System Pics 2018

Posted by: hungryhalibut on 17 December 2017

Welcome to System Pics 2018.

To start things off, here are a couple of pictures of my setup. There have been some big changes over the past year; a 300 and a 555PS, and some extra shelves to accommodate them. 

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by RaceTripper
kevin J Carden posted:

Bet the system sounds lovely RT. Forgive the strange question (I’m planning my bespoke music room currently), but what’s the paint colour on your walls there?

I had to ask my wife about that: Sherwin-Williams "Perfect Greige SW 6073"

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by Jason

Racetripper, your room and system look fantastic.  I'm interested in how you have integrated the two subs into your system; it doesn't appear this is for film/tv reasons, but purely for music?  I'm sure the Dyn's are not particularly bass shy, may I ask what you find the REL's bring to the party... is it all about getting a better lower frequency response or do you find they improve everything?

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by Salvo
rjstaines posted:
JimDog posted:

Salvo - I really want to hear those speakers!

If you ever want to film your system playing and upload it to Vimeo, please let me know the url!

I've sat and watched videos of peoples high-end kit playing.  The only moving part is usually the turntable... mesmerising  (well for a second or two).

And when the proud videographer zooms in on his (or her) speakers, their sound very often amazes me;  I very often find myself wondering just how come such a fine, expensive set of speakers sounds so horrible and tinny, with no depth of bass or sound stage. 

Exactly, that is way I never record/video my system. We do so much to get the best sound then we destroy their perception by recording a sound video not even at mp3 quality :-)

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by RaceTripper
Jason posted:

Racetripper, your room and system look fantastic.  I'm interested in how you have integrated the two subs into your system; it doesn't appear this is for film/tv reasons, but purely for music?  I'm sure the Dyn's are not particularly bass shy, may I ask what you find the REL's bring to the party... is it all about getting a better lower frequency response or do you find they improve everything?

The RELs integrate via a high level input from the speakers. If you think of a sub for music like LFE for home theater you are way off the mark. It's more about bass extension. The speakers are -3db at 28Hz, the RELs are -6db at 22 Hz. What they bring to the table is improvement across the entire range.

To put it into perspective, when I first brought a REL home for the 2-channel system my wife was against spending the money, but she wanted to hear it anyway before I took it back to the dealer. I played for her my vinyl recording of Sigiswald Kuijken performing Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, which she thought odd to demo a sub. Once she was comfortable listening to it, I turned power to the sub off. Her jaw dropped and she asked what happened. I asked her what happened. She said the stage dropped out and the wonderful woody sound of the instrument became more veiled and muffled. When I told her I truned the sub off she said I was not to give it back. This is a perfect example of what a propely integrated sub brings to two-channel music.

Now you should hear Ray Brown's standup bass on the Oscar Peterson trio recordings. Delicious! (and never boomy).

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by elkman70

System reinstated after 5 months in storage.

We have had an extension built to extend the kitchen and add a new reception room so this is now effectively a dedicated listening room, which still needs a bit of a tidy.

Also took the opportunity to introduce a dedicated power supply..Nice...

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by nigelb

Oh yeah, Elkman, really messy! Seriously, what a lovely system and room.

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by kevin J Carden
RaceTripper posted:
kevin J Carden posted:

Bet the system sounds lovely RT. Forgive the strange question (I’m planning my bespoke music room currently), but what’s the paint colour on your walls there?

I had to ask my wife about that: Sherwin-Williams "Perfect Greige SW 6073"

Thanks RT. I forgot that you are in the U.S. I don’t think Sherwin-Williams paints are available here. Looks great in your room though. I’m sure I can colour-match something similar ...

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by RaceTripper
kevin J Carden posted:
RaceTripper posted:
kevin J Carden posted:

Bet the system sounds lovely RT. Forgive the strange question (I’m planning my bespoke music room currently), but what’s the paint colour on your walls there?

I had to ask my wife about that: Sherwin-Williams "Perfect Greige SW 6073"

Thanks RT. I forgot that you are in the U.S. I don’t think Sherwin-Williams paints are available here. Looks great in your room though. I’m sure I can colour-match something similar ...

If you select details on the link I provided, they provide some color info that should help:

R: 183 G: 171 B: 159
Hex Value: #b7ab9f
LRV: 42
Posted on: 30 November 2018 by james n
elkman70 posted:

System reinstated after 5 months in storage.

We have had an extension built to extend the kitchen and add a new reception room so this is now effectively a dedicated listening room, which still needs a bit of a tidy.

Also took the opportunity to introduce a dedicated power supply..Nice...

Nice one - that's a handsome looking system. Glad the dedicated mains worked out well too. 

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by ynwa250505
RaceTripper posted:
kevin J Carden posted:
RaceTripper posted:
kevin J Carden posted:

Bet the system sounds lovely RT. Forgive the strange question (I’m planning my bespoke music room currently), but what’s the paint colour on your walls there?

I had to ask my wife about that: Sherwin-Williams "Perfect Greige SW 6073"

Thanks RT. I forgot that you are in the U.S. I don’t think Sherwin-Williams paints are available here. Looks great in your room though. I’m sure I can colour-match something similar ...

If you select details on the link I provided, they provide some color info that should help:

R: 183 G: 171 B: 159
Hex Value: #b7ab9f
LRV: 42

My wife swears by "Farrow & Ball" for paint. I just swear at the price ...

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by Jason
RaceTripper posted:
Jason posted:

Racetripper, your room and system look fantastic.  I'm interested in how you have integrated the two subs into your system; it doesn't appear this is for film/tv reasons, but purely for music?  I'm sure the Dyn's are not particularly bass shy, may I ask what you find the REL's bring to the party... is it all about getting a better lower frequency response or do you find they improve everything?

The RELs integrate via a high level input from the speakers. If you think of a sub for music like LFE for home theater you are way off the mark. It's more about bass extension. The speakers are -3db at 28Hz, the RELs are -6db at 22 Hz. What they bring to the table is improvement across the entire range.

To put it into perspective, when I first brought a REL home for the 2-channel system my wife was against spending the money, but she wanted to hear it anyway before I took it back to the dealer. I played for her my vinyl recording of Sigiswald Kuijken performing Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, which she thought odd to demo a sub. Once she was comfortable listening to it, I turned power to the sub off. Her jaw dropped and she asked what happened. I asked her what happened. She said the stage dropped out and the wonderful woody sound of the instrument became more veiled and muffled. When I told her I truned the sub off she said I was not to give it back. This is a perfect example of what a propely integrated sub brings to two-channel music.

Now you should hear Ray Brown's standup bass on the Oscar Peterson trio recordings. Delicious! (and never boomy).

Thanks RT, that's really interesting to hear.  I have previously considered integrating a sub into my system for music, but had been dissuaded from doing it.  More recently I had a discussion with my dealer who suggested that subs can work well but it seems he has found the results can be very mixed.  They clearly work well for you and you have reinvigorated my interest to give one a try in the future!  Thanks for sharing your experience.

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by elkman70
nigelb posted:

Oh yeah, Elkman, really messy! Seriously, what a lovely system and room.

Thanks Nigel. Just need to sort out the mess on the fireplace...

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by Mike Sullivan

Who’s the lion RT?

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by RaceTripper
Jason posted:
RaceTripper posted:
J...

Thanks RT, that's really interesting to hear.  I have previously considered integrating a sub into my system for music, but had been dissuaded from doing it.  More recently I had a discussion with my dealer who suggested that subs can work well but it seems he has found the results can be very mixed.  They clearly work well for you and you have reinvigorated my interest to give one a try in the future!  Thanks for sharing your experience.

I'd be lying if I said it's a simple thing to accomplish. Getting a sub problerly integrated is tricky to do, and it's best done with someone who has experience. Maybe those who disuaded you don't know how to get it done right. Many people tend to end up with a boomy bass response and subs that call out attention to themselves. Music subs should, however, disappear into the room, just like properly positioned speakers. We're not trying to reproduce explosionss and bombardments of digital home theater audio. We're trying to bring out the texture and tonality in music that's already there, but that just needs a little help from the lower harmonics.

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by RaceTripper
Mike Sullivan posted:

Who’s the lion RT?

That would be me, according to my wife. The other creature is a rottie, but we have a real one now.

Posted on: 30 November 2018 by elkman70
james n posted:
elkman70 posted:

System reinstated after 5 months in storage.

We have had an extension built to extend the kitchen and add a new reception room so this is now effectively a dedicated listening room, which still needs a bit of a tidy.

Also took the opportunity to introduce a dedicated power supply..Nice...

Nice one - that's a handsome looking system. Glad the dedicated mains worked out well too. 

Thanks James. If I recall correctly both you and HH provided a world of guidance on the dedicated supply and it has worked extremely well, much better than I ever would have thought so thank you.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by tom539

[@mention:1566878603969995]
what serial-number of the 007?

Looks like an early modell... 

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by rjstaines
kevin J Carden posted:

Bet the system sounds lovely RT. Forgive the strange question (I’m planning my bespoke music room currently), but what’s the paint colour on your walls there?

At a guess... grey   

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by J.N.

Good to see those lovely 707's back in action Elkman. It doesn't seem possible that I've had my pair for 17 months. They continue to delight and surprise.

Looks like we have similar back-space. The isobaric bass loading is brilliant for delivering a superbly controlled bottom end with domestically acceptable placement.

John.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by Seaman

Mainsystem

Nothing new exept the boogie-cat and a Qb filling our kitchen with lovely beats! Im now trying out different networkcables - will be posting my findings in another thread ????

Kitchen Qb

Thanks!

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by J.N.

Love the way those Audiovectors blend into the decor, Seaman.

Very nice.

John.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by Salvo
tom539 posted:

[@mention:1566878603969995]
what serial-number of the 007?

Looks like an early modell... 

can not remember it off hand but I got it from Japan 3 years ago.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by elkman70
J.N. posted:

Good to see those lovely 707's back in action Elkman. It doesn't seem possible that I've had my pair for 17 months. They continue to delight and surprise.

Looks like we have similar back-space. The isobaric bass loading is brilliant for delivering a superbly controlled bottom end with domestically acceptable placement.

John.

Thanks John. I think I've had mine for a similar time. They truely are an incredible speaker.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by Mike Sullivan

I recently had the opportunity to grab a second hand mint condition Uniti2, so it went to my media room to give a bit more push to the Totem Hawks:

Untitled

I was then able to move my UC2/NP100 next door to a games room (i've since moved that speaker away from the bookcase). The set up works really well, as I can multi-room both systems for more fun:

Untitled

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by elkman70

Love the racks with files, DVDs, CDs and wine !!