the audio analyst©

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Reference System

My Reference Music System

This is the gear against which all review and
audition components are compared against…

the audio analyst©

Current System configuration

 

Equipment Isolation
Grand Prix Audio Monaco Modular Isolation System

With Formula  shelves
and Apex footers with nitride balls

Turntable
Kronos Sparta 
With SSCPS Supply

Tonearm
Kronos Helena 

Cartridges
Etsuro Gold 
Air Tight PC-1 
Transfiguration Temper V
Clearaudio Virtuoso  Mk II
Denon DL-103vdh

Interconnects
STEALTH  Śakra V12,  Śakra,Helios, & NanoFiber 

Audience frontRow,
 Au24-SX
& Au24-SE

 

Loudspeakers
Von Schweikert Audio
ULTRA 9

Von Schweikert Audio
  Vortex VR-33

B&WMatrix 1 
vdHul wire/mods

Amplifier Stands
Grand Prix Audio Monaco Amplifier Isolation System

 

Phono Stages
DSA Phono II 
ModWright PH-150
CI Audio PEQ-1 Mk II 

Music Server
Windows 10 Based PC
JRiver Media 24 64-Bit ,
Roon,Audirvana,
and Fidelizer Pro 

Digital to Analog Converters
Mola Mola Tambaqui
iFi Pro iDSD

 

Power Amplifiers
Audionet MAX
CIAudio  D-500Mk II
CIAudio  VMB-1
 

Loudspeakers
Von Schweikert Audio
ULTRA 9 

Von Schweikert Audio
 Vortex VR-33 

B&W Matrix 1 
vdHul wire/mods

 

Speaker Cables
STEALTH Dream V14

Audience frontRow
& Au24-SX biwires

Silversmith Audio Fidelium

Preamplifier
Audionet PRE G2
DSA Pre I 
ModWright  LS 100 
(with an f32 Mullard GZ34 and matched pair of 6SN7GT CBS/Hytron dual triodes)

 

Speaker Cables
STEALTH Dream V14

Audience frontRow
& Au24-SX biwires

Silversmith Audio Fidelium

 

  Room Tuning
RoomTunes

Corner Tunes

Shakti Innovations Hallographs 

 Auralex 6’x4′ Wall Diffusers at sidewall first reflection point

Networking
All Cisco hardware
routers and switches,
used throughout.Network Cabling
Audience throughout
frontRow USB cable and
Hidden Treasure CAT 7 Ethernet cable, and
Internal SATA cable

Universal Disc Player
McCormack UDP-1  Deluxe
with SMc Upgrades and
other custom Mods by
Steve McCormack

Additional Isolation
Critical Mass Systems  CenterStage2 footers…

Magico QPods, GP Audio Apex  footers with nitride balls, Vibrapod’s and  Vibrapod Cone’s

Power Cords
Audience frontRow &
Au24-SE powerChords 

Power Conditioning
Audience aR12-TSSOX 

Quantum Symphony Pro 

FuruTech e-TP80
 

Bill Parish, of GTT Audio & Video, shares a
video visit to my listening room – June 23, 2020

the tour of the audio analyst© starts about 9:10 into this video

 

 

 

Demo Only – Vertical

300 px x 600 px
Learn more Here… 

Demo Only – Square

300 px x 300 px
Learn more Here… 

Demo Only – Horizontal

300 px x 200 px
Learn more Here… 

My System  6

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Learn more Here… 

Link 6 

My System 7

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Learn more here …

Link 7

My System 8

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Learn more here …

Link 8

 

 

In November 2015, with the kids grown and out of the big 5-bedroom, 3-floor house, we moved to a smaller home situated on nearly two acres in north-west Goshen, IN. My new music room occupies the north end of the west half of my basement, in a room that is 46′ X 13′ x 7′ 4″. Further, I have two different sized and asymmetrically placed doorways, one that is 40″ wide by 78″ tall, starting 11′ 10″ from the front wall, another that is 34″ wide by 77″ tall, starting 28 feet from the front wall, both of which act as aperiodic vents. This large space also houses my small theater at the south end by the fireplace.

Some quick calculation reveals the room is about 600 ft2 or some 4300 ft3. Based on room length, it can support full development of frequencies down to about 24Hz, with primary axial resonances at about 44Hz and 78Hz. But the room is amazing sounding, and exhibits remarkably little loading. In fact, during a visit to install and set up my Von Schweikert Audio ULTRA 9 loudspeakers, Leif Swanson, Chief Designer at Von Schweikert Audio said, “You seem to have some pretty cool things taking place with the room. Good length for the bass waves, and those doorways. I notice very little change to the bass walking around the room. You definitely scored with this room.”

The tweeters of my Von Schweikert Audio ULTRA 9’s are centered 1′ 10′ from the sidewalls, and 7′ from the wall behind them, with a toe in of about 8 degrees. The prime listening area is centered roughly 12′ back from the plane of the tweeters.

Room taming is achieved with the use of RoomTunes Corner Tunes, two Echo Tunes (one each at the tweeter’s primary reflection points on the ceiling), and the surprisingly effective Shakti Innovations Hallographs. Two 6-foot-tall by 4-foot-wide panels of Auralex Studiofoam Wedgies act as diffraction/absorption panels at the first side-wall reflection point for the speakers.

Power to components in the listening room is fully dedicated, with a pair of 20 amp runs for amplification, and another pair of 15 Amp runs for all sources. All other devices in that room (lights, printers, computers, etc.) are on an entirely separate, isolated circuit. All circuits in the room were set up for proper ground and polarity.

Those who know me (or have read my work over the years) know that my system MUST be tonally accurate, strikingly neutral, stunningly transparent, and jubilantly musical. However, open, detailed, and layered soundstaging, combined with realistically sized and spatially accurate images, are every bit as important to me as truthful timbre and musical bloom. With the right recording, this system whisks you back to the venue or hall of the original performance for a spooky-real recreation of that event in the here and now.

I have had any number of audiophile and musician visitors’ remark on the power of the listening experience as witnessed from my chair. Musicians from any number of genres of music, from Salsa to Rock ‘n’ Roll to Classical, have actually wept after or during a listening session, and audiophiles of many years have remarked things like, “What more could you ask for,” and “I’ve never heard a rig sound ANY BETTER than this.”

While those are encouraging words, and seem to indicate that I’m doing the right things with component and cable selection as well as room set up, my system (every system? ;-D) must be seen as an ongoing work-in-progress. Every once in a while, the addition of some new piece, be it a source, a cable, or an accessory, allows me to move just a little closer to that actual musical event. The journey continues….

 

 

 

 

The Von Schweikert ULTRA 9 Loudspeaker
in stunning cardinal red

 

The Von Schweikert ULTRA 9 Loudspeaker
a view of the back, revealing half the magic!

 

Audio Desk Ultrasonic Pro LP Cleaner
Insert, clean, and dry, ready to play in 5 minutes

 

The Etsuro Gold Moving Coil Cartridge

handcrafted with hammered 24 karat gold foil

 

 

Kronos Sparta Turntable with Helena Tone Arm

unique contra-rotational platter system

 

The front end on the Grand Prix Audio Monaco Stand

 

 

Dell PC/Windows 10 Pro/Roon/J River/Fidelizer

 

 

Contact Info

© 2020 the audio analyst, LLC | email me for shipping address or phone number | greg@theaudioanalyst.com

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