Second Space

 

 

 

 

 

Second Space
System configuration

Support: Equipment Rack Rolanstar TVS-130 TV Stand & a Monoprice Monolith 4 Tier Shelf	Turntable Micro-Seiki DD-30 (vintage 1977) In CLOSET	Cartridge Monster Cable Sigma Genesis 2000 (vintage 1989)
Loudspeakers Acora Acoustic MRB-1 or B&W Matrix 1 (1984 with vdH cable upgrades) OR Von Schweikert Audio VR-1 (2006 with rebuilt upgraded X-Overs)	Line Stage Fosi ZP3 Linestage or Channel Islands Audio PLC•1 Mk II with VAC 1 Supply	Interconnects Audience OHNO RCA
Subwoofers/Stereo Pair L – Mirage FRx-S10 R – Monoprice SUB-122BL Yes, different models	Phono Stage MoFi MasterPhono OR Channel Islands Audio PEQ•1 Mk II with AC-15 MKII Supply	Power Amplifiers Fosi Audio V3 Monos With Sparkos SS3602 Discret Op-Amp upgrades
Support: Speaker standsPlateau ST-24 StandsFilled with a mixture ofsand and lead shot	Streamer WiiM Pro Plus Using Roon  DACs Fosi Q6/w Sparkos SS3602 Discrete Op-Amps OR S.M.S.L SU-1	Loudspeaker Cables Audience OHNO (1.5M) or SoundString Gen II (8 ft.)

System Description

My original plan was to populate my home’s living room with much more affordable, real-world products, while still creating engaging sound. However, given my passion and flirtation with audio products from all flights of accomplishment, the product mix has grown to include better and better still, products that I have accumulated, or that have come in for my audition and become fixtures.

I had originally configured this system at the other end of my living room, integrating it with the fireplace hearth. But as fall and the cooler weather approached last fall, I wanted to reclaim the fireplace, so my mischievous Great Dane (Stella) and I could enjoy its benefits. So, this is where I landed…

My “Second Space” is set up in my 22-foot, 2-inch-long by 13-foot, 7-inch-wide, and 8-foot-tall living room. And I’m not sure that you may have recognized that those remarkable dimensions make this room an almost perfect golden rectangular space!

The golden rectangle has a ratio of 1:1.618, which Euclid first codified as the “extreme and mean ratio” in his mathematical work, “Elements,” about 300 BCE. This ratio appears routinely in nature in patterns of growth, the spirals of shells, and in proportions, like the human body and animal horns.

Examining my room’s dimensions reveals these ratios…
Length (21.16666 feet)/width (13.58333 feet) = ~ 1:1.56
Width (13.58333 feet)/Height (8 feet) = ~ 1:1.7

I’m using a surprisingly affordable (~$140) Rolanstar TVS-020-V2-BK130 LED-lit TV-Audio combo-stand. Because the Rolanstar stand is built to support a large flat screen, after installing a Samsung sixty-inch HDTV, there just wasn’t the space available to install the turntable system.

So, my Monoprice Monopole 4-shelf rack was placed INSIDE the coat closet, just to the left of the main system location (see slider photos at the bottom of this page), and just beside the home’s front door. This was SUCH a perfect solution that it is almost funny…because the isolation and convenience this option provides is just perfect. 

The analog front end for this system includes a vintage Micro-Seiki DD-30 I recently acquired for $250. It is fitted with a vintage Monster Cable Sigma Genesis 2000 MC cartridge that I bought on closeout in the late 1980s for $650. This amazing cartridge features a Boron cantilever and microline stylus and was designed for Monster by Hisayoshi Nakatsuka, now the president and designer at ZYX!

Centered on the top shelf of the stand is the $200 Fosi ZP3 balanced line stage. I’m using a one-meter set of balanced Audience frontRow ($3,800/pr.) to connect its balanced output to the fully balanced Fosi Audio V3 amplifiers. A Samsung Tablet sits on top, as a monitor for my video security system.

To the left on that shelf is the overachieving $5,995 MoFi MasterPhono Phonosage, connected to the linestage with a pair of Audience Au24-SX balanced cables ($2,315/pr.).

To the right side of the top shelf rests the $229 WiiM Pro Plus for wireless digital streaming from Roon. I have two absurdly affordable DACs, the surprisingly capably performing, $80 S.M.S.L SU-1 DAC, and the Fosi Audio Q6, rolled out with the SparkoS Lab SS3602 discrete op-amps. Whichever DAC is in use is connected to my line stage via a set of Audience Au24-SX single-ended cables ($2,315/pr.).

In the middle of the second shelf rest the pair of the ridiculously small and light Fosi Audio V3 monoblock amplifiers, based on a Texas Instruments Class-D amplifier chip, the TPA3255. They have been upgraded with a pair of the remarkable SparkoS Labs SS3602 Discreet Op-Amps. They replaced the factory Texas Instruments NE5532P op-amps, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE… Between the two V2 mono amps is my DirecTV Genie receiver to drive the 60″ HD Samsung TV.

Finally, on the bottom of the central section of the stand, we find my $980 Audience forte V8 Isolating/Conditioning AC distribution system. And most AC cords are the $225, meter and three-quarter length Audience forte F3 powerChords.

I just added the exceptional $7,990/pr. Acora Acoustics MRB-1 monitors, which I reviewed for Part-Time Audiophile and my YouTube channel. They are simply exceptional loudspeakers.

I also have two other sets of exceptional vintage monitors that are available to rotate through this system. The first pair are my vintage 1984 B&W Matrix 1s, from the mind of Laurence Dickie, now designing the remarkable Vivid Audio loudspeakers. They originally sold for $999 a pair in stock form, but this set has been wired internally with van den Hul cable. Everyone who has heard them immediately understands WHY I can’t part with them! They are STILL amazing performers.

The other set of speakers is a Vintage pair of Von Schweikert Audio VR-1 monitors that also sold for $999 when new in 2003. Unfortunately, they saw some crossover damage in shipping. VSA was able to repair them, and because of my history with VSA of over some three decades now, the VR-1 X-overs enjoyed a serious upgrade, including point-to-point wiring with Masterbuilt Signature hookup wire, ClarityCap bypass capacitors, Mundorf Resistors, and Erse Perfect Lay Inductors!

Whichever pair is in play sits atop a pair of $139 vintage Plateau ST-24, a 24” tall stand with three rectangular support legs. Mine has each of its troika of hollow upright legs filled with a mixture of lead shot and playground sand. The speakers are connected to my Fosi V3 mono amps with a $1000 pair of eight-foot-long vintage SoundString Mk II loudspeaker cables.

TO augment the lowest musical registers with whichever monitors are in play, I have leveraged both a vintage $399 Mirage FRx-S10 subwoofer for my right sub, and a more recent $125 MonoPrice MSUB-122BL subwoofer that I had used in my IT office before my retirement for my left sub. The cables connecting each of the subwoofer’s line inputs from the dedicated Sub-Out on the linestage use a $350 set of one-meter Audience Ohno single-ended interconnects.

The entire system has blossomed from just several thousand dollars using all vintage products I had in storage, to just surpassing thirty thousand dollars now with the addition of the Acoras and the use of all the high-performance Audience balanced and single-ended cables.

Here is a link to the ORIGINAL Second Space treatment