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Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: carlbeck on March 15, 2006, 01:34:27 PM
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Well my system is finally back up & running after a little hiatus. It is so good to hear music again. As you can see from the pics I still haven't finished the room but I do have heat & tunes so I am all set for a few weeks ;D
I am pretty impressed with the sound, it was tough to let go of my beloved BAT tube amp but these little Monarchy's have more slam & power with pure class A sweetness. The Modwright is incredible, Nick & I compared it to his Symp + pre & he told me to take mine home, he didn't want to fall in love with it ;D Nothing can be said about the VSA jr's that hasn't been said, they rock.
The new system consists of:
Onkyo DV-SP 1000- universal SACD, DVD, CD player
Benchmark DAC 1- convertor
ModWright SWL 9.0 beta pre-amp- custom pre-amp with external power supply, Tungsol tubes
Monarchy Audio SE-100 mono block amps- 100 wpc @ 8 ohms, pure class A, doubles down @ 4 ohms
VSA VR4jr's- first pair ever made, slightly tweaked from factory
Monster HTS 3500 MKII power conditioner
DH Labs interconnect's
Acoustic Zen Satori shotgun's
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looking good Carl!
can't wait to hang some sheetrock in there.
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looks real nice. I can't wait to hear what it sounds like :)
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Looks nice Carl. I'm looking forward to getting up there and giving it a listen.
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Great Pics. It reminds me of my last move. Nothing in the house unpacked except the stereo.
Chris
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Very nice! Have you run analog out and compared the SP1000 to the DAC-1? I've got the same player and always thought the SP1000 to sound damn good.
sc
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Very nice! Have you run analog out and compared the SP1000 to the DAC-1? I've got the same player and always thought the SP1000 to sound damn good.
sc
Actually, I have been checking it out today for the first time. It is close but the Benchmark beats it with better dynamics. Overall though I have to say the Onkyo is VERY impressive as a standalone. I am listening to my SACD headhunters right now so I can't obviously use the Benchmark & it is very nice.
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Damn, that is a sweet room.
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Damn, that is a sweet room.
Eventually it will be a sweet room & it is one of the major reasons I bought my house. It is a nice room, over the garage, far enough away from the house that if I want to be up late listening to music I don't have to worry about keeping the wife up. Someday, real soon it will be finished, then I may never leave ;D
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Looks nice, Carl. Very nice.
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Excellent Carl! I'm still working on my room, but it won't be quite as impressive as yours will be...
Brad
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Thanks for all the kind words about the room. I am sure it will be nice when it is done but I have a long way to go before that. For those that are interested the room measures almost 16 feet across & is 25 feet deep. We have the speakers pushed WAY out into the room at the moment but once the sheetrock is in there this will all change. The best thing about having it over the garage is that I can do all the room treatments I want without upseting the wife. I want the room to look good when it is done but it will also have to sound good as well. The biggest issue will probably be that window I love so much behind the stereo but it isn't something I can't fix with some heavy curtains.
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I made some cheapie amp stands last weekend. I bought a pair of butcher blocks from Home Depot that are 12X12X1.5" I stained them cherry & installed the speaker spiked from my VSA's. They came out pretty good & at least get the amps of the ground. the Monarchy's are very small & fit the stands like they were made for them.
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Very Nice! Are you going to do the double layer of drywall, a la Oade...? Somewhere there is a good thread on how Doug tricked out his listening area for his Reference System, and it has some good, easy to replicate tips... Have fun!
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I have seen the double dry wall trick used in a few rooms. I honestly don't plan on doing it. It is going to be hard enough to do the room b/c of the location without doubling the amount of sheet rock we have to hump. My plan is to go as thick as possible with the rock & insulate the hell out of it. After that is done then I can do all the treatments I want. I guess I should check the Oade board for Doug's room just for giggles.
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+ T for buying the playback before drywall!
matt
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What's even worse is that I bought the house just for this room!
+ T back at ya
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I would use oc 703 for insulation fwiw.
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I would use oc 703 for insulation fwiw.
Rigid fiberglass for insulation??? OC 703 and 705 are duct board, NOT insulation! Being in the NE I would imagine he wants insulation R13 or the like. I imagine most are using the 2 layer of drywall for sound isolation, not treatment.
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Very Nice! Are you going to do the double layer of drywall, a la Oade...? Somewhere there is a good thread on how Doug tricked out his listening area for his Reference System, and it has some good, easy to replicate tips... Have fun!
thats how we did the interior of my new place- it's double thick 5/8" drywall, the 16' high ceilings are tough to deal with, but they are actually opening up my speakers.
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Very Nice! Are you going to do the double layer of drywall, a la Oade...? Somewhere there is a good thread on how Doug tricked out his listening area for his Reference System, and it has some good, easy to replicate tips... Have fun!
thats how we did the interior of my new place- it's double thick 5/8" drywall, the 16' high ceilings are tough to deal with, but they are actually opening up my speakers.
And I imagine that was to reduce sound transmission correct? Sound is best killed my mass/density. Adding a second layer of sheetrock will do this. My next home will be of the room within a room approach with insulated flex duct work and all. Proabably staggered studs and 2 layers of sheetrock with green glue. Not gonna let the wife have any reason to complain about volume levels during sun. afternoon oxygen/lifetime tv movies.
sc
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the primary focus was to reduce transmission from unit to unit, but it served its purpose to keep things together sonically. Though im limited on options as the floor and the ceiling were pretty much already in place- i just added the hardwood (i just had an option for color basically) and the ceiling is ribbed concrete.
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Jesus! What the hell are those garden hoses doing coming out of your amps? :o
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Jesus! What the hell are those garden hoses doing coming out of your amps? :o
Acoustic Zen Satori shotgun bi-wire speaker cable. They sound incredible & trounced my MIT's (which I still have to seel cheap BTW)
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Great discussion on the aspect of room design & correction by the way guys, thanks I appreciate it. I really have to start getting some materials together to get this room going.
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Man, when I have a room and system like that I will say to myself "self, you have got it good!"
+T on having it good!
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+ T back at you!
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+ T back at you!
There is a product that is being used now in new construction home theatre rooms for noise cancelation that goes under the drywall. If I remember right it is a rubber-ish strip that goes over each stud/truss/rafter that has drywall attached to it under the drywall. It is supposed to do a lot to cut down on vibration and thus deadens the room. I will talk to our audio install company and find out what it is called. I'm a salesman for a homebuilder btw. I don't do a lot of houses with highend med-highend audio rooms but I do a few. Anybody ever heard of this?
I've also heard of using a layer of 1" r-board under the drywall. R-board is typically used on the outside of the home for insulation. It is very rigid foam, and drywalling over it isn't a problem as long as you use long screws, and mark where your studs are on the foam so you don't shoot a million in without hitting wood.
Just for general building practice, regardless of what you do for sound. It would be a good idea in that room to use steel angles where the rafter hits the side walls. Rafters and trusses move quite a bit with changes in temp and humidity and that is how you get a lot of split seems at the corner of outside walls. The idea here is that the steel angle (very thin steel specifically designed for this purpose) attaches to the wall, and instead of attaching the drywall to the ceiling at the corner, you screw it into the stell angle. then the rafters/truss can move without pulling on the seam. surprisingly not all pro's use this, and we have to specifically ask for it when we get a new drywaller. Once they understand how much warranty work it saves them, they never charge us for it.
matt
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Wow, thanks for the tip! Looks like I am giving another +T
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There a mention of some of these under-the-sheetrock treatments in the latest edition of the Complete Guide to High-End Audio.
Carlbeck, you recommended this book awhile back, so I assume you have it....?
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the company is called "dynamat" and the product is dynil http://www.dynamat.com/products_architectural_dynil.html
It doesn't seam to show it there, but when my guy ( http://www.alsstereo.com/ ) instals it, he uses a 2x6 top and bottom plate with alternating 2x4 and 2x6 wall studs. He then weaves the product in and out and the drywall is attached to the 2x6 studs only. I didn't get the full explanation of that because I figured it would all be on the website, but I will bug him more about it next time I see him. I hate to take up too much of his time as I don't do all that much business with him and I know how the "free advice" thing can get old quick. I see him at the local builder association meetings and next time I'll make a point to sit by him during the luncheon.
Matt
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There is a ton of info on room design and products at avsforum.com under room builders forum. Beware as HT and audio rooms can't be designed the same. HT require a very dead room.
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+ T for buying the playback before drywall!
matt
I was thinking the same thing !
A man with correct priorities.
It looks like the cathedral of sound. +T
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the company is called "dynamat" and the product is dynil http://www.dynamat.com/products_architectural_dynil.html
It doesn't seam to show it there, but when my guy ( http://www.alsstereo.com/ ) instals it, he uses a 2x6 top and bottom plate with alternating 2x4 and 2x6 wall studs. He then weaves the product in and out and the drywall is attached to the 2x6 studs only. I didn't get the full explanation of that because I figured it would all be on the website, but I will bug him more about it next time I see him. I hate to take up too much of his time as I don't do all that much business with him and I know how the "free advice" thing can get old quick. I see him at the local builder association meetings and next time I'll make a point to sit by him during the luncheon.
Matt
The staggered stud technique is a classic move for bass decoupling.
It keeps the bass from penetrating the walls and then bothering the neighbors.
They used to sell a product that was lead/kapok that sound proofed very well, but was... lead and kapok, just the needed fuel for a toxic fire.
The rubber over the studs sounds interesting.
Anyone have more details ?