[JTori]

I've had the same audio system for going on 12 years and made only minor adjustments to it. This system, more than any I have owned before (and there have been a few) communicates the emotion and magic of the music.

The system is situated in a lower level dedicated listening room. Walls were constructed using two layers of 5/8" drywall on 16" stud centers. Floor is concrete slab and is covered with the best fiber-based padding I could find and wool carpet. There are four dedicated 20-amp circuits on isolated grounds, as well as one separate 15-amp circuit for non-audio ancillaries. Room dimesions are the closest I could get to golden-rule proportions. The room is prewired for a future plasma screen and Magnepan 5.1 surround system, however, I'm a two-channel guy at heart.

The room is treated with RPG abfusers (side walls), RPG bass traps (front corners), ASC tube traps (rear corners) and ASC Sound planks (front wall). Measured performance of the room/system combination is really pretty good (up 5 db at 80 Hz is the only real anomaly).

A non-audio feature of the room is an ultra-quiet vent fan situated above the hot seat, which I installed so I can smoke the occasional cigar. Make-up air is supplied by a large thru-wall return vent. It was a nice idea but I have only smoked one cigar in the room so far. The fan is effective for venting heat generated by the tube amp, however.

Overall, I'm pleased on this, my third and hopefully last, dedicated listening room adventure.

 

[vcoheda]

wow. that room looks amazing.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

 

[shirtaspants]

Respect. Both for that dedicated room and the gif

.

 

[btf1980]

JTori, that looks wonderful.

 

[bozebuttons]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd R /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well let me put it this way... It's good enough to make a lifetime tube junkie like myself use a solid state amp I didn't really know much about this amp, but I was bugging Bobby at Merlin about some good choices to go with his speakers, and this was one of them that was recommended.

I also am a tube guy,the Bel replaced a pair of CJ12 mono blocks.
I can see why the Bel amps have such a cult following.
For a 50 watt amp it seems unfazed with any speaker load,in monoblock 200 watt configuration it even gets better,soundstage increases wall to wall extending well past the speakers.

 

[JTori]

... For the kind responses. Didn't quite expect that; there are some really nice rigs pictured in this thread. It's nice to be amongst like-minded (read technogeeky) individuals. As the famed auto racing commentator Chris Ekonomaki would say, "We are knights of the roaring road."

For additional eye candy, check out Audiogon.com, "Virtual Systems". There are all manner of systems pictured here.

 

[omegaman]

JTori, That's a great room you have there, That's how I envision mine will look like when I get the room and the money !!!!! Congrats.

PS Don't bother with the TV, Don't want to distract yourself from the music.

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bozebuttons /img/forum/go_quote.gif I also am a tube guy,the Bel replaced a pair of CJ12 mono blocks. I can see why the Bel amps have such a cult following. For a 50 watt amp it seems unfazed with any speaker load,in monoblock 200 watt configuration it even gets better,soundstage increases wall to wall extending well past the speakers.

Yeah, hard to believe. This amp never seems to run out of power.
Maybe the only place a tube amp still beats it (just a little) would be in soundstage depth.

JTori

I LOVE YOUR ROOM>
I want one just like it!

 

[Gamerphile]

In spite of what -some- people might have said or wished for I present to you the first high-end gaming system The best the money can buy pretty much as HD 800 are going to be on the other end of that balanced XLR connection. Story actually goes that this is mostly for my research into spatial audio and such with the added benefit of being my new reference system, A/B test setup and music-all-in-one heaven. 24bit/96KHz optical link from Creative X-Fi Elite Pro's external box (in bit-perfect mode except when gaming) to the UDAC which has balanced XLR interconnects by DiMarcio to the BUDA. Both are powered by the DPS.

The rig has all high-end gear like a samsung T240 24" LCD screen, Steelseries golden wired rugged keyboard, Logitech G5 mouse with the new Steelseries surface. The desk it self is actually a dinner table as when I had a Triniton CRT screen i didn't feel that I had enough depth and space. Computer is all custom hand build with almost all the noise and vibration reductions possible like a suspended new ultra quite and fast Samsung TB HD, noise dampening materials on all major surfaces, best after marked low noise fan unit on graphics card, CPU, PSU and cases fans. Practically only the CPU fan has to rev up a bit while gaming.

Long term I'm planning to have a custom water cooling solution combined with a custom case next time I do a major overhaul to graphics and CPU/mobo for the new generations with better speed stepping technology (they actually started shipping stuff where no fans are running in ideal mode) to reduce noise even more in both scenarios and maybe OverClock a little - I like to have my cake and eat it too

Oh and very long term when graduated and my SO and I can look for a house I have specific plans for a real custom designed listening room.

I guess you can say there is a good reason why I know the gaming manager & group at Sennheiser Communications, which do most of their gaming products like the PC 350, and I plan to work there after I graduate with a degree in IT-engineering with DSP/audio specialization. Its that or working for a triple A game developer who fancies quality audio like Hitman developer IO interactive

Estimated price for teh entire installation when HD 800 come along is 8-10K USD + custom stuff and build time.

 

[Yikes]

Yawn........ if you like it, it's all that matters.

sorry but it's not SOTA gaming unless it's with a really big screen. Gaming bores me, but I did do an XBox 360 with my 1080P 109" projector. It kept me occupied for a couple of weeks before I got bored with it. My gamer friends loved it, they were pissed when I gave the Xbox to an old girlfriend for Christmas, I figured her two kids (8 & 11 yo) could have some fun with it. I can't understand how anyone older than 15 can stay interested in gaming. Put on some great tunes and pick up a good book, it's way more interesting.

 

[Gamerphile]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yikes /img/forum/go_quote.gif Put on some great tunes and pick up a good book, it's way more interesting.

Sadly only a small percent of even the adult population understands your pleasures today

Just a few years ago gaming has even surpassed the film industry which had been the largest by far of the entertainment industries as far back as most even the olds members of Head-Fi have lived. Everyone born after 1980 or so have been growing up with gaming all their life and generally the anthropologists say that it was when my generation of the mid 80'ies to mid 90'ies became adults & old teens that gaming became so accepted mainstream. That was with the help of the powerfull plug and play consols that became a household object for the non-techincal crowds who couldn't or wouldn't like to handle PC's like the more "geeky" types of my gerneration like me does. Thought the current PC's are also almost plug and play and togther with the Massive Multiplayer Online games & communities drew hords of people into the social gaming world. Which is really alot about what its about - social competition, sandbox play and a ecsape form reality to a world where you are king

 

[indydieselnut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTori /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... For the kind responses. Didn't quite expect that; there are some really nice rigs pictured in this thread. It's nice to be amongst like-minded (read technogeeky) individuals. As the famed auto racing commentator Chris Ekonomaki would say, "We are knights of the roaring road." For additional eye candy, check out Audiogon.com, "Virtual Systems". There are all manner of systems pictured here.

JTori - what a system, what a room! You've done some amazing work there and the result is really stunning. What appeals to me is how clean the entire setup is...how it's obvious a great deal of thought has gone into each aspect of the design and layout. With a 9-month-old at home my listening has been forced into headphones, but I look forward to assembling something very similar to what you have there in about twenty years

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gamerphile /img/forum/go_quote.gif In spite of what -some- people might have said or wished for I present to you the first high-end gaming system

Nice! I didn't realize that the BUDA was shipping, I really want to hear one of these.

 

[shirtaspants]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yikes /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can't understand how anyone older than 15 can stay interested in gaming. Put on some great tunes and pick up a good book, it's way more interesting.

Wow, your nose isn't in the air at all.

Nothing wrong with enjoying everything.