Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Doing It Wrong - the journey to a new 2-channel setup

Previous Setup


This is what I had been listening through for the past several months.  I picked up the Magnepan MG1.4 inexpensively through the local Craigslist, there is a little delaminating on the left panel, and one of the socks is torn, and they were missing feet.

I was able to source feet and new socks right from Magnepan (pretty cool!) - attached the feet and promptly fell in love with the Maggies on my system so there they stayed.  However, they were just too big for the room, needed to come way off the back walls for them to sound right - so they were retired to the workshop for the aforementioned restoration and to make room for my next Craigslist find!


  • Source: Mac Mini i5 with 2TB Rosewill external enclosure (some High Res 24/96, mostly ALAC, and some .WAV rips)
  • Source 2: Pro Ject Debut III with upgraded OM20 stylus
  • Source 3: (Rarely used) Denon DCD-570
  • DAC: Apogee ONE (USB in to mini-jack RCA - cheap cables)
  • Integrated Amp: 1972 McIntosh MA-6100
  • Speaker wire: Radio Shack junk


McIntosh MA-6100



Currently on Craigslist for too high of a price - I am not sure I really want to sell this beauty.  I bought it at an estate sale when a friend of mine who frequents them called me up "Hey, I know you are into stereo equipment - ever heard of McIntosh?"  Umm. Yes I have.  

This amp, along with the optional wooden panloc enclosure is in the most amazing mint condition - I couldn't believe it.  When you slide the amp out of the enclosure, the inside is factory perfect.  The silkscreen logo, everything is just perfect in there.  The only flaw is at the bottom of the glass front, there is the slightest of bubbling/discoloration - pretty normal from what I hear.

Picture of the McIntosh from the estate sale:

I didn't score the tuner...I know they are quite valuable, but I do not listen to the radio.

ProAc Response D15


ProAc.  So, let me explain.  Back in around 1993/1994 I was in the last high-end stereo store in Providence, RI in my first journey towards getting a high quality stereo system.  I was fresh out of college, after being infected with the bug by my roommate who had big, loud Adcom separates feeding a pair of Klipsch floorstanders.  My roommate said "Sit here, an equal distance away from the width of the speakers... see the "image"?" - I was hooked.  So went my first taste of the "high end."  That system was the nicest on campus - we would run the speakers facing out to the quad in the summertime and fill it with music.  I fell asleep to 'A Decade of Steely Dan' on that system nearly every night - it made a big impression. 

Anyway, I was at this shop to listen to the much vaunted Vandersteen 2Ce's.  I had a little bit of dough in my pocket from my first job, and set out to see what the local dealer had.  I thought what I wanted were floorstanding speakers that sounded great, threw out a killer image like I heard from those Klipsch's and could get loud (of course.) 
Long story longer - he then put on a disc through a set of separate California Audio CD transport/DAC system (seemed very exotic at the time!) through Audio Research amplification to a pair of ProAc Studio 100's - the speakers did their famous "disappearing act" - the imaging, the sound quality, the everything - just made a huge impression on me, and while I didn't have the money to purchase ProAc at the time - I was always on the lookout for a reasonably priced pair, but once this particular audio shop closed down, there were no ProAc dealers anywhere nearby, so I never got a chance to hear other models or consider a purchase as time went on. 

Eventually, I ended up purchasing some Rotel separates (RB980bx amplifer, and RC972 preamp) along with a Rotel CD player that died a few years later.  I paired this gear up with some inexpensive but great sounding Paradigm Titans (then upgraded those to Paradigm Mini Monitors) which sufficed for several years - but never quite delivered on that magical sound I heard at that shop in Providence - I felt especially that I was always dealing with an inherent brightness that took away from the overall enjoyment - I wanted something with a much smoother treble, but also kept a solid focus on the detail, separation and imaging. 

When I was doing a search of different speaker brands on Craigslist recently, these D15's popped up (surprisingly), I went to listen to them at the sellers house (again, through AR amplification!) and was able to negotiate a fair price.  Finally, some speakers that got me in touch with a higher quality of sound than I had ever been able to achieve before.  This is when I started "doing it wrong..." by rapidly changing almost every component in my system in a non-scientific flurry of purchases.

Closeup of ProAc Response D15



Floorstanders were the choice, as I have a curious 18 month old flying around my house these days, and since the Maggies were too big, and stand-mounted bookshelves too tippy.  I also considered Totem Arro's...

The intermediate setup


I wired up the new-to-me ProAc's to my existing system with cheapo speaker cable from Radio Shack, and was immediately greeted with nothing but goodness, more detail, more clarity, and generally better highs and lows - no more brightness when compared to my Paradigms.  So much so, that even the Mrs. noticed!  We also use this system to watch TV shows and movies hosted from the Mac Mini via XBMC, and the detail and sound quality of some TV shows was truly amazing.
In come the tubes....first up - Scott 299b

When I bought the Maggies, the seller also had this interesting vintage tube amp for sale.  It is pretty highly regarded by the vintage tube aficianados out there - plus the price was right, and I was always curious about this tube-y warmth that everyone talks about - so I bought it as well.  When I hooked up this old school, low powered amp to my Paradigm monitors, I got a taste of what tubes can do - and I liked it.  However, this old amp needs a full restoration (it now has a home in a small attic room system until I ship it off) and I was hopeful that I could find a tube integrated that had that tube magic, but was a bit more modern and reliable. 

I had been doing some research and the amps from Primaluna seemed to hit on all marks in terms of build quality, solid reviews, and nice modern features like a smart auto-bias circuit and a remote. 
Primaluna Prologue Premium integrated amplifier

I felt like I finally had some speakers of a quality that deserve some higher quality gear in the chain - so I began executing against a plan that every audiophile worth their salt knows is wrong - I started buying a pile of gear with the intent of making a big change, instead of adding in one component at a time in order to better understand what each one did to the sound.  But, I was impatient, and I had speakers that gave me a taste of what was possible.  So I started calling dealers in a 2-hour radius from my location, as there are no audio stores really close by. 

The original place I had purchased my Rotel and Paradigm gear from was also a Primaluna dealer, so I called them up. 

The downside of no close stores is not being able to listen to gear and demo it appropriately, but the upside of the Internet is lots and lots (and lots) of opinions about gear through either "professional" reviews, or peoples listening notes - which certainly not enough to make a foolproof purchase, it is information that can be used to help.  Plus, these days, one can purchase a piece of gear, and test it at home in their own rooms, with their own equipment, draw their own conclusions, and use the return period, should it not work out.

When I called the store that stocked Primaluna, I was told that they have no stock currently (in fact NO local dealers had anything in stock), all they had was a demo unit that was for sale.  Hmmmmm.  The ability to buy a broken-in piece of gear at a discount price?  Count me in!  I asked which model, and it was the exact one I was interested in, a silver faced Prologue Premium (with remote!).  This one was specced with the optional (higher powered) KT-88 power tubes.  I figured I should jump on it, we negotiated a good price, and they offered to ship it to me for free, so I could return it no questions asked if it didn't work out.  Nice.
New DAC and async USB to SPDIF converter

In parallel, I had been constantly doing research about DAC replacement options, as I felt my Apogee One probably could use an upgrade.  I liked the idea of asynchronous USB, and I liked what I was hearing about the Peachtree DACiT (mainly thanks to the good folks over at Computeraudiophile.com) - and I had the opportunity to purchase some DAC gear with the ability to return it worry-free.  On the reviews I read, and the specifications I wanted, I bought the DAC, along with a Musical Fidelity V-Link II, as I wanted to be able to play 24/88 and 24/96 files - which the Peachtree only supports through the Coax connection, plus it brought async USB to the table - which seems like a "good thing" due to its ability to lower jitter well.  I did a bunch of late night A/B tests between the DACiT and the Apogee, and was actually surprised to find the differences were actually rather small.

The DACiT seemed to put a little more air and separation into the mix, and warmed up the top-end a bit, but again, the differences were not night and day.  This was done before I received the Link II, I plan to continue my A/Bing of this setup now that my new amplification, etc. is all set up.
Guess I need new furniture too...

After extensive discussion with the Mrs. -  who is always extremely patient with my obsessions (she tolerated a Porsche 911 whaletail in our kitchen many years ago for several months - long story!) - we decided to use the opportunity of getting new equipment to improve the design of our living room space as well.  We found this inexpensive bookshelf from Target (after researching various options at Ikea and other places) which would allow me to put the amp and turntable on top (out of reach of small hands) and provide some good LP storage as well.  The plan was to fabricate a shelf for the top midlde cube and put the computer and DAC setup there.
Old and new

The plan is to relocate the TV (Sony XBR 46" LED LCD) onto the wall, and move the cable box/DVR to another location and use a wired IR extender remote setup for it.
I probably should buy some new cables.

If for nothing else but the convenience of banana clips, I decided to get some new cables.  I also needed a digital coax (RCA) cable, so I made some purchases.  Knowing that debating cables can result in one of those raucous debates that only audiophiles are capable of, so I will spare you any analysis in this regard.  But I will share my own cable philosophy.  I don't have the patience to A/B test or compare cables in my system, plus the time it takes to either have a setup to easily allow this, or swap cables back and forth and back and forth while trying to hear subtle differences is not something that appeals to me - I obsess over lots of other things, doing it with cables might drive me to be institutionalized.  Therefore, what I do is buy firmly at the entry level.  I look for a reputable company and good connectors, as in my mind a solid connection just seems like good common sense, and reliability is important, as I tend to hold onto gear for a loooong time. 

This led me to what I bought.  Blue Jeans cable is a great little outfit that has been selling budget audiophile cables for a long time - I bought their biwire speaker cable (built on Canare 4s11), an Audioquest entry level VDM-X coax cable, and an Audioquest Forest USB cable.  Now you may notice I breezed by another highly debatable topic - biwiring.  Again in synch with my philosophy, I decided to not sweat the small stuff, and since ProAc recommends the use of biwiring, it didn't add much to the overall cost, and since I have never tried it, I decided to give it a whirl.  Plus, the little pins that bridged the connectors on the speakers were too darn fiddly!

Starting to shape up
Added in the fabricated shelf for the DAC and computer.

Getting closer...

Put some of my records in, and pulled out the shelf again to drill for cable routing, trying to keep it nice and neat.


TV wall mount
Note: the TV looks WAY high in this pic - in reality it doesn't seem high at all

My father came over to help me mount the TV on the wall - once we had located the studs and measured everything up, it was relatively easy.  Wired everything up temporarily to verify the location would work.

Electrical work

I had my electrician come over to install a power outlet, and help me run the two HDMI cables (one to cable box/DVR, and one to the Mac Mini in the stereo shelf) and a Toslink optical cable to go to the DAC for the TV audio.  I terminated the Mac's HDMI into an HDMI jack, and ran a shorter HDMI cable from the jack to the computer.  Worked out well, and nice and neat.  The reason for the "mistake" next to the power outlet was we ran into a strangely placed stud in the wall.  My house is relatively old (~1904) and we find weird things from time to time - mainly strange construction decisions made in the '70s...

While he was here, I also had him run a dedicated 15amp circuit for the amplifier to isolate it onto its own link, and keep the noisier (from an AC perspective) computer and other gear on its own circuit. 

I also used the time to install a wired IR repeater (Sanus) for the cable box/DVR - this worked amazingly well.  The box now sits on a shelf in the basement, and the "eye" is installed into a jack near the floor above an RJ-45 outlet.

Basically done!

All cables routed and mainly hidden, everything in place.  I added a clip-mounted LED light for the turntable which comes in handy. 

A little light on records at the moment - about 2-3x this amount are sitting in my basement in queue for a cleaning - I don't like to run dirty used vinyl on this rig - everything gets a full vacuum clean and a fresh Mofi sleeve.

Ahh that warm tube glow

All in all, even though I did it "wrong" - I am really happy with the end result.  Both aesthetically, and sonically.  I have finally gotten the sound I have been chasing for years now in my living room.  I have gone on multiple vinyl buying sprees and have been playing more 24/88 and 24/96 HD recordings sourced from HDTracks and others.

So naturally the right question is ...what next?  Maybe a new turntable?  The Clearaudio Concept sure looks nice... maybe some mods to the Pro Ject in the form of the acrylic platter (less dust attraction than the damn felt mat!) and the Speedbox...? Tube rolling? I just ordered some Mullard EL34 reissue tubes to see how they compare to the KT88's - I hear the '34s are a bit warmer and more "classic tube" sound.  

I have also been testing out some of the higher-end software players that plug into iTunes (my library of choice for my digital music) - I have tried Amarra, PureMusic, and Audirvana so far - I definitely like the fact that these players can automatically change my sample rate settings for me, and the memory play feature logically seems like it would be an improvement - however the jury is still out on which one I will ultimately invest in.  Amarra seemed to sound the best - however, I found it to be rather buggy and would interrupt the beginnings of songs, I couldn't get gapless play to work right, etc.  So more to come here.

For now- I plan to change nothing, buy more music and kick back and listen as often as I can.

So far so good.