Pictures of your speaker system

Stupid me thought there was a centre channel and was wondering how did you get such an awesome speaker grill cloth.

 

This is one of two speaker systems I rock. The Zu Dirty Weekends are Mk. II from the last run before they switched to the DW6 - I’ve been told the new ones don’t sound as good, not sure if it’s true.

They were originally supposed to go in our living room, but I could never get them to sound good there with a big TV between them, and our living room is wide open, so, if I’m listening to music, the whole house is listening to music!

We moved these into my wife’s office, and they fit in nice between her three bookshelves. I don’t get to listen often, but am taking advantage of an opportunity to listen tonight, and figured I’d share.

Please don’t mind the mess - she sells crystal and has inventory everywhere!

The Zu DWs are powered by a Decware Zen triode, a Slagleformer DIY passive pre, and a Bifrost 2 OG. Sound is fun, lively and engaging.

I’m happy with the system, but will probably try a Border Patrol DAC at some point out of curiosity for a super minimalist signal path. By my count, between the DAC chip and the speaker drivers, there would be less than ten parts (two resistors, three capacitors, two tubes, an autoformer and a transformer)

There’s a Freya+, too, but it’s only used when we watch the Voice. For some reason, the TV feed is REALLY quiet, so the 12 dB of gain really helps.

 

While I’m at it, I figured I would write a bit about my other system, but trigger warning: it’s a hot f***ing mess. Our cat started having behavioral issues, and peed all over our carpet. We’re slowly replacing the carpet in the bedroom, and this system lives in the room that also houses my home office (I have to sit under my fully extended standing desk to listen), plus all our personal stuff from the other room. So, a work in progress, but at least it sounds good!



Speakers are Klipsch RP-160, which play nice in the small room, powered by two Monarchy SM-70 pro monoblocks. I usually use the Freya+ as a pre, but am currently trying out Mjolnir 3 and am enjoying it. DAC is an EAD DSP-7000. It has a habit of overheating, so I slide the top off when listening until I can work that out. There’s also an EAD DSP-1000 cd player, and a DVD player I pulled out of the trash, but truth be told, I mostly only ever stream. Allo Digione Signature handles that. There’s an SVS 1000SB sub, too.

Much like the other system, it’s a fun and punchy sounding system, but this one is more spacious, enveloping and nuanced.

The traffic sign is a photo a friend of mine took that I got printed by GIK on an acoustic panel. One day, I might even center it! (Crazy, I know.)

I’ve also started putting broken crystals my wife can’t sell on my gear - hence the two skulls on the amps - because, apparently people pay money for that?!?!? Also, I like skulls.

Next upgrade, other than either cleaning up this space, or moving to the bedroom when that’s done, is finally finishing a pair of DIY speakers. I bought one of the last close out kits of the Fusion 12 Tempest speakers, and still haven’t gotten around to making them. So, probably hiring someone to make the boxes for me, before finishing them up.

 

I miss that finish so much actually, they look incredible. My Crescendos are the red finish, which is still fine, but not the same. happy you're getting some use out of them!

 

KLH model 5 speakers. WA2 as preamp, 2014 Mac mini, LiM, Sony tuner and cd player for transport, Peavey CS 800x amp.

 

Custom Altec Model 19 / Valencia clones, Quad 63s in the background



I now use GM70 tubes exclusively to light the room. The Copper Plate version has a nice orange glow and a pleasant bass bump versus the graphite.

 

Seriously...

 

Room is looking great, especially the Altecs. What Shindo (?) amps are those?

 

@wbass , Shindo Lafon GM70s. Ive been on the fence about selling them as I couldn't find speakers they really gelled with. The Altecs are sounding pretty good though I need to find sweet spot in the crossovers.

 

How's the bass response on the Altecs? I've heard a few big vintage boxes that are surprisingly bass shy, but I can imagine those sound great.

 

@wbass Bass is good, no need for a subwoofer with these which is what Ive been missing with all the other speakers Ive had in here. Best Ive had till now are the Klipsch Cornwall IVs, these are a good step up from that. Going to take some tuning in though.

 

Nice. I'll need to get out and hear some Altecs again. I heard some set-ups at OJAS in Brooklyn and was surprised that I didn't quite love them. Big fan of the Cornwalls, so great to hear you've found something that improves on them.

I'm guessing the Quads are a very different listen? One of my top auditions was on a cranked to shutting-down pair of new-ish Quads, and I was surprised by the bass on those, though it's certainly relative with stats. And, yeah, they were cranked, with mega-buck amps.

I'm a big fan of well-integrated subs, but am pretty convinced it has to be done with a digital crossover and DSP. The subs I heard in your HT set-up were pretty astonishing, so I'm guessing you know all about that. And I guess for a lot of music they don't even quite make sense. Still, I liked them with my old Magnepans.

 

I’ve heard a few setups of his, too, and I think the problem is the designer.

 

I've not heard any OJAS gear. Looks to me that he hung out in Japan and is importing the gear he saw there and is rebuilding with plywood the vintage designs he saw. Maybe its great.

@wbass QUAD 63s are a totally different sound, yes. More detailed, obviously faster and less bass. They dig surprisingly low when you give them power though, an advantage over the 57s that would clip quickly in their original design. But still, in large room I think the bass is lacking.

I'm halfway through my open-baffle sub build, hope to have it finished over the winter though life is getting busy again. I have some ideas on doing the integration, there are plenty of options out there these days. But integrating for music is a lot harder than in the home theater realm.

 

Devon and OJAS: He was nice enough to host me in his home for an audition. Yeah, definitely inspired by Japanese Kissa equipment and semi-industrial aesthetic. Uses Great Plains Audio drivers. I thought I'd connect with his speakers on the day, but they didn't quite do it for me. But, heck, that's one random audition, and you never know. I've been alternately meh and blown away by plenty of stuff.

Good to know about the Quad 63s. Thinking about a pair for a secondary system, at some point.

FWIW, my sub integration solution was to use an Anthem STR preamp as my DAC/volume control/crossover. I ran it into the HT bypass of my main tube preamp. Thus creating, essentially, two chains: 1) an all-analog chain for LP playback 2) and a room corrected digital chain with subs for digital. The Anthem pre is just okay, IMO, a bit hard and flat sounding. But totally worth it for how much better the subs are blended. I think one can do something similar with the MiniDSP boxes.

I don't miss the subs for the analog playback, as most LPs don't have a ton of LFE.

 

Here's my nearfield office setup I recently assembled from gear I wasn't using enough in my main setup and was considering selling but the used market is terrible at the moment. It's mostly a digital chain (PC>>Urd>>Yggdrasil LIM>>Freya SS>>Aegirs) but a cheapo refurbed 1970's Pioneer turntable w/ a Soundmith cart/Soundsmith phono pre for analog which I'll be swapping out for my DL103 when the Denon SUT I just got off eBay comes in.

My office is 11'X11.5'X8' acoustic hell, but I have a ton of records in here and some books so reverberation at higher frequencies isn't a real issue. Speakers are 33% of the way into the room on Skylan stands. Vertical dispersion on this speaker is really good so the foam to bump them up 2" isn't really necessary but it gets them more or less at ear level. Soundstage is only a little wider than the speakers but images are almost perfectly well-defined within the field, perceived as 2-3 feet behind the speakers. I don't have any developed thoughts on the speakers themselves except that they sound pretty good, and a very different presentation than my main system which are Cornwall IV's in a much larger room.

I haven't done anything sophisticated yet w/ integrating the subs; volume matched and crossed at 70hz. and 180 degrees out of phase with the mains with no dip at the crossover from the listening position. I'm going to do everything I can with physical placement and a convolution filter via the House Curve app before potentially putting a miniDSP in the mix. Things sound pretty good as-is and I only listen at moderate volumes.

Second pic is listening position for reference along with Ollie who is its primary inhabitant.

 

Finishing up on a totally different system variation, with high powered tube amps, and speaker placement.

I'm again, blown away right now.

Middle: Audio Research VT100 MKII, and/or Sonic Frontiers SFM-160 monoblocks.

Halcyon-Mark Audio floorstanders custom built by Jon Anderson!

 

FINALLY. Just starting to play with stand height/type, which seems to be one of the more temperamental aspects of these speakers... and I just dropped them into place, haven't started dicking around with front/back placement, or toe-in. And then there's the hours of futzing with the SVS subwoofer app to tweak integration I've yet to embark on.

GENTLEMEN, BEHOLD!!!

AN Kits (UK version, not US) AN-E Kit 03 which is sorta roughly equivalent to AN-E LX/HE, parts-wise, but no fancy Lexus internal wiring. Cabs were supposedly built by some guy in Canada, 7-ply baltic birch ply sides, bottom and top, 13-ply front and rear. And the veneer appears to be wenge (and very, very well done), but someone more woody feel free to correct me. I kinda feel like I stole these for the price I paid. Full retail on the AN-E LX/HE is somewhere in the $15k neighborhood... ooof.

Oh, yeah, and the sound. Scrumdiddlyumptious. Welcome to your home, my new friends. I hope you enjoy your steady diet of 8 watts of thermionic valve emissions.



Edit: Now blu-tacked down to some 7-inch "stands" (two pine boxes filled with play sand; a sight less expensive than these...)



And up close of the veneer:

 

They look very Devore 0/96 ish... These are also baltic birch with veneered fronts.