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

[spiritofmusic]

...and another epiphany
You have your epiphanies almost weekly lately

You should try it Christoph, stops you getting jaded. My tweaking is audio Viagra (no sniggering at the back of the class!).

I look fwds to you posting the same comment to Mike Lavigne. He has his fair share of epiphanies too.

 

[cjfrbw]

...and another epiphany
You have your epiphanies almost weekly lately

An epiphany a day keeps nervosa away.

 

[spiritofmusic]

I actually have epiphanies going from one disc to the next. A cd player that in a recent A/B of the modded version, beat the top Dcs Vivaldi stack...the Vivaldi owner was VERY suprised. I'm very content there.

My tt has taken a ton of wrangling to get it to sing, and a tuneful presentation is the result. High torque rim drive and air bearing LT w bespoke LPSd Straingauge cart on a SOTA pneumatic/mass loading isolation platform, makes for a totally compelling take on vinyl.

Quibbles on my Nat amps mainly banished w optimal preamp tubes and the serendipity of Tubulus DB25 cbls has totally cemented my love for one of the more unique triodes sounds available.

And my Zus have outgrown their previous Cinderella status to be a real catwalk model. I am gobsmacked at how neutral and transparent they have evolved from humble beginnings.

The room remains the lottery win upgrade, and for this I must be grateful Ra pushed me to sign the papers.

She's never seen me happier re my music.

Enough epiphanies, y'all?

 

[spiritofmusic]

Have the opportunity to commission a bespoke high quality tt speed controller/LPS plus nr silent smooth air pump for my LT arm. Would replace the bare basic items I currently use.

This would take me from average +/-0.3% speed stability and not ideal speed drift, to closer to 0.01%, and critically better average speed stability over longer periods of time.

Silent air pump means I'll be able to house gubbins nearer my rack, so using one of my dedicated lines, and critically smoother air flow should help w all aspects of LT arm performance.

I'm excited for the promise here. My tt and arm at $3k 2013 prices, were undoubtedly built to a price point, w none of the advantages that a bigger brand could create. They were after all built by one guy in his shed over a decade period ripping apart various Michells and Garrard and Lencos to end up w his overperforming creations.

Speed controller/air pump are the last areas on my analog rig that can be uprated, after all the other mods I've done incl magnetic isolating platter and feet, Reso Pods to platter, bespoke LPS to Straingauge, and the big move to Stacore/slate stand uber isolation.

Hoping these final upgrades come to reality. Because then the new Zu Definitions 6 beckon.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Visited a super friendly audiophile in NLondon to hear his system for the second time. Electrocompaniet cdp and power amps, Lamm pre, Wilson standmounts. Shedload of pricey cbls, pwr treatments and tweaks.

First visit some months ago was interesting but hints that the system had greater scope to improve. Agile, but a tad thin thru lower mids into bass.

Ever the tinkerer, he's installed a new cryo'd specialist consumer unit and howser-like mains power cbl from CU to his conditioners/socket set. Plus some other changes.

Visited yday. Way improved, esp in the areas of density and fullness. Mids now full and palpable, bass more extended and solid.

Critically the sound now saturated his room and hence the sound locked in. Altogether a boosted sound, undoubtedly superior.

And a great advert for a system-wide major optimisation paying off big time w no need to tear up the formula of gear synergy.

Backs up my decision a few years ago to keep the core DNA of my choices and open up performance and nail synergy via whole system optimizations.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Finally got around to a job I'd been meaning to do forever, but always slipped behind.

Other than more dedicated acoustic treatments on the walls (which I'm really not sure I need), the remaining area in room to address has been the access hatchway in the floor behind my rack, centrally by the front wall.

Basically it's been an enclosed, but empty 49" x 29" x 19" void. Boarded off from the rest of the floor structure which does have acoustic insulation laid in it.

So yday, in went a packet of Rockwool acoustic foam. And then the listening started.

Firstly, this is good for Ra downstairs. She can be insulated from my more anti social music choices ("any more Rush, Magma or Albert Ayler, darling?").

Secondly, there's a definite uptick. I only did one ABA comparison, because this stuff is toxic to keep moving around.

But my current conclusion is of a certain solidifying of sound. Bass seems fuller and warmer, and critically, treble seems a little more defined. My timbral accuracy uptick, biggest boost from listening in this room, is thankfully unaffected.

What's most intriguing is a perceptible shoring up of imaging. Almost as if a centre speaker is installed in 3-channel stereo. That central image feels way more secure, and there is a real boost to depth of soundstaging as well.

The sound way more tangible, I guess.

All in all a hugely positive use of £50.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Yep Lagonda, I've lost more than £50 on carriage costs of trials that didn't work out. This one is slam dunk.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Just spoken to Audiophile Bill about this fascinating uptick. He's confirmed it's in effect a mega bass trap. Lord knows the suckout before, plus 2-way ingress/egress of noise wrt main living space the hatchway opens into.

Impvt in SQ really satisfying, making this the biggest bang for $/€/£/¥ I've ever done. It's in effect "completed" the room positives that became apparent on first listen here in the new room just over 3 yrs ago.

I'm kinda glad I didn't do this at the start, the room as is has been the backdrop to more and more definitive and drastic changes (and some that were deffo poorer too, not kept). I actually like the fact that I'm more and more able to gauge big upswings...the room makes this so much easier. And so, really rewarding and yet another buzz to get a significant change this late into my project. And further proof that the room is literally, and metaphorically, the bricks and mortar that makes my SQ.

This fantastic impvt in imaging, esp central image, and layering, is totally welcome, complementing the timbral accuracy revelation I've hugely enjoyed in the last few months.

Corona issues not withstanding, gonna visit UK Paul v soon, and catch up w his journey and solutions, and hopefully get a very useful compare to my sound.

 

[spiritofmusic]

I'm gonna call this upgrade my "Corona special". First because it coincides w this period. And also since my income will be severly restricted for a few months at least, £50 is all I can countenance throwing as a non essential spend Lol.

And WHAT an upgrade. This I was not prepared for.

Total and across the board. Uptick doesn't cover it. More like every box ticked multiple times. And boxes I didn't even know were unticked are now sorted.

Looks like I've effectively been running a Helmholtz radiator w this 12 sq ft floor void. But either unneeded, or resonating at the wrong freq.

So, several days in, the giant leap to greater reality has been bounded. Bass is hugely more extended and articulate, knock on effect higher up the spectrum.

Texture and air is off the scale. With greater solidity comes greater reverb, filigree note trails, and shimmer. And this is just helping reveal so many more cues, making live albums especially way more realistic, and hugely boosting the enjoyment of acoustic material w lots of ambient info on classical and jazz.

Critically, none of these is at the expense of introducing wispiness or lack of PRaT. Vividness not at the expense of insight or fidelity.

And further irrefutable evidence that room acoustics is the big limiting factor. If you could have demonstated that my willing but limited sound in my old room could become this, I'd have bitten your arm off.

So, as Corona puts a dampener on things, and critically totally restricts my wriggle room re system sound, I've hit on a true eureka moment. And one that completes the acoustics picture started 3.5 years ago when we got our builders to carve out this space and I switched the system on, non optimised after 12 months in boxes.

At least I'll have one extremely happy memory of this Corona downer.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Indeed on the Helmholtz Resonator idea, maybe a 7000 cub ft audio room linking via a 12 cub ft void directly to a 20,000 cub ft room below, only seperated by two pieces of 48"x24" ply, was never a great idea.

 

[spiritofmusic]

A couple of things today, in btwn bouts of real anxiety re my business and Covid-19.

First, I've ended up reintroducing the vinyl periphery ring and lp weight to my rig. Had a real hard time deciding previously whether they worked, and decided reluctantly (ie £400 wasted funds) that they just didn't cut the mustard.

But today, I've played a couple of different vinyl pressings of Bartok/Concerto For Orchestra, and finding using the ring and weight again has helped articulation into the low end of things. Better differentiation of cello and bass, greater impact on orchestral snare drum. Just better perception of things like plucking technique that can easily evade my noticing.

Again, critical these don't detract from the big picture. PeterA says that his removal of layers of tweaks etc has led to a more natural, less forensically highlighted sound. Me, I'm finding the room and this final floor acoustics install has upped the ante allowing my careful use of tweaks to get me to greater levels of enjoyment.

I've always wanted classical to "reveal" itself more to me. That's happening in very significant ways now. And using again the ring and weight is adding to the holistic effect.

The other fascinating conclusion I'm drawing is how my tastes and benchmarks are shifting sharply w my changes, way closer to how other really synergistically put together rigs do. That is, revealing how challenged a lot of my core genre records are, and how much enjoyment is to be derived by that part of my collection which had always failed to fully engage me ie classical, jazz and vocals.

So my beloved prog and fusion is still a riot to listen to, but I'm now way more aware of shortcomings in pressings and masterings. And critically, I'm now getting fantastic enjoyment from those few hundred albums I easily passed over even 6 months ago.

This is such a bonus late in my taking up this hobby, I can't tell you how much.

 

[Uk Paul]

Marc, I always prefer to use my Micro Seiki bronze ring citing the improvements you have detected on yours. Occasionally there is an LP that is slightly larger in diameter so the ring cant be used ( John Barry - Raise the Titanic soundtrack was the recent example) so I should find a safe way of adjusting these..
I do hope your appointments continue enough to manage..

 

[spiritofmusic]

Hi Paul. Well, it was a mixed bag at best, but the ring/weight combination is really working positively now. This increase in basslines leading edge definition, but not truncating bloom or decay, is really adding to the whole illusion of realism.

If anything really struggled in my old space, it was dialling bass in, from woolly sounding analog, to bloated imprecise Zus, and the aggressiveness of room reflections.

With all these sorted, I'm being rewarded w some of the best bass I've heard in any system. And the ring/weight are making a notable contribution to this eleventh hour uptick.

Ron Carter's upright bass on my US first pressing of Miles Davis "Sorcerer" is fully fleshed out, but not smudging w Herbie Hancock's piano, as it has done in the past (aware now in retrospect). Tony Williams kick drum much better defined too.

 

[spiritofmusic]

So, just finished back to back listens on Bartok/Concert For Orchestra lps.
Von Karajan DG 1966, and Boulez CBS 1973.

The DG seems more dynamic, more contrasts in orchestral shifts. The CBS seems warmer and more tone dense. Both identical on timbral realism. Both engrossing in their own ways.

Before recent changes to my system, the DG was a bit sharp and etched, and the CBS was woolly and shut in.
Now I'm hearing thru the productions a lot more easily and getting totally different perspectives on the composition. And only as a result of room and system optimisation coming together fully.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Well, fourth week of UK lockdown, and it's not totally unpleasant. Distancing is easy here, w houses 30 ft apart, and a creekside walk as far as the eye can see w noone around. And isolation easy to take w unlimited beer on tap, the only characters breaking quarantine being our "home invaders" swans and ducks.

Go back to live in London? Ah, no.

The other part of the equation is music up in the loft, and changes I made just prior and since lockdown have totally expanded on and cemented a sound that I am beyond happy on.

I'm voraciously going thru all my classical and jazz lps I'd got out of the habit of listening to, so transformed is my sound twds neutral, open and clear.

So, epiphany one was filling my floor hatchway void w acoustic rockwool blocking a possible Helmholtz Resonator effect from the massive connecting space downstairs...maybe not dissimilar from sorting chimney issues.

And I've also done a weird throw of the dice idea of taking my lp periphery ring back into use, but not on my vinyl as is the proper use, but on the platter below (my lps sit 0.5cm above platter level on Delrin pods, and now the rings sits on the platter under my lps in the gap afforded by the pods. Lp weight used as per normal.

Blocking the void literally filled out imaging and staging in my room to a level I could never have imagined, w bass heft increased w proportionate increase in control.

Evident on lower piano registers and ability to seperate those registers from kick drum, stand up bass, cello etc. Music way more articulate all the way down, and solid bloom into the room is stupendous. Running thru my Ornette Coleman Atlantic label lps, and Eric Dolphy has been a total rediscovery.

The trick w lp ring which is adding 2.5kg to my 9kg platter, is contributing to more attack and bite in my presentation. This apparent higher up the spectrum. Playing some Borodin string qts and symphonies, there's a real energy to the playback that is making classical really communicative and enjoyable. The total effect is another big step fwds and tbh I feel totally at ease w the sound, super fortunate I can enjoy such an immersive sound in this weird period.

One extremely happy listener and audiophile.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Acoustics, even 3 yrs into the new space, acoustics can really suprise.
So, settled on what appeared to be my final Zus sub settings 6 months ago. After 12 years of endless tinkering.

However after the epiphany a few wks back of filling the hatchway void w Rockwool acoustic foam, and the radical boost to solidity and bass energy in the room, it's just become apparent that bass was just a little too hot from my Zus.
Didn't take long to settle on the new Zus subs setting. Used John Coltrane "Ole" lp, "Dahomeys Dance" w twin acoustic bass...I find acoustic bass better for these purposes than electric/amplified bass or synth/bass pedals. More articulation and interplay w kick drum, lower registers of piano and horns.

So, mucked about by taking the level down to zero, and upped subs output until articulation and bloom just kicked in. And no more.

Settled on sticking w 41Hz xd from full range drivers, level down from 5/10 to 3.7. And that twin bass articulation thing is sweet, natural bloom, and further level less bloat obscuring micro detail.

More fun in Covid trying times. And cheap! Great when you have zero income for weeks running.

 

[Grady98]

Well, fourth week of UK lockdown, and it's not totally unpleasant. Distancing is easy here, w houses 30 ft apart, and a creekside walk as far as the eye can see w noone around. And isolation easy to take w unlimited beer on tap, the only characters breaking quarantine being our "home invaders" swans and ducks.

Go back to live in London? Ah, no.

The other part of the equation is music up in the loft, and changes I made just prior and since lockdown have totally expanded on and cemented a sound that I am beyond happy on.

I'm voraciously going thru all my classical and jazz lps I'd got out of the habit of listening to, so transformed is my sound twds neutral, open and clear.

So, epiphany one was filling my floor hatchway void w acoustic rockwool blocking a possible Helmholtz Resonator effect from the massive connecting space downstairs...maybe not dissimilar from sorting chimney issues.

And I've also done a weird throw of the dice idea of taking my lp periphery ring back into use, but not on my vinyl as is the proper use, but on the platter below (my lps sit 0.5cm above platter level on Delrin pods, and now the rings sits on the platter under my lps in the gap afforded by the pods. Lp weight used as per normal.

Blocking the void literally filled out imaging and staging in my room to a level I could never have imagined, w bass heft increased w proportionate increase in control.

Evident on lower piano registers and ability to seperate those registers from kick drum, stand up bass, cello etc. Music way more articulate all the way down, and solid bloom into the room is stupendous. Running thru my Ornette Coleman Atlantic label lps, and Eric Dolphy has been a total rediscovery.

The trick w lp ring which is adding 2.5kg to my 9kg platter, is contributing to more attack and bite in my presentation. This apparent higher up the spectrum. Playing some Borodin string qts and symphonies, there's a real energy to the playback that is making classical really communicative and enjoyable. The total effect is another big step fwds and tbh I feel totally at ease w the sound, super fortunate I can enjoy such an immersive sound in this weird period.

One extremely happy listener and audiophile.

Marc,

Wonderful you are getting reaquainted with some great music. I’ve done much the same. I store my vinyl alphabetically and have started a system of listening in order. I started with the A’s and 200 lps later have reached the D’s.

It made me realize how much great music I have not listened to in a long time - it also makes selecting a lot easier!

Jerry

 

[Tango]

Acoustics, even 3 yrs into the new space, acoustics can really suprise.
So, settled on what appeared to be my final Zus sub settings 6 months ago. After 12 years of endless tinkering.

However after the epiphany a few wks back of filling the hatchway void w Rockwool acoustic foam, and the radical boost to solidity and bass energy in the room, it's just become apparent that bass was just a little too hot from my Zus.
Didn't take long to settle on the new Zus subs setting. Used John Coltrane "Ole" lp, "Dahomeys Dance" w twin acoustic bass...I find acoustic bass better for these purposes than electric/amplified bass or synth/bass pedals. More articulation and interplay w kick drum, lower registers of piano and horns.

So, mucked about by taking the level down to zero, and upped subs output until articulation and bloom just kicked in. And no more.

Settled on sticking w 41Hz xd from full range drivers, level down from 5/10 to 3.7. And that twin bass articulation thing is sweet, natural bloom, and further level less bloat obscuring micro detail.

More fun in Covid trying times. And cheap! Great when you have zero income for weeks running.

This is not teasing you Marc. I really did not know the meaning of the word "epiphany" until I met you here in this forum. You broke my virginity of "epiphany."

 

[Lagonda]

Acoustics, even 3 yrs into the new space, acoustics can really suprise.
So, settled on what appeared to be my final Zus sub settings 6 months ago. After 12 years of endless tinkering.

However after the epiphany a few wks back of filling the hatchway void w Rockwool acoustic foam, and the radical boost to solidity and bass energy in the room, it's just become apparent that bass was just a little too hot from my Zus.
Didn't take long to settle on the new Zus subs setting. Used John Coltrane "Ole" lp, "Dahomeys Dance" w twin acoustic bass...I find acoustic bass better for these purposes than electric/amplified bass or synth/bass pedals. More articulation and interplay w kick drum, lower registers of piano and horns.

So, mucked about by taking the level down to zero, and upped subs output until articulation and bloom just kicked in. And no more.

Settled on sticking w 41Hz xd from full range drivers, level down from 5/10 to 3.7. And that twin bass articulation thing is sweet, natural bloom, and further level less bloat obscuring micro detail.

More fun in Covid trying times. And cheap! Great when you have zero income for weeks running.

This is not teasing you Marc. I really did not know the meaning of the word "epiphany" until I met you here in this forum. You broke my virginity of "epiphany."

Marc truly is the King of epiphanies

 

[bonzo75]

Marc truly is the King of epiphanies

He is multi ephiphanic.