A new signature ...

[Bobvin]

It is not easy to see snow in Portland.

I may visit your store room to audition Philum Dac with priior arrangement.

To audition the Electra DAC, we both will have to wait a while. Chips for that DAC are scarce, so the leadtime is a bit long right now, and I don’t have one yet. But by the time spring comes ‘round, I should be in better shape. You are always welcome.

 

[Rhapsody]

We do have Pilium Elektra DAC's along with Taiko Extreme servers at our Dallas, Palm Desert and Brooklyn locations at this time.

 

[matakana]

The Big Bayz Counterpoint speakers, in matte black, starting to get run in. Only a couple hours on them, they need a hundred or more to get settled in.

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In the wee small hours of listening there ! “such fun”.

 

[Bobvin]

Actually no I had never thought of writing that phrase anywhere - it was a spur of the moment inspiration to add a wee bit of humor and see if anyone would catch it. With your response being what it was, I'm not sure how far to go by way of explanation - you may be joshing me and the following is for nought!

We were talking about your visit to Steinway and learning to play the piano. When starting out many piano teachers give lessons in how to read music and play the notes on a piece of sheet music. If you look a music score there is a variety of notation that represents the music and instructions on how to play it. It takes a while to learn the notes and to that end there are mnemonics to help - short phrases that identify the notes in each register, treble and bass.

Each register is represented by five parallel lines on which notes are written; notes can go higher or lower than the lines ... we'll skip that for now.
View attachment 87790Treble Clef - the Right hand
View attachment 87791 Bass Clef - the Left hand

Let's look at the Bass Clef and it's basic notes:

View attachment 87793
To help remember the bass notes
... on the lines: Good Boys Do Fine Always
... on the spaces: All Cows Eat Grass

moo !

Further exposing my naïveté, I see A and G are represented both on the notes landing on the lines, and on the notes between the lines? (My last music lesson was easily 50+ years ago, when I was ‘knee high to a grasshopper’!) sharps and flats maybe?

 

[rando]

Erudity attempts to deal with what practical application unconstrained by heady meaning often does in real life.

It is not a requirement to read music well in order to play it. Some of the best musicians were able to play something for the rest of their life after hearing it once. Inordinate association to an instrument one simply starts playing is another example of rapidly overcoming what years of learning might, might, induce.

 

[Bobvin]

I am excited to report a new Extreme server has taken up residence @ RLR - Portland (Rhapsody Out West!). I am very eager to get the Rossini driver installed and see what all the fuss has been about… I currently have an Intel i7 NUC as my server. The Extreme better not suck!

 

[Nuprin]

Bob, for the cost I certainly hope so but at least you know you the rest of your system is up to revealing those differences if they are there.

I don't know when, but when I'm able to build a dedicated space, I hope to be able to visit your listening room. It's an ideal layout with the ability to have a beautiful view instead of staring into a wall.

 

[Bobvin]

Almost a month now with the Extreme, amazing improvement to my digital source. The upgrade was, perhaps, as significant as the server was itself.

Better yet, I just took receipt of a couple nicely finished granite slabs to place beneath the big BAYZ CounterPoint 2.0 speakers. These have been sitting on furniture sliders as there was a fair amount of tweaking to get the Bayz really dialed in. The Bayz come with footers and the base appears to be some type of constrained layer affair with granite, some kind of elastomer, and more granite. I was told the speakers really prefer a hard surface, so I had the slabs fab’d up. I had them tapped so I can also try spiking the slabs to the floor, but just getting the speakers on the slabs has really allowed the bass to go way down and can be felt quite viscerally in the lowest octaves.

The spec says the CounterPoint play to 24 hz, where the Alsyvox play to 22 hz. Now, on the slabs, I’m hearing just how good the Bayz are in the deep bass. I was thinking perhaps the nod went to the Botticelli in this regard, now I'm hesitant to say. I’m sure folks will have a preference — I feel good the speakers are showing what they’re capable of.

 

[tima]

I am excited to report a new Extreme server has taken up residence @ RLR - Portland

Nice photo. I see the great adventure continues, Bob. Congrats on getting all this up and running. I wish you fun and success.

 

[Bobvin]

Hard to get a sharp image with a long exposure and hand held camera, but this is my night time view. The Bayz CounterPointe speakers disappear visually and sonically too… just a room-full of sound and a soundstage that expands in every direction. The room boundaries don’t exist!

 

[Bobvin]

I don't offer this as a tool for evaluating sound quality, other than it gives a wee-little taste of what the Bayz Counterpoints sound like in my room. Forgive me for trying to hold the camera steady for the full song without use of a tripod. (I have a phone-mount on order.)

The track is "Cuando Silba El Viento" by La Segunda on 'Sera Una Noche' (44.1/16bit)

Sounds pretty natural to me

 

[Bobvin]

Found some nifty little uplights to compliment the lighting in the room. But, they're cheap LEDs which means they produce very little red wavelength and tend to screw up the color balance of a photo. I, for one, will be very happy when LED tech matures and all the available bulbs have good color rendering index (CRI), not just a few.

The Botticelli have been hard to photograph as they've needed a little light on the front of them. The photos work, but the in-room experience is best, with a nice pinot or cabernet in-hand.

 

[PeterA]

Bob, Do you draw the curtains when you listen to music with the dipoles? I’m just curious about the effect of the drapes on the sound with your different speakers. Nice photos depicting a good mood.

 

[Bobvin]

Bob, Do you draw the curtains when you listen to music with the dipoles? I’m just curious about the effect of the drapes on the sound with your different speakers. Nice photos depicting a good mood.

Nope, curtains remain open regardless of speakers. The curtains have a single layer of Lumitex acoustic fabric sandwiched between a decorative facing fabric, and a liner behind. The fabric was tested and incorporated into Bonnie's algorithm when she modeled the room. Keeping the view was one of the primary objectives of the acoustic design.

I have tried drawing the curtains, and opening/closing them to varying degrees. They sound best as they are. The folds in the fabric add diffusion when the fold is out into the room, and absorption when the fold is to the rear. The folds are about 4-5" deep. It softens the reflection from what would be drywall and wooden door & window framing. The glass allows for liveliness so the room doesn't feel over-treated. That said, my room with treatment on all walls, carpet, and a "cloud" surely will sound very different from yours.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

with a nice pinot or cabernet in-hand

...excellent technical work-around adding the wine to fill in for the missing red LED wavelengths. They don't teach that in school. Beautiful room!

 

[LL21]

Found some nifty little uplights to compliment the lighting in the room. But, they're cheap LEDs which means they produce very little red wavelength and tend to screw up the color balance of a photo. I, for one, will be very happy when LED tech matures and all the available bulbs have good color rendering index (CRI), not just a few.

The Botticelli have been hard to photograph as they've needed a little light on the front of them. The photos work, but the in-room experience is best, with a nice pinot or cabernet in-hand.

View attachment 100714

View attachment 100715

Beautiful system! But its the landscaping in the glass window that is the true art! Who could possibly do such spectacular work...!

 

[HughP3]

Found some nifty little uplights to compliment the lighting in the room. But, they're cheap LEDs which means they produce very little red wavelength and tend to screw up the color balance of a photo. I, for one, will be very happy when LED tech matures and all the available bulbs have good color rendering index (CRI), not just a few.

The Botticelli have been hard to photograph as they've needed a little light on the front of them. The photos work, but the in-room experience is best, with a nice pinot or cabernet in-hand.

View attachment 100714

View attachment 100715

Very nice!

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

@Bobvin this is one of the best-looking systems I have ever seen. Kudos!
How long did it take from start to finish?

 

[Bobvin]

@Bobvin this is one of the best-looking systems I have ever seen. Kudos!
How long did it take from start to finish?

Thank you for the kind words.

If you’re inclined, there is a thread titled “wilson & ARC for me” in the Wilson Audio owner’s circle forum that details my adventure building the room.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wilson-arc-for-me.15727/

From planning to completion took a couple years, once work actually started it was only a few months, even that had a few delays that extended it. It often comes down contractor availability and absence of snafus along the way.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

Thank you for the kind words.

If you’re inclined, there is a thread titled “wilson & ARC for me” in the Wilson Audio owner’s circle forum that details my adventure building the room.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wilson-arc-for-me.15727/

From planning to completion took a couple years, once work actually started it was only a few months, even that had a few delays that extended it. It often comes down contractor availability and absence of snafus along the way.

I'll check it out, thank you. Seems to be an impressive adventure.
Can you tell us here in short what was the biggest snafu?