System Pics 2017

Mario posted:

Hey Chris, is that a medium height fraim above your CDS3? I was hoping to do this in order to get my 552 on top but was not sure if the lid would fully open on the CDS3. Don't want to make it harder to play this wonderful machine, my fully naimed LP12 already deters me from playing CD's.

Hi Mario

Using the medium level Fraim does not allow the CDS3 lid to fully open, but in my opinion is a sensible compromise to get the preamp on the top of the Fraim. It opens enough to operate easily. But to be fair it is very much a secondard source for me.

Actually it was not part of the original plan to have the CDS3 where it is but that is where we ended up  

Allante93 posted:

How far off am I?  50%, 30%, 10%

Was that supposed to add up to 100%? As for the boxes, the actual box identification percentage was perhaps surprisingly only 50% correct but still a creditable attempt 

I'll have a go. CDS3, XPS, 552, 300. Some Linn thing but I've no idea about that. One can determine it's a 552 because it's a bit shiny, even if the knobs are too small to spot. As for the XPS, the very helpful profile comes into play. It all looks jolly nice, very neat and tidy. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

One can determine it's a 552 because it's a bit shiny, even if the knobs are too small to spot. 

Excellent and amusing analysis 

DRMARK, in your profile it is said you have proAc d28, but the speakers in the picture look more like D30. Is that correct ?

Here's my humble offering.

Dalamtian posted:

Here's my humble offering.

 

A most comfortable single sided bass trap.

That's a very nice system - SU and Allaes. While it's neat and tidy, having that cupboard between the speakers is a sure way of minimising sound quality. Try it without the cupboard, without that brown thing, and with the speakers a bit further apart. It should sound far better. 

Evlampi posted:

DRMARK, in your profile it is said you have proAc d28, but the speakers in the picture look more like D30. Is that correct ?

No, they assuredly are D28s...I even just checked the backs to make sure, because lately I have really struggled with "senior moments" because of way too much going on. (Like misplacing my Naim remote Saturday night, and not finding it until some time Sunday afternoon in a completely different room!)

But no, they are not D30s.

Hungryhalibut posted:

That's a very nice system - SU and Allaes. While it's neat and tidy, having that cupboard between the speakers is a sure way of minimising sound quality. Try it without the cupboard, without that brown thing, and with the speakers a bit further apart. It should sound far better. 

i agree, speakers are a bit compressed and can't breathe. But visually it is nice...perhaps the WAF factor?

Keler Pierre posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

That's a very nice system - SU and Allaes. While it's neat and tidy, having that cupboard between the speakers is a sure way of minimising sound quality. Try it without the cupboard, without that brown thing, and with the speakers a bit further apart. It should sound far better. 

i agree, speakers are a bit compressed and can't breathe. But visually it is nice...perhaps the WAF factor?

The "brown thing" is a bean bag I sit on to listen as my room is 22 ft long with the sofa at the far end, I could move the speakers out from the sideboard a few inches. The Allaes are 7" from the rear wall and do sound superb, I had them against the wall at first but they were very boomy, I gradually increased the distance until the bass sounded tight. Won't be able to get rid of the sideboard as it is in the only position it would fit. Would there be any benefit from moving the speakers further apart as this would put them nearer to the corner of the room?

Nick

It was just a thought, and if they are sounding great maybe it's best not to worry. Generally, speakers work best with nothing big between them, unless the are forward of whatever is there. You can't see from the pictures where the walls are, but a bit more distance from the cupboard certainly wouldn't go amiss. Do I assume they are on the short wall firing down the room? Have you tried them firing across, so they can have more free space? Anyway, I'm diverting the thread from pictures into set up issues, which is very bad form. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

It was just a thought, and if they are sounding great maybe it's best not to worry. Generally, speakers work best with nothing big between them, unless the are forward of whatever is there. You can't see from the pictures where the walls are, but a bit more distance from the cupboard certainly wouldn't go amiss. Do I assume they are on the short wall firing down the room? Have you tried them firing across, so they can have more free space? Anyway, I'm diverting the thread from pictures into set up issues, which is very bad form. 

The only place I can have them firing across the room puts them in an alcove either side of the chimney breast, I've had this set up in the past, with other speakers, and it's not very good for boomy bass. I'll try moving them further apart tomorrow and report back !

Nick

Dalamtian posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

It was just a thought, and if they are sounding great maybe it's best not to worry. Generally, speakers work best with nothing big between them, unless the are forward of whatever is there. You can't see from the pictures where the walls are, but a bit more distance from the cupboard certainly wouldn't go amiss. Do I assume they are on the short wall firing down the room? Have you tried them firing across, so they can have more free space? Anyway, I'm diverting the thread from pictures into set up issues, which is very bad form. 

The only place I can have them firing across the room puts them in an alcove either side of the chimney breast, I've had this set up in the past, with other speakers, and it's not very good for boomy bass. I'll try moving them further apart tomorrow and report back !

Nick

Now moved the speakers 6" away from the sideboard and another 2" out from the back wall, the soundstage has opened up with the it sounding "taller". The bass is tighter so an improvement all around, thanks for the advice it's good to have fresh eyes looking at my system.

Nick

Ok, so this is not exactly a system pic in he same sense as most of the other posts here. This image is a computer generated visualization of concept I plan to build. It came about after I did a CNC Routing workshop at a local facility where I can manufacture (for personal use) for the price of the materials and any cutting heads I burn out. The idea is to build speaker stands and a combiner diffuser/absorber from 24mm birch ply. The diffuser is inspired by Op Art, specifically the paintings of Bridget Riley. It will slot together and drop onto the wall mounts via dowel joints. The gaps between each plywood 'wave' will be filled with acoustic foam, cut to the same shape as the waves but set back slightly from the wood. It should be possible to laser cut the foam to size exactly.

Bunter, the CGI proposal you have put together looks superb! Look forward to process and build pix if you go ahead.

bunter posted:

Wow!!! That's  gorgeous, and a great idea too. If you go through with it, you should post build details here. I for one would be very interested in following in your footsteps.

---Pedro

Bunter, that's amazing, I love the Riley-influenced diffuser. I'd love to track progress through a thread, and really look forward to seeing photos of the installlation in the future.

Nearly the sides of the Statement 

Robbert posted:

Nearly the sides of the Statement 

 

Now he'll have to buy the statement to match is homemade absorber!

Robbert posted:

Nearly the sides of the Statement 

 

Yes, I forgot to mention that I was also thinking of the Statement heatsinks when I worked on the design. In fact some earlier iterations of the idea were closer to this kind of bulgy wave look.

Thanks all for your responses and feedback - your positivity is reassuring as I wasn't really sure if I was designing something that would only appeal to me!

As I progress, I'll probably start a thread for it, as there does seem to be interest. The project is on hold until I can get work to pay the overtime they owe me - decent birch ply is expensive!

Very nice BUNTER,I run a CNC Boring Mill for a living,and have recently machined my "Fraimlite" shelves into "Full Fraim" specs,a bought one Fraim shelf to use as a model,made a fixture/set up on the machine,simply put the Fraimlite shelf in place,clamped it,and hit cycle start...ten minutes later I moved on to the next shelf.I cut the sides away to match the Fraim shelf,added the recesses for the cups,and added the hole for the dowel to each shelf.Once done,I had them all professionally painted black.They turned out really good,at significant cost savings to me.I say go for it,it sounds like a lot of work the way you want to do it though.I would think about glueing,or however you plan on holding them together first,essentially making one big square block,Then machining the 3D shape into that,of course you would need a Cad model to work from.

No quarter posted:

Very nice BUNTER,I run a CNC Boring Mill for a living,and have recently machined my "Fraimlite" shelves into "Full Fraim" specs,a bought one Fraim shelf to use as a model,made a fixture/set up on the machine,simply put the Fraimlite shelf in place,clamped it,and hit cycle start...ten minutes later I moved on to the next shelf.I cut the sides away to match the Fraim shelf,added the recesses for the cups,and added the hole for the dowel to each shelf.Once done,I had them all professionally painted black.They turned out really good,at significant cost savings to me.I say go for it,it sounds like a lot of work the way you want to do it though.I would think about glueing,or however you plan on holding them together first,essentially making one big square block,Then machining the 3D shape into that,of course you would need a Cad model to work from.

Hi there No Quarter,

I like your suggestion. I am aware that finishing and assembly will take a fair while this way. There are a couple of reasons to work in this way, I think: For birch ply the outer veneer is the best bit. I don't think if I machined from a single block I would be able to do so without damaging the finish here. The other reason is that this approach will use less material. On the other hand, a single block would allow all kinds of possibilities for shapes that undulate in all directions, which could look really good...

Might it be an idea to take this to a new thread? It's hardly System Pics.