monster that can be had for about $50. The conditioner will improve sound quality a tad by lowering the noise level and filtering RFI and provides protection.

rw

[poppachubby]

Nice rack, but I'm gonna make some suggestions you might try.

1. Move the CD towers away from the speakers. They are causing diffraction.
2. Put the power amp on the lowest level. One advantage of using a separate preamp and power amp is the ability to get the preamp away from the power amp's transformer. You can also use shorter speaker leads. There will still be plenty of cooling space above.
3. Move the sources to the top level for convenience and the preamp to the mid-deck.

rw

E-Stat, do Genesis 2 speakers make your monkey coffin list? Please check the link I posted for kid and tell me what you think...

[E-Stat]

E-Stat, do Genesis 2 speakers make your monkey coffin list? Please check the link I posted for kid and tell me what you think...

Design looks nice and simple - which is good. I tend to prefer two ways for their coherence. The passive woofer kicks in low enough and acoustically. My current thinking about ideal monkey coffins reflects the HT setup - two way monitor supplemented by powered and equalized subwoofers. Bi-amping removes low end clipping effects from the mains and separately driven subs allows for best room interaction via multi-band EQ correction.

rw

[thekid]

Based on E-Stat advice I rearranged some things which actually worked out well since I was able to add my Nakamichi 480 tape deck

[poppachubby]

Looks awesome kid. I would remove the grills, but that's my taste.

[JoeE SP9]

Based on E-Stat advice I rearranged some things which actually worked out well since I was able to add my Nakamichi 480 tape deck

That looks very sweet. I would imagine having only 2 speakers there improves the sound. It probably has has a very high WAF the way it looks now. Nak's are the best!!!

[thekid]

Looks awesome kid. I would remove the grills, but that's my taste.

I keep them on out of fear that someone is going to do something klutzy and put a hole in a cone or dent a dust cap. My mother-in-law does not come by that much anymore but she has knocked over several speakers over the years and last time down my father-in -law even managed to crack off a corner of my marble fire place.....

[poppachubby]

I keep them on out of fear that someone is going to do something klutzy and put a hole in a cone or dent a dust cap. My mother-in-law does not come by that much anymore but she has knocked over several speakers over the years and last time down my father-in -law even managed to crack off a corner of my marble fire place.....

Hey man, my oldest boy is 3 years old. I hear ya!

[thekid]

That looks very sweet. I would imagine having only 2 speakers there improves the sound. It probably has has a very high WAF the way it looks now. Nak's are the best!!!

Yeah the WAF factor increased ten-fold after this change. I pretty much have been on honey-do patrol all day as I am back on the road next week. When I came home after running errands I find my wife has the system cranked up with her favorite Little Feat CD. The bass on those Monitors is really impressive.

[JoeE SP9]

Knocking over speakers and breaking marble, could be they just don't like you.

Maybe the new look will help.

[E-Stat]

When I came home after running errands I find my wife has the system cranked up with her favorite Little Feat CD. The bass on those Monitors is really impressive.

rw

[frenchmon]

Pix

I read your post to my wife and she just laughed.

She does put up alot with my addiction but when she rolls her eyes at the next piece of gear coming in I remind her it is pretty much the only thing I get to do these days outside of work.

Man I've used that line so much it don't even work any more. It gets to a point where you don't say anything...just do it.

frenchmon

[thekid]

Was moving some things around today in the garage.
Not quite as clean as E's set-up but then again neither is the rest of my garage..
Everything seems to work well together and sounds pretty good.

[audio amateur]

Dude, you have way too many speakers

[thekid]

Dude, you have way too many speakers

I know!

What's worse is that I did not take a pic of the other stack that is bigger than that one. The ones in the pic are just those that I want to keep or am currently working on like the 2 pairs of Advents. And of course there are currently 13 other pairs of speakers in use in te house..... Plus there is a table of amps and recievers sitting idle as well.

My goal is to match some of the receivers and amps up with the speakers and sell them at pretty close to my cost on CL. I am sure with times being what they are that some people can could use them as inexpensive gifts for X-mas.

[audio amateur]

I know!
What's worse is that I did not take a pic of the other stack that is bigger than that one.

My goal is to match some of the receivers and amps up with the speakers and sell them at pretty close to my cost on CL. I am sure with times being what they are that some people can could use them as inexpensive gifts for X-mas.

V. good idea!

[thekid]

Thought I'd update since the KEF's are going to stay in the 2-channel set-up and the Polk CSi3 has replaced the last of the Bose.

[manlystanley]

rw

Good grief E-Stat, you call that a garage? Where's all the junk? Where's the used car parts, oil stains on the floor, broken bicycles, etc, etc? I mean, a garage like that is just screaming for some junk to fill it up....... I could send you some of my stuff if that would help?????? :-)

[thekid]

Pics of the set-up I use for converting vinyl.
Sansui AU 505/TU 555
Large Advents
Sony LX300USB