My happy place

[LL21]

I run them fed from the 610t's. They have the ability to be controlled much better. When I tried line level the controls on each sub was maybe 25% as effective as the speaker lever control.

It always seemed to me that having the signal that fed the main speakers would be better to feed the subs. Just more cohesive.

I have often heard the same...REL i believe design their subs that way.

 

[LL21]

And it goes without saying...but I'll say it just the same...stunning room!

 

[microstrip]

Nice Brad , I hope all is well already w/ the REF610T , love those amps , mine are not leaving anytime soon . I hope you were able to try KT120’s w/ your REF 610T . Love your room Brad .

I think the early model needs a small hardware modification in order to accept the KT120's.

 

[tdh888]

When I first built the room it was on the same AC system as the main floor and our bedroom. I would need to make the house be penguin temperature.

When we built a new master bedroom addition to the house I was able to make it a 2 zone, 2 thermostat system that a damper system would direct 90 percent of the cool air to the music room. When I did the calculations I need just over 1Ton of cooling to offset the tubes heat to say nothing of the environmental and human effect. The system is a 2 Ton unit.

Others have asked what our electric bill is like. I designed and built the house. It is 4800 sq ft and our electric bill averages $160 per month here in Florida. We do have gas point of use water heaters cook top but the house is well insulated.

Hi Brad ,
Thanks for the reply regarding the electric bill , here in the Philippines , I only listen to my system twice a week ( using the REF610T ) , 4 hours at the most / session and our electric bill almost the same . In my dedicated room I’m using a 1 1/2 ton Split type inverter type AC w/c is up to the job . In our country since it’s the tropics AC is mandatory for listening and in our master’s bedroom and my children’s room .
If you listen to your system Brad everyday for more than 2 hours a day and still your bill is $160 a month I envy you.

 

[tdh888]

I think the early model needs a small hardware modification in order to accept the KT120's.

Hi Brad ,

The modifications done is they lowered the operating voltage from 420V to 390 V . They also added a couple of resistor underneath the board were power tubes are installed . It was not a big modification accdg to my tech . Mine were updated to use the KT120’s using the ARC Kit , but it was done by the ARC dealer in the Philippines

 

[kach22i]

I have an Electrical Engineer friend that mods and rebuilds every piece of equipment he comes near. He brought 2 of them over for me to try and I was surprised at the detail it added to the system.
They are plastic Martini Glasses without the bottom. They are glued to foam core and I then painted them to my preferred color.

I like the idea, and that it works, but yes scary looking.

Bravo on your room and setup.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Stunning room, well done! Can you educate me on your listening chair please.

 

[brad225]

Stunning room, well done! Can you educate me on your listening chair please.

The chair is manufactured by Vanguard. The model is Woodley Recliner.
We have 2 of these chairs in our living room and they are quite comfortable. I told my wife I was going to purchase another along with an extra cow hide to match the leather so I could take it apart and create a head rest and also build a foot stool.
When I explained to her that I needed a chair that would not reflect sound waves back at my ears she laughed at me and of corse you do.


This is what the chair looked like when I purchased it.

 

[brad225]

I took the chair apart and reframed the inside to have only a head rest and took it and the foot stool to an upholster to reinstall the leather. The first upholster did a horrible job so I took it to a second one to reupholster the reupholster then gave him the foot stool.

If there is anything else I can tell you Hi-FiGuy let me know.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

I took the chair apart and reframed the inside to have only a head rest and took it and the foot stool to an upholster to reinstall the leather. The first upholster did a horrible job so I took it to a second one to reupholster the reupholster then gave him the foot stool.

If there is anything else I can tell you Hi-FiGuy let me know.

1. If that is your shop I am super jealous over the drum sander in the background.
2. You should contact the chair manufacturer and have them produce the Woodley Recliner Audiophile Edition with royalties to you of course.
3. I love it job well done.
4. Did you use the original recliner foot section as the foot stool or is that still intact and built a separate foot stool?
5. I took some stones to cut up a 4k + recliner.

 

[brad225]

1. If that is your shop I am super jealous over the drum sander in the background.
2. You should contact the chair manufacturer and have them produce the Woodley Recliner Audiophile Edition with royalties to you of course.
3. I love it job well done.
4. Did you use the original recliner foot section as the foot stool or is that still intact and built a separate foot stool?
5. I took some stones to cut up a 4k + recliner.

I think the chair was about $2,400 including the extra cow hide to match the chair.

They build the chair to order so I would think they would build it with the head rest for less than the $2,400 I paid.


Thanks, it is my shop. I have done custom woodwork for 40+ years. Antique restoration and reproduction furniture.

I don't use the drum sander a lot but when it is needed it is priceless.

The foot section of the original is still functional.

 

[Woofer and Tweet]

"Welcome to the camp, I guess you all know why we're here."

I'm with Ron; love this.

 

[brad225]

I decided to eliminate the 8M interconnects between the pre and amps and move the pre and DAC to the front of the room. I replaced the long interconnects with 10M of fiber between the PlayBack Designs Stream IF and the MPS-5. I did DIY OCC star quad cables that are under 2M.
The image and detail is much better than I would have expected.
The rest of the front end is where it use to be on a single level.
I still need to build an 8M power cable to get the filtered power from the rest of the front end to it new position at the front of the room.

 

[Gregadd]

Much lip service is given to the idea of multiple subs.
At your connivence can you describe how you implemented them in your system?

 

[Ron Resnick]

What a beautiful system and a beautiful room! High power tubes on MartinLogan! I love it!

 

[Gregadd]

I have not heard it, but I would award it bucket system status. .

 

[brad225]

Thanks for the positive comments guys. I respect both of your knowledge.

 

[brad225]

Hi Greg,

I started with 2 subs and didn't think it properly blended with the sound in the room. When I purchased the other 2, I started with one of them in my listening chair and did the sub crawl around the room. The 4 best places were approximately the center of the front, back and side walls. At about 14" off the wall.

They were like that for a number of years while I was sending them their signal from my preamp. I sent right and left signals to the closest sub and then a mono signal to the others.

In the last year I decided to go to sending their signal to them via speaker cable from the power amps. With that I moved the sub that was at the back of the room to the front and located them partially behind the main speakers.
From there I ran a cable to the left and right side wall subs ending up with 2 left and 2 right subs.

I had previously found that sending the same signal to the subs as the main speakers received made for better integration and adjustments on the subs controls when I had Vandersteen subs in a previous system.

The sub adjustments is quite time consuming with 4 of them though.
I started with 0 phase and one at a time adjusted them to 90 degrees out of phase, then 180 and finally 270. Which ever sounds best I would move to the next sub and settings. When you throw in the crossover point, then ability to make slight + - db change above and below 25Htz and then volume settings it takes a while to get things where you like the sound.

The last time I had my EE friend check their response with his equipment there was a slight bump in the lower frequency. After an hour or so changing settings we discovered the settings were fine but the left sub was 4" farther away from the left main than the right side. We moved it and ended up with an amazing smooth graph. We were both quite surprised that the 4" made that big a difference.

I hope that answers your question. If not, feel free to ask and hopefully I can answer the questions.

 

[Gregadd]

Excellent work my friend. enjoy the music.

 

[dgale]

This is the result of years of trying different options not unlike everyone here.

I truly believe I can live out my life without changing equipment short of something self destructing.

I chose a monochromatic room to not have distractions and the greens as I find them relaxing.



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Lovely. Custom rack?