Pics of your Listening Space

[Hyfi]

AK has a great running thread of everyones listening space and after just looking at Brett As nice room I thought I would start one over here.

Moved a few things around.












Counterpoint NPS400-VAC CLA1 MKII-Odyssey Stratos-Rotel 1072-Rotel 1052-OPPO 93-Integra 30.3-Integra Cassette Deck-Clearfield Continentals(early von Schweikert's)-Dynadio 122c-Dynaudio 42s-sometimes 82s in place of Clearfields-Mirage Omni 12 sub-JM Labs Tantal 509s

Who's next?

[JohnMichael]

I have enjoyed that thread at AK. Glad you started it here. When I am home and in front of my computer I will show my space. Of course many of you have already seen my space.

[Hyfi]

I have enjoyed that thread at AK. Glad you started it here. When I am home and in front of my computer I will show my space. Of course many of you have already seen my space.

Cool, it would be great to have a single spot for everyone to enjoy and be able to use when showing friends.

[TheHills44060]

I have enjoyed that thread at AK. Glad you started it here. When I am home and in front of my computer I will show my space. Of course many of you have already seen my space.

JM the MFSL's look 1000x better than your Monitor Audios! I'm sure they sound much better too. Glad u stuck with em.

[thekid]

Hyfi- First let me congratulate you on a great looking set-up and some cool looking gear.

I agree with JM that this would be a cool thread to get going here on AR. An even cooler concept would be to have a thread which would actual allow everyone to both post and see pics listed of people's listening spaces rather than just red X's...........

Am I the only one here who still can't post or see many of the pics here?

[TheHills44060]

My phone is not a very good camera.

[Hyfi]

My phone is not a very good camera.

Nice setup. I've been seeing lots of Macs lately and the look is great. How about a whole room shot?

[texlle]

Finally coming together. I very much dislike the look of this coffee table, but the dimensions are perfect. Perhaps I should throw some satin black paint on it. Oh well, my roommate picked it up for free. I just picked up the Music Hall cd player but didn't realize it was black (I didn't even know they made them in black). I will probably list it on A-gon and pick up a silver faceplate model since the sound is quite nice for the $300 I spent. I just need to swap this baby out and pick up a nice REL T2 and I will be content- for a little while.











Really digging these Gold Lions after 15-20 hours so far.

[texlle]

The den:









The BDP started having an issue with image ghosting in low light scenes, so it will likely be replaced by an Oppo BDP-93 sometime soon. The Velodyne needs to go too. Way to boomy.

Master bedroom:





JohnMichael,

I'm thinking I have your same drop leaf end table in my bedroom which I believe came from the old Bombay company. God I miss that store.

[JohnMichael]

JohnMichael,

I'm thinking I have your same drop leaf end table in my bedroom which I believe came from the old Bombay company. God I miss that store.

texlle you are correct I have that same table. Yes I also miss Bombay.

[frenchmon]

Finally coming together. I very much dislike the look of this coffee table, but the dimensions are perfect. Perhaps I should throw some satin black paint on it. Oh well, my roommate picked it up for free. I just picked up the Music Hall cd player but didn't realize it was black (I didn't even know they made them in black). I will probably list it on A-gon and pick up a silver faceplate model since the sound is quite nice for the $300 I spent. I just need to swap this baby out and pick up a nice REL T2 and I will be content- for a little while.











Really digging these Gold Lions after 15-20 hours so far.

Now thats a very nice system. I like the fact it seems you have thought out what you wanted in a system. I like that you got the MF gear. How is it? I know its sounding sweet and on course with the tubed Jolida. And I know the TT sounds fabulous going through the MF and the Jolida. Looks like you have done a good job of system matching with the gear.

[texlle]

Now thats a very nice system. I like the fact it seems you have thought out what you wanted in a system. I like that you got the MF gear. How is it? I know its sounding sweet and on course with the tubed Jolida. And I know the TT sounds fabulous going through the MF and the Jolida. Looks like you have done a good job of system matching with the gear.

Thanks, frenchmon. Most of the gear is second hand except for the Dyn's, the Rega, and the cables. Some may describe the sound as bit polite and thin, because the Jolida and the Dyn's are probably not the best match if your goal is in getting the highest dynamic accuracy. However, what is lost in high level dynamics, is compensated fourfold in terms of sheer musicality and lifelike presence at mediocre volumes. I'm sure with nearly double the wattage, I could really get the most out of these speakers, but I'm really trying to keep relative costs per component at a reasonable level here. I'd have to spend $2500 new (or roughly $1600 used) on a JD-1000 100w tube integrated, or twice this for a comparable CJ amp to get the most out of my $750 entry-level Dyn's to achieve the character of sound that I prefer and I'm just not going to go that. Yet I don't really see this as an issue because the setup is in a 13x11 room and I rarely push it past 75-80 dB as I listen at low to moderate levels mostly. It's just as well since this is about the level where the sound starts to lose some composure and where some nasty echoing from the crappy acoustics of this house is introduced.

I love this setup because it may be a tad polite (partly due to the lack of bass output from the Dyn's, which bottom out at 53Hz), but the romantic, warm, and somewhat sweet personality of the Jolida complements the fast and almost overly articulate nature of the Dynaudios extremely well. The Jolida really takes the eagerness with which the Dyns present detail and mellows it out just enough to paint a very pictorial image without making the sound too laid back or soft. The result makes for a very inviting, holographic, and transcendent environment. I often get lost in the music (space out) and as I described to Hyfi earlier in the week, the speakers never fail to completely fade away leaving me wondering what these two boxes are doing obscuring my image before I come back down to earth. My goal now is to fill out the lower octaves with something like a nice REL sub. I looked into the Dyn subs, but unfortunately the only inputs are RCA and my Jolida doesn't have a line output. If anyone has a sub recommendation, I'd greatly welcome it.

Regarding the MF gear, I think tubes+anything MF are wonderful complements. The sweetness that I lost with the JD-202a in moving from EL34's to KT88's was well compensated by running my iPod and TT through the MF dac and phono pre. The MF V3 line creates a very tight pinpointed image with plenty of air making it seem that each instrument is levitating in space with distinct separation. It has great upper mid extension, clear mids, and well rounded bass, though the sound is ever so slightly rolled off at the very top. I put on Seven Bridges Road from the Eagles' Greatest Hits album (LP) and was floored by how articulate the acoustic guitars were conveyed. Vocals had no grain whatsoever, and the hoots and hollers from the crowd just came out of nowhere. The added visceral punch and dynamics from the 502 over the 202 really helped out in Hotel California. The drums sounded fuller and much more solid than before.

Bottom line: I believe this to be probably the best balance of musicality, accuracy, and dynamics that I can achieve from 60 tube watts.

Enough about my setup, where are your pictures??

[YBArcam]

I've been trying out a Naim front end these past few weeks. Here's a pic with the PMC TB2i:



And now with my Castle Avon:





And last (but not least) the LP12:

[TheHills44060]

And now with my Castle Avon:[/IMG]

Love the Avons!!!!!!! Here's a pic of my Howards when I first got em. I need to snap more recent pics of my rig.

[frenchmon]

Thanks, frenchmon. Most of the gear is second hand except for the Dyn's, the Rega, and the cables. Some may describe the sound as bit polite and thin, because the Jolida and the Dyn's are probably not the best match if your goal is in getting the highest dynamic accuracy. However, what is lost in high level dynamics, is compensated fourfold in terms of sheer musicality and lifelike presence at mediocre volumes. I'm sure with nearly double the wattage, I could really get the most out of these speakers, but I'm really trying to keep relative costs per component at a reasonable level here. I'd have to spend $2500 new (or roughly $1600 used) on a JD-1000 100w tube integrated, or twice this for a comparable CJ amp to get the most out of my $750 entry-level Dyn's to achieve the character of sound that I prefer and I'm just not going to go that. Yet I don't really see this as an issue because the setup is in a 13x11 room and I rarely push it past 75-80 dB as I listen at low to moderate levels mostly. It's just as well since this is about the level where the sound starts to lose some composure and where some nasty echoing from the crappy acoustics of this house is introduced.

I love this setup because it may be a tad polite (partly due to the lack of bass output from the Dyn's, which bottom out at 53Hz), but the romantic, warm, and somewhat sweet personality of the Jolida complements the fast and almost overly articulate nature of the Dynaudios extremely well. The Jolida really takes the eagerness with which the Dyns present detail and mellows it out just enough to paint a very pictorial image without making the sound too laid back or soft. The result makes for a very inviting, holographic, and transcendent environment. I often get lost in the music (space out) and as I described to Hyfi earlier in the week, the speakers never fail to completely fade away leaving me wondering what these two boxes are doing obscuring my image before I come back down to earth. My goal now is to fill out the lower octaves with something like a nice REL sub. I looked into the Dyn subs, but unfortunately the only inputs are RCA and my Jolida doesn't have a line output. If anyone has a sub recommendation, I'd greatly welcome it.

Regarding the MF gear, I think tubes+anything MF are wonderful complements. The sweetness that I lost with the JD-202a in moving from EL34's to KT88's was well compensated by running my iPod and TT through the MF dac and phono pre. The MF V3 line creates a very tight pinpointed image with plenty of air making it seem that each instrument is levitating in space with distinct separation. It has great upper mid extension, clear mids, and well rounded bass, though the sound is ever so slightly rolled off at the very top. I put on Seven Bridges Road from the Eagles' Greatest Hits album (LP) and was floored by how articulate the acoustic guitars were conveyed. Vocals had no grain whatsoever, and the hoots and hollers from the crowd just came out of nowhere. The added visceral punch and dynamics from the 502 over the 202 really helped out in Hotel California. The drums sounded fuller and much more solid than before.

Bottom line: I believe this to be probably the best balance of musicality, accuracy, and dynamics that I can achieve from 60 tube watts.

Enough about my setup, where are your pictures??

Yeah, The Dyns warm nature and the Jolida makes for a very warm system in my experience with Dyns and some tubed gear. You may need a power boost for the Dyns...but if you keep the Dyns and do decide to get more power in a integrated tube amp, make sure you get one with power such as a hybrid tube integrated that's not as warm. Van Alstine has nice gear that would light a fire under those Dyns but don't know if he has integrated gear. Another option might be Vincent Audio. They have a few integrated tube hybrid amps that are powerful and will paint wonderful sound that's not as warm while still having that great tube romantic sound. Your Dyns will love you for it. Another option....if your Jolida has audio out connections, you can change it into a tubed preamp by adding a nice 200 watt SS amp then you are set with a nice hybrid, that would also light a fire under the Dyns.

I have a Vincent tubed preamp and a 200 watt Rotel SS amp pairing making a very nice hybrid system. Romantic tube sound with great slam and power. Running two Golden Lines and one Telefunken, I also have a Musical Fidelity CDP with a huge external power supply running into the Tube preamp. Its a great match as the MF has a nice tube warmth. Also each of my components have after market power cables, but the power cable that has giving me the most improvement is the Wire World Electra 52 on the tubed preamp. I noticed the difference as soon as I put in on. IT was like more tube warmth was flowing. I suspect the stock cable held back the preamps true nature. The Rotel is not a warm amp. Its not overly bright either. But when I ran the Rotel preamp with the Rotel amp, it was leading that direction with a little edge. But paring the amp with the tubes, it cleaned it up a lots. My speakers are Canton 403...and they are really holding the system backl. I do need a upgrade, but I have come to love that Canton sound. These speakers are very revealing, especially in the upper midrange. I have decided to move up to the Canton Vento line of speakers...the Canton Vento 830.2 and the matching stands are in my near future. They have that ceramic tweeter that is in the Canton Reference speakers. I will be going to take a nice listen this weekend to the 830.2's.

I have to take some fresh pictures of my system so I will supply some older pictures. The Rotel preamp is no longer in my system but is in the bed room system.



I love this table. It does not get much love these days but it really is a very good table. I suspect the audiophile world has lost love for Roy Hall and his evil arrogant ways. I'm running a 2M Black through a Grado phono 1.





The Musical Fidelity XRAYv8 is a very nice player. Its the tone of the XRAY that I love. Its perfect with tube gear. It two pieces....the XXX power supply to the left and the transport/DAC to the right. There is also a tube DAC that can be had that comes with it, but I did not see favorable reviews for it.



Im running these Cantons which are not a bad speaker, but its really time for a big upgrade. These speakers have a wide dispersion of sound. I love the Canton sound, but its time to move up to a more reference speaker.



The ones 4th from right is what i may be getting. If not, the second from the right. Also the matching stands.

[JohnMichael]

Yeah, The Dyns warm nature and the Jolida makes for a very warm system in my experience with Dyns and some tubed gear. You may need a power boost for the Dyns...but if you keep the Dyns and do decide to get more power in a integrated tube amp, make sure you get one with power such as a hybrid tube integrated that's not as warm. Van Alstine has nice gear that would light a fire under those Dyns but don't know if he has integrated gear. Another option might be Vincent Audio. They have a few integrated tube hybrid amps that are powerful and will paint wonderful sound that's not as warm while still having that great tube romantic sound. Your Dyns will love you for it. Another option....if your Jolida has audio out connections, you can change it into a tubed preamp by adding a nice 200 watt SS amp then you are set with a nice hybrid, that would also light a fire under the Dyns.

I have a Vincent tubed preamp and a 200 watt Rotel SS amp pairing making a very nice hybrid system. Romantic tube sound with great slam and power. Running two Golden Lines and one Telefunken, I also have a Musical Fidelity CDP with a huge external power supply running into the Tube preamp. Its a great match as the MF has a nice tube warmth. Also each of my components have after market power cables, but the power cable that has giving me the most improvement is the Wire World Electra 52 on the tubed preamp. I noticed the difference as soon as I put in on. IT was like more tube warmth was flowing. I suspect the stock cable held back the preamps true nature. The Rotel is not a warm amp. Its not overly bright either. But when I ran the Rotel preamp with the Rotel amp, it was leading that direction with a little edge. But paring the amp with the tubes, it cleaned it up a lots. My speakers are Canton 403...and they are really holding the system backl. I do need a upgrade, but I have come to love that Canton sound. These speakers are very revealing, especially in the upper midrange. I have decided to move up to the Canton Vento line of speakers...the Canton Vento 830.2 and the matching stands are in my near future. They have that ceramic tweeter that is in the Canton Reference speakers. I will be going to take a nice listen this weekend to the 830.2's.

I have to take some fresh pictures of my system so I will supply some older pictures. The Rotel preamp is no longer in my system but is in the bed room system.



I love this table. It does not get much love these days but it really is a very good table. I suspect the audiophile world has lost love for Roy Hall and his evil arrogant ways. I'm running a 2M Black through a Grado phono 1.





The Musical Fidelity XRAYv8 is a very nice player. Its the tone of the XRAY that I love. Its perfect with tube gear. It two pieces....the XXX power supply to the left and the transport/DAC to the right. There is also a tube DAC that can be had that comes with it, but I did not see favorable reviews for it.



Im running these Cantons which are not a bad speaker, but its really time for a big upgrade. These speakers have a wide dispersion of sound. I love the Canton sound, but its time to move up to a more reference speaker.



The ones 4th from right is what i may be getting. If not, the second from the right. Also the matching stands.

Frenchmon I have always been impressed with your use of rugs as tapestrys and I am sure they improve the sound. Another beautiful 2 channel system with a turntable. I only have a few Shirley Horn recordings but I am going to find a copy of the one you are displaying. I need to plan a night of Shirley, Betty Carter, Helen Humes and Sassy.

[texlle]

Yeah, The Dyns warm nature and the Jolida makes for a very warm system in my experience with Dyns and some tubed gear. You may need a power boost for the Dyns...but if you keep the Dyns and do decide to get more power in a integrated tube amp, make sure you get one with power such as a hybrid tube integrated that's not as warm. Van Alstine has nice gear that would light a fire under those Dyns but don't know if he has integrated gear. Another option might be Vincent Audio. They have a few integrated tube hybrid amps that are powerful and will paint wonderful sound that's not as warm while still having that great tube romantic sound. Your Dyns will love you for it. Another option....if your Jolida has audio out connections, you can change it into a tubed preamp by adding a nice 200 watt SS amp then you are set with a nice hybrid, that would also light a fire under the Dyns.

I have a Vincent tubed preamp and a 200 watt Rotel SS amp pairing making a very nice hybrid system. Romantic tube sound with great slam and power. Running two Golden Lines and one Telefunken, I also have a Musical Fidelity CDP with a huge external power supply running into the Tube preamp. Its a great match as the MF has a nice tube warmth. Also each of my components have after market power cables, but the power cable that has giving me the most improvement is the Wire World Electra 52 on the tubed preamp. I noticed the difference as soon as I put in on. IT was like more tube warmth was flowing. I suspect the stock cable held back the preamps true nature. The Rotel is not a warm amp. Its not overly bright either. But when I ran the Rotel preamp with the Rotel amp, it was leading that direction with a little edge. But paring the amp with the tubes, it cleaned it up a lots. My speakers are Canton 403...and they are really holding the system backl. I do need a upgrade, but I have come to love that Canton sound. These speakers are very revealing, especially in the upper midrange. I have decided to move up to the Canton Vento line of speakers...the Canton Vento 830.2 and the matching stands are in my near future. They have that ceramic tweeter that is in the Canton Reference speakers. I will be going to take a nice listen this weekend to the 830.2's.

I have to take some fresh pictures of my system so I will supply some older pictures. The Rotel preamp is no longer in my system but is in the bed room system.



I love this table. It does not get much love these days but it really is a very good table. I suspect the audiophile world has lost love for Roy Hall and his evil arrogant ways. I'm running a 2M Black through a Grado phono 1.





The Musical Fidelity XRAYv8 is a very nice player. Its the tone of the XRAY that I love. Its perfect with tube gear. It two pieces....the XXX power supply to the left and the transport/DAC to the right. There is also a tube DAC that can be had that comes with it, but I did not see favorable reviews for it.



Im running these Cantons which are not a bad speaker, but its really time for a big upgrade. These speakers have a wide dispersion of sound. I love the Canton sound, but its time to move up to a more reference speaker.



The ones 4th from right is what i may be getting. If not, the second from the right. Also the matching stands.

Nice rig you have there. I am very keen on the idea of hybridizing, but haven't had the opportunity to listen to any tube pre/ss amp driven systems. I'd be interested to hear a Rotel behind the Dyns, but I have doubts that it would bring out their potential as would a used Bryston, lower level Krell, even Aragon- or taking it a step further- a certain Plinius SA-50 currently on audiogon for $1750. Drool. Must.. maintain.. similar relative costs for...economic practicality. So then despite probably being in another league than the aforementioned, the Rotel is worth a try. Although, a Vincent SV-236 integrated hybrid intrigues me. This may very well be my Jolida replacement when I move to a place with better acoustics. I also don't find the Dyn's themselves warm at all, but quite neutral. I prefer warm sound in general as cold and sterile tends to fatigue me with ease, hence the tube output.

[JohnMichael]

Finally coming together. I very much dislike the look of this coffee table, but the dimensions are perfect. Perhaps I should throw some satin black paint on it. Oh well, my roommate picked it up for free. I just picked up the Music Hall cd player but didn't realize it was black (I didn't even know they made them in black). I will probably list it on A-gon and pick up a silver faceplate model since the sound is quite nice for the $300 I spent. I just need to swap this baby out and pick up a nice REL T2 and I will be content- for a little while.











Really digging these Gold Lions after 15-20 hours so far.

Nothing prettier than a two channel system sporting a turntable. Nothing wrong with the coffee table once you rough up the surface with sandpaper and paint it.

[recoveryone]

I believe we had a location for this back in the day, where everyone could post pc of their gear. But it is nice to have an on going thread as many of us upgrade yearly.

[recoveryone]

I few pic of two of the four systems in my home



Living room 2ch setup



Bedroom setup

[Hyfi]

Texlle

If you have a chance, listen to some of the Excite speakers or better. Dyns just keep getting better as you go up the chain.

I think you may be expecting too much out of the little 42s. I can tell ya that my Stratos amp drives them well as does my Counterpoint but they are still small speakers.

[texlle]

You may be right. I listened to the old Contour 1.1's years ago. My audio memory is good but not 10 years good. They definitely threw a much larger overall image, and that's about all I remember. I do want to give the Excite x16's a go. At 87dB, they're slightly more sensitive, but as I said, I read about the excites not playing well with tubes, dynamically, as much as previous lines like the audience.

I believe i may try to pick up a pair of Totems and see what they do for me. Some rainmakers or dreamcatchers may suit my style well. We'll see, I'm still quite happy. And when I just plain want to rock out- I can just go to the living room. After all the first tube setup I ever heard, the same one that began my interest in tubes and dynaudio drivers was a JD-202 Jolida driving (very well, I might add), a pair of original Totem Model-1's, so perhaps a pair of totems or dyn excites may be a more cost effective way forward.

Thanks for the advice.

[frenchmon]

You may be right. I listened to the old Contour 1.1's years ago. My audio memory is good but not 10 years good. They definitely threw a much larger overall image, and that's about all I remember. I do want to give the Excite x16's a go. At 87dB, they're slightly more sensitive, but as I said, I read about the excites not playing well with tubes, dynamically, as much as previous lines like the audience.

I believe i may try to pick up a pair of Totems and see what they do for me. Some rainmakers or dreamcatchers may suit my style well. We'll see, I'm still quite happy. And when I just plain want to rock out- I can just go to the living room. After all the first tube setup I ever heard, the same one that began my interest in tubes and dynaudio drivers was a JD-202 Jolida driving (very well, I might add), a pair of original Totem Model-1's, so perhaps a pair of totems or dyn excites may be a more cost effective way forward.

Thanks for the advice.

I've also listened to the Excite and Totem, I forget which Totem....the Excite was not bad, but the Totem was a great speaker....it was truly 3D in nature. Both share the deep bottom end with the Totem having a better, more in balanced mid range and upper frequencies.

[texlle]

You're absolutely right, frenchmon. I really just need to start trying a variety of amps and speakers to see what suits my style. I'm just very meticulous about my listening. Hell, I will spend a good portion of a weekend just listening to different albums to get a idea of what the stereo does well, and what could be improved upon. I'm very picky though, and finding the right combo seems like it could take some time. Since I work 40 hours + per week, my free time is a bit limited. I'm also trying to save up so I can move out of this rental and buy some property, so this hobby gets quite expensive and very time consuming. I do enjoy the search for the right sound by auditioning different components. As the idiom goes, getting there is half the fun. At the same time, I would just love to find the right gear and settle on something that I can be happy with so I can relax my analytical mind and just listen to music. lol

The cambridge is decent. It's the A500 model that I bought in 2001, so a couple years before their breakthrough Azur line which I hear is supposed to be a vast improvement over their old models. The A500 is very warm, bassy, but with adequate detail, yet the top end is bright on certain speakers- namely the B&W's. I hooked it up to the Dyns and, well, quite frankly, it just sounded like ass. The musical nature had been totally removed and I was not impressed.

I actually purchased the 202 before the Dyns. I had the amp hooked up to my B&W's which are 90dB sensitive and I honestly didn't think they sounded much more dynamic than the Dyn's. Likely because the B&Ws will swing as low as 4ohms despite being an 8 ohm speaker- not very stable. I just wanted a set of small speakers because I was moving into the dorm. I auditioned the Dyns on a 302B amp I believe and was pretty much sold. This was when I was 18, and hadn't quite grasped the concept of sensitivity. The Jolida and Dyns were also setup on top of my desk in my dorm, so the sound was a bit different than it is with everything setup properly now.

Which Dynaudio models have a higher sensitivity? I was under the impression that most of them are around 86dB.

[Styx]

I posted these before but since we now have a thread dedicated to listening spaces, I figured I'd post them again.

Main:
Speakers are rotated from time to time.





My audio posse!


Living room 2.2 system:




Favorite refreshment: