Beautiful new stands, that look great in the room! Just a wonderful system!
finally updated my system pictures; new racks, tone arm, cartridge, change in turntables, added digital pieces
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
Top!! A true reference system.
Lots of cds... but can't find the player of them
Lots of cds... but can't find the player of them
appreciate the kind words.
yes.
but can't find the player of them
Wait a few weeks….and i will update my system photo's and descriptions to reflect this change.
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The TEAC transport arrived, hooked it up with the Shunyata S/PDIF and am listening now. Not tried the clock yet. CD spinning is easy. A bit brittle out of the box but settling down now some.
@Tonari , here you go!
Have to play around with footers. The stock one’s might be good, but starting out with the Wave Kinetics A10U8’s.
@Tonari , here you go!
Have to play around with footers. The stock one’s might be good, but starting out with the Wave Kinetics A10U8’s.
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ok, that was quick.
we have clearly determined that a $27k clock makes this $2700 transport way better.
transformative.
we have clearly determined that a $27k clock makes this $2700 transport way better.
transformative.
Hey Mike,
Do you turn off all digital equipment not in use when listening? So when listening to the transport the server/network is off.
Thanks
David
Do you turn off all digital equipment not in use when listening? So when listening to the transport the server/network is off.
Thanks
David
David,
i do not turn off my digital dac/server/network switch (the new transport goes into standby after a time.....the clock stays powered on) when not listening. it's on 24/365 unless i'm out of town. stays warm to the touch but not hot.
I just wondered, because my experience is that digital gear degrades the sound just being connected to the mains. So if listening to one piece of digital I would switch all other digital gear off (not just standby).
my digital gear is on a separate filtered leg of my Equi=tech 10WQ isolation transformer. i have listened with it on and off, and could not hear a difference, but that has been a while since i did that.
but the point is a good one, thanks.
I was listening to a highly resolving system, and in the process of improving the set up, we turned off the subwoofers. Unplugging the subwoofers surprisingly made an audible improvement. The next step was removing them from the room entirely, but we did not want to do that without the owners permission.
that could mean many things.
seems normal if the owner was concerned about the performance enough to have you there to try and improve things. especially with your current view of the value of deep bass extension. getting rid of subs might be job #1 on your list.
the odds of a random average set-up subwoofer making things net better (in a system needing work) are certainly not 100%. and who knows what was going on with the subs at idle. could have stressed the power grid, Class D sub amp noisy? or had some sort of influence. just guessing based on your limited description.
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I was not the set up guy. I was just tagging along to help move things around and learn something. I was pretty surprised that unplugging subwoofers that had been already turned off made a difference to the sound.
The system was basically stripped down to the essentials, accessories, and room treatments removed, and then the sound came alive and sounded much more realistic and convincing. It was quite a transformation.
It’s just an anecdotal example about turning something off and even unplugging it can improve the sound of the system.
Hi Mike,
Congratulations on getting the transport!
Only because I'm curious to understand your process, what is the point of playing around with after-market footers immediately -- before the new component even has a chance to settle in, and before you get a sense of its innate sound (unchanged by tweaks)?
how did that come to happen, 'freeing that system of all the deadweight'? what were your expectations prior to the start of that process? and the result was what you expected? were there any trade-offs that occurred that might not have been important to you, yet were things set aside with the new situation? or was it all "everything better"?
i listened to this new TEAC transport yesterday afternoon and evening. initially it was brittle sounding, got a little better, but was very 'digital', even through the Wadax Reference dac with the upgraded Akasa DC cables. my plan was to listen for awhile before i tried the clock, but this was not looking good.
soooo, 45 minutes in, i switched my Shunyata Sigma v2 Clock 50 cable from the Esoteric T1 turntable to the TEAC transport. toggled the transport setting to 'clock 'on', the clock sync'd, and played a CD.
immediately, within a couple seconds it was transformed to something closer to the realm of the Wadax Reference Server w/power supply.....Level 4 Wadax streaming. natural balance and immersive, zero digital signature. i need a few weeks to know more where it stands relative to highest level streaming........but it does not suck. and so far my sense is that this is 'good enough' to function as a CD source in the short term to see if i want to keep it or even upgrade it later to the Wadax Studio Transport.
i have not been around transports for awhile. i know that the best interfaces make a huge difference in transport performance. but maybe even with the lowly rca S/PDIF interface (with a decent Shunyata Alpha v2 S/PDIF cable) when you add in a very spendy clock + the Shunyata Sigma V2 Clock 50 cable, that resembles a top level interface in some ways? i'm no expert here, just speculating.
i have no idea how good a clock one needs to push this modest transport to this level. but with this clock connected i am very impressed by what i'm hearing. obviously the Wadax is doing the heavy lifting. but without the right clock, likely don't bother with this transport. my streaming stomps it completely......and it was not very listenable to my ears.
soooo, 45 minutes in, i switched my Shunyata Sigma v2 Clock 50 cable from the Esoteric T1 turntable to the TEAC transport. toggled the transport setting to 'clock 'on', the clock sync'd, and played a CD.
immediately, within a couple seconds it was transformed to something closer to the realm of the Wadax Reference Server w/power supply.....Level 4 Wadax streaming. natural balance and immersive, zero digital signature. i need a few weeks to know more where it stands relative to highest level streaming........but it does not suck. and so far my sense is that this is 'good enough' to function as a CD source in the short term to see if i want to keep it or even upgrade it later to the Wadax Studio Transport.
i have not been around transports for awhile. i know that the best interfaces make a huge difference in transport performance. but maybe even with the lowly rca S/PDIF interface (with a decent Shunyata Alpha v2 S/PDIF cable) when you add in a very spendy clock + the Shunyata Sigma V2 Clock 50 cable, that resembles a top level interface in some ways? i'm no expert here, just speculating.
i have no idea how good a clock one needs to push this modest transport to this level. but with this clock connected i am very impressed by what i'm hearing. obviously the Wadax is doing the heavy lifting. but without the right clock, likely don't bother with this transport. my streaming stomps it completely......and it was not very listenable to my ears.
Sub-woofers can act as bass absorbers when off and unplugged, maybe that was just what that room needed. For least effect of unused subwoofers in a room leaving them on but not connected is recommended, removing them is of coarse the best.
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thank you, Ron.
i've used the Wave KInetics A10 U8's for 17 years now, i have 8 sets (of 4) of them. they are a 'known' footer that i'm familiar with, so for me it's a default first step to 'go-to'. and they have smooth bottoms and friendly tops so it makes it easy to position. the stock TEAC/Esoteric footers are also on my Esoteric T1 power supply and Esoteric Clock chassis. those stock footers are quality, but they have sharp points and would dig in slightly to my Daiza panzerholtz top surface. so figured i would start out with something else for the get acquainted stage.
i do have some metal cup wafers of various metals to use on top of my Daiza to accept the points that i will try when i get that far.
here is what TEAC says about the stock footers.
Three supporting pinpoint feet made of machined steel with a unique structure
The circuit board attachment screws have been kept to a minimum. Furthermore, steel pinpoint feet that use an original TEAC design with a new structure to provide a suitable amount of play in the connection between them and the bottom panel, are employed to thoroughly control vibrations that could affect audio quality.
i wanted to establish a base line result with the A10 U8's before i play around with the stock ones or some other choices i have such as some HiFi Stay double roller ball footers. i know that transports really respond to the support, and isolation, and my plan was to play around a lot assuming i liked it well enough.....which now i do. there is plenty of height above the TEAC so i can go wild a bit if i need to.
i might also try some mass loading.
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Thank you for the detailed explanation!
I didn't realize that the stock footers were not already attached when you opened the box.
The stock footers are attached, but are now just hanging from the chassis bottom.
see the A10 U8 on the left, stock footer on the right.
Mike, those are your words about “freeing the system of all the deadweight”. I simply said that we removed accessories and room treatments, stripping the room and system down to the essentials.
I had no expectations prior to the start of the process. I had heard the system before, and it was quite good, but I was not prepared for the transformation from two days of proper set up by an expert.
I heard no trade-offs only an across-the-board massive improvement towards a natural presentation of the music on the recordings. It was quite remarkable. One of my friends and another WBF member was there with me. We learned a lot in those few days.