Jeff's New Music Room, the Return of Jeffrey_t

Hello All!
Due to some welcome and overdue forum changes, I'm happy to return and share my new music room and system. I'll be using my Audiogon user name going forward. Over the last year I built a dedicated room on my property, my last room was a converted garage. This room has the following features:

-Dedicated lines with 10 awg copper wire and separate ground
-Shear walls all around
-Quite Rock II drywall
-Blue Jeans insulation
-Wood roof with slightly uneven rafters to break up the reflections
-Custom built record rack behind the listening position that acts as a giant diffuser
-Bathroom/utility room for record cleaning

The system has also been updated, as I've sold all of the Lamm gear. The major focus of the system is to capitalize on the new quite dedicated lines and have a zero hum system. You can put your ear up to the midrange horn and hear nothing. I listen to 90% analog so the heart of the system is the PBN Garrard 401 which continues to be a stellar performer, I really can't think of another turntable I would want. My new phono stage is the phenomenal Aurorasound Vida Supreme. It is extremely musical, flexible, dynamic, and silent. With some help from two WBF members (thanks @Al M. and @KeithR) digital streaming has been added to the system, really great for rock and finding new music. Blue Node streamer and Schitt Yiggy DAC are a lot of fun to mess with. I've also added a TVC to the system (thanks @213Cobra), the very musical Luxman AT-3000. It also helps with the theme of silent and black backgrounds. Two SET amps give different flavors, 2 watt 45 for clarity and 8 watt 300B for added warmth. Full system list:

-PBN Garrard 401
-LDA Turntable Power Supply
-SME 3012R x 2
-VDH Colibri Stradivarius
-Ortofon SPU A95
-Aurorasound Vida Supreme Phono
-Blue Node Streamer
-Schitt Yiggdrasil LIM
-Yamamoto 45
-Xaio Nan 300B hand made mono blocks
-JBL Hartsfield

Here are some pictures of the project:

 

My crossover process has made a step forward as I received the crossovers yesterday. Made true to the original schematic but with modern parts. I’ll install them this week. Fingers crossed!

 

And so it begins….

 

I’m regrilling the Hartsfields and will have to listen to them like this for a while. So far the crossover sounds f’ing fantastic!!

 

I’m regrilling the Hartsfields and will have to listen to them like this for a while. So far the crossover sounds f’ing fantastic!!

View attachment 108719

Sometimes the folks on diyaudio are inclined to argue that part quality doesn't really matter. Fortunately there are enough people out there who know that is absolutely not true.

Congrats on the great outcome!

 

My crossover process has made a step forward as I received the crossovers yesterday. Made true to the original schematic but with modern parts. I’ll install them this week. Fingers crossed!

View attachment 108628

Also, what's the black "goo" covering all your solder connections? I'm moving a system down to Panamá eventually and could see that helping with oxidation issues in this climate.

 

Also, what's the black "goo" covering all your solder connections? I'm moving a system down to Panamá eventually and could see that helping with oxidation issues in this climate.

The crossover designer puts black tar everywhere to stop corrosion and keep it stable shipping. It's a little over the top if you ask me but I cannot fault the sound.

 

Hopefully I remember how to put them back together!

 

So I finally have impactful bass from these speakers. I removed the old crossovers, plugged the holes with plywood and rubber weather sealant and resealed the back chamber. That and the new crossovers yielded real results. I always had “tuneful” bass but not bass you could feel.

Now I do!

 

View attachment 109153
So I finally have impactful bass from these speakers. I removed the old crossovers, plugged the holes with plywood and rubber weather sealant and resealed the back chamber. That and the new crossovers yielded real results. I always had “tuneful” bass but not bass you could feel.

Now I do!

Nice progress Jeff. The holes to which you refer and sealed, are they the rectangular hole on the narrow rear section and also the round hole on the horizontal platform just to the right of the compression driver in the photo? Where is the new crossover located?

 

Started traveling again for work a little and got back into my old routine of spending a half day record shopping. It was a great haul.

 

New power supplies from Steve Dobbins for my idlers. Excellent stability.

 

Beautiful room Jeff. Thanks for posting the build progress.

Seeing the back of the speakers reminded me of the smugged black appearance of a pair of Folded Corner Horns I built in the mid 70s. They were black and showed every dust and dirt spot. My wife hated them and was so happy the day they went away.

I'm sure you will have many hours of enjoyment in your new room.

 

Beautiful room Jeff. Thanks for posting the build progress.

Seeing the back of the speakers reminded me of the smugged black appearance of a pair of Folded Corner Horns I built in the mid 70s. They were black and showed every dust and dirt spot. My wife hated them and was so happy the day they went away.

I'm sure you will have many hours of enjoyment in your new room.

Thank you. The back of the Hartsfields are pretty ugly, the front however is beautifully midcentery modern.

 

Experimenting with the Ion horn tweeters this weekend. Too early to tell but I might be writing my friend Jim a check.

 

Experimenting with the Ion horn tweeters this weekend. Too early to tell but I might be writing my friend Jim a check.

View attachment 110946

Can you take a picture of the back of the tweeter too? Curious about its filtering/crossover circuitry (or lack thereof)

 

 

Another new toy: Icon 4 Pro with Slagle Autoformers. Essentially a poor man’s Emia. How did I live without a remote?

 

Here’s a picture of the completed restoration of my 1959 JBL Hartsfields reassembled with period correct grills in place. A quick recap of what was done:

-Taken apart and reassembled
-All wood cleaned and oiled
-New crossovers using the original design but with modern, high quality caps.
-Cabinets resealed
-New grills

Very happy with how this project has turned out. Better sound, better efficiency, and better looks…what more could you ask for?

 

Congratulations, Jeff! It looks great!

 

Congratulations, Jeff! It looks great!

Thanks Ron. The sounds was pretty poor when @bonzo75 and you visited a few years ago. If you choose to visit again, I think that you'll think the sound is much improved.