Visit to Marc C.'s (SpiritOfMusic's) House in England

[spiritofmusic]

Keith, this is all room and floor dependent.

I've actually cracked the code in this room. Never could back in London.

Before I could never tune the subs lower than 50Hz, 5/10 level, leading to a certain smearing that overlayed music.

Now, I'm down to 40Hz and 2.5/10, and that smear is gone, full agility in, yet bass energises my room fully.

No, the issue is to as much as possible isolate the Zus from the floor.

You know how I extolled the virtues of Stacore pneumatic/mass isolation taking the floor out of the equation for my tt.

Well, I'm hoping these RevOPods or Gaias do the same thing for my Zus, and take my subs performance to the next level.

 

[microstrip]

Have you thought of adding phenolic resin to the cabinet to reduce vibration

Ked,

Are you becoming a DIY person? There is a great forum called http://www.diyaudio.com/ - I have posted there sometimes a few years ago!

 

[spiritofmusic]

I was thinking of asking Ked to do this for me, but then realised he'd insist in travelling to numerous DIY stores to try out different resins, and even if he found a fantastic resin that was way cheaper than the rest, still wouldnt buy a tin.

 

[infinitely baffled]

I can't help but feel there's some major cognitive dissonance in play

To use a car tuning analogy
One can take a base, or mid range model, throw a tuners catalogue at it and with great expense create something inferior to the range topper.
So the secret of tuning is to start with the best of the breed, and then improve it.
Audio tweaking is analogous to car tuning in this regard

I base this on two observations
The first is to look at your balance sheet. To spend ten times the value of your speakers on tweaks is basically unheard of.
Second is that you have hosted several forum members, all of whom expressed the view that your speakers are holding you back.

Even knowing nothing about your speakers, those two points can add up to a compelling argument.
When i hear you discussing further expense on tweaks my heart sinks for you.
My only logical explanation is that you prefer the journey through tweakland more than you enjoy arriving at the destination of a balanced system. Your exceptionally well-researched tweak threads lend credence to this view, i feel :b

 

[bonzo75]

Ked,

Are you becoming a DIY person? There is a great forum called http://www.diyaudio.com/ - I have posted there sometimes a few years ago!

I was joking because phenolic resin is used in Rockports. And given how much Marc is dodging spending on tweaks he might as well create one

 

[spiritofmusic]

I've spent £20k on my spkrs, and £45k on system accessories.

Which of them should I not have spent on? £15k on cables that I'm confident outperform wire 2-3x the price?
My £4k balanced transformer that wipes the floor w every other conditioner I tried.
£5k on 6 dedicated lines totalling 100m and 6 Fururech duplexes?
£12k on Stacores and Symposium that have transformed my lp listening experience?
£3k spent on an isolated electrical feed and bespoke CU in my room?

Yes, I could in retrospect have passed on £5k+ spent on Entreq, or £1200 on fuses.

Remember, my £45k spend also contributed to the £20k spent on tt, £10k on cdp, £20k on amps.

So £45k optimisation on top of £70k rig doesn't sound out of place.

Or maybe it is, hey ho.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, Sean is on it.

But critically, unlike Rockport etc who look to create the heaviest densest cabinets, Sean is using it sparingly to get weight DOWN, while getting stiffness up.

Now, where are those Rockports Ron asked me to look at? ...

 

[infinitely baffled]

Perhaps i misunderstood. I thought i read that your speakers were 6k?

Anyhoo its probably not my place to comment, and i certainly dont mean to offend

 

[bonzo75]

Perhaps i misunderstood. I thought i read that your speakers were 6k?

Anyhoo its probably not my place to comment, and i certainly dont mean to offend

Yes but the important thing is his 15k cables beat those three times their price. And isolation costs are more than twice the speaker costs.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Gavin, my tt/arm/cart/phono combination cost me £7.5k when I bought it in 2013.

Various mods have taken it to a £22.5k total outlay.

Maybe I should have just sold the rig for £3k and put the £15k of mods budget and bought a s/h SME20 or 30?

Actually, I'm bullish about my decisions, but that's not to say they'd be right for anyone other than me.

Should someone w £40k spkrs spend £60k plus on Troy Elite? Someone on WBF has.
And he's probably getting massive added value.
But wouldn't selling those Rockports and putting the Troy budget twds next Rockport model up in the line have made more sense? You tell me.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Gavin, no offense taken. Zu has zero rep on this forum, and I'm fighting a losing battle to even say they're worth getting out of the shipping cartons LOL.

No, they cost me £15k back in the day, and I've upgraded caps, resistors, internal Hypex amps and Lundahls transformers.

And IMHO they're competitive w spkrs at 2x the cost.

We're cool Gavin.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, we're really down to cost ratio to justify things? You buy your Schopper 124 for £3k. And you find 3 Giant Mooks and a Mook Ebony shelf boosts it no end. Now you've spent £13k, maybe £20k. And you should be criticised for this?

 

[bonzo75]

Ked, we're really down to cost ratio to justify things? You buy your Schopper 124 for £3k. And you find 3 Giant Mooks and a Mook Ebony shelf boosts it no end. Now you've spent £13k, maybe £20k. And you should be criticised for this?

Sorry, massive misrepresentation. Try again

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ked, the good news is, I don't have to.

 

[KeithR]

Yes but the important thing is his 15k cables beat those three times their price. And isolation costs are more than twice the speaker costs.

Lol. Trios w/ basshorns with zip cord on hockey pucks vs. $11k Zus w/ $25k on cabling and isolation, ground boxes, etc.

I think the issue is that Marc has done most of this incrementally of the years and its spiraled.

 

[KeithR]

Gavin, no offense taken. Zu has zero rep on this forum, and I'm fighting a losing battle to even say they're worth getting out of the shipping cartons LOL.

I think you like to believe this - but to be honest the rest of the forum doesn't care one way or another about Zu.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Hey Keith, that's fine, and I'm sure you're right.

Ron started this thread on his visit here without my prior knowledge, and it was a lovely surprise. And it was hard for me to not take it forward talking about my system and my choices. But yes, I'm under no illusions Zu are best suited to NWBF ie Not What's Best Forum.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Keith, I find it totally illuminating that the guys w Tidal, and EA, and Wilsons get no criticism for spending stupid amounts on cables, isolation, grounding etc. But a satisfied user of a £20k spkr who has eeked out extra performance, and hasn't felt the need to jump ship just yet, is up for skeptical criticism.

Since I haven't found many if any spkrs at £40k that beat my Zus, and the rest of my system outperforms at it's price point, we're now saying £50k spent on ancillisries is a totally skewed choice? Really?

 

[spiritofmusic]

And of course now I'm regretting being quite so open on here w my spending choices. Maybe I should be as opaque as most other members.

 

[spiritofmusic]

If anyone's interested, I'll get back here w results on a possible Arya Audio RevOPods v IsoAcoustics Gaias trial under my Zus.