System Pics 2015

Look good to my eyes, FT.

Mike

As a 20+ owner, would love to hear how the new TT compares to the Xerxes.

Hi Dayjay, PB, John, Mark, Mike

Thank you for the compliments.  It's a Vertere MG-1 turntable with Vertere SG-1 tonearm.

I'm not sure about the appearance of the acrylic, especially as Touraj illuminates it with a small white led light behind the motor, which then shines through the perspex.  When viewed in the right light from a good angle, it looks lovely, clean and modern.  Viewed from other angles in sub-optimal lighting and it can look a bit bling.

However, I chose it for its music making abilities rather than its looks.  When so judged, I think that it's really very good indeed. The Xerxes 20+ was certainly no slouch, yet in comparison, music has such life and vitality.

It seems somehow inadequate to talk in terms of hifi vocabulary such as resolution, timing, pitch stability, transparency, imaging and dynamics.  To these ears, the MG-1 is a step or two on from the maxed out Xerxes in all these respects, yet that doesn't seem to matter.  What does matter is that music simply sounds more real and convincing.  I'm starting to understand why companies such as Naim and PMC choose Vertere turntables to show off their very best amplifiers and speakers (respectively).

It's as though I went to the record store and ordered new recordings of albums that I love, except that this time, all the musicians woke up in a good mood and decided to play better and more together than they ever managed before.

The MG-1, like its larger siblings, is both wide and deep though.  It fits width-wise on the Quadraspire wall shelf, but is too deep for it.  I've ordered a customised modification that will make the wall shelf an inch deeper, which will help considerably.  The cabling is all Vertere Pulse, which needs a bit of running in. Those of you with Naim Super Lumina cables will understand this experience and for good reason...

But right now, there is a backlog of circa 20 new albums that I have been itching to play, so roll on this evening...

Best regards, FT

Part of my reasoning behind getting new speakers is so that the TV would no longer be miles from the wall. Wall hugging speakers are such a good idea!

Originally Posted by Foot tapper:

And the Hutter has been replaced by.......?

Looks very cosy, HH.  My memory might be failing me here, but the newly decorated room looks to have a similar colour scheme to the old? Nothing wrong with that of course.

Mike 

The old scheme was a gold carpet and faded gold walls. We now have a green carpet (a bit grey-green actually) and fawn walls. We still have the horrid old curtains, and need to wait about six weeks for new ones to be made. It seems totally different to us!

Lovely speakers HH.

After listening to the 272/250DR at the Signals show, it's easy to appreciate how you have hit the (outer) bullseye with your system.  An XPS-DR upgrades you to the inner bull 

Best regards, FT

Thanks to Peter at Venice Audio, my son and I collaborated on a killer dorm system.   He had done some shopping for himself for the typical cheap amp and expensive speaker "mullet" solution you see in US audio.   Peter recommended a UnitiQute2 with a Blumenstein Audio Thrasher.  

The UQ can be found on a demo basis now or you can step up to the new UQ2 with Bluetooth, for somewhere between $1500-2500 USD.   The speakers are built to order in Seattle, crossover-less, 93db, customer direct units, which Peter recommends for price sensitive commercial applications, which my son got a student discount on.   These speakers are well finished vs. the beater finish you saw on Tone Audio.

To save a few bucks, we went with Crimson Electronics speaker cables.    My son runs this setup using Minim-Server off a Macbook Pro, and the other boxes in the picture are an Xbox and a Wii, along with a Vizio 4K closeout.    The speaker stands are 3 1/2 cinderblocks per side, glued together with silicone caulk, and the speakers run slightly tipped back using shims from Home Depot.   The audio stand is a $30 Goodwill special.    

The FM is great around campus, using a demo MD ST-2 antenna, the system has inputs for everything in the picture, and the sound quality of the setup in a small room is shockingly good, unstrained and plenty loud and very well resolved.   This is quite an uptick from my old dorm system.

The UnitiQute2 with the Thrashers makes for a giant killer system that  won't break the bank.

thrashers by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/27667057@N07/]sc-sld[/url], on Flickr

thrashersUQ2b by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/27667057@N07/]sc-sld[/url], on Flickr

I didn't know it at the time, but the best years of my life were the 4 I spent in undergrad.  High fun, low responsibility, and the best friends I ever made were from that period of my life.  When my mother passed away a few years ago, those were the people who called from all over the USA.

And I thought I had a really good system with a Technics TT, Kenwood cassette deck, Nikko receiver and Altec Lansing speakers, but that dorm system above would bury it!

Looks like classic use of the cinder block for speaker stands - ours was the supports for our "audio rack!" (Cinder blocks and plywood - oh for the days when it didn't matter!)

Very cool! My senior year in college...79' I moved into a brand new apartment. The year before the previous apartment burned to the ground taking all my LP's and HI-FI. Replace it with a Kenwood TT, Kenwood 100w integrated and raw Klipsch Heresy's sat upon the styrofoam packing they came with covered in felt tucked in the corner of the living room. A rocking system and one afternoon while walking back from class I heard a wonderful sound. It was one of my room mates rocking to Little Feat Dixie Chicken with the windows and door wide open providing the edge of campus with tunes. Those were the days where the main issue of the day HI FI wise was pops and cracks. What a simple life.

Cheers,

M

Great stuff - looks like a fun system 

What a great room to watch movies in, printed glass wall background, TV screen saver filling the gap, cant wait to sit back and watch.

Will you be watching TV or the tree?

kered27,

Very impressive TV set up. I've never seen anything like this before. I was about to ask if the photos on the left wall are acoustic panels, but then realized there are no speakers present. Or are they somehow camouflaged like the TV? 

I'd be a bit concerned about the speakers being either side of the fireplace - might it be possible to put them on stands so that they are in front. It would make for a far better soundstage - it must be hard to avoid the impression of two separate sources of sound at the moment. 

Spacey - isn't your TV in danger of being damaged by the heat from the fireplace?