Hello WBF members,
My music room had become a bit tired requiring some redecoration and the system had grown over the years into a sprawling giant with tentacles of power cables and such extending left right and centre.
The system was initially set up on a large glass table-top supported by Aurios Pro Max roller bearings with individual components isolated further using a variety of footers. The addition of the SGM 2015 server necessitated an additional plinth in front of the table top and now the whole system was 3 metres into the room from the front wall.
I took the decision to completely reorganise the room including replacing two old windows with double glazed units, therefore keeping the neighbours barbecue noise, barking dogs and clattering kitchen noise out and my music from escaping. I live in a Victorian terraced house in London and outside noise is always a problem, or was.
My idea to place all the audio components on a stand, more for convenience rather than sound quality, led me to investigate numerous manufacturers but many were prohibitively expensive and a few looked decidedly Hi Tech whilst others looked like workbenches and most too small, in that I would require two stands to accommodate my amps. Luckily I came across a Polish manufacturer, Rogoz, who had a stand large enough to take my DIY mono-block tube amps and offered a choice of finishes and custom sizing all at an acceptable price point.
With a few phone calls to the UK distributor, Gpoint audio, I secured a stand, slightly customised, with equal shelf spacing and white gloss shelves with satin black supports and of sufficient top shelf area to take both power amps.
Now, I thought, what other changes could I make to the system/room whilst everything was dismantled and stored in a spare bedroom? Once you start taking your system apart it is amazing how much 'stuff' you accumulate, from all the various cables to endless anti vibration supports and plug in 'doodahs'. My plan started to formulate in my audio addicted brain.
The Avantgarde Duo Omega had simply stood on some BDR cones on carpet which were intended to be temporary when installed 7 years ago. I'd surmised that spiking the Duos to the suspended floorboards, my music room is a bedroom on the 1st floor, would induce vibration into the floor and create a sounding board.
Searching around and having had success with Herbie's Audio Lab products I chose some large threaded gliders for the Duos and non threaded gliders for the Rogoz rack. I'd not intended the rack to be a sound improving item but purely a means of stacking my components so had no qualms about combining additional footers to the rack.
I'd long been an advocate of letting the room sing with the system and creating a synergy of sorts but exposure to my good friend Marc's new loft and his use of acoustic panels led me to purchase some GIK Acoustic Tri-Traps and a few panels for FRPs. I'd known my room had a bass node and some notes would vibrate the whole floor but I got used to that and avoided turning up the EDM to max levels, unless I wanted to burn off some calories.
Fast forward to a completed window installation and repainting and it was time to take delivery of the Rogoz stand. All 125KGs of it! I hadn't expected it to be so heavy, so well made and with exemplary fit and finish. A very impressive stand indeed.
Installation of the Tri-Traps in the room corners looked great, like 2.5m tall subwoofers behind the Duos. White panels at FRPs did not look intrusive on walls and ceiling and all equipment on the stand between the speakers looked tidy and impressive. My only fear was the size of the stand directly between the speakers would impact on sound quality. In actual use it does, compared to the components being at low level, but only to a minor degree and there are other improvements that outweigh the negatives.
The Duos remain in their same position which I found to be ideal in this narrow room and the addition of gliders allows me to now adjust the rake of the speaker and move them more easily to dial into the perfect position. For Duo owners out there, do not rely on the view to the rear bolt/frame as I found this not to be accurate but use a laser alongside the tweeter housing to dial in position, then listen by ear.
Well the musical presentation has changed considerably and I'm slowly adjusting to the wealth of detail I'm now hearing and the bass is tighter, deeper and has more natural impact. Strangely, more bass is being driven into the floorboards but there is less resonance. This is probably the Tri-Traps eliminating the bass nodes and letting the higher frequencies shine.
I'll be honest here, as always, and say it's taking a while to adjust to the new presentation and it will take a while longer to dial in the sound quality to suit my preferences. I prefer an organic, emotional sound to an analytic, accurate one and will take presence over soundstage any day of the week.
I've a few further experimental tweaks to undertake in the coming weeks. I've just ordered some straps to allow me to time align the Duo tweeter and discover what effect this has overall and also have the option to place the top shelf of the Rogoz stand on the Aurios bearings to add additional isolation. I'm a fan of roller bearings but only in conjunction with vertical isolation. I also have one more tricky corner to place a trap into but that may take some imagination.
So, hope you enjoyed my ramble, better than an endless analog/digital debate.
Still some work to do on tweaking the system and room, which I think is a little more lively than previously, but very happy with how it all looks and will do me for some time to come.
Let me know your thoughts, suggestions and questions as I'm willing to try almost anything to improve sound quality still further.
Blue58
ps.the CDs are just for decoration now
My music room had become a bit tired requiring some redecoration and the system had grown over the years into a sprawling giant with tentacles of power cables and such extending left right and centre.
The system was initially set up on a large glass table-top supported by Aurios Pro Max roller bearings with individual components isolated further using a variety of footers. The addition of the SGM 2015 server necessitated an additional plinth in front of the table top and now the whole system was 3 metres into the room from the front wall.
I took the decision to completely reorganise the room including replacing two old windows with double glazed units, therefore keeping the neighbours barbecue noise, barking dogs and clattering kitchen noise out and my music from escaping. I live in a Victorian terraced house in London and outside noise is always a problem, or was.
My idea to place all the audio components on a stand, more for convenience rather than sound quality, led me to investigate numerous manufacturers but many were prohibitively expensive and a few looked decidedly Hi Tech whilst others looked like workbenches and most too small, in that I would require two stands to accommodate my amps. Luckily I came across a Polish manufacturer, Rogoz, who had a stand large enough to take my DIY mono-block tube amps and offered a choice of finishes and custom sizing all at an acceptable price point.
With a few phone calls to the UK distributor, Gpoint audio, I secured a stand, slightly customised, with equal shelf spacing and white gloss shelves with satin black supports and of sufficient top shelf area to take both power amps.
Now, I thought, what other changes could I make to the system/room whilst everything was dismantled and stored in a spare bedroom? Once you start taking your system apart it is amazing how much 'stuff' you accumulate, from all the various cables to endless anti vibration supports and plug in 'doodahs'. My plan started to formulate in my audio addicted brain.
The Avantgarde Duo Omega had simply stood on some BDR cones on carpet which were intended to be temporary when installed 7 years ago. I'd surmised that spiking the Duos to the suspended floorboards, my music room is a bedroom on the 1st floor, would induce vibration into the floor and create a sounding board.
Searching around and having had success with Herbie's Audio Lab products I chose some large threaded gliders for the Duos and non threaded gliders for the Rogoz rack. I'd not intended the rack to be a sound improving item but purely a means of stacking my components so had no qualms about combining additional footers to the rack.
I'd long been an advocate of letting the room sing with the system and creating a synergy of sorts but exposure to my good friend Marc's new loft and his use of acoustic panels led me to purchase some GIK Acoustic Tri-Traps and a few panels for FRPs. I'd known my room had a bass node and some notes would vibrate the whole floor but I got used to that and avoided turning up the EDM to max levels, unless I wanted to burn off some calories.
Fast forward to a completed window installation and repainting and it was time to take delivery of the Rogoz stand. All 125KGs of it! I hadn't expected it to be so heavy, so well made and with exemplary fit and finish. A very impressive stand indeed.
Installation of the Tri-Traps in the room corners looked great, like 2.5m tall subwoofers behind the Duos. White panels at FRPs did not look intrusive on walls and ceiling and all equipment on the stand between the speakers looked tidy and impressive. My only fear was the size of the stand directly between the speakers would impact on sound quality. In actual use it does, compared to the components being at low level, but only to a minor degree and there are other improvements that outweigh the negatives.
The Duos remain in their same position which I found to be ideal in this narrow room and the addition of gliders allows me to now adjust the rake of the speaker and move them more easily to dial into the perfect position. For Duo owners out there, do not rely on the view to the rear bolt/frame as I found this not to be accurate but use a laser alongside the tweeter housing to dial in position, then listen by ear.
Well the musical presentation has changed considerably and I'm slowly adjusting to the wealth of detail I'm now hearing and the bass is tighter, deeper and has more natural impact. Strangely, more bass is being driven into the floorboards but there is less resonance. This is probably the Tri-Traps eliminating the bass nodes and letting the higher frequencies shine.
I'll be honest here, as always, and say it's taking a while to adjust to the new presentation and it will take a while longer to dial in the sound quality to suit my preferences. I prefer an organic, emotional sound to an analytic, accurate one and will take presence over soundstage any day of the week.
I've a few further experimental tweaks to undertake in the coming weeks. I've just ordered some straps to allow me to time align the Duo tweeter and discover what effect this has overall and also have the option to place the top shelf of the Rogoz stand on the Aurios bearings to add additional isolation. I'm a fan of roller bearings but only in conjunction with vertical isolation. I also have one more tricky corner to place a trap into but that may take some imagination.
So, hope you enjoyed my ramble, better than an endless analog/digital debate.
Still some work to do on tweaking the system and room, which I think is a little more lively than previously, but very happy with how it all looks and will do me for some time to come.
Let me know your thoughts, suggestions and questions as I'm willing to try almost anything to improve sound quality still further.
Blue58
ps.the CDs are just for decoration now
