What a beautiful space! I would find it very difficult to leave a room like that - the stuff dreams are made of...
JackD201 - Almost Done
- Thread starter JackD201
- Start date
Just curious.. do you have to pay property tax on that space? My wife, who's originally from Makati, Philippines, says they didn't have property taxes there. If that's true, I'm almost tempted to take my entire belongings and move there.
That's interesting, because my wife, who's family owns a house in Taguig (Signal Village) don't pay any. She was shocked that people have to pay taxes on their homes when she moved here to the US.
I wonder if they only tax foreigners, or maybe they have means testing. How much do they bill you and how often, if I may ask?
I wonder if they only tax foreigners, or maybe they have means testing. How much do they bill you and how often, if I may ask?
It's in the law Mark but the rate and specific assessment is local government's call. In San Juan City it's annual. I'm billed about $1,000 a year based on the city's assessment formula. The rate has to be passed by majority vote of the City Council. No different from the US really. Just like the US your property can be taken if you are in arrears. Our tax mapping and collection is just nowhere near as "efficient". I don't know how it is in Taguig but I'm sure they have real property taxes too. They probably just don't bill and collect aggressively in the original town areas but they do so in Global City. Is Signal Hill military? If so that could be a reason they are exempted.
OH HAPPY DAY!
The Analog rig is in! Many thanks to Epoy Bengson of Architectural Audio. Not every dealer will set your table up for you, to do it in 3 different locations for nothing is waaaaaaaaay above and beyond the call of duty!
Nothing to break in here. Jim and his cohort Ramil came in to help me sort out my grounding scheme as I'm using a 47 Labs chooser for my two arms into the Lamm LP2 MC input. Hum is a B%$^ ain't it? Got it pretty close to nil but needs a bit more work.
We took out some Jill Scott and Melody Gardot to start, shifted to some of my prized Decca and Proprius records, took a brief segue into Nat King Cole on ABC, and ended the night with Coltrane at the Village Vanguard. Feels great to be able to play my own LPs at home again. The Koetsu Jade and the Dynavector XV-1t were both tracking perfectly.
The only thing new on the analog front is my RCM. I finally retired my trusty old VPI 16.5 and replaced it with a Clearaudio Double Matrix, the RCM for lazy people
Pics to follow!
The Analog rig is in! Many thanks to Epoy Bengson of Architectural Audio. Not every dealer will set your table up for you, to do it in 3 different locations for nothing is waaaaaaaaay above and beyond the call of duty!
Nothing to break in here. Jim and his cohort Ramil came in to help me sort out my grounding scheme as I'm using a 47 Labs chooser for my two arms into the Lamm LP2 MC input. Hum is a B%$^ ain't it? Got it pretty close to nil but needs a bit more work.
We took out some Jill Scott and Melody Gardot to start, shifted to some of my prized Decca and Proprius records, took a brief segue into Nat King Cole on ABC, and ended the night with Coltrane at the Village Vanguard. Feels great to be able to play my own LPs at home again. The Koetsu Jade and the Dynavector XV-1t were both tracking perfectly.
The only thing new on the analog front is my RCM. I finally retired my trusty old VPI 16.5 and replaced it with a Clearaudio Double Matrix, the RCM for lazy people
Pics to follow!
Congrats and great news Jack! Finally!
Yeah, phono based hum is one tough B&^%&* indeed! It drains 50% of my energy when I can't solve it. That's why when I do, I nail the cables down with blue tack and don't move a thing on my phono chain. LOL. That also keeps me away from 'upgratitis'. LOL
The game is afoot!
I'm happy for you Jack. I also have to thank Epoy for sourcing WBT terminations with better contact. Super Mario was able to change the original terminations of my Sensory Power tonearm cable into WBTs and this significantly reduced the hum on my phono source. Now, there is something new for you to listen to when you come over on the 25th.
Oh, so disappointing to hear that. I was looking for a reason to agree with my wife's desire to move back to the Philippines and if there were no property taxes, I would be strongly encouraged.
Signal Village is at the end of the C5 highway, down the road from Ft Bonifacio. I don't know if it's a military town, but Mary Ann did once mention something about it being a resettlement when the city of Makati took their old place. They were relocated by the government to Signal Village. Now it's full of squatters who built their homes against my wife's family's house.
Oh okay, I get it now. Resettlements normally are areas that are yet to be levied property taxes because the process starts when the lots have been turned over permanently meaning the new lot owner is fully paid up with the housing authority. The terms of payment are usually 30 years. No surprise they were never charged anything. If something happened along the way and the resettlement area encountered technical problems in transfer and deviations from the original subdivision plans then Signal Village may then be in some sort of limbo where classification and ownership are not clear. In such an instance again no property taxes are charged or collected. It's one of those rare situations of being between cracks. It is not the norm as I said and in most other areas outside of NHA proclamation areas and CLOA issued agricultural lands, property taxes are indeed a reality.
That explains a lot, Jack. For a moment, I thought I'd found my retirement community. Guess I have to keep looking.
Finally got a chance to swing by and listen to Jack's new listening room, and not only is it almost done, it's WELL DONE! Marvelous room, aesthetically and sonically. It is impressive. Nice size, with allowance to boot for future 6 or 9 foot speakers. It goes to show that when you seriously and sincerely set out to achieve something, it can be done. Congrats, Jack, and many thanks for the wonderful session.
Marvelous room, aesthetically and sonically. It is impressive. Nice size, with allowance to boot for future 6 or 9 foot speakers. It goes to show that when you seriously and sincerely set out to achieve something, it can be done. Congrats, Jack, and many thanks for the wonderful session.
Very very nice room. WOW !!
It looks awesome and am sure that it sounds great too.
Love the elevator feature to get to the man cave.
Makes me want to plan a vacation to the Philippines.
If you are ever in Vancouver, BC give me a shout.
Take care and enjoy.
Mike
It looks awesome and am sure that it sounds great too.
Love the elevator feature to get to the man cave.
Makes me want to plan a vacation to the Philippines.
If you are ever in Vancouver, BC give me a shout.
Take care and enjoy.
Mike
I've been in and out of the country and for a while I've been a pair of amps down. My M2.2 which I was using to drive the bass modules have been lent to a fellow dealer and are powering their Q5s. That left me powering the VR-9s with the M1.2 Reference full range. While I was getting good sound, I had grown accustomed to the seemingly limitless dynamics of the bi (strictly speaking Tri) configuration. I decided to move the 1.2s to the bass modules and bring the tubed ML1.1 into Mid and Hi duty.
It turns out that this wasn't as simple a procedure as I had originally suspected. For one, the amps were picking up data noise from my home automation system. For some reason, the hybrids filtered this out but the Tubed units don't. It turns out that the darned EE had the basement lights on the same panel as the feed to the audio equipments own panel. Jeez. Anyway, with music playing the buzz is masked. Still, it would drive anybody batty just knowing that it is there.
Upon slotting in the ML1.1s the sound became rather vintage. Very rich midrange but there was a loss of focus and extension. The midbass was also too prominent. To slice things up, I listened to each module extensively to see what was doing what or more precisely to get a handle of where exactly they crossed over. It turns out that the ML1.1 was reticent all by their lonesome and in the Midbass the prominence was solely in their province. Fitted with Mullard CV2492s which sound great when driven full range, driving just the midbass was over ripe.
Thank God for big brothers. Sovtek 12ax7s have never been known for their micro resolution and extension so I asked for a loaner of ecc83 Telefunken Red Tips to match the Telefunken cca's I've got on ready 5. Together the coherence had returned in great measure. As usual, it seems any small change somehow leads to speaker positioning changes. the change in position was pretty drastic. In this system configuration, I ended up totally old school, pretty much rule of thirds, heavy toe in, equilateral triangle. This HF compensation could be in large part due to the fact that the large painting that was in the middle was moved to the stairwell and the room was meant to have a reflective surface there. I'm negotiating for another Lao, same size but more intensely portal like and more pronounced texture.
It was a bear to get the FR linear but it was worth the effort once again. I've been missing the sound of tubes in the main system and the aural intoxication they often bring. I'll post pics soon. No cable elevator jokes please, anybody that makes a crack about my lack of them will be banned from entering our country! Hahahahaha!
It turns out that this wasn't as simple a procedure as I had originally suspected. For one, the amps were picking up data noise from my home automation system. For some reason, the hybrids filtered this out but the Tubed units don't. It turns out that the darned EE had the basement lights on the same panel as the feed to the audio equipments own panel. Jeez. Anyway, with music playing the buzz is masked. Still, it would drive anybody batty just knowing that it is there.
Upon slotting in the ML1.1s the sound became rather vintage. Very rich midrange but there was a loss of focus and extension. The midbass was also too prominent. To slice things up, I listened to each module extensively to see what was doing what or more precisely to get a handle of where exactly they crossed over. It turns out that the ML1.1 was reticent all by their lonesome and in the Midbass the prominence was solely in their province. Fitted with Mullard CV2492s which sound great when driven full range, driving just the midbass was over ripe.
Thank God for big brothers. Sovtek 12ax7s have never been known for their micro resolution and extension so I asked for a loaner of ecc83 Telefunken Red Tips to match the Telefunken cca's I've got on ready 5. Together the coherence had returned in great measure. As usual, it seems any small change somehow leads to speaker positioning changes. the change in position was pretty drastic. In this system configuration, I ended up totally old school, pretty much rule of thirds, heavy toe in, equilateral triangle. This HF compensation could be in large part due to the fact that the large painting that was in the middle was moved to the stairwell and the room was meant to have a reflective surface there. I'm negotiating for another Lao, same size but more intensely portal like and more pronounced texture.
It was a bear to get the FR linear but it was worth the effort once again. I've been missing the sound of tubes in the main system and the aural intoxication they often bring. I'll post pics soon. No cable elevator jokes please, anybody that makes a crack about my lack of them will be banned from entering our country! Hahahahaha!
I've been fortunate enough to be a regular visitor of this room. Actually, I don't even think I'm considered a visitor. :lol:
Awesome set up.
Jack, I still prefer the control of the M2.2s on the bass module. With the ML 1.1s and M1.2s, seemed a tad tame and lacking the oomph factor. Or have I just gotten spoiled?
Awesome set up.
Jack, I still prefer the control of the M2.2s on the bass module. With the ML 1.1s and M1.2s, seemed a tad tame and lacking the oomph factor. Or have I just gotten spoiled?
Honestly I do too Keith. The bass modules really like power and sweet as the 1.1s are, the 1.2 Refs do have more definition and air.
