[morphsci]

Here is my headphone and speaker system in the den.

This is the front view of my homemade rack. It is a basic four-leg flexy-rack design. Each of the shelves is a 16"x24" mdf shelf covered with white melamine. I painted each shelf with flat black paint and then a black granite textured paint. Each of the threaded rods is 3'x 3/8". This is a little thin for a solid freestanding rack, however I have the rack attached to the wall with angle irons (painted black) and sorbothane shims. I also used four 5/16" hanger bolts and tee-nuts as spikes on the bottom shelf for coupling to the floor through the rug. The rack sits just out of arms reach as I sit at my Dell laptop. This picture was actually taken sitting underneath the desk.

This is a side view of the rack giving a better view of the 1/4" oak trim panels which also serve to make the unit more rigid from front to back. Each panel consists of two boards bolted together with the metal rod supports between them. In addition a strip of sorbothane is sandwiched between each rod and board to help prevent vibrational propagation. You can also see the line conditioners plugged into the wall with large ferrite cores around each power cable.

Starting from the top down we have my McCormack MID headphone amp. It is a nice unit that allows the connection of two sources, two headphone and a pair of speakers. I do not currently use the speaker outputs but if I ever get those AKG K1000's

The only thing I do not really care for is the wall wart power supply. I have contacted Steve McCormack at AMC Audio about a power supply upgrade in the future. The MID has nice isolation legs and in addition sits on an isolation platform consisting of two 1/2" pieces of oak with a 1/8" sheet of sorbothane between them and four gripper feet from Lowes on the bottom piece.

Next we have the sources. On the top shelf is my ten year old Rotel RCD-855, which I use as a transport. I have added some auto damping sheets to the inside of the cabinet. In addition the unit sits on four vibrapods and has a sheet of sorbothane on the top of the unit with the top oak trim pieces clamped on top of the sorbothane. basically the cabinet is totally dead if you rap on it. Below that is the CAL Gamma DAC sitting on a 3/4" piece of oak with gripper feet. I removed the cheap feet on the unit and it sits directly on a 1/8" piece of sorbothane (getting the pattern yet

) between it and the oak. Below that is an Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp, which I only use as a tuner. It sits on four vibrapods and has a sheet of sorbothane and 3/4" oak on the top for resonance control and to spruce up the looks (Hey I grew up in the seventies when all real audio equipment had nice wooden trim panels).

On the next shelf down are my ASL Wave DT amps that I use for the speakers. They are pretty basic 8 Watt tube amps with fairly mediocre build but pretty nice sound for the price. I wouldn't use them in the living room but they are more than adequate for the den with the Wharfedales. BTW they are sitting on a 3/4" oak base with gripper feet, 1/8" sorbothane another piece of 1/4" oak and the original feet on each unit.

These are the Wharfedale 7.2 anniversary editions with Rosewood cabinets. These are fairly laid back speakers with a nominal 8 Ohm impedance and a sensitivity of 89 db (2.83 V input at 1m). They sound pretty good with the waves. I like them better than the standard 7.2's because the have a nicer cabinet, upgraded crossover components and can be bi-wired or bi-amped.

On the bottom shelf are the line conditioners. On the left is a Tripp-Lite 1800 watt unit and on the right a Tripp-Lite 1200 watt unit. The MID, GTP-400, Cal Gamma and RCD-855 are plugged into the 1800 watt unit. The Waves are plugged into the 1200 watt unit. Each of the banks on the 1800 watt unit are isolated from each other so the transport and Dac are on one circuit, the tuner on a second and the MID on a third. All the power cords have ferrite clamps on them. One medium sized one on the Rotel and Adcom cords and two small ones on the wall wart for the MID and the CAL Gamma. Again each unit sits on an oak/sorbothane base.

The phones hang from hooks on the wall over the rack. You can see the position in the second picture. These are the Alessandro MS II's (which are not bright!) and the Sony MDR-v6's, which I use when I am really trying to hear something in detail. Hmm, looks like some more oak, but no sorbothane here.

 

[morphsci]

Moving to the rear of the unit we can see the power cords and interconnects going into the MID. The IC's closest to the front are Harmonic Technology Truthlinks going to the Waves. Next are an old pair of Straightwire flexconnect from the tuner and last another pair of truthlinks from the DAC.

Next we can see the digital coax interconnect between the Rotel and the CAL Gamma. It goes through a set of oak trim panels that provide some additional lateral support. The IC's are Canare coaxial cable with Canare true 75 Ohm RCA connectors and a ferrite clamp on both ends of the cable. You can also see the flexconnects coming out of the tuner and they also have ferrite clamps on them. The truthlinks do not have any ferrites on them since am still trying to get a good grasp of there raw sound before I go and tweak them. You can also see the power cords routed away from the interconnects and secured with tie wraps and tie-wrap bases.

Here are the backs of the Waves. Each one has a truthlink IC entering and a modified quail power cord. I bought some quail cords with no IEC termination, cut them down to two feet and finished them off with Marinco IEC connectors. Lastly you can see my bi-wire speaker cables. Each Wave has a dual 12.5' foot run of Canare starquad LS8 speaker cable terminated with Rat-Shack gold spades.

Lastly, we have my portable rigs. A Radio Shack Cd-3904, A Creative Nomad II MG, Grado SR-60's and Koss KSC-35's.

Well, that is my home rig. Even as I write this it is undergoing changes which I will post at a future time. I look forward to all comments and constructive criticism.

 

[XXhalberstramXX]

sweet system!! i'm seriously considering getting a home and a pair of waves to replace my NAD reciever. i wouldn't have tuner capability, but headphone proformance would shoot through the roof. how loud do those puppies go? i have a pair of acoustic energy aegis ones. would they get up to orchestral volume levels?

 

[MacDEF]

Morph, great rack/setup. I love the little things, like the wood back that provides support for your ICs

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

Originally posted by XXhalberstramXX sweet system!! i'm seriously considering getting a home and a pair of waves to replace my NAD reciever. i wouldn't have tuner capability, but headphone proformance would shoot through the roof. how loud do those puppies go? i have a pair of acoustic energy aegis ones. would they get up to orchestral volume levels?

Thanks. I can get the Wharfedales pretty loud (enough to get me in trouble with the spousal unit

). But its a pretty small room (about 12' x 18'). The Waves require a speaker that presents a pretty stable 8 Ohm load and are pretty efficient. In this size room a speaker with 89 db efficiency seems to work well.

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF Morph, great rack/setup. I love the little things, like the wood back that provides support for your ICs

Thanks again. The really good point about the oak trim is how much it increases the spousal acceptance factor. Although I can't complain because she never says anything when I bring home a new toy, only rolls her eyes.

 

[Braver]

wow, nice lookin stuff man. those IC look really thick!

oak-sorbothane-oak, oak-sorbothane-oak, oa-sorb...

but do you have the speakers on spikes as well then?

 

[jmpsmash]

that lamp......

doesn't it add noise to the mains?? how can you....

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by morphsci Next we can see the digital coax interconnect between the Rotel and the CAL Gamma. It goes through a set of oak trim panels that provide some additional lateral support. The IC's are Canare coaxial cable with Canare true 75 Ohm RCA connectors and a ferrite clamp on both ends of the cable.

morphsci,

First of all, thanks for sharing those pics of your excellent rig with us, man!

I have a question about the ferrites on your digital cable... Audioquest makes ferrites called RF Stoppers and they don't recommend using them with digital cables. This is what they say:

Quote:

Because they filter very high frequencies so well, do not use RF Stoppers on digital and video cables.

For example, my ferrites (not by Audioquest) are rated for a peak impedance of 117 ohms @ 100 MHz, but still present impedance at frequencies above and below 100 MHz. Truth be told, I'm not sure what digital signal frequencies are, but Jon Risch at Audio Asylum says this:

Quote:

The basic data rate of digital audio at 44.1 kHz sampling is approx. 2.87 MHz, with all data edge squarewave harmonics above this frequency, extending to above 30 MHz. It is the higher frequencies that comprise the data edges that get into the act of being reflected, cancelled or terminated.

Whether or not your ferrites affect the digital signal, I can't say with any confidence at all, but it's worth looking into. Anyone care to comment on the use of ferrites on digital interconnects?

Again, morsphsci, thanks very much for sharing those pics with us!

 

[anders213]

Killer looks.
More pics!

 

[KR...]

Nice set-up!

You sure use a lot of tweaks!

Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

[legoman]

Absolutely beautiful system (sigh).

But the speaker placement looks criminal (or was it just to get them on the picture?). With all the effort put into the rest, why not get some stands or somehow improve placement? Or are they just for occasional use?

No criticism implied, just such a contrast from the rest of the system and its incredible attention to detail.

Envious (in a good way),

Legoman

 

[dhwilkin]

Nice setup, morphsci! I like the overall look of the room, all the oak and rosewood makes it seem... natural, for lack of a better word. The headphone hooks also look quite stylish.

legoman does have a good question, though. Why are the speakers at different heights?

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

that lamp...... doesn't it add noise to the mains?? how can you....

I do not use the lamp for any serious listening. It is there for illumination of the back when I tweak. However I also chose a plain incandescent lamp rather than a flourescent or halogen. Playing around with the lamp on and off does not appear to be an audible problem anyway, but I still keep it off for most listening.

Quote:

wow, nice lookin stuff man. those IC look really thick! oak-sorbothane-oak, oak-sorbothane-oak, oa-sorb... but do you have the speakers on spikes as well then?

and

Quote:

Absolutely beautiful system (sigh). But the speaker placement looks criminal (or was it just to get them on the picture?). With all the effort put into the rest, why not get some stands or somehow improve placement? Or are they just for occasional use? No criticism implied, just such a contrast from the rest of the system and its incredible attention to detail. Envious (in a good way), Legoman

The speaker placement is a compromise since the wife shares the den also and I didn't want to run another 80 (20 x 4) feet of speaker cable for placement of the speakers on other side of the room. I would have had to run the wire up through the wall and ceiling. There is little wall space because of bookcases and the fire place. Stands, although preferred are not practical because they would be in the walk through area between rooms ( and would be subject to the whims of the dogs wrestling matches). So even at that they would be sitting on the tops of the 6 foot bookcases and too close to the wall for their rear ports. I have changed the speakers slightly since the photos. I built a platform (out of oak

) to raise the right speaker to the same level as the left speaker, which now sits on a 3/4" oak slab. Both speakers use sorbothane to couple them ro the stand/base. I will listen to them for a while like this and then tweak around with some cones beneath the stand/base. Still, it is a compromise but we are going to replace the ceiling tile and remove the wall-paper in January and February, so it may be time for a rearrangement of furniture then

However they do not sound bad and the soundstage is really pretty good in my normal listening position at the computer. If you will notice the right speaker is toed in and the left speaker is not since my normal listening position is not equidistant between them. Also, much of my listening is via headphone so as not to disturb my lovely wife.

Quote:

morphsci, First of all, thanks for sharing those pics of your excellent rig with us, man! I have a question about the ferrites on your digital cable... Audioquest makes ferrites called RF Stoppers and they don't recommend using them with digital cables. This is what they say: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because they filter very high frequencies so well, do not use RF Stoppers on digital and video cables. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For example, my ferrites (not by Audioquest) are rated for a peak impedance of 117 ohms @ 100 MHz, but still present impedance at frequencies above and below 100 MHz. Truth be told, I'm not sure what digital signal frequencies are, but Jon Risch at Audio Asylum says this: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The basic data rate of digital audio at 44.1 kHz sampling is approx. 2.87 MHz, with all data edge squarewave harmonics above this frequency, extending to above 30 MHz. It is the higher frequencies that comprise the data edges that get into the act of being reflected, cancelled or terminated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whether or not your ferrites affect the digital signal, I can't say with any confidence at all, but it's worth looking into. Anyone care to comment on the use of ferrites on digital interconnects? Again, morsphsci, thanks very much for sharing those pics with us!

I have read those statements also. I was very surprised but to me the ferrites on the digital cable made the biggest audible improvement compared to the use of ferrites on any other cable in the system. I do not really understand it myself but with the ferrites on it sounds smoother in the midrange and there is only very slight diminshment in the treble (mostly the loudness of the treble not its extension) and no noticeable effect on the bass. I am at a loss to explain it. Even though I play around with those every few weeks, they still remain

 

[mcbiff]

Wow, great pics. One of the things I enjoy most here at Head-Fi is posts like this one. There's nothing better than seeing someone else's rig in action. Keep it up guys!

 

[Bob]

Quote:

Originally posted by mcbiff Wow, great pics. One of the things I enjoy most here at Head-Fi is posts like this one. There's nothing better than seeing someone else's rig in action. Keep it up guys!

I totally agree.

Really nice system! Thanks a bunch for the pics.